exhaustedI very much took my time driving home. I stopped for breakfast in Tracy. Many of the staff at the restaurant were in costume. Most of the servers were wearing elaborate Dia de los Muertos dresses and makeup, and I complimented them about it. What surprised me were a family that were asking what the costumes were about and reacting with some bemusement when told about the Day of the Dead. How one could live in the Southwest and never heard or seen anything about Dia de los Muertos surprises me. Oh well.
Heading for the hills, I started getting sleepy despite all of the coffee I'd had.
While I could have stopped at the Gold Run Rest Area (which is open once again) and I would have done so for an overnight stop, for an afternoon nap where I want the Rolling Stone in the shade there is a place I know at this exit. I've never seen a town here, so I guess that much of its secret is being kept.
Driving to the end of the county road, there is a wide area where I can park without blocking the road (or the Union Pacific's access to their service road for the tracks in the distance). I stopped, opened the windows and vents in the RV, made out the bed, and napped for an hour or so. The Rolling Stone is tiring to drive in the best of circumstances, as it does not handle that well even with the stabilizer we had installed, and I'm not at my best right now anyway. But carrying a bedroom around with you makes it a bit easier to stop and sleep for a while, assuming you can find a place to park where nobody will hassle you.
After the Secret Stop, I continued home (with a couple more shorter rest stops) without incident. Lisa had taken advantage of me being away for a week and out from underfoot to do a bunch of cleaning, and had also built up the fire in the fireplace as the weather is starting to turn cold again. She helped me unload what needed unloading tonight. The rest can wait until tomorrow.
These trips seem to get harder the less often I do them, although of course it's likely that I'm just getting older and less resilient.
