Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, through Wednesday, December 29, 2010: At Soledad Canyon:
The Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails preserve is a bit run down but it remains one of our favorites---for no identifiable reason. We weren't able to park in our usual area because part of the road to it was washed out by the recent (and ongoing) California rainstorms. A frequent visitor told me that the road to that section gets washed out every time there is a substsntial storm here. One might think they should design a solution to avoid a recurrence. But there are very few people here now, so it's not a problem.


Soledad Canyon is in Acton, an hour away from Pasadena, but we made the trip a total of four times, including one to shop for, among other things, two new sport coats for me. We combined the clothes-buying trip with lunch with Honoria Vivell, her son, Stephen, and her new friend, Richard. They seem to be quite an item. Our lunch was at Taylor's Steak house in La Canada, a favorite restaurant of ours.


We spent Christmas at Becky's sister Wendy's home in Pasadena. The usual Shelton gang was there, and we had a great time. It was the first time since 2002 that we had spent Christmas with the family. The next day we returned to Wendy's for a visit with their cousins Bill and Steve Boggs and Steve's wife, Kathy, and their son, Jason. We hadn't seen them in quite a while. It was great catching up, and we even talked about having a reunion of the entire family next August.


We had only a little of the rain that pummeled southern California, but the drizzle was pretty constant. Tuesday, the 28th, was a clear day, however, and we actually played pickle ball that morning for an hour with one of the guests, Paul Earle, a very nice gentleman Becky had first met at the Palm Springs preserve. I hadn't played in several months, and was understandably clumsy, while Becky was her usual superb jock self. Later that day, we returned to Taylor's to have lunch with my brother, Bob. It was good to see him.


The last night, Wednesday, we ventured into downtown Los Angeles to have our free wedding anniversary dinner at the Jonathan Club. It is one of the perks of membership. We both had bone-in filets mignon, a treat we'd never had previously at the Jonathan Club. They were delicious.


It was altogether a nice stay.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Tuesday, December 7, through Monday, December 20, 2010: At Palm Springs:
This stay at Palm Springs was designed to give us a rest after the last few weeks of short stays at each location followed by traveling to a new location. So, I rested. Becky didn't. She plays pickle ball every day for several hours with some very good players. (That's one of the reasons I'm not playing.) She also takes the dogs for long walks several times a day. (Ramsey has a lot of energy.)

Naturally, we hit the Costco several times, and loaded up. We also went to a Chinese buffet that had been highly recommended. What a disappointment. Even though I love Chinese food, this place was well below expectations. The food was good but there were very few choices.

Friday night, we had dinner with Karen (Tolson) Sloat and her husband, Stephen. He is the pastor of the Coachella Valley Christian Church. Karen is a former secretary of mine---from many moons ago, naturally---who went on to law school and has been practicing law for several years. Coincidentally, she was set to open her own office the following Monday. As nearly as we could recall, we last saw them while we were on a ski trip in Snowmass, Colorado, in the '90s. It was great seeing them again. We actually attended their church service Sunday morning.


The following Wednesday (12/15) we had a terrific lunch with Chuck Conway (his treat, thank you Chuck) at one of the two Leon's restaurants at the Indian Canyon Country Club. The restaurants are across the street from each other. Strange. Chuck lives in Palm Springs, but we last saw him in Williamsburg several months ago. It was fun catching up.

Lunch was followed by a visit to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned. We had never been to this dentist before, and were not prepared for his odd procedure. First, they take a zillion x-rays, then make you wait a half hour, then the dentist examines your mouth and recommends a number of corrective procedures, including what type of cleaning you need (which seems to invariably mean a type requiring several more visits), then they make another appointment for the actual basic cleaning we went there for in the first place. (In my case, the dentist recommended removing two of my wisdom teeth which have never come in and have never given me the slightest trouble, because they might someday become a problem.) Becky, in her not-so-subtle way, suggested that we weren't going to play their game, and they suddenly had time to do what we wanted that same day.

Thursday was a day set aside to visit Joshua Tree National Park (it was only a national monument until 1994), a 75 mile round trip.


Ho, hum. We entered the park at the south entrance, which is at the lowest elevation---while the joshua trees are at the higher elevation near the north entrance. While there are many plant-types at each elevation, we got bored quickly. We explored for about fifteen minutes, then headed back. At least, Becky got her national park passport stamped.

On Friday, we went to a terrific and huge restaurant called Jackalope Ranch that has several dining rooms spread over six acres. Very nice.

For some time, I've been looking for a way to improve the appearance of the somewhat beat-up wooden top of our dining area table. I finally settled on having a Corian top made to cover it. It took some effort to find someone to do it, but it finally happened. Yea! Merry Christmas, Becky.

And, of course, we did our Christmas shopping and mailed our Christmas cards (which we send only every two years). We selected a picture from our Italian trip for the cards. The photo was taken at the Piazza Michelangelo in Florence.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, through Monday, December 6, 2010: The race to California:
On Tuesday, we headed for Abilene, Texas (158 miles) and the appropriately-named Abilene RV Park. It's a nice park, located right on I-20, and it took some time to get used to the traffic noise. But it was OK. Daisy wasn't feeling well---no energy and not eating---so we took her to the vet, who spent quite some time with her---concluding that she was a bit dehydrated and needed some fluid, some medication, and a change of diet. She seemed to rebound quickly. We also spent time at Best Buy and Verizon getting technical advice so our brand new mi-fi gizmo would work. And I got a much-needed haircut. Not a very exciting stay. One exception: There was a street in Abilene with a strange name---Judge Ely Boulevard, named after a local judge named Walter Ely.


I knew of a Judge Walter Ely in Los Angeles, and I knew he was from Texas (he was appointed to the federal bench by LBJ), so I contacted a former wife of his who has been a friend of mine for many years. She responded that the Abilene Judge Ely was her Judge Ely's father, and that he had been a wonderful man. Small world, huh?

