tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68897189064754251682024-02-20T19:09:49.578-08:00DON'T FENCE ME INSharing yarns, tales and sagas as I travel through 'the wide open country that I love'Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-18922599962172046062012-08-03T13:50:00.000-07:002012-08-03T13:50:26.688-07:00It's Official. . . . . <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. . . . my 5th wheel sold -- the new owners closed on the sale a week ago today. PPL Motorhomes in TX was a very good choice for me -- they had it for a little over two months and the whole process went very smoothly. Thank you to Laurie/Odel for recommending PPL to me back in the Spring of 2010 during our visit up at the Napa Fairgrounds RV Park. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I’m happy that it’s sold, I have some lingering sadness at the fact that it’s no longer my ‘home on wheels’. I’m currently visiting my daughter who lives in MA and, recently, I’ve experienced a couple of mornings when I first wake up and, momentarily I think something like . . . . .it’ll be nice to get back to my own ‘space/place’ (no reflection on my accommodations here at my daughters). Will I continue to have those momentary lapses now that it has been sold? I'll have to wait and see! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I’ve been enjoying my stay in New England visiting with my daughter and her friends here</span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfPdZhxYoDKh3Zqj-JuUoTGmlwodZ_sNk_x3j1bauAS-D9W5QX3grlazgGbrbSywTuY2bfSjm6Lth01CsSfn4eabKqxRcpD48_6cvuU0_DqNW4Acv4zXFgwWixUzmcJc0eLsiyt36WX4/s1600/Blowing+bubbles+for+baby+Quinn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfPdZhxYoDKh3Zqj-JuUoTGmlwodZ_sNk_x3j1bauAS-D9W5QX3grlazgGbrbSywTuY2bfSjm6Lth01CsSfn4eabKqxRcpD48_6cvuU0_DqNW4Acv4zXFgwWixUzmcJc0eLsiyt36WX4/s320/Blowing+bubbles+for+baby+Quinn.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Auntie Dianne' <br />
blowing bubbles for baby Quinn</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An added bonus is that I get to house/cat sit for my ‘grand-kitty’, Wilson, while my daughter is away on work assignments from time to time. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curious Wilson -- checking out my coffee mug!</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN"></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last weekend Dianne and her </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">boyfriend,</span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Todd took me out to </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">dinner-show at a </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">spot in </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cambridge that I’ve always </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">wanted to go to -Sculler’s Jazz Club. </span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Manhattans were appearing there. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span lang="EN">What a great show they put on!</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kissandsaygoodbye.com/">http://www.kissandsaygoodbye.com</a><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our little table was situated right up alongside the small stage they were performing on. It’s a great venue and the group welcomed audience participation throughout. If The Manhattans are ever doing a ’gig’ in your area, try to get out to see them -- ticket prices are very reasonable and it’ll be a fun evening.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of this trail is nice 'n shady!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While staying here in the Watertown area </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve also been reacquainting </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">myself with my walking/biking routes </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">back in this area. I had posted about </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">finding the Mt. Auburn Cemetery </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">last fall while up here recuperating </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">from my fractured arm. This visit, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve gotten back over to the </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Minuteman Bikeway Trail</span> - <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a wonderful multi-purpose trail that runs from Arlington to Bedford MA - covering 11 miles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I especially like to pick up the trail in the Lexington MA location as there’s a neat little visitor center there with lots of information on the various historical places to see while in the area. The trail runs parallel to the little town center in Lexington - a nice place to stop and enjoy lunch or a cold drink/ice cream to cool off during or after your walk/biking trek. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over these four years that have passed </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">since I left to rv full time, I’ve retained my dentist and doctor (both located in southern New Hampshire). I’ve got my yearly physical and dental checkups scheduled for next week and have allowed a few days extra for the typical lab work, mammogram, bone density scan, etc. before heading back to CA.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Havana was looking so sad the <br />
day I was packing to leave</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll be house and dog sitting with my pal, Havana when I get back there while my other daughter and her husband go on vacation toward the end of this month. Then, before I know it, it’ll be September and the start of Fall. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It looks like I’ll be continuing the process of transitioning for awhile as I see what ‘comes up’ in the months that follow. For now, I’m content with allowing life to ’unfold’ as I go. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This should be very interesting??!! </span><br />
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</div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-29205124214278021132012-06-27T15:39:00.003-07:002012-06-27T15:39:55.927-07:00In 'Transition' phase<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I arrived in the Napa Valley a month ago today. My youngest daughter, her husband and I came up with a somewhat ‘fluid’ plan for me once I dropped the 5th wheel off in Texas.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSLcEfxWYHXHMVGUK21oU2g3-fwgU_WENwg6TISDEKZ2UYhtt7ki5tSI5UvUX-rxUIy-HgBu3zyYsoxiI-PTXQEeUxqtzFJH_rgmtp4IpG8N6q-A0Wbm2VhjCErnk2J75VS6Dfk7F_wY/s1600/Havana+-+10+yrs+old+today+-+June+17th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 198px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 182px;"><img border="0" height="200" rca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSLcEfxWYHXHMVGUK21oU2g3-fwgU_WENwg6TISDEKZ2UYhtt7ki5tSI5UvUX-rxUIy-HgBu3zyYsoxiI-PTXQEeUxqtzFJH_rgmtp4IpG8N6q-A0Wbm2VhjCErnk2J75VS6Dfk7F_wY/s200/Havana+-+10+yrs+old+today+-+June+17th.jpg" width="149" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They suggested that since they were planning on a long weekend trip </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">over the Memorial Day weekend, if I were </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">out here by then, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">they wouldn't have to put </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Havana (a black Lab mix) in the kennel. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm all for that so </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">California. . . . here I come!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They offered that I could stay at Nancy’s place up in Yountville - a cute little one bedroom duplex that she has rented for about four years. She and Bob decided to keep the rental after their marriage ten months ago. Their full time house is located just south of San Francisco and she and Bob spend the majority of their time down in that area but the company she works for has a satellite office located in Calistoga, CA (north of Napa / Yountville) and they need her to work out of that office three days a week. It’s a bit of a hectic lifestyle for her right now and I’m hoping that my being out here will allow me to help her out by keeping the apartment ship-shape, running errands, walking Havana, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I really love the Napa / Sonoma Valley area and feel right at home out here. I also love spending time in Florida with my sister and friends as well as getting back to the northeast to spend time with family and friends there. I know that eventually, I'll have to come to a decision about my official state of residency, once the rv sells and my status changes officially from full-time rv’er. Having just come off a year or so of ‘decision making’ though, I feel the need to ‘coast’ for a few months while various plans / options ‘percolate’ and we see what materializes. For now, I'm trying to be content with allowing the 'transition' process to unfold for me. While that is happening. . . . </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've managed to get back into a regular routine of walking - thank you Havana!! My regular walking 'routine' faltered for a good month or so I was in full 'prepping the Carriage for consignment' mode and then in travel mode!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my all time favorite walking areas is out here in the lovely little town of Yountville, CA. It’s yet another location where ’changing up’ a walking route is very easy to do. There are paved walking paths throughout the town, bordering the center of town, extending out into and through the neighborhoods beyond the town center.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yountville is a relatively small town that has transitioned into a resort/</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">spa /wine tasting and fine dining destination! From what I've observed, there is most definitely a ‘market’ for the selections offered in this town. The businesses that have located here are filling that market demand and doing, what appears to me to be, a really fine job of it. Since arriving, I'd say that most times, the parking lots of the inns and hotels are just about full, the restaurants have a steady flow of patrons and there's always a group of bicyclists along the bike path and the roadways on the outskirts of town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though what this town is best known for and offers is not something I would typically seek out, I feel fortunate that I can enjoy both the natural and man-made beauty of this town and the peaceful, even tranquil, setting surrounding it on my daily walks. Whether it’s along a paved, beautifully maintained pathway that offers phenomenal views of the surrounding vineyards and hills;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">or through the center of town where the heavenly aromas float out from the local bakery and eateries and where signs beckon visitors and locals to stop in for a wine tasting;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> or expanding out along the</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">pastoral roadway with the </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">now familiar row upon row </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">of vineyards on one side of </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the road and a herd of long </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I’ll have more photos to share as I venture out to some of the surrounding towns, hike the many offerings in this area and then, too, as I explore and discover all that there is to see and do in the Mountain View area south of San Francisco. Bob and Nancy told me they like to take Havana over on the walking trails through the Stanford University campus located not too far from where they live!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Speaking of Mountain View, we were all down there a couple of weekends ago and we celebrated Havana's 10th 'birthday' (10 years since Nancy adopted her). The <em>celebrating</em> part of her 'day' included a hike just north of of there in the Pulgas Ridge OSP. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikKilmEJbRG521kSOPstDqWHFVlaO-qt1_3R1NPH7KHBmGWgldML87nlxkYZJLrsU4VlwGP7ygA96gZFjzOrMu0mUUSJTWaDJE9WEeLaG4_jYQmlxp8WqQZ2UxHZPqnBuy_A822j92fXs/s1600/pulgas_ridge_main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; height: 203px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 318px;"><img border="0" height="192" rca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikKilmEJbRG521kSOPstDqWHFVlaO-qt1_3R1NPH7KHBmGWgldML87nlxkYZJLrsU4VlwGP7ygA96gZFjzOrMu0mUUSJTWaDJE9WEeLaG4_jYQmlxp8WqQZ2UxHZPqnBuy_A822j92fXs/s320/pulgas_ridge_main.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of OpenSpace.org website </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It was a relatively easy hike but along about the time we were about three-quarters of the way up the hillsides, Havana and I both needed to seek shady sections to linger for abit and refresh with cool water. Fortunately most of the hike had plenty of trees shading the pathway. Unfortunately the uppermost section </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">was right out there in full sun!! Bob and Nancy were very understanding of us 'old timers'! We loved the challenge and hope to get out to more of the great offerings in this area (South Bay) as well as back up in the Napa / Sonoma area (North Bay). </span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then there’s always Santa Cruz or Half Moon bay on the coast -- each only 45 minutes away - well, maybe as the crow flies - driving in CA traffic may take considerably longer!! </span></span><br />
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</div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-73368569492178320842012-06-17T15:50:00.000-07:002012-06-20T12:45:20.343-07:00Are my ‘Don’t Fence Me In Days’ numbered????<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since leaving MA just a couple days after Thanksgiving last fall, I’ve enjoyed a five month stay in Florida. My time there included six weeks of physical therapy at the start of my stay, much relaxing and visiting with my sister and several friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I’m back in the Napa Valley area once again and I have to say that this year there was a slightly different ‘feel’ to my turn off I 80 onto CA-12 Jameson Canyon Road!! There was still an ‘Ah-h-h-h-h’ moment but it was short-lived. One of the first things that I noticed was the rolling hills were already past their springtime greenery. Then I noticed the traffic congestion along this road had increased significantly and finally, I saw that there is major road construction going on along this stretch! I know the construction taking place on this roadway will prove to be a positive thing once it’s done but I sure was happy to be through that area and moving along up toward Yountville where the greenery kicked in via the new growth on row after row and field after field of grape vines!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Probably the bigger influence on my less than enthusiastic arrival moment is the fact that I was arriving without my ‘home on wheels’! I had hauled it as far as New Braunfels, TX where I dropped it off. It’s on consignment at PPL there - under a three month contract with them. Hopefully, someone will be looking for just such a rig to start or continue their full (or part) time rv-ing adventure. I will admit, though, that I am truly a <span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: #45818e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'reluctant leaver</span><span style="background-color: #45818e;">'</span></span>!!</span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve spent the better part of a year ruminating on this decision -- it hasn’t come easily by any means! A dose of ‘reality’ hit me over the winter of 2010-2011 when I found that continuing to live the full time lifestyle had become financially <i>unsound </i>for me<i>.</i> A number of factors have ‘aligned’ over the time that I’ve been a full-timer that I simply hadn’t even contemplated might happen - not the least of which has been the downturn/collapse in the economy with a corresponding increase in the spiraling price of gas, food, site fees, repairs, etc. There are other factors influencing my decision; factors that are more about me and my personal experience as a solo full timer but are very similar to the experiences of <b>some </b>(not all) other solo rv’ers -- doing it <em>all</em> and doing it <em>alone</em>! This last factor hit me like a thunderbolt and was the most difficult to get over/through -- it took the longest for me to accept (not so sure I actually have). And, honestly, it isn’t (and wasn’t) a constant or continuous feeling/influence on my full timing lifestyle but it would meander in and ’set a spell’ from time to time. Even so, I felt I had to place it on the plus/minus decision-making list. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, now that the decision making process has become reality, I’m making a concerted effort to stop thinking/speaking/referring to my 5th wheel as my ‘home’. I’m doing a pretty good job of that when speaking out loud about it but in my thinking process, I still find it’s ’home’ to me. I suppose the complete change-over will come with time. Or, maybe there will be a very quick transition once it sells? <br /><br />I will say that from the minute I entered that Carriage 5th wheel back in July 2008, I felt it was just the rv unit for me!! There wasn’t one thing about it that I found fault with and, boy, was I excited when the seller and I agreed on a sale price, etc. It was a longer rv than I was looking to buy but I wasn’t intimidated or deterred by the extra footage (33 - 34’ vs. 29 - 30’). Of course, once I started traveling in it (especially in the first few months), I recognized that perhaps I should have stuck with my original size rig and choice of hitch setup. Things improved in short order and, for the most part, I learned my lesson, albeit the hard way!!<br /><br />It’s been a phenomenal 3 ½ year adventure and I wish that it wouldn’t have to end but. . . . . at this point in time, it does make sense to market it and see what happens. I’m hoping that the features this 5th wheel has to offer, the new tires all around (put on just a year ago and used very little) and the very good condition that I kept it in will help it stand out among the other 5th wheels of its age on their lot. Here's a link to the listing for my Carriage on the PPL website: (hope it works!)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/5thwheel/2005-Carriage-Cameo-21587.htm">http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/5thwheel/2005-Carriage-Cameo-21587.htm</a></span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What’s next for me?? Only time will tell. The day I brought the Carriage into PPL, I sent texts out to family and a few friends saying “….. it’s official, I am truly homeless now!!“ That isn’t true, of course, but when one of my friends asked me where I would live, I said I was going to become a ’senior couch surfer’!!<br /><br />While I remain hopeful that the Carriage will find a new owner during its consignment tenure, I continue to ponder my options if that doesn’t happen. I can choose to leave it with PPL on a month to month basis after the initial contract time expires. Another option would be to commit to full time Workamping. That could mitigate the financial burden considerably especially if I limit the mileage between assignments! That one would probably be my least favorite option. Also under consideration is finding a permanent lot to set it on and make that my ’home base’. The biggest negative to doing that right now is. . . . . I have NO idea where I would want to place it permanently. Florida does make the most sense as it offers the best option for finding the warmest climate in the country for the winter months. One of my sisters lives in the St. Petersburg area and I have friends in that general area also. The thing is. . . . I really like southern AZ and CA (I like the northern CA also) - hmnnnnn!! Fortunately, I’ve always been a very flexible gal and that may be a much needed attribute over the next few months!!</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">A 'saying' that I have made frequent use of for many, many years now is..... 'Life is Change'!</span></span>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-81715698248391888292012-02-15T16:20:00.000-08:002012-02-16T04:15:35.732-08:00Another 'catching up' post<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Guess I'll just skip right over the '.....it's been awhile since I last posted excuses'. Try as I might to move blog posting closer to the top of my 'to do' list, it seems that I just don't deem it as important as I wish it were!! So.. . . . I'll just get right to the 'catching up'!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I've made terrific progress since my last post in November. As I had written in my November post, I was staying at my daughter's home in Watertown, MA for the healing portion of my bone fracture. Fortunately, it was fall in New England and that's always a beautiful time to be there. The day after my daughter from CA and I arrived in MA (from Louisville, KY), her lost luggage was delivered mid-afternoon. A little later she suggested we head out for a refreshing walk since she now had appropriate walking shoes and clothes!! We walked toward the Cambridge town line and next thing I knew she suggested we walk through the Mt. Auburn Cemetery situated in both Watertown and Cambrige!! Hmnnnn. . . . ok?! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">As we walked along the roads and paths,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">moument to George Washington. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">arrived just around the time that the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">docent was closing the structure for </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">the day but a climb to the top offers a panoramic view looking into Boston.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj2md39qHb0VO9rpRd5j6zHHKqWZ3uO11x_qz_87__UGpDs5rH8Yuh-fx9CUAnijuXaMmq1-_aM2NMki39WalMDsLANIH9g4SgCywMx-FKn0EeR2RnyOrE2ddQu1d_WFcYiXFBcT7Bm88/s1600/Mt.+Auburn+Cemetery+%60+view+from+Tower+area3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj2md39qHb0VO9rpRd5j6zHHKqWZ3uO11x_qz_87__UGpDs5rH8Yuh-fx9CUAnijuXaMmq1-_aM2NMki39WalMDsLANIH9g4SgCywMx-FKn0EeR2RnyOrE2ddQu1d_WFcYiXFBcT7Bm88/s320/Mt.+Auburn+Cemetery+%60+view+from+Tower+area3.JPG" width="320" yda="true" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">When we exited on the other side of the grounds, I realized that I knew this spot from years ago!! For the first two years of my married life, my husband and I lived in Cambridge -- not too terribly far from this very place and when we moved to Belmont after those first years, I rode the Trolleybus right past this place every day heading into Harvard Square where I hopped onto the T to get to my job in Boston. Unfortunately, the photos don't do the view justice. I took these photos with my iPhone as I had left my camera behind in my rv.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My favorite walking route became the one that took me back through this beautiful spot over and over. Mt. Auburn Cemetery was the first landscaped cemetery in the country and was dedicated in 1831. There is much history associated with this cemetery and it is listed as a National Register of Historic Places and in 2003 it was listed as a National Historic Landmark. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">One day I happened on a </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">beautiful monument and </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">when </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I stopped for a closer look, I found it was </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">dedicated to </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mary Baker Eddy - she was the founder of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Christian Science religion. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0ihKmr6dno7eQi4zSD60mngSjF27ymhmuQp1kdjj1GgxqUBP5TLqTPB5iFib1jZfpUyaUKlVsH6lTfJWUQ1fcnBX7Vlw5xg3kTSWY0C1VrzPwZVntUIQepODSclCNMT_W9ofItaDdmg/s1600/Mary+Baker+Eddy+Memorial+2+at+Mt.+Auburn+Cemetery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0ihKmr6dno7eQi4zSD60mngSjF27ymhmuQp1kdjj1GgxqUBP5TLqTPB5iFib1jZfpUyaUKlVsH6lTfJWUQ1fcnBX7Vlw5xg3kTSWY0C1VrzPwZVntUIQepODSclCNMT_W9ofItaDdmg/s320/Mary+Baker+Eddy+Memorial+2+at+Mt.+Auburn+Cemetery.JPG" width="239" yda="true" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Another time I found Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's resting place. I found myself choosing a walking loop that included this place many times during my six week stay in Watertown. It is truly a beautiful 'respite' from the surrounding noises and busy traffic patterns and a perfect place to sit and enjoy the peaceful beauty that exists there. Here's a link to their website -- chocked full of wonderful photos and history: <a href="http://www.mtauburn.org/" target="_blank">http://www.mtauburn.org/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Another walk that I enjoyed took me past the Watertown Arsenal established in 1816 and the Commander's Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Late in the 60's the Army ceased using the buildings and they were sold gradually over the years. The exterior facade has been retained/restored and the buildings now house private businesses, including a mall. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It's located just a few short blocks from my daughter's house and. I would frequently do a large loop that would include a timely end to the day's walk so that I could stop in to the Panera located in one of the buildings for a bowl of soup or chili w/cornbread yummmm!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">On a very special occasion or two, I'd have a four-legged friend walk aways with me (typically around the block where he lived)!! His name is Wilson and he is <strong>very special!! </strong>Wilson and I spent a couple of months together 'bonding' last summer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mainly though, this was a favorite 'hangin' out' spot <strong>. . . . </strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I continued to heal and made a final visit to the Mass General Orthopedic doctor, who felt that it was time to get started with my PT sesssions. He readily agreed that I could have those wherever I would like. It was now mid November so. . . . I chose to head to the sunny and warm south -- after sticking around to share Turkey Day it was off to FL!! </span></div>
