Returning to Petaluma

Leaving Pismo Beach, we drove to Petaluma where we stayed 5 nights at the Elks Lodge RV parking. We enjoyed a dinner out with family; son Norm, daughter in  law Wendy, and 10 year old granddaughter,
Christina, at Dempsey's Brew Pub, one of our favorite local places.

From Petaluma, we headed to Rocklin (near Sacramento) to spend time with Howard's daughter Stephanie, and son in law Gary.  They just moved into a beautiful new house.  We miss our cushy parking privileges at their old place in Loomis, but it's great to see them being able to buy their own place.

It's also Stephanie's 60th birthday party on April 18th, and Gary has a big BBQ planned with lots of friends and work associates invited and it is a surprise.  She thought that just one other couple was joining us and was
quite surprised as the door bell continued to ring and more people arrived.  While there we stayed at the nearby Loomis RV Park.  The park was old with several permanent residents and also quite expensive.  It was very convenient to Steph and Gary's place but we're going to have to find another location the next time we visit. Maybe one of the Elks Lodges in nearby towns.

We returned to Petaluma on April 24th and have been here ever since, once again staying at the Elks Lodge.  This is such a convenient location for sightseeing in the Bay Area. San Francisco is 30 miles south, Bodego Bay and the beach towns to our west, and the beautiful Napa Valley Wine country to our east.   Tomorrow is Mother's Day and we will drive the car down to Half Moon Bay to be with daughter Terri and her family.  They're fixing brunch at their house.  Fun times!

Around Petaluma....

Anza Borrego Desert 2017

The Anza Borrego Desert has been our "go to" place for many years, usually arriving mid-December and staying through the holidays and most of January.  This year is no different, however, the weather has been a challenge.  We've had every thing from howling, sand blasting wind to rain and very few days of sunny, warm, be outside kind of days. Even the spectacular sunsets have been few and far between but here are a few noteworthy exceptions:

With the rain comes the greening of the desert floor.

Now is when we really miss our Jeep Wrangler and all the off road trips we've taken in past years. Our Toyota RAV 4 is 4-wheel drive but not Jeep 4-wheel drive!! Its low clearance and small tires are very limiting to where we can go.  But there are still a few possibilities like 17 Palms Oasis and Fonts Point:

About every 10 days we drive up to the State Park to dump tanks and refill with water.

Every year we revisit the Brecedo sculptures on display around town:

With the temps near freezing we are not surprised to see a dusting of snow on our surrounding mountains.

Sadly our Wave 6 propane catalytic heater died so we're having to order a new one.  Our only other heat source is a small electric heater and since we're boondocking we'd have to run the generator in order to use it.

Another challenge to traveling is being able to find a salon for a decent hair cut.  I recently had mine cut and now it's so spiky it looks like a bird on my head.  I'll not post pictures of this one!

Otherwise, all is well.  We're not sure if we'll head to Quartzsite or check out the boondocking on Ogilby Road near Yuma when we leave here next week after receiving our heater and some mail that is being forwarded.  We thought we might like to see the big RV show but don't like all the crowds, so we might just hunker down on Ogilby Road for awhile.

Family fun and heading to the desert....Happy Holidays

We've had a whirlwind of family fun; birthdays, Thanksgiving, and our family holiday celebration since we won't be there Christmas, complete with prime rib and all the trimmings.  And the entire family showed up, every single grandchild and their parents!

After a final trip to Half Moon Bay we took off last Wednesday trying to stay ahead of the storm that was threatening Northern CA.  Our first night was at the popular Orange Grove RV park in Bakersfield.

We continued on Thursday up and over the mountain to Tehacapi.  The transmission performed perfectly. None of the jerky shifting we had experienced before. Though headed to Anza Borrego, we decided to stop in La Quinta at Lake Cahuilla County Park for a week to take care of some business.  We made 3 trips to Best Buy, first to get a computer glitch repaired - it took the Geeks less than 5 minutes to fix and no charge thank you! Next visit was to replace my old Kindle which died a few days before. Got home and discovered it only spoke Portuguese. So back we go to get that straightened out.  For now everything seems to be working properly.

Had a great visit from friends Tom and Carolyn who are staying in Desert Hot Springs for the winter season.  They promised to come down to Anza Borrego for a jeep ride.