On Thursday, we headed for Monahans, Texas (211 miles) going through the Midland/Odessa area, reaching the Monahans Sandhills State Park for a two-day stay. The park is all sand dunes, and quite pretty in its stark way. There is almost no one here, so we had our choice of RV sites. The area is so remote that the speed limit on I-20 here is 80 mph.




At the dunes location, Becky noticed that there was water leaking from the bottom of the trailer. On investigation, I determined that our gray tank valve was leaking. Normally, it would not be a significant problem since I usually leave that valve open at all times---meaning there is no water backup behind the valve to leak. At the dunes, however, we did not have a sewer connection and gray water built up in the line and, eventually, behind the valve. I couldn’t fix it there, anyway, so we just dripped on the asphalt for two days. We will always have sewer connections for the foreseeable future, so there is no hurry to fix the valve, which is buried under an insulating “blanket” of fiberglass and plastic.

The next stop on the agenda was El Paso, 239 miles away. We had no problem getting there, and the Mission RV Park, where we had stayed in 2004 on our first trip east, is very nice. We had dinner at Macaroni Grill with Loretta Scholbe, and old friend of Becky’s from her army days. It was fun catching up.


That was about the most exciting thing we did in El Paso. We were certainly not going to cross into Ciudad Juarez, which has become the murder capital of Mexico and, therefore, a major drag on tourism in El Paso.

We were headed for Lordsburg, New Mexico (177 miles), on Monday, when Becky realized that her left hand was not healing well. She had broken up a dogfight in El Paso on Saturday, and received a bite as a result---which she treated with just an antibiotic cream. By Monday, her hand had swelled a lot and hurt quite a bit. We decided to stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico (about 30 miles from where we had started) and have the hand looked at. The doctor at the Memorial Hospital emergency room recommended some serious antibiotic treatment and an overnight stay in the hospital, which turned out to be two nights.


I parked the trailer at the local KOA Kampground, I frittered away the two days in my usual way---doing little or nothing but reading and watching TV---except that I had sole responsibility for taking care of the dogs, which was quite a change from my normal routine. That is to say, it was exhausting.

Becky’s hand responded well to the medication, and we were on our way again Wednesday morning. We had to blow off Lordsburg for obvious reasons, and headed directly for Tucson, about 280 miles from Las Cruces, to get back on schedule. In Tucson, we stayed at the Voyager RV Park, a very nice place---again, we had stayed there on a previous trip. Our second day there was Thanksgiving Day, and we had a nice dinner in their on-site restaurant.


On Friday, we left Tucson and headed for the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort (El Mirage being a suburb of Phoenix) a trip of only an easy 147 miles. We had been at this resort twice before. It’s very nice. Becky played some pickle ball, while I rested. We decided to go to Kingman, Arizona, next instead of Bullhead City, California, so we could go to Las Vegas (on our way to Hurricane, Utah) via the spectacular new bridge at Hoover Dam. We had seen it under construction and wanted to experience it now that it is finished. The trip to Kingman was supposed to be 167 miles---except that I mis-entered the destination information in our GPS and we went ten miles in the wrong direction before figuring that out. We stayed at the Fort Beale RV Resort in Kingman, a small but very nice and well-located RV park, for just one night. Our big event was getting take-out from the local Panda Express---which was so crowded we had to wait more than 20 minutes just to start ordering. The food was good, naturally. (I love Chinese food!)

The bridge at Hoover Dam turned out to be a non-event. There is a new road leading to the bridge, and you do not even see the bridge before being on it, the guard rails on the bridge are (at least) six-foot high concrete walls that are impossible to see over, and you have, therefore, no idea that you are hundreds of feet in the air. So much for planning to have exciting experiences.

We arrived at the St. George RV Park (supposedly located in nearby Hurricane, but actually located in Harrisburg, an otherwise abandoned historic Utah town) without incident and stayed for five days---a refreshing change from our recent hectic schedule. The extra time was set aside for a series of doctors appointments with old favorites, shopping at Costco and other places, getting the truck washed for the first time in a year, and having a sushi pig-out at Samurai 21, our favorite St. George restaurant. Delightful. It got very cold at night, and our water froze the first night. Otherwise, we fared very well and it was a nice park which we had visited previously.

We took a day trip to Zion National Park to see some old friends, including Kirsten Johnson,


and to see some snow.


We also took the dogs for a walk on the Pa Rus Trail at Zion.


On Saturday, we headed for Las Vegas to stay at the Oasis RV Resort for two days, on our way to Palm Springs---where we will start our winter-in-California adventure, staying for two months at various Thousand Trails preserves from San Diego to Santa Barbara. The Oasis was as nice as we remembered, and we spent a casual two days doing very little. The highlight was having dinner (at Boulder Station) with Kelly Guymon, a fellow worker at Zion during our time there. He now works for the MGM Grand, working the phone bank there making show reservations at more than 30 venues for guests.


On Monday, we headed for Palm Springs, an uneventful trip of 280 miles. However, getting into our site was the usual challenge at this park. There are huge, old palm trees at the entrance to each site, making backing in very difficult. I finally gave up and had Bill back the trailer in for us. (His experience as a former fifth-wheel owner comes in handy.)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Sunday, November 7, through Monday, November 15, 2010, in Lake Whitney, Texas (sort of):
Sunday, we finally arrived at the Lake Whitney Thousand Trails preserve for a nine-day stay. We were there nine months ago, and it was fun to cone "home" again. We relaxed for a couple of days, played a little pickleball (just the two of us, since there weren't a lot of people there and it was a bit windy---making for a weird game), and worked on integrating Ramsey into our lives. He's doing fine; we love him more every day; and Daisy is becoming more comfortable with him as time goes on.

