Sunday, September 29, through Saturday, October 26, 2013: In Cottonwood, Part 1:

The trek to Cottonwood, Arizona, in the Verde Valley, was only 93 easy miles.  We are staying at the Thousand Trails preserve there.  We've been here before, and like the place a lot.  We'll be here for four weeks, then move to another park for a week, then return.  We usually stay in the "A" section, which is two miles from the entrance, and near the pickleball courts.  The only 50-amp site available was in the "H" section, near the entrance, so we were forced to try it.  Turns out we really like the site.  And, since I have to go to Sedona every day for my radiation treatments, being close to the entrance will be convenient.

The "communication" problem with our DirecTV system spread to the living room TV on Sunday.  But it went away quickly in the living room, and later went away in the bedroom---but returned a few hours later in the bedroom.  How annoying.  On Monday morning I contacted a local TV person who replied that he had some ideas how to help, but was  currently "slammed" and was too busy to come immediately.  Ostensibly, he will call on Tuesday to follow up.  We'll see. 

I had my first radiology treatment Monday morning.  The place is in Sedona, about a half-hour away.  The process involved my stripping down, donning one of those dandy backless hospital gowns, lying on a table while the nurses took a couple of x-rays, having the equipment positioned based on the x-rays, and the equipment then taking about a minute to do its magic. 

After this first go around, the process will be simpler and will take about 15 minutes from walking in to walking out.  It’s a piece of cake on my part.  But I have to do it 39 more times in the next eight weeks.  That will undoubtedly become very boring very quickly.  But it’s for a very good cause, of course. 

While Becky played pickleball Tuesday morning with a number of our old RV friends, Ramsey and I went to Sedona for my treatment.  No surprises there.  The rest of the day was mostly relaxing.  The TV man did not call.

Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, except that Becky joined us on the Sedona trek.  We stopped at the Cottonwood Recreation Department on the way back, and joined the gym there.  We’ll see if we follow through on our mutual promises to get in better shape.  We then stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a bunch of stuff.

Thursday mornng, we stopped at the rec center on our way to Sedona and worked out for about an hour.  It was the first time for me in 14 years---since we left Denver.  It felt good. 

After my treatment, we hit Wal-Mart again.  It looks like that will be a daily stop, since it's right on the road between us and Sedona.  In the afternoon, Bjorn, the TV man, called.  We ran through a series of tests, and he then scheduled himself to be here Monday to see what he can do about our intermittent signal problem.

Thursday night was the first episode of the new season for The Big Bang Theory.  I love that show.  The first episode was very funny, as usual.

Friday was a typical day these days---a trip to the radiation clinic, a stop at the rec center to work out, and a delicious dinner from the Panda Express.

Saturday, we rented 42 and Disconnect at the Redbox.  Disconnect was awful; I didn’t bother watching it.  42 was excellent.  Since I went to UCLA, I knew Jackie Robinson was a Bruin alum.  That fact is beaten into you if you attend UCLA.  But I didn’t know he was from Pasadena.
 

 

Saturday, there was a small car show at the RV park.  It is always fun to look at old cars.

Saturday was also a day to watch football, of course, and a day off from the radiation treatments---and from the gym.  I went there on Sunday, though, but just did some cardio.

 

Monday was a day for getting back into the routine.  Becky, Ramsey, and I went to Sedona for my treatment, then stopped at the rec center on the way back---for some cardio and weight training.  At noon, Bjorn stopped by and spent the next hour analyzing our TV problems and attempting to solve them.  He seems to be the most qualified tech I’ve seen.  We’ll see how it works out.  He also has an interesting past.  From Sweden, he has had a number of careers in the US since coming here as a student, including being a placekicker on a few teams in the NFL for a couple of years until he had too many concussions.

Monday night, I watched the Dodgers beat Atlanta to advance to the National League Championship Series.  Their opponent (either St. Louis or Pittsburgh) has not yet been determined.  I’m not a big fan of baseball, but I watch an occasional game.  The one Monday was very exciting.  

Tuesday, I returned to Sedona with Ramsey while Becky played pickleball. 