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Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-85197775480426487402011-11-15T10:42:00.000-08:002011-11-15T10:42:20.780-08:00It's been awhile<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, indeed, it has been quite sometime since I’ve<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>posted to my blog!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And, i</span>f there were an award for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘worst blogger EVER’ </b>I’d definitely be top runner for receiving it this year!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hard pressed</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">to offer a reasonable explanation for my sluggish posting. . . . . it’s not like I have made no attempts to write up a post of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing/seeing!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually have several half-written posts (and even one or two that are about three-quarter complete).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I start off vigorously and then, get distracted or run out of time/steam and then seem to let that ‘chore’ slip to the bottom of the list/pile!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, awhile back, I was reading a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Travels with the Bayfield Bunch</b> blog in which Al talked about</span><strong> </strong><em>blogging lethargy</em><strong> </strong>(my term) and I could readily identify with what he was ‘saying’ in that post. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a bit relieved to then read the ‘comments’ to that particular post which were left by some of the followers of their blog indicating that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">erratic posting</b> is an anomaly shared by many of us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I</span>'ve also read posts/comments in other blogs that 'speak to' the sometimes difficult nature of keeping the <em>blog momentum</em> going! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, here I am once again - hoping that this time my effort will produce a rejuvenation of my blog.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth-be-told, there’s a good reason behind my renewed interest in getting back to my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Before continuing with this though </span>I want to say that I realize that the final paragraph of my last blog back in the spring said something about my heading up to the Napa Valley area to spend time with my youngest daughter and my favorite ‘gran-dog’, Havana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I </span>also mentioned in that post that I would be taking a bit of ‘down-time’ to think about some ‘stuff’ and try to make some much-needed decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this post, I’ll be skipping over the several months that have flown by since that blog post so that I can relate my recent mishap and current situation which is the reason I'm in a position to make a renewed effort with my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-spacerun: yes;">I’ve recently been ‘grounded’ as a result of a nasty fall a little over a month ago. The damage? A fractured proximal humerus (right arm/shoulder). I consider myself very fortunate that the diagnosis wasn't much worse because it so easily could have been. It's one of those scenarios where, in looking back you think. . . . how dumb was that?! I had just stepped down from my bedroom/bath area to the entry/kitchen area when I noticed that my outside door had closed over and I wanted to push it back open to let the sunshine in. I slid the screen door handle-slide thingy over and reached through to push the outside door open. Well. . . . . . not only did my ‘pushing hand/arm’ go out, but my whole body went lunging out – yikes!! The general opinion of myself and the two people who immediately responded was that a number of factors must have been in place for this to have happened. My foot must have been placed kind of half off that top landing when I reached to push and I know I wasn't holding onto the neat little bar that is so conveniently placed to the right of that door jam for exiting from the top landing to the well step and then onto the top outside stair. The biggest factor in my opinion though is that I was rushing around and not paying attention to details. It’s true that it was an accident but, it was totally avoidable and I’m one immensely ‘ticked-off’ lady these day (at myself of course!!) I spend at least a portion of my many long walks around Watertown, MA (where I’m currently staying) giving myself a tongue-lashing. Whenever I get to feeling sorry for myself that I can’t do this or can’t do that, I paint a ‘mental picture’ of giving myself the task of writing something like ‘You will remember to be more cautious’ a hundred times on the blackboard!! Will I though?? I sure hope so! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This little incident happened to me a mere three weeks into my Workamping at the Campbellsville, KY facility for Amazon. Since joining Workamper back in the fall of 2008, I've had a keen interest in heading to one of their facilities to give it a try. When they contacted me last Spring, I decided that this would be the Fall to 'just do it'! I got all the paperwork completed, increased my walking (as recommended by Amazon), arranged my summer schedule to be situated back on the east coast and even re-arranged my summer activity to start working earlier than my original start date of late October. I was actually looking forward to trying this new (to me) type of work!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I arrived at the Green River Marina RV Park on Sept. 14th and started work at Amazon the week of Sept. 18th – the first week being a modified work week of 5 hour shifts. I was assigned to be a 'stower' and I was the only person in that small group of stowers being trained that particular week who was a total Amazon 'newbie'. Most in the group had been in stowing in the past and knew the routine - a couple of folks had worked in other areas but were, at least, familiar with general Amazon routine. So I had a pretty good situation, in that I could just look to one of them to point me in the right direction or give me a hand with my scanner, etc. The rv park I was staying in had a really terrific bunch of fellow rv'ers/Workampers and we were looking forward to spending some good weeks together, getting through our work assignment but also having some fun social gatherings too. By the time I had finished up my second week of full time shift (Sunday through Wednesday 6:00 am to 4:30 pm), I was feeling much less soreness and tiredness than when I had finished up after the first week. After taking a day to actually rest and recoup, I was up early on Friday and raring to go do some sightseeing, walking or hiking and had found a state park (My Old Kentucky Home State Park) not too far away from where I was staying. After doing a few errands in the late morning, I came back to the rv to grab some lunch, water and talk with a friend there (Carol) to see if she wanted to go along to check out this park – hoping we’d find a good place to take our bikes to ride or, at least, to find another interesting place to walk around in. As the old saying goes '. . . . the best laid plans. . !' </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fortunately for me (not so much for her, though), Carol witnessed the whole falling mishap!! She was sitting outside reading when she looked up and saw me lunging out the door straight to the grassy ground - narrowly missing the corner of the livingroom/dining slide! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She came running up toward me calling out not to move! The couple in the rig on the site next to mine were just sitting down to have their lunch when they opened the slats on their window blind and the husband (Dennis?) looked over to see me lying on the ground so he came out and the three of us assessed my situation. When I had the first dreaded realization that I was falling forward out the door, I tried to grab the railing but it was too late. I then tried to break the fall with my outstretched arms but it was my right forearm that took the hardest 'hit'. I was abit stunned for a few seconds and then rolled myself over and that's when I felt the pain. I had waited for Carol and Dennis to help me sit up and after a little bit, I said it was my shoulder. When I tried to move my right arm it hurt and it felt like wobbly and disconnected. Dennis said maybe I had dislocated my shoulder and that sounded pretty likely to me also. I didn't want to call 911 because, though it hurt, I wasn't in excrutiating pain. They got me to the ER and Carol stayed with me, helping out in so many ways! I'm so very greatful to them and also to Carol's hubby, Ken for their help and support that day and in the days to come. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the ER, an x-ray was taken, a shot for pain was administered (the pain was starting to increase as time wore on), a diagnosis was determined and the Nurse Practicioner gave me a script for pain meds and a recommendation to see the Orthopedic doctor on Monday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Carol and her husband, Ken drove me to my </span>doctor appointment first thing Monday. He gave me the unnerving news that, in his opinion, for me to regain full motion use of this arm, I would need surgery and it wasn’t a surgery that was done very frequently so there weren’t a lot of doctors who would be able to do it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huh?!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really??!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had actually formed the opinion over the weekend that the fracture wasn’t that bad because I really wasn’t in a whole lot of pain (as long as I kept the arm in the sling and was careful to not go bumping into door jams, walls, etc. and didn’t try to walk very far).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in shock at this diagnosis and didn’t want to believe it. When I finished up with the doctor, Carol and Ken took me to pick up a few groceries and got me back to my rv where I then made the requisite calls to each of my daughters to tell them about the mishap and diagnosis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was leaning heavily toward going down to the St. Petersburg, FL area to be near my sister (Cindy) to have the surgery. She's retired and there's a wonderful group of fellow retirees there that I've gotten to know and become friends with. My daughters each have full time jobs, a husband or significant other and busy lives. Getting me to doctors, caring for me after surgery, driving me for followup visits and then physical therapy was not something I wanted to lay at their feet. My sister and I felt that being down with her would be the better choice. I was 'over-ruled' however, and conceded that, yes, New England was a good choice - Mass General, good doctors (including my primary care doctor who is located in neighboring NH) and a daughter available for any possible care decisions on my behalf. My CA daughter (Nancy) flew into Louisville and drove down to Campbellsville to help me finish getting my rv ready for its trip to FL (thanks to my sister, Cindy and an angel of a friend, Donna).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I had taken some preliminary steps toward getting the rig ready and, once again, my fellow Workamper/rv'ers were so very thoughtful and helpful with things that I just couldn't or shouldn't do and in offering to be of whatever help they could when my sister and Donna arrived at the rv park to hook up the 5th wheel for the trek to Florida! I sure was grateful, too, having</span> my daughter accompany me on my flight(s) from KY to Boston on Friday. As can be so typical these days, there were flight problems and I'm sure I never could have handled changing the flight arrangements as seamlessly as Nancy did -- I probably would have been spending most of the day and night stuck in one airport or another!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My MA daughter (Dianne) made some room rearrangements at her home, converting her office back into a bedroom, retrieving her queen-size bed from storage, ordering one of those neat chair type pillows for use in bed and a multi-purpose adjustable tables on a rolling platform (like the hospital bed tables). She and I saw an Orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General on Monday morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> More x-rays were taken and an evaluation of my arm/shoulder done. This doctor's </span>recommendation was a wonderful surprise (and a great relief) to me – no surgery!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXS7ltnJG9TtMu5OnlmWlh_85g9ZxcHpnuBSHMyyy-MQ5HW0BusKlqv1u4kPgoHgPM3CJXfznQbZYzyizzUXU_LRJg10bW1i0A9QoApCJhxTQJPH8ufXCoQUYAI_WAz4Ba5LJoSKZJMw/s1600/No+surgery+%257E+goiod+news.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXS7ltnJG9TtMu5OnlmWlh_85g9ZxcHpnuBSHMyyy-MQ5HW0BusKlqv1u4kPgoHgPM3CJXfznQbZYzyizzUXU_LRJg10bW1i0A9QoApCJhxTQJPH8ufXCoQUYAI_WAz4Ba5LJoSKZJMw/s200/No+surgery+%257E+goiod+news.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The smile that lasted for days!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> He felt I’d made out better in the long run letting the fracture heal and then do a few months of physical therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so relieved and happy to hear his approach that I smiled for several days after that visit!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave me a simple exercise to do 3 to 4 times each day and scheduled me for another visit/x-ray in 3 weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I saw the </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">doctor again last week and he was pleased with my progress, answered some questions that I had (the most pressing one for me was. . . . can I now drive? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His answer: a resounding NO, not yet).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also said I could start PT and found no problem with my waiting another two to three weeks to begin that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The reason for holding off the start of PT is that I want to do that once I return to Florida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been itching to head OUT of New England since the October n’oreaster visited us here!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s gotten colder and my daughter is now back at home full time and she works from home!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> With the doctor ruling out my driving capability, I'm feeling even more 'antsy' to return to Florida. </span>My sister lives in Gulfport and I’ve been spending at least a part of each winter season down there with her – there’s always something to do, some sights to see or friends to get together with!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I cannot drive, I’m ‘captive’ to my daughter’s house and walks in/around East Watertown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of my friends in NH are still full time workers so, unless I have wheels to drive up to visit with them, I won’t be having much social contact while staying here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not a complaint by any means, it’s just a statement of facts as they are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I did decide though, that s</span>ince Thanksgiving is just around the corner and, my daughter, Nancy, and her husband are flying in to New England for that long weekend, I’ll wait until after Turkey Day to head outta’ here!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the meantime, I’ve been keeping up with my walking routine – I'm just not able to do the mileage I had been doing prior to heading to Amazon but I did complete a 5 ½ mile walk last week!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4uQj0dpWhpqQcFyDpzhXDCUA2en2_HG633WanZwHfItwCwmhO9Zv8_ZWr9EvbbpjYvNUzzCHn_cjv78_YWNAoWF2sIVwUOXX3M3uWRkW4jbXVKh8X0MxGm4u_5GHxeMR5leWA8BTx7M/s1600/Enjoying+my+bed+chair-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4uQj0dpWhpqQcFyDpzhXDCUA2en2_HG633WanZwHfItwCwmhO9Zv8_ZWr9EvbbpjYvNUzzCHn_cjv78_YWNAoWF2sIVwUOXX3M3uWRkW4jbXVKh8X0MxGm4u_5GHxeMR5leWA8BTx7M/s200/Enjoying+my+bed+chair-1.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying my 'bed chair'</td></tr>
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve also made good use of the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'bed chair' </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">that Dianne purchased </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and read a few good </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">books since </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">arriving a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">month ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">It's been this nagging little voice in </span>recesses of my mind that's really been bugging me the most though. The one that's been 'poking me' . . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> with that little 'bubble' hanging over my head that says </span>‘what about your blog -- why aren't you using some of this time to get caught up on it?!" So. . . . here I am again, ever hopeful that I'll actually become a regular (or at least more regular). </span><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to any and all of you out there in blogland that find this post and still have a smidgin of interest!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-76602359069484520622011-05-07T09:39:00.000-07:002011-05-07T09:39:33.452-07:00Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">While ‘sitting’ in the Bakersfield, CA area a couple of weeks ago, I was pondering a suggestion my youngest daughter made regarding my travel route from southern to northern California. Her thought was to spend some time in the central part of the state as that is an area that I haven’t spent any serious time in (other than a weekend visit last spring in the Carmel and Monterey area). I wasn’t finding much of interest along Route 99 and my one day drive over along the coast between Santa Maria to just north of Santa Barbara didn't excite me. So-o-o-o I decided that a visit to the three National Parks, so conveniently located adjacent to one another, would be a good choice. I’m happy with that decision (though I only ventured into two of them)and I enjoyed my visit but, once again. . . . I’m left ‘wanting’!! (One day I may expand on that comment more but not today).</div><br />
During my visit, the weather down in the little town of Lemon Grove (where I was staying) was sunny with spring-like temps in the high 60’s to low 70’s. Driving up into the parks to the 7600’ elevation level, the temps dropped 20+ degrees and often the view was ‘socked in’. The giant trees were quite visible and there were no crowds in any one location so that was a big plus! A couple of the roads that I had wanted to wander down were still closed to visitors – that was a disappointment but, perhaps I’ll have the chance to re-visit. <br />
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I arrived at the Lemon Grove RV Park on a Sunday afternoon. During the checking in process, the manager asked if I planned on visiting Sequoia NP and when I replied absolutely, she handed me a sheet of paper with the news that there was extensive road work underway on the road up into Sequoia. The info sheet included a schedule for the upcoming week (school vacation for many) and the following Easter holiday weekend. Weekday access to pass through the construction area was scheduled on the hour only. Prior to the school vacation week change, the access was every two hours! Weekend access through this construction zone was monitored via a stoplight at each end of the construction site and there would be delays of approximately 20 minutes. That piece of information motivated me to focus on getting my rv set up, pack a quick lunch and head straight up into the park to avoid the limited access on the upcoming weekdays – a move I had some regrets about a couple of hours later!! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_7gRhvcalFixgIOHzRZ318EXif6pgtmgIz4ptLICt6Y53RPRSnxTRP32bOskIGecEBulA43IUCX-o4lEEipLdMkI0yJZtYrNOeUiYm14tFuhuKwu3miq5V120cTxc41SurdoGE2kcr0/s1600/IMG_5627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_7gRhvcalFixgIOHzRZ318EXif6pgtmgIz4ptLICt6Y53RPRSnxTRP32bOskIGecEBulA43IUCX-o4lEEipLdMkI0yJZtYrNOeUiYm14tFuhuKwu3miq5V120cTxc41SurdoGE2kcr0/s320/IMG_5627.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCWe3mvU6mbIM1u5WgkPa2I3OpTM6lRcKO0CtA-azZmqRDFLgYCjBwKBD0tuV8Iq39cuZXGUQEs3pQN2C3fkfm_9786DhHBseqoIPWVeFhioamA8sAtI7YS-2Sl0kNC_882qhF37c9kE/s1600/IMG_5562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCWe3mvU6mbIM1u5WgkPa2I3OpTM6lRcKO0CtA-azZmqRDFLgYCjBwKBD0tuV8Iq39cuZXGUQEs3pQN2C3fkfm_9786DhHBseqoIPWVeFhioamA8sAtI7YS-2Sl0kNC_882qhF37c9kE/s200/IMG_5562.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>After showing my Golden Passport card at the Sequoia NP entry gatehouse, I drove up to the Visitor Center and then moved along to the first point of interest that was accessible to visitors at this time -- Hospital Rock (pictographs in red) with a short trail down through some <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNx5mqRh4lH7Q7NQH4-boFWpCIshXRZDa5apP7bkwSjonYld8jU0LNkfVqTtcihCK6MU_286D4cDpQ9ELViL4IhZtZ8xUNYaG3wZpCYshTR2Uf73mwWSHyod4sx3ggqiZUj-0ocwkaaCw/s1600/IMG_5573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNx5mqRh4lH7Q7NQH4-boFWpCIshXRZDa5apP7bkwSjonYld8jU0LNkfVqTtcihCK6MU_286D4cDpQ9ELViL4IhZtZ8xUNYaG3wZpCYshTR2Uf73mwWSHyod4sx3ggqiZUj-0ocwkaaCw/s200/IMG_5573.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
