Home to Ferndale

March 15, 2009

Yesterday found us driving early from Jamie and Marna’s at Tracy, CA to Humboldt county and home. Our visit with Jamie and Marna was one of the best birthday parties anyone has given me since I remember….of course, my memory is not what it used to be, or is it? Jamie cooked dinner (abalone rolled up over a piece of pineapple and grilled with bacon rolled around it, marinated steaks, and stuffed mushrooms). He had brought home a dozen red roses for me…..I cannot even remember ever getting a dozen red roses. I remember yellow ones from Andy one year at Willowbrook and a red one in a vase from Jack when he was a boy. I couldn’t believe them, they were perfect. What a boy! Then in comes Marna with succulent plants in a square dish for a present and she gave me an oriental Lily bulb to plant at home and one of the stepping stones she had made with mosaic glass and she had baked a birthday cake for me, too….oh, “shuuuud up” (that’s a valley girl expression that means “awesome”). What a girl! Marna and Jamie were so fun to be with and we hated to leave. We had such a good time with them and their cockatiel, Kiwi, and their 21 year old cat and their beautiful new house that we were seeing for the first time. There was a perfect place to park in front of their new house and we stayed for the night. We took silly pictures of ourselves:

CA is so green (and pink) ...... beautiful this time of year and we saw blooming fruit trees and lots of new lambs and calves.

There was no real rain until we were nearly in Fortuna. It took the day yesterday to drive all of the way home, stopping in Fortuna for a balloon and wrapping paper for Gramma Gin’s birthday gift from Mexico and a few groceries. We saw our friend, Ivan, and gave him a bus tour in front of Safeway. At Carol and Dan’s house we had dinner and visited with them, Mom Gin, and Carol's new West Highlander puppy, then stayed all night in their driveway. One more house of hospitality, thank you. We caught up on talking besides puppy play. I need to help Carol and Mom Gin this next week with all of their projects, like lawyers and checking out rest homes, so we had lots to talk about.

We drove out to the hills this morning in the wee early hours of the day. Laundry and mail are first on our agenda, after Andy puts the virus protection on my computer and we bring essentials in from the bus to the house. It is pouring rain….welcome to Humboldt county.

March 13, 2009
“8 hours before you get towed away” says the sign on the entry to the only rest area that we found as the sun set, taking 46/41 cutover from highway 101 to I-5. We stayed a little more than that, actually stopping about 7 pm and leaving, after sleeping, at about 4 am, Andy wishing me a happy Friday-the-thirteen birthday with a card that he made himself, full of sweet sentiments, and even a picture of me on the front (with my butch haircut that he doesn’t like much). It wasn’t daylight yet when he talked me into breakfast at the cutest restaurant near Kettleman city when we reached I-5. The restaurant was decorated with toy cars, motorcycles, fire trucks, tricycles, firetrucks, surreys, and jeeps (all big enough for a toddler to drive). A few may have been old, but, most were bran new and looked to be the envy of any two to five year old! I had oatmeal as it still felt like the middle of the night to eat. Spring has sprung in this country and all of the country is green. The vineyards have grown south as well as north and the 46/41 cutover is now “wine country”. Right now we are passing acres of orchards in bloom….so beautiful. The blossoms on the ground look like snow.
Thomas and Dez went with us on Wed. to visit Cathy and John in Long Beach. We arrived at the Golden Shores campground with several hours to kill until Cathy was out of school. She teaches first grade and remedial reading. Tom and Dez went with us to breakfast at one of their favorite restaurants (the night before we went for Shushi) and then to the Aquarium of the Pacific, within walking of the campground, and one of the best aquariums we have seen. This aquarium compares to Monterey aquarium and we were very impressed, especially with their hands-on displays and the extent of the jelly fish tanks. In the last few years many new species of jelly fish have been found for us to enjoy. They are so delicate and exotic looking and as beautiful as any of God’s creations. Cathy joined us at our RV and visited until time for her fiance’, John, to get here on the ferry from Catalina; then they gave us a tour of their new, perfect for them, house with it’s new paint and outside decks, hosting a coi fish pond and one of the biggest of coi, a pet that would come to be rubbed and then chew on Cathy’s fingers. These four people together are great company and we hated leaving them.
Jenny was next and we had a fun day finding her yesterday at her dorms at UCSB, Santa Barbara. We woke her up and she has a cold, so we told her to go back to sleep and we would pick her up for lunch after her last class at 2pm. Meanwhile, we found Costco and bought Marsala chicken and Ceasar salad to fix lunch for us in the bus. We also bought some Edamame (our new good-for-you snack that Cathy introduced us to (steamed soybeans in the shell tossed in salt)….nummmy. I drove to pick up Jenny just as she walked up to her dorm room and she showed me around. Her little place is really cozy with one roommate and just room for their beds, desks, closets, and one bathroom. It was covered with quilts and posters to make it homey and I was impressed that they have room cleaning service…cannot beat that. Andy was busy washing the bus when Jenny and I got there and he greeted us with salads made and entertainment right outside the bus (rugby teams warming up). We had found a place right on campus to park our bus and car for the day. Jenny smiled a lot in spite of her cold, so we think she enjoyed the visit. She feels a long ways away from her family, but gets to go home for spring break next week.

