Days #36 - #37—Willits, CA--Monday, June 27, 28

Day 36--Monday, June 27
Willits, CA

Sarah left for work at 7:45 AM, and I wrote up the final pages of our Olympic Peninsula journal, washed clothes, sorted gear, and packed my car with bike and gear for the trip home. I plan on driving tomorrow from Willits to Bakersfield, CA (439 mi); Bakersfield to Flagstaff, AZ (483 mi); Flagstaff to Tucumcari, NM (495), where I will be staying at the Historic Route 66 Motel for $32.00 per night, and from Tucumcari to Stillwater (429 mi). If all goes well, I should arrive home on Friday, July 1, a few days earlier than planned as I will save my visit to Jess until the last two weeks of July when Jeff and I will be vacationing with her in the Sierras and then exploring San Fran together. 

Internet photo

Well, the best laid plans often go awry. Got up this morning and found that I‘d left the car windows cracked and it had rained all night. Got water on the edges of the seats and in the armrest electric window opener area. I turned on the car and closed the windows, then heard a loud noise from under the hood. Was I injuring a squirrel or cat that had gotten into the engine compartment? I turned the car off and got Sarah. We looked under the hood and found nothing amiss. Then we both listened to the noise, which occurred again when I turned on the car. We decided that it was a broken belt. Called AAA and they sent a tow truck. Towed the car the 25 miles to the Toyota dealership in Ukiah. Had to use Sarah‘s Triple-A card because mine allowed only 5 miles of towing and then charged $6 for each subsequent mile. Sarah had a plan with 100 miles of towing on it. Had to take it to Toyota so I wouldn‘t lose my warranty. [I later upped my AAA to Gold and now have 100 towing miles on it. I needed them in 2012 when I visited John Pat in Virginia.]

Day 37--Tuesday, June 28
Willits, CA

Sarah called the Mariposa and told them she’d be in late and then she ran me down to the Toyota garage. One of the mechanics told me that I was right, it was the fan belt. But they might have to order the belt and they were swamped so I needed to leave the car. Later that afternoon a different mechanic called and said he could find nothing wrong with the car. Explained that Cody, the first mechanic, didn‘t know Priuses enough to know that they had no external fan belts. The fan is run on electricity. This mechanic drove the car to lunch and around and it drove perfectly—nothing wrong with it. When I explained my newest theory to the mechanic—water had gotten into the electrical door lock system locks—he agreed that this could, indeed, have been the problem. 

Sarah will drive me to the Toyota garage tomorrow at 7:30–and I will be on the road home again. I moved all my motel reservations up a night and will now be getting home July 2. 

The deer on the cover was standing opposite the driveway when we pulled in today. He‘d just dropped by to say good-bye. Sarah says that he browses in her woods and that there used to be eight or nine of them but now she sees only this male most frequently.