Tuesday night, the night before our 25th anniversary, we decided to celebrate at a local restaurant (The Colorado Street Grill) we had patronized when we were at Lake Whitney in February. It turned out to be open only on weekends. So we headed for the Two Amigos restaurant we had also patronized in February. It's three miles out of town. We got there without incident---except to learn that they are closed on Tuesdays. We settled on another Mexican restaurant (Tres Hermanos) and took home some takeout for our anniversary. It wasn't elegant, but it was fine.

Wednesday morning, we dropped off the dogs at a nice place in not-so-nearby Kopperl, and headed for Dallas, to spend the night before leaving for our 25th anniversary celebration with the Ebbert children in Temecula, California. We had a wonderful dinner at a Joe's Crab Shack. I had mussels with a spicy tomato sauce and fabulous garlic bread. It was truly to die for.

We spent Wednesday night at the La Quinta Inn in Dallas, and then headed for the Love Field airport (not DFW) for the flight to San Diego on Thursday. It all went without incident, and we arrived at our rented house in Temecula around one PM. It was fabulous---five acres of land, five bedrooms (at least), a separate building with a game room and theater (and another bedroom), a combination swimming pool/spa/waterslide, a volleyball court, etc.



Typically, we didn't cook that night; instead we had takeout Chinese food. Yummy.
Friday, the kids arrived,


and we started to eat and drink our way through the weekend. We also played some pool in the game house.


We barbecued Friday night, and the next day started to hit the local wineries. (When one is in Temecula, one must sample the locally-produced wines.) With Barbara Coad joining us, we hit the Callaway Winery, the Maurice Car'rie Winery, and the Wilson Creek Winery. The second one is famous for its "brie in a loaf of bread" delicacy (one of which we devoured before leaving the winery and one of which we took back to the house) and Wilson Creek makes a delicious almond-flavored champagne we have savored in the past.


Saturday afternoon, Beverly and (Dr.) Bob Newhouse came to see us and spend some time with the family. It was fun seeing them again. They are former clients of mine---referred to me by Becky's father. Bob was one of his first clients---a long time ago, of course. They are very nice people. That night we ate at a down-scale Mexican restaurant (Rosa's Cantina) in old-town Temecula. It was just fine, if not impressive.

Sunday, we returned to Lake Whitney, driving directly there from the airport in Dallas, arriving at about 11:00PM. We picked up Daisy and Ramsey Monday morning. They were full of fleas, unfortunately, but otherwise OK.

When we picked up the truck after its fuel injector repair, having received a 10% senior citizen discount from the dealer, the service manager told me that GM had refused to cover any part of the cost, but that I should write a letter to GM and ask for a reconsideration (and not tell them he had recommended it). I wrote the letter a week ago and was contacted immediately by someone who said she would see what they could do. On Monday, she called back and said GM would send me a check for 40% of the net repair bill. I hugged her over the phone. Other than that excitement, Monday was a day of rest for Becky and me, and a day of scratching for Daisy and Ramsey.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Saturday, October 16, through Saturday, November 6, 2010: The Sprint to Texas:


After resting for two days at Gettysburg Farm, and sorting through our mail


we headed out on the sprint to Lake Whitney, Texas, where we will store our trailer for a long weekend and from which we will fly to southern California for our 25th Anniversary celebration in Temecula. The highlight of this stay near Gettysburg was a return to the restaurant (“Sidney” in nearby East Berlin) which we had enjoyed the last time through, in July. I had a huge prime rib, preceded by an appetizer of delicious pate of chicken liver and foie gras. Delightful, and very surprising to find in this remote, rural village.

On Sunday, we headed for Hickory Hollow Campground, in Rockwood, Pennsylvania (near Somerset), a trip of only 152 miles. (There is no point in jumping with both feet back into the RV travel thing.) It was an easy trip, and the campground (only 5 years old) is very nice, though not particularly exciting. Our two projects were: (i) to go into Rockwood to spend an hour walking on its local rail trail with Daisy,


and (ii) to head into Somerset to hit the Wal-Mart Supercenter for some much needed groceries. We accomplished both with alacrity.

Tuesday was a four-state travel day, from Pennsylvania, through Maryland and West Virginia, ending up in Racine, Ohio (a total of only 207 miles), at the Kountry (cute, huh?) Resort Campground, a nice enough campground with beautiful park-like grounds and too many trees for our satellite dish. Oh, well. We can cope for two days without TV. (It’s too much trouble to set up our backup dish for only a two-day stay.) We went through some magnificent country today in Pennsylvania. Rolling hills, well-tended farmhouses, stately silos, and forests of brilliant fall colors. Just lovely.


In West Virginia, there were visible a number of tributes to that old crook, Senator Robert Byrd, reminding me how much I dislike traditional politicians. He got a lot of credit for delivering pork to West Virginia. Apparently, it didn't include federal highway funds---their interstate highways are horrible; full of bumpy lanes that rattle your teeth.

We just relaxed on Wednesday, and headed for Salem, Virginia (nearest big city: Roanoke) on Thursday. No big deal getting there, arriving at 2:00 pm at the Dixie Caverns Campground. It's a fairly small, old park, with very long (but very narrow) pull-thrus, located just off the main highway. All things considered, it's perfect. That means our satellite dish works. I decided to follow up on the smoking problem with our truck. Friday I went to the nearest dealer, explained the ongoing saga, and asked them to confirm the diagnosis (glow plug relay) or find another reason for the smoke. After spending the entire day sitting at the dealer, I was told the glow plugs were the problem; that they all should be replaced; that GM would pay for most of the job; and the truck would be ready Saturday morning. I rented a car for the overnight, since we had plans. Saturday morning, we picked up the truck and returned the rental car. Following the rental car to Enterprise, I noticed that the smoke problem had not been solved! We returned to the dealer, who threw up its hands (pardon the mixed metaphor) and said they had no idea what to do. I asked for a referral to another dealer with diesel experience. They connected me with one a mile away, and the service manager said he knew from our brief conversation what was wrong---fuel injectors. He said they have been replacing them in this engine for years. The truck could be ready Tuesday morning. We authorized the zillion-dollar estimate and hoped for the best.