We'll have a final trip to Costco to stock up on some staples before we head down to the desert where we plan to spend Christmas.

Reflections at Lake Cahuilla

The temps have been in the high 60s to mid 70s with one very bad day of sand blasting wind.

We send our best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Blog block!

We had stayed so long in Petaluma that we needed a getaway.  Howard took out the map book and zeroed in on Tonopah, NV. I said why in the world would we want to go to the middle of nowhere and his reply, "I just like the name"!  Being the good sport that I am and knowing that October is a great month for traveling, I was ready for an adventure.  Doing a little internet research was not overly promising.  Seems Tonopah is an old mining town approximately half way between Las Vegas and Reno.

We stayed the first night at the very popular overnight travel destination, the Orange Grove RV Park. The following day we headed east on Highway 58 up the grade toward Tehachapi.  On the way up we noticed that the transmission was jerky when shifting down to a lower gear.  We didn't lose power, but it was disconcerting enough for us to look for a place to park and make a few phone calls.  We found a Passport America park in nearby Mojave.  It just happened to be October 14th, my birthday,  and we celebrated at Foxie's diner at the little local airport.  I enjoyed a Club sandwich with a glass of Merlot.

After calling Allison, our transmission people, for a recommendation, we called Valley Power Systems in nearby Bakersfield for an appointment.  We arrived at 8 am on the appointed day and proceeded to wait 2 hours without seeing a service representative, so we reconnected the car and drove to Sacramento.  The transmission did fine the entire way.

We parked in Loomis at daughter Stephanie's house where we have grand parking facilities with full hookups.  We are going to be sorry to leave this place when they move into the new house they have purchased.  We stayed for 2 weeks, babysitting Riley the grand-lab while they visited Gary's relatives in Colorado.

We are now back in Petaluma at the Elk's lodge.  The transmission was perfect on the drive from Sacramento so guess we will put that issue on hold for awhile and see how it goes.  We will be in and around the Bay Area until mid-December when we head to the desert.  Wishing all a Happy Holiday season.

We've been anchored far too long!

It's true, we've been anchored here in Petaluma in a comfy existence that is becoming habit forming, but there is a plan formulating, though.  We're spending the 4th of July weekend with family in Loomis, then head out Tuesday for Kaiser Brake and Alignment in Eugene.  Need to get our brakes checked out.  Part of the ongoing maintenance of an RV.  Then we'll continue on up to the Escapees Park in Chimacun, WA and see if we can get a site and store the MH while on our week long cruise to Alaska.  Getting pretty excited about that part!  After the cruise we look forward to our August annual time at the Point Hudson marina RV parking in Port Townsend.  We always get the same site 361 which is right on the water and no hookups. This not only affords us primo boat and water gazing but is $25 compared to $45 per site for hookups.

I have not been blogging very often since we have been in one place for so long. Thst will change once we start our summer adventure. So please check on us once in a while.

Pismo Beach getaway...

We spent two glorious weeks at the North Beach campground of Pismo Beach State Park.  What did we do?  Absolutely nothing but stroll the beach, walk into town, visit with our local friend, Edna. Read, shop, nap, and eat....some serious down time, and it felt wonderful!

We stopped in Half Moon Bay on our way back to Petaluma and spent two wonderful days with our family and youngest grands, Liliana and Damien.  Terri fixed her excellent prime rib roast and baked a lemon cake using the delicious Meyer lemons from the tree in their backyard.  Again, eating was high on the list.

A special visitor...Liliana

We have a cruise to Alaska planned for July (23-30) and we both really need to drop several pounds before we go since we know we'll be eating non-stop for 7 days aboard ship, Norwegian Cruise Lines. This will be our first "proper" cruise.  Our only other experience was aboard a tall sailing ship (2011) where we departed from Barbados, transited the Panama Canal, and disembarked in Costa Rica. Three weeks of wonderful food, drink, and shore tours. But first, we need to do some major shopping for appropriate cruise wear (whatever that is!).

Desert Hot Springs, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

We were ready for a change from Anza Borrego and Desert Hot Springs is about as opposite as you can get.  We stayed at Catalina Spa RV Park, a Passport America half price park for a week at $22.50 per night, enjoying the hot pools and getting more RV stuff done.

Our corner site at Catalina Spa RV Park

The swimming pool....

The hot pool...very hot!