March 11, 2009
We dry-camped overnight in Primm, NV in a large parking lot behind the Buffalo Bill Casino. We had dinner and after a quiet night of sleep, we had breakfast in the casino. We re-fueled at the Lenwood exit just past Barstow on our way to Los Angeles via I-15.
While there was some traffic we had virtually no hold-ups all the way to Playa Del Rey, a state campground on the beach just south of Marina Del Rey. We arrived there just before 2 PM. This place is at the beach end of the Imperial Highway, or I-205. Our 40-foot bus just barely fit into their spaces which they claim are 37-feet.
We found out that we did not have to be home by March 13th, because of a misunderstanding of dates, except that we wish we were home for Gramma Gin’s 90th birthday March 10 (too late for that!). So we are visiting a grandson, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Desirae, in Marina Del Rey, LA. He has been a highway patrolman for four months and is really enjoying it. Desirae has a job with Wells Fargo so they are doing well. We had dinner with them last night and today are going to take them with us to meet our niece, Cathy in Long Beach. Cathy is a kindergarten teacher whom we think they would enjoy meeting. Cathy has been in the area for some time.
On the way north we will visit granddaughter, Jenny, who started going to the University of Santa Barbara last fall, and is probably anxious to see some family. Then we will visit Jenny’s father who is our youngest son, Jamie, and his girlfriend, Marna, who last fall bought an almost-new house in Tracy. They both work at the Livermore Lab in Livermore. He has an exciting job working on a huge laser machine with 192 lasers aimed at one little piece of matter the size of a BB. Their work is expected to be a major breakthrough in many aspects of nuclear physics and is expected to result in the development of a safe source of atomic energy with little radioactive waste.

Then we should be home Saturday, March 14th to catch up on what we let go while having a marvelous time in Mexico! JoAn’s sister, Carol, is anxious to see her and have some help making some choices with Gramma Gin, who is apparently ready to go to a rest home, a heavy decision. She cannot get around well enough anymore and needs more care than Carol can continue to give. She has been living with Carol and Dan for almost a year.
I plan to work on the bus and whittle away on my long to-do list before we take it up to Infinity Coach, Inc. in Sumner, WA to finish the list. When that is done we hope to be all set to travel care-free!

March 05, 2009 Thursday
Our route today takes us from Organ Pipe National Park up 85 until it runs into Interstate 10. It is a new way for us to go. We are not sure that we have ever been to Oregon Pipe National Park unless it was with Johnny in 1991. Going west on Interstate 10, our GPS, Nuvi, suggests that we go up the short cut at intersection 45 straight to 72 that takes us to Parker through the Bouse Wash. We just know that we have never been to Bouse, have you?

Our groceries are low, our US currency is almost nonexistent, our credit card does not work…..probably because we didn’t use it for 3 months and they think someone stole it, and we need to do laundry. The drive up the state line was really nice though. Andy enjoyed the no traffic and nice and easy road to drive. He stopped twice for cat naps and felt better for it. We aimed for the KOA campground at Needles, CA. and NUVI navigator took us right to the spot that she says and we do not see anything like a KOA. Across the street, however, is the park that we ended up in. It is a beautiful and quiet place right on the Colorado River named Needles Marina Park. We called the bank and found that our VISA card has expired. We paid cash for the night stay. Tomorrow we will try another card and/or an ATM. Andy BBQed steaks and we did all of our laundry. Our day ended with a walk around the little lagoon that was created from the river and the river bank beach and the grassy areas along the edge. We may jump into the Jacuzzi before we retire into our house bus.

March 9, 2009

There was another fabulous reunion of family in Utah on the weekend. The BBQ at Deb and Lin’s happened just in time to catch Kate and Graydon coming in from Salt Lake and before they move to Florida, Rick from Henderson, and Graydon’s parents, Mike and Tanya, as they were swinging through from Kanab with little granddaughter, Brylee, and Lin who flew into Las Vegas and let us pick him up at the airport after he had been away from home for over 2 months. The Barbecue included four of Lin’s high school friends from Iowa that are staying in St. George. Many of the other Drake friends came for the barbecue, including Steve Couts and his family that had come to visit Central Park in 1987 before either of his daughters were born and before Kristen, too. Time really flys, huh? Patti and Kristen came from St. George and Thane from Minersville.

