Monday, November 24, through Friday, November 28, 2014: At Rancho Oso:

The 95-mile trip from Morro Bay to the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails Preserve was delightful.  We drove through some very nice scenery.  Rancho Oso is located in the Los Padres National Forest, halfway between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez. 

We quickly found a nice site.  Then we opened up the rig and realized that we had hit some bumps that opened cabinets!  We had two bottles of wine fly out and crash on the floor.  Can you say smithereens?  Fortunately, they were white wines; otherwise we would have had some monster stains in our living room carpeting.  We also had coffee fixings (powdered cream, chocolate, and cappuccino) all over the kitchen floor, and our glass dish from the microwave oven flew across the room.  And somehow we hit a tree that ripped a running light off the side of our trailer, and our living room TV no longer gives off sound when we are watching DirecTV; but it works just fine when we use our VCR.  A phone call to DirecTV gave me some ideas for finding out where the problem lies.  Otherwise, we are just aces.

We licked our wounds Monday night, listening to our living room TV through headphones.  On Tuesday, I swallowed my pride and went to see a doctor in Santa Barbara about my back.  The x-rays showed no cracked ribs, and I was advised that the giant bruise would go away with time.  I was offered some codeine-based pills for the pain, but I refused.  I'll stick with my Tylenol; I don't need any help doing silly things.  I also got a badly-needed haircut, and we picked up lunch at Panda Express.  As usual, it was yummy.

Wednesday morning, the DirecTV tests provided no help.  I experimented by moving our small "basement" TV into the living room, and attached it to the DirecTV DVR.  It worked fine, which means the problem is with the living room TV set, not the DVR.  A call for advice to Jensen, the TV manufacturer, yielded a "We're closed for the holiday" response.  It didn't say whether they're also closed on Friday.  It may be a while before we get any closer to solving the problem.

Thursday is, of course, Thanksgiving Day, and we joined fellow RVers in the lodge for dinner at 1:00 o'clock.  We had a nice dinner, joining Lisa and Chuck, two people from Yreka, California, who knew the father of Jere Nolan, Becky's college boyfriend, who was from Yreka. 

The sun is shining and it's a glorious day.  I am thankful for so many things I would hardly know where to continue listing them all after starting with having Becky in my life.  On Friday, we had dinner at Jean and Nat Hawthorne's home in Santa Barbara.  Their son Marc and his long-time (17 years) girlfriend, Erica, were there as well, and they prepared a delicious vegetarian dinner.

Jean is Becky's second cousin.  We had a great time discussing family history and otherwise enjoyed the time with them immensely.

We had previously expected to stay at Rancho Oso for a few more days, but the news about Becky's father was not very good so we decided to leave early for the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails Preserve, the closest one to Pasadena.  Friday was, then our last day at Rancho Oso.  
     

Friday, November 21, through Sunday, November 23, 2014: In Morro Bay, Etc.

It was an easy 166 miles from Morgan Hill to Morro Bay.  We arrived at the nice Morro Strand RV Park at 1:00PM, and settled into our very large back-in site.  We've never been here before and it was nice to get acquainted with this small town (population: 10,000).  The famous Morro Rock is larger in person than it appears from the highway. 

Our RV park is very near the water and just a few blocks from the very nice downtown area.  It's quite civilized here.  On one of her walks with the dogs, Becky discovered a bakery that makes dog treats.  Saturday morning, we went there and got treats for Ramsey and Kelsey and breakfast goodies for ourselves.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed watching UCLA beat USC for the third time in a row.  Yea, Bruins.

Sunday morning, we went 15 or so miles to the Nautical Bean Restaurant in San Luis Obispo, to have coffee with two of Becky's high school classmates---Roger and Laura Freberg, who live in SLO.  They are a very interesting couple and we had a great time with them.

We then proceeded further south to Pismo Beach.  I hadn't been there in at least 35 years, and did not remember it.  It's a typical seaside town, crowded with narrow streets but it had surprisingly ample parking.  On the way back, we stopped at Avila Beach and San Luis Pier, both were places I'd never even heard of before, and very nice little communities, apparently rather upscale.

