Thanksgiving came one day early for us as the good folks in McMinnville called Wednesay afternoon to tell us that Winnie Cooper was good as new. In the pitch darkness, just before closing time, we hurtled into Valley RV to reclaim the newly repaired 29' rolling tin can that has been our home for the past two months - I mean, when I wasn't beating the hell out of it or running it into the overhangs of vacation homes.
We paid the bill and headed back to suburban Portland where we've been staying. It was nice to be in the warm confines of the RV. Sure, there's a musty smell. Sure, I'm a little gunshy about driving the thing, but it feels like normal again, and the big trip continues southward tomorrow morning.
We're headed to California where we have appointments to see David St. John, Carol Muske-Dukes, Sharon Bryan, and a handful of others. (We'll also be shooting across to Nevada to see Donald Revell and Claudia Keelan.)
Anyway, it's Thanksgiving here as I write this, and we're spending our last night in a hotel before getting on the road in the morning. We are 2 of about 6 guests in the entire hotel. We get a complimentary continental breakfast each morning, and today we sat by ourselves and ate a dozen hard boiled eggs, our voices echoing through the empty building.
Later today, instead of having our normal Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my wife's folks - which is always a gigantic and delicious feast - we'll be here at the hotel microvaing Swanson "Hungry Man" Turkey Dinners. They look terrific. Really. White turkey meat. Peas. Potatoes. Monosodium Glutamate. Food coloring. And hardly any cleanup! No pie. But I did grab 2 Snickers bars out of the vending machine. And for drinks I've got three cans of Coors Light chilling.
What a lot to be thankful for right here.
But the highway calls and we will be swerving on it soon.