A Bit of This and That

It's supposed to rain today!  It is dry in this part of the country, just like it is in Texas, and folks are excited.  So are we!  Keep your fingers crossed!

We're still in Paso Robles, California, workamping at the same place--Vines RV Resort.  We've met some of the most interesting people.  And last night a guy gave us a yellow tail tuna to grill for supper.  You never know what kind of perks you might get with a job like this!  :)

Our biggest news--Stephanie (our niece--my sister's daughter) is coming to see us!  We're so excited.  She will be here for about a week.  We will pick her up at the San Jose airport this Friday, stay a few days in San Francisco seeing the sites, and then bring her back here to the Turtle for a couple of days.  She has a lot of stuff on her wish list of to-do's.  We'll see how much of it we can knock out.  Fun, fun times coming up!  She said the one place she definitely wants to see--the "Full House" house.  Remember the TV show?  Alrighty then.  We'll see what we can do about that!

We haven't done much sightseeing in the last couple of weeks.  We did go down to San Luis Obispo last weekend and do a bit of shopping.  We are now official Costco members--woohoo!  They don't have many Sam's in this part of the country, and even though we don't tend to buy much in bulk anymore (nowhere to store it, of course), there are some things we still like to buy at a box store.  Diesel is usually a really good buy, too, and we definitely buy lots of that.  Also, while we were in Phoenix, Max's sister-in-law took me to the ones there and really sold me on their products, particularly their produce and meat.  Needless to say, we spent a few dollars gathering up some treats.  :)

While we were in "SLO", as the locals call San Luis Obispo, we also went shopping for a footstool.  (Or an ottoman as they are now called.  Some people don't even know what a footstool is anymore.  Boy, do I feel dated.)  After looking at Kohl's, Target, JC Penney and Costco in SLO, and then coming back to Paso Robles and looking at Kohl's, Target, JC Penney, Wal-Mart and TJ Maxx, we FINALLY found what we were looking for at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Remember that Max has to drive me wherever I go.  As you might imagine, by the time we got to BB&B, he was OUT OF SNUFF.  (A looonnnnggg time actually before we got to BB&B.)  As soon as I saw that footstool and said, "This is it!", he said, "Thank goodness!  Where's a cart?"  And he mouthed...I mean, filled the salesgirl in on our adventures of the day...all the way to the front.  She was giggling at us both when I said, "Oh yeah...and shopping with you all afternoon for a footstool has been such a JOY." I miss having my own vehicle.  Times like this, he misses it, too.  :)

Here it is, though--our treasure!  It's small--just the right size for the Turtle.  AND there's room for storage inside.  Just what I wanted!  Now I don't have to sit all twisted around on the sofa while I'm watching TV.  Life is all about small pleasures, right? 


And then a few random thoughts, if you will be so kind--

• Back in the day when I still drove a vehicle, I really hated to get behind a big rig of any sort.  I just knew they would be so sloooowwww.  And I was always in a hurry and didn't have time for that.  Well, now that I ride in one of those slow-moving vehicles, I have a different perspective.  I can't tell you how many times since we started this adventure someone has zipped around us and in the process had to cut back over in our lane quickly in order to avoid a head-on collision.  As you can imagine, every time they do that, our hearts are in our throats.  It is just terrifying--for us, for them, AND for those in the vehicle coming from the opposite direction.  I just have to ask you--please, please, please think about this the next time you want to get around that big rig.  That big rig cannot stop, or even slow down, quickly.  That means somebody is liable to get hurt.  Maybe badly.  Please...  Okay.  I'll take a deep breath and get off that soapbox.  :)  (And when I'm back to driving my own car, if you see me doing this, you have my permission to whack me a good one!)

• We were reminded when we got here and went to the store for the first time that in California, they don't bag your items up in limitless supplies of plastic bags like they do in Texas.  You either take your own bags in (be they plastic, paper, or reusable), you pay $.10 a bag for a paper sack or an average of $1.00 for a reusable bag, or you just carry your items out in your hands. The first time we went to the grocery store, we paid $.10 a bag for paper.  We're both pretty tight, and that was irritating.  The next couple of times we went, if we only purchased a few items, we walked out without a bag.  (Kinda weird walking out of the store with a package of ground meat and a head of lettuce in your hands.  How do they know you paid for that stuff?)  We finally broke down and purchased a few reusable bags, and most of the time now we even remember to take them in the store with us.  But now my question is, what happens when I run out of all those Wal-Mart bags I have stashed away?  What am I going to use as a liner in our small trash cans?  I have to buy little trash bags?  When that time comes, can someone from Texas send me some Wal-Mart bags?  I would love you forever!

