This is basically where I spent the first week of my Big Adventure. Thankfully, My Family didn’t get rid of MY bed.
So this is the ‘Big Adventure’ Victoria and Jason have been talking about for so long? Well, I didn’t especially love how it began. They woke me up at 5AM to pull the last comfy thing out of our home, the mattress. Victoria and Jason were laughing the whole time, but I’m not really sure what was so funny. They emptied the rest of the house, which made me pretty anxious, scrubbed the house clean (Victoria kept saying it was “probably for no reason”) and put all of our stuff in the big truck and the comfy box. I didn’t really get to say goodbye to my friends Beverly and Wickets, but their family came over to say goodbye, which made Victoria cry. Finally, Jason grabbed me up and we were off.
We spent the next three hours driving around while they ran errands and I waited in the car. This seems to be a common theme for this ‘Big Adventure’, and I DO NOT approve. After a few more stops we drove on, and suddenly our little blue home was far behind us. We drove a long time, and didn’t stop until it was almost dark. This was another one of those “campsites”, so I knew we weren’t going to stay long. We set up right by a big river that sounded more like the ocean. Apparently, this is the town of Sequoia National Forest, and My Family was all in a fuss. It seems there’s this thing called “the government”, which decided they didn’t want the forest to be open anymore. I don’t know how you can close a forest, but apparently it’s closed. Still, we got to go on a long hike up a mountain and sniff around our neighbors’ campsites. But when Victoria and Jason took me for a walk to the general store, the people there told us we were lucky they were still open. The National Forests are going to be shut down. That’s going to take an enormous gate.
Crossing the river to go on a hike
We still had a lot of fun before we had to leave. Jason was worried about the fire ants, and Victoria liked watching him put the fire out with sand. Sand is one of my favorite things, so I definitely knew how she felt. We stayed in this place for two nights, before an old lady ranger with a nose ring told us we had to leave. Time to pack up and get back on the road.
Victoria was really worried we wouldn’t find a comfy home for the night, with this “government shutdown” going on. We didn’t get to see the sequoias, which Jason said would be the biggest trees I’ve ever seen. In fact, there’s a tree called General Sherman, which is one of the largest living things on the planet. That would have been cool. Instead, we left for the town of June Lake, in the Inyo National Forest. Victoria and Jason were both pretty relieved that the campground was still open.
I’ve basically spent the last week inside the camper because it’s so cold outside of Venice. This is my view.
It was beautiful, and really quiet. But I’m not sure why they wanted to come here. It was really REALLY cold. I took one step out of the camper and couldn’t stop shivering. I spent the whole time layered up in both my pink hoodie and my puffer jacket. When I did go outside I saw deer, which are pretty but don’t want to play. Victoria was pretty worried about bears, and kept shining the huge flashlight into the bushes and asking where the bear spray was. She didn’t need to worry, I could smell that no bears were around, and we were totally safe.
So this is interesting… Did you know that when it gets extra cold water turns solid? It’s called ice. I didn’t know that, and apparently neither did My Family, because that night when they tried to wash dishes the water in the hose turned into ice, and the whole sink and stove in the camper flooded. It was a mess to clean up, and Jason was panicked that they had already broken our new home. The stove didn’t work after that, and the next day Jason called the people who made the camper to tell them what happened. They laughed at us for being from Southern California, but told Jason that everything would be okay in a few days. Right after that a different ranger came over and told us we would have to leave the forest. It was closed…
I’m pretty sure we’ve spent most of the last week driving. It’s not so bad because I get to sit on Vic’s lap and look out the window.
We hopped back into the big truck and stopped by a “RV Resort” nearby. They had showers there, so Victoria and Jason finally got clean. I know I only have a bath now and then, but they were starting to smell. From there we drove around what Victoria called “the June Lake Loop”, which just seemed like more boring driving to me. An hour or so later we stopped in a town called Kernville, so they could get coffee and I could run around the big lawn for a while. I wanted to put up a blog post there, but Jason and Victoria were busy eating, drinking and hogging the computers.
After they ate breakfast (and didn’t share any of it), we kept driving, eventually ending up near a town called Lake Tahoe. Jason didn’t know where we were going to spend the night, until Victoria saw a sign pointing towards a hot springs and campground. They thought that sounded good, so off we went. I never got to see the hot springs, as they left me in the car (again), but Victoria and Jason came back smiling and relaxed. I’m glad they had a nice time, but maybe next time they will take me with them?
Jason looking at the big trees.
We stayed in a really cool campground, with plenty of people to meet, huge pinecones to play with and lots of trees to sniff. But we were absolutely freezing. Look, I am not made for cold weather. My tummy is hairless! After that night, Victoria and Jason decided a change of plans was necessary. They didn’t want to keep going north, as they thought it would only get colder. It could get colder?! So instead, we drove for hours and hours and hours, until the sun had set.
That was the craziest part of the whole week for me. The road was all twists and turns, and we had to drive really really slow. The trees were HUGE. Apparently, these were Redwoods, and it seemed like they were leaning over us, wondering why we were there. Everyone was getting tired and grumpy after such a long day in the car. And where were my treats? We finally found a market, where I was left in the car (note the pattern) while Jason and Victoria went for food. At least I knew I’d get some treats after that stop. Back on the road, we looked for a beach campsite, but those were way too cold. Victoria saw a small sign in the town of Mendocino for a campground, and we finally pulled in for the night. We’ve been here for four nights now, which is pretty cool. It feels like home, except still way too chilly for me. Tomorrow we’re going to start heading south again, towards something called “the border”. I hope it’s warm there.
More big trees, Mendocino-style.
Some numbers from my first week on the Big Adventure:
Pieces of sausage eaten: 2
Pieces of bacon eaten: 2
Pieces of bacon eaten that Victoria and Jason didn’t know about: 1
Pieces of pate, brie, grilled cheese, and breakfast sandwich eaten: 0 (my family needs to learn how to share)
Dog fights: 1 (dogs on the road apparently don’t know what “get off my lawn!” means)
Hours spent waiting all alone in the big truck: 5
P.S. If you want to see some of the pictures my family took during the first week of the Big Adventure, you can check them out here!