I slept very poorly Monday night, and was too tired to go to the rec center on the way back from my treatment.  Essentially, I napped Tuesday afternoon.  Later in the day, Rick called to say he and Joell had bought a 1973 Airstream trailer which, after restoration, they plan to use on family camping trips.  Who would have thunk it.   

Rick also told us that, for the second year in a row, the Austin Business Journal reported that he was ranked as one of the top 10 mortgage brokers in Austin, based on the dollar value of loans made.  Congratulations, Rick. 

 

The highlight on Wednesday was a hair job for Becky at a local salon.

 

 

Otherwise, it involved just the usual trip to Sedona and a stop at the rec center on the way back.  Thursday was the same, but we did spend a few minutes with Dr. David.  There was nothing new to report.

 

 

After the Sedona and rec center adventure on Friday, we risked having lunch in the tiny “Homestyle Grill” in the “family” lodge here at the RV park.  I had a ground sirloin patty with mashed potatoes and overcooked green beans.  It was all quite tasty. 

 

 

Becky gave Ramsey a frozen "raw meaty" bone we bought at a pet store in February.  He had totally ignored the first ones a few months ago, but really got into this one.  He spent hours with it.

 

 

Late in the afternoon, we sat by our rig in the fading sun and had a glass of wine.  Very bucolic.

 

Saturday was filled with football, of course, including a very exciting four-overtime clash between Michigan and Penn State.  (Michigan lost.)  Several of the top teams were upset, including Stanford and Georgia.  And Texas beat Oklahoma, featuring a stellar defense overseen by Greg Robinson, the brother-in-law of Gene Walsh, an old friend of mine. 

Greg was hired as the defensive coach by Texas just a few weeks ago to replace the former “D” coach who was fired after the second game of the season.

While I was overdosing on football, Becky and Ramsey went for a hike in a river access part of the Prescott National Forest.  Technically, the forest was closed due to the government shutdown, but that didn’t stop my adventurous roommates.

 

We celebrated a nice day by dining on a delicious “Cowboy” pizza we picked up at Papa Murphy’s.   

Sunday was a "nothing" day---a little football, a lot of relaxation.

Monday morning involved a return to the usual routine:  Sedona, the Rec center, Wal-Mart, lunch, and a nap.  Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same, but on Tuesday we bypassed the gym and stopped at the Arizona Stronghold tasting room in the historic district of Cottonwood for a nice wine tasting.

and on Wednesday we stopped for lunch at Quince and bypassed Wal-Mart.  Quince is a strange place, featuring Mexican food with a New Mexico twist.  ("Quince" means 15 in Spanish.)  

It serves absolutely great food, though.  We were last there in April, when it was located up the hill in Jerome.  The restaurant moved to Cottonwood in May.  I had a most delicious Reuben sandwich and a nice glass of Chardonnay. 

The rest of the week was pretty routine.  Since we're here for just the daily radiation treatments, we have gotten into a routine that is not terribly exciting.  And, while I'm feeling OK, I don't have a lot of extra energy.  I got conned into playing one game of pickleball on Saturday, and while I wasn't great, I wasn't awful either.

Saturday was another football day, of course, and UCLA was quite predictably beaten by Stanford.  The highlight was seeing Conrad Ukropina, the son of some old friends of ours, kick a field goal for Stanford in his first attempt as a collegian.  We last saw Conrad at Zion National Park about nine years ago when his parents, Bill and Linann, visited us there.   

 
Sunday started another week of our current routine.  There were four highlights, though: 

We finished watching our DVDs of last season's Homeland, which we loved.

On Thursday there was a birthday party for three of the Pickleball guys at the rig of one of them (his wife made delicious chicken enchiladas, etc., for about 20 of us).

Very early in the morning on Friday, Becky noticed an entry on her smartphone which looked like a wedding picture of our niece Lauren Carroll and her beau, Ryan Gould.  It was immediately confirmed that the two had decided to forego the traditional marriage ceremony that had been scheduled for next March and decided to tie the knot NOW!  Congratulations, you two!

