Travels with The Rayman

A trying day.  A day trying to get things done.  A very trying day.  But was it, really?

So, we need to leave our campsite in Camp Champoeg, OR.  A lovely spot.  With full grown trees throwing shade our way.  It didn’t have sewer, but, hey, you can’t have everything.  So, we unhooked and drove out at 7 a.m., undoubtedly disturbing those who slept in adjacent campsites.  And then we drove north to Vancouver, WA to deliver TDH to Power Windows.  These are the people that are replacing our windows-gone-on-bad.  And there we left TDH and drove further north to Mt. St. Helens.

What could go wrong?

A panorama of Mt. St. Helens with my family.

Well.  Rayman input Mt. St. Helens in the phone and it tells him to proceed on a two lane road.  So, that is what he did.  And wandered and wandered and wandered and then came upon a building labeled Mt. St. Helens.  We bounded into the building and I said, “We’re here!”  And a woman who was on her knees said, “Welcome.”.  And that is when we found out that since we had followed our GPS, we had arrived at the wrong entrance for viewing the Mountain.  OMG.  Really.  Now.  Get this.  When we left Vancouver, WA they guy told Rayman it was a 2 hour trip one way.  And so the lady we ended up meeting informed us that Mt. St. Helens was 2 hours away.  We had already been on the road 1 hour.  

No one was happy.

Now, if this wasn’t problem enough, I tried to use Rayman’s iPad.  It didn’t work and we had been having problems with it so I told him that since we were stuck in the car, I would call Verizon and work on the problem.   So, after being on hold the call was dropped.  We were in the mountains.  At this point I waited until we got on the Interstate and called back.  The problem was so complicated that Rush, the Verizon dude I was working with who had me powering off and powering on the iPad, changing settings etc, told me that it was the most unusual problem he had ever worked on.  That pretty much says it all.

Flip to a parking lot off the freeway situated in front of a Mexican restaurant.  There we were.  I was still on the phone with Verizon.  (For an hour. with Rush).  And Rayman decided that his tooth site where his wisdom tooth resided a couple of months ago…yes, that site was really bugging him.  He was agitated by it.  After discussion which ensued as I spent on time on hold with Verizon…it was determined that he should, right at that time, call his dentist.  In SLO.  So, he is standing in the parking lot talking to the dentist’s office and I’m slumped over in the front seat of car on my phone with Verizon.   What a couple.  Really.  Are you kidding me?

But I digress.

We decide to buy peanut M&Ms, hit the head, and fill up the Fit.  Then I take over all the wheel.  We reached another building touting Mt. St. Helens and we ducked in.  This place had a movie about the volcano and it was really good.  And an exhibit.  I went one direction and Rayman the other while viewing the exhibit and then I lost him.  When I found him, there he was on his phone.  Bad news was flowing over the air ways.  Seems there was a problem with the window installation.  The glass was ordered with the wrong tint on 2 of the 4 windows.  So…we would either being sleeping in the parking lot tonight or not.  It was complicated.  Well, hysteria ensued.  By me.  I thought this and I thought that and I huffed and puffed.  Then Rayman got worked up and as he popped a peanut M&M into his mouth he took in a breath and the two didn’t mix.  I pulled over as he gasped and carried on.  I saw him pointing to the water thermos and gave it to him and he took a sip.  Completely fixed the problem.  By this time, I was shaking.  He scared the you know what out of me.  I thought he was going to expire right then and there.

Then we proceed up the road.  

Stopped.  Took pictures.  Enjoyed the view.  Decided we better hurry back as the window place closed at 4.  I was still beside myself about the windows.  But finally, I came to my senses.  And released on the whole thing.  I poohed it.  

Interspersed with all this, the dental problem loomed.  At long last Rayman got a call.  He has an appt. tomorrow.  In Portland.  He was much relieved.  

So, here is what happened to the windows.  The guy at Power Windows in WA ordered the wrong the tint.  So, they cut new windows and took the windows to the tint place in OR and the tint place furnace was down.  So, they waited for it to repaired.  After the furnace was repaired,  the WA windows were put thru the furnace.  That cracked the windows.  The OR people then made new windows.  And they sent those through the furnace.  They cracked(the windows).  So, the place they had taken our windows to tint them,  apparently has the ability to cut their own windows and they are located in Oregon.  So, the guy in WA negotiated that the tint place in OR to cut the glass for the WA people in the right tint.  (So, why didn’t we just go to the people in OR?)  And they proceeded to do that but the thing is…our tint is a light gray.  The guys in OR used the dark gray.  OMG.  Really.  So, the WA place asks the OR tint place to redo it.  The OR tint place is out of light gray.  Really, folks, I am not making this up.  So, the OR tint people order the light gray tint, but it is delivered too late in the day to apply and then get it back to WA .  It must be cured, this tint.  And it has to cured before it is installed, so they need us to bring TDH back tomorrow.  So, the question then becomes, and just why did it take 10 days for the manufacturing of our windows?  Questions abound.

However.  I now sit in the comfort of TDH, a gin and tonic under my belt along with red wine that I washed down my leftover barbecued skirt stead sandwich tonight.  Two of our 4 windows look great.  But I need to cut this short because we have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive TDH back to Vancouver, WA from our current location, Troutdale.  And then Beau has a scheduled grooming at 11.  And so do I.  Different salons, of course.  And Rayman has to face the dental chair at noon.  

And then at 5 we meet our WA bicycle friends for dinner in downtown Portland.   (an aside:  That is when I will confess to them that while riding my bike yesterday, I hit the break and the bike stopped but I didn’t.  I think I was simultaneously trying stop myself with my foot.  Well, this caused my pubic bone to continue it’s forward trajectory at the same time the bike came to a sudden halt and it hit the front of the bike at a speed that caused more than a slight amount of discomfort.  End of aside)  

Oh, but that is after we pick up TDH in WA and return it to Troutdale, hook it up the water, electricity, sewer only to spend the night and then head out on Friday toward home.  Thus ends our summer trip in the northwest.  We will weave out way back home via Redmond, Medford, Lassen, Clio, Loomis and then Morro Bay on Sept 7 or 8.  

Mt. St, Helens was wonderful despite all the travails.  And the Verizon problem is fixed(I was on the phone with them for more than an hour.  Had to turn the car on to the charge the phone so that I didn’t drop the call when rounding a bend).  Two of the windows look great.  And the Rayman isn’t worried about his hole in his head anymore.  That’s because I have taken over the worrying about the hole in his head,,,but in a different way!!  Also, he didn’t choke to death on the side of the road.  That was good.   I think the only guy that had a worse day than Rayman was the guy at Power Windows.  And tomorrow may not be any better for him.  I have some questions…for future reference.