Tripping

Tripping



I remember stumbling upon Pine Valley as a kid. It was during one of our regular family trips and we decided to try someplace new. So, we headed to California, not exactly because we had some burning desire, but rather because we laid out a large map and tossed a dart. San Diego was where it landed.

Now, I should tell you that my dad was very destination oriented, and wasn’t about to stop anywhere in the desert along the way. Much more scenic, we hurried right for the mountains basically skipping past the sand and the heat. Of course, I was seven and had definitely contributed enough of the obligatory ‘are we there yets’, recalling it as the trip where Dad taught me to pee into a bottle, so we could “just get there.”

We were crossing high over the mountain divide, along I-8 from Yuma to Alpine, when the unexpected happened. “Damn,” my dad cursed, limping our vehicle into tiny Pine Valley and intentionally easing off the main road because, he remarked cynically, “You just can’t trust people nowadays.”

Climbing out, he saw the problem right away, then leaned back in. “It’s flat.”

“Don’t we have a spare?” my mom wondered.

He shook his head. “This was the spare…pretty much brand new! Should’ve been just fine to make it all the way and home again.” Then he stared down the empty dirt road, back toward the freeway exit and Pine Valley. “Well, I suppose we could check for something in town.”

Of course, I was more than eager. We’d been traveling for hours without a break and I could definitely use a good distraction. So, we headed off.

Pine Valley was a sleepy little town nestled atop the mountain pass. My dad called it a ‘one-scoop town’ because it only had one ice-cream shop…that and one gas station, a small hot dog stand, not even a restaurant, and a tiny community post office. There was a small general store and a few houses, but the town was otherwise unremarkable. “I’ll head over to that garage, there,” Dad said. “Maybe they’ve got something we can use. You guys grab some ice cream.” He handed me a five dollar bill. I was elated.

My strawberry cone was amazing and about halfway through, my father happened back. “Any luck?” Mom asked.

“Nothing. Kind of strange. I gave the guy the model number, an SGC, pretty common, really. He just stared back at me like I was crazy or something. Shook his head, wide-eyed, and didn’t say a word. So I asked if he had anything similar but it was like he was frozen or something.”

“Funny, the lady at the ice-cream window reacted the same way. Didn’t even look down when she scooped the ice cream, almost like a robot. Then, when we offered to pay, she demanded we ‘Just take it.’”

“Something odd about this place.” Of course, at seven years old, I hadn’t a clue what he meant. The town seemed so peaceful and normal enough. “Let me try that store over there, see if they have something.”

“How’s that going to help?”

“Well, it’s that or we’ll have to call for a tow.” He took off, and was back faster than we expected, a proud grin on his face.

“Well?”

“Got it!” he replied. “Well, at least it’ll do.” He tossed a small object into the air before catching it again. “Something about the people in this town, though. That lady at the counter, I almost thought she’d pass out. Even asked if she was okay, but she barely nodded. Let’s go.”

The quick fix took just a minute and we pulled away.

“You think we’ll make it now?” Mom worried.

“I’m not sure. Charging a flat capacitor is easy with the right parts, but these 9 volt batteries are a poor substitute. Might be better if we just head home for now. Better safe than sorry.”

I was so disappointed.

“Tell ya what, we can stop off at Nebulon on the way to see the pit-monsters, though.”

That, at least, was some consolation.

“Sheesh,” Dad sighed, “that town was strange. I mean, everyone was tripping, staring like you were missing one of your heads or had lost a tentacle. And who doesn’t carry spelnoid-galvanox capacitators?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we should just cross Earth off our list.”

Pulling into the sky, I vaguely heard the sounds of sirens as we eased into the clouds.