We stayed at and met Patti and Kristen near the Lake Mead Parkway Walmart for the night of 6 March. Those two stayed that night on our bus couch bed after we had spent the day with the satellite man trying to figure out our computer satellite dish. The picturesque village of Lake Las Vegas was so near as to attract us for dinner at a fine Italian restaurant, the same one we had a Mother’s day brunch at one time a long while ago (I recognized it from the waiter doll that we had posed with for pictures…..he looks so real that I expected him to say something to me!). With much debate about the safety of snow conditions in Cedar City, our bus made it’s way up to the parking place above Deb and Lin’s house for the nights of March seventh and eighth. Because we hit on a weekend, it was a marvelous visit with everyone. There was breakfast at the Main Street grill before we left this morning. It was really lunch for Deb as she had to go to work today early. For Andy and I, the rest of today was spent driving to our destination of Primm, NV, setting up in the parking lot and then dinner in the casino, dropping only a dollar into a one armed bandit, and doing a long walk inside for exercise. It is still a little cold here, although warmer than Cedar City. There was a strong wind all day and it made the drive harder

for Andy

y.

March 4, 2009
We stayed at Totonaka RV park in San Carlos last night and had dinner across the street at the thatched roofed restaurant that we had garlic shrimp three months ago. We three couples are all from Northern CA, would you believe? I didn’t even know there were that many from CA in the Canadian dominant La Penita RV park!

We forgot to turn off the car last night and the battery was dead this morning. That held us all up for an extra 45 minutes. After getting diesel at the PEMEX 3531 just outside San Carlos, we were on our way a few minutes before 8am. Before now, we have tried to be on our way by 7am. It is getting cooler as we go north….we will soon be wishing for warm again. Yesterday we crossed the Tropic of Cancer. Today was an eventful day, especially after we went our separate way at Santa Anna. Richard and Sandy had to go out of Mexico at Nogales and we planned to go out at Lukeville, so we gave out hugs, drive carefullys, and addresses and drove with Ray and Judy up smaller highway 2 towards the border. It was a wonderful new highway for awhile, until we found the construction and drove for a ways beside the highway, very slowly. Another adventure (as we quickly call anything that threatens to be depressing) was at the main military inspection point. We came up on maybe 500 semi trucks lined up to be inspected and thought it must be an accident or something. That many truck drivers must still be there. Their line wasn’t moving much. We drove slowly right pass them in the right hand lane, were inspected rather quickly, and then guided through between the rows of trucks.

The border crossing was pretty smooth, although Andy and I had to pay for one of the tourist passes that we didn’t pay for on coming down. The officials told us (on coming down) that the new rule was that if we were together only one of us needed to pay for a visitor pass. That rule was so new that it no longer exists, I think. It was a great place to cross with hardly any traffic and no waiting at all. Tonight we are going to sleep in the USA at Organ Pipe National Park just over the border. We are in a wonderful parking place and ready to take off for Utah tomorrow, while Judy and Ray are going a different direction. It has been so fun traveling with them. We plan to look them up soon from home and keep in touch.

March 3, 2009

We are more than halfway to the border. In fact, I think tomorrow we cross the border. We are traveling with Judy and Ray Porteous and met up last night with another couple fresh from La Penita, Sandy and Richard. They drove late into the PEMEX, south of Los Mochis, where we slept, had dinner and a movie last night. Sandy and Richard had a long day, driving all of the way from La Penita in the one day. The rest of us had stopped one other night in Matzatlan at Trailer Park California and hiked around the beach area to find an old restaurant that Ray remembered. We managed to get lost from each other and found again as we retired for the night.

