Campfire Embers Ignite for Three
My name is Mike Rossi and about two years ago I became a full-time traveler. I left a lucrative career in Silicon Valley, bought a Class B motorhome and hit the open roads seeking new sights and adventures. Since that time, I've seen so many amazing sights and met so many interesting people and I'd like to tell you about some of those open road adventures.
Perhaps before I begin telling you about my adventures, I should tell you a little bit about my background. After graduating from college with a master's degree in software engineering, I was recruited by a Silicon Valley tech company that was developing security software for a variety of companies and governmental entities. I found the work to be challenging, exciting, and quite rewarding financially. But when the COVID pandemic hit it forced me to take a step back to examine and evaluate what was really important in my life.
I never married and never had children. Remarkable since, compared to many of my computer geek colleagues, I am quite outgoing and dated more than my share of women. I even lived with a couple of women at different times but never progressed to marriage. I guess I am easily bored and ready to move on which helps explain my current penchant for travel.
I had made plenty of money and I had enjoyed my work but that was all I knew. I'd never been anywhere or seen much of this fabulous country of ours. After I gave it a lot of thought I decided to leave my position in Silicon Valley and strike out on what I hoped would be an incredible adventure of discovery. I hoped to see beautiful places and meet new people along the way and perhaps even learn things about myself I never realized before.
So, I bought a Winnebago Class B motorhome. If you are not familiar with motorhomes, the Class B's are the smallest motorhomes. They are built on a van chassis and in reality, are only large enough to accommodate two people comfortably. Since I'm single it's the perfect size for me.
Even though I'd lived in California for a long time I'd never really ventured much farther than the San Francisco area, so I decided my first stop would be the Redwood Forest. I packed up my clothes, some food and the few belongings I'd decided to keep and headed north.
I found that the further I got away from the big city the more relaxed I became. It was a nice feeling. Quite a change from the fast-paced non-stop world that had been my life. It did make me wonder if I'd be able to adjust to a slower lifestyle. I knew that time would tell.
I just pulled into a McDonalds at lunch time because I wanted to eat quickly and be back on the road. I had about 200 miles left to my campground near Lady Bird Redwood National Park and I knew time would grow short for getting set up in daylight. I wouldn't plan to go into the park today but I had all the time in the world for as long as I wanted to stay.
When I got close to the redwoods, I found Big Red's, the campground where I had reserved a site. How appropriate as I chuckled to myself. I pulled into my little campsite. Ah, so this is what they mean by "fresh air". The air was coming in off the Pacific and over the Redwoods picking up pine scent and warmth on it's way.
It was nearly 7pm by this time and I set out my lawn chair, carpet and figured out where the hookups were and how much I would need to do to get level. I didn't set the jacks because my stomach started telling me it was time to find a place to eat. I also noticed that "Winnie," that's what I'd decided to call my new home on wheels, needed some nourishment too. The campground host suggested a diner/gas station just up the road called "Jakes" I had noticed the place as I was driving in but did not pay it much attention. These small rural towns were short on chain restaurants. I easily found "Jakes" place again and decided to eat first and get fuel later. I guess you could call the place a truck stop because there were diesel pumps out back and a lot of big rigs parked against the trees around the back of the lot. It seemed to be a popular place with the truckers. I guess they all ate early, though as I was one of three customers in the diner.
I'd never eaten at a truck stop diner before, so rather than take a booth or table I opted for a stool at the counter. I'd no sooner sat down when a friendly gal plopped a menu down in front of me and said, "I'm Barbara, what can I get you to drink hon?" I told her I'd like iced tea, and she asked if I wanted sweet or unsweet tea. I opted for unsweet. She said, "sure hon, I'll have it here for you in two shakes."
Barbara was quite the friendly gal. A bit on the heavy side but curvy in all the right places. I imagined that a lot of the drivers probably hit on her, but as I watched her, and listened to her banter with the other customers, it was obvious she could hold her own with all of them.
When she sat the tea down and laid a straw on the counter she asked, "what would you like to eat hon?"
I have to say that I kind of liked the way she always called me "hon" even though she'd never met me before. I had the thought that I'd like to eat those hard little nipples now poking through her white shirt on either side of the apron she wore. But all I said was, "what do you recommend Barb?"
She smiled and said "are you sure you want what I'd recommend hon?"
I wasn't sure if I had caught a bit of innuendo in that but I started paying closer attention to her. "Sure Barb, what DO you recommend?"
"Well it's your gut hon, but you can't go wrong with Big Jake's Jalapeno Burger with ghost pepper fries."
"Ok Barb I'll try the Big Jake's Jalapeno Burger but I think I'll just have regular fries with that." "I'm not sure I'm adventurous enough to try everything spicy on offer here" I said with a wink determined that if she was flirting, I would flirt right back.
She patted my hand and said "smart choice hon. I'll have you order up in a jiffy."
OK, so maybe I had misread her intent but at least I was getting good service on the food.
The burger was quite tasty, but very spicy. I don't know how many times Barbara had to refill my iced tea. When I finished eating Barbara brought my bill and asked, "how was it hon?"
I couldn't help but notice that a couple of buttons at the top of her blouse had somehow come undone revealing very deep cleavage and the edges of a black lacy bra cup. "The burger was terrific, it definitely set my mouth on fire, I'm just glad I didn't order the pepper fries, oh and can I get another refill on iced tea, I think I'm gonna need it." I also wanted to hang around and see if there was more of that bra cup to come out.
" Barbara laughed patted my hand again and said, we're almost out of tea but I can make more... are you just passin' through or staying around awhile?"
"Oh, that's my camper outside the window there. I have a site over at Big Red's."
Well, how 'bout I make some fresh tea and I run it out to your campsite on my way home?
The service in this place was getting better all the time! "Yeah, give me 30 minutes to get back and set up?"
"No, I'm here by myself tonight except for Big Jake in the kitchen so I can't leave until 10 o'clock."
Gulp. Now here was potentially one of those adventures I had set my mind to go for but... "Umm, that's kind of late, Barbara. What about tomorrow?"