large boulders to a section of the fast flowng flowing Kaweah River<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB89pAC9NqCusH_DsDE3nO9dIrUo8dsiJ6k-ccm4JJsUx73E5XQQSZYM9-ctJ5jC8jM324qhTKDwuntwIl-BSOBdek1ofV98c1pHOR__BpNfBY7klRePpNBkxMcUzf7QAfnDHlZRT-54/s1600/IMG_5570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB89pAC9NqCusH_DsDE3nO9dIrUo8dsiJ6k-ccm4JJsUx73E5XQQSZYM9-ctJ5jC8jM324qhTKDwuntwIl-BSOBdek1ofV98c1pHOR__BpNfBY7klRePpNBkxMcUzf7QAfnDHlZRT-54/s200/IMG_5570.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
Then it was time to drive the construction zone. Here’s a quick shot of what the drive through the construction zone looked like. I’m sure glad I don’t have to work on this project!! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41FQINS3Dx6M4EzjM78Iz030UP3dwvgCWQhl3T8UWtZ69S8zCgOKUUz9Zh-Jm0E5Y-CF9pv5Tmoca3wOfQYfj1KZ_3ARSD-P54c0gNZPsft5yF4KT9zeArsApf1lA_9WoQ1qpaiB7oA0/s1600/IMG_5580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41FQINS3Dx6M4EzjM78Iz030UP3dwvgCWQhl3T8UWtZ69S8zCgOKUUz9Zh-Jm0E5Y-CF9pv5Tmoca3wOfQYfj1KZ_3ARSD-P54c0gNZPsft5yF4KT9zeArsApf1lA_9WoQ1qpaiB7oA0/s320/IMG_5580.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">It was after I exited the construction zone that I noticed the drop in temperature and that there was still snow in the forest areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The snow level increased the further along I drove and by the time I reached the General Grant tree access area, I had the sudden realization that I had not thought thru this sudden visit up into the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wearing a short sleeved shirt, Capri pants and sandals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no jacket and no other shoes to change into for the walk up to see the first of the largest Sequoia trees – duh!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did enjoy seeing the fairly large trees along the route I was driving.</div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXx_SkLsdDWN2Jzv6YqwnUjigg8sRwQBMpajOhaMxBUEfoKfm8OGbLvXh9qwbnFSTTYd_l2wIvZFAbQoqDdVT-7DiutEaay6Upx_rCFp0dP_wwrfOqhCyAGQw21tbo4bCidg9a96CuJQ/s1600/IMG_5599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXx_SkLsdDWN2Jzv6YqwnUjigg8sRwQBMpajOhaMxBUEfoKfm8OGbLvXh9qwbnFSTTYd_l2wIvZFAbQoqDdVT-7DiutEaay6Upx_rCFp0dP_wwrfOqhCyAGQw21tbo4bCidg9a96CuJQ/s200/IMG_5599.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXcL7QM5b4hsbU2mlmvR29oGBqAFq4szBTU6JvkA8Fbw1RQxcUAk-UBgw0lTTbWTHYB1lfSOCRRSp8YxJEgUutike2WT-_2v3a-wBagIKBjJS2ZZPONqX0iT1VHrYD56QSM4eODzkEs4/s1600/IMG_5614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXcL7QM5b4hsbU2mlmvR29oGBqAFq4szBTU6JvkA8Fbw1RQxcUAk-UBgw0lTTbWTHYB1lfSOCRRSp8YxJEgUutike2WT-_2v3a-wBagIKBjJS2ZZPONqX0iT1VHrYD56QSM4eODzkEs4/s200/IMG_5614.JPG" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4c1T0pvHQk8wlsRShNXcbcJ22BHQa2tNyRlNseIS2FClF9yGupzoxva78MUTQQp7zxsgKQFhvilKGs6sPB1VSTxK1_NoKVZ8pwd2ZJN-P_Tn3fbJs-_kyLOBvkEpKv6anePRtyPObVs/s1600/IMG_5589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 185px;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4c1T0pvHQk8wlsRShNXcbcJ22BHQa2tNyRlNseIS2FClF9yGupzoxva78MUTQQp7zxsgKQFhvilKGs6sPB1VSTxK1_NoKVZ8pwd2ZJN-P_Tn3fbJs-_kyLOBvkEpKv6anePRtyPObVs/s200/IMG_5589.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
It is difficult to ‘grasp’ the size of these beauties in the photos but they were BIG, impressive and beautiful to look at!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Clicking on the </span>photo should increase the size.<br />
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I realized that I would have to plan another drive up here during the week after all so I decided to head back out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the view while waiting for the green light to go back through the construction zone – showing the roadway I had travelled up into the <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Giant</placename> <placetype w:st="on">Forest</placetype></place> -- several switchbacks along the route.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLzpHgqY-O7FX2B3c_Hy-4pWLaygSX5Vv2B8SmhRKsToeY-NTA2HAdU9LGxsk7HgWJO2LH5rQ6P8L6zDp4VOXd_E143Whc9nOczuc3BSVVpBKMJNcVOT_ri3_P-klnikS_K_QWOX9S9A/s1600/IMG_5579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLzpHgqY-O7FX2B3c_Hy-4pWLaygSX5Vv2B8SmhRKsToeY-NTA2HAdU9LGxsk7HgWJO2LH5rQ6P8L6zDp4VOXd_E143Whc9nOczuc3BSVVpBKMJNcVOT_ri3_P-klnikS_K_QWOX9S9A/s320/IMG_5579.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div>After making it through the construction zone unscathed, I was able to relax abit again and enjoy the vistas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A couple of days later, I drove into Kings Canyon via Fresno and Hwy 180 – avoiding the construction zone altogether. The drive out to the national parks through the central coast agricultural countryside was just so beautiful and peacefully serene! I found myself pulling over to ‘commune’ with the scenery, cattle and horses several times. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxta3FX7Ssn8uq8BPdhlFSOOE5J6GPsDcTYYHZQ7m2LcgKPkuz9jLsiwmh9CfgLFo1HfRW442p-9n_lEkUIhFlrH_MZgD2m-n5L6W1FPtfVHE8zxpMYyTewqe1Ngk0OowT68u1tDinn5E/s1600/IMG_5639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 150px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 250px;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxta3FX7Ssn8uq8BPdhlFSOOE5J6GPsDcTYYHZQ7m2LcgKPkuz9jLsiwmh9CfgLFo1HfRW442p-9n_lEkUIhFlrH_MZgD2m-n5L6W1FPtfVHE8zxpMYyTewqe1Ngk0OowT68u1tDinn5E/s200/IMG_5639.JPG" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNnaI-eWHNXTonE_qKCCjoDOrZu_aQW1B7fTJt8XWNrIjw48bROCD_wMZ5kyYHpEO5UTUlAIkj54DVqzbOD-YXzRD1380OLsA0sBcbA4ZP7LWqKG1N27f6IH-FN8j0W7NCgoJTujS4sI/s1600/IMG_5630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="height: 159px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 261px;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNnaI-eWHNXTonE_qKCCjoDOrZu_aQW1B7fTJt8XWNrIjw48bROCD_wMZ5kyYHpEO5UTUlAIkj54DVqzbOD-YXzRD1380OLsA0sBcbA4ZP7LWqKG1N27f6IH-FN8j0W7NCgoJTujS4sI/s200/IMG_5630.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE-joP1xuyrz3YNfaPchDCyTsBuJutPVDmQh1fhV0y18IIQQxsjorpe6iGyZ6amSiFOwgVUNItGCIUtsxvQf6qxE9g04OqnDFV95YFTR6CJShq8t5_INfExjYVyjgXq6ckqFyEgpN4S_s/s1600/IMG_5635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="height: 157px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 240px;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE-joP1xuyrz3YNfaPchDCyTsBuJutPVDmQh1fhV0y18IIQQxsjorpe6iGyZ6amSiFOwgVUNItGCIUtsxvQf6qxE9g04OqnDFV95YFTR6CJShq8t5_INfExjYVyjgXq6ckqFyEgpN4S_s/s200/IMG_5635.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The weather for my second excursion into these parks was very similar to the first trip. This time I remembered to bring warm socks and a good pair of sneakers along with clothes that I could layer as the temperatures warranted. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I drove to both the General Grant and General Sherman trees. This time I took a few photos that includes some people (no one I knew). This helps show the contrast between us humans and these humongous trees! Click to enlarge the photo and you should be able to read the description. If you're not able read the information, the first set of photos is the General Grant tree - the third largest tree (by volume) and the widest known tree in the world! The next photos are of the General Sherman tree -the largest tree on earth by volume! It was very tempting to do as many other people were doing -- climb over the post and rail fencing to walk up and actually touch this amazing structure but the signage gave good reasons for not venturing beyond the fence so I just couldn't do it! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIFdiIT5JSOYTH-LF3cjipfTFZOrNTSTPpVEJeuKNft5O-0yoNAoViJXqerzCaBMBOVZHKEJ-rwjc3d6a63BGrTc2CR8g82Ig72htQCZM1EldVV5N7uMNmdLqNIRx0gBSl1V1cGdNdq4/s1600/IMG_5707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 358px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 341px;"><img border="0" height="195" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIFdiIT5JSOYTH-LF3cjipfTFZOrNTSTPpVEJeuKNft5O-0yoNAoViJXqerzCaBMBOVZHKEJ-rwjc3d6a63BGrTc2CR8g82Ig72htQCZM1EldVV5N7uMNmdLqNIRx0gBSl1V1cGdNdq4/s320/IMG_5707.JPG" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj550YPuqSqtnSCQmPZGxCQTt7vbsux6JEW6evsaw9MyjpE-Uu-CjilScyQhM94lPedoltDylsHDLYwJZ4tBC4pk9lGxroAl-LVmLaH1load1857id0GI2oGNNZeZWaeDHb4F8GzksLjg/s1600/IMG_5704-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj550YPuqSqtnSCQmPZGxCQTt7vbsux6JEW6evsaw9MyjpE-Uu-CjilScyQhM94lPedoltDylsHDLYwJZ4tBC4pk9lGxroAl-LVmLaH1load1857id0GI2oGNNZeZWaeDHb4F8GzksLjg/s320/IMG_5704-1.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4J61rRGZyfTM7iV_M19Y7To9VxF4fzfwt3ZejHBt5ClBYv6XHRJkWuyIm5zmXUTJKX1JcHK4zMOBzjjbSj6muy_YIHBHheiUsMKhMpy65lZdjE2rili3BTWKZaYVso8TzEuJA0bcnxE/s1600/IMG_5779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 150px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 318px;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4J61rRGZyfTM7iV_M19Y7To9VxF4fzfwt3ZejHBt5ClBYv6XHRJkWuyIm5zmXUTJKX1JcHK4zMOBzjjbSj6muy_YIHBHheiUsMKhMpy65lZdjE2rili3BTWKZaYVso8TzEuJA0bcnxE/s320/IMG_5779.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAHoQ2yTr30zTXLVPCY0sh1Y7ZZ_H1AeBOXRbC4DXvUZdtrTTBtoLF319xrD8Y1EYpYx56mr8uPapAeP6NWahRDsHTl0j5K4xaxezwezBZEdyW-oWQnfo-fmJFKNI4iwGqFp9LWLee2U/s1600/IMG_5780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 288px;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAHoQ2yTr30zTXLVPCY0sh1Y7ZZ_H1AeBOXRbC4DXvUZdtrTTBtoLF319xrD8Y1EYpYx56mr8uPapAeP6NWahRDsHTl0j5K4xaxezwezBZEdyW-oWQnfo-fmJFKNI4iwGqFp9LWLee2U/s320/IMG_5780.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrLaH4S0Hg_nVTOvs2Zyi8BmTE2Osnt_GJdsAKDiVSo5AQ84SzSg1xkEDb8Gvlk185q273qvs3NJenXMOUcOSPirAsABD_4VoniDVXdV2XnMtPetGklXU57Ng0cQAVMhvBniOiOfYdCE/s1600/IMG_5700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrLaH4S0Hg_nVTOvs2Zyi8BmTE2Osnt_GJdsAKDiVSo5AQ84SzSg1xkEDb8Gvlk185q273qvs3NJenXMOUcOSPirAsABD_4VoniDVXdV2XnMtPetGklXU57Ng0cQAVMhvBniOiOfYdCE/s320/IMG_5700.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">This was an interesting sight I came upon when walking up to the General Grant tree. It's titled 'Fallen Monarch' and the signage makes interesting reading so I've included it among the photos. I did walk through -- and it was quite roomy inside; even with other people walking through we weren't cramped at all. In the photos, it looks like the cavity is quite narrow. I actually waited for the other folks wandering through this marvel to pass through so I could get a clear shot. I think I should have taken at least one with people in it to give it true perspective. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0U_8WCaiq-Qdy0s_me8Fz4pBw2ZiMk47TR3ZXm591BKRr5MyxmRiNyi5P8dn13KxVCHPApc7rk1Vt5ufAoMyAIMK7yaNsQt-DRvCc7Tso3Qgw4Cs8BvauO9l22H5WIofJw8z7OaTA5gI/s1600/IMG_5687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 150px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 285px;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0U_8WCaiq-Qdy0s_me8Fz4pBw2ZiMk47TR3ZXm591BKRr5MyxmRiNyi5P8dn13KxVCHPApc7rk1Vt5ufAoMyAIMK7yaNsQt-DRvCc7Tso3Qgw4Cs8BvauO9l22H5WIofJw8z7OaTA5gI/s200/IMG_5687.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikertGg9zVobHViQPemCJPN2sHc3dXBvRie2CBGljcWRoB8lxrVtaRqxVxyydv-bLGgo5XndFsmHivXjiXAEJzYSn-lQaHNHa67DZHsnPyDqCsQ39NH8CE-CFxXGWeKA-Z6GTC5HoZ0S8/s1600/IMG_5688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikertGg9zVobHViQPemCJPN2sHc3dXBvRie2CBGljcWRoB8lxrVtaRqxVxyydv-bLGgo5XndFsmHivXjiXAEJzYSn-lQaHNHa67DZHsnPyDqCsQ39NH8CE-CFxXGWeKA-Z6GTC5HoZ0S8/s200/IMG_5688.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdmDzfWEEMH_3FmtqRQCU2CP2qeZl9YAGYoJnOAgXQqqMJQsqypjYbUiYNWzAhkVKc7ohJcYn1CQwatC4vCBcT0VmeXPd3R5F0Dw4ix4vnGNFOvK2JY01kBDh_-rFfhTt9ZXJqbnAcaHw/s1600/IMG_5691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdmDzfWEEMH_3FmtqRQCU2CP2qeZl9YAGYoJnOAgXQqqMJQsqypjYbUiYNWzAhkVKc7ohJcYn1CQwatC4vCBcT0VmeXPd3R5F0Dw4ix4vnGNFOvK2JY01kBDh_-rFfhTt9ZXJqbnAcaHw/s200/IMG_5691.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I think I mentioned earlier in the post the change in the weather up at the 7600 elevation in the parks each day I went up there. These photos show the heavy mist/fog at the upper elevation as I was leaving Kings Canyon in late afternoon, the low lying clouds and the snow remaining along the tops of some of the ridges in the Sierra Nevadas. The last photo in this section shows the clear, sunny weather as I drove back down to the 1000 elevation level!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpe_5lDvDIshapT30AcTUDHjEEe5Ec2Hrw0l0rvSUTqam03KcomVflrLBXGN_eRYfhTantg2hVhDOLyRk1bGIeJuOcyU5A1ZS1FE3edMKCwn5r9CPjzqVGJ-GAJvwZDzToK093zy7RUp4/s1600/IMG_5791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 363px;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpe_5lDvDIshapT30AcTUDHjEEe5Ec2Hrw0l0rvSUTqam03KcomVflrLBXGN_eRYfhTantg2hVhDOLyRk1bGIeJuOcyU5A1ZS1FE3edMKCwn5r9CPjzqVGJ-GAJvwZDzToK093zy7RUp4/s320/IMG_5791.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XAEwSnryIfI95A7Y1HZFHX5FC32AFyVKag47hjr5r0jfiMBU4oJ2auSJD8q4eVLoy8FIZduRHthpbaOKl2uz1JuIgmTs4sd_tcbxUhpZZ9DwDMpj120OZhqW2ZDuUHQX3751WWwTBCs/s1600/IMG_5754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 227px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 347px;"><img border="0" height="227" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XAEwSnryIfI95A7Y1HZFHX5FC32AFyVKag47hjr5r0jfiMBU4oJ2auSJD8q4eVLoy8FIZduRHthpbaOKl2uz1JuIgmTs4sd_tcbxUhpZZ9DwDMpj120OZhqW2ZDuUHQX3751WWwTBCs/s320/IMG_5754.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_knK-RicVwterTnZQcSogwRSjiw10RgXd_9_yqZx3-9XJ1gK32XHfHrZx4lB8wkRDJphfB3J9FPpvXRth2bPzSb_x7BAGQSUjbk91EC7QzsRvdVIuulJOJUq9wjvhmMKwLVD1812aH7M/s1600/IMG_5646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 185px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 374px;"><img border="0" height="185" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_knK-RicVwterTnZQcSogwRSjiw10RgXd_9_yqZx3-9XJ1gK32XHfHrZx4lB8wkRDJphfB3J9FPpvXRth2bPzSb_x7BAGQSUjbk91EC7QzsRvdVIuulJOJUq9wjvhmMKwLVD1812aH7M/s320/IMG_5646.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I took the photo of the low lying clouds/snow (above), I noticed this craggy looking bush in front of me. I loved the look of bushes and trees that grow in odd, but interesting shapes so I took a photo to remember this one!! Then, across the way from this stop, I was amazed to see these trees and bushes growing out of the rock formation. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-LIaznjHVI6NlmCF75Kegv814hFBE1nt1kubnZUV9r2BRJSmWXTHQbmaV1B2txh4O7zXjcYas3DJ0XamkgbSuGO7y4KGsRHexxvD-lxa1s-qBwnL8eAw_wYefUSlDs5SEUuV4_Fisos/s1600/IMG_5766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-LIaznjHVI6NlmCF75Kegv814hFBE1nt1kubnZUV9r2BRJSmWXTHQbmaV1B2txh4O7zXjcYas3DJ0XamkgbSuGO7y4KGsRHexxvD-lxa1s-qBwnL8eAw_wYefUSlDs5SEUuV4_Fisos/s320/IMG_5766.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After my second visit it became clear that I’d have to visit again another time to find better weather and access to more areas within these parks (including Yosemite). A couple of days later I moved along o Lathrop, CA to another Regional Park in the San Jacinto county system. The name of the park is Dos Reis. Though it’s located right off I-5 it is a quiet location about 1.5 miles down Dos Reis Road and at, what I would say is the far end of the ‘Delta’ area along a waterway (sets uphill) that provides boat access and fishing. It’s a fairly small park with full hookup sites that are level, have a covered picnic table, most have a fire pit/grill combo, full grown bushes and trees providing a semi-private area, lush, green grass. The bathrooms didn’t appeal to me but I rarely use the restroom or shower facilities at rv parks so, that was not a strong consideration for me. It was quiet, no bright lights shining at night. For $25/night, it was a little gem!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These last few photos are of that regional park and the resident rooster who, surprisingly, made more use of his vocal chords during the afternoon/evening than at the crack of dawn!! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyVYijddzue0OMPi1BzGnKyQRP0bL_IH7A-Dt5RD7X1hrj7C4XXgn4CUW08tAj3PM49n3YvNL5CiW2jo07dMxAylEDRa0vNB8yXeCauQijsj5twKMrlFYuDndG_8IE1zYyAhgUv3ATlk/s1600/IMG_5794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyVYijddzue0OMPi1BzGnKyQRP0bL_IH7A-Dt5RD7X1hrj7C4XXgn4CUW08tAj3PM49n3YvNL5CiW2jo07dMxAylEDRa0vNB8yXeCauQijsj5twKMrlFYuDndG_8IE1zYyAhgUv3ATlk/s320/IMG_5794.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgFtH8BeXRhWaYeSlS3_AWUcYwBPtqWt9s1a7nAQslR_5OWJXaO1Q1D8WgRou-3afUlU1OyemWbarMFi_gt0Z-_imcqtLizFqDv7oIaV5XJ2PbSoZmMMkZNdwHi888ydh0y0wZ4NyhyQ/s1600/IMG_5796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgFtH8BeXRhWaYeSlS3_AWUcYwBPtqWt9s1a7nAQslR_5OWJXaO1Q1D8WgRou-3afUlU1OyemWbarMFi_gt0Z-_imcqtLizFqDv7oIaV5XJ2PbSoZmMMkZNdwHi888ydh0y0wZ4NyhyQ/s320/IMG_5796.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjgag3uMvMKPbzSBLzw61LWXQWEvx0X0g5taqi5F7HRoxC812p72qdrT9oUJ7wVjmv3AyBkVqGCdWFfGcKNXiEKOU2TVKS1BL_DrpjetS9HvnLk1TubNGK0KmimhbXf59xin2tO4Axcg/s1600/IMG_5806-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjgag3uMvMKPbzSBLzw61LWXQWEvx0X0g5taqi5F7HRoxC812p72qdrT9oUJ7wVjmv3AyBkVqGCdWFfGcKNXiEKOU2TVKS1BL_DrpjetS9HvnLk1TubNGK0KmimhbXf59xin2tO4Axcg/s320/IMG_5806-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">I’ve now moved along to the Napa area . I always experience one of those 'Ah-h-h-h-h moments (actually it lasts for several moments) as I turn off I-80 onto CA-12 (Jameson Canyon Road) heading toward Napa. The countryside view along that road - and throughout the greater Napa/Sonoma Valley area for that matter - is one that I never tire of and enjoy immensely throughout my stay in the area. I can truly understand why Nancy chose to return and make this area her home. <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">I’ll be in this area for awhile – visiting but also. . . . .I’ve got some heavy decisions to make and need to ‘sit still’ for a spell to ruminate on my options/choices!! </div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-9581654076926668742011-04-24T10:07:00.000-07:002011-04-26T13:19:23.395-07:00Mundane Tasks but some fun stuff too!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3lOs6mE1dHBwkpiek5m-rvp9-6XpQgG49LaB4cBfZFJR9C1cgzB8fU-3PCZ8ROvHdsqYlUZS4AXjr9OXLu-px9sVUhQHE5HLKUfnnFuznq5oBiw6TO384dUGNtdXpJpiDld_395ZSONY/s1600/IMG_5282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3lOs6mE1dHBwkpiek5m-rvp9-6XpQgG49LaB4cBfZFJR9C1cgzB8fU-3PCZ8ROvHdsqYlUZS4AXjr9OXLu-px9sVUhQHE5HLKUfnnFuznq5oBiw6TO384dUGNtdXpJpiDld_395ZSONY/s320/IMG_5282.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn’t travel far when I left the small community of Shelter Valley out near</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Anza Boreggo desert. Just under a couple of hours of driving landed me in another small community named Winchester, CA at another of Riverside County’s fine parks – Lake Skinner. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was up early the first morning to head into Temecula for groceries, etc. and to visit the Ford dealership to schedule my truck for routine</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7exl4_I7r_g4LJm79mKNrotyGZ0xuN0XCuKAa5UrIM34aQzBC-_TTgVWZZoF0pduBeTVvdYIdhOJiq1jeTczKBNZVFP1iv36el3TRNIpd_f7V4RshhuJuY8luDooimIo0_5ODSLLagQ/s1600/IMG_5259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 115px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 218px;"><img border="0" height="110" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7exl4_I7r_g4LJm79mKNrotyGZ0xuN0XCuKAa5UrIM34aQzBC-_TTgVWZZoF0pduBeTVvdYIdhOJiq1jeTczKBNZVFP1iv36el3TRNIpd_f7V4RshhuJuY8luDooimIo0_5ODSLLagQ/s200/IMG_5259.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">service and to address a couple of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">issues that I had been noticing. It’s a fairly </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">long drive from the actual rv park and the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">gated entry road and when I looked ahead, w</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hat a delightful early </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">morning surprise there were </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">little hot air </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">balloon shapes off in the distance – about 8 to 10 of them. I immediately wished that I had been up and out even earlier to enjoy seeing them up closer. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy84pkS-sutMLLXhXBsPaBcrST6kAPzr70fkxP_Ir9XWX_WRmxPPqzgWU-Jq-qQEmb0113X5yoFvmgvssX5balFAogk8CawGgItQpJlso2lwrJ2gZ405xBcSffle-fy7Sz7ICO5Switgo/s1600/IMG_5264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy84pkS-sutMLLXhXBsPaBcrST6kAPzr70fkxP_Ir9XWX_WRmxPPqzgWU-Jq-qQEmb0113X5yoFvmgvssX5balFAogk8CawGgItQpJlso2lwrJ2gZ405xBcSffle-fy7Sz7ICO5Switgo/s200/IMG_5264.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I continued my drive toward the town, I wached as many of these balloons out of sight as they made their way back down to their landing spots. Then, I noticed this one just about to settle down further up the road I was driving on so I pulled into the winery to grab a quick photo. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> </div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My truck was scheduled for the next day (a Friday). They did most of the work I wanted done – I opted to wait on the tapping noise (my exhaust manifold) until I am set up close to where my other daughter lives north of Napa. After leaving the dealership, I went straight to a car wash to have a good wash after being out in the desert area for over two weeks – especially since there had been a few very windy days out there! As I started to drive away from the car wash, I immediately felt there was something wrong with the steering. I pulled into a Walmart parking lot across the road from the car wash and, after breathing deeply a few times, I realized that the cleaning crew had inadvertently moved the dial on the dashboard to 4 wheel drive!! Hmnnn. . . what are the steps to put it back into 2 wheel drive again??! Dig around in the glove box and find the manual, follow the instructions and all is well once again. It wasn’t until the following Tuesday that I was able to move along because of a hesitation/stalling issue with the truck (fixed) but I missed my scheduled appointment up in San Bernardino to have the 5th wheel ‘spiffied up’!! We rescheduled for Wednesday but, wouldn’t you know it. . . . the weather turned nasty for the rest of the week so. . . . more pushing out and staying over longer at the regional parks. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yedE4d7HKJS4R5a1Xnyb8XHL9I3WPcUu7anG-QwPbbLiMv_Ga64ywn0ccszar3qz9rtdQU0tVvHUGLjNrdM124Bh98MSNby4xQQKGaSWOEpOG9Gn6_8Pkbmehrnxow2fFOSr0qIJh_g/s1600/IMG_5340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yedE4d7HKJS4R5a1Xnyb8XHL9I3WPcUu7anG-QwPbbLiMv_Ga64ywn0ccszar3qz9rtdQU0tVvHUGLjNrdM124Bh98MSNby4xQQKGaSWOEpOG9Gn6_8Pkbmehrnxow2fFOSr0qIJh_g/s320/IMG_5340.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking north to the hills outside Glendale CA</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the rig went in for it’s ‘spa treatment’ on Monday, I packed a bag and moved into my daughter’s hotel room with her (in Glendale). That part was an extra nice treat ‘cause we knew that I would be moving along after I picked up the rv. We enjoyed an early evening on the ‘roof’ of a neighboring hotel hoping for a grand sunset. The weather was warm and the view into the hillside and mountains beyond was very enjoyable. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking west at the LA skyline though -- not the evening for a sunset worth remembering – the skyline was thick with a smog haze!! No clouds that evening to give off a nice afterglow either. We did enjoy our drinks, food and conversation though. When we first arrived to the roof deck, Diane introduced me to a co-worker. He highly recommended a visit to Griffith Park so that’s where I drove to Tuesday morning.