Last Minute Trip to Reno/Carson City, Nevada

 A few days ago I asked mom and Ben if they wanted to go to Mount St. Helens on Saturday and they were on board.  The weather was suppose to be awesome and I won't go anywhere with a view unless it's going to be nice.  I started making the preparations into going.  I got all of my caching stuff together, a list of which caches I wanted to get (to close the gap for my 11000th cache), my hiking shoes and socks, some snacks and a sense of adventure.  I planned on visiting the northeast side of the mountain, specifically Windy Ridge, because I wanted to get that virtual cache.  That side was also the most destructive side when it erupted.  I haven't been out that way in almost 20 years and I was excited to see Miner's car, Windy Ridge and just to be at the mountain.  I've been waiting almost the entire year because we have to wait for the gate to open once all the snow melted.

The alarm went off at 8 and we were suppose to meet mom by 9 at her house.  She needed to be ready by the time we got there.  Ben is a slow starter in the morning so I had to keep bothering him so he would get up, get ready and eat some food so we could go and be there on time.  I wasn't sure if dad was going to join us or not.  I guess we would find out when we got there.  I put all the stuff into the Escape and we headed into Rainier.

When we got to the house mom was bringing her stuff out and dad was running around looking for stuff.  I asked mom if he was going to go with us and she said no, he needed to fix grandma's water heater.  Wow, that sucks!  We got everyone into the Escape and we headed towards Eatonville.  I had to stop by Dogwood Park so I could replace the Rainier100 cache that went missing a few weeks ago.  I started getting hate emails from people.  I'm glad I remembered to bring an extra cache container to replace it with.

When we got to Dogwood Park we were the only ones in the small park.  Mom admired the view of Mount Rainier from this spot while Ben and I assembled the cache with its logbook, trinkets, a pathtag and the code word on the lid.  Later on I found out the code word was wrong.  I have no idea why I wrote it down wrong and I possibly transposed it somehow.  I found the place where it needed to be...it's been a while since I've found this cache (it was adopted to me by WatchDogsMike) so I found some rocks to keep it hidden from view.  As we were doing this mom was walking around with her phone near the turn around area of the parking lot.  When I returned from replacing the cache I looked at my phone because I heard the text message jingle.  It was about 10:30 and I get this message from Erika,

"So Travis effing broke up with me out of nowhere.  I'm moving back home."

I was stunned and just looked at it.  Ben was wondering what was happening.  I wasn't sure if I was reading it right or not.  I looked at mom who was on her way back to the Escape and I asked her, did you just get a text message from Erika?

She looked at me, also stunned, and said yeah.  I then asked, so what do we do?  We sat in the Escape for a few minutes trying to get a hold of dad.  Collectively, we decided going to Mount St. Helens would have to wait for another day and to head back home to figure out a game plan.  It was perfect timing because after Morton we wouldn't have cell phone service until we were done and on our way back from the mountain.  If it would have been later we wouldn't have known until we got service at some point during the day.  Us stopping at Dogwood changed the course of our day.

We headed home trying to reach dad.  We knew he was working on grandma's water heater and his phone was probably in the car.  We called grandma's house phone and she said he just left.  We were hoping he was at home so we could see what he wanted to do with the situation.  When we did finally get home dad was home and he was talking with Erika about what she wanted to do.  It sounded like she wanted to leave as soon as possible.  She was mad and wanted nothing to do with Travis or Nevada.  I totally get that however she needed help and the quickest any of us could get there is later that night via airplane.  Dad point blank asked her if she wanted us to come and get her.  She said yes.

I thought about this.  Mom really can't take the time off because she has patients and her coworkers really don't like her not being at work, dad shouldn't go because of health reasons so that left Ben and I to go see what plane tickets were available last minute for fairly cheap.  We went inside and we checked every website possible.  We found an Alaskan Airline flight for two people for a little more than $500 with taxes.  I bought them but our seats were not going to be near each other which was okay.  We found a somewhat cheap last minute flight that left SeaTac around 7, which was in a few hours.  Ben and I went home and packed enough stuff for three days, made sure my cat was going to be fed and I called my boss and Connie to let them know I wasn't going to be at work on Monday.  I had enough leave so it wasn't going to break me.  Ben didn't have anywhere to be so he was going to be our helper.