And we met the Wheelers for lunch on Friday at Chilleen's on 17, a restaurant in Black Canyon City, a nothing burg about an hour South of here.  Chileen's was featured on Bar Rescue a few months ago.  It's an interesting "cowboy" place, with excellent food.  It was great seeing the Wheelers again. They are now hanging out for a few months at Pueblo El Mirage, an RV park near Phoenix.

The definite lowlight of the week was learning on Saturday that Marcia Wallace had died.  I first met Marcia nearly 40 years ago through mutual friends.  She and her husband, Dennis, became two of the regular attendees at our annual Oscar parties.  Somehow, Dennis always won the pool.  We never figured out how.

 

And UCLA lost to Oregon big time, which was no surprise.  It was a fitting way to end our stay in Cottonwood.  On Sunday, we  will leave for an eight-mile move to an RV park in Camp Verde to satisfy the standing requirement that we vacate our current park for at least a week after a month in residence.  We plan to return in two weeks.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, September 15, through Saturday, September 28, 2013: Back in Arizona:

We left Soledad Canyon at 6:45 Sunday morning, stopping for the night in Needles, California, 238 miles away.  The trip was uneventful, but we did note that it's at least 105 degrees in Needles.  That's hot!!!  And all three of us are suffering from it. 

We are at the Palm River RV Resort, on the Colorado River.  It's very nice, but rather soulless.  We will only be here one night, spending it totally inside our rig, so it doesn't matter a whole lot how exciting the park is. 

We have been experiecing a strange thing with the leveling system on the rig lately.  When operating it, suddenly it makes the slideouts go in and out.  Though we can work around it, it's very annoying.  Apparently, it's not going to fix itself, so we need to work on that very soon.  We've also suddenly been experiencing a failure of part of our DirecTV system.  The bedroom receiver will sometimes not work, with the screen saying it's a problem in the connection to the dish.  Occasionally, it will fix itself.  Very confusing.  DirecTV is scheduled to send a repairman to us on Wednesday.

Monday, we headed for Williams, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.

We didn't leave until 7:45 in the morning.  It was a 179-mile trip, all of it on I-40.  We arrived without incident, and spent the evening relaxing in very welcome mid-70s weather.  We've been here before, and, while the RV park is a bit sterile, it's within easy walking distance from the town---especially the Safeway market---so Becky and Ramsey have a nice daily target.

On Monday, I attacked the leveling system problem by contacting Lippert Components, the manufacturer of the system.  The fellow I talked to was very helpful (or so it seems) and we went through several diagnostic steps.  The conclusion was that one of the hydraulic valves was faulty and needed replacing.  I ordered the part, which is supposed to arrive in five days.  I hope that solves the problem.

In the 11 years we have owned our truck, it has experienced a few bumps in the back bumper.  The last two---which happened when I picked up our food last Wednesday at the Panda Express (parking for which was in an alley that was designed for Mini Coopers, I think)---moved the bumper perilously close to the fenders.  So on Monday I stopped at a local repair place and the owner applied some pressure to a fix-it goodie (called an "iron monkey") and moved the bumper back a few inches.  What a relief.

Tuesday morning I had an appointment with my Flagstaff cancer doctor to have a CAT scan of my pelvis as a prelude to starting the radiology treatments at the end of this month.  All went well, and quickly, and I was on my way back to Williams before noon.

Wednesday, two DVD packages showed up.  Becky had ordered the second season of Homeland and the first season of Breaking Bad.  We had become hooked on Homeland recently and had never seen Breaking Bad but had heard great things about it.  Wednesday night we watched the first two episodes of Breaking Bad.  Intriguing.   

Wednesday was also DirecTV day.  The tech showed up on time, and turned out to be Michael, the same one who completed the Hi Def installation three months ago.  He twisted this and inspected that, and determined that, with two caveats, the problem was solved.  The first caveat was that the new receiver may be defective and the second caveat was that our internal wiring may be defective. 

Since the problem is intermittent, there was no way to prove which problem was the root at this time.  He said we should see what happens, and the next time, if there is one, the problem shows up, we should have the receiver replaced.  In the middle of the night, the problem showed up again, so another call to DirecTV was in order.

