Travel Journal - Day 4

» October 4, 2004 10:15 AM by Nicole

Day 4 - Donner Blitzen
Monday, July 18, 2004

BAD OMEN - When I was driving on Day 1 of this strange trip, I killed a butterfly. It slammed into the windshield. It hooked itself on the wiper so we could stare at its lifeless body for 5 hours. Eventually, I pulled it off and the wings separated from its body. (Icky. Yucky. Ewww. ) It was just flying along one minute and then BLAMO! How telling. Gypsies refer to this type of forewarning as, “forewarning.”

HISTORY LESSON - Truckee is home to Donner Pass. We are stranded in the exact same spot as The Donner Party of 1846. This was a group of settlers that had to eat each other in order to survive the harsh winter. If you’d like to read more about people eating people, click here. I doubt Jessica will eat me. Well, not if I keep buying beer anyway.

TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE – It seems that everyone in this town got stuck and decided to stay put. When we told folks that we had broken down, almost always they’d respond with, “So did I, and I never left.” The waitress at Madigans, the maid at the motel, the woman at the mini-mart, Chris the acid tripping desk clerk—all of them had been stranded here and just never left. We need to LEAVE and NOW!
But...wait...maybe...this...place...isn’t...so..bad...

WEEPY SLEEP - The car’s transmission was dead. I was sad. My family was really looking forward to my visit. I guess my “buck up” attitude went away in the night because Jessica asked me in the morning, “Were you quietly weeping in your sleep?” I said, “Maybe.” We laughed at my unconscious blubbering. Tee hee hee. Misery is funny. Jessica booked us a rental car and a flight out of Salt Lake City, Utah to New York City.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT – To keep our spirits up, we went for a hike. We discovered a path and came upon a memorial dedicated to the Donner Party with names carved under two headings: SURVIVED and DECEASED. (Deceased meaning DINNER). We roamed down by a creek. We met some interesting characters by the water who had ALSO BROKEN DOWN. (Man, this place is cursed.) As we progressed along the water’s edge, the walking path disappeared and we navigated our way through and around a river. Neither of us are particularly agile women. There came a point where we needed to jump across the river onto what appeared to be a grassy patch of land. Jessica was ahead of me and I told her to just leap! Leap like a gazelle! And she leapt! And she dove right into muddy river water that soaked her up to her boobs. I went to help her out of the mucky muck and she says to me (and this is why I LOVE Jessica), “Take a picture. I want to remember this moment.” How could we ever forget?

WE HAVE A WINNER – After I ran (Yes, I actually ran. That’s how much I care for my friend.) back to the room to get her some new pants so she didn’t have to swish around in muddy corduroys, Jess and I ate at Madigans for our final night in Truckee. Jessica’s ravioli came out on a special plate with colorful beer bottles painted on it. The waitress explained that Madigans ran a secret contest. Whosoever happens to get their entree served on the wacky bottle plate gets a free dessert. Hizzah! We ended the night with FREE chocolate brownie sundaes and the best South Park ever—the J-LO/Ben Affleck/Cartman hand puppet love triangle. “Mmmmmmmm. Just like tacos. “

Tomorrow we head home. It's smooth sailing now.

To be continued...