Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe Christmas is here...again. Don't we say that every year?

Being dislodged for almost a week didn't help, as it interrupted our Christmas activity plan. But it gave us an opportunity to visit up close and personal with Steve and Alicia, who graciously opened their home to us in our time of need. While we were there, we ate too much chocolate, and watched back to back "Grand Tour" episodes. Mark suffered from a migraine headache in payment for his indulgences, and I got a lot of crocheting done.

We also took a day and went to Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, courtesy of Steve who provided us with a couple employee passes. It was great fun. Universal recently added a new section to the park - a sort of Harry Potter Land. I hate to admit it, but I'm a terrible Harry Potter junkie. Even though the story is about "witches" and magic and such, those who've seen it or read the books will probably agree that it has very little resemblance to modern witchcraft and is more a story about the conflict between good and evil told in another way. It's not very different than the fairy tales of old (though everyone should make their own judgment about it). In the end, good triumphs over evil, as it should. We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks and enjoyed a glass of "Butter Beer." Yum! The food was delicious.

Friday we took our leave and headed back to Fontana to pick up our motorhome, and on Saturday morning we made our way to Acton, where we intended to be the week before. All our Christmas preparations started today - on Christmas Eve. I have to say, this is the latest ever that I have put up my Christmas tree. But it's up and decorated - finally. The pumpkin pie is baked, and we are ready to entertain company tomorrow.

Sophie (with mom & dad) modeling the
new "play vest" grandma knitted for her

Last weekend, right before the major repairs were to be done, we drove the coach to Lancaster and parked at the Antelope Valley Fairground RV Park for two nights. It gave us an opportunity to deliver Katie's things to her and get reacquainted with our little granddaughter, Sophie, who will be two in April. She's not talking yet, but she says "oh" with the greatest range of expression you can imagine. We'll see her again a few more times before we leave town. 

Another highlight of our time here has been the two visits to the church I attended when I lived here over twenty years ago. I was truly surprised that anyone remembered me, but there were still a few folks - the "remnant" from those long gone days. It was good to be in the House of the Lord during the Christmas season. 

And with that, I'll close and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. My wish for you all is that you know the true meaning of the Babe in the manger -- God, taking human form to live among us, to become like us so that we could know him, to pay the penalty for our sin so that we could live eternally with Him... God With Us, the greatest Gift ever given. 

God Bless us every one!

At Alfateers for Coach Repairs

Are you familiar with that famous saying, "I only came in for one thing..."?

That's more or less our story. A couple months ago, Mark decided to make an appointment with Alfateers to inspect and repair the slide-outs. Alfateers is a hold-over from the original company that manufactured the Alfa brand of motor home. Their staff are arguable the most knowledgeable in the country for Alfa repairs, and the rebranded company has made a name for itself in customer service in the years since. That reputation, and the fact we were going to be in California anyway, is what influenced the decision to get our slide repairs done here.

For better or worse, the appointment to fix the slides turned into a laundry list of fixes..."Oh, by the way, there's this issue too. Maybe you can fix that while you're at it. And...what about this, can you give us an estimate? ...oh, one more thing, this should be a cheap fix..." etc., etc. In the end, however, it wasn't the little things that got us, it was the monster lurking the closet, so to speak. In summary:

• Screen door latch handle (it no longer takes two hands and a knee to open the front door)
• Leaky water valves and hoses in our fresh water hookups and the saniflush leaks (on the black water tank)
• Replace the worn out struts on one of the basement compartment doors
• Reattach the outside wall to the frame on the passenger side
• Replace the main awning motor and brake (this bit the dust just last week)
• Replace the rubber seals and rollers on both slides
• Fix the loose screw causing the bedroom slide to hang up and not fully deploy (this was also scratching both the wood flooring in the bedroom and the outside bottom of the slide)
• Replace the main slide motor and brake
• And the "ka-ching" item (the monster) that we didn't know about until the main slide was inspected, and which will take an entire week to repair... replace water-damaged subfloor in the main slide. For this job, they will have to entirely remove the slide from the coach - 35 hours of labor. Yikes! 

Some of the smaller items are done already. We expect the awning and the water problems to be finished by end of day tomorrow. Fortunately for us, Steve and Alicia (my son and his wife), have graciously allowed us to stay with them in their guest room next week while that major repair is being done. 

I don't even want to talk about the cost of this whole project, except to say that this RV is our one and only house and home, and when things need fixing in your house, you just fix them and deal with the cost the best you can.

God always provides. And I have no doubt He will this time as well.