Thursday we had a delicious lunch at the Red Raven restaurant in Williams.  It is one of the very best restaurants there. 

I had Fish & Chips.  Very Yummy!!!  After lunch, Becky walked Ramsey around the RV park and found another camper with a Dalmatian---named Roly.  Ramsey enjoyed interacting with his dopppleganger.     

On Friday, I fixed a leaky hose fitting then waited for the DirecTV man.  It was Michael, again.  After making some fancy tests, he reversed what he told us on Wednesday and decided NOT to replace the receiver and instead said the problem appeared to be in the dish or between the dish and the receiver---neither of which is his problem to fix.  I called Ward, the guy who installed the dish and left a message.  We'll see how long it will take him to respond.      

Saturday was mostly football again.  UCLA rolled, USC squeaked by, and Michigan was almost beat again.  I always have fun needling Bill Wheeler when Michigan is less than stellar.

Sunday and Monday were relaxing.  We didn't do much.  Rather, I didn't do much---except mail our 2012 income tax stuff to Ken Bachman, our accountant in Colorado.  I had worked on it over the weekend.  We always file in October, so we're right on schedule.  As usual, Becky and Ramsey went on long hikes. 

I drove them to a trailhead in the national forest about five miles from here, and they worked their way along a trail and then back to the RV park.  Ramsey was exhausted; Becky was invigorated.   We started watching episodes of Homeland and Breaking Bad, which had arrived on Friday.  This was the first time we had seen any part of Breaking Bad.  Very intriguing.  And Homeland continues to be very interesting.

Ward hasn't called back yet.

Tuesday morning, I talked to a tech from Winegard (the manufacturer of our satellite dish) about our dish.  After some testing, he advised me that our problem is with DirecTV, not Winegard.  So we now have each one blaming the other.  In the meantime, we haven't experienced a problem in several days.  Maybe it fixed itself.  Also on Tuesday morning, Becky and Ramsey hiked part of the Sycamore Canyon Rim Trail, about 16 miles away. 

I got a propane tank refilled.  Exciting.  Tuesday afternoon, we watched The Great Gatsby from the Redbox.  Rather, we started to watch it.  I couldn't stay with it.  What an awful movie.  Becky stuck with it more or less, and decided it wasn't awful.  That's pretty faint praise.

On Wednesday, we had lunch at the Red Raven (again) with Jeff D’Arpa, the manager of the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel.  Jeff was our manager at the lodge at Zion National Park when we worked there.  He has worked his way up the Xanterra ladder.  It was fun seeing him again and catching up on the doings of his wife, Lisa, and daughters, Lily and Shasta.  (I had a delicious Reuben sandwich, by the way.)

One of Jeff’s duties is to oversee the operation of The Grand Hotel at the canyon.  Xanterra bought the hotel about a year ago.  He told us of some of the changes made there, including losing my former manager, Anesthesia Lawson, whom I liked a lot.  I later learned she is now working at the Radisson Hotel in Flagstaff for Mike Rock, who was the hotel manager at The Grand when I worked there.

Thursday was a day to go to the canyon.  We thought it would be a sacrilege to be this close and not visit, so we headed up the 50 miles to the village.  We had lunch at The Arizona Room of the Bright Angel Lodge. 

I had a tasteless Pastrami sandwich, which was not improved by adding a glob of Grey Poupon.  We stopped in at the front desk at Bright Angel, but didn’t see anyone we knew.  We then spent about two minutes viewing the canyon, and returned to Williams.

 
Wednesday and Thursday were big wind days in Williams.  With gusts of up to 50 mph, we discovered another feature of our new satellite setup.  The gusts would sometimes cause the dish to move just enough to lose the signal.  Seconds later, the signal would return.  Very annoying, but unavoidable.

