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.

Oregon's 101

We don't have a lot to say today, but we'll let the pictures speak for us.

We started at Pacific City and ended our day in Coos Bay, OR. Our "Plan A" was to boondock at a Walmart, but when we saw the steep road going up the hill we would have had to climb to get to it, we quickly ruled it out. We pulled up our "Allstays" app and quickly found an RV park a mile up the road -- comfortably sea level -- called Lucky Loggers RV Park. They had one pull-through spot available with our name on it.

In the morning we leave Highway 101 and head inland to Interstate 5 and Devitt Winery in Jacksonville, OR (near Medford).

So here is a picture tour of our day...

The First of a Thousand Trails

It's landscapes like the coast of Oregon that make me appreciate the creative hand of God. What a beautiful week we've enjoyed! ...in spite of the chilly rainy weather.

We left Spokane Wednesday, on threat of snow that was predicted for Friday and Sunday. The snow never sticks in November...usually. But considering the crazy weather across the country this year, we weren't about to take any chances. Wednesday night we stayed at Agate Acres again, in Plymouth, WA, which is right along the Columbia River just before crossing over to Oregon.

Our drive along the Columbia River was amazing, especially through the Cascades. Once we passed Portland, our route took us over Highway 6, which crosses the Coastal Range (elevation 1,500 ft.) to Tillamook (of cheese fame) on Highway 101. From there we headed south to Pacific City. The several "chain up zone" signs we passed along the way only served to confirm our decision to leave Spokane when we did.

A free one-year membership to Thousand Trails, a national RV resort company, was a perk for buying our motor home through PPL. The membership is a $600 value and gives us (with some caveates) free or reduced camping in parks within a given zone. Thousand Trails breaks up the country into five zones-- North & South West, North and South East, and Central. AND, for an additional $45 a year, we can select additional zones after our first choice. So for our free membership, we selected the Southwest, and then added the Northwest to take care of our initial travel plans. There are quite a few campgrounds in their system in these two areas, and we will be planning our campsites as much as possible around the Thousand Trails options.

This campground in Pacific City is our first experience with Thousand Trails. There are things we love about it and things that are less than ideal. For instance, the campsites themselves are level and surrounded by foliage, but they are a bit close together. We love the proximity to the ocean. We were able to make a short walk to one of the most famous Oregon beach landmarks, Haystack Rock (pictured here), on a very narrow path through the dense vegetation that flourishes in coastal Oregon's notorious wet weather. On the other hand, the roads throughout the park are poorly maintained and full of potholes. Finding a cell phone signal or internet coverage has been nearly impossible without getting in our car and driving up the hill (over the potholes) to the Family Center. And Dish TV is useless. Nevertheless, we can't beat the price. Considering most RV park site fees range from $20 to $50+ a night, Thousand Trails has already paid for itself. And when we renew, if we use it at least a week or two of every month, it will be well worth the cost.

Saturday, we drove down the coast a little way to Newport to visit their weekly farmer's market. Being the winter season, it was indoors, which was great since it was raining.  We found some wonderful fresh organic vegetables and pastured meat, among other things.

Today we pull up stakes again and head south, hoping for warmer, dryer weather.

On the Road Again

Today is our last day in Spokane. We leave this morning. Mark spent yesterday finishing some of the fix-it projects on his list. He repaired the awning that was damaged in the wind on our way across Wyoming. We now have mud flaps on the coach, a project he started earlier in the week and finished this morning. And, with Josh's help, he installed the wiring on the car so we can connect to the RV brake lights and turn signals while we're towing it. Josh showed up on his way to work to help with both those projects. (Good son! The free breakfast was secondary, of course.)

The original plan was to stay until November 11 or until the snow flies... and, well, the snow insisted on coming early.

It's been a very good stay altogether. We got in several good visits with everyone. Josh and his girlfriend, Nicole, came by last week so she could see our RV.

On Saturday, I picked up Savannah and we went to Hobby Lobby on a yarn hunting expedition for her temperature blanket. I decided (after the color choice debacle with Haylee's blanket) to let Savannah choose the colors that will be in her blanket. She came up with a surprising color combination, and the finished work is bound to be lovely. I can't wait to get started on it. It will be her 16th birthday gift - due in May. Afterward we returned to the RV to make chocolate chip cookies and play a few rounds of Dominoes. She did all the work and took home some of the fruits of her labor.

Then on Monday, Mark and I took Liz and Haylee out to breakfast. There's a cute little diner, converted from a 1930s railroad car, just around the corner from her apartment. The food was fabulous and the nostalgic atmosphere was fun. We loved our waitress. She'd been serving at that establishment for 20 years! She was full of personality and left us with a "joke of the day."

"Did you hear the one about the furniture salesman? He got got stuck in the upholstery machine. But don't worry. I understand he's completely recovered."

The afternoon was spent hanging out at Liz's apartment. Mark took a nap while the girls and I played Scrabble. Liz beat me! Shocking.

Yesterday evening we made one last trip to Liz's to say goodbye to everyone. Unfortunately we missed out on seeing Savannah. She had Halloween plans with a friend. But Leah was there in her Mad Hatter costume, waiting for her trick-or-treating chaperone and darkness to arrive. It was a short visit but a sweet one. Hugs and kisses all around, with chocolate chip cookies on the side (freshly baked by Lizzy).

I thought it would be my last visit, but apparently my subconscious had other ideas. I walked away without my phone and was forced to make an unplanned trip back to her house this morning to fetch it.

Our first stop is the Kennewick area for one night, back to that cute little park right off Hwy 395-- Agate Acres, where we stayed on our way here. Then on to Pacific City, on the coast of Oregon, to a Thousand Trails park. We expect to be there cozied up inside watching it rain for four days. Then on Monday we have a Harvest Host stop at a winery. What?! It's a free stop. And we can put out our slides. The wine is secondary, of course.

Happy November! Have a wonderful week. And try to stay warm.