We left San Onofre Beach this morning and made the quick drive up to Anaheim RV Park. As for San Onofre at Camp Pendleton, we have lots of friends who’ve said it’s their favorite in the area. Our beachfront site there was much better than the spot up on the hill, but we still prefer Del Mar Beach over San Onofre. The beach at San Onofre has a lot of rocks which randomly decide to bite you when you’re playing in the water. The area the Marines allow you to swim/wade/play in the water is also pretty small at San Onofre — and it’s in a really rocky area. That said, it was completely gorgeous & awesome. The twins are completely in love with the beach.
Before we left, the twins decided to give their sand toys and their body boards to some new friends they made while we were there. We don’t plan on making it to another beach this trip, so we were proud of them for thinking of others…and also happy to ditch some stuff we’d otherwise have to lug around all over the country.
We made it to Anaheim RV Park before check in time and (as Tanya so masterfully planned it) it was nearly empty. They had our spot ready for us…we’re calling that Spot #5a. Yep, an “a” already. We have some friends meeting us here this week and Tanya managed to secure two sites next to each other, Site 165 and 167. Our Spot #5a was Site 165.
Unfortunately, the sites have a really steep ramp from the street and our trailer hitch bottomed out when I tried to back it in – adding more gouges to the concrete along from the many trailers before that have tried that hill. I even disconnected the retaining hooks from our equalizing hitch in hopes that the extra 3/8″ clearance would be enough. Nope.
We couldn’t back the trailer into the site. Boo. Our friends’ site, 167, was just as steep, so we punted. Thankfully, the two sites next to those were much flatter. Tanya talked to the office and switched our two sites to 171 and 169. Our new site, 171, aka Spot #5b, looked much better.
I pulled forward and turned to align with the new site. That’s when things went sideways. One of the anti-sway bars on the hitch popped loose and was cutting a new ravine with it in the road. We normally call each other when we’re positioning the trailer, but the call wouldn’t go through (thanks AT&T). Without the easy phone link between us, Tanya tried yelling without luck (because apparently I don’t listen…also the landscape maintenance folks had multiple leaf blowers going near us so the backup camera’s mic was worthless). Tanya then ran so that she could get my attention…and then the raised invisible cliff in the sidewalk grabbed her feet and flung her upside down.
She instinctively deployed her arm-landing-gear, but there was an iPhone in one her hands. The phone got crushed and the other hand/wrist/arm/shoulder/back took the brunt of the impact. I heard something back there – someone in a ton of pain – so I got out to see what happened. Tanya was laying on the ground at the edge of the road curled up in a ball and not moving. This can’t be good.
I ran over and tried to help her up, but she had zero interest in moving. Knees and hands were bleeding. She was clutching her left arm. Bad news.
We did some first aid and I did as quick of a job as I could of getting the truck unhooked from the trailer. We found an urgent care and beat feet over there. Of course, the “10 minute wait” they claimed on the phone turned into over an hour wait once we got there. (The Marketing Department is always working, of course.) After the forever wait, the doc almost immediately ordered x-rays.
Thankfully, the x-rays didn’t show any broken bones. “Really bad sprain” was the diagnosis. She could barely move her arm and couldn’t move her left wrist or grab anything with that hand. So, with a bunch of internal tissue torn apart, swelling, bruises, road rash, numb appendages, a shiny new wrist splint and some other bandages, we left the urgent care and made our way back to the RV park. Stylin’!
The doc estimated that Tanya would need to wear the splint at least 1 to 2 weeks. There are worse ways to start a week of Disney & Universal Studios fun, but I could definitely think of better ways.
To add insult to injury, getting a new iPhone screen installed by Apple is 280 bucks. It may need even more work than that. Thanks, gravity & concrete.
Speed bumps aside, our friends will be here tonight and we’re amped for hitting Disney tomorrow!