Raven’s RV
The ongoing education and adventures of two rank newbie RVers

Oct 31, 2007

We don’t like Manteca

On the way to Manteca we got separated on the road: Don went straight while I took an off-ramp and waited for a very long time to reach the bridge over the highway, passing a biker who, if I gathered correctly, was waiting for the police so he could report a hit and run (he was unhurt, didn’t need my help, and frustrated). When I got on the bridge it took a very long time to cross it, and then it took another very long time to get a green light so I could u-turn and go into the very busy Wal-Mart parking lot.

Meanwhile Don had gone to the next exit, returned, and crossed the bridge going in the opposite direction. We waved cheerfully at one another. When I got to Wal-Mart I waited a very long time for him to be able to turn around and make it through all the traffic and construction. When he did, I guided him into a space using our walkie-talkies.

First impressions of Manteca, therefore: blah.

This Wal-Mart was a busy, 24-hour store and we parked where we could. Then we went in and did our shopping duty. I now know the origin of the RV joke, “We spent a free night at Wal-Mart. $84 worth of supplies later we went to bed.” It wasn’t quiet, but it was safe enough with the security guards and the constant flow of humanity around us, and the rig really does seem to create a protective shell around the occupants.

We ran the generator long enough to warm up my homemade chilli, sopped it up with bread, and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up to Don fretting about the continued arrival of people, possibly (and probably) blocking us in. Starving hungry, newly on the rag and without coffee, I growled at him when, already dressing in my bike gear and on the way out the door, he informed me for maybe the third time that I needed to move my bike. He growled back. To make it even more fun, Beastie, left out in a cold and dark morning, refused to start and Don had to start him for me. Then we pulled out of the way to the periphery in such a way that nobody could block us in.

Then, and only then, did I get some breakfast and a chance to use the bathroom in the store (I didn’t dare add any more mess to our obnoxious black water tank). And the icing on the cake: as we tried to leave my bike wouldn’t start yet again. This time the battery went flat and required a jump to get going.

We lumbered our way out of the parking lot with me sent as scout to make sure we wouldn’t meet any more dead ends. Then we left Manteca, and probably won’t be back in a hurry. Some places have a good vibe and others do not. This was a definite “not.”

The good thing about a bike/RV convoy is that you are not both in the same cab, biting each other’s head off all the time. Riding a bike is an instant attitude adjustment, and Don tells me that he likes driving. On Altamont Pass I noticed him swerve onto the shoulder, though, and wondered what was going on. He pulled off at Flynn Road, the summit and a popular truck rest area, and there I found out. The add-on shelf with cup holders and storage containers had fallen off the dashboard. The cats were not best pleased and glared at us balefully from their cage.

As for me, I finally got my first coffee of the day.

I told you that I like RVing. ;)

Fallen dashboard