• And a final thought--  It amazes me how...some men...can repeatedly open cabinet and closet doors but never think to close them.  And in such a small space. How can you miss that?  There.  Probably 'nuff said about that.

And especially for Max, because he didn't think I posted enough pictures of our drive down Highway 1....these are for you, Honey.  It really was a pretty, pretty drive.

 



Notice anything missing...like that beard?  :)  He's already growing it back, though.



Love that bridge!

Thinking of you and missing you in California!  Until next time...take care!

Paula

Touring Central California

Since we talked last, we've stayed pretty busy doing one thing or another. 

Our work gig here at the RV park has been quite enjoyable.  It's such a pretty temporary home, and we share lots of laughs with our co-workers.  We also meet some pretty interesting people coming through here.  A week or so ago, I spent some time visiting with a lady from Cleveland, Ohio.  She was very curious about the workamping aspect of our stay here and what inspired us to hit the road in this house on wheels in the first place.  She shared with me that her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer not too long ago.  After going through the whole chemo and radiation thing and thinking they were finally out of the woods, she took him home and 10 days later he had a massive heart attack.  Can you imagine?  They had always wanted to travel but had not found the time.  After all that happened, they said NOW is the time.  They go it at a slower pace, but that's ok.  They go it at his pace.  They are making it happen.  And they are counting each day.  I love that.

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Warbirds Air Show here in Paso Robles.  This organization has a museum at the airport, and then once a year they have a big air show.  Max was in heaven!  He's a big airplane buff, and he said he got to see planes he's wanted to see and hear all his life but has only seen on television.  We saw four P-51 Mustangs in formation and solo; a P-38 Lightning; an F-4 Corsair; a Hellcat and a Bearcat; a B-25 Mitchell bomber; a P-40 Warhawk, and a P-47 Thunderbird.  These planes flew individually, in fly-by formation, and then at the end did a dogfight with what he thinks was a Japanese Zeke fighter.  (Yes, Max dictated these specifics to me.  If I have something here that doesn't make sense, it's because my dictation skills have gotten rusty.  They were just cool looking planes to me.  :))

The first plane we saw that morning was this one.  For those readers who don't know, "Dolly" was my mother's nickname and the name everyone knew her by, so of course this was my favorite plane of the day.

Some other cool things...

It's name: Iwo Jima Yacht Club

 

This C-130 Hercules was from Britain.  Max visited with the pilot.  They carried British SAS (Special Services) paratroopers in training.  They would drop them over the forests in Canada, and then the pilots would go on to spend the night in a nice hotel in the city while they waited for their guys to make their way out of the forest.  Nice to be a pilot!



 

Since we've been here, we've bought some of the local olive oil.  Yum!!  On just about everything.  They even tell you it's good on ice cream!  I haven't tried that yet, but it sure does top off a nice salad.

 
One day we drove over to Morro Bay, a little town on the Pacific coast about 30 minutes away.  It was a beautiful, sunny day here.  We got over there, and look what we found!  We never expected that.

We had a great time anyway.  We just pulled out our jackets and went for a nice walk along the beach. 

Looks like seaweed.  But is that thing a root?  I need a marine biologist on consult.

One of the famous landmarks in Morro Bay is Morro Rock.  Sometimes called the "Gibraltar of the Pacific", it has been used as a navigational guide for hundreds of years.  It reminded us a bit of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.

We found our way to the waterfront, sat and watched the elephant seals for a while, and had a delicious meal of fresh clam chowder and fried clams.  Nice day!

One day last week we took off for a trip up scenic Highway 1 to Carmel.  I really enjoyed it.  It was a bit of a harrowing drive for my chauffeur.  Not sure how much he enjoyed it.  Maybe next time he'll let me drive so he can enjoy the scenery.  LOL 

On the way back from Carmel we took Highway 101 which to many is probably considered the less scenic route.  To us, it was very scenic--just in a different way.  There is so much agriculture in this area, and to this old country girl, it's fascinating and beautiful. 