In the meantime, we have filled the unexpected time gap with the search for an additional Dalmatian---to keep Daisy company. There's a Dalmatian rescue place five miles from our campground. Saturday, we picked up Xander (short for Alexander) for a test stay with us. After about ten minutes, we decided it was going to be permanent. This is Xander looking at his image in the mirror.


Here are Xander (on the left) and Daisy relaxing after a hard day of play:


We finalized the adoption Monday night. On Tuesday morning, Becky decided that we needed to change Xander's name to Ramsey. She became fascinated with that name when we were at the Chevy dealership. The service manager's name was Ramsey Wells.

We picked up the truck Tuesday morning, emptied our bank account to pay for it, checked that it wasn’t smoking any more (Hurrah!!!), and headed for Crossville, Tennessee---where we stayed at Breckenridge Lake RV Park. It was a decent, but remote, park with only small, back-in spaces. It was a bit of a challenge to get in, but we made it---with the help of a neighbor who used to be a long-haul truck driver. We got there too late to do anything but settle in for the night. The next morning (Wednesday) we headed to Sevierville, Tennessee, and the Riverside RV Park, a beautiful place with huge spaces and large grassy areas.

Sevierville is next door to Pigeon Forge (there really is such a place) which is the home of Dollywood (Dolly Parton’s amusement complex), plus every national chain of hotels, motels, and restaurants, a zillion local hotels, motels, and restaurants, and any number of other oddball amusements. All of the buildings have cutesy exterior designs that underscore the fact that this really is hillbilly country. It’s kind of like a down-home version of Las Vegas without the gambling.

The weather was threatening, so we just had dinner (in a local Chinese buffet restaurant that was quite good and very reasonable) and settled in for the night. Right after dinner, the rain started. It was horrendous. At 3:00 am, I was awakened by Becky---announcing that our power was out and the battery backup wasn’t working. It turned out that a connection in our power cord got wet and shorted out the main power supply because it was completely under water, and the backup battery was simply dead.  So there I was, in the middle of the night, changing our power cords while standing up to my ankles in water. I was hoping my knowledge of electricity would guarantee that I would not be electrocuted.   I survived, and the next morning we bought a new battery while on the way to Great Smoky National Park---which was the reason we were in the neighborhood in the first place.   To get to the park, we had to go through Pigeon Forge and its neighbor, Gatlinburg, a smaller version of lovely Pigeon Forge.

Great Smoky is a very nice park, appropriately named


and the fall colors were spectacular.


It is the most visited national park and the only major one that doesn’t charge an entry fee. (Becky asked how they count the number of visitors if they don’t collect a fee from anyone? Excellent question.) The park is located in the center of the lower 48 states so that might partially explain why so many people visit it.

We were able to spend only two hours there, since we had to get back on the road to stay on schedule. At noon, we left the RV park and headed for the Diamond Caverns RV Park in Park City, Kentucky---the gateway to Mammoth Cave National Park. The RV Park was quite nice, having large spaces and rolling hills with extensive grassy areas. We visited the national park that afternoon. We hurriedly bought tickets to the next available tour of the caverns, which was leaving in ten minutes. At the Ranger briefing


I decided not to stay on the tour---instead cashing in my ticket and relaxing for the next two hours. Mostly it was because, after hearing the Ranger describe the various elements of the tour, I determined that my claustrophobia would not allow me to enjoy even a minute of the actual tour. There were also the elements of: (i) hiking two miles underground, (ii) having to stoop-over while walking through hundreds of feet of tunnel, (iii) climbing 400 steps, and (iv) going two hours without a bathroom available.   On her return from the tour, Becky confirmed that, while she enjoyed the tour immensely, my decision to stay back had been sound.

The next day we were back on the road, this time heading for the Vanderburgh 4-H Center & RV Park in Evansville, Indiana. The RV park was old and the spaces very small, but we didn’t care particularly---since the people were nice and, for the 4th straight stop, we were staying only one night, anyway.

The next morning, with the temperature at 34 degrees, we left Evansville, went through Illinois, and arrived at the Lost Valley Lake Resort near (i.e., 16 miles from) Owensville, Missouri (and about 60 miles west of St. Louis---where, in just a few mnutes, we passed the arch,


the headquarters of Anheuser-Busch, and Busch Stadium), a trip totaling 242 miles.  It is magnificent resort with some dazzling new facilities, but the RV area is old, therefore having small and hard-to-get-into spaces, but we managed---and we will be here for two whole days!!! The temperature was 88 degrees when we arrived, quite an upgrade from the morning. This place not only allows children, but encourages their being here. They were everywhere, and since it was unofficially Halloween, they were particularly noticeable (and noisy) wandering the streets Saturday night. We bought a lot of candy for them, but forgot to put out the sign that said trick-or-treaters were welcome, and we had no takers. We’ll have to eat all the candy ourselves.   Drat!   Sunday morning, we had breakfast in their very nice restaurant and visited Owensville to hit the Wal-Mart for groceries.   It was nice not having to hit the road immediately.