Friday, while Becky went to Flagstaff for a little shopping, I attacked the leveling system problem.  (The replacement valve had arrived on Tuesday and I had installed it---with no effect on the problem.)  I spent almost two hours on the phone with a tech from Lippert, who walked me through several tests.  The net conclusion was that there is a bigger problem than we initially thought and will involve first taking the bed apart to start checking the under-bed hydraulic parts that actually move the slideouts.  We’ll save that project for another day. 
   
Friday evening, we decided to stop at Spencer’s, the bar at the GC Railway Hotel, for a quick drink.  It turned out to be dinner (pizza) and more than one drink.  We had a nice chat with one of the bartenders, who just started working there.

Saturday, our last day in Williams, required attacking a laundry list of chores to prepare for the move to Cottonwood.  Saturday evening. we attended the Taste of Williams event at the nearby Elephant Rocks Golf Course.  Nice place; nice event.  I didn't know Williams had so many epicures.  The GC Railway Hotel was represented. 

We introduced ourselves to Scott Hockner, the hotel Food & Beverage Manager, whom Jeff D'Arpa had highly praised.  Scott has previously worked at the North Rim and Death Valley, so we had a few common acquaintances.

After gorging ourselves, we returned home.  I watched football while Becky snoozed.  USC was murdered by Arizona State, 62-41.  Hooray!  Only once in USC's historic football past has anyone scored that many points against them.  That was Oregon, last season.  Late Saturday night, the USC coach, Lane Kiffen, was fired.  Double Hooray!! 

 

Sunday, September 1, through Saturday, September 14, 2013: Back In Soledad Canyon:

    
Sunday morning started with our having to finally unpack and straighten up the house.  Late in the morning, we headed for Staples to pick up my new computer.  Yippee! 

We were getting very frustrated with the electricity situation.  It's in the mid 90s here.  The ride in the car gave us some relief from not having air conditioning in the house.  We stopped at Lowe's on the way home and picked up a voltage tester, thinking we might use it to find a better site.  Of course, not having ever used one, I had no idea how to approach the issue.  I tried a few things unsuccessfully, then asked Lorenzo, a neighbor who looked like he knew such things, whether he could help.  He tried a few things, then decided the real problem was my electricity monitor.  He thought it was too sensitive.  That's why it kept turning off.   He recommended replacing it with a more common type of surge protector.  I happened to have one in my personal inventory, so we made the switch.  Success!  We have now been running both air conditioners for the past three hours.  The interior of the house is no longer hovering above 90 degrees.  Thank you, Lorenzo.

Monday, I drove to Union Station in Los Angeles to take the train to Flagstaff.  I have an appointment with Dr. Nathan Benson, my Urologist, Tuesday morning.  The Amtrak train leaves every day at 6:15 PM.  It arrives (when on time) in Flagstaff at 4:30 AM.  I went by myself so Becky and Ramsey could recover from the past three weeks.  The train left on time (no big surprise, since it starts in LA) and I had dinner on board at 7:30. 

My tablemates this time were Anthony and Jessica, a slightly strange young couple who live in Winslow, Arizona, where Anthony is attending college.  When Anthony introduced me to Jessica, he described her as having been responsible for turning his life around and getting him into college.  That opening was full of potentially interesting possibilities, but I decided not to pursue his or their personal history.  The most I was willing to learn was that, before meeting Jessica, he was living in Happy Jack, Arizona, which I have since learned is "an unincorporated town and campground located in the Mogollon Rim Region of Coconino County, Arizona, United States.  The Discovery Channel Telescope is located there."  That's the entire Wikipedia entry for the place.  Not a busy destination resort, apparently.  We had a pleasant dinner.  I had my favorite Amtrak meal, Linguini Arrabiatta, again, and I hit the sack (my coach seat, actually) about 9:00.  I slept very little, for no known reason.

The Southwest Chief (heading for Chicago) arrived at Flagstaff only 1/2 hour late (5:15 AM) which meant I was free to walk the streets of Flagstaff for 45 minutes before the city woke up at 6:00 AM.  I chose to stop at the Monte Vista Hotel,

lifted its copy of The New York Times from the unattended front desk, and read all the news that's fit to print for a short while before having breakfast at the Downtown Diner, about 1/2 block away, as soon as it opened at 6:00.  I was able to kill two hours there, and the Enterprise fellow arrived a little after 8:00 to take me to get my car for the day---a Nissan Altima, which was just fine.  It has a keyless ignition, which takes some getting used to but is a nice idea.    

