And in the End, The Love You Take …

… is equal to the love you make.

Today’s post’s title references the last words recorded by The Beatles. The band recorded it on September 26th, 1969. We are now expecting to arrive home on September 26th. Like The Beatles and their individual post Beatles careers, we will venture again into the world of Recreational Vehicle travel, but this trip will always be the most memorable.

After we left Yellowstone, there were a couple of side sights we looked forward to, such as the caves that were discovered near where Lewis and Clark traveled. Our intention was to just make it a pleasant journey with rest time built-in at various camp sites just to relax. Also, we had hoped to pick up a kitten along the way.

In January 2016, our cat Tango died. He was everyone’s buddy and was always around. That was followed in December 2016 by the death of Einstein, who was much more aloof, but when he came around, he was your best friend. Then, just before we left, Striker died. He was a one-person cat, and that person was our son, who rents the upstairs apartment from us. There were no more cats left. In a year and a half, we went from a house with three cats to none. Before we left, we convinced our son to get himself a kitten.

We knew we would want another cat when we got back, but then it seemed a good idea to pick one up on our way home so the kitten would get used to RV travel. And could be a companion for Mitzvah. There was a campground named Cozy Corner that we designated as the spot to get a kitten. Only fate has a sense of humor, instead of staying at that campground for four nights to find and pick out a cat. Then acclimate it before traveling home with a target date of October 3^rd. Instead, we hightailed it out.

The night before we drove to the campground to find a new cat, Shirley dreamed the campground was like a neighborhood, not an RV campground. When we arrived at the Cozy Corner campground, we immediately noticed that this campground was in a tiny neighborhood for miles around. It was a corner lot attached to a house. The front yard had been turned into a tiny RV lot. We pulled up, not sure if we were in an RV camp or in someone’s driveway. I get out and, as I am scoping out the camp, I walk up to a gate that leads to the house’s back door. A dog’s loud barking prevented me from swinging open the gate and walking in, even though there was an “OPEN” sign on the window. But then an old man appeared, and I told him who we were and that we had called for reservations. Did I mention they were a cash only operation? Shirley then came up and told him she had talked to his wife about helping us to find a kitten. (I swear this is all true) He tells me he will escort me to the site. So, I hop in the RV and follow him as he leads us 50 feet to the site; directing me all the way. Then, he informs me to pull up at the most irregular angle to back in. He continues directing me through a series of maneuvers to line up the RV on the site. For those that are not familiar with getting an RV into a site, it is common to be required to back it in. But the angle he had me take was uncommon. I also noticed that the water connector is near the front of my rig, and the electric was way behind our RV. Sewer hookup was fine. But I had to reposition the RV to get the electricity and the water to both connect.

The old man looked a lot like the animated version of Ed Asner in the movie “Up!” only thinner and older. Shirley always checks the bathroom and shower facilities first at any campsite. Unfortunately, this one was far from satisfactory. The bathrooms were porta-potties, and the shower was a wooden shed that was about 4′ by 4′. But oddly, the electric was 50 amp only and looking brand new, although I noticed there was no circuit breaker at the site. Since our rig is 30 amp, he kindly provided a converter cable. But when I went to plug in my 30-amp plug, it would not fit the converter cable. My ground was too big for it. The plug fits into every single 30-amp plug. I went into the RV and talked to Shirley; before I could tell her about the electricity, she said “We gotta leave here.” Which was exactly what I was about to tell her. Being in 101% agreement, I immediately walk over to the old guy who thinks we are about to pay him. Instead, I tell him the facilities are not up to date and we must leave. He is congenial but not happy, telling us how all the other campgrounds are the same and he has new 50-amp connectors. (with no breakers and non-RV standard adapters?)

We went to a nearby campground in a state park. The manager was very nice; he had a small RV dealership right before entering the campground. In the morning, we decided it was time to head home and get a kitten when we got back to Salem. Since then we have been doing only one night stops with a couple of twos.

This ain’t my last Journey post. There are other stories to tell and impressions to reveal. But both Shirley and I loved the trip, and even Mitzvah got used to all the travel. It was a trip made with love.