Lost and Found
Jenya and I decided to spend the July 4th weekend out of town in order to spare our dog the annual neighborhood firework frenzy. Jenya nabbed an AirBnB up in Calpine (on the edge of the Sierra Valley north of Truckee). We had blessed silence for a couple nights, which was the goal.
On the final evening during our stay we decided to circumnavigate the whole valley - taking long straight roads that connected the various tiny towns. Upon arriving in Chilcoot, we went on a side quest up a fascinating canyon toward Frenchman Lake. There we parked in a lot by the dam and explored the water's edge.
Jenya had been driving thus far, and I took over for the second half of the trip. We returned to our rental abode an hour or so later, and upon approaching the door I reached for the house key and.. it wasn't in my pocket. I patted myself down many times but no dice. Uh oh.
We scoured the car, but the key was just.. gone. Ironically we didn't really need to lock up as there was nothing of value inside but I have this obnoxious habit of maintaining an air of high security. And anyway the house was super easy to enter without a key - I basically walked in via an open window.
Anxiety kicked in full blast - my mind spiralled on thoughts about how the vacation was ruined, how the homeowner will freak out and charge us too much money to replace the lock, how I was such an idiot, how I needlessly created this epic problem for myself, etc. Jenya tried to convince me this was not that big a deal, but I couldn't let it go.
We only switched drivers once during that excursion, and I could imagine that when digging for my set of car keys the house key (in the same pocket) flew out. So if that key was anywhere, it had to be in the lot at Frenchman Lake. I had to go back on the off chance this was the case.
I willingly endured the redundant driving - the same roads, the same valley. The sun loomed quite low as I hauled ass 40 minutes back to the lake and skidded into that lot.
I scoured the ground. Nothing. I looked at the picnic tables, by the pit toilets, on obvious rocks, at the fee station, down by the water. Nothing. Dammit. There were still a few fisherpeople enjoying the sunset and I interrupted them to ask if they saw anything. Nope, but one politely said if he found it he'd leave it at the general store in Chilcoot. That made sense - it's the most obvious hub in the region. Maybe some good samaritan already left it there?
Somewhat defeated I left and headed back out of the canyon. That general store was closed, and this tiny town completely dead. So I had 40 minutes of driving back to the house in the dark, a total failure. I slept poorly that night.
The next morning we cleaned the house and followed the check out procedure. I did drive nearby to get cell service to call the Chilcoot general store - they had no keys in the lost and found. So that's that. I tried everything. Had no choice but to face the music. Jenya, who set up this rental, left an apologetic e-mail for the home owner and we hit the road back to Oakland.
We lost cell service again in the mountains but a couple hours later Jenya got a response from the owner: "No problem, we have a bunch of extra copies, hope you enjoyed your stay!"
Well.. cool. I overreacted and did all that extra driving/searching/worrying for nothing. Let that be a lesson to myself about managing anxiety
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