June 6, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




It was foggy again this morning when we got up. We couldn't see the hills round us. The fog burned off before we got to Church.

Today was the big celebration of Lois and Phil Wall's fiftieth wedding anniversary. Before services we took a lot of pictures. By we I mean everyone had a camera, pretty much complete chaos. The church service was very up lifting, great singing and sermon. The Singing was led by Ben Wall and the gospel message was delivered by Andy Wall. They are the sons of ois and Phil. I have attached pictures of Lois, Phil and their three children The other is a group shot including grandchildren.
After services lunch was served in the Fellowship Room and Courtyard. It was catered by a local Mexican Restaurant. After lunch there was a power point type presentation with pictures from Lois and Phil’s life from before marriage to recently.

After lunch we came back to the coach, John and Tyne joined us. We visited with our hosts the Allreds. Later in the afternoon Denny took us for a tour of his orchard. We picked oranges, avocados, lemons and grapefruit. We also now know more than we need to know about grafting, growing, picking and selling fruit.

At about 6 PM it was back to the Wall house for more family visiting and an evening meal of leftovers from last night and today’s lunch.

Remember yesterday I closed with the question, does it get any better than this? Well, the answer is yes, it just keeps getting better.

Tomorrow we move north toward Seattle and our granddaughter's college graduation.

June 5, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




I really cooled of here during the night, very comfortable for sleeping. There was fog in the early morning but it burned off pretty quickly. Yesterday it took a long time for the coach to cool off especially in the back. I tend to forget when we park after a day of travel. During the afternoon when we were getting ready to go to the family potluck , Gerri did turn on the genset so she could run two air conditioners.

I downloaded a few geocaches in the area and found five. The fourth one was literally a park and grab, so I left the Jeep running. When I got back it was locked and still running. I must have pressed the button down when I got out. I didn’t think it would lock with the key in the ignition using the door button. When I tow it I leave the key in the ignition to unlock the front wheels and the only way it will lock is by using the key fob. I will check it out but apparently it’s a different story with the engine running. I was only about a mile from where we are staying and Gerri had our host bring me her keys. Just has he pulled up I remembered I had a door key in my billfold. Gerri says I need to be retrained.

We had a great evening visiting relative we know or just met. Some we see more often than others. There must have been forty of us there. Great food, good company, pleasant weather, does it get any better?

Big doings tomorrow after church to celebrate Phil and Lois Wall’s 50th wedding anniversary.

jUNE 4, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




After three days of preparation, cleaning up and cleaning out the coach we started our 2010 adventures this morning at about 9:10 AM. I didn’t realize that getting ready meant to clean out the coach closets and the house closets, then trading clothing from the house with what was in the motor home. I told Gerri why bother, we aren’t likely to run into the same people we met last year and they wouldn’t remember what we wore. She answered with one word; “PICTURES!” When getting ready I discovered another problem. Some days ago there was an inquiry about how to locate the switch that activates the air horns. I answered that on our coach I depressed the horn for electric and depressed it more for the air horns. Since I hadn’t driven the coach since November, I started to wonder if I had answered correctly. I finally tried that Thursday afternoon, nothing, nada, zip, no horns. I tried to open the genset slide to check the wiring. It wouldn’t budge. It is hydraulic and I could hear the pump running. I decide to wait until we were on the road to try it again, hoping some would jar back in place. After we were out of town I tried the horns, no electric but the air ones were loud and clear. It then occurred to me that since the coach had been setting at the house for several days the air was drained from the tanks. I’ll try the genset slide in the AM.



The first leg of our trip was an uneventful drive from Las Vegas to Fillmore, CA. Well uneventful for us. There was a big fire with lots of fire equipment near the highway i Little Rock, CA. Then another big fire in the north bound lanes of the Pearblossom Highway, CA 14, before we got to Santa Clarita. It was still smoking when we went by. Looked like a roll back tow truck with at least two cars had burned. Gerri’s cousin Lois is celebrating her wedding anniversary on Sunday. She and Phil Wall have been married 50 years. A lot of family will be there. Gerri’s mother, Neva, and her brother, Hollis , drove to Fillmore too, they were a little behind us.



We are parked in a friend of Lois and Phil’s. We are in the orange groves about 3 miles from their house. We cancelled our reservations at an RV Park in Castaic, about 18 miles away. The Allreds have a large driveway with plenty of room and welcomed us warmly. There is water available and a sewer dump on the property but only 20 amp power. It was pretty warm in the coach by the time we hooked up and took a long time to cool off since we can only run one air conditioning unit. We’ll get by even if it means running the genset. I did mention we are out in the orange groves didn’t I? It also beats driving about 40 miles round trip for visits.



We met Gerri’s mom and brother at a nearby Mexican restaurant for supper. They are staying at a motel in town, the only one. They brought Gerri’s aunt Wanda Barnhart and her daughter, Carrie Boyd, with them. We met Carrie and her family in Kansas City a couple of years ago at a Barnhart reunion. The El Pescador in Fillmore had excellent food. It wasn’t to busy when we got there, but by the time we finished eating it felt like we were swimming up stream to get out.