An interesting tidbit--in the immediate Paso Robles area (a 25-square-mile area), there are over 300 wineries.  They are what are called boutique wineries--"a small operation offering specialized products and services", according to Wikipedia.  Driving down Highway 101, you see much larger operations--Kendall Jackson, J. Lohr, etc.--with fields of grapes stretching as far as the eye can see.  You also see field after field of lettuce, kale, cabbage, onions, strawberries, broccoli, bell pepper, etc., etc.  It was quite fun to play "identify the produce" as we drove along.  At one point we came up behind a truck loaded down with something red; turned out it was red bell peppers.  You just wonder how the ones on the bottom don't get crushed.  Someone told us there's a Ragu plant close by, and they were probably headed that direction.  Fascinating!

Until next time...take care!

Paula

Our California Home for a While

Thursday, September 26, 2013

We are in Paso Robles, CA, about thirty miles north of San Luis Obispo in central California.  We are at a lovely RV resort called Vines - www.vinesrvresort.com.  They just opened this past April.  A few weeks ago I happened to come across an ad the manager had posted on a Facebook page looking for workampers.  (Workampers put in a certain number of hours each week working for the facility in exchange for a place to park their rig, utilities, etc.)  Max and I talked about it, researched the place and the area, and thought why not--could be a lovely place to spend part of the winter.  And the worst she could do was say no, right?  Well, surprise, surprise, she hired us!  I had been to this area several times to visit clients while working for Tyler, and I knew it was beautiful.  I am excited to show it to Max.  A few pictures of our new stomping grounds...

 

 

 

 

Such a lovely place!  Two pools, a hot tub, a workout room, an arcade, a library, a ballroom for special events, AND...they have what we hear is a first-of-its-kind Domino's pizza kiosk.  Place your order, and they deliver right to your door.  How fun is that?!

Of course one of the things that makes this new lifestyle so much fun is all the different people you meet.  Our fellow workampers are so nice and so much fun.  Bonnie, the manager who hired us, is a retired teacher and has been workamping for over 10 years.  This is the third property she has managed, and she knows what's she's doing.  (She also owns one of those big, Class A motorhomes--and drives it herself!  I'm always in awe of that.  :))  It will be fun to learn from her.  Bob, her counterpart and fellow co-manager, is a retired contractor.  I think that man can fix anything!  Fred and Alice are another couple who are currently workamping here and are the nicest people.

Our next door neighbors are beekeepers.  They have two trucks loaded with beehives, and they go around to the different wineries and orchards with their bees to pollinate the crops.  They told Max that right now the pollinating season is over, so they just take their bees out to "feed them".  Apparently what that means is right now they take them...wherever they go....and let them out to "feed"/pollinate whatever happens to be around I guess rather than a specific orchard, winery, etc.. They said the best honey you can get is avocado honey.  It's darker than most honeys but apparently very flavorful.  Gonna have to keep my eye out for that!

Look at Max's new toy.  (A loaner from the park.  So he can escort rigs to their parking spots, etc.)  He thinks he's pretty special.  Since I don't get to drive the dually, I may have to just hop on this thing and take off, just to prove to him that I still can.  :)

This area is known for its wineries (over 300!), as well as olive oil production and almond and other nut tree orchards.  Yesterday we took a nice drive through the country...got lost, of course...found ourselves again...and saw some beautiful sights.  We visited our first winery.  The scenery is just breathtaking.

 

Max loves it when I shout, "Stop!", jump out of the truck, and run over to take a picture of something new.  I just had to know what these trees were on the winery property.  Max said they were walnut.  As it turned out, he was right.  Again. 

I climbed back in the truck with my treasure.  He said, "Of course you picked that up off the ground, right?"  Right.

Next we visited an olive orchard and producer of top notch olive oil.  They have some 6,000 trees on 45 acres, and it's quite a sight.

 

They give you a little bag of French bread and let you taste all their products, including a line of spices. Yeah boy...we had us some fun!  And walked out a bit poorer, of course.  But we have to support the local merchants, right?!

They have this out their front door.  Yep...that's a chair.  Made out of a tree trunk.  And I guess the thing next to it is...the side table?  How cute is that!

We're going to be here until sometime after the first of the year so I'm sure I'll have lots more stories to share.  Come back to see us.  In the meantime...take care!

Paula

Phoenix, AZ -Checking on Mom

September 4 - 20, 2013

We left beautiful Colorado, headed to Phoenix to check on Max's mom at his brother and sister-in-law's place.  As you may remember, she fell back in June and cracked a couple of vertebra.  She went out to Phoenix to stay with them the end of July while she heals. 

The drive across northern Arizona was quite interesting.  It goes from desert (not my favorite scenery at all)....to interesting rock formations....