Monday morning we left for Branson, Missouri, for a two-day stay. It was an easy 200-mile drive, and the RV park (Treasure Lake) is huge, with, though, a lot of small and poorly designed RV spaces. It's strange how often we find that RV park designers apparently have no experience RVing, and therefore design difficult parks.   We made it OK, though.   Monday, and most of Tuesday, we mostly relaxed.   To avoid for three hours the endless predictions of the election results on TV Tuesday night, we attended the Jim Staford show at one of the many theaters/showrooms in Branson.  (Branson is Pigeon Forge Lite in architectural terms and has a zillion theaters/showrooms---which is responsible, of course, for its popularity.)  The Jim Stafford show was fun and very entertaining---in a relaxed, down-home way.   He is a veteran of showbiz (66 years old, having spent the last 21 years in Branson) and, as a result, does a good job working the audience.   Branson also has a lot of steep hills (it's deep in the Ozarks, after all) and parts of the city have narrow streets---both of which make it hell on RVs.   Our poor truck worked very hard getting around because of the hills, and some RVs almost got stuck trying to negotiate the tight historic downtown area.   But I'm glad we came here; it's something to experience.

The election results were, of course, exciting, though I had hoped for more of a Republican sweep. Oh, well. There's always 2012.

Wednesday, we headed for Oklahoma, the Hidden Valley RV Park in Muskogee, to be specific, for two days.   It's a nice, small park right on the highway (and adjacent to a train track on which we did not hear a single train in two days, thank you).   For some unknown reason, our GPS thought the park was 2 miles past the actual park and the only reason we found it at all was spotting a small sign for it next to the highway.   Again, it was a restful time, with trips to Wal-Mart and a Chinese buffet for excitement.

Ramsey has now been with us for almost two weeks, and is adjusting nicely.   He's really a nice dog; he just has more energy than we are used to.

Friday, we headed for Thackerville, Oklahoma, for another two-day stay.  Because we went through Indian reservation country, there were no direct roads, and we had to first go south into Texas (Gainesville), then west for a bunch of miles, then north, back into Oklahoma to get there.  The RV park (Red River Ranch Resort) is nice, but unexciting.   That's OK.   On the way, we stopped to get our vehicles inspected.  (Our current Texas inspections expired in August, but we were out of the state, of course.   Now, it was mandatory to get them renewed ASAP.   Otherwise, a policeman could ticket us for not being current.   I don't know what they look for in these inspections, but it only takes a few minutes.)   We passed.   Whew!

Saturday morning, Ramsey shot out the door and played "catch me if you can" for a few minutes and then disappeared under the building that housed the office---chasing the local cat.   It took us about an hour to get him out, removing several wooden steps in the process to give us access and allowing Becky to try to reach him.   He finally came out on his own, and didn't even apologize.  He apparently didn't realize how close we were to calling the fire department for help.   It all ended well, thank you.

Saturday night we went back to Gainesville to have dinner at a local joint that served barbecue and other country stuff.   The place was not crowded, and the waitress was not well-trained (she completely blew the wine presentation), but the food was excellent and inexpensive.  Altogether, it was a nice experience.

Tuesday, September 21, through Friday, October 15, 2010: The Italian Adventure:
Tuesday was spent killing time until our plane left for Rome. We spent some time at the Manassas battlefield (also known as Bull Run), from the Civil War, which was about a half mile from our hotel.


The visitor center had a very interesting movie describing and reenacting the first battle. (There were two). We headed for the airport (Washington Dulles International Airport) via Super Shuttle, which got us there a full three hours before scheduled takeoff. Our plane left the gate right on time (5:50 pm) and spent the next hour sitting on the ground. The reason, which was discovered, not volunteered, was that, due to earlier wind problems, the airport had been closed for some time and we were 16th in line to take off. There were another 16 planes in line right behind us.

The flight was uneventful except that Becky fell asleep with some unfinished wine (red, incidentally) on her tray which spilled all over both of us when we hit some turbulence. We picked up 45 minutes of the lost time, and arrived in Rome at 9:15 am, and started the longest day ever.


We needed to get to Siena to pick up our rental car. After waiting for our luggage at the wrong carousel for a half hour (Thank you, United Airlines) and waiting 45 minutes for the bus to leave, having been told it would leave in 15 minutes,


the trip from the airport to the train station took an incredible two hours, We were ten minutes too late to catch the train we had planned to take, and had to reschedule. The next train left 1½ hours later and required a change (with a 7 minute gap) in a town called Grosetto. The train station in Rome is an absolute madhouse. Mobs of people are everywhere, and it costs more than a dollar to take a leak. The latter is quite an insult to us older folks.

We had been warned to be on the lookout for pickpockets, and the warning was rewarded. While getting on the train, we were interfered with by some people who tried to cram in ahead of us, then stood around not going anywhere. One of them was an attractive young mother openly breastfeeding her baby. I was too busy with my bags to notice, but I am informed that it was quite distracting. Moments later, a train person told us it was a team of pickpockets we had seen. Fortunately, they got nothing from us.

True to form for the day, our train was 8 minutes late getting to Grosetto, but the conductor held the next train for us. Thank you, Signor!. That train arrived in time for us to pick up our rental car, but it turned out that the rental office was miles away from the train station.. While Becky and Barbara (Coad, who had joined us at Dulles) went to get the car by taxi, Pat, Bill, and I cooled our heels across the street from the station (to avoid the cigarette smoke in the station, in which smoking was prohibited, of course). Luckily, I was able to find a nearby store that was willing to sell me some wine for later. We stuffed the Opel with all of our luggage (and my newly-acquired wine), leaving just enough room for us to breathe, and headed for our villa outside the village of Poggibonsi, in lovely Tuscany. Niccolo, the property manager, had emailed us instructions on how to get to the place. They were almost understandable. Amazingly, we actually got there,


and he was there. Ostensibly, he was waiting for us, but actually, he was just getting into his car to leave, because he had no idea where we were, since we were so late, and we had no way of reaching him.