We hope to sleep in tomorrow morning since we have been up early every day this week and busy all day. I don’t have high hopes of sleeping late. Even though it cooled off after dark the sun may heat us up pretty quick in the morning. We will see. Good night all. End of day one of a planned 108 day trip. All in all a very good day. On the road and visiting with family and new friends.

Psalm 118:24;This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

June 3, 2010

6/3/2010 From Las Vegas, NV
Our week in Carlsbad, CA was great. But it ended on the 30th of May. On Saturday we had lunch with our friend Jane Knowles at the Norte Mexican restaurant.
Sunday we left Carlsbad and drove to Long Beach to vist Todd, our oldest son and his family. We had a great visit with the kids, they both old enough now that understand most of what they say.
We got home in Las Vegas about 2:30 PM on Monday the 31st. We went to pick up the RV from Bill’s house. We visited for awhile with Bill, Elaine and her sister and husband. When I plugged in the RV at the house I didn’t get any shore power. Tried the genset, no 110 from that either. I shut everything down and unplugged from the house. I hooked up again and everything worked fine. John and Tyne fixed supper for us, grilled chicken and Italian sausages.
Most of the day Tuesday was spent with doctors and going through the RV closets. I had some of the stitches taken out of my ear and the rest come out on Thursday. The doctor says it’s healing beautifully, of course he’s proud of his work. Trouble is now I think the left ear looks better than the right, but since I have no cancer there it won’t be changed. The afternoon doctor made some adjustments to my back, hips and neck. He also had an interpretation of the x-rays taken earlier. The news was mixed, the bump is mostly arthritis with some fluid present. He gave me a steroid shot and my knew doesn’t hurt like it did before. I always avoided the shots but now realize that a temporary discomfort is preferable to the continuing pain.
With Wednesday and most of Thursday behind us we are getting close to ready to go in the RV. Now we only have to stock the fridge and put in a few last minute things. I hope to leave for Fillmore early tomorrow, at least by 9 AM.
I turned on Verizon Broadband and DirecTV. The KVH antenna isn’t searching. I have a call in to Kevin Mallory for advice. The antenna hasn’t been used since November so I’m hoping when we travel it will jar something and reset or that Kevin can help.

5/27/2010 From the Carlsbad Inn, Carlsbad, CA N33º9.459’ W117º21.
Yesterday we drove to Dana Point again, this time it was to have lunch with Jean Legacy. Jean was Glenna's next door neighbor in Santa Ana for many years. She now lives in Dana Point. We had lunch at the Wind & Sea at the Dana Point harbor. Gerri had fish and chips, Jean and I had cheeseburgers, and Glenna had sliders, small hamburgers.
Today I did a little shopping and geocaching. I found four geocaches and two travel bugs. I walked to another cache near the condo but there was to much foot traffic to hunt thoroughly.
Tonight it’s take out that we brought home from Sonny’s Tuesday night.

5/25/2010 From the Carlsbad Inn, Carlsbad, CA N33º9.459’ W117º21.

After a lazy morning we drove to Dana Point for supper with cousins Arlene and Bill. Arlene and Gerri are cousins and since we both are from West Virginia we are probably cousins too. Actually Gerri drove and I napped, in both directions. This is one reason Gerri doesn't want to start driving the motorhome, she knows I would want her to drive more often as I nap. After hors d'oeuvres and catching up we had a great supper and more conversation at our favorite Italian restaurant in San Clemente, Sonny's.
Back at the Carlsbad Inn Gerri went to sleep early and I lasted through Jay's monolog.

5/24/2010 From the Carlsbad Inn, Carlsbad, CA N33º9.459’ W117º21.089’
This is our annual visit to the Carlsbad Inn time share. We left Las Vegas late Sunday morning and arrived in Carlsbad at about 5PM. We celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary by having supper at the Norte Mexican restaurant on the property at the Carlsbad Inn. Although they changed the name from Fidel’s Norte, the food and service remain the same, very good. I had Nopales simmered with tomatoes and chicken, this is one of the few places that serve nopales as a regular menu item. Gerri had a combination plate with a taco and a rellano. Of course my Mom had to have something with shrimp, a shrimp quesadilla.
Monday we had a lazy day. The only time I went out was to get a newspaper and the menu for a local pizza parlor. Guess what was for supper. Starting this afternoon we will be busy visiting friends and relatives in the area almost every day. This afternoon we will go to Dana Point to visit Gerri’s cousin, Arlene, and her husband, my fellow hillbilly Bill. I think we have planned supper at Sonny’s, our favorite Italian restaurant in San Clemente.
Our condo here at the Carlsbad Inn is a corner unit that overlooks the ocean. The attached picture is of the sunset after we arrived Sunday. From our balcony we can watch people going by, the surfers and occasional sea life.
I am going to try to write updates more often, working up to daily in preparation for our RV trip starting on June 4th.