Trial by fire

Trying to live together, in a little tiny box for two months may not be the best way to get a new relationship off to a good start.

The first town we visited, San Diego, went pretty well. We stay ed with some friends who had rented one whole floor of a downtown office building; from the circle of couches that served as a living room over to the sink and stove that designated a kitchen and then off to the bathroom, the one room with actual walls. We dranks and listened to music and Bryna helped paint the floor, tracing out each of our bodies until we formed a circle of human figures for her to fill in. She painted until blisters formed where the brush rubbed her fingers.


Our friends helped me find a 'pass or don't pay' Smog Inspection so I could get my bus registered and then we were off, heading to the Carlsbad Caverns. By the time we reached the caverns we were fighting. I don't even recall what we were fighting about. We were not in a good place with each other as we checked out the stalagtites and stalagmites. I think we were doing a bit better by taht night when the bats flooded out of the cave to find bugs.

Driving out of Carlsbad, pitchblack desert and our gas gauge on E was a bit intense. We made plans for how we'd deal with running out of gas. It was looking pretty scary. We'd neithter want to split up, nor would we want to leave our stuff unattended. I reasoned we'd roll a long way when the engine quit as we were on flat land. Then it started raining.

The car finally quit, just miles short of a gas station according to the sign on the side of the road. As I predicted, we rolled a long ways. I fired the bus up and was able to get up to about thirty mph before dying and rolling some more, and there it was, the gas station. It was even open. I pushed, Bryna steered and we were closer for having weathered the storm together.

A few night later, in Texas, we stopped at a rest stop to use the bathrooms and makes some dinner. I was teaching Bryna how to drive stick and I let her pull us out. Unfortunately she popped the clutch. We slammed into the car in front of us which was attached to a motor home. Nobody saw it happen so I jumped out and had the unlicensed Bryna scoot into the passenger seat before knocking on the door of the motor home. An sleepy eyed old man answered.

"Did someone hit our rig?" he grumbled.

"Yes sir. We hit the bumper of your car. I'm sorry, I just popped the clutch. Are you okay?"

"Well, my wife's neck hurts."

Oh shit! Here we go. "Does she need to have it looked at?"

"I don't know. Let me talk to her."

He shut the door and I waited back at my bus, trying to reassure Bryna that it would be okay. The old guy came out and we looked at his car. He muttered something about a new bumper.

"Look, I have to level with you. My insurance is lapped." I was being honest. "I'm trying to get to Florida where I've got a job waiting." Not entirely honest. "But I'm a good person and I want to take care off this. Here's my license. You can write down all the information, and get my license plate number as well. We'll meet you wherever you're going and we'll pay whatever it cost to get this fixed."

"Well..." He was obviously disturbed to hear that the guy with the half dreadlocked, bleach blonde hair in the VW Bus with the girl with short purpleish hair did not have insurance. "My wife says her neck hurts."

"You let me know what this costs you, and I'll take care of it."

He didn't sound convinced as he gave us directions to where we could find him in San Antonio. We took the directions and found somewhere to pull over and sleep.

We woke up at a small pull off and I made breakfast. I loved waking up in the bus and meeting all of the motorhome men as we all went to fetch water. It seems that men made breakfast. It was the rule. Then we all took turns admiring each other's vehicle's as our wive took their time waking up. The grey hairs always got a kick out of my bus.

"Ha. That things got to be older than you. I drove one of these in the sixties."

On this particular morning, I said goodbye to my senior friends and since we had a day to kill before meeting up with folks we'd colided with the night before I decided to get a tune up done.

Road Trip Automotive Lesson Two: Do not do tune ups miles from any auto parts store. When you're valve adusting screw breaks you'll spend all days getting you're valves set.

Lesson one was that coffee that comes in tea bags tastes like crap. Lesson three would turn out to be much more expensive, but we'll get to that.

We made our way into San Antonio early the next morning. Texas is sure proud to be Texas. No other state reminds you so often where you are. Every bumper sticker, every street sign, every bathroom stall let you know you were in Texas, and dam lucky to be there.

We found the Motor Home gathering. This was an amazing peek at a beautiful American subculture. There were old folks whizzin' about on scooters, drinkin' wine on porches that extended from their giant rigs, and waving at us. Everybody we passed waved and said hello. This was a Rainbow Gathering for the geriatric set. The event was so large they had to organize it into neighborhoods. Some of the motorhomes even had mailboxes out front. We found Cow Poke corner with the help of a nice man in plaid pants driving a golf cart with flames painted on the side, and then we found our friends.

They were thrilled to see us. "Come in, come in. Oh great, you found us, come in. Have some wine." The inside of their RV was amazing.

"Wow. This is bigger than my apartment." Bryna shared as they poured her a glass of merlot.

We exchanged travel stories, and old jokes for an hour. Our wine glasses were never allowed to get more than half empty. Finally my anxiety got the best of me. I had to know if our trip would be cut short.

"Well, I guess we'd better have a look at that bumper then."

"Oh, the bumper. It's no big deal. Let's go have a look. You ladies relax. We'll check it out." He led the way.

The plastic bumper had a small dent and some scratches. I ran my hand over it. "I'm pretty sure this will come right out. I don't think we could have damaged the frame or anything else." I suggested, hopefully.

"Oh sure. It's fine. They got these hot irons, they'll take her right on out. Don't you worry about a thing."

"Okay. We'll what do figure that'll cost?"

"No. Don't you worry about it. I don't want your money. You need it for your trip. Come on back inside. This is fine. I'm just so glad you showed up. You've restored my faith in the young people of this country."

And so we had a few more glasses of wine. I took some coffee and after my buzz faded I climbed back in my bus. Our new friends stood waving and beaming. They loved us, and we loved them, and we loved each other, for now.

We were back on the road.

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