The rest of Sunday was spent by me watching football and Becky watching her Sunday news shows.  Very relaxing.  On Monday, we head for the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails Preserve between Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara.           

Monday, November 10, through Thursday, November 20, 2014: In Morgan Hill:

The 162-mile trip to Morgan Hill, California, was uneventful---but a little stressful since we spent so much time driving in urban areas.  Outside Oakland, we actually endured 8 miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic.  We arrived at the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails RV Preserve at 2:00,

and found a nice 50-amp drive-thru site right next to the one we had when we were here three years ago.  After setting up, Becky went to the store for our dinner fixings.  We had decided that, since Monday was our 29th wedding anniversary, we should celebrate with filets mignon and a bottle of good wine.  Which we did.  I also sautéed onions and mushrooms as a delicious garnish.  Yum!

At the moment, we plan to be here for 11 days, but we may leave early if that seems like a good idea.  For one thing, they don't have sewer drains at the sites, which makes me nervous.  And they charge $25 to send the honey wagon to your site.  That makes me mad.  Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Tuesday was Veterans Day, of course, and, other than Becky's buying a new pair of reading glasses at Lenscrafters,

we celebrated by doing little or nothing all day.  On Wednesday, I attacked a small project in our storage area.  We can now hang our broom, rake, and other items with long handles horizontally from a pair of brackets attached to the wall.  We also took our computers to the Family Lodge to use their free internet to update some functions.  Yippee!

Our big adventure on Thursday was to go to the Costco in Gilroy.  Our GPS routed us over the hills and through the woods for about 10 miles to Gilroy.  Apparently, it saved about 100 yards over using US 101, which we took to get back---and that saved us about 10 minutes.  It was fun roaming through Costco again.  It had been a while. 

Friday was set aside for a field trip with Ramsey and Kelsey to see Don and Pinky Eastman in Pebble Beach.  It took us just over an hour to get there, including some terrible traffic along Highway 1 when the Caltrans crews just had to cut the road from three lanes to one lane.  It's hard to believe the Eastmans have lived in Pebble Beach for 14 years.  We hadn't seen them in three years, and it was fun catching up.  Pinky made some quiches for lunch.  Delicious.      

On Saturday we met Barb and Michael Penna, friends of ours who live in Salinas, at the nearby Sarah's Vineyard.  We had a nice picnic there.  Becky first met Barb when they both lived in Germany in the '70s and were connected (through their then-husbands) with the U.S. military.  Barb's son, Tim O'Kelley, is the assistant winemaker at Sarah's Vineyard.  Barb and Michael are an interesting and fun couple.  It was fun seeing them again. 

After the picnic, we played bocce ball at the vineyard.  (The boys won.)

Early on Sunday morning, we met Susan Garza and her friend Leather at the big dog park in Morgan Hill.  We brought Ramsey and Kelsey and Susan brought her dogs, Ryder and Itsy.  All the dogs are Dalmatians.  Susan adopted Ryder at the same rescue place in Gardena where we adopted Kelsey a year ago.  In fact, Ryder is Kelsey's brother!!!.  (By tradition---in the absence of actual information---the adoption date is considered to be the dog's birthday, so Sunday was Kelsey's third birthday, and we celebrated accordingly.)  Seeing the dogs together was a lot of fun, and it seemed to us that Kelsey and Ryder recognized each other.

Later on Sunday, Becky went to Pleasanton to have lunch with Lucy Daggett and her husband, Joe Friedman.  Lucy was a high school classmate of Becky's.  Her husband was an unexpected guest; that's why I wasn't invited.

While Becky was gone, I started a project to build a small platform in our storage compartment to hold two folding chairs so we won't have to remove them every time we want something out of storage there.  (I didn't finish it until Monday because I had to buy more parts at the Ace Hardware, and Becky had the truck.  I think the project turned out pretty well.) 

The dogs didn't get their usual five miles of walks on Sunday, but they survived quite well.  It's amazing how little they do besides sleep when Becky's not around.