The drive up north has been an easy one except for the bit of rough road and close brush overhead on the portion through San Blas until we came back on highway 15. We were not stopped but for one or two of the ag inspection sites and none of the military ones. There is some news that it is unsafe in Mexico and the drug traffic is making problems for the tourists. We think that all of the military seem to be going south for some reason. Is there something going on in the interior? There certainly was a lot of agricultural land….so much corn, especially, (and tomatoes, peppers, Agava, beans, sugar cane, and fruit trees). There were many processing plants for corn and grain elevators. I always enjoy the drive wherever it takes us and I followed the “Bell” travel log that I printed on our way down, with it’s info on topas, statues, numbers on the KLM signs, and even the McDonald’s signs. Porteous’ have been down here many times and know the way around, so again, we followed, putting the fifth wheel of Sandy and Richard between us (as they did not have a CB to keep in contact with us….we told them that we talked about them all of the way from Los Mochis to San Carlos).
Last night at the PEMEX our awning made a cozy shady space to eat and watch the movie outside between our rigs and keep the dust off from the big trucks coming in. The trucks, doing their parking lot ballet, gave us some added entertainment. Tonight we are again in a organized restful RV park on the beach area of San Carlos, at the Totonaka RV park (just up the hill from the one we had stayed in before). We elected to park in a dry camp area so we don’t have to unhook. Our plan is to go to the fine restaurant across the road (the same one that we started this adventure with Shirley, Bob, John and Barb)…..it is a grass palapa on the beach side, remember? I think I will take a beer inspired nap now. We will contact you soon……loves

February 26, 2009
Andy went alone (alone without me anyway….but with several other quads) on Lewis’ quad to a town further than ever before, to be gone 3 days and two nights. Meanwhile, Bob’s sister and I are painting the town red and I am finding out that I know how to find more places than I knew…..because I haven’t been driving much before. Justine and I have gone to Latitude 21 and Solley’s to eat, went to downtown Rincon and to the Thursday market. She and I found Arnie’s downtown store, the flan store, and the leather shoe shop (where I bought sandals of wonderful soft leather. We sat down and had flan in the middle of the market and people watched and then got a bit lost exploring La Piñata by night. We bought jewelry, walked down the beach, and made a coffee table on her patio out of a boogy board to sit our beer and salsa chips on. Justine tried a contest winner coconut margarita and all of the shrimp dishes we could find to eat. Judy, Sheila, Rebecca, Sharin, and I started painting the mural on the baños above us. They are going to have undersea, beach, and La Peñita RV park scenes…….one special one will be three white poodles astride a blue quad bike. Justine gets a kick out of the things we did when we first arrived, like the road work with no signs so you don’t fall in, the narrow roads that the cars water ballet around each other and between each other with inches to spare, and Margaritas served free at the jewelry store!

February 28, 2009
Andy had a great time on his quad ride and went to one town further than the last overnight ride. They rode to a town that starts with the letter “M” and I need to find its name on the map to tell you. It sounds something like “Mascot”. They had great food, saw another quaint village, slept in some needy places with a cold water shower one place, saw another beautiful church, and could see Puerto Vallarta from the 8000 ft. high viewpoint. The quads were parked, as usual, in a safe place inside while they slept. Of course, for Andy, it was the ride that was best. He has a tattoo on the fender of his bike, written in dirt, by a cute little girl. It said, “Rony” (and a little heart) in layer of road dust clinging to his quad. I forget, not being in on it, how much dirt can be on one person and one quad at a time, so you would have a time finding the color of his pants and face.
Meanwhile, JoAn (at home in La Peñita) went with Judy to her pottery class (Justine and Rebecca came too). We were fascinated by the paintings she had to show, the pottery and ground kiln set up in her flower child sort of living room combination gallery combination kitchen. Her pottery and sculptures were wonderful and Judy and Shirley are taking a class from her. She also caters breakfast….wish we had known about her when the kids were here! She is truly a free spirit in her art expression….I would love to have shared her and her pottery and art with Debbie and Carol. If we come back, I will take a class from her. She teaches painting as well as pottery. We worked a bit more on the mural but it will not have enough background done for me to do any sketches before we leave. We are leaving tomorrow morning at 7 am.
Today finds us loading kayaks, folding carpet, folding tables and loading them, and all of the numerous things we need to do to pull out of our spot tonight and hook up the car and line up by the entrance to leave tomorrow morning. We are going to the border with a nice couple named Ray and Judy Porteous in their 35 foot Dolphin with slides. There are at least 5 rigs leaving tomorrow and we will probably travel together to Mazatlan. In Mazatlan the others will split off and go another way. Some of them are going to the interior Mexico before they cross the border. Our plans are to stay one night in Mazatlan, then one in Los Mochas, one in San Carlos, and exit at Lukeville and go to Sunrise Nat. Monument where we can use our Golden Age passes. Our plans are to go to Utah and maybe Arizona. In Arizona, David Johnson’s wife has been diagnosed with Cancer and should be out of Cancer surgery when we get there. We may not do that though as she may be at a point in Chemo that she does not want to see anyone. The plans are to see our Utah kids also and we don’t know how long we can stay. The plan is for us to take three weeks getting home, but if we are to get home to take care of Penny for Deeana on March 14, we must do it in two!
We are downhill in a new spot just for overnight…..lined up for tomorrow!