In the meantime, tomorrow we will be driving the motorhome to Lancaster for the weekend and delivering (at last) the remnants of Katie's belongings that we had been storing for her since she moved from Minnesota to California. She'll be happy to get them back and we'll be happy to recover some space in our tiny home. Then on Sunday afternoon, we'll park the "Follymobile" back here at Alfateers, pack up a suitcase and the cat, and head to Steve and Al's in Canyon Country for the week.

The folks at Alfateers have promised to have everything done by the 22nd. I'm counting on it, because the plan is to camp at the Thousand Trails park in Acton, put up our Christmas tree and bake some cookies... preferably before Christmas.

Bye Bye San Diego

Pio Pico from our window

Well, our time at Pio Pico is over. It was one of our favorite camping sites so far - far enough from civilization to feel like we're camping, yet close enough to the places we want to visit in the area. The jacuzzi was a nice plus. We used it several times. It didn't hurt that we were right across the road from it.

We didn't complete our entire San Diego wish list, but we put a big dent in it. One of the main reasons for making a stop there was to welcome our grandson, Arick Mayo, back from his Navy cruise to South Korea on the Nimitz aircraft carrier. He arrived in port on the 6th. His mom and dad flew in to greet him as well, and we met up with them on Monday for lunch. On Tuesday, Mark joined his kids for the event and spent the day visiting with Arick and getting a personal tour of the ship. Unfortunately, one day was all they got, because the sailor had to report back to duty the next day.

Brian and Maegan Mayo with Mark

Mark and I made one last excursion to San Diego later in the week to the Cabrillo National Monument and tide pools. The day was gorgeous--  warm and sunny, typical for San Diego. It was high tide when we got to the tide pools and so didn't get to see the little sea creatures trapped in the pools, but the ocean is always beautiful and worth visiting.

We didn't get to Balboa Park this time around, but that will give us something new to do next year.

Smoke from the Tecate fire (behind the Coronado bridge)

For a while we were somewhat concerned about the area fires, particularly one that started up east of us on the Mexico border near Tecate on Friday. But the fire service had it put out by Saturday morning, and our only inconvenience was being out of power for the day due to managed power shut-offs by the electric company. This was done for two reasons:  First, to prevent any live wires going down in the wind; and second, to allow them to make inspections to make sure no lines had gone down in the wind. Anyway, we were back on the road Sunday, headed for Fontana.

Fontana is the home of Alfateers, one of the few very knowledgeable firms for repairing Alfa motorhomes. The owners and most of the repair technicians are former employees of the original Alfa manufacturing company that went out of business some years ago. They know what they're doing! We are here to get some needed repairs done on our slides and a few other issues that need addressed -- a subject for the next blog post.

For now, here are some parting shots of San Diego for your viewing enjoyment...

The Nimitz

Arick Mayo with his mom & dad

Only in California

San Diego from Harbor Island

Mark and the Senior Cabrillo

San Diego from the hill

The hidden tide pools

Hanging Out With The Animals in San Diego

Safari Park

San Diego has kept us very busy. We arrived on Sunday the 26th and have been doing something just about every day. Okay, maybe not EVERY day...but for someone who requires two days of recuperation for every day of activity, it seems like it's been every day.

Early in the week we bought ourselves a two day pass to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park and drove up to the Safari Park in Escondido on Wednesday and the Zoo in San Diego on Friday. Lots and lots of walking followed by a dip in the Jacuzzi when we got home.

"Playing" with tiger cubs

The Safari Park, we learned, was established many years ago as a breeding facility for the Zoo. They have also successfully reintroduced animals that are severely endangered, such as the White Rhino and the California Condor, back into their natural habitats (Africa and California) where they are beginning to thrive and multiply again. They also work with many of the animals as "babes" to get them used to human interaction so that they are easier to manage as zoo adults.

Our lunch view

The Safari Park is very much like a zoo, except many of the habitats are larger. The grazing animals are in a wide open area, and in order to see them up close, it's necessary to take a bus tour, which we did. The restaurant where we ate lunch was backed up to this range and we almost felt like we were in another land. The food was good too -- and surprisingly affordable. Prices at both zoos were on par to eating in any regular restaurant of a similar type (sit-down, deli, etc.)

Koalas sleep about 22 hours a day!

My favorite, though, was the Zoo. What a wonderful place! I was impressed the first time I saw it back in 1972 and I am still impressed. It really takes more than a day to see it properly. We missed a few sections for lack of time, but we got there early and were able to see most of it before we conked out and headed home.