Sunday night, Ramsey lunged at me unexpectedly and I reacted by dashing into the bathroom.  But, I slipped and crashed into the toilet---knocking it loose from its connection plate and breaking the plate in the process.  I also hurt my back somehow during the crash.  Monday morning I went to the hardware store to get the necessary repair part, and reconnected the toilet. 

The rest of Monday was dedicated to shopping---Wal-Mart, Trader Joe's, etc.  We loaded up on great stuff.

On Tuesday, we ventured to Moss Landing, a 60-mile round trip, to see the Lady Washington, a "tall ship" that is visiting there for a short while.  It was built in 1989 as a nearly-exact replica of one that was built in the 1700s.  It was interesting to visit, but I wouldn't want to live on it.  The crew consisted of what appeared to be some strange people. 

And Moss Landing was a pit.  There were many very decrepit boats in the marina.

We got back a little late to fix dinner so we went to Panda Express.  Yum!  (As usual.)  Wednesday was a rainy day, so we laid low all day.  The redbox movie was Begin Again, with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly.  Very good movie.  Very different. 

We had previously determined that our tire monitor was malfunctioning, and the manufacturer sent us a new one---which arrived on Tuesday and which I programmed on Thursday with the help of Mike, the tech at the company.  The written instructions are gibberish, so it's impossible to program the monitor without real-time help over the phone.  Since we are leaving for Morro Bay on Friday, it was important to get the monitor programmed so we could leave with the comfort of knowing our monitor would work.  Otherwise, Thursday was drizzly, so we relaxed again, and prepared to leave for Morro Bay. 

The redbox movie was Moms' Night Out, with Patricia Heaton and Sean Aston.  It was so awful we turned it off less than halfway through.  (My back still hurts from my crash into the toilet Sunday night, by the way.)            

 
   

 

 

Thursday, November 6, through Sunday, November 9, 2014: In Yuba City:

Thursday, we made the 211-mile trek to Yuba City without incident.  Neither of us had ever been to either Yuba City or its neighbor Marysville, so it was interesting to see them.  We are here to visit with John and Nancy McCrady, friends from long ago, who live in Durham---40 miles further up in California. 

We are staying at the Travel Home RV Park in the center of Yuba City.  As with most in-city parks, it is small (43 spaces) and old.  But it is very nice, and they saved us the one space we could easily get into.  The managers are two very helpful and friendly older ladies who have been there for years.  The owners bought the place 29 years ago, when it was a yucky mobile home park, and they just got rid of the last mobile home a year ago.  We've heard this story several times over the years.  Apparently it's very difficult to get people with mobile homes to leave.  It seems they usually have to die. 

The Feather River runs between Yuba City and Marysville, and the area adjacent to the river has been developed as a huge park.  Becky took the dogs there twice, letting Kelsey off-leash to have her brand of fun.

Saturday morning, John and Nancy arrived.  We last saw them two years ago in Indio, where Nancy's brother, Mike Narver, has a place.  We first chatted for a while, since the restaurant where we planned to have lunch did not open until noon.  We then headed a few blocks to the center of town and the Sopa Thai restaurant.  The place was wonderful.  Our waitress was terrific and the food was excellent.  We were there for a very long time. 

Next door to the restaurant is a very unusual pet store.  The place has a few "house" desert tortoises and iguanas that they let walk around freely on the sidewalk in front of the store.  Ramsey and Kelsey were a little confused by these animals they had never seen before.

Saturday night was football again.  UCLA beat Washington.  LSU had a heartbreaking last-minute loss to Alabama.  Arizona State (ranked #9) trounced Notre Dame (ranked #10).  Hurrah to that!

Sunday morning, we met the McCradys again---in Nevada City, 38 miles away.  We had never been there before; the McCradys had.  It's a very cute historic gold-mining town.  On the recommendation of Joyce Wells who had lived there for a while a few years ago, we had lunch at Lefty's.  Just wonderful.  After lunch, we wandered around town, visiting some of its funky shops.  It was a lot of fun.

We returned to Yuba City and relaxed, preparing to leave for Morgan Hill on Monday.