Howard installed a new toilet seal in our little bathroom and what a job that always turns out to be! Next he worked on our batteries trying to figure out why they're not holding a charge. First he equalized them after a month of voltage fluctuation due to boondocking.  We usually stay at about 12.5 but as soon a the solar power turned off, the gauge on the controller fell considerably.  They are not holding a charge from solar or running the generator. Narrowed it down to a faulty heat sensor on our Magnum inverter and will have to wait until we get to Tucson to get it to an authorized service center for Magnum.

We had a great tourist day driving the roads of Joshua Tree NP.  Had not been in years and really enjoyed seeing all the rock formations, many with climbers up the rock wall. This was followed by a fun night in Palm Springs, dining at an old favorite Mexican restaurant, Las Casuelas Terraza, which we hadn't been to for many years.  It was pretty crazy, especially since it was a Friday night.

Joshua Tree NP

Rock climbers...look closely

Howard cautiously poses in the cholla garden

Great Margaritas at Las Casuelas

Yummy ceviche tostados

So now we are in Quartzsite for a few days, once again boondocking, parked north of town at Hi Jolly 14 day BLM free parking.  We check the vendors for products we use regularly.  Howard found a small 5 watt solar panel that will charge the phones plus charge the car battery when it is being towed.  We've had problems with the car not starting after a day of towing, so hope this helps.  We plan to leave by Monday at the latest for Tucson.

Ho Hum sums it up!

We've been out here in the Anza Borrego Desert for over two weeks now and I've taken few photos. Our surroundings just aren't the same, spoiled by years' past.  One day it is cold with heavy gusts of wind, then rain showers, mud puddles and snow in the mountains.  Clark Dry Lake...isn't. There is water. Today is a brilliant, sunny gorgeous day that gets us outside enjoying the elements.  Howard is working on water-proofing the slide before the next major storm blows in.  Walks for me have been short, maybe a mile or two, as my back pain is kicking up, but Howard (the elder) still jogs his 4-5 miles barely breaking a sweat!

We have very nice neighbors....

New Year's week was crowded with lots of rigs and groups of 4-wheelers enjoying the many off road tracks and bringing in the New Year.  We got together with Nan and John for an enjoyable happy hour complete with pizza and drinks. This week the groups have gone and we have lots of open space in our line of sight.

Enjoying the first sunset of the new year.  See the crowds?

Clark Dry Lake....isn't!

There is snow in them there hills!

Funny story!  We have friends attending a rally at the Riverside County Fairgrounds where the FMCA show debuts this week.  A few days ago we decided to drive up  to see all the vendors, possibly find our water filter cartridge, and say a quick hello to our friends, the Panys.  It's about an hours drive each way. When we got there we couldn't find any indication of the big show or parking facilities, and when we finally found someone in the know we were told the show  didn't start until Thursday!  And on that note, we headed for the Costco in La Quinta and spent far more than the cost of a mere water filter!

We got the car serviced at Tito's in town and discovered we need a new battery.  Had been having trouble with the battery being dead when we towed for long distances.  We are now awaiting filters for the rig and will take it in Monday to be serviced.

I'm going to wrap this post up while the internet is sort of working.  We are right on the fringe of service for both the MiFi and phone.  Not sure where our next stop is.  Guess we'll wait and see next week.  Until then......Best wishes for the New Year!

But for the love of lamb~~~

We have been doing so good with our basic motorhome budget.  Howard keeps records in an Excel program and updates our expenses every few days. It's really a great feeling to end the month with some cash to carry-over to the next month, or to stash in a fund for a non-motorhome trip.  This latter is in the works...Suggestions anyone?

Part of this has to do with food shopping which is usually a big ticket item.  Beef is now so expensive that we're eating more chicken, occasionally pasta (trying to watch carbs), fish, and lamb.  We were pricing various meets per pound and lamb came in right after chicken for cost effectiveness.

If we buy a boneless leg of lamb for $5.99 per pound for 5-6 lbs. at Costco we get 4 good meals.  The first two are slices of lamb roast with vegetables and salad.  Then the fun begins when Howard launches his tried and true lamb/mango curry.  The little casa literally sings with wonderful smells wafting through as the dish simmers on the stove.