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDc-iPe_Fxn4CygIirlaAKUmICtQF-gOMIDztXWJYcL-7qilAg0l5wUAqi9dGfp5Yp_OqbOAkPS6El5hbjQXX0Lo441E1MULx1SwUVJ_LZVzIkpG3zRYwY_X1VO6VvqZ-UeHB_u_uVYYQ/s200/IMG_5380.JPG" width="200" /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOBBTsWnTuKvpnWV9kncjhjYOn65knA_x18KhoMnkUDSKPb9Fu0y9Io35hNDehowPfSwaNzy6XS4slwM3JE0YEIZNaTyK9tSKYMPda9tqnLQX_3isp3uY5Ja6G3L5Hujg779qSSJu2jFQ/s1600/IMG_5362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOBBTsWnTuKvpnWV9kncjhjYOn65knA_x18KhoMnkUDSKPb9Fu0y9Io35hNDehowPfSwaNzy6XS4slwM3JE0YEIZNaTyK9tSKYMPda9tqnLQX_3isp3uY5Ja6G3L5Hujg779qSSJu2jFQ/s200/IMG_5362.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had previously heard and/or read about this park but, had no burning desire to drive in from the Riverside or Chino areas to check it out. Too </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">bad!! I really had a very enjoyable late morning/ early afternoon there hiking up one of the trails there - The Mt. Hollywood trail! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once I </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">saw what </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the Observatory offered for evening p</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">rograms</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, I wished I had come </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">earlier my stay in this area.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYRKQ0yu9YI21ns7S7tXeCBi-8LkCqKqU5irAxeruw6jlobe6LVffTsE5fUdkDVoYJpe-uh0qkxMb7NA8wbrMv7NYXD7Vvor48JhWUh-4qHANIHYoVhArSX2i5cDvKYC3e21xKl7466cU/s1600/IMG_5416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYRKQ0yu9YI21ns7S7tXeCBi-8LkCqKqU5irAxeruw6jlobe6LVffTsE5fUdkDVoYJpe-uh0qkxMb7NA8wbrMv7NYXD7Vvor48JhWUh-4qHANIHYoVhArSX2i5cDvKYC3e21xKl7466cU/s200/IMG_5416.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm27jd6SbqQVi1mghukMT_ujSfrzaRlBQNU83gNxYQaACtQWmzPPiNvFa3CXE0PKNggHBKR9DERYNXAYDKr9D5mQHzuQjE9JCmEAELh4RBkRVM1Ucoed1kbZuUgF_B17wLQl274jePgXo/s1600/IMG_5393.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm27jd6SbqQVi1mghukMT_ujSfrzaRlBQNU83gNxYQaACtQWmzPPiNvFa3CXE0PKNggHBKR9DERYNXAYDKr9D5mQHzuQjE9JCmEAELh4RBkRVM1Ucoed1kbZuUgF_B17wLQl274jePgXo/s200/IMG_5393.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">There are a nice variety of activities located in Griffith Park, including </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Gene Autry Museum</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- I would have liked visiting that and to have taken a ride on the big </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Merry-go-</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">round!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The n</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ext afternoon, I drove my daughter over to Burbank for her weekly allergy shot. It’s in a very congested area with a multi-level garage for </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">parking. I don’t ‘DO’ parking garages with my truck – always feel like I’m going to scrape on the concrete beams inside those places. I drop her off at the front door pull thru area and then go off to a neighboring street to wait for her text letting me know that she’s done and is on her way out. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pIE66lL6GYMABIZszyBeixOzPt5aHPFt03RAl9pmPZgM5UmbA2VM5lQvNUk4uXvupZXkuDDJx9Uja5SbFJwJ79RmMjB2VHzyIe2ZBAu_ZeUgq0KQgoY54S1z86isvuXRMDIZBui3CKc/s1600/IMG_5444-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 150px;"><img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pIE66lL6GYMABIZszyBeixOzPt5aHPFt03RAl9pmPZgM5UmbA2VM5lQvNUk4uXvupZXkuDDJx9Uja5SbFJwJ79RmMjB2VHzyIe2ZBAu_ZeUgq0KQgoY54S1z86isvuXRMDIZBui3CKc/s200/IMG_5444-1.JPG" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the weeks that I’ve been doing this with her,</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve waited in a few different neighborhoods. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I came </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">upon this sight on our most recent excursion. . . .</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6l7anbdmR0EIeRVxW5RfsqOPRP0se72O9f3gwyxsYHAK4wfm5nhi12VIZ1dTR7YY1ZUyZGd-DV38D0EC-Bh0jBkrmfOqljOEUPtKEWhEYciVhthyphenhyphen2KPhjepoBa3U-zMsRzZbfik7n7U/s1600/IMG_5446-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6l7anbdmR0EIeRVxW5RfsqOPRP0se72O9f3gwyxsYHAK4wfm5nhi12VIZ1dTR7YY1ZUyZGd-DV38D0EC-Bh0jBkrmfOqljOEUPtKEWhEYciVhthyphenhyphen2KPhjepoBa3U-zMsRzZbfik7n7U/s200/IMG_5446-1.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How’d you like to have bought a house on this street way back when only to learn that the major electrical lines would be built right in your backyard (literally). And this wasn’t the only street these lines ran through – yikes! Click on the photo to enlarge it to get the full effect of these side and front yard giants! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I p</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">icked up my rv on Wednesday afternoon. A bit too late to consider starting my drive north so I went back to the regional park in Riverside. Along the way, I noticed that the braking system was not functioning correctly. Looked down to find my controller completely blank – yikes! Fortunately it was an easy drive to the rv park so I wasn’t overly concerned right then. Thinking forward to the next morning, however, I realized that there was no way I could start out without resolving this new issue. I went out to ‘fiddle’ around with the controller and the electric connection to the 5th wheel and thought I could detect a dim background light on the tiny screen but it was such a bright day, it was difficult to tell. Then I did some research online to see if I could find any discussions about issues with brake controllers in general and my brand in particular (Tekonsha P3). I ended up calling a couple of the smaller rv repair facilities in the general area – ended up driving over for them to test it. The controller was working fine – they put me on their Monday morning schedule to have a look at the connection and the 5th wheel. </span></div></div></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grumble, grumble, grumble. . . . not much else I could do!!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Monday morning as I was finishing the hitching process, after plugging the connector to the back of my truck, I decided I would try re-connecting the brake controller in the cab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wahhhh-laaaah, it’s working – I’m smiling cautiously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick call to the rv repair facility and a confirmation that there’s nothing more they would do at this point and I was off heading north.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This wasn’t without a large chunk of apprehension though as I was going to be driving up/down the dreaded ‘Grapevine’ section of I-5 and it was my first time ever on that section of I-5 to boot!! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think that driving up I-15 would have offered anything less trying (climbing/descending) though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was driving out in the fall of 2009, I had a lovely stay in Desert Hot Springs prior to heading north to visit with my daughter up in the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Napa</place></city> area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a great deal of ‘angst’ about driving on I-5 back then and actually did a ‘dry run’ one day about mid-way through my stay in the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road surface was atrocious and just shook my whole truck around so I got off at some point and started looking over my map for alternative routes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finding none in the area I had dropped off in (<place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Burbank</city></place>?), I did a bit of sightseeing in the area and went back to the rv park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I decided to stick with secondary roads for my trek north of LA and mapped out a route which I know started on SR 62 heading NE then I think I took 247 N to 58 which brought me to the 99.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, I didn’t find the road surface on the 99 much better than the section of the I-5 I had driven.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">As I was moving along on the 247 I found myself driving a slow steady grade over the 247.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was slow going and I, along with a b’jillion tractor trailers, were in a line chugging along up, up, up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking off to the side back down at where we had started the grade, it was abit unsettling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVp7bbnwZwSyO6x_i4GhOrFQ5H_xmVV6AlLbL1BoEMPGeig7xZQ2V9g-hVYVbNu_lvsrEn0T0WRBm2MHAAut_u5Jjo1Pi3EBugUbdx-GXJku7nTOlw4tSALGTVs6hdQTSRWDG4gj5064/s1600/IMG_2405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVp7bbnwZwSyO6x_i4GhOrFQ5H_xmVV6AlLbL1BoEMPGeig7xZQ2V9g-hVYVbNu_lvsrEn0T0WRBm2MHAAut_u5Jjo1Pi3EBugUbdx-GXJku7nTOlw4tSALGTVs6hdQTSRWDG4gj5064/s200/IMG_2405.JPG" width="200" /></a> <span style="font-family: Verdana;">As we were about to ‘crest’ the climb and start the descent, all traffic came to an abrupt halt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was still on the incline and, boy oh boy, that was another first for me. Those deep breathing exercises helped me remain calm. Here’s a shot of I took while sitting there waiting for the road to clear up ahead -- looking back at where I started the climb up -- wish I knew the elevation and grade of that road. I think they should add that feature to our car/truck dashboards!! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Back to the trek from Riverside to Bakersfield last Monday. I couldn’t remember where I read the infamous ‘Grapevine’ started/ended. There was a time or two as I drove that I thought I was approaching it but when I finally did get there, I knew it for sure. My biggest concern was cresting and starting down the other side. The brake controller did a great job. I did pull off shortly after leveling off on the other side to take a break and fill the gas tank for the remaining journey. I could smell the brakes on the 5th wheel so decided to pull over to an out of the way section for a bit of a longer break – not knowing what might lay ahead. And that gave me the opportunity to call the rv park that was to be my destination for this trip as they hadn’t yet gotten back to me to verify whether they had a site available for me (unfortunately, I’m a last minute or fly by the seat of my pants traveler these days!!) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I got back on the highway, I realized that I was very close to Bakersfield so I just pulled nto my second choice destination park - Bear Mountain RV Park. They offered me a special, 3 for 2, and I couldn’t pass that up! Tuesday I made the drive over to the coast without the rv to check out a few parks over that way – thinking I might spend some time between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. . . . if I could find an rv site that would accommodate the size of my 5th wheel and the price wasn't beyond my pocketbook. That little ‘trek’ cost me around $100 in gas so I decided I’d take another 3 for 2 to help offset that cost. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6l-4JJ6WIlVOeroMPtdgTM_UpXTzdWRDvzzqZmDlT6S0EDOphqpa1_dYVktVcjKlZQf9jnFvhnjz7uAOErL66gSMOyBNekfWk2_5m7_KAhxe6nUGJASw-2HfK-a7yk2Xa6k4FFm__jI/s1600/IMG_5547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 150px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 224px;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6l-4JJ6WIlVOeroMPtdgTM_UpXTzdWRDvzzqZmDlT6S0EDOphqpa1_dYVktVcjKlZQf9jnFvhnjz7uAOErL66gSMOyBNekfWk2_5m7_KAhxe6nUGJASw-2HfK-a7yk2Xa6k4FFm__jI/s200/IMG_5547.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The drive to the coast, over SR 166 toward Santa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maria, was delightfully relaxing and enjoyable </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">once I passed through the small town of Maricopa. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were a couple of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">fairly steep grades to drive over but </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">everything was so </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">lush and green and the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">view of the cattle and horses grazing so </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">peaceful! I was so wishing I’d happen on </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">an rv park or campground that I could haul </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the 5th wheel over to and stay for awhile! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">None to be found along the way though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I arrived at Santa Maria, I drove to the first rv park I wanted to stay at over that way only to find that, it backs up to a highway (the 101) and the site fees are more than I would want to spend so I rejected that idea and moved along to a second one located south in Buellton – same scenario! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A drive along the coast highway was next on the list of things to do and that was neat. As I drove south from Buellton, I noticed three state beach facilities with camping. I pulled into the third one -- El Capitan. The guy on duty gave me a map and brochure and said I could drive through to have a look. I liked it a lot – especially the 6 or 8 sites in the uppermost section of the park; they </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">have a wide open view of the ocean.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NpTXUqqVtBxBJBHJ8mzwU_XE1ZHm6NeFvuWBLOyCKCumbXPE9XozM_zBASWgtpjWvp2MpfTRJNy9iSN8RfmKMW8PryYcjMnRqUKi6hVQS-ZD-ua261C73c12LP618VjoMmVx-RmFxcw/s1600/IMG_5541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 150px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 222px;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NpTXUqqVtBxBJBHJ8mzwU_XE1ZHm6NeFvuWBLOyCKCumbXPE9XozM_zBASWgtpjWvp2MpfTRJNy9iSN8RfmKMW8PryYcjMnRqUKi6hVQS-ZD-ua261C73c12LP618VjoMmVx-RmFxcw/s200/IMG_5541.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately (for me), those sites are limited to</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> self-contained rigs and this section is located in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a parking lot setting actually. As I </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">drove through the rest of the park, I </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">found a few sites that I felt would </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">accommodate my 34’ rig but I’d have </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">little to no room left over and the access road </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">into the park was too thick with low hanging tree </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">braches for me to consider. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If or when I find a smaller unit, I’d </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">definitely go back to this or one of the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">other parks I passed on the way down -- </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Refugio </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">or Gaviota (which have a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">30’ length limit). </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not a whole of sightseeing or attractions in the Bakersfield area. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A visit to The Park at Riverwalk was a wonderful respite while staying in that area. I’ve enjoyed a couple of energetic walks and an extended bike ride on the Kern River Pathway bike path. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since I started to write this post, I've decided to skip trying to stay over toward the coast and I moved along up the 99. I stopped in a little town named Lemon Cove – just a few miles east of the entrance to Sequoia NP and then up the road a few more paces in Chowchilla - about a 45 minute drive to the entrance of Kings Canyon NP. I'm closing in on Sacramento and the Napa area! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-64853445098986821872011-04-02T16:35:00.000-07:002011-04-02T16:35:07.203-07:00A welcome visit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was out in the Anza Borrego Desert area about one week when my youngest daughter called to say that since she had some time available before starting her new job, she and Havana (her black lab mix dog) would come down for a visit. It was a 10 hour drive for her (coming from the Napa area) and she arrived at about 1:00 am on a Friday. After sleeping in a little that morning, we got ready and set out to find a place to go for a hike where we would be able to bring Havana with us. Nancy had done some research and found that, while the state park system doesn’t allow dogs on their trails, the county park systems do. With that in mind, drove down the road to Agua Caliente County Park. I was delighted about that because there is an rv park there also and I wanted to have a look at it. We were stopped short when the ranger at the gatehouse told us that dogs were not allowed on the trails in/around their park because it was part of the Anza Borrego Desert. We were sorely disappointed but did take a few minutes to walk around the rv park and read some of the info on the kiosk near the little amphitheater they have there. I like the park and would definitely stop there for a stay if I’m in that area again. The ranger was nice enough to call over to a regional park in Julian and verified that we could take Havana with us on a hike over there. We decided to do that hike but on the way back up the road, we diverted off onto one of the many pull offs because we noticed that there were dirt/sand roadways leading into various hiking trails. The ranger back at Agua Caliente did say that Havana could be walked (on leash) on those roads. It wasn’t as exciting as hiking into the hills but we got a good 4.5 to 5 mile walk in doing that.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrQpLX7rrCVpGFrqkncfN4WRSE1vmIQvULN-MXR2ZTim-ZR9YIP2ZTuNM-GeNrVS_tiO6a7Pi5fXUxpCS0Lo6gokWJKWShpAGDiqk1rIeJt-87ADydDlJ0xAHz9fjgYBqGJDTlkZtK5Q/s1600/IMG_5190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrQpLX7rrCVpGFrqkncfN4WRSE1vmIQvULN-MXR2ZTim-ZR9YIP2ZTuNM-GeNrVS_tiO6a7Pi5fXUxpCS0Lo6gokWJKWShpAGDiqk1rIeJt-87ADydDlJ0xAHz9fjgYBqGJDTlkZtK5Q/s320/IMG_5190.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next day, my other daughter (the east coast gal working on an assignment in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Glendale</city>, <state w:st="on">CA</state></place>), picked up a rental car and drove down to spend an overnight with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She arrived around 10:30 – 11:00 Sat. and we readied ourselves to head o</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ver to do a hike on the Oasis Loop in the Anza-Borrego Desert S.P.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, we parked the car in the back end of the lot – near the section of the hiking path that is more difficult?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was labeled <strong><em>alternative </em></strong>path or loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started back down the parking lot to ask the ranger at the booth where </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the start to the Oasis loop was but the girls kept calling me back saying we could just go the alternative path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So-o-o-o off we went!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Up, up, up over rocks and in between boulders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I was very </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">thankful </span>for the many hikers coming down this path </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyq3NeOtXteWhUkvS2Gp8oxkJkLIc0nxHgeC0ICeYTUvDRplwYZJZ57fOuwiknEMm3ipz_RZo7SorhO7BRnKmoYph1QTvASfYuTI5uvzLhulcb29qZqCDpsR60RahVuTAMbWNOI0TdP1o/s320/IMG_5216.JPG" width="320" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(he-e-ey.... wait a minute here; how</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">come everyone else is coming <strong><em>down </em></strong>this </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">path?!?) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never mind. . . . at least it’s giving </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">me time to catch my breath and gulp down </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">some water!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I had to stop to check </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">out the few (very few) wildflowers that we found </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was disappointing that the </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">floral display was so dismal – I had hoped to see </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the desert in full bloom but that was not to be this </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made the climb up to the Oasis and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">while Dianne and I stayed on the east side of the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">running brook, <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Nancy</city></place> took my camera and made her way up into the Oasis itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It does look like a </span></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNY9SoB8c8Sh6KN1k9s4dfOSzuTp1A_h1wF6pZacD07tWZSu7sHz38KHMukJ-kX3w0bRRn21u27aulOrXmKFsp7qraMR3fcsCfAnvfNHK8VOaXJnD-MeILmbUbO6UVO5U8XgIBa6RV2g/s200/IMG_5220.JPG" width="200" /></div> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">refreshing </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">place to be and I could imagine that the folks living in this area all those years ago made good use of this respite from the summer heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAw4yL3sNCmzKtVQlWxX1kO2qqHAZgZAOV3-bpUHU0pdNJnDTW750dARviwKUOVaCdz4ZscsdLl9EJMaZkFRX_nPGYTYIeWjiiKgVMTjQz9oD4mgFPrqujoCUNCOkOhEm7THNV6MIxYIQ/s1600/IMG_5221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAw4yL3sNCmzKtVQlWxX1kO2qqHAZgZAOV3-bpUHU0pdNJnDTW750dARviwKUOVaCdz4ZscsdLl9EJMaZkFRX_nPGYTYIeWjiiKgVMTjQz9oD4mgFPrqujoCUNCOkOhEm7THNV6MIxYIQ/s320/IMG_5221.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was an easier walk down --following a brook and the grade was more of a slight slope. We were stopping along the way to enjoy the setting and still searching for any signs of spring wildflowers.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbs8X44K8nA8r8YMpaFrEoU_YZ-cOlyKkBL-F-mw8Tk24SW03UgLiWBX9rO5YGA6Eoh9y-lO9gorqTwYh_bWtmIQxBMuWn0OtAejJzZG68AEAfDcN8s0xJfhwV2y5uQjerzVLrFrxswY4/s1600/IMG_5225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbs8X44K8nA8r8YMpaFrEoU_YZ-cOlyKkBL-F-mw8Tk24SW03UgLiWBX9rO5YGA6Eoh9y-lO9gorqTwYh_bWtmIQxBMuWn0OtAejJzZG68AEAfDcN8s0xJfhwV2y5uQjerzVLrFrxswY4/s200/IMG_5225.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After snapping a few more photos (that's me peeking throught the palm leaves in the photo on the right), I was looking up into the hillside surrounding this area to see if I could spot any Borrego (Sheep) up on the rocks/cliffs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next thing I knew, my left foot tripped on a rock in the pathway and smash I’m flat out on the ground – took the wind right out of me!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took a minute to assess what if any damage I had done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad scraping with a little bit of bleeding on the left leg/knee area; both elbows scraped; left wrist/hand bruised where I tried to break my fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most uncomfortable area, however, was my left side breastbone/rib area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must have hit the heaviest on that area – it’s taking the longest to heal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No visible signs of bruising in that area – it’s all inside!!</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYm9OkXQu3-IqEqtNnfs3XcQqryopo9u0f4TJCzk7Bkz_5a3rj_ZGR5OCOQkfHyUkVhsdfDV0hcaPDr5GxbC7Feq_V1rAdZ-LYhGogf6X0DzY2ocohB-1l81voHdKB4v5GF_aZZnHdHp8/s1600/IMG_5202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYm9OkXQu3-IqEqtNnfs3XcQqryopo9u0f4TJCzk7Bkz_5a3rj_ZGR5OCOQkfHyUkVhsdfDV0hcaPDr5GxbC7Feq_V1rAdZ-LYhGogf6X0DzY2ocohB-1l81voHdKB4v5GF_aZZnHdHp8/s200/IMG_5202.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We finished off the walk with me repeating the mantra – keep your eyes on the pathway; don’t be looking up and around!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-spacerun: yes;">Back at the rv the girls got a campfire going while I made dinner for us to share out around fire. It was a mild evening and we stayed out there chatting until the fire died down and then went in to cleanup the kitchen, etc. </span><br />