Mom drove to our house and parked the truck. I was going to drive us to the airport and mom was going to drive the Escape back to my house and head home from there.  We left  around 4:30 early enough just because you never know what the traffic was going to be like...accidents, lane closures due to construction, fires (it is summer ya know) or any other unexplainable weird freeway stuff.

To my surprise traffic really wasn't that bad and we arrived right around 5:30ish.  We pulled up along side the departures area near the Alaskan Airlines signage, grabbed our stuff and thanked mom for driving my Escape back home.  I hugged her just in case we died and she said, don't say stuff like that...because we just lost Harvey and we all still weren't over it.  Ben and I walked in and looked for our ticket area and found the e-ticket machine and printed out our boarding passes.  Since we just had the one bag and my carry on we didn't need to check our luggage.  I realized this was my first plane ride with Ben since we've been dating and we are going on almost year number four!

We maneuvered our way towards the security and stood in a relatively short line.  It didn't take us long to get through and I forgot to take my computer out of my bag so it was searched further.  Ugh!  Once I got my stuff back we walked to our gate just to make sure we knew where it was and that it was leaving on time to Reno.  I texted Erika that we were at our gate and we had less than an hour until it boarded.  She said okay and to text her when we land.  She knew roughly when we would be there.

We sat near our gate, Ben played his games on his phone, I Facebooked and called people just to pass the time.  When it was our time to finally board, we found a place for our bag and made our way to our seats. 

Ben wasn't too far away but a couple rows behind me.  I sat next to a guy who was very quiet for the first hour of  the flight.  He did let me take a picture of Mount Rainier from the plane since he had the window seat.  The flight attendants brought us beverages and a cinnamon cookie biscuit thing.

During the second half of the flight he started showing me pictures of his Alaskan trip he was coming back from.  Some of them were pretty cool.  He then went on to explain why he was there.  His work had sent him for about two weeks and he was on his way back to Reno to start a new job come Monday.  He asked if this was my first time to Reno and I explained to him why I was going to Nevada.  We then morphed into traveling and I told him this September I was going to Ecuador for a dental humanitarian trip.  He went on to tell me that he's been there before and told me if I got a chance to try fried guinea pig to do it.  I told him that I would keep it in mind.  We landed around 9:30 and I told him it was nice chatting with him and safe travels in the future.  He told me he also enjoyed chatting and to enjoy Ecuador.

I texted Erika that we landed, met up with Ben as we were leaving the plane and walked through the tunnel into the airport.  I kept thinking to myself, I've never been to Reno before and here I am...however I wished the first time was for a different circumstance.  Since we didn't need to wait for bags Erika parked her car and walked to the Alaskan Airline arrivals.  We saw her walking towards us on the sidewalk with her dog.  It was warm and you could tell she was angry and exhausted.  She said all she did today was pack her stuff into boxes and tried to go to the movies but couldn't sit there and watch it.  I shared our day with her as we got into her car and left the airport.  We couldn't find the card ticket to leave the parking area but managed to find it before we needed to pay.  I asked her if she had eaten dinner yet and she said she hadn't eaten all day.  I asked if there was a nearby In-N-Out since we were in Nevada and I haven't had any for at least 3 years.  She said sure and we found the closest one to us.  It was about 9:45 so I figured it wouldn't be that busy...I was wrong.  Erika and Ben got the double-double animal style and I wanted the normal cheeseburger. Ben had never been here before so we were curious on what he thought of it.  He said it was tasty, hit the spot and would most likely come again when we got the chance.