....to proof of UFO's (What else could have caused that perfect circle??!!)...

...to more interesting and beautiful rock formations.  We saw signs for Monument Valley in Utah.  We didn't have time to head that direction, but after seeing northern Arizona, we both decided it's a place we need to add to our Bucket List.

As we were driving up and over and down through the mountains of northern Arizona, we got stuck behind this young lady.  It's not often we come up on someone going slower than we are.  :)  We followed her for miles and miles.  And miles.  She was busy talking on her phone and eating her McDonald's french fries.  When she finally noticed us on her tail, it nearly scared her right off the road!

And then finally Flagstaff.  These yellow wild flowers were everywhere.  Breathtaking!

We spent the night at the Flagstaff KOA.  Never again.  It was the most expensive place we've paid for to date.  It was also the most unlevel.  It took us over an hour to get level enough to be satisfied for the night.  It was also supposed to be a pull-thru site, but the sites were so close together, we had to back out the next morning as there was no way we could make the turn going forward.  Thank goodness the site behind us was vacant.

We arrived in Phoenix on Thursday, September 5, and ended up staying for just over two weeks.  Max's mom is doing okay, but by far not great. She's still in a lot of pain with her back so they have taken her to orthopedic specialists there in Phoenix.  Come to find out, one of the two vertebra that was supposed to be repaired (glued) at Covenant in Lubbock either was never fixed, or it has come undone.  The day we left, they were picking up a custom-made back brace for her and taking her for an MRI.  Right now the plan is a combination of back brace, physical therapy (water) and pain management.  I know she's sure ready to be feeling better.  Her goal is still to be able to walk without the walker and move back home.

While there we made some new friends.  They have four dogs--two German shepherds and two labs. One of the labs, Shooter, really became my special friend.  I threatened to dognap him and bring him along in the Turtle, but alas Max nixed that idea.  Now who could say no to this sweet face??

And when you see how this boy sleeps, you can tell he's just a sweetie...

We also made some not so favorite new friends.  This little boy was found in the pool one afternoon....AFTER Max and I had gone for a swim that morning.  Yikes!  That is one ugly dude.

It is Hatch chili time, and we had lots of fun roasting us up some chilies.  Fresh and tasty, on just about anything!

We also had us some refrigerator fun while we were there.  Keeping our fridge cold enough has been an ongoing challenge since Day 1.  Max has researched and researched the problem and has done everything he could find out to do to make it better.  Consequently, we've nursed it along until now, but finally in Phoenix it bit the dust.  After a service call from a mobile tech, more research and phone conversations with the extended warranty company, we finally decided on replacing the regular Dometic coil (for those of you like me who aren't into this technical stuff, that's the big (and expensive) piece on the back of the fridge that makes it cold) with an Amish-made one.  Max had read numerous good reviews on the Amish-manufactured coil.  The insurance company would only pay for a remanufactured, regular Dometic coil, but after all the challenges we've encountered over the last number of months just trying to keep our food from spoiling, we decided to dish out the extra dollars and get the Amish one.

Here they are, pulling out our fridge for the repair.  I love the fact that my fridge is a lot bigger than most RV fridges.  I just need it to be COLD.  Please....

Particularly for our RV friends who are interested in such a thing :), here's a picture of the old coil.  You can't see it in this picture but one corner of it was crushed.  The technician said that part of the coil would have never worked correctly, so the fridge had to work extra hard just to try to do its job.  It should have never been installed that way at the factory.

So notice the one, big, black coil...

And here is the Amish unit.  Notice the two white coils.  If you're interested, Max can give you lots more detail on why this one is supposed to be better.  The simple version for me was that there are two coils instead of one, which should give it twice the cooling power.  

So far, it's working like a charm!  The refrigerator stays around 36 degrees, and the freezer is hanging at 0.  We haven't seen that kind of consistent cold EVER.  To be able to have really cold milk on my cereal in the morning instead of kinda cool is such a treat.  What can I say...it's the small stuff that makes the world go round!  :)

Until next time...take care!

Paula

Vallecito Lake / Durango, CO

August 28 - September 4, 2013

I haven't had a chance to update you on our stay at Vallecito Lake, Colorado.  (Yes, I know I am BEHIND!  I love doing this blog thing but have come to realize making time to sit down and do it is more difficult than I thought it would be.  We're too busy P.L.A.Y.I.N.G!)  