The San Diego area is Mark's old "stomping grounds." On Saturday, we drove to Santee to visit some long time friends and old neighbors of his- Miss Nancy and Miss Betty. Betty was away until about three o'clock, but we took Nancy to breakfast and visited together most of the afternoon. Miss Betty is now Mrs. Betty, and when she returned home, we stopped by to see her and her husband and spent another hour. It was a long day, but we had a lovely time getting acquainted and reacquainted.

Sunday, we visited Faith Chapel, the church Mark attended when he lived here years ago. Like every place, change happens. People leave. New people come. Nothing ever stays the same, nor should it. Despite the fact neither of us knew anyone, we were greeted warmly by several "brothers & sisters" and were very much blessed by the service.

Casi Cielo Winery

On the way home we stopped at a winery and met some lovely people who invited us to sit with them. We lingered until nearly four, and (of course) left with a bottle of wine and a couple jars of jam. I'm developing quite a collection of jellies and jams. I don't know why so many wineries sell jam, but they do...and you haven't tasted good jam until you've tasted wine jam. I promise to serve you crackers and jam if you ever stop by to visit.

We're loving it here at Pio Pico. It's definitely one of the places we'll return to, possibly every year. There's so much to do and see in San Diego, and most of it will have to wait until our next trip. We have four days left, and we hope to at least make it to Balboa Park. Maybe tomorrow.

Here are some more pictures of our zoo encounter...

East African Crowned Crane

Local mule deer sneak in and take advantage of the
Safari Park "safe zone"

These long necked antelope can reach food
too high up for the smaller varieties

Anteaters

Meercat

"Watch your head, I'm comin' through."

All the usual suspects

Thanksgiving Week

RV Park on Lake Elsinore

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope you were fortunate enough to spend it with friends and loved ones.

When Mark and I made our November plans, we weren't sure what we were going to do about the Thanksgiving holiday, and so we didn't think much about it until we were preparing to leave for Lake Elsinore. But we were surprised by an invitation from Mark's long time friend, Tina Kelsey, to spend Thanksgiving day with her family. We chose Lake Elsinore as a stopping point because we had planned to spend some time visiting with her. It's about twenty miles or so north of Temecula, where Tina lives. But we never expected to be included into their family celebration. Our special thanks go out to Tina and her extended family for their kind hospitality to us nomads. It was a lovely meal and a very pleasant visit overall.

So now I have to tell you about my pressure cooker debacle. After we got our invitation, I asked if there would be anything I could bring to the dinner. A side dish or dessert was the answer, and since there was going to be plenty of dessert, I opted for a side dish. Of course I chose something I like (a wise consideration when attending any potluck-style event), as well as being standard offering at most Thanksgiving dinners -- yams. Even if someone else brings yams, not everyone prepares them the same way. And if it turns out that nobody likes them, I get to bring them home and eat them all myself. Win-win.

So I set out to make my version of Thanksgiving yams. Off to the store I went to purchase a bunch of sweet potatoes - organic, of course. Thanksgiving morning I was up bright and early to make the yams, as we were planning to leave for Tina's house at about 10:30. I thought to myself, you have this handy pressure cooker...why not use it to cook the sweet potatoes; a half hour should get them nice and tender. And so I washed them, stuffed them in the pot, and set the timer for thirty minutes. At the end of the time, I proceeded to release the steam and pull them out to cool. There was no steam. Off came the lid. The potatoes were barely warm. What's wrong? I thought. I checked the seal. It seemed fine. I repeated the same process again. Same result. I changed out the seal and repeated the process. Same result. By this time it's getting close to the time we should be leaving, and I'm thinking my Instant Pot is broken, when suddenly, like out of the blue, a simple scientific fact occurs to me. Steam requires water. There was no steam because there was no water. Duh! So, while Mark got on the phone to let Tina know we would be late, I added a cup of water to the bottom of my pot and restarted it for yet another thirty minutes. Wa La! Beautifully cooked sweet potatoes. Fifteen minutes later, they were pealed, mashed, seasoned, and stuffed into a casserole dish for transporting.

We weren't really late, fortunately. We spent a few hours at Tina's visiting with her and Dave before it was time to go to her sister's house where the meal would be. And...now I understand how pressure cookers work. 

Temecula, it turns out, is another American "wine country." As Tina aptly remarked, "You can't throw a stone here without hitting a winery." The next day, she took us out for a wine tasting afternoon. The one pictured is where she and her husband have a membership, and the tasting was free. Her husband, Dave, met us at the second winery where we sat for a while sipping and visiting on their outdoor patio until the sun went down. Afterward Tina fed us turkey leftovers and sent us home with two jars of homemade jam. We've already opened up the fig jam - it's delicious!