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</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEGgXL-x-7ZDDZis7R5tYLmxv2H-Nbgt7W54zGors5y8gVhgOJ9KH3PxgqA73xPTwGgaA6DahzzwumWhNNexGz3Y1IubQEi8E5g1Ca6mcCxmbH31LC5otgnIiCLMwS1F7-n14fkfZPR4/s1600/IMG_5232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEGgXL-x-7ZDDZis7R5tYLmxv2H-Nbgt7W54zGors5y8gVhgOJ9KH3PxgqA73xPTwGgaA6DahzzwumWhNNexGz3Y1IubQEi8E5g1Ca6mcCxmbH31LC5otgnIiCLMwS1F7-n14fkfZPR4/s320/IMG_5232.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-spacerun: yes;">We had a nice morning together and before we knew it, it was time for Dianne (on the right in this photo) to head back up to Glendale. </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBNJNRr6m2gC_uMxrep_7kM5tF9PaChHsKZ68rl_IavSaXVfc5uMbm8cGgTcKLhkBrF_gkUV33zcB7YF6AoCvWfJQdtnvOU0FuidtntFSM7xlfOxpXrcEqZAi-0WsJFoBskzbPr2ybTc/s1600/IMG_5229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBNJNRr6m2gC_uMxrep_7kM5tF9PaChHsKZ68rl_IavSaXVfc5uMbm8cGgTcKLhkBrF_gkUV33zcB7YF6AoCvWfJQdtnvOU0FuidtntFSM7xlfOxpXrcEqZAi-0WsJFoBskzbPr2ybTc/s200/IMG_5229.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good thing I have a long snout!</span></td></tr>
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix8II2Onkvx-eQDJ0JRpXgOn210glgAGSFZg9gEElbi0OW_025RLi9XNfeX2OzBHvCmiDU8KU7vuNqpSZzMvdq1Won2DQr8o0tbwj6sq4fNKRqkIojSmgD4_IiXGlF5DyVntM1iGU27iE/s1600/IMG_5236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix8II2Onkvx-eQDJ0JRpXgOn210glgAGSFZg9gEElbi0OW_025RLi9XNfeX2OzBHvCmiDU8KU7vuNqpSZzMvdq1Won2DQr8o0tbwj6sq4fNKRqkIojSmgD4_IiXGlF5DyVntM1iGU27iE/s320/IMG_5236.JPG" width="185" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Nancy, Havana and I decided to head back over to do one of the hikes that we noticed when we were on the dirt/sand roadways a couple of days ago up to some Pictographs. It was a relatively easy trek and we continued on past the Pictograph rock where we found a</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> lovely narrow little canyon-like setting. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">At the end of this, the walk ended with a very steep cliff and lovely panoramic view of the valley below. </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJ43XjD3gXnqjDFGf9leRqpRshidAlroPp905n1w39ZfSRWZK1rdt7CnaDWfq8z4ewz4Sk_FeZfkaw88K2zzdY2TbF4vX6QX94hMzHd9vhRYMRZLvmzR4jWKe3UtHeuCDOLkeAvdcD5w/s1600/IMG_5243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJ43XjD3gXnqjDFGf9leRqpRshidAlroPp905n1w39ZfSRWZK1rdt7CnaDWfq8z4ewz4Sk_FeZfkaw88K2zzdY2TbF4vX6QX94hMzHd9vhRYMRZLvmzR4jWKe3UtHeuCDOLkeAvdcD5w/s200/IMG_5243.JPG" width="194" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-spacerun: yes;">After resting here for awhile and taking a few photos, we started our walk back to check out the Pictographs – pondered what story these drawings were telling and then followed the path back out to the truck. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On our walk out, Nancy mentioned that she had the feeling she might be getting sick. She had noticed that, since arriving down in the area, she thought her mild allergies were starting up – thinking that it was something blooming down there. But, now she thought it was more than that. Sure enough, she woke up Monday with whatever it is that is going around – a bad cold or some sort of flu with a cough that just won’t go away. She was <strong><em>down for the count</em></strong> that day and Havana and I only stepped outside long enough to let her do her business because there was a really nasty windstorm blowing through. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thankfully, the wind blew itself out of the area at some pont durng the night. We spent a good part of the next day sitting out in the sun and throwing ball for Havana so that at least she’d get her exercise for the day! And, yes, Dianne came down with whatever it was that Nancy had within a few days. For each of them, the nagging cough has lingered on. I escaped with just a mildly scratchy throat and feeling extra tired for a day or two!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nancy drove back up to her place toward the end of the day on Wednesday. She left here around 5:00 pm and stopped in Temecula at a couple of stores before getting on I 15 around 7:30. By that time of night, most of the commuter traffic was gone so she got through the LA area without any delays. The rest of the way she said she pretty much had the road to herself. The best part though, was that when darkness falls, Havana finally settles down and will be content to gnaw away on a big rawhide type bone before falling asleep. Much as we love Havae, she’s a terrible traveler – whining and howling and spinning around in the way-back of the SUV.</span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> When I arrived out in that more remote <strong><em>off the grid</em></strong> area, I had discovered that I could send a text message via my Yahoo email account – through the <strong><em>chat</em></strong> and <strong><em>im</em></strong> tool. I had tested it the week before Nancy came down and she was able to reply with a text and it came right through to the <strong><em>im window</em></strong> on my email account!! So, that was the communication tool we were using on her drive down and back. I woke up around 3:30 am Thurs. and checked to see if she had sent a text message. I didn’t find one so I sent one to her. While I was waiting for her to reply, I clicked the refresh button and found an email from her saying that she had gotten home around 2:30 and she was sending the email before heading to bed. She cut a few hours off her drive by leaving late in the day and driving at night. I was happy that she was at home and in her own bed, etc. It’s so hard to be sick and away from home! </span><br />
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</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All in all, I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere out in the Anza Borrego Desert area and it was a wonderful treat to have both of my daughters and my ‘gran-puppy’ come for a visit! After almost three weeks out in the Anza Borrego Desert area, it was time for me to move along . The truck needs a service visit and the rv is going in to V.I.P. in San Bernardino for a good exterior cleaning/waxing, etc. (found thanks to Laurie and Odel's very positive recomendation last December). </span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYm9OkXQu3-IqEqtNnfs3XcQqryopo9u0f4TJCzk7Bkz_5a3rj_ZGR5OCOQkfHyUkVhsdfDV0hcaPDr5GxbC7Feq_V1rAdZ-LYhGogf6X0DzY2ocohB-1l81voHdKB4v5GF_aZZnHdHp8/s1600/IMG_5202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-41769954670320060222011-03-26T18:03:00.001-07:002011-03-27T13:28:30.185-07:00More relaxing out near the Anza Borrego DesertWhen I left off from my previous post, I had just recouped from a minor mishap but had no idea where I would find an rv park to settle in for some tourist/sightseeing in the greater San Diego area. Before actually heading down to that general area, I had done some research on rv parks that I felt fit the parameters of my criteria. I found only two or three that met the site fee limit I have. The one I had pulled into the night before was rejected after I could not get onto the site. Of the other two, one was located deep within a valley with impossible access roads for the size of my rig and the other had no site availability at that time. As I left Sonrise RV Repair, I knew I had two choices -- head back up to the Chino / Riverside area where I had been moving between two regional parks every two weeks (14 day limit stay) for the previous two months or head out toward the Anza Borrgo Desert area. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfXIAAkgk2EKOfnTYL6FvwhqKo4dD5QGwn1EVZD7lB_rJgXAvQGc-jiZV7Ovvs6FXE5Ps7guBeuSIQIP56iJHX8A0sg2O2RfJI2QY8D4opOHylhRjHWJR7ZoRBo-1J-UJvr0BREGjt3s/s1600/IMG_5253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfXIAAkgk2EKOfnTYL6FvwhqKo4dD5QGwn1EVZD7lB_rJgXAvQGc-jiZV7Ovvs6FXE5Ps7guBeuSIQIP56iJHX8A0sg2O2RfJI2QY8D4opOHylhRjHWJR7ZoRBo-1J-UJvr0BREGjt3s/s320/IMG_5253.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">View along the road to Shelter Valley</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Fortunately for me, when I placed a call to the Stagecoach Trails RV Park in Julian (actually it’s in the little unincorporated town of Shelter Valley), they had a site available for me. I asked for some guidance from Mike, the current manager at this park, regarding which route to take - explaining that I had pulled into a turn off area along I 15 just south of Temecula. Originally, I thought maybe I should double back to take<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong> <em><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">the 78</span></em></strong></span> which has a section known as the <strong><em>Banner Grade.</em></strong> I told him my concerns about that section of the road and he told me I was right to not drive up that road hauling my 5th wheel. In essence he said I should definitely avoid going up that way as it’s narrow, steep and curvy. He directed me to <strong><em><span style="font-family: inherit;">the 79. </span></em></strong>Interestingly, as I drove out of Temecula on <strong><em>the 79</em></strong> there were a couple of signs warning about tractor trailers/rvs over a certain length (I think it’s 40’ from the kingpin?) not being recommended on that road!! After the two days I had just experienced, I felt a little smidgin of trepidation but Mike had assured me that truckers and rv’ers use <strong><em>the 79 </em></strong>all the time. I was further reassured when, after pulling into a turn off section along this road to grab a bite to eat, etc., I saw a couple of tractor trailers coming down from the opposite direction. It was a longer route (mileage and drive time) to take out to the rv park but, it was the definitely the easier approach. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIJFSYnCYKNZGwtOlvC-r_nxvXJNMyU2ogGuIdOXXYbWVUoyekLZJtWHJZfwYntzxoO0TMxHM3uKogSIDqnGwll1WR0lGRxbDZohW52hRxPjJYfdMHn6OTqipOsJnkTSz1FK928w3yTo/s1600/IMG_5155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIJFSYnCYKNZGwtOlvC-r_nxvXJNMyU2ogGuIdOXXYbWVUoyekLZJtWHJZfwYntzxoO0TMxHM3uKogSIDqnGwll1WR0lGRxbDZohW52hRxPjJYfdMHn6OTqipOsJnkTSz1FK928w3yTo/s320/IMG_5155.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Corral area at Stagecoach</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Stagecoach RV Park is a pretty good sized park set on a very slight grade with nice, wide access roads and good sized sites. The sites themselves are gravel/dirt and most of them have trees, though they were barely budding for the spring season while I was there. This park has minimal lighting at night and which makes it a great spot for stargazing!! It’s a an especially great park if you’re a horseman (or woman). There are several corrals for horses and a large ring area where I saw a couple <strong><em>exercising</em></strong> each of their horses before they climbed up on them and rode off into the hills. <br />
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I spent a very quiet 2½ weeks out there!! Literally, it was exceptionally quiet – no cell service at the park, no tv signal on my <em><strong>lame</strong></em> converter box receiver, not even a decent radio station!! I could use the park’s wi-fi network but it was agonizingly slow. Also, and on a few occasions, I was <strong><em><span style="font-family: inherit;">blocked</span></em></strong> from accessing websites<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gt1GUw6pT90KUzVqICqVOHA34ZOtQvg5XSwuSkfLqv26duU-Ei47kqQUbWdFRpNBJxIWii8mRuVAw60_q1tfBlbJUIHMe0QE7KHc_FrHheDJrIRXxClH6KtsMsUMCI1dglseeMP2s74/s1600/IMG_5133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gt1GUw6pT90KUzVqICqVOHA34ZOtQvg5XSwuSkfLqv26duU-Ei47kqQUbWdFRpNBJxIWii8mRuVAw60_q1tfBlbJUIHMe0QE7KHc_FrHheDJrIRXxClH6KtsMsUMCI1dglseeMP2s74/s320/IMG_5133.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Imposing storm clouds close in on Shelter Valley</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>that I frequently use by software that they had loaded into their network – ex. I couldn’t get NPR on the radio so I tried accessing it on my laptop – nope!! Thankfully, I have subscribed to a podcast service that automatically monitors specific segments on NPR that I like to listen to - ex. ‘This American Life’, ‘Fresh Air’, ‘Wait, wait. . . don’t tell me’so I was able to listen to the ones that I had already downloaded. Then, too, I had loaded all my cds and also downloaded other music onto my laptop so I had something to listen to when I was just hanging around for the day/evening. I’d say the little town/village is appropriately named <strong><em>Shelter Valley</em></strong>. It is surrounded by hills/mountain ranges. I don’t think there was one little opening for any tv/radio/cell phone signals to squeak through. If you don’t have a satellite dish out there, you’re outta luck!! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6YrMVjX5j7Ni-sZWiU8YXsTQpyktZI541fHaHJvBkhpBbWQxePUsW17lMVkInKCJbCvKJRwzbpesgTzL1hzcna5f74LsqP6a3dwv5NwbTZBr_9y70fr4tW2k7gP0P2egIvXm56St9lY/s1600/IMG_5161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6YrMVjX5j7Ni-sZWiU8YXsTQpyktZI541fHaHJvBkhpBbWQxePUsW17lMVkInKCJbCvKJRwzbpesgTzL1hzcna5f74LsqP6a3dwv5NwbTZBr_9y70fr4tW2k7gP0P2egIvXm56St9lY/s320/IMG_5161.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Approaching Borrego Springs</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">When I first arrived at this rv park, I just booked 4 or 5 nights. The plan was to drive over to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park and check out the state rv park there – hoping that the website information was not correct and that there actually was a few days available for me to have a site. No luck there. It was just about totally booked for the timeframe that </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I could consider. They only had scattered one nighters available for the dates I asked about.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXhPzbjt5WbqEwyJwOSRte65XeJWSitvafdLgxOLG6gD4MJbLtwK-CbGOGndAqzC6U9JfkER5Wby-K-qAYkpEC874ea_cRMXqkx5uUyQRXkvZ6qb_TsL449_Gj3B4DQsdQlO-pfk3fK8/s1600/2011_03_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 208px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXhPzbjt5WbqEwyJwOSRte65XeJWSitvafdLgxOLG6gD4MJbLtwK-CbGOGndAqzC6U9JfkER5Wby-K-qAYkpEC874ea_cRMXqkx5uUyQRXkvZ6qb_TsL449_Gj3B4DQsdQlO-pfk3fK8/s320/2011_03_01.jpg" width="320" /></a>After taking the walking path from the Visitor Center to the campground, I doubled back and spent time on the pathways surrounding the center, where a limited few desert flowers were blooming and there was a nice display of labeled cactus. Then I went inside the Center to look at the informative displays there, and to watch the 20 minute movie about the four seasons in the desert. Once I left the state park, I drove back to the little 'downtown' section of Borrego Springs, passing a few private rv parks along the way. I decided that if I couldn’t set up right in the state park, I would just stay at the park I was already set up in as it would serve me just as well as any of the parks in the town – especially since I was able to use my Passport America for the entire stay at Stagecoach! I did do as Al (of The Bayfield Bunch) suggested and stopped by Jilberto’s for a bite to eat. I didn’t have a burger though -- I was hankering a chimichanga.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrhUMs7rTMcZv24hT-Dgg-W_-vs5KbeH__RMkTkbyqhzJx03aiPRUL0KFOf6VF_-HM5vt_DUX5JkZinESGLwqsbD5AKSYQCz5sDkck4W5YNsPbMOhFgVJGjlqPgULJX7_GIPuANNJk3k/s1600/There+is+just+NO+escaping+this+stuff.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrhUMs7rTMcZv24hT-Dgg-W_-vs5KbeH__RMkTkbyqhzJx03aiPRUL0KFOf6VF_-HM5vt_DUX5JkZinESGLwqsbD5AKSYQCz5sDkck4W5YNsPbMOhFgVJGjlqPgULJX7_GIPuANNJk3k/s320/There+is+just+NO+escaping+this+stuff.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I arrived out here in Shelter Valley on Wednesday, the 23rd of February. On Friday, while down at the office/store, I was talking with the gal working the desk/counter and someone mentioned that they were calling for snow that night and Saturday. The gal at the counter said, assuredly ‘. . oh we don't get snow out this way'!! That night, I was reading and listening to a lovely classical music piece on one of the few stations that I found I could access. I kept hearing this odd noise that didn’t seem to belong to the music. I finally got up and walked around the inside of the rig, stopping and listening here and there. When I stopped under one of the vent openings, I suddenly recognized the sound – frozen rain on the roof. I turned on the outside lights and stuck my head out the door. The mixture was turning to large snowflakes and I just stood there dumbfounded. It was around 9:00 pm. My mind was thinking … if this keeps up all night, there’s going to be a lot of this white stuff on the ground tomorrow morning – yikes!! I was awake early that next morning and, of course, the first thing I did at daybreak was raise the shade to see how much was accumulated. A little more than a <em><strong>dusting</strong></em> is all that accumulate -- I was so thankful for that! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6c2wI5pkZcAMpPrJIn8HxHM6Mtp8mCMtCqrXFieBHGyvsB2PEFGlMSXGz1Xk-i2zp6Afzqk-YVR-ixVZ9HtoqPwfKFNuppM6x_mYx55tqOw9D4C3I_fBSDvBznqkEQ4vG_wvfFhKgOY/s1600/IMG_5141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6c2wI5pkZcAMpPrJIn8HxHM6Mtp8mCMtCqrXFieBHGyvsB2PEFGlMSXGz1Xk-i2zp6Afzqk-YVR-ixVZ9HtoqPwfKFNuppM6x_mYx55tqOw9D4C3I_fBSDvBznqkEQ4vG_wvfFhKgOY/s320/IMG_5141.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>On another day, I drove over the <strong><em>Banner Grade </em></strong>to have a look at it and to reach the town of Ramona, the closest town, to re-stock some grocery items. I thought I might find a Starbucks there and use their wi-fi connection for an hour or so. The only Starbucks was in the supermarket and they didn’t offer wi-fi access in their section. I did stop at the Blockbuster there - thinking I’d get a few videos but, the thought of driving 45 – 50 minutes to return them made no sense to me. The <strong><em>Banner Grade </em></strong>section of <strong><em>the 78</em></strong> sure is intimidating to drive. It was a gray/gloomy day weather-wise the day I <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Living along the Banner Grade outside Julian CA</span><br />
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</tbody></table> drove it and it gave me the feeling of being <strong><em>closed in</em></strong> as I drove through it. I had hoped to drive back over it on a sunny day but never did get back to do that. The setting and scenery was impressive – I couldn’t believe that folks actually built houses and live in the hills and valleys along this section.<br />
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Though there was no cell servce within the rv park, a short drive (about 4 miles) up the road there was a perfectly good signal and a <strong><em>pull out</em></strong> spot. I found myself making that drive at least every other day; though often I would make calls while I was out 'n about sightseeing. In another <em><strong>life,</strong></em> when I was working as a fee appraiser I would often travel into towns/cities that I wasn't familiar with. I think that's when I became an avid street sign reader and have taken to <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHRGQ5rFKHD5rRYcWc5E_VPSXMpqwdFmAqEi_TwNTolp1GmYHlm622G4yuyuSZHsSnmPXTdTGDZT26J7obGWYfdIC2GIwrVEkU7ff56agCFiXHxl9Ogn61rIdMRA0l-lDye-ozVLpA1w/s1600/IMG_5151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHRGQ5rFKHD5rRYcWc5E_VPSXMpqwdFmAqEi_TwNTolp1GmYHlm622G4yuyuSZHsSnmPXTdTGDZT26J7obGWYfdIC2GIwrVEkU7ff56agCFiXHxl9Ogn61rIdMRA0l-lDye-ozVLpA1w/s200/IMG_5151.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdTHEVPuzGfMnnTw4RilWctqzw8CkGq3PuhP68hBBnB7OpgYCnW13GIgkMWo-VMknqbtMcAW-YCl8Fko00OAPTlZ6AMy3R6hEcnTqatOijVei9jN-jC0Q9gY9d2DVyAbeuvwpw5oy-n0/s1600/IMG_5150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 117px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 203px;"><img border="0" height="103" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdTHEVPuzGfMnnTw4RilWctqzw8CkGq3PuhP68hBBnB7OpgYCnW13GIgkMWo-VMknqbtMcAW-YCl8Fko00OAPTlZ6AMy3R6hEcnTqatOijVei9jN-jC0Q9gY9d2DVyAbeuvwpw5oy-n0/s200/IMG_5150.JPG" width="200" /></a>grabbing a photo of ones that I find amusing or unusual. On the drive up and back from the cell phone pull off area, I chuckled when I saw the street sign to the right. I was amazed at the length of the name of the road that the Stagecoach RV Park is located on. I was even more amazed when I saw that the entire name actually fit on the street sign (photo on the left ). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Just as the <strong><em>off the grid</em></strong> location was beginning to <em><strong>get to me</strong></em>, I got some good news: both of my daughters were coming out for a visit!! More about that in another post. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-5543275538931165212011-03-09T10:49:00.000-08:002011-03-09T10:49:20.657-08:00A little R ‘n R – then more exploringThat was the plan after returning from the ten days in southeastern CA at the end of January/first of February. The rest and regrouping went well. After leaving Winterhaven I had returned to the Riverside, CA <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhI0DuBcPj-sfiSN2v_6nZQNb5Rr1t_HoTlpt_kb0G9nq227HptTTGqKRbdsLI0oKMOzjmn20Ti_7DbB2ha92uKThdicaUyuTeRnYZDtiuW5B-J-2XqgArIUF4qaMQQ7HhxebVO1pemx4/s1600/San+Jurupa+Regional+RV+Park+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhI0DuBcPj-sfiSN2v_6nZQNb5Rr1t_HoTlpt_kb0G9nq227HptTTGqKRbdsLI0oKMOzjmn20Ti_7DbB2ha92uKThdicaUyuTeRnYZDtiuW5B-J-2XqgArIUF4qaMQQ7HhxebVO1pemx4/s320/San+Jurupa+Regional+RV+Park+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">area and booked a site at the </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Rancho Jurupa Regional Park </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">in Rubidoux (just outside of </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Riverside). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After my 14 day limited stay at that park, I moved over to another Regional park (San Bernardino county this time) in Chino, CA (Prado Regional Park). My ‘wishy/washy’ schedule was shaping up to look like I’d move to an area about two hours south of Chino, estimating that would happen after about a five day stay at Prado. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJUPLaSf5d1LpnMit8yWJQYLUbDq7Ezj-xM-0sAw1L-tgNeZ-nthukKTJBPNMG-O_chfFcDKfKgxTjp60kNIPJWY74dUFcnnbCyOV9RwAoF60gatCM7ivSjQdQ7NMYbGXDOj5H9xfKVY/s1600/IMG_5117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJUPLaSf5d1LpnMit8yWJQYLUbDq7Ezj-xM-0sAw1L-tgNeZ-nthukKTJBPNMG-O_chfFcDKfKgxTjp60kNIPJWY74dUFcnnbCyOV9RwAoF60gatCM7ivSjQdQ7NMYbGXDOj5H9xfKVY/s320/IMG_5117.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I prepped the rig after on the evening of the fifth day and decided to take a leisurely approach the next morning, as I didn’t want to join the commuter rush-hour traffic on the highways. So, after running a couple of errands in the morning, it was time to ‘hitch up’. As I backed the bed of my truck up to align the receiver with the king pin I realized that I was approaching lopsided. It was then that I remembered that I had twinge of concern when I was unhitching at that site five days prior. I had wanted to get a certain alignment on the pad when setting up and, in order to get that setup, I found that the truck's driver side wheels (front and back) were off the pavement on the dirt/grass and it was set lower than the passenger side wheels. I had disengaged with minimal affect to the hitch but I do remember giving a passing thought to…. 'hmnnn, is that going to give me a problem when it’s time to leave?' </div><br />
