A bit too much adventure

Off to Boise I go! Way back on Valentines Day in 2020, when John and I had flown to Boston and were anxiously trying to get me scheduled for colon cancer surgery, John gave me a hand-drawn card that said it was good for a trip to a cabin in the woods.

I put the card on my nightstand and spent a lot of time after my surgery looking at it. Would I live to go on our promised cabin trip someday, or would cancer and the pandemic prove to be the end of me? The card was both encouraging and comforting.

A rough recovery and a pandemic later, we decided it was finally time to go to that cabin in the woods. I found a fantastic looking cabin on Airbnb in northern Idaho, and booked it for our upcoming 15th wedding anniversary. Here’s the amazing advertisement photo…we shall see if it lives up to its promise!

The plan was for Biska and I to drive up to see the kids in Boise. We planned to hang out and go camping for a few days. Then John would fly in and we would spend the second week in northern Idaho.

The last time I drove by myself to Boise in the van, Biska was a not-yet-potty-trained puppy, and it was an emergency trip to help get rid of the crazy roommates before they did any more damage. I took the slow way, sticking to major freeways, and it took me two and a half days. But the short route, due north through rural Nevada on country highways, takes 16 hours, according to google. I figured if I went that way I could do it in two days. When I’m driving by myself, I estimate an extra hour for every 8 hours. So that’s two 9-hour days.

When I’m traveling alone with Biska in the van, I actually find it easier to camp rather than stay in a hotel. I reserved a spot in a nice campground just off the road in the mountains on the way up. I packed the van for everything we’d need, including John’s fishing gear, so he didn’t have to take it on the airplane.

I left right on time, 7:30 AM and made it all of 2 blocks before our first glitch. I heard a thunk, and the next thing I knew, Biska was in my lap, trembling and cowering. I pulled to the side of the road (still walking distance from home), and looked over – a huge and heavy piece of wood, which is part of our van bed, had come loose and had fallen when I took the first left turn of the trip.

I didn’t know if it had actually hit her. I hadn’t noticed if she had been on the passenger seat or in her bed on the floor between the seats. Was she hurt and in pain, or just scared out of her wits? With a dog, it’s hard to tell. I checked her over and decided it was safe to continue onward.

The next 12 hours are just a muddle in my mind of road construction, cars about running into each other, strong cross winds, gas stations that are difficult to maneuver in a large van, and increasing exhaustion. I felt like I was stopping for breaks all the time, yet somehow I failed to regularly eat.

I remember one time when I stopped for a break I noticed to my consternation that my heart was absolutely pounding. I wasn’t exactly sure why. Yes, traffic had been difficult, but was I really that stressed out?

I remember another time I was so turned around at a weird and complicated intersection of highways that I just followed the truck in front of me and figured I could get oriented later and backtrack if needed. But even with a truck to follow, it seemed we were going the wrong way on a one-way AND across a highway with no sight distance AND suddenly we came across a recent car accident in the middle of it all. I just hung on and followed the truck and hoped for the best.

Another time, in the middle of an unusually narrow and curvy stretch of freeway, in middle of road construction, a car was broken down and they were trying to work on the car – and it wasn’t fully pulled out of the right hand lane! There was very little sight distance around the curve. Suddenly there was a stopped car and people on the freeway! Cars in the right lane were abruptly swerving into the left lane, and the cars in the left lane could not swerve into the median to make room for them because it was construction area with cement barriers on the left line.

From the left lane I saw a huge semi truck trying to stop behind them (and we had all been at freeway speeds instants before). It looked like he was going to plow right into them; it was either that or change lanes and take me out instead. If I were him, I would take out a camper van sooner than hit a pedestrian. I think he managed to get stopped. He was decelerating at a wonky angle – either he deliberately angled himself to protect them with his truck or he was sliding out of control as he came to a stop. I kept on going – there was really no other option. I hope it all worked out!?

The highlight of our day was this amazing dog park at Love’s Truck Stop.

While there I noticed the longest trailer I’ve ever seen.

Actually once I saw a wind turbine being transported. That might have been longer, I’m not sure. But meanwhile, that dog park, isn’t it amazing? There’s two sections, one for little dogs and one for big dogs. With real grass!

Finally at 7:00 that night, I pulled into our campsite. It was a beautiful campground, but unfortunately I didn’t remember to take any pictures. It was near-dark and I was so trashed I felt like a zombie. I tried to call John to let him know that I arrived and I was barely coherent. I remember wondering at what point adventures become too adventurous? I mean, there has to be some difficulty involved or we’d call it a walk in the park, not an adventure. Right? But there’s also a point at which it isn’t an adventure anymore, it’s just an ordeal.

I never did figure out why it took me 11 1/2 hours to go halfway to Boise. The drive the next day went far easier, and I happily arrived at the kid’s house at a reasonable time in the afternoon.

Their neighborhood is old and gentrifying. Callan and Chirstina have a nice newer house, with two master suites upstairs plus a main floor bedroom and bathroom, for a total of 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Callan’s is one of four new houses that were built on what was originally a single lot. You can see in the photo below an example a small, old house on a large lot, like the one that was torn down to make room for Callan’s and the other houses. This photo was taken standing in their yard and looking across the street.

I unloaded the van and got myself situated in the front master bedroom they generously vacated for me. They have a roommate (a very good one this time) in the downstairs bedroom. Their upstairs office is also an ensuite, and they figured it was easier to move themselves into their office suite than move their computers into their bedroom. It’s very nice to have two rooms upstairs, each with an ensuite bath. I really enjoyed having my own bathroom in my room.

Callan and Chirstina’s main hobby is playing computer games together. They play thoughtful, collaborative games of strategy. It’s sort of cool how they work together to figure out the strategy for the game plots.

I had scheduled as many life coaching clients as possible for that next day, because it was the only day I planned to work that week. Chirstina went to the trouble of putting pictures on the wall behind a folding desk, so I would have somewhere I could zoom with a professional-looking background. These are pictures she painted herself. I particularly like the green one.

I was relieved to be safely there and settled in. Little did I know, I was in for much more adventure before my trip was over. More about that next post.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Kristina’s Website: Life Coaching for Adults with Autism