5/18/06 (Thurs.): Believe it or not, today started the same as yesterday with a flat tire on the camper (different tire). We were still camped close to Sullivan’s Tires, so we pumped it up with our new battery operated pump and limped back. The manager was a little surprised to see us! He had just found out that Hudson Tires in FL was going to pay the whole tab for the defective tire. I worried the whole time they were working on the tire that we had another defective tire and Firestone wasn’t going to swallow it. But it turned out we’d picked up a nail. What are the odds?! Eric, the manager at Sullivan’s, refused to take anything for fixing it, so other than the wasted time, we are not out of pocket.

So we got a late start, but we decided to make the trip we’d been planning for today anyhow. But first, we wanted to leave the expensive (and not worth it) private campground where we’d stayed because it was close to the tire place. We drove to Scusset Beach State Recreation area and got a very nice campsite for half the price of the private campground. The park is between the Cape Cod Canal and the ocean. More about this park later.

We headed for Provincetown on the very tip of Cape Cod right after lunch in the camper. We started by eating breakfast at a local hangout called “The Eatery.” It featured some Portuguese and typical New England items on the menu. I had a Portuguese omelet with linguica (a kind of sausage). Very good. Wiley considered the codfish cakes, baked beans and eggs entree, but he finally wimped out and ordered French toast. We’re watching the budget pretty carefully, and we’re not eating out much, but we want to take advantage of regional specialties. This is the first long vacation either of us has ever had, so we’re going to make the most of it. I think we kind of expected that it was going to cost more than we expected (if that makes any sense).

Provincetown is a long trip, but really beautiful. It’s a big island! I’d been to Cape Cod four years ago, but I’d never been out to Provincetown. The beaches on the west end of the island look much like all the Atlantic beaches in the Southeast—wide and flat and sandy. On the east end there are high sand cliffs. Trees grow right up to the edge, but there are no beaches to walk on. As you get closer to the tip, there’s water on both sides. There was much less traffic this visit than on my August visit, but it’s still a busy place.

We visited several lighthouses and took a 2 mile hike on a bike path through the high, wooded dunes. It was a lovely day—temperature in the low 70’s, a little breeze and lots of blue skies. I feel like I’m starting to dry out a little after our solid week of rain. Because we started so late, it was going on 6 PM by the time we were ready to head back to camp, so we went for broke again and stopped at a little dive by the side of the road that advertised really inexpensive seafood (Clams - $1). Turns out those were the happy hour prices, and we’d missed them. But we enjoyed a great meal and felt fortified for the 2-hour drive back to camp.

We were tired after the stressful start to the day and the long drive and hike. We were looking forward to coming back to camp. The season is not quite opened up here in the Northeast. The state park we’d wanted to stay at won’t open until next weekend. We’d heard that Scusset Beach was open, and we’d called several times, but we could never reach anyone. We took a chance and came anyhow, and it was open, with a sign saying to set up camp and check back the next morning to register. We took one of the sites that was marked as being available on the map at the ranger station and set up so we’d be all ready to crash when we got back at the end of the day.

So we got back at 8:30, it’s already dark, and lo and behold, the ranger station is open, and there’s a lot full of campers trying to register! We waited our turn, not nervous at all because we already had our campsite, but when our turn came, the ranger said someone had registered online for our site and we’d have to move to another site tomorrow! Plus, is we stayed in our site tonight, we couldn’t register for another site until tomorrow morning, and the campground was filling up fast. We reluctantly (and I’ll admit, somewhat verbally) decided to register for all three nights and move to another campsite tonight to assure that we got to keep the same site for the whole time we’ll be here.

Now the fun began. I’ve gotten pretty good at backing up the camper. But it was dark. REALLY dark. I couldn’t see Wiley, let alone his hand signals. Somehow or other, with a lot of great teamwork and a pretty good flashlight, I got it parked. Our new $5,000 roof is only six inches from a tree limb that we never saw, and it’s not as nice a site, but we’re parked. Happy ending, right? Not quite. It wasn’t over yet.

I went in to open the slide and couldn’t find Monkey. I always like to know where Monkey is before I open the slide, because I’ve read about pets hiding between the walls of the slide and the camper and getting crushed. (As an aside, Monkey loves to ride the slide. She sits on the floor or the couch like a queen and looks from side-to-side as it moves in and out.) We checked everywhere in the camper, calling and putting out food and catnip, but no Monkey. We’d been in and out of the camper several times while we were trying to park it and get it set up. She must have escaped through the door.

Now I’m really panicked—we get the headlamps on and walk through the campground calling her. My flashlight picked up glowing eyes, and a cat came up to me, but it wasn’t Monkey. By now I’m in tears and almost hysterical. I’ve had great anxiety that Monkey was not going to like traveling or that this trip was somehow going to be bad for her, and now I’ve lost her 1500 miles from home. Wiley set off to search the last unsearched quadrant of the campground, and I set off to re-search the area by the campsite we’d just vacated. As I turned on my flashlight, I spotted her under the camper! Happy reunion, treats all around, and we’re off to bed. Never a dull moment!

Oh, speaking of never a dull moment reminds me—we talked to Wiley’s mother last night, and we had a letter from Nationwide saying they were canceling

Scattered showers are forecast for tomorrow, so we’re thinking about going to Woods Hole, which will be inside exhibits. We also need to do some laundry and go grocery shopping.