One bit of advice that I just learned the hard way: when you’re traveling, listen to your body and take care of yourself immediately if you suspect something is wrong. It’s easy to brush off symptoms of some kind of illness when you’re out on an adventure like this and having fun, but ultimately if you ignore what your body is trying to tell you, you will pay a hefty price. This past week, I sure did.

Last Thursday afternoon I started feeling sluggish and tired. I blew it off because I really feel that your thoughts create your reality, so if you say you’re sick, you’ll be sick. Usually. Plus, we were having our good friends Lauren, Evan and their fur baby Winston up to see us, and I didn’t want to ruin the weekend. We started having a great time, partied all day Saturday and late into the night drinking champagne and eating Smores. Yum! But by the time I woke up Sunday morning, I almost fainted. Told myself it was food poisoning.

By the time we all parted ways and Jim and I were back in Yuba City to have the rig looked at the next day, I was running a 104.5 temperature fever and trembling so hard I couldn’t hold anything in my hands. It was scary but I thought it was a stomach virus. Thanks to Jim we brought my fever down to a 98.6 by bedtime, and it seemed the worst was over.

Then, Monday, as I stood outside the RV dealer waiting for Jim, I was shivering again, and it was 90 something degrees outside. I realized that it was time to get to a doctor. With an urgent care center down the street, I checked myself in at 1pm.

Jim found Regency Urgent Care Center in Yuba City on the Internet. What a find! The clinic was located in a little business park on the main drag, and looked quite new. When I went inside it was busy, but the pleasant front office staff seemed to be handling it well and the lobby was clean and friendly. I checked in at 1pm, resigning myself to the fact that I’d be there at least 3 to 5 hours like an emergency room visit. I was seen within an hour. Not bad for a walk in medical clinic on a Monday!

Clinical staff checked me in promptly, did a thorough analysis of my issues, and the super nice medical assistant assigned to me never once left me sitting in the exam room for more than a minute or two. The lab work that needed to be done was done right there on site, and within another few minutes, I was told what was wrong with me by a funny medical pro named John Willis, PA-C (I’ll spare you the gory details of the findings). Willis was so nice and pleasant and absolutely made what I thought was a terrible day so much better. He gave me the best advice for the trip: stay healthy! drink liquids! listen to your body!

When you drive through small towns, it’s tricky enough to find the best places to stay or eat. What incredible luck we had to find Regency, the absolute best urgent care medical facility in the region. It’s a real gem, and Yuba City residents are lucky to have it. As someone who is used to my own “on call” retainer-based doctor back at my former home in Eureka, I was so relieved and happy that a walk in clinic experience could be so nice. An added plus: I got out of there in less than 2 hours, with a $75 tab for the whole thing!