Vallecito Lake is really a lovely place and I wanted to share a few things with you, even if it was a while ago, so thanks for hanging in there with me.

When we left off last time, we were in the Salida/Howard area of Colorado.  The drive from Howard to Durango and the nearby Vallecito Lake area means driving over Wolf Creek Pass.  For us, this was the most exciting and challenging mountain pass yet, with an elevation of 10,876 feet or so.  (Our GPS gives us all kinds of information.  Some I know what to do with; some I don't; some I wish I didn't know!  :))



The pass itself is beautiful but has a few fairly sharp turns and some steep downgrades, which can get kind of exciting when you have several tons of Turtle pushing you.  My driver did an excellent job, as usual, though.








Lisa, the rock directly in front of us is for you.  I thought of your comment regarding rock slides in the mountains when I saw this -- "God didn't put that rock there.  It fell."  Yes.  And I'm glad we weren't in its way!









This runaway truck ramp gives you an idea of the seriousness of the downgrade.  Yikes!  Lisa and George told us the truckers know if they have to use one of these babies, they will sink up to their axles and probably be out of a job when it's all said and done.  Out of a job....but alive!

The beauty of Colorado never ceases to amaze me, and the country girl in me just loves a scene like this one.  (Thinking of two very special people who would have loved this scene, too.  Miss you so much, Mom and Dad.)

Evidence of the spruce beetle epidemic can be seen everywhere.  I read over 400,000 acres of spruce-fir forest has been infested with this beetle, killing most of the Engelmann spruce down to five inches in diameter.  They call this epidemic a "natural event", however, due to three conditions occurring simultaneously:  the dense, mature spruce-fir forests, patches of wind-thrown trees, and drought.  To us, and to most people who aren't familiar with this process, this seems like such a sad thing.  We tend to think the forest should stay the same, and anything dying is sad.  However, from those more educated than we are, they say this is a "natural disturbance", and in nature, disturbances happen.  They are important in creating a different mosaic that should be appreciated for what it is.  This one allows for such things as wildflower growth on the forest floor that otherwise would not occur for lack of light.  As with so many things, the right attitude shows us the beauty.




Finally we arrived at Vallecito Lake Resort, northeast of Durango.  We immediately fell in love with the pine trees right outside our front door.

 










It's a pretty little lake...










But unfortunately like so much of the rest of the country, they have experienced quite a drought lately, and it shows...painfully.










It didn't stop us from finding a lovely spot for a picnic one day.  OSC friends...this one is for you!  Yes, I still have these little coolers.  And they are proving to be quite handy these days.  I pack our lunch in them every moving day.  And....picnic days! 







A-MAZ-ing trees!




I think Durango is a lovely little town.  Max thinks it's too commercialized...and it is a lot of that, as well.  But it's a mountain town and I love it.  Look at all that green and those flowers!  (And look at that driver.  Doesn't he look like a relaxed retiree?  :)) 

While we were there, we took a ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  It was fantastic!  We would highly recommend it.  We would also recommend spending the few extra dollars it takes to ride on the Narration Coach.  It not that much more expensive, and it is so worth it if you are interested in history.  They have characters dressed up in period clothing and entertain you for the entire ride with first-person storytelling of those who were key to the growth of the railroad in that area.  We were lucky enough to be entertained by both of these individuals: the granddaughter of General William Jackson Palmer who founded Colorado Springs in addition to this railroading career, entertained us on the way up to Silverton; and Otto Mears, a famous Colorado railroad builder who built the railroad connecting Silverton to Ouray.  They were both really, really interesting, but she was our favorite.  She was quite the historian, and not only did she play the part of the granddaughter of General Palmer, but in real life she IS a descendent of his family.  In her spare time she also leads walking historical tours of Durango, and she knew her material inside and out.  Quite a fascinating lady!

Narrow gauge railroad (3' 6" wide, as opposed to standard gauge at 4' 8-1/2" wide) was cheaper to build in both materials and manpower and was better for mountainous terrain because it lends itself to being able to take steeper grades and sharper curves. We also learned the history of the narrow gauge 3'6" width goes all the way back to Rome, as that was the width of the chariot wheels. Who knew?!

Chugging uphill

Evidence of wildfire

A loooonnnnggg way down!

Those rocks are CLOSE!



 



Loved us some Durango and Vallecito Lake!  If you ever get a chance, grab you some time in the pines.  It's refreshing and relaxing.

 

Until next time....take care!

 

Paula