You’re already ahead of me, aren’t you? Of course, it gave me a problem. I tried coming at that hitch ‘six ways to Sunday’ (I have to look up the origin of that saying someday)! I finally had to admit that I was stumped and stuck. 1-800-AAA - - hello? Yes, I do need help today. Wow, within 30 minutes a really big tow truck pulled up alongside my rig and a knowledgeable guy came over to take a look at the situation. After looking at it from a couple different angles and listening to my explanation of how I got into this predicament, he came over to ‘console’ me with a ‘there, there, it’s going to be fine, dear’ and a pat on my shoulder. While awaiting the arrival of AAA, I had gotten out my can of WD-40 and sprayed the ‘arm’ and the clamp that wraps around the king pin. As the AAA guy climbed into the driver’s seat of my truck, I told him, ‘of course, it’s going to release and clamp now because I sprayed it’. Gosh darn if it didn’t do just that!! I just stood there with my mouth ‘gaping’. I’m not totally convinced that it was the WD-40 – I’m sure it had more to do with his being able to align the hitch/bed at a better angle and keep all the wheels on the asphalt!! We had a little discussion about my using the slider part of the hitch when I get into this kind of situation again. This time I looked at him and said ‘oh, please tell me I’m NOT going to let this happen again’. Hmnnnn. . . . .Cindy, are you reading this?? What’s my record for ‘repeat offending’ (sorry, folks . . just a little sisterly private joke – sort of ahem!)<br />
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Now that the easy part of the predicament was taken care of we turned our attention to the next problem. Ya see, when I moved the truck to approach the hitch at an angle I could not complete the approach to connect the hitch with the tailgate in the lowered position so. . . . I had to put it in it’s upright/closed position. I just kept repeating the mantra to move very slowly each time I had to pull away from the hitch to try again. I was doing very well with that but after a few attempts taking this approach, I had to move away again and when I put my foot down on the brake this time, I must have pushed the brake a little too hard because it didn’t ‘grab’ right away and, of course, the hitch hit my tailgate just a ‘smidge’. I couldn’t believe it but, then. . . . I could!! I got out of the truck and just kept saying oh please, tell me that little 'smidge' didn’t bend the tailgate. Alas contact was dead-on the latching mechanism and it totally ‘froze’ the grab 'handle' -- I couldn’t budge it. I was hoping that it was just because my hands/wrists don't have the strength they once did. Unfortunately, the AAA wasn't able to get it to release the latch either. He did give me a couple of suggestions before getting my signature on his forms and off he went. <br />
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I had a reservation at an rv park in Valley Center. When I was in the throes of my angsting, I had called to say I probably wouldn’t be able to make it down that day. However, now that I was securely hitched I thought I could make the two hour drive and get set up before dark so why not just head down? It was around 2:45 when I started the short drive down SR71 toward another short hop on the 91 to I-15. From there it was a straight drive to the exit for Valley Center. No sooner did I get onto the 91 and traffic just stopped. We literally crawled for half an hour or more. I turned on the radio and before long there was a traffic update saying that the 91 was closed between such and such streets. Not being familiar with the names of the exits along this roadway, I just kept hoping, first/foremost that the people involved were going to be alright and then that the closure was beyond the turnoff for I-15. I arrived at the rv park a little after 5:00 and the gal was just leaving the office. I offered to come down in the morning to register / pay and she said that would be fine. She gave me a map with my site circled, told me the directions to the site and off she went in her car – out of the park to her home. So-o-o-o no onsite management?!? I proceeded to head toward my site which was up a nasty road full of holes and then up a hill to a dead end of sorts. My site was the last on the left and there was a drainage pipe sticking out of the side of the approach to the ‘pad’. My truck stalled at the top of the hill and I didn’t like that – my truck never stalls!! I tried pulling forward down a narrow dead end roadway to get set myself up to back onto the site. There was no one around to ask for assistance ‘spotting’ my rear. I gave it three good tries and then just pulled straight down the narrow access road, straightened out and backed up far enough to turn to the right, head back down the hill and out the front entrance. Problem was. . . . I had no idea where I would go from there. As I would reach a stop light, I was madly typing into my new iPhone trying to find a Walmart and issuing forth a little ‘prayer’ that it was a Walmart that hadn’t banned overnight rv’ers. I finally found one in San Marcos. As darkness fell, I’m driving on unfamiliar parkways and streets in unfamiliar towns following the google map directions on my new phone (as I hadn’t been able to download VZ Navigator on the iPhone??). The last straw was when I took the right hand turn as directed on the phone and found myself facing big orange ‘road closed’ and traffic detour signs. I pulled forward with the rest of the traffic to a stop light and, though I wasn’t in the correct lane, I put my signal on to turn into the parking lot of the shopping center there on my left. Eventually the cars in the left-most lane cleared out and I made the left turn taking me into this lot. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was looking at a Walmart sign ahead of me!!! What a huge sigh of relief I let out. It was around 6:30 – 7:00 by then. I could see another 5th wheel at the other end of the parking lot so I circled around to that end and found a long stretch of parking spots empty and pulled into/lined up along them. I walked around the parking lot to check for signage about overnight parking – there was none. I noticed a security van roaming throughout the parking lot and waited abit to see if he would come over to my rv or the other 5th wheel to say anything but he didn’t. More sighing with relief. I did abit more walking around the large shopping center parking lot for awhile to try to unwind and then went into a restaurant to eat. After climbing through the rv to find my phone charger and my laptop, I went over to the Starbuck’s to charge my phone and use the laptop. I knew it would be a chilly night in the rv so I had a nice hot tea while doing that. They closed at 8:30 so I went to the rv, changed into warm ‘jammies’, a sweatshirt and some socks, read for awhile – then went sound asleep.<br />
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I don’t have a generator (onboard or otherwise) and I had recently noticed that my battery wasn’t charging correctly (when I unhook the electric at a site, the interior lights wouldn’t come on and that had not happened in well over a year). I also have never cleaned out my water holding tank – so, I’ve never filled it either!! Dry camping for the night was going to be a little tricky but not impossible. Fortunately, I had plenty of bottled water and moist wipes to wash up and make myself ‘presentable’ and tame my (these days) ‘wild and wooly’ hair! I woke early but figured Starbucks would be opening shortly and I could head back over there. While having one of their wonderful yogurt parfaits and a couple of hot cups of coffee, I looked up rv service places in the area that I could call with my tailgate/unhitching predicament. Then, though I knew that I had already ‘scoured’ the gamut of rv park offerings in the El Cajon, Escondido, San Diego, Oceanside areas, I checked again – because I still had no idea where I would head for my stay in the area. To be frank, most of the rv parks are much too expensive for my budget or they are dumpy places that I don’t want to stay in. <br />
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Boy, did I hit the jackpot when I called Sonrise RV Repair in Escondido. I chose them because they were almost right around the corner from the shopping plaza I was in. The guy who answered, JR, listened attentively as I described what had happened and as I explained what the AAA guy had suggested which was.. . .park on a level surface, lower the first section of jack legs all the way out, even setting them on blocks, then raise the electric jacks up to their highest position. That should get the kingpin up high enough to ‘clear’ the tailgate ithat wasstuck in the up position. Once free of the fifth wheel, I could then get the truck over to the Ford dealer to see about fixing the tailgate. JR thought that was certainly a feasible approach and cautioned that I should make sure to properly ‘block’ all the wheels both in front of and behind the tires before starting the process. I realized that I didn’t have enough blocks to accomplish that AND, I was still very nervous about raising up the front end of the fifth wheel that high – it just didn’t seem a safe thing to be doing on my own. JR asked where I was located and when I explained my location, he said to come over there and they would be able to take a look at the situation and the tailgate problem and help get me back on track. The guys in this facility are exactly what you’d ‘conjure’ up in a 'perfect service visit' scenario to be the type of people who truly do want to be helpful and find a way to repair whatever problem you’re having and not empty your checkbook. These folks did that and more -- making the effort to find ways to quiet/ease the angst going on within you. JR kept me informed about what they were finding and doing. The guy who worked on the tailgate came in to tell me how he resolved the problem. That ended up being much simpler than the ‘worse case’ scenario JR had laid out as a possibility -- cut the tailgate apart to get it off the truck!! They tested my battery and while doing that, found that the cable connector nuts were very loose – which explains the lack of charge. He noted that a rig my size could really use two batteries, especially if I was dry camping or in a situation like having or choosing to overnight in Walmarts, Flying J’s, rest areas, etc. He had another guy working on my antennae issue and they found that LaMesa in Mesa, AZ had not fixed the problem correctly back in the fall when I had my rig in there for some work. Then he told me that I should know how to use the ‘rolling’ function on my hitch so, he had one of the guys search on the internet for the instructions so that he could give me a copy to have with me. It took the guy quite awhile to fnd the model that I have but he stuck with it and finally found it. JR then took me out to the rv ad proceeded to show me how to release the handle on the hitch, get into the truck cab and maneuver the brake control and move the truck slowly forward. Then he demonstrated getting the hitch back to it’s towing position. After that he asked if I wanted to give it a try – which I did and I couldn’t thank him enough. I have tried, on several occasions to get an rv repair guy or facility to go through that scenario with me but always just get a verbal descriptive and assurances that it’s ‘a piece of cake’ – you do this and then that and then just do it in reverse – what’s the big deal??!’. Well, they’re right . . it’s not a big deal after all but, also, it really didn’t take all that much time to just do a little demo and then let me do it so I would see that I was doing it the right way. <br />
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BIG, HUGE KUDOS to Sonrise RV Repair in Escondido. BIG SMILES all over my face!! In the end of the matter, I was back to my old self when I drove away from their facility. The bill was more than reasonable for the time and effort they put into my service needs. <br />
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After stopping to fill up the gas tank, I got myself back onto I-15 still not knowing where I would head. In the back of my mind I recalled that the original ‘wishy/washy’ plan included heading out toward the Anza Borrego Desert area after 10 to 14 days exploring the greater San Diego area. I decided to ‘fast forward’ to that part of the plan and will write about that in a following post.Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-89852798980182138602011-02-26T19:44:00.000-08:002011-02-26T21:59:25.747-08:00A slightly different ‘take’ on the refrain ‘Flash, bam, alackazam’ !!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I may be way off base here drawing an analogy between my new friend's recent mishap and a favorite song of mine from my childhood. But, if anyone out there remembers the quoted refrain that I used in my blog post title today, you may be able to</span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><span style="color: black;"> '<span style="color: orange;">get</span>' </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">where I’m coming from. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this song and its words, I’ll take a minute to try to describe it. The refrain is from a song titled ‘Orange Colored Sky’ (Nat King Cole) and the words describe a person who is just walking along, minding his business when out of an orange colored sky. . . flash, bam, alackazam – a wonderful someone comes by. The song goes on to relate what happens to this guy using descriptive words like ‘I yelled timber’ ‘look out for flying glass’ ‘the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out’ ‘ I went into a spin and I started to shout’ ‘I’ve been hit, this is it, this is it….’ I’ve always found the tune ‘catchy’ also and I guess, as a kid hearing this song, I must have been able to vividly picture in my mind all of these things happening to this guy. I find the whole song to be cleverly written and very engaging and I suppose that’s why it has remained a favorite of mine over the years. How I came to associate it with what happened to Lew is a bit hazy to me. It may be that I was watching a lovely orange colored sunset in the Arizona desert a day or two after his mishap and my mind’s eye shaped the vision of what this incident might have looked and felt like for him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of my last post, I left off with a thought about not knowing what the next day mig ht have in store for us. When I wrote those words, I was thinking that, typically we go along in life with the expectation that each day will unfold pretty much as planned (well. . . . more or less). I’d say that was pretty much my thinking and approach to the days ahead as I travelled down to the Winterhaven, CA/Yuma, AZ area toward the end of January to spend some time sightseeing and getting acquainted with Lew. That may very well have been what Lew was thinking too as he finished up his visits with friends and family up in the Mesa/Apache Junction AZ area and started his drive down to spend a few weeks boondocking on the BLM land (Pilot Knob) in Winterhaven -- just as he’s done for several years now. I had arrived in the area a couple of days ahead of him and had settled in at an rv park -- about a half hour drive northwest of where Lew would be setting up. He gave me a quick call when he arrived mid afternoon on Sunday to say he’d been delayed by a flat tire along the drive over on I-8. Because of his later than planned arrival time, he would be busy setting his trailer up before it was too dark so he said he would call in the morning to talk about when to meet up and where we’d start our sightseeing. After we hung up I had this passing thought that I should drive down to the area he was camping in and give him a hand getting set up. But I readily dismissed that notion because I know how I am about setting up (and breaking down for that matter)! I have my own routine and find that if there’s someone else around chatting, etc. I can get distracted and overlook something -- that can be a problem. All too soon though, I regretted that I hadn’t acted and just gone over – even just for a quick stop to say hi.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The long and the short of this little story is, that as part of his setting up, Lew climbed onto the roof of his trailer to set up and angle his two solar panels which help with power while he’s ‘dry camping’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly after our phone conversation, he went up to do that task and when he started his climb back down – well. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that’s where the ‘flash, bam, alackazam’ comes in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘. . . .<span style="color: #ffd966;"><span style="color: orange;">the ladder went one way and he went the other </span></span>is how he described it to me as he lay on an ER gurney the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His trailer doesn’t have an attached ladder so he carries a fold up ladder. He landed on top of some items that he had taken out of a storage bay -- hard items, like a portable grill, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had ‘toughed it out’ through the night but in the wee hours, as day was breaking, he recognized that he really needed to visit the ER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, early Monday morning, he called to tell me of the mishap and to say that he was driving himself over to the hospital ER in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Yuma</place></city> and he’d call when he knew if anything was broken, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The casual way he told me about this whole incident must have ‘thrown me off’ a bit because I simply said something like ‘oh, ok – I’ll wait to hear from you’!?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That lasted for about two seconds after we hung up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I jumped up, splashed some cold water on my face and got dressed all the while asking myself ‘what if he can’t even get out of his trailer or into his truck to drive?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good grief!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drove down to the BLM land to see if I could find his trailer/truck location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His truck was gone so I knew he was enroute to the ER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After stopping at a gas station to ask where the hospital was, I drove over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A methodical drive through the aisles of the parking lot and I found his truck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I was getting out of my truck, I noticed that a guy in a golf cart was pulling up behind it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at him warily and he gestured to me to hop into the cart and he’d take me to the door I wanted to the hospital entrance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we drove up the hill to the ER entrance and chatted, I noticed there were two other courtesy golf carts scurrying around the building/lot picking up hospital patients and visitors and taking them to their cars or the entrance doors -- what a neat service!! </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The ER information gal pointed me to the room that Lew was in and told me that I could go ahead in. He had an IV in his arm and was dozing but opened his eyes when he realized that someone was in the room. The awful pain he had been experiencing all night had been somewhat alleviated by the meds in the IV and they had already taken xrays. Shortly after I arrived they took him down for a scan of some sort. Typical of hospital emergency facilities, it was a busy place that morning and we were there for quite some time. In the end, the doctor said there were no visible signs of breaks/fractures but did admit to Lew that there could possibly be some fractures that just weren’t visible (he landed mostly on one side so it was his ribs and back that were causing him pain but, he had also hit his head). A couple of prescriptions and a recommendation for a local doctor that he should make an appt with for follow-up and off we went. He was told not to drive as he was heavily medicated at that point so we left his truck in the parking lot and went off to fill the scripts, have lunch and get him back to his trailer.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where things go from bad to worse before they finally improve and get better. He called me the next morning to say that the pain meds and resting had helped a lot and he was feeling much better. He said he wanted to get together to take a drive into Yuma to check out a couple of places he wanted to show me and then have lunch. I tried protesting that it was too much, too soon but he said he was feeling improved and that he wouldn’t overdo it -- so I agreed. That was not a good idea. The poor guy ended up in such pain Tues. night that he actually had to call 911 to come find him in the darkness of the BLM desert setting to take him back to the ER (he felt that he couldn’t breathe and was fearing a heart attack). I got a call from him Wed. morning explaining that he was back at the ER and I drove down to retrieve him. He was seen by a different ER doctor this time and because his pain level had heightened so much overnight, the doctor prescribed stronger pain meds and a wrap-around support thing for his mid-section that came with a warning to remove it every hour or so and walk around and breathe deeply because shallow breathing for too long a period could cause pneumonia to set in. While we waited for his latest prescriptions to be filled, we went nearby to have lunch and he was so heavily medicated that he could hardly keep his eyes open to eat. I remember thinking that this would be good as it would keep him more or less immobilized and ‘out’ so that he wasn’t trying to do stuff around his trailer or fretting over not being able to do our sightseeing treks, or cook on the grill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I left off from him at his trailer that afternoon, he expressed </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">how much he appreciated my help, etc. and he gave me some recommendations for things to see and said he was sorry but I’d have to go on my own as he just wasn’t up to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that’s what I did on Thurs. and Fri. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I phoned a couple times each day to see how he was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His voice was a little weak and he didn’t talk for long but I still felt that was a good thing – tempering the pain I knew he must have been in and keeping him fairly still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Late Sat. morning I stopped by to see how he was doing and to bring some fresh water by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was very unsettled when I saw how weak he was and then, while talking with him I felt he was disoriented and I recognized that it was from the heavy medication he was on for his pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became very worried because I was due to head back up to the <city w:st="on">Chino</city> or <place w:st="on">Riverside</place> area (closer to my daughter’s location) on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point, I had no idea if he was getting enough fluids and food, or if he was taking off the support wrap and moving about breathing deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I couldn’t coax him to calling one of his daughters, I felt I’d have to do an ‘end run’ around him and make the call myself. I just kept thinking ‘what if this was me?’ – I know that my daughters would definitely want to know that I’d been injured and needed help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I called one of his daughters and she took charge immediately – even though she was quite some distance away (FL).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After spending the afternoon with Lew on Sat. and getting some food into him I went back to the rv park I was staying in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sad shape that he was in and that there was no one around to be of any help and support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The camp hosts at the BLM were a terrific couple and had shown great concern for Lew – checking on him three or four times each day and doing whatever they could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other campers in the vicinity of Lew’s trailer had noted that the EMTs, fire truck and sheriff’s vehicles had come to ‘fetch’ him on Wed. night and one or two of the guys would stop over to see if they could do anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The camp host couple explained that their hands were tied due to the liability issues that came into play because they were hosting there for the BLM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they could not really do things like take him to a doctor’s appointment or physically help him because of those liability issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They talked with someone at the Sheriff’s office about getting help for him and that was a little reassuring.</span> </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After a fitful night trying to sleep, I woke up Sunday realizing that I just could not leave the area until Lew’s situation had improved or, someone from his family was able to get down there to help him. I was able to book a couple additional days at the rv park I was in and then I got ready to head down to see how he was doing. On the drive down I called his daughter and she told me that her father was back in the ER and that this time the doctors were admitting him. Boy, was I hugely relieved to hear that news. I drove straight to the hospital and when I arrived up to his room, he said that he was in severe pain in his lower back and his right arm/wrist and that he had been asking for more pain medication. Within a few minutes his nurse arrived to add pain medicine to his IV drip. I talked to him briefly and he started to doze but very shortly after, he said he was still in bad pain so the nurse added more medication and said that he’d be ‘out’ for quite awhile. Even though I felt he was drifting into a good, deep sleep, I took the time to assure him that being admitted was best thing for him as he would be monitored for pain and would be getting enough fluids and nutrition which, in the end would help him heal properly. I wasn’t sure that he could even hear me but was hoping that he could on some level. Later that day his daughter sent an email or text to tell me that her Dad’s cousin would be heading down to see him soon. That was a positive piece of news too because, I still felt that because he was so heavily medicated, he wasn’t fully lucid and couldn’t ‘advocate’ for himself. I do know though, that his daughter was on the phone at least a few times each day to inquire how he was doing and what meds they had him on, etc. She’s in a two year course to become EMT certified herself, so had knowledge of medications, dosages, etc. and how her father would handle medication. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lew is from MT and, at one point I was thinking that it might be best if he could get back to his home, to his doctors, his other two daughters and his friends back there. But, even if I felt he could have been moved back to his home area, there was no way I could take care of doing that – he drives a standard shift – I’ve never driven anything but automatic and. . . . there was no way I was going up on his roof to lower/latch the solar panels, etc. Fortunately, he has a close relationship with his cousin who was coming down to Yuma to see him and she was able to make arrangements to have a friend come along with her. They took his trailer back to Mesa and also made arrangements to come back to pick Lew up after his release from the hospital</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A couple/few days into his hospital stay, an Orthopaedic (?) doctor was called in to look into Lew’s pain levels and injuries. This doctor was able to pinpoint new fractures and some bruising to old fractures that Lew had sustained in his wrist, ribs and back when he fell. He was released from the hospital after about ten days to a Rehab facility in Yuma where he spent another 10 days getting physical therapy and back on his feet. Just three days shy of a month from when his ordeal began, he was released from rehab and went back to the Mesa area to spend another few days with his cousin. He wrote that he was anxious to finally get back on the road with his trailer. His plans were to get back on track with the regular routine he’s had each year at this time, heading to Quartzsite for a couple of nights -- hoping to find some of the ham radio guys still in the area. From there moving along to spend time and do a little work with friends in Hesperia; then visit other family members in the Laguna Beach area. Finally, he'd be working in the Monterey County Park system for a month(?) before heading back to his home base in MT. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lew’s ‘Flash, wam, alackazam’ was an excruciatingly painful and traumatic whallop to his physical body along with the emotional effects that must have accompanied the painful healing process. I have a mental picture of his being up on the roof of his trailer as the Arizona sun was starting to turn the sky various shades of orange and then, as he climbed back onto the ladder, I think it must have been like the words to the song I wrote about earlier – ‘timber’ ‘the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out’ ‘I went into a spin and I started to shout’ ‘This is it, this is it’. This accident not only took him by surprise but it also took him ‘down for the count’ – a whole month of not waking up each day and just going about his regular routine.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For myself, I have to say that I felt my own version of the ‘Flash, bam, alackazam’. I didn’t even realize it until I was driving back to the Riverside area after leaving Winterhaven. Obviously it’s totally different in all aspects from what Lew’s experience was. For one thing, I found myself with this vivid imagery in my mind of Lew up on his roof one minute and on the ground the next. Then, the realization hit me that, as his pain level worsened and his medications became stronger, he really couldn’t take care of himself with any level of responsibility. The ‘flash, bam’ moment happened on the Sat. before I was scheduled to leave when I found he couldn’t get up without assistance and he wasn’t truly able to comprehend the situation he was in. That was followd by the ‘alackazam’ as I found myself wondering if he was going to be alright on his own each day/night and how would I feel if he took a sudden heart attack or stroke and no one was there to call for help. It is unnerving thinking about how vulnerable we solo travelers are so. . . . I’ve decided to take the <em>Scarlett O’Hara approach</em> to this dilemma and ‘think about that tomorrow’. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For now, I’m hoping that I just may be passing through the Monterey area next month on my way up to the Napa/ Calistoga area to visit with my other daughter and that will give me the opportunity to have the chance to see Lew back to his ole’ self and take him up on that steak dinner he claims he ‘owes’ me (wink, wink)!! A nice Swordfish steak will probably be my choice.</span>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-62512589937261388372011-02-19T12:23:00.000-08:002011-02-19T12:23:09.605-08:00A whimpy version of 'boondocking'<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I traveled from Florence, AZ in late December to head over toward the greater LA area, I chose the most southern route as I had not had the opportunity to drive I-8 beyond Tucson. I wanted to see what that section of the most southwestern interstate had to offer by way of scenic views and interesting stops along the way --- not too much. </span> </div><div style="text-align: right;"></div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOnvNsQmPNs88nYQiS_ejreuPbfCtsfyYLPz5xm2ShiVSbQjkjhUQfXHJg2xzo376-0ZWYNw9XccAqqvvw_OxpqBX-ABifFK37unGRydhGDiQUUFmr2alTT9NlcFD3dlVBxjD9U1lTlg/s1600/IMG_4990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOnvNsQmPNs88nYQiS_ejreuPbfCtsfyYLPz5xm2ShiVSbQjkjhUQfXHJg2xzo376-0ZWYNw9XccAqqvvw_OxpqBX-ABifFK37unGRydhGDiQUUFmr2alTT9NlcFD3dlVBxjD9U1lTlg/s320/IMG_4990.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Boondockers parked off the main road</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the more interesting </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sights along </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the drive through the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">greater </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winterhaven, CA area, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was seeing all of the rvers </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">parked in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the desert setting – dry camping or . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'boondocking' as it’s known. I had heard about this ‘boondocking’ thing and would see a lone rv’er (or two or three) from time to time as I was driving from one area to another – usually in AZ or CA. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was always curious about that </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">approach to rving and became even more so after reading about it on various blogs. While I would wonder about it, I was sure it would never appeal to me as a choice for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I’m a <span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>solo</strong>, </span><strong><em><span style="color: #e69138;">female</span> </em></strong>rv’er!! Add to that, the fact that I have no onboard or detached generator and I’ve never used or filled my fresh water tank (probably needs a bleach sanitizing for sure!). Lately, however, I've become more curious about it and I made a mental note to add that little ‘adventure’ to my list of things that I'd like to try -- I just have to figure out how to do it without a generator (maybe rent one for a few days?)! Let me note here, though, that I'd never venture out to try this by myself -- I'd make sure I was joining one or more friends that I know and trust.</span><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After completing my fun volunteer time in Sierra Madre and then spending a few weeks with my ‘temporarily transplanted’ daughter, I found myself with 7 to 10 days of ‘me’ time. I opted to head back down to the Yuma area to spend some time in that area with a friend, Lew, who would be in that vicinity around the same time. And he’s an experienced boondocker – hmnnnn…. what a nice coincidence!! I can get a good look at this whole ‘new to me’ approach to rving and, at the same time, have a personal tour-guide to the Yuma/ Winterhaven area including a day trip over the border into Algodones, Mexico. Finding an rv park with an opening for 7 to 10 days was proving to be a challenge but I finally found the neatest place located in a more remote area of northwest Winterhaven. I found it listed on my Passport America cd - then checked them out online. I’ll admit to being abit ‘wary’ – mainly because of it’s location away from the busier area of Yuma and Winterhaven. At the same time, for me, its location off the beaten path was a big part of it's appeal. My friend had suggested a couple rv parks that he knew about that were not too crowded or noisy but he had no knowledge about this particular place. I googled the name of it ‘Gold Rock Ranch RV Park’ hoping </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to find some reviews that I could read </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and, whaddaya know. . . . there was a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">link to the Bayfield Bunch in the search </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">results. I do read The Bayfield Bunch's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">blog from time to time and always enjoy </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">their posts. So I clicked on that link to s</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ee what they had to say. The link took </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">me to a blog post they had written with </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">accompanying photos that Al took of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the various yard landscaping (on sites </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">occupied year round). As usual, Al did </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a great job with the photos he took and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">posted</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> -- take a look at them on their blog if you have a chance. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I sent a quick email off to them to get their viewpoint on the park in general and ask about some safety concerns that I had (leaving my rv unattended for 8 or more hours while doing the tourist thing, etc.). I received a reply explaining that they had been boondocking in that area and had gone over to the Gold Rock Ranch to do their laundry. </span>While waiting for the laundry to wash/ dry, they had walked the rv park to take the photos. Their overall view of the location was assuring to me. I had found other reviews online that helped me feel more assured so I decided to book a site</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57oKLq0HLzJhGo6pecykLYe_vqAlADkjAn220whcP9oyIVdXEWPsWWOam80hMis_BfpWl4g8kwZQXpeRpb4io26LwZFVQeXPHsJqAer_9jTOtK1ajolqKxGITqxub_xsOUR1Y_1slVP8/s1600/My+site.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57oKLq0HLzJhGo6pecykLYe_vqAlADkjAn220whcP9oyIVdXEWPsWWOam80hMis_BfpWl4g8kwZQXpeRpb4io26LwZFVQeXPHsJqAer_9jTOtK1ajolqKxGITqxub_xsOUR1Y_1slVP8/s320/My+site.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">My site </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for a couple of days -- I could decide about staying or leaving once I got there. I ended </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">up staying a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">full ten days and was able to use my PA discount the whole time. Overall I was delighted with my stay there. The couple </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">currently managing the facility for the owners were friendly and helpful. For me it was the best of both worlds – I had my whimpy full hookups but felt like I was in the middle of the desert.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyc6a8R12h1Y-LzMJamH2F37kSkjq1JjAh1VZmgJ7b7sD1Ru0UeRuRJNg_THBvXrlGze3bIH161ETqe9zpMY6JKveGqpqN7wpzxyVWEOKW5IRCeYvEd1Hp5CltmUoZRvXadzz076_orAM/s1600/Turn-off+from+the+main+road.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyc6a8R12h1Y-LzMJamH2F37kSkjq1JjAh1VZmgJ7b7sD1Ru0UeRuRJNg_THBvXrlGze3bIH161ETqe9zpMY6JKveGqpqN7wpzxyVWEOKW5IRCeYvEd1Hp5CltmUoZRvXadzz076_orAM/s320/Turn-off+from+the+main+road.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1.5 mi down this road to the rv park!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This park is located 9 miles north off of I-8 (</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">on paved asphalt) and then 1.5 miles down Gold Rock Ranch Rd. on packed desert washboard dirt/ gavel. The night sky viewing was astounding – the next best I’ve experienced since hitting the road back in August of 2008!! The one park light located fairly close to my rig didn't impede my experiencing the full darkness that you true boondockers have so I still have the full effect to look forward to!!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though I’m considered to be a pretty ‘adventurous’ gal by many of you who know me and that holds true for most of the folks that I’ve met out here on the road, I will admit that there are times when I’m hesitant about doing some things or going to certain places by myself. For instance, I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks with venturing off on my own to hike in most of the areas that I’ve visited. It’s very frustrating and I can get <strong>very</strong> down about that but I take seriously all the warnings that I’ve read/heard from ‘those in the know’. I’m so happy that I was able to research enough, read reviews and get feedback from the Bayfield’s, so that I felt comfortable venturing off to this park and having a near boondocking experience ! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUheMhAjf4Ztud8Usiuxq6VCXKmFYcnj7beJ1qxAS5_7Ps4kTC6K8JNj7UL7nn6qMDKuRAwpi77_i1wL7q5yibGNzxT0u9bgJrW13n8-q9q_Y-Xw19Xl4GGPrt6vClkjZawHmAvoAtI1A/s1600/View+of+the+entrance+and+distant+hills+from+my+doorway.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUheMhAjf4Ztud8Usiuxq6VCXKmFYcnj7beJ1qxAS5_7Ps4kTC6K8JNj7UL7nn6qMDKuRAwpi77_i1wL7q5yibGNzxT0u9bgJrW13n8-q9q_Y-Xw19Xl4GGPrt6vClkjZawHmAvoAtI1A/s320/View+of+the+entrance+and+distant+hills+from+my+doorway.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of entrance/distant hills from my doorway</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll write more about my visit to the Yuma area in a post to follow. I'll preface that post with a saying (or variation of a saying) that we’re all familiar with. . . . . ‘We never know what each day will bring’!!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div></div></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-55544836340232479002011-01-07T09:20:00.000-08:002011-01-08T11:30:07.205-08:00My version of the 'bucket list'<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While I’ve never had an actual/physical/hard copy ‘bucket list’, I do have a sort of ‘faux’ bucket list tucked away in the recesses of my mind!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of it as my ‘opportunity knocking’ list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> If I had created such a list, full time rving would definitely have been on it. </span>Before starting my life as a full timer two and a half years ago, I had set that as a goal for post retirement and gradually worked toward reaching that goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a certain amount of planning toward the end result but it was more of a ‘flying by the seat of my pants’ pattern/scenario than a step-by-step process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d say that I still function in pretty much that same pattern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a kinda’/ sorta’ general idea of what I want to see, where I want to go and what I want to do but don’t often have a set schedule, itinerary, agenda or list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, from a gal who has typically been a very organized and on top of things person most of her life (including childhood).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have that easy going and ‘laid back’ approach to life but, there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>is</u></b> a measure of structure and organization to the easy going-ness)!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know. . . .??huh??!!</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Anyway, I mention this because recently, while in that kinda/sorta know where I'm going and what I'll probably be doing next mode, <strong>opportunity</strong> actually knocked at my 'door'. I’m so-o-o-o very happy to say that I opened the door and embraced the events to follow!! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As I mentioned in another recent post, my daughter, Dianne, and I had talked about my heading over to southern CA in mid-January as she was going to be out in the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Glendale</place></city> area for a lengthy work assignment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had mentioned that she might be starting the Monday after New Year’s Day and it might be fun to see the Tournament of Roses Parade in person – I agreed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Becase she was unsure about her start date, she coudn't make any commitment to be out there by the date of the parade</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few days later, I read something online about the upcoming parade and this time a light bulb went on over my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I remembered was. . . as much as I would love to see the parade in person, even moreso, I have <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i></b> wanted to be a volunteer worker on one of the floats!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I thought it was too late to be considered for working as a volunteer this year but I decided to look into the possibility and was delighted to find that there were several floats listed on the Tournament of Roses website ‘volunteer opportunities’ section.</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsErZ_lHZRjIwybNau8TaTatSyF9aLa-iJKROELfYpw8ZSYj7dW_8gmVJtuQQdcVVzUXhN48-NDIRc_cRvN03AAQtVt7Kkrhy8I8k2OWaNkLj6rAnvU3t2SJ3uQqj5j2OOr0Ug-1KTJYI/s1600/IMG_4913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsErZ_lHZRjIwybNau8TaTatSyF9aLa-iJKROELfYpw8ZSYj7dW_8gmVJtuQQdcVVzUXhN48-NDIRc_cRvN03AAQtVt7Kkrhy8I8k2OWaNkLj6rAnvU3t2SJ3uQqj5j2OOr0Ug-1KTJYI/s320/IMG_4913.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I emailed a few of them and </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">started to make arrangements</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">to head </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">over to the greater LA area. I </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">arrived at the rv park in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">San Dimas</city></place> on Dec. 17 and went up t</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">o the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sierra </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Madre </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Rose Float </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Barn for a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">'Decorating-prep </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">blitz' </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">scheduled for Sat. and Sun. Their website said </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">something like 'come one and all - we welcome your help'!!</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">For </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">the next thirteen days, the work was non-stop for the crew of </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">regular members and any volunteers</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> that were available to help</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And, there was a steady stream of volunteers – some brand new to the whole experience (like me!), others who were locals and would come each year and still others who had volunteered in the past and loved the experience and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">people so much that they take a week of</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">‘volunteer vacation’ and come back each year </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_uFExTUn2XWb8Jd_8tLuTpZIJX5cJiVZ78AXdmodrYcP0xUqzK6ePpouVILDsoU1KjQH7ukZgUI6XwZQ7cNkHktYuRRMuCzrwTkDWdb2atxppPxOD-BtDM6zGsJTY6g_SuQwE3qha7yk/s1600/IMG_4935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_uFExTUn2XWb8Jd_8tLuTpZIJX5cJiVZ78AXdmodrYcP0xUqzK6ePpouVILDsoU1KjQH7ukZgUI6XwZQ7cNkHktYuRRMuCzrwTkDWdb2atxppPxOD-BtDM6zGsJTY6g_SuQwE3qha7yk/s320/IMG_4935.