My appointment was at 11:00, and I spent most of the intervening three hours getting into Calico Joe, a John Grisham novel I had bought for the trip.  What a wonderful book.  It's unlike any other of the many books of his I have read.  (No lawyers,  No courtrooms.)  A very interesting book; fun to read.  

My visit with Dr. Benson went very well.  (He inserted three gold "seeds" into my prostate gland, to be used as targets for the radiation treatments that are to start in late September.) 

I then drove to the Camping World about 10 miles out of town, and discussed my current (no pun intended) electrical problems with two of their crack employees.  The first fellow listened patiently to my tale of woe, and when I ended it with three salient questions, he admitted that he had only worked there for five days and didn't know enough to answer any of my questions.  He then turned me over to a tech who was better informed.  Anyway, I didn't learn much.  I returned to downtown Flagstaff and proceeded to take a late lunch.  I chose Pasto, an Italian restaurant across the street from the Monte Vista Hotel. 

I don't know why it was on the menu of an Italian restaurant, but I chose the Black & Blue Burger.  It was delicious.  I killed a couple of more hours there---reading---waiting until it became time to return the car.  Enterprise dropped me off at the train station.  I knew I would spend at least the next four or five hours there.  The return trip on the Southwest Chief starts in Chicago, of course, and has, therefore, many opportunities to get delayed on its way West.   (The last time I took it from Flagstaff to LA, it was three hours late.)  Tuesday night, it was only an hour late.  During the wait, my dinner was some trail mix that was very tasty.  We boarded at 10:00 PM and I shortly fell asleep.  With a few minor interruptions, I slept until almost 6:00 AM.  We arrived in LA at 8:30---essentially on time.(Amtrak cleverly builds an extra hour into the schedule between Fullerton and LA to absorb that much of a delay.)  I retrieved the truck, and headed for Soledad Canyon.  I arrived there at 10:00, and said hello to Becky and Ramsey.  It felt very good to be home.   

 

Wednesday afternoon, we took our relatively new air compressor (we use it to keep our tires properly inflated) back to Lowe's since it didn't work the way I thought it should.  I had described its symptoms, by phone, to a techie at Lowe's who suggested that a certain valve seemed to be sticking, and recommended simply taking it back for an exchange. 

 

 

We made the exchange and I tried out the new one.  It worked exactly the way the old one had.  In frustration, I read the operating instructions for the first time, and realized that the machine was working properly.  I simply had not understood how it worked.  With that new knowledge, I was able to alter my methods, resulting in satisfactory performance by the compressor.  Isn't it amazing how helpful reading the instructions can be?     

 

On Thursday, Becky headed off to Pasadena to spend the day with her father. 

 

 

She left Ramsey and me at home so I could rest from my whirlwind trip to Flagstaff and Ramsey could simply avoid the heat.  (It was going to be 99.)  We did just that; Ramsey did not budge for the first five hours after Becky left.  (On a normal day, the two of them would have already taken three long walks.) 

 

 

Becky returned at four o'clock, having stopped at Costco to load up on the various things we load up on when we go to Costco.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing.  We're still unwinding from our overseas trip.

 

My big effort on Friday was getting all of our tires up to the right pressure.  Otherwise, we didn't do much. 

Saturday was devoted to the “First Saturday” party at the home of Paul Basile and Diane Chierichetti in Manhattan Beach.   

We dropped Ramsey off at the Second Home kennel in Agua Dulce, and headed for the Hawthorn Suites hotel, about 70 miles away.  My task upon arriving was to take the truck to the car wash across the street for a much-needed laundering.  After I turned the truck over to the folks there, I realized that I had left my wallet at home.  I called Becky and she came over and bailed us out. 