Boneless leg of lamb on our little rotisserie

Leftovers for lamb/mango curry *photo borrowed from the internet*...delicious

Lamb/mango curry recipe

No cataract surgery~~~

Once again we're back in our "home" territory of Petaluma, CA staying at the Elk's Lodge.  Our little month-long vacation, stretching to almost 2000 miles, has us refreshed and ready to settle in for a bit.

On my agenda was an ophthalmology appointment on the 28th for exam and consultation prior to scheduling cataract surgery.  My ophthalmologist, Dr. Alvarado, surprised me by saying the results would not be all that good due to an irregular astigmatism which could not be fixed with the special lens. Plus going ahead with the surgery to improve far vision would still require me to wear glasses plus I would lose my nearsightedness.  I so enjoy not having to wear glasses to read. So, all things considered it would not be worth the time and money at this time and I can change my mind at any time.  Right now my vision is not hindered much by the cataracts.  I don't have the light halos or cloudy vision, and I don't mind wearing my glasses for far vision.

We've started the polishing job on the motorhome which endured a lot of road dirt and grime on our recent getaway. Howard does the top portion with a ladder, and I do the bottom which involves a lot of squatting exercises!  This is one job we do as the spirit moves us!

Our family has decided to celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas on December 5th weekend at Stephanie and Gary's place in Loomis, east of Sacramento, where we have beautiful free parking on their 3 acres! No plans yet on where we'll be for Christmas.  Maybe the desert!

For us the convenience of staying at the Elks Lodge in Petaluma is pure parking perfection~~~

During part of the spring and summer months we hang out in Petaluma in Northern California, about 30 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Elks Lodge in Petaluma has become "Ground Zero" for us for several years.  We're near family, medical facilities, and beautiful places to sight-see.

An artsy rendering of our Petaluma Elks Lodge parking

If you are a member of an Elks organization like we are, the lodge in Petaluma offers the best RV parking available in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 18 sites on asphalt with full-hookups for $25 per night, many suitable for larger RVs, with grassy dog runs and overflow parking.  Their system now offers reservations making it convenient for planning ahead.  Janis, the very best RV host, has lived in Petaluma most of her life and will assist in making your stay memorable.

Enjoying our grassy, manicured back yard.  There are tables and chairs for afternoon happy hours The doggies love it too!

This is an opportunity to enjoy the delights of a beautiful old historic city packed full of great restaurants, regional parks and hiking trails, all within an easy drive to San Francisco to the south, Pacific beaches, and the famous Napa valley wine country.

Ahh...The Golden Gate Bridge...we have about 30 miles to go north to Petaluma.

Going down...to the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse

Vineyards offset by coastal hills and clouds at Green String Farm

The Petaluma Visitor Center used to be the old train depot in 1914...

Historic downtown Petaluma

Shollenberger Park has miles of trails and is an easy walk from the Elks.

There is a 2 1/2 mile loop trail around the lake, part of which lies adjacent to the Petaluma River which is navigable and runs in to the San Francisco Bay.

A hike at Helen Putnam Park involves a lot of hill climbing.

Layers of coastal fog and farm land lie to our west as we hike the trails of Helen Putnam.

Another side of Helen Putnam Park, groves of old oak abound.

Napa Valley...where we hope to be next week!

Here we're enjoying a beverage and some fine food at Dempsey's Brew Pub with a river view of course.

Another day and the sun performs perfectly with shadows and colors.

The pedestrian bridge across the river takes us to Main Street and all the fun stores.

Tuesday's eastside Farmers Market.  There is also a Wednesday evening market in town and Saturday morning at Walnut Park.

And this lovely bouquet is for you!  Thanks for coming back...

Yes, there has been a long hiatus but I plan to correct that!  I have been sick but am mostly back to normal now.  It is a long story and at some point I may decide to write about it.  Right now, it is just too raw.

Our plans now have us on the road soon.  We have been near Sacramento where the temps are near 100.  Our daughter has a nasty combination of gall stones and Pancreatitis, a very serious condition to say the least.  Hoping now to have the pancreatitis under control, they plan to remove the gall bladder this coming Saturday.  I'm sorry but having an operation on Saturday doesn't bode well with me!

We plan to spend a couple of days next week in Calistoga and the Napa Valley Wine country making up for our 21st anniversary which was yesterday, the 24th.  We are looking forward to our yearly dinner at the Greystone Culinary Institute.