We drove the 20 miles to Carson City to where Erika and Travis lived.  I never thought I would actually visit Carson City until Erika moved to Nevada a few years ago.  I knew I would eventually save enough money to go down and visit her but again not under these circumstances.  The entire time Erika painted a picture for us about her relationship and what had happened during the past few days.  When we got to the house I knew Travis wasn't going to be there.  Erika gave us a tour of the place and tried to tell us what it looked like before she stuck it all in boxes.  I was impressed that she finally moved into a house instead of living in an apartment.  It's just too bad all of that didn't matter anymore.  She showed us where we would be sleeping and where we could shower and stuff.

While Chopped was on, we each took a turn showering and getting ready for bed.  As far as I knew at that point tomorrow was going to be a very long day.  The plan was to go get the U-Haul Erika reserved at 9 a.m., pack all the boxes inside, with the kayak and motorcycle and Ben and I were to follow her back up to Washington in her car.  Erika slept on the couch and we slept on an air mattress in the guest room.  We finally fell asleep around 1ish.

It's funny how a trip to Mount St. Helens quickly turned into a trip to Reno, Nevada in just a few short hours.

Next Adventure:  Lake Tahoe, Reno and Pranking our Friends and Family

Harvey, The Dude

Erika got Harvey after her first year of college.  Her friend, Simon, had a batch of kittens at his house and gave one to Erika to take to college with her since she was moving into a house with some of the softball girls that I knew.  Harvey didn’t have a name for a while but Erika picked one that suited him well.  She taught him how to go on walks with leashes, he laid on the bathroom floor because it kept him cool and he walked around like he wore high heels.  He loved going outside, playing with Jonas and jumping on my cat Calvin, just because he could.  Harvey loved to drink running water.

He has had several surgeries because of some of the cat fights or bites he’s gotten and has been to the vet several times throughout his life for one thing or another.  When we got back from our trip to Bend, mom and dad noticed he wasn’t looking very good and was very lethargic.  Jonas wasn't looking very good either.  Mom scheduled a vet visit for Friday so they could get checked out.

I don't get cell service on my phone in my building plus I had no idea the cats were going to the vet that Friday.  When I left work sometimes my phone takes a little while to find enough service to give me my text messages and voicemails.  I carpooled that day and I was the passenger.  When my phone found services and I got all of my text messages I received four, they were from a group message my dad sent to me, Doug and Erika.  When I read them I instantly became very upset.  Dad said Harvey had to be put to sleep because he ingested antifreeze.  I was so mad I couldn't even talk.  My family knows better not to keep antifreeze out because we've had pets our whole lives so I knew it wasn't any of us.  That leaves our ignorant neighbors.  Why in the world did someone have their antifreeze out?  It's god damn summer!  The worst part I thought of was Harvey was at the vet, probably scared and he would die there.  He would probably have no idea why he was there and why he would go to sleep and never wake up.  Dad made it even sadder by telling us that even hours after they injected him he was still purring.  I was having such a hard time I would never get to see him alive again.

I told Ben the situation and as soon as I got home I headed over to mom and dad's house to help dad dig a hole in the yard to bury him.  It was so hard to keep it together and not cry.  I helped mom make dinner and joined them outside at the table.   We tried to not talk about it because you knew everyone was very emotional about it.  Dad had the worst job by making the decision to put him to sleep and then watch him die.  It just wasn't his time to die and I could not get past that.  I was so angry at the neighbors because I knew it was one of them.

We went out to the front yard with the tools and wheel barrow and started digging.  I went to the back yard to get a rock so we could mark it.  We dug it deep enough so nothing would be able to get at him.  Dad had him resting in the back of the blue truck and would check on him every hour or so.  He came back and told me he was still faintly purring.  I didn't think it was right to bury him while he was still purring.  It was getting dark and I told them I needed to go so I could get some stuff done at home.  I was exhausted and the fact that Harvey was dead killed me.  