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It was almost 'mag</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ical’ watching the ‘naked’ </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">base that I first saw when I arrived at the Float Barn that first Saturday, turn into th</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">is g</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">orgeous </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">float at the dress rehearsal the day before the Rose Parade!</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The 2011 Float theme was ‘Building Dreams, Frienship and Memories’. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Sierra Madre float entry was title ‘Suenos de’ <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">California</place></state>’ – Dreams of California’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It won the Govenor’s Trophy for best depiction of life in <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">California</place></state>. The design highlighted </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">California</state>’s Latino heritage depicting the pioneers who were instrumental in building the Golden State and what life was like 'back in the day'! </span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsDk582q_BYXn1WJrPD68HMgYsIsiwmzLCRtJdjB8kwJosVdB5fKOWJErCISxhqCQ8YYf785G5AC3X4yyDQO9ECE8LtmEVB2jk_FkBqlyMjWluNk8liQUCtWBYNI7zlF07CdSnBcH_Mg/s1600/Sierra+Madre+Float+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsDk582q_BYXn1WJrPD68HMgYsIsiwmzLCRtJdjB8kwJosVdB5fKOWJErCISxhqCQ8YYf785G5AC3X4yyDQO9ECE8LtmEVB2jk_FkBqlyMjWluNk8liQUCtWBYNI7zlF07CdSnBcH_Mg/s320/Sierra+Madre+Float+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A wonderful ensemble of Mexican Folk Dancers accompanied the float - dancing to music streaming from speakers on the float. I enjoyed their performance very much and I'd like to look into where I could see them perform again while I'm in the area!</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It was such fun working on this float but, of course, there were times that it was </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">really quite tedious and, at times, very tiring work. On a few nights I arrived back at my rig w</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ith an aching back on several occasions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> My little</span> microwaveable heat pad proved to be much comfort on those evenings!! The Sierra Madre Association members were extremely appreciative of each and every one of the volunteers and expressed those sentiments to us frequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And, they were nice folks to work with. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span></div></div></div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">People of all ages came to volunteer–-many families were there, </span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPU7q4x8XzhUTHoQT_zJg4t0pXeyFKPSR98Mc43i6Ze44sxIAjoLnUEgXkcMKCQ0R2m_vQmDhzMq7xuZI8FJvED178qTVUeXbW4tMxxAAoOq1nJVFvH7EN1u2UU01jDIzUCEZ8TTzyu8/s1600/IMG_4928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPU7q4x8XzhUTHoQT_zJg4t0pXeyFKPSR98Mc43i6Ze44sxIAjoLnUEgXkcMKCQ0R2m_vQmDhzMq7xuZI8FJvED178qTVUeXbW4tMxxAAoOq1nJVFvH7EN1u2UU01jDIzUCEZ8TTzyu8/s320/IMG_4928.JPG" width="320" /></a> <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">from Grandmas to Grandpas </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">down to around first graders.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I was delighted to work along side of several high schoolers and girl scout troop members who took time out of their busy holiday events to lend a helping hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was chilly and damp, even raining and we were outside for some of the work but I heard no grumbling at all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Matter of fact, they were all excited and </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">very helpful. Of course, there was non-stop chatter and it was difficult to follow the conversation at times, but we had many good laughs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The only ‘flaw’ in the whole process was on the day of the parade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The float started out along the route doing fine but before even turning the first corner, it broke down!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Tournament of Roses organization rules gives floats entered into the parade less than a minute to get the engine going and if that doesn’t happen, the float is fined and the tow truck is attached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a ton of tow vehicles lined up at the ready for such an event and Suenos de California finished the parade behind the AAA tow truck! </span></span><br />
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The Sierra Madre Rose Float is a self-made, self-funded float.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do fund raisers year round to pay all their own expenses, etc. so they don’t have any extra monies to provide for the volunteers – though as the final week approaches, lunch and dinner is provided.<br />
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I’m sure there are folks out there in ‘blogger land’ that would not have the slightest desire to volunteer on a Rose Float or even attend the parade in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But. . . . for those who have any inclination to do this I would heartily recommend it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, there are no rv sites or other type of lodging supplied for volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all on your own ‘dime’ and, of course, it’s CA and not cheap!!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My only regret now is that I didn't take my camera along to the parade. My thinking at the time was that I just wanted to sit, relax and chat with the gal I had worked with on the floral 'recipes' and enjoy seeing the Tournament of Roses Parade in person for my first time ever!! Now, I find, that it would have been the perfect location to get a good overview shot of the float - darn!!</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was finally able to get a link established to my Picasa web album of additional rose float in development photos. I'm hoping that others will be able to actually link to it. I have a major concern about this link and am waiting on my daughter or sister to get back to me about access at the web album site. Once I hear from them, I'll know whether I can leave this link in place or not. Here's the link: </span></span></span></span><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/k8nealon/SierraMadreRoseFloat2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCIrpruPInanM8AE&feat=directlink">Sierra Madre Rose Float 2011</a></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-69601779786050327812010-12-28T09:36:00.000-08:002011-05-08T10:07:43.949-07:00Where's Kathy Now?!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlVPOI3DmlO9y06vCTcL7b4mn2-baZ2D92r2rraTWNLptFcP0RPVKc6XZcj5wUXDYeRht0sNd2z5sGbX5gtugEkvz8hKzhgZgnvrBP61lXTtGnMZu3yNN3a0qEVMPMOw561NlvQs67qs/s320/IMG_4831.JPG" style="clear: both; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /> This post was started a good two weeks ago but since I had quite a bit of it written already, I decided to post it as is, even though I made a 'sudden' decision to move over to the greater LA area. I'll explain that decision in another post!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So. . . . at the time that this was originally written, I was at a wonderful rv park located in Florence, AZ. The name of this gem is Desert Garden RV Oasis </span><a href="http://www.desertgardensrvpark.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://www.desertgardensrvpark.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">. It's situated within about an hour of Phoenix and Tucson and half an hour of Casa Grande. I settled in there for two months and enjoyed my stay immensely. If you find yourself in this area, I'd say this park is worth stopping by to experience for yourself. When I first arrived back in the Phoenix area, I went down to this park and drove through -- it was quite empty of rv'ers at that time. That was around the end of September and the temperatures in AZ were still hot!! It was a good month later that I finally made my way down there to stay a spell! The park was gradually filling in with return snowbirds - some who owned their site there. This is a 'cooperative rv park' with just a few park models. One of these days, I'd like to create a separate blog similar to the ones that other rving bloggers have created so that I can share details about the places I stopover at or settle into for a longer stay. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UBX1CCM6C7ppsBLUY88kPKUO2mA8hsEL5uACbDICad_pvUnMghOJsS5U1J0njBPe5Cz6bx5wDWPuQ4SRlpnNXB-skEBPJkVduSvNFfM4NeQnSIWqjF_bUBgsShqXvXZP506Nk1YaK0M/s1600/IMG_4750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UBX1CCM6C7ppsBLUY88kPKUO2mA8hsEL5uACbDICad_pvUnMghOJsS5U1J0njBPe5Cz6bx5wDWPuQ4SRlpnNXB-skEBPJkVduSvNFfM4NeQnSIWqjF_bUBgsShqXvXZP506Nk1YaK0M/s320/IMG_4750.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While there is no golf course associated with his particular park, there are a few within a decent drive. What appealed to me most about this park is that it is in a more rural, desert setting. I have really been enjoying my walks on the perimeter walking path they've created for our use. The night sky is amazing as are the sunsets and sunrises!!</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I found it quite unsettling that there were very few offerings by way of rv parks that are located in a more rural setting in the <city w:st="on">Phoenix</city> and <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Tucson</city></place> areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have found out that I am definitely NOT a lover or, even a ‘liker’ of citified rv parks – I don’t care how convenient they are!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s just me though and I can understand that there are folks who feel diametrically opposed to my viewpoint.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I’ve used the past two months to take a ‘break’ from travelling and sightseeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had an absolutely fantastic spring and summer with family and friends visiting, travelling and sightseeing with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We covered a lot of territory and got to see so many truly amazing and wondrous sights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From June 10<sup>th</sup> to Sept. 8<sup>th</sup> I put about 13.5K miles on the truck and 5<sup>th</sup> wheel -- wow!! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I like the greater Phoenix / Tucson area of AZ and might have seriously considered it a place that I would ‘settle in’ at some point down the road. This area offers a wide range of activities year round and most are within 45 mins to an hour drive. There’s a chunk of ‘but’ however! For me, personally, the ‘dry’ atmosphere is problematic. I thrive, look and feel much better in something more moist, even humid – well maybe with the exception of my hair. My eyes constantly need me to put warm, wet packs on them, my nose needs ‘watering’ several times each day and my hair. . . . there are NO words for how dry it has become – no matter the amount of conditioner I pile on it. So, we’ll see where else I take a liking to as I continue to travel. </span><br />
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</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I will be here for probably another month, mid-January perhaps. My daughter, Dianne, will be taking a work assignment at a firm located in Glendale, CA and she suggested I look for an rv park in the greater LA area (I know- ha, ha, ha) and we could spend some time together before I move along in April/May 2011. I’m looking forward to doing that and to spending some time in southern CA. I did stopover in Desert Hot Springs on my trek toward the Napa, CA area in October 2009. I stayed at another nice park there, Caliente Springs - part of the Sky Valley Resorts. They have a wonderful hot springs pool that I thoroughly enjoyed – met some really nice folks there and I got to use my Passport America there also. I’d like to go back there and then spend time closer to the coast. But, I’d also like to be within 1 ½ to 2 hours of where Dianne will be so she can drive down on the weekends when she wants to get to warmer climate. It’ll be tricky from what research I’ve done so far. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are a couple of things I’d like to see/do before I leave here in mid-January. One is get to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa – a neat place that the owners/mangers of Desert Garden told me not to miss. They have good pizza and boast having the world’s largest Wurlitzer Theatre style organ which provides music throughout their opening hours. That should be fun. I also want to get up to the Desert Botanical Garden to see their Las Noches de las Luminarias display which looks delightful. And, finally, I’d like to visit the Boyce Thompson Arboretum which isn’t too far from Florence. If I have time, a trip down to see the Biosphere would be great too and a concert at either the Phoenix or Tucson Symphony would be a very nice treat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There will be more of these “Where’s Kathy Now” posts along the way but that’s about all from here for now. </span></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-76800511260464283382010-12-27T22:33:00.000-08:002011-01-07T17:18:27.571-08:00Kathy's home on wheels & tow vehicle<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwoYR1UCQOHnRpYkHoyLriSP0V0ynvZCoyGQ5pzY0JP2LGlkxlgZy3UxHpa812EFcSpMsDPSA9ktiwhbrasdE1lNhmX_76UEAJ-tdO8-slEslZJma9oqH5sh-VMWOpn8sgzuw4MO6Uzo0/s1600/Florence+AZ+-+Nov+2010.JPG"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwoYR1UCQOHnRpYkHoyLriSP0V0ynvZCoyGQ5pzY0JP2LGlkxlgZy3UxHpa812EFcSpMsDPSA9ktiwhbrasdE1lNhmX_76UEAJ-tdO8-slEslZJma9oqH5sh-VMWOpn8sgzuw4MO6Uzo0/s320/Florence+AZ+-+Nov+2010.JPG" style="clear: both; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> I really LOVE my cozy home on wheels. It's a 2005 34' Carrage Cameo with four slides -- the dining/sofa slide (seen behind the cab of the truck in the photo) has four 'skylight' type windows on the top, which really fill the main living area with light. I pull the 5er with my 2005 F250 SD King Ranch crew cab Triton V10 (short bed). I bought each of them used in 2008 and I have been very happy with both of them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The short bed truck has been a challenge at times but I've been doing much better at maneuvering the 5er without 'popping' the rear window of the cab!! Yup, I do have a 'slider' hitch but. . . . have never learned how to use it . I even wonder if the hitch would actually slide on the rails after all these years of not using it. The previous owner of the 5er included the hitch in the deal and he commented that he had only used the slider once!! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">At the time that I was searching for my tow vehicle, I did a ton of research. I knew that I definitely did not want a diesel pickup. I'm not even 'open' to discussion on this and have heard all the points favoring diesel vs regular engine and the pulling power, etc. I do respect all those who have decided they prefer a diesel and also all their reasons for making that choice -- this is just a strong personal choice on my part. So far, this combo is working fine for me and, of course, I sure hope it will continue to for another few years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When I found my truck, the fact that it is a short bed became worrisome to me so I started searching for a Glendale Titanium with the step-up cab over feature. Unfortunately, there were very few used ones on the market and the few I found were either too long or a had a floor plan that I knew wouldn't work for me. I was just a month away from my departure date in the summer of 2008 when my sister suggested that I just pack up the truck with whatever I had left in my apartment and head down to stay with her in Gulfport. "There's a b'zillion' rv's down here - just come. . . . you'll find on within a couple of weeks" is the way she put it. Then, after returning from a July 4th weekend in NYC, I found three Cameos for sale within a reasonable driving distance. I knew this was <strong>the one</strong> as soon as I stepped inside!! There has been a few times when I've thought about switching out to a Titanium for the step-up overcab feature but. . . . haven't looked into it seriously. At this point, I'm thinking any change I might make should be to a smaller unit -- there's been so many places I would have liked to set up but the site size restriction was much too small for this rig. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For now, though, I'm truly enjoying life in my Cameo and I just love driving my truck. </span><br />
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="-moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; background: 0% 50%; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /></span></a></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-86269041505318391902010-12-26T15:53:00.000-08:002011-01-07T17:16:05.407-08:00Red faced (and it has nothing to do with the holidays). . .<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Thanks again to all who have signed on as a ‘follower’ – hopefully, I’ll have a few interesting things to say/share along the way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When I wrote in my first ever blog that I would attempt to keep up with my newly created blog while in ‘travel mode’, I really did have the best of intentions!! I guess I don’t quite have a ‘handle’ on how to accomplish that just yet though! I have to confess that I’ve been out of ‘travel mode’ for over two months now and still haven’t gotten back ‘to it’!! Hmnnnn, I’m not sure what that’s all about!! I recently wrote in an email to my brother and sister-in-law that I may have to seek therapy to get to the bottom of this ‘blog block’ thing. . . tsk, tsk! Prior to spending big $$$ on that approach though, I’m determined to give this a serious. . . ‘have at it already’!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I was a total blog novice when I wrote that first blog and closed out from it. At the end of a very busy summer, I decided to go back to the blog site to re-introduce myself to the blogging thing, get re-oriented on the how to’s, and re-read my first ever blog. Imagine my surprise when I found several ‘followers’ listed on my blog. It never occurred to me that someone would ‘find’ my blog before I sent out emails to my family and friends telling them about it!! I’m not just a little embarrassed about that and I offer my apologies for seeming to abandon the blog. Thanks to each and every one of you who took the time to welcome me and leave a comment on my first post. Recently I received an email ‘nudge’ from a blogger who had found my blog via a link on another couple’s blog. I sent her a note thanking her for the ‘nudge’ and now thank her once more! I did ‘set to work’ writing this and a couple of additional ‘posts’ in ms word within a couple of weeks of receiving her email. Here’s hoping that I’ll actually post these within the next week and that will jump start me to some regularity!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I decided that probably the best approach for me, at this point in time, is to write up a few ‘posts’ sharing where I’ve been and what’s been happening for the past several months and then, as I go forward, I can include some of the great places I have visited / stayed since leaving Hudson, NH back in early August 2008. That should ‘catch me up’ with family and friends that I haven’t been able to keep up to date over these past two 2+ years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Getting back to the topic of being a blog novice and finally getting back to re-acquainting myself with blogging, I was delighted to find new templates on Blogger!! I couldn’t resist converting from the old template that I used to create my original blog post and I like the format/layout/features on these newer templates. I sure hope it will continue to be user-friendly! There is still much to learn ‘cause I like all the ‘whistle and bells’ that are offered and that I have enjoyed seeing on the blogs I find myself ‘following’ (ie. photos that can be clicked on to enlarge, links to Picasa web albums, rv park reviews, etc.) I may be calling on you experienced bloggers out there to help me figure out how to accomplish a task that me baffled from time to time. </span></span><br />
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</span><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889718906475425168.post-64193308686469699182010-06-01T13:17:00.000-07:002010-12-13T07:13:32.130-08:00My first ever blog post!<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: trebuchet ms;">It’s taken me almost two years to get around to this blogging thing! Let’s face it – there are many, many full timer blogs out ‘there’ so I’ had been wondering – who needs one more?! Finally, after much prodding (from those who will remain nameless) I am putting fingers to keyboard and setting my thoughts adrift on the page! I hope this ‘release’ will prove worth your time and interest over the period that I’m posting this blog.<br />
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When I was in the anticipation stages of full timing I thought that I would create a web page once I ‘hit the road’ - where I would post information and photos of where I was at any given time. I continued to think in this vein as I began my ‘adventure’ – even taking a class on setting up a website while I was situated in the St. Petersburg, FL area in the fall of 2008. For some reason though, I just wasn’t making the time to actually get a web page created. Some, including one of my daughters, thought I should just join Facebook and use that site to accomplish my goal of staying ‘in touch’ with family and friends. That approach didn’t appeal to me - though I must admit I haven’t given that site a thorough ‘looking into’ yet.<br />
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I was introduced to ‘blogs’ last fall, when a really nice couple I met at an rv park in Napa CA gave me a card with their blog site info. I was intrigued and within the next day or two I started reading their blog (it’s Laurie and Odel by the way and I know many of you are followers of their blog). Through their blog site, I started reading other full timer’s blogs. To my amazement, I found that each blog is unique and has its own personality or approach and doesn’t seem to be repetitive(?). I became a fan of the blog approach and decided that would be just the thing for me. After all, this ‘full timing-get out there and see this country-do what you want, when you want to’ lifestyle does keep us pretty busy so…. who has time to be writing to everyone individually!<br />
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While in active travel mode, I hope to be fairly regular in posting on my blog. I suppose that while I’m lingering in one location for awhile or workamping for a period of time, I will post less frequently?! I’m also thinking that this blog will ‘evolve’ as time moves along. I wanted to search through some of the other full timer’s blogs to their beginning blog so that I could have some idea of what to start off with. After an afternoon of trying to ‘reach back’ on several of the blogs, I found that I either couldn’t get to the first of the blogs or a lot of folks started blogging even before they started out full timing!! All I can say at this point is…..this should be still another interesting adventure folks!!<br />
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I welcome you to my blog and hope that you will comment freely (well…..maybe not THAT freely), Thanks for stopping by and here goes…….</span>Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05744840704231565963noreply@blogger.com13