At Thanksgiving I can't help but ponder how truly rich we are. In a world where millions, maybe billions, of human beings suffer hardship and starvation, we are blessed with all that we need and much that we want. It is the evidence that God keeps his promise to care for his children.

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good: for his steadfast love endures forever!" (Psalm 118) 

We hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was equally blessed.

On Saturday, Mark and I took a drive up the mountain on a curvy two-lane road to a little restaurant called Overlook Roadhouse for lunch. It's nothing to look at from the outside, but the food is great and you can't beat the view. 

Sunday we left Lake Elsinore for the San Diego area where we are now. Our campsite is about ten miles from Mexico, as the crow flies, off Highway 94 near Jamul, CA. We're here for two weeks.

Blessings in Kings County

Moro Rock, from the bottom

Our next stop on the journey was to the Fresno area, Hanford CA, to be specific, to visit some extended family and dear friends, Judy and Phil Bohnsack, who actually live in the nearby town of Laton. (Judy and Phil are the parents of Mark's son-in-law, James Hoffman.)

We arrived there on Saturday, the 18th, and parked for three days at the Kings County Fairgrounds in Hanford. It wasn't bad as campgrounds go. We had full hookups, and the price was reasonable. We weren't there for the amenities anyway.

Sunday morning we met the Bohnsacks at Koinania Church, where they attend. It's been a while since we were in a real live church service and were blessed for the opportunity to worship with other believers. Normally, Mark and I tune in to our Wooddale online service. It's always a good message, but there's no fellowship, something I'm beginning to really miss on this road journey. But let's not dwell on that just now.

After church Phil and Judy treated us to lunch and then they came over to the fairgrounds to see our new house. Our original plan was to drive up to the Sequoias on Monday, but because of an obligation that came up at the last minute with our hosts, we decided instead to make the drive that afternoon.

It's not that far, we reasoned. We should get up there in less than an hour. It was only about thirty miles. So off we went. And we were correct. It took us about an hour to get to the entrance of the park. But we didn't count on how big the park is and how much farther everything was that we wanted to see. I've been there before - many years ago. But I had no memory of the long windy road climbing up and up into the mountains. We drove another forty-five minutes or so and realized we were only halfway to where we wanted to go. Moro Rock was out of the question, but we hoped to at least see the General Sherman Tree. Had we kept going, it would have been dark by the time we got there. Everyone agreed that it would probably be best to turn around and head back down.

No sooner had we turned around and headed down than right in front of us, not thirty feet away, a mamma bear and two cubs crossed the road and headed up into the woods. They were still in sight as we slowly drove past, but by the time anyone could get out their camera and take a picture, they were gone. That was an unexpected treat. Other than a few deer, that was the excitement for the day. We stopped in Visalia and were treated (again) to supper at Marie Calendar's. It was long but very enjoyable day.

Monday we drove to Phil and Judy's home and spent the afternoon with them. Mark helped Phil haul away a pile of branches from a couple of their trees that were trimmed that day to a neighboring orchard were they would be mulched up. And then they harvested walnuts from a friend's orchard and brought home a grocery bag full that they sent home with us.

Thank you again, Phil and July, for your wonderful hospitality and a lovely visit!

A Visit To The Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was on Mark's "bucket list." So of course we had to go see it since we were close. It was about an hour drive from our campground at San Benito.

What a treat! If you like fish tanks, this place is the "mother" of all fish tanks. Situated at the edge of one of the deepest trenches in the ocean, Monterey Bay has access to a wide range of sea life, from barrier reef to the deepest deep-sea creatures. Their research institute has been instrumental in developing unmanned vessels designed to traverse the ocean at depths that humans cannot easily go. These vessels can stay submerged much longer and are equipped to take high def video and collect samples. This allows them record these creatures in their unique environment without, well, killing them. We watched a very interesting presentation on creatures of the deep while we were there.

The Aquarium had a giant fish tank with specimens from the ocean and a forest of kelp. We learned that the kelp, when they first harvested it from the ocean and planted it in their fish tank, kept dying. Eventually, they installed a pump into the tank to mimic wave action, and that was all that was needed to allow the kelp to thrive. This tank had schooling fish, which are amazing to watch. Apparently, the schooling and the silver scale color acts as a kind of blind to the larger fish (like a tuna) that will swim right through a school without realizing they are food. Only when the fish split from the school do they become vulnerable.