Before I left I said goodbye to Harvey one more time.  It was really hard to muster up the courage to go pet him before I left to go home.  I petted him, told him we were sorry this happened to him and that I would miss him.  I left by saying, love you Harvs and walked to my Escape to go home.  Once I was in the Escape I could not hold it any longer and cried.  I cried all the way to my house.  I was so mad that someone took our cat away for no reason!

I knew every time I went back to the house and didn't see him I would have a hard time with it.  Harvey was a great cat with personality and I will miss him.  He was taken from us too soon.

Next Adventure:  Last Minute Trip To Reno/Carson City, Nevada

Pilot Butte, Caching in Bend, Prineville Spires and Traveling Home

We got up fairly early because we wanted to see Pilot Butte before it was time to check out of our hotel.  We packed up most of our stuff just so it was easier to bring it down and put it in the vehicles when we got back.  We ate the rest of the bananas, doughnuts and Ben had his oatmeal he bought from the store the other day.  Dad decided to stay behind.  We stopped and got some gas from the same Arco Station we’ve been getting gas at since we got here.  It was cheap and down the road from Pilot Butte. 

When we got there we noticed the gate was closed.  It didn’t open until 10 and we had an hour to kill.  Like any normal geocacher would do, we checked to see if there were any close by and there were within a two mile radius of us.  I had Ben be the navigator while I drove.  He took us to the closest one which was at a small park in the residential area.  There really wasn’t a good place to park so we parked at a nearby street and walked the 200 feet.  I noticed a bunch of pennies someone had thrown out so I picked up every single one and put it in my cup holder in the Escape.  When we got to the park we weren’t sure what we were looking for exactly so we checked the obvious places.  Then I saw what it could be and so did Ben.  We must be looking for a fake rock.  We picked up a few and found the one, Laural Rocks (GC1WAY3) which we were looking for.  We signed our names, put it back and walked back to mom and the Escape. 

The next one, Have a Little Faith (GC4PV4X) was at the church just down the street.  It was Sunday so we had to be quick before church started.  We parked literally three feet away from it.  It was a bison sized tube crammed inside a tree system off from the parking lot.  There were a few cars pulling in getting ready for church that morning.  We left as soon as possible because we didn’t want to get involved with the crazy church traffic.

We saw there were a few over by Juniper Park.  That could keep us busy for another half hour.  We parked in the lot and walked over to the first one, Caching in Circles: Grizzly (GC2X2GR).  They were having a horse shoe tournament and mom was intrigued.  I saw the bear and they said the cache was nearby.  We looked and looked.  We knew it had to be hidden near one of those landscaping bricks.  We read the hint and found the brick that looked like a bear tooth had scraped across it.  We signed our names and put it back as we found it.  There were two more caches inside the park and we had time for them.

Juniper Park was impressive.  I wished I lived in a town that had nice parks like these.  This one had a pool, various walking trails, caches and courts for tennis and basketball.  I asked dad about this park and he didn’t know much about it.  It may have come after he lived here.  Juniper Park 1 (GC6G2AC) was a bugger to find.  It was up in the trees but you had to find the right one.  Once we found the right one you had to look at just the right angle to see it.  It was one of those poptop containers.  The other one, Juniper Park 2 (GC6G2AJ), was on the other side of the park and it too, was a poptop container.  That one was easier to find.

By the time we walked back to the Escape it was time to head to Pilot Butte.  We got to the gate and followed the road up the hill.  I was amazed on how many people where walking or running up it.  Sadly, we didn’t have time for that.  When we got up there I was amazed at the 360 views you got of the town, the volcanoes and the other surrounding areas.  I pulled up the earthcache, Volcano in Bend (GC4P8QX) and we started answering the questions collectively.  Luckily we knew most of the geology in the area so it made it easy. 

We stayed for about 45 minutes and when we were going back to the Escape to leave we saw some guy trying to find water because his car overheated, he was from Idaho.  I had a jug of water in the back so we gave it to him to use and told him he could keep the container.  He smiled and thanked us.