We then met Barbara Coad at the hotel, and she and Becky traded pictures from our Baltic cruise (Becky had taken almost 2,000 pictures) and loaded them on their respective computers.  At 7:00, we arrived at the party, which had already started.  We had volunteered to tend the bar (actually, just help serve the wine) a task for which we are quite suited. 

 

The party was fun, as usual, and we reacquainted ourselves with a few of Paul and Diane’s friends.  The fellow who sat next to me at dinner, Reese Lewis, turned out to have attended the same high school (North Hollywood) as I did, only seven years later, and had been a member of the same (admittedly, second-tier) Hi-Y club, the Cavaliers.  We had a lot of laughs recalling details about the school, its teachers, the neighborhood, and the oddities of our very similar experiences there.

 

 

We got up early Sunday morning, had some breakfast at the Hawthorn, then prepared to check out.  The hotel’s computer system had posted the wrong charge for our room, and we spent the next half-hour trying to convince the clerk that she could make the appropriate correction.  She finally did the right thing.  I think her problem was simply a failure of training.

We then headed for the Jonathan Beach Club to have the lunch buffet.  Barbara Coad and the Buckelews joined us.  Altogether, it was a terrific lunch.  (We hadn’t had a decent buffet in the week since the end of our cruise, and we missed the experience.) 

 

We gave our ticket to the attendant at the club’s valet parking stand, and waited patiently as many patrons had their cars retrieved.  And then many more.  Finally, we learned that our truck had been parked on the beach---and was now stuck up to the rear axle in deep sand.  After an hour of failed attempts to get it free, the manager called for a tow truck.  It arrived a half-hour later and took 15 minutes to free the truck.  So, almost two hours after finishing lunch, we were finally on our way. 

We picked up Ramsey at 5:00, got home, and relaxed.  It had been an exhausting day.          

Monday and Tuesday we basically relaxed after a busy few days.  Becky ventured out to Palmdale to wash our comforter.

Wednesday morning, we headed into downtown LA.  Becky had a 10 o’clock hair appointment.  I dropped her off at Gerrick’s, and then took Ramsey to Hollywood Dog Training in North Hollywood to spend the night.  I then went to the Panda Express in South Pasadena to order the dinner for that evening---the family is gathering at Becky’s dad’s and we agreed to do the catering.  Then I returned to LA, picked up Becky, we stopped at Ralph’s to pick up lunch, then stopped at the Jonathan Club to check in, take a nap, and get ready for the evening. 

We left downtown in what we thought would be plenty of time to get to Pasadena, drop Becky off at her dad’s, go to Panda Express, and get back to her dad’s by 5:30.  Not even close.  We had not planned on rush hour traffic in Pasadena, made even worse by the existence of the “Gold Line” commuter trains that snake through the area at street level.  What a mess.  I finally arrived at Bill’s house at 6:30.

Nonetheless, we had a good time with the gang.

We slept in Thursday morning, had room service for breakfast for the first time in years.  What a treat.  We then stopped at one of our favorite places, Taylor's Steak House in La Canada, to have lunch with my brother, Bob, who works nearby.  It was great to see him again.  

Then we picked up Ramsey, stopped at Staples in Santa Clarita to get some toner cartridges, got home, and crashed. 
         
On Friday, the Wheelers arrived at Soledad.  They are on their way from the Pacific Northwest to near Phoenix for six months starting October 1, and need t spend a few days at the Rexhall factory in Lancaster to get some items fixed on their motor home.  Normally, they would have gone directly to Lancaster on Saturday but, since we were at Soledad, they came there instead, a day early, to see us.    Thanks, guys.  It was fun seeing them again.  It’s been several months.

For dinner Friday night, Becky and I ate leftovers from the dinner at her dad’s on Wednesday, and spent the rest of the evening dodging the 90+ degree heat. 

Saturday involved a lot of football.  Unknown Akron came within one yard of beating the mighty Michigan Wolverines.  UCLA pounded Nebraska.  Alabama thrashed Johnnie Football and the Texas Aggies.  We went to Don Cuco’s in Acton for an early dinner with the Wheelers.  Everything was delicious.  That’s really a good place.  We said goodbye to the Wheelers and settled in for our last night at Soledad.