Hooray for Canadians and Onstar

At one point around 2pm, stuck in a construction traffic jam in Arcata, I started laughing. It may or may not have been hysterical in nature. Surely there can't be anything else go wrong, I thought.

The morning started off just fine, coffee, listening to Humboldt State Public Radio, a long hot shower in the KOA bathrooms, all was great. I packed up and left, got about 5 miles down 101, and remembered I'd put the wet towel and washrag in the dryer at the KOA. So back I went, still in a good humor. No big deal. Starting again, I got about 10 miles down the coast and saw a scenic pullout, with a view of the coastline. Some pictures would be the ticket, I said, pulling over and getting out. I had unlocked the truck, all doors, and left the keys on the seat. With my phone. Standing beside the truck, focusing the camera, the truck beeped it's horn. My razor-sharp mind raced through the possibilities, and ended with "No. It can't be."

Spare key, you ask? Yep, in the truck. I had actually considered this before; this is not the first time I've locked myself out of the truck. My thinking was that surely if I locked myself out, I'd have my phone, and could call Onstar, and they could do their long-distance magic thing, and presto! It'd be open. I was standing there with a god-knows-what-kind-of-look on my face when a rig from Oregon pulled in behind me. The fellow got out to take some pictures, and I asked to used his cell phone. It had no signal, but then he said "Hey, I have Onstar, let's try that." Turns out he's from Alberta, part of a cycling team working the coast route, and was kind enough to wait while I worked this thing through. So hooray for Canadians. Let's all do a chorus of "Oh Canada". 123......

Eventually, after three unsuccessful tries where they unlocked his vehicle instead of mine, it worked. I can't express my relief, and the vague feeling that this high-tech crap I've been dissing for years may actually have it's uses. All this took perhaps an hour. No big deal, I'm on vacation, not in a hurry, no worries, mate. So hooray for Onstar. No song here.

Somehow I missed the turnoffs for the National Redwood Park, and got to the Trinity area. I'ts where I had planned on staying, so I figured I'd get a site at a recommended RV park, and go back. The RV park is just fine, and my site has a partial view of the ocean (see pics below), and has all the hookups, water, electric and wifi.

The water pump in the camper had started making a louder noise yesterday, and I had noticed other RV's hooking a hose directly to the camper. I have just such a hookup on mine, so I thought I'll do that, relieve the pump, and Bob's your uncle. I did just that, only to discover that on the inside, there is no connection betwix the inlet and the water system. It just gushes out beneath the sink. Sopping up water with towels ensued.

The inside dry, I relaxed, turned on the computer. Huh, no external power to the computer. It's plugged in to the wall outlet, the camper is plugged into the site feed. What ho? Must be a fuse. Nope. Circuit breaker, nope. Shit. So off I go to Eureka, 25 miles, to find an RV dealer. Your electrical system is fine, says they, but upon asking about the water pump noise tells me it's dying, and leaking to boot. I make an appointment to replace the water pump in the morning and go back to tell the RV Park their electric outlet at my site isn't working.

It's now 4:40pm, and my mind is saying something about strong drink. In the interest of brevity (cue laugh track here) I haven't included the bit about when I stopped to help a German couple from Cologne who had locked the keys in their rental car, and I got a long lecture from Onstar about not using proper technique to place a call.

If you happen to have read this far, here's the view from my camper:

So, the view is good, and tomorrow bright and early I'll present myself to the RV place who will hopefully fix me and I'll be on my way. Just a hiccup, I'm telling myself.