We drove the 15-20 minutes back to the hotel in Redmond and met up with dad.  We started taking all of our stuff down to the cars while we decided what the next plan was.  We were to meet up with Ron in Prineville.  Ben and I followed mom and dad since dad knew his way around.  We waited a bit at a grocery store parking lot and then the plans changed so Ben and I got a quick cache to satisfy that county.  We grabbed Peter, Peter ------- ------ (GC4FM14) and by the time we got back it was time to head to the Ochoco Reservoir. 

We got out and it was already getting hot.  I saw there was a geocache near a fishing spot by the lake so we walked up there to go get Picnic with a View (GC111FW).  The reservoir was nice.  The water was clear and at first sight it looked like it was weed free.

We used the restroom and about a half hour later Ron showed up.  We met his daughter and her husband.  They took their boat out to play.  Ron mentioned that he knew some spots out east that we would enjoy seeing.  He said they were some really cool rock formations.  We followed Ron down a really long dirt road and came up to the Brennan Palisades. 

They were really cool.  I can’t believe something this cool was back here.  I saw there was a cache nearby but didn’t realize it was beyond our current capabilities or I would have grabbed it.  I got within 200 feet but it involved some climbing and better equipped shoes.  Instead, we took pictures and enjoyed the area for about a half hour.

He mentioned another one, Stein’s Pillar, and that was down another dirt road but nearby.  We all followed Ron to the next view.  This one actually had a pull out and a sign that explained what you were seeing.  

We noticed that someone had left their backpack behind.  We took it apart to see if there was any ID inside and we couldn’t find one.  Ron decided to take it and drop it off at a place where they could go and claim it if they wanted to.  We saw a coyote in the valley below trying to find some food and water.  The area was really dry and the coyote looked like he wasn’t doing too well.  We chatted with Ron for a little while longer and thanked him for bringing us out here.  I even shook his hand and told him it was nice to meet him.

We headed back towards the main road and took a short cut into Madras where we met up with US97 and the junction of US26.

We were going to take US26 home through Mount Hood.  I have never taken this road before so it should be interesting.  While in Madras, mom and dad stopped for gas.  I didn’t need any gas so they said we should continue on and we might meet up for dinner or something.  The drive was pretty uneventful up until we got to Government Camp.  The traffic got a little weird because no one wanted to follow semi truck and people going slow.  

I thought about stopping to get one of the virtuals but decided to keep going.  I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic in Portland.  When we got to Sandy the traffic got really bad.  I called mom and told her about the upcoming traffic since they were behind us.  I pulled off the road because I wanted to grab one more cache to make it an even thirty.  The more caches I could get the closer I can get to my 11,000^th milestone coming up at the Ape Event in August.  I was still less than a hundred away.  Ben found one with a lot of favorite points but we didn’t realize they were having their Mountain Festival.  We had to be creative to find a parking spot and walk because we were not able to park where the suggested coords were.  We walked through the festival and saw some really cool things but we weren’t there for that.  We made our way towards the cache, Look Both Ways Before Turning (GC1Z9AF).  It was more than three stars so I let Ben look for a bit because I knew what it was going to be.  Just because we were running out of time, I found the bolt, unscrewed it and pulled out the log to sign.  He said, “how did you find it so fast?”  I told him, “there was one similar to this one in McKenna many years ago, it’s archived now.”  

We put it back and walked back to the Escape.  The traffic cleared up a bit with our cache side trip.  Mom and dad passed us and were already in Washington.  We continued on Hwy 26 until it met with I-205.  The traffic wasn't that bad going through Vancouver and we merged onto I-5 with ease.  I didn't need to get gas and neither of us where really that hungry so we didn't stop until we got home.

Mom and dad stopped at Spiffy’s so when we drove past exit 68 we waved to them even though they really couldn't see us.  Haha!

We got home around 8:00 that evening and we unloaded the Escape because it was my turn to drive for carpool during the week.  I got cleaned up, Ben ate some food and I got ready for my work week and put some of my stuff away.  I was exhausted and bed sounded good.

Next Adventure:  Harvey, The Dude