drama with Note

​When you’re sick with flu, you’re supposed to drink lots of fluids and sleep for days, right?
 
Not possible with this trip. Yesterday was “moving day,” which means, I gotta pack up everything and hook Finder to Meraki and get the Note (car) attached properly. That procedure requires 110% of my focus. I told myself to be slow and be careful.
 
Welp, I failed.

richard and his friend, who came to my rescue

​Let me back up a bit. When I pull Note up onto Finder, I have to make sure the ramps are leveled or set up in the right spot. There were some roads (rocks only) that can cause the metal ramp to pop off when loading. I always had Eitan there to watch and make sure. This time, I just wanted it over with. I was feverish and walking around was painful.
 
I had to put Meraki close to the grassy area so I wouldn’t block other RVs from moving through. As a result, the left tire was on the road and the right was on the grassy area. Leveled, but iffy.
 
I slowly pulled up and it seemed to be fine, so I went ahead to complete the “landing,” only to feel the left ramp pop out. I moved too fast which resulted the left side of Note on the ground and the right side still up on the metal ramp. What I didn’t expect was, the right ramp was about to pop out as well.
 
I slowly backed out and… felt a loud crunch and everything went into slow motion.
 
Boom, I landed hard on the road and the entire front part of Note twisted upwards, slowly curving into a C, where the tip faced me, like… “hello, stupid.” Shit, I thought. I got out and looked… the entire bumper from bottom to the hood was ripped off.
 
I just stood there, feverish and all, and gaped with my mouth’s shaped in an “o.” Normally, I would have cursed, but I was too stunned. A good slow few seconds passed and I looked up to look around to see if anyone witnessed my stupidity. Thank god nobody did.
 
I then texted to my husband telling him what happened and asked what I should do. I knew he was working, just started in fact, and probably wouldn’t respond for at least 45 minutes. At that very moment, I just wanted to crawl into my bed, curl up and sleep.
 
A minute or two passed, I realized that the front piece actually came out clean, that I was able to put it back in, like a puzzle. So, I proceeded with attempting to pop it back in, doing that, I attracted two European looking men, who quickly came to my aid. They helped me put it back and we used spare bolts I had for the awning to screw it in. It was such a DIY approach to fix the cosmetic damages I did to Note. Still, it worked. The entire time we were working on the car, I kept coughing, blowing my nose and sneezed, I wonder what they thought of me. 
 
When I hooked Note to Finder, they watched me and kept offering to help. I told them I was fine and thanked them. They still stood by to make sure I was okay. At one point, Richard told me the tires seemed low and I gave him my air compressor, he filled up my tires (they were low, I honestly didn’t see a difference, wow).
 
After an hour, I was finally able to leave. The men gestured to me, pointing at my car’s license and said, “you California??” “Yes.” “You drive far??” “Yes, we are traveling for a year.” “Wow, you strong!” Awwww.
 
“We watch you go.” I thanked them again and left, seeing them wave at me from my review mirror. I swear, RV people are the friendliest bunch, and I am sure it is because we all collectively share same shitty moments.

me and the cats of ernest hemingway

us at our southernmost point of #findingmeraki trip

Tomorrow we move again. The place we are at is very tight with space which means, I have to give ZERO consideration to traffic when hooking up Note to Meraki. And I absolutely vow to not be self conscious about it.

14 years ago, jk and I were at this very spot. I told my boys to pose as if they are pointing at Cuba and being surprised on how close we are... they were too embarrassed to do so (apparent here)

Jason and I, 14 years ago (December 23, 2003)