The place is wonderful, and we were excited to have finally reached our destination. It quickly became apparent, though, that we were hungry and we had to go elsewhere for dinner. With some difficulty, we found nearby San Gimignano and had a nice meal at Bar Piazzetto, eating outside in a delightful ancient hillside location. The challenge was getting back to our remote villa---on dirt roads with no signs, in the dark. After a few missteps, we actually got there, much to our surprise. We celebrated with a few glasses of wine, and hit the sack. The next morning, Becky and I watched the sunrise from our balcony. It was lovely.



This truly is a beautiful part of the world. All of us were still very tired, though. Becky and I went back to bed after watching the sunrise. Bill slept until 11:30 am.

The next day was spent shopping for food---and a cell phone so we could communicate with, mostly, Francesco. Exhausting, but fun. We barbecued some chicken and, while the girls made plans for the next few days, Bill and I did crossword and sudoku puzzles, respectively. We also took a bit of a look at Poggibonsi, which, among other things, is responsible for 90% of the domestic RV production in Italy.

The focus of Friday was Siena. Our destination was the old, historic part of town. Thinking we were near there, we parked in a structure at the railroad station. Big mistake. We had to walk about a mile to get to the area we wanted to visit. The old part of the town is lovely and we had a nice tour and lunch.



There are some beautiful doors in Siena,


and magnificent churches, as well.


The new part of the town is just like every other city in Italy---crowded and noisy. It seems that late September is a popular time for people to visit Italy. There are a zillion people everywhere. Maybe there are always a zillion people in Italy. We got back about 4:00 and, while Becky and Pat walked to a nearby vineyard to filch a few grapes,


Barbie, Bill, and I settled in for a nap. At 6:00, it was time for some wine and cheese. We have a very tough life.

On Saturday, we went to three places: Volterra (the home of Italian alabaster), Monteriggioni (said to be the most photographed town---from the air---in Italy),


and Vagliagli. All three are interesting medieval hill towns, meaning you have to climb steep streets to get anywhere in town. We had lunch in Monteriggioni at Ristorante Da Remo, a nice but overpriced bistro, where Bill and I had very good spaghetti and the girls all had ribolitta (a stew you can eat with a fork).

The last town (which we call Vaginitis, for convenience) is in the nearby Chianti region, and had a grape festival going.


That means I paid 20 Euro for tasting several Chianti wines---which were quite yummy. Included in the price was a thing to hang around my neck that held my wine glass. I wore it proudly.


The real fun was getting from Vagliagli to anywhere else. We ended up on a dirt road for more than 20 kilometers, heading back home to Poggibonsi.

Sunday was our day to finally meet with Francesco, the reason for the trip (and with Silvia Rutigliano, a long-time---though young---family friend of the Gigantis). We met in Bologna since Francesco is still living in Milano for more classes in radiology, his expected specialty. He drove there with a friend (girlfriend?) and fellow doctor (Laura Lorioli, a pediatrician) and Silvia took the train there from her home in Florence. We met at the piazza across the street from a big park (Giardino Della Montagnola) near the train station, which took us nearly an hour to find.


We had a great reunion with Francesco and Silvia, and walked around the town for a looooong time. Bologna is famous for its loggias; it has the most in all of Italy.


It also has one remaining canal; all the rest have been paved over.


Finally we had lunch at Pane, Vino & San Daniele, a family-type restaurant where we ate ourselves into oblivion---paid for by Francesco and Silvia. (Grazie! Grazie!)

On Monday, Bill and I vegged out while the girls met with Silvia in Siena (on Mondays, Silvia works in an insurance office at the train station there) and took care of some administrative details about our trip. Silvia realized how helpless we were and volunteered her GPS for the rest of our trip. What a godsend. It was a relaxing day for us, if not for the girls. It rained enough that we never even went out the door of the villa. After the girls returned, Niccolo delivered our DVD machine so we could watch something on TV and understand it. Of course, we had no DVDs.

Tuesday was a three-site day, wherein we visited Montalciano, Buonconvento, and the abbey at Sant’ Antimo. Montalciano is centered in an old fortress in the center of a region where they grow what we were told were brunello grapes and, consequently, where they make brunello wine. It’s the only place in the world brunello wine is made. (I was later informed by a wine merchant that the brunello grapes are really just very fine sangiovese grapes.) In any event, the brunello wine is very expensive (or at least more expensive than we are used to paying). Barbara and I paid for a tasting, and ended up buying two bottles of the least expensive brunellos, one of which we drank that night. It was yummy.

Buonconvento was a surprise stop. We noticed an interesting wall near the road and decided to take a look. It turned out that it was one side of a large, charming, nearly hidden area of shops and apartments that was fascinating to walk through. There we met some bicycle riders from the U.S. It turned out that they were from the area in New York we had stayed in recently. Small world.


The last stop was a ninth-century abbey (Sant’ Antimo) where we arrived just in time for the regular hour of Gregorian chanting by the monks who live there. Quite a pleasant surprise.


After a long drive home, I discovered that I was missing one of my credit cards. The ensuing panic involved two long phone conversations with the issuing bank in the U.S. With the bank’s help, we verified that our last purchase with the card was at a nearby supermarket we had visited three days earlier, and, hurrah, we were able to retrieve the card there.

Wednesday was supposed to be a day off for the boys and a day of walking for the girls. They headed for San Gimignano while Bill and I read. After a couple of hours, Bill and I decided to take a walk of our own. We headed for a gas station on the way to “downtown” Poggibonsi, looking for cigars for Bill. It became apparent halfway there that we were walking downhill all the way. That portended a nasty climb back up. When we arrived at the gas station we discovered that it was just that and nothing more. No cigars, no snacks. We were hungry by that time and looked for a place to eat. After a few missteps, we were informed that the nearest food was about another kilometer further. We decided to turn around and head back up the hill. It turned out that the girls beat us home. They had given up on getting to San Gimignano once they realized it was much farther than they thought. We had walked four miles and they had walked twice as far. We were all tired. But we drove to San Gimignano anyway, since there was shopping to do. We had been there the first night, in the dark, and were not prepared for just how beautiful an old hill town it is. Just delightful.

