Excitement Abounds

The last time we updated you on our progress we asked for names for the RV and since then much has happened. We picked a name for the RV after completely ignoring the votes cast. Many of you liked Hank and others liked The Beast (Maybe a majority but we didn't count). However, thanks to Pythagoras41, whomever that may be, we selected Charlotte as the name. As soon as we read that comment, we knew that Charlotte was her name. It fits perfectly and she responds well to it, getting us all the way to South Lake Tahoe CA since we updated you last.

July 18th we visited Crater Lake National Park and met up with Mike's friend Nick Mazzenga who is also traveling across the U.S. but doing so on a Motorcycle. You can see pictures of us and him in our most recent picture album. He was happy to see us and was surprised by the luxurious lifestyle we enjoyed in Charlotte as compared to his tent and Maverick. We lent him one of our flamingo shirts and took a picture and then went our separate ways. We enjoyed a relaxing lunch overlooking the Lake and then departed for Reno. This drive would prove to be quite the experience.

We booked tickets for the midnight showing of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight and set off towards Reno. As I sat in the front seat while Mike drove, I felt a rather sharp pain on my ankle. I looked down and was quite upset to see a bee right next to my foot. At this point it seems necessary to mention that I am allergic to bees but have never gotten an Epi-pen. I couldn't find the stinger in my foot and there didn't seem to be much swelling so we continued towards Reno.

Mike and Kyle were obviously concerned but being in the middle of nowhere we didn't have very many options. I decided it was best to call a nurses hotline and asked if there were any actions I could take to prevent or inhibit some sort of reaction. The nurse on the phone was nice and recommended I call 911 to see what they thought. At this point my reaction to the sting was minimal so I declined any emergency service and we continued down the road. I had hoped to make it to Reno and get some care there but felt that my throat was swelling at to0 quick a pace to wait so Kyle called emergency again to see if they could meet us somewhere.

We missed the turn off to where we were supposed to meet so we had to double back to get there. When we arrived we were a bit surprised not to see an ambulance but instead a fire truck. We pulled up and a woman approached us and asked where the patient was. I stepped out of the RV and informed her it was me. She seemed a bit surprised by this but led me over by the truck and sat me down. They gave me some oxygen and told me we had to wait for the paramedics to come to do anything else. All of a sudden they asked Mike and Kyle to go back into the RV and all huddled around me. I looked up and a Helicopter was landing. I informed them that this was completely unnecessary but they ignored me.

The paramedics got out of their helicopter and came over towards me. The first guy said to me "Well you don't appear to be in anaphylactic shock." Apparently somewhere along the line the signals were crossed and what we told them was a mildly worsening reaction to a bee sting became full blown anaphylactic shock. The paramedics checked me out and determined that I was fine. They unofficially recommended that I take some benadryl so I turned down treatment and we went on our way after taking some pictures. As we were about to leave one of the people from the fire department informed us that she had left her birthday dinner for the call. I was mildly embarrassed but clearly the blame rests on someone else.

We continued to Reno and thoroughly enjoyed the showing of The Dark Knight. It was an incredible movie. After the movie we went to a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night which we were promptly kicked out of. We drove to a different Wal-Mart 5 miles away and were luckily able to stay the night there. The next morning we got up and drove the rest of the way into South Lake Tahoe. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon by the pool and around 5:30 PM got dressed in our wonderful Tiki shirts and headed to an all you can eat buffet at Harrah's Casino. We gorged ourselves to the point of exhaustion and then headed down to the Casino floor where we attracted a lot of attention in our colorful garb. Collectively very little money was lost.

The KOA where we stayed turned out to be unsatisfactorily far away from the casino's and our cab ride cost almost as much as one nights stay. We tried to take the bus half of the way home but after waiting for almost half of an hour it drove right by us without stopping. I doubt that they didn't see us so it was a tad upsetting. We spent the entire next day on the beach in the sun which was incredibly relaxing and I think we all really enjoyed the chance to relax.

Today we will depart for Yosemite and from there we go to Vegas. We only have 10 more days until our Fraternity Convocation in Long Beach and are getting excited to meet everyone there. Mike is getting excited as well as he only has 4 more days until Lyn meets us in Las Vegas. Poor Kyle and I will have to wait significantly longer to see our significant others because they were unable to meet us anywhere during the trip.

Also, our total trip mileage has surpassed 4000 miles. I am sure many of you did not even expect us to make 1000.


Pictures
Driving Progress