Weed, California

I woke up during the night. My right hip was complaining bitterly. 'Hey, old woman', it grumbled. 'What are you doing back in Cold and Damp Land? You know I don't like it here!' At the same time, the rest of my body was shivering and trying to tunnel farther under the covers. Several times, I talked myself down. I told myself that if I just pulled the sleeping bag over me, I would be fine. (My covers consist of a flannel sheet, a blanket lovingly crocheted by my daughter, and a sleeping bag - the latter for Really Cold Nights.) Finally, I woke up thoroughly enough to realize that I already had all three covers over me, and I was still cold. Without bothering to put on glasses or even turn on a light, I stumbled to the thermostat and cranked it. A few minutes later, the heat kicked in and my bodily ills subsided.

We're not in Mexico anymore.

We are now in California, which ought to be a warm place, no? At least Lodi should have been. Weed - not so much. We are at 3,500 feet, surrounded by trees, and I can see patches of snow on the ground outside the RV park. Even if the climate isn't warm, our welcome here was - which is only fitting, as we are staying at the Friendly RV Park. This will go on our list of Parks to Remember, because of the friendly welcome, and also because it is in a very convenient place.

Remembering it will be made easier by the fact that Maggie is feeling much better now. She went on the fritz in Arizona, if I remember correctly, on the way down to Mexico, and no amount of resetting, turning off and on, or cajoling would convince her to work. She kept telling us we were in central California, heading north. Sheesh. We put Maggie (who is really an It, a Magellan GPS device) away for the duration. We don't have the software for Mexico anyway, so we planned on having Maggie repaired when we got back to Canada. Today, on a whim, I pulled her out of the cupboard, plugged her in, and hit the Reset button for the twentieth time. At first, she thought we were near Tijuana, heading south, but within a minute or so she got her bearings, and she's been fine ever since. We feel much better, too, because we had missed hearing her say "At the first opportunity, make a LEGAL u-turn..." whenever we pulled off the road to go to the supermarket or check out an RV park. I noticed that we both talk to her as if there were a tiny woman hidden inside that plastic case. "It's okay, Maggie. Never mind." So tonight I will ask Maggie to mark this park as a Favourite, for future reference.

Tomorrow: Oregon