Meeting ‘Don’

It was not a particularly restful night in West Sacramento. The freeway traffic continued all night and at times the ground seemed to shake because of some train passing somewhere nearby.

Still, we had very friendly neighbours next door to Site 37. Tom and Hermien from Seattle. Our paths were crossing as they were heading north as we continued south. They were travelling in a Quebec built travel trailer that they imported to the U.S. through Chilliwack (duty free since it was built in Canada).

In the morning a fellow named Don S. (or Z.) drove up and stopped to examine our camping ‘equipment’. He asked Tom and me (mostly Tom as he had a clever solar electric system) lots of questions. In retrospect, Tom and I were not even sure that he was camping since it turned out he lives in West Sacramento (or Westsac as the locals say). More likely, it seemed, he had just wandered in to look around.

Don was wearing one of the loudest plaid shirts I have ever seen and a pair of baby blue sweatpants. On his feet he was wearing flip-flops but with socks so that the socks scrunched up around the thong. He talked a mile a minute in a kind of new-age stream of consciousness. Both Tom and I had to pay close attention to keep up. At one point Don made reference to ‘three DUIs’. It was only ten seconds later that this registered with me and  I exclaimed: “Three DUIs??!!” At which point Dan was able to back track and tell us all the details including the $6,000 he’d paid his lawyer. I was a little suspicious that someone with THREE DUIs pending would still have their license but decided I’d been nosey enough. I did notice that his newish SUV did have more than a little scraped paint and minor dents on it.

Don mentioned something about developing an ‘app’ but it became clear that there was money in his family. He talked about managing his father’s money. I assumed that his father must be deceased or mad if he let Don invest more than $10 on his behalf.

The whole experience was hilarious although it was only after it was over that we could really laugh out loud about it. Tom and I agreed that such encounters are the ones you’ll remember and laugh about for years to come. And poor Hermien. She’d missed the whole thing as she’d gone off to have a shower.

Before Hermien and Tom left they took this picture of Eliot and me by the van.

The rest of the day was spent in the van heading down Hwy 99 to Bakersfield. A long and boring drive and it was dark by the time we got to the campground at Lake Isabella where the camping fee in two years has gone from less than $20 to $24 dollars. No hot water. No showers. Not too bad if you’re a couple or a group but getting pricey for solo travellers. There were lots of motels offering rooms for under $40 coming down Hwy 99. Of course, I’d worry that those rooms might come with a side of bedbugs.

Today we’re off to Lone Pine to camp in the shadow of Mount Whitney.