There were also tanks devoted to the tiny little reef fish like Nemo and Dory, as well as whole sections on various types of fish-- octopus & squid, jellies, large and small schooling fish (my favorite were the creepy little anchovies that open their mouths on giant hinges to take in their minuscule food bits), crabs, eels, and so on.

To my great disappointment, there were no whales or dolphins or great white sharks. But there were sea lions, and penguins (not together), and a variety of sea and shore birds, which were all very interesting. 

We spent the better part of a day there, stopping for an hour or so to eat lunch. Of course then we had to go home and watch "Finding Nemo," where I took great pleasure in identifying all the creatures I saw at the Aquarium.

I've seen that movie a dozen times, but it still makes me laugh.

Some things really needed video-- still pictures just didn't do justice. So here are some video clips of the large tank, the penguins, the creepy anchovies, and the cute little garden eels that look like freaky worms. I would have liked to have posted a video of the playful sea lions, but the file was too big.

Enjoy.

Working our Way to the Warm

Well, we're finally out of the cold, rainy Northwest and into a warmer climate. It's still not warm enough for me, but we're working on it.

Our first two stops, after leaving Pacific City were wineries that are members of Harvest Hosts. Harvest Hosts is a program where vineyards, wineries, and farms (usually organic farms) allow you to park on their property at no cost. It's a boon-docking stop-- no hookups, but we can put out our slides and get comfortable. And once we pay our $44 for the year, all our Harvest Host stops are "free." I put that in quotes because it's not likely we would ever stop at a winery, vineyard, or organic farm without purchasing their wares. And of course we did exactly that.

Devitt Winery

The first stop, Devitt Winery in southern Oregon near Medford, was a pretty small (and new) venture. They had a little vineyard and bought most of the grapes they used in their wine-making. Their wine was good but expensive.

The next night we were in northern California, about 30 miles east of Red Bluff at Indian Peak Vineyard. It took us a good deal longer to make the trip than we expected. We left Devitt at a little before ten in the morning, but since we didn't have a sewer hookup at our previous campsite, we needed to stop and dump our waste water. That took a good 45 minutes. The worst of it was that we ran into rain on I-5 going through the mountains. Slow up the hills, slow down the hills, plus rain, about doubled our travel time. We passed a mess of an accident where a truck jack-knifed in the north-bound lanes. It looked like a car was involved as well. The crash had traffic strung out for a good mile or more. You don't realized how many trucks there are on the road delivering our goods across the country until you see them dead stopped. It was impressive (in a bad way). Anyway, we arrived at Indian Peak at five o'clock just as it was getting dark. We tasted wine, made our purchases and visited for a little while. The proprietor picked up wine making as a retirement venture. So far, he told us, he has yet to make a profit. His wine was also quite good, but too expensive for us to be too generous with our purchases.

Indian Peak Vineyards

Thursday and Friday were spent recuperating at a Thousand Trails park north of Sacramento in a little town called Nicolaus. It was nothing special, but after being on the road three days in a row, we needed a bit of a cheap rest.

Saturday we headed south again to the San Benito Thousand Trails park out in the hill country east of Monterey. As a matter of fact, we are very near a little place called Ridgemark. (We're the white dot with the black center.) Over the past few days, Ridgemark has been experiencing a swarm of small earthquakes with strengths ranging from 1 to 2.9 on the Richter scale. Mark has felt a couple of them during the

night, but the one we both felt happened while we were in a little market in Hollister. It was a short little jolt-- strong enough to make you "sit up and take notice" but not strong enough to do any damage. A good reminder that we are indeed in earthquake country. I'm taking special pains to keep the glass items stowed when they're not in use. I really hate cleaning up broken glass.

Deer in the park

We love this park. There's a little herd of deer that roams around. We saw them when we arrived at dusk (again).  They were running across the road right in front of us as we drove in. The park employees are all very cheerful and helpful. As a matter of fact, since it was so late and getting dark when we pulled in, they escorted us to our designated area where we could find a spot. The park is so big that, left on our own, we would have been driving around for a half hour in the dark looking for a site. Birds and squirrels abound. And we're told there's also a bobcat mom and kittens that have been sighted in the area as well. But we've yet to see them.

We finally got the remainder of November campsites confirmed this week, which is a big load off our minds. We'll be here until Saturday when we head to the Fresno area to visit some family friends, Judy & Phil Bohnsack (parent's of Mark's son-in-law).

Can anybody ID this beauty?

Tomorrow it will rain. The area needs it. It's dry and dusty. Then on Thursday we're hoping to head to Monterey and visit the Aquarium there...provided it doesn't fall into the sea before then.

We should probably make an effort to stay on the east side of the San Andreas....just in case.