Thursday was the day to visit Assisi. It was a long day because Assisi is more than two hours away. But it was well worth it. Assisi is beautiful and very well preserved. The references to St. Frances are everywhere, of course, There is also a lot of attention paid to Chiara (“Clara“ in English-speaking countries), a young lady who became an acolyte of his---and later a saint---and of whom I‘d never previously heard. (It turns out that the city of Santa Clara, California, and its namesake Catholic university, are named after her.)



Assisi is another hill town (only 1/5 of its current residents live within its walls) but has a slightly different look from the others we have seen. I finally realized that the difference was in the stones used in building its walls, roads, and all other structures. They were lighter in color than in the other towns, mostly rose and white, instead of dark gray.


It was altogether a lovely place to visit.

Friday (October 1) was a shopping day for the girls and a relaxing day for the boys. I don’t know what triggered it, but we went through four bottles of wine Friday night. Ouch!

Saturday was our day in Firenze (“Florence” in the English-speaking world). We arrived at noon, and walked around a bit before the girls attacked the local cathedral, Il Duomo, for the 463-step climb to the top of the dome.


While they climbed, Bill and I had a nice, calm, pasta lunch at a restaurant just across the piazza. The ladies returned at 2:00 and we walked around some more. We were scheduled to meet Francesco and Laura at 3:00 at the John the Baptist building---also across the piazza from Il Duomo. They arrived right on time and we walked some more, running into Francesco’s pretty 19-year old cousin, Giulia, at the Ponte Vecchio. Her joining us had been pre-arranged, but we didn’t know it at the time.



After yet some more walking, Barbie found a store that had a charm bracelet she wanted, and, after she bought the bracelet, we walked to the parking garage, got in our cars, and headed up the hill to the Piazza Michelangelo, a fabulous place from which to view Firenze.


After the ladies took a zillion pictures, we headed for a nearby bar and some refreshment. It was after sundown that we finally left---for dinner at Francesco’s parents’ apartment. We only got lost once trying to follow Francesco to the apartment. He came and got us (thank goodness, we now had a cell phone), and we followed him (much more closely) the rest of the way. We arrived at 8:00.

Seeing Antonietta and Bernardo again was a real treat. Francesco’s sister, Chiara, and his aunt and uncle (Giulia’s parents) Mira and Mario, were also there---making a small crowd of 13 for dinner. We had a delightful reunion with everyone, all of whom we had met three years ago on our last visit to Firenze.


There were many gifts exchanged and we had a terrific meal cooked by Antonietta and Mira. We also watched a video of Francesco on a recent class 5 whitewater rafting trip on the Nile River in Uganda. Very scary! We didn’t leave for the 1 hour return trip to Poggibonsi until 11:30 Becky, being the only person authorized to drive the rental car, was quite a trouper. What a long but wonderful day.

Sunday was a day of rest (again) for the boys while the girls headed for Arezzo and more sightseeing. Becky and I visited it three years ago with Francesco and Silvia, and I saw no reason to return. Parts of the movie “Life Is Beautiful” (for which Roberto Benini won a “Best Actor” Oscar) were filmed in Arezzo, and pictures representing a number of scenes are posted around the town. Otherwise, it is not a particularly scenic or historic place.

Monday (October 4) was a sightseeing day in Poggibonsi for Becky, Barbara, and me. (Bill wasn’t feeling well and Pat stayed with him.) We wandered around, looking for the “old” section. There are old buildings sprinkled throughout the city, but no old “section“ as such. Apparently, Poggibonsi was bombed fairly hard in the war since it was a manufacturing center, and there are still pockets of destruction along with a lot of “new” construction. At 6:00, the three of us went to a winery a few minutes from our villa, run by a local family (the Medan family). Daniele, a (handsome young) great-grandson of the founder, took us on a tour of the facility and treated us to a tasting of their wines. Excellent! We bought several bottles and enjoyed some of them that night. Tuesday was another day for the girls to explore (Poggibonsi’s street market, mostly) while Bill and I relaxed. The weather was beautiful, as usual, and we sat outside, next to the pool, reading.

Wednesday was our day to start exploring the Chianti region. Thoroughly enjoyable, including eating lunch in a famous (to tourists) hilltop restaurant (Osteria Alla Piazza) near Rodda. Thursday and Friday were more exploration days---Greve In Chianti, Castellini In Chianti, Badia A Coltibuono, etc., with a time out for a visit to the street market in San Gimignano.

The five of us left for Cinque Terre on Saturday (October 10). On the way, we stopped in Lucca, a walled city that is, rarely, not on a hill. It is a very nice place, well preserved, and very busy.


The part of the city located outside the wall is very modern, and, therefore, not very interesting.

Cinque Terre is a five-village area located along the water on the west coast of Italy---on the Ligurian Sea (the northern leg of the Mediterranean Sea). Much of it is a national park. It was not very far from Lucca, but it took a long time to get there partly because the roads near the coast are narrow and curvy and we had to ascend and descend several hills. The last five kilometers took about an hour. We stayed for two days in the Hotel Cinque Terre (a very nice place) on Via IV Novembre in the village of Monterosso al Mare, the northernmost of the villages. We wandered the streets of the village when we got there. It was a beautiful day and the beaches were full. Tourists, mostly, of course. Since they don’t celebrate Labor Day in Italy, they don’t realize that summer vacations are supposed to end in early September and everyone is supposed to stay home. The big event was the girls’ hiking the 7 miles from Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore, the fifth, and southernmost, village in the chain, on Sunday morning. It was apparently a brutal hike, since it required, among other things, ascending and descending a 2,000 foot high hill in the middle of the trek. They took the 16 minute train back to Monterosso al Mare. That night, we had a wonderful dinner (I had mussels!) at L’Alta Marea in the old section of town. I had been assigned the task of finding a restaurant, and my choice was widely praised.  We had fun talking with some tourists from western Canada sitting next to us. The restaurant was a 15-minute walk from our hotel, along the beach. We scarfed down gelato on the way back to our hotel. That was not unusual for us.

The next day, Monday, half way back to Poggibonsi, I realized that I had failed to turn in my room key when we left the hotel. (It was one of those heavy brass goodies that weigh a pound or more.) Oops! I called the hotel and they assured me it was OK, but I still felt badly. On the way home we stopped in Carrara, mostly to take pictures of the hillsides with their vast marble quarries. We also made the obligatory stop at Pisa, so everyone could finally see the leaning tower. As usual, the place was mobbed with tourists. It was still fun, though.



Tuesday afternoon (October 13) we met Niccolo at one of the other properties he manages. It is a completely refurbished and modernized former (small) castle only five minutes away from our villa but technically located in San Gimignano. It is absolutely magnificent, and expensive. It has only twelve “apartments” for rent. It also has an on-site restaurant, an infinity swimming pool, and an absolutely magnificent view of the Tuscan countryside. That night we went to a restaurant Niccolo recommended (in nearby Barberino Val d’ Elsa) to celebrate the end of our Tuscany experience. Becky and I shared a delicious and hideously expensive T-bone steak that was at least four inches thick. Wow! What a sendoff.


We said goodbye to Tuscany before dawn Wednesday morning, driving to Siena to drop off the car and take the train to Rome. The trains we took (another transfer in Grosetto was required) were commuter trains, so there was no space to store our luggage. No problem; we’d just put it on some of the many empty seats. But, uh oh: A zillion commuters got on at an early stop (Civitavecchia) after our transfer in Grosetto and we had to make alternative plans for the luggage. It was a bit of an uncomfortable ride from then on, but our new seatmates were Swedes on a cruise and we had a nice talk with them.

Our hotel in Rome (Il Terni) was only three blocks from the station, but we had to schlep our luggage the whole way. (There was no appetite for taking two taxis that short a distance.) Not the most fun, appearing to be real yokels. On the way to the hotel, the axle on my big suitcase broke, and I thought I would have to drag the bag the rest of the way. Fortunately, the wheels continued to turn, but with the wheels canted crazily toward each other the bag looked like a John Deere tractor.

The hotel was one of those small, old ones, with a steel cage elevator crammed into the stairway and two separate hotels on the same floor, both hotels confusingly operated by the same front desk. Not a posh setup by any means (e.g., the shower took up, and included, the entire bathroom), but we knew we could survive for the one night we would be there. And, because we were going to take the train to the airport the next morning, the location was perfect.

After a typical pizza lunch (plus a terrific bottle of beer) at a nearby small trattoria (I‘ve been informed that the difference between a “trattoria“ and a “ristorante“ is, as a practical matter, nothing more than spelling), everyone else went for an brief sightseeing trip to the Colosseum, and I went to the post office and mailed the room key back to our hotel in Cinque Terre. It was quite an experience; the postal worker spoke not a word of English and I spoke not a useful word of Italian. Somehow, though, it worked. The postal worker was very helpful. Grazie, Signor!

After the gang returned, we went on an expedition to visit the Trevi Fountain. Of course, we got lost (even though the map was in English) and walked about three miles to get six blocks away. When we finally got there, the fountain was surrounded by the thousands of like-minded tourists, and it was barely visible due to the throng.


Then it started to rain as we headed back to our hotel. We gave up and took a taxi.

That night, Becky and I had one of our typical picnic dinners in our room (lunch had become our most important meal of the day), consuming our last two really nice bottles of Italian wine as a sort of going-away celebration---while we watched the amazing rescue of the 33 Chilean miners on TV (CNN International, not Italian TV). What a wonderful story that was. And the best part was that Obama could not claim any credit for the heartwarming result. It must have killed him.  While channel surfing, we also stumbled across a presentation of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra from the Walt Disney Hall.  The conductor was the one who had just recently taken over the orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel (originally from Venezuela).  He was very exciting to watch. 

The next morning, we hopped on the express train to the airport (we were not about to repeat the two-hour bus fiasco),


and went through the usual mechanics of getting to the gate. The entire exercise was totally without incident, except that our plane pulled away from the gate a half hour late, did not make up even a minute of the lost time, and the sound on our entertainment goody was marginal. It didn’t matter; we were so tired the entertainment was unnecessary. (It included a little-known Marisa Tomei movie (“Cyrus”) though, and she’s adorable. But, we could barely hear the dialogue. Too bad.))

We arrived at Dulles, sped through immigration, waited forever for our bags, waved at the customs folks, got in a Super Shuttle van, and headed for our hotel in Manassas---the same one we stayed in before we left. That night, I wandered into the bar/restaurant in our hotel and had an unnecessary dinner of fish and chips (and two necessary bottles of Budweiser) while listening to a loud country music band. It was fun.

The next morning, after a quick trip to a local GMC dealer to find out that the “check engine” light on the truck dashboard was for a glow plug relay problem that: (i) the dealer could not fix and (ii) did not seem to be important, anyway, we headed for Pennsylvania, back to the RV park (“Gettysburg Farm”) and retrieved our rigs from the storage lot. Pat and Bill immediately left for their home in Michigan (they are expecting their first great-grandchild in a couple of weeks; we‘ll meet up with them in southern California in December) and we moved our trailer from the storage lot to a regular site for two days.

Our Italian adventure was officially over.