Here we are, on the road: We’re back in Santa Clara, CA.

Sunday January 6, 2012 Lorraine’s report

Hello from Santa Clara. What a week we have had!

I remember my parents spent one of their New Year’s Eve at the Guy Lombardo's New Years Eve party at the Sweetest Sound This Side of Heaven, there in LA. Their 48th & 49th Anniversary was New Year’s Day, and they spent the day at the Rose Parade and then the Rose Bowl celebrating their wedding anniversary. Daddy would pay some man who had seats for the parade for front row seats. They would spent New Year’s Eve out at the Guy Lombardo's dance party, sleep a bit and go to the game and parade.

My dad loved the party going on, and I can see why. Dad passed away 3 months before their 50th anniversary. Mom lived on for 23 more years.

I absolutely loved going!! What a thrill it was to go and do what they had done. One more thing crossed off my bucket list. This was a big one for me!

Chuck & I want to wish all of our friends a Happy New Year. We hope this year brings us more health. That is my wish for us all. Until next time… Lorraine

1/6/13 Chuck’s report

Yes, we are back in the Bay area, had a great time down in Los Angles area. We tried to get some rest after the long (for us) drive down so didn’t do a whole heck of a lot for last Sunday. We did drive over to see where we thought we might be for the parade but didn’t find the correct spot. We were there two years ago with our friend Dorothy from Desert Hot Springs so Lorraine called her to get directions. She had the person who was our guide then give me a call and he got us straightened out.

On Monday we decided to head out once again to find our parking and viewing spot for the parade. With the good directions from Joe we found the same lot we were at two years ago and where we put our chairs for viewing the parade.

We then headed out to find the Rose Bowl and see where we could park there. We knew it would be a huge traffic mess in both places and just wanted to scope out the area when there weren’t as many people and cars. We found the Rose Bowl with no problems but there was still lots of cars and people in the area. We asked one of the folks in orange vest where we could park and they suggested we work out way over to lot K. Along the way, we noticed they had some of the floats for the Parade alongside the road. It turned out we lucked out and were there during the final assembly and judging area.

We were able to get up close and personal with about 6 of the floats, pretty neat. We were able to talk with some of the workers and they gave us some of the pins they have for the workers. Kaitlyn even managed to get two of the special pins for VIP donors, the gals working on the float liked her, I guess. All in all Kaitlyn managed to get 7 or 8 pins which she wore on her Stanford Cheerleader dress to the game the next day.

Tuesday morning, the 1st, we were up early and headed out to our previously explored parking area. I was amazed on how light the traffic was heading West, it was certainly a mess heading East. With Susy driving, we got to our parking lot and found a free spot on the street, right at the corner so we could get out easier, we hoped.

Carrying our chairs and stuff, we walked the four blocks to where we wanted to set our chairs. We got stopped at the corner where the parade turns by the police just before they opened the corner to spectators, Susy was in the right spot and was right at the ribbon, first one in the rush. Lorraine, Kaitlyn and I were a bit slow and didn’t see her in time so there wasn’t enough room to put our chairs there, shoot. But we walked about a block and a half North of there to our previously scoped out area and got our chairs set out, about 8 people back from the parade route. I then walked up a bit and lucked out on a spot with only three folks in front of us so we moved there. We had great seats, didn’t have to camp out overnight or even get in line by 4:00 am, not bad.

The parade started at 8:00 but we were closer to the finish spot than the beginning so it got to us about 9:30 or so. By then the temperature had climbed enough that everyone was taking off their coats. Once the parade started Lorraine was on her feet most of the time, taking pictures. We were close enough to be able to smell some of the floats as they passed by, definitely close enough to get a good view of them and folks on them. When the bands passed by, we could see how tired everyone was from marching, they had gone about 4 1/2 miles of the five mile route. Of course, some of the bands didn’t strike up and play in front of us but enough of them did that we had a good time.

Shortly after 11:00 the parade was over and everyone started heading towards their cars. After walking about a block, we broke out of the major part of the crowd and could actually take full sized steps. We got to our car, put the stuff in it and decided to head directly to the Rose Bowl instead of returning back to the coach to take the dogs out for a break. We figured with the traffic we probably wouldn’t get back in time.

So off we went, to the freeway. Oh, oh, bad pre-planning on my part, the entrance ramp was closed because that was where the parade ended and all the floats and people were there. It took about 1/2 hour to get clear of that mess before we were able to get on the freeway one exit to the East. But once on the freeway, Susy was able to negotiate our way to the first exit for the Rose Bowl. After sitting in line for about 5 minutes with lots of folks cutting in line ahead of us, she decided to try one of the other exits.

The signs said there were four exits to the Rose Bowl so we took the third one. Not as much traffic and there happened to be a Jack-in-the-Box right at the exit that wasn’t too busy so we pulled in there for our lunch. After lunch, we got back in the line of traffic and headed out. They were parking folks about a mile from the stadium but we had disabled parking licenses plates so we were able to get closer. Of course, they charge for parking everywhere, $40 even for those who had to park a mile or so away. We did see lots of folks tailgating and even some motorhome and trailer parking lots too. I figured most of them were season ticket holders or big time donors, we don’t fit either of those categories however so we didn’t even try to park there.

But as luck would have it, we were directed to lot K, the same one we had parked in the day before. We were able to find our way over to the entrance gate and tunnel and found our seats. The tickets Susy had got for us were not all in the same spot, she and Kaitlyn were over two sections from us, on the same level however. Once Lorraine and I found our seats, they were already occupied. We got the usher to come over and straighten things out, they were supposed to be way across the stadium from where we were and asked if we would be willing to just change tickets with them. I politely declined as I knew where Susy and Kaitlyn were and figured I could get to them with little or no hassle and didn’t know about getting to them from the other seats.

Once Lorraine and I got settled in, I did walk over to see how Susy and Kaitlyn were doing. They were on the uphill side of the main walkway so they had lots of people standing directly in their way. Lorraine and I had seats on the downhill side of the main walkway so didn’t have people standing in front of us. However, we were behind the Stanford band and behind the student section, noisy to say the least but it was full of school spirit.

Both Stanford and Wisconsin colors are red and white so it was really hard to tell where one school seating area ended and another began. From our seats, surrounded by Stanford students and fans, we couldn’t even hear the Wisconsin fans most of the time. But Susy and Kaitlyn’s seats were at the end of the Stanford section so they could hear the Wisconsin fans cheering and such.

We all enjoyed the game, which by the way Stanford won 20 –14. Kaitlyn said before the game it would be good if Stanford were to win 20 –13 as it was the first day of 2013, missed it by one point. We were able to see some of the plays when they were on our side of the field and could see one of the big screens to watch all the plays. We were all hoping for more offense and scoring but the defenses were the biggest part of the game.

After the game, we headed out to the car and along the way they had booths set up with Stanford as 2012 Rose Bowl Champion tee shirts and such. Of course, we had to check them out and that’s where we met Susy and Kaitlyn after they were able to exit the stadium. A short walk later we were at our car and loaded up the stadium seats we had brought with us, the souvenirs they had bought, coats and us all in the car. They had the street blocked of so we couldn’t leave the way we wanted but were able to get on the freeway, headed East without too much of a problem. Once again, the main traffic mess was headed the other way, good for us, bad for them.

We got back to the coach just after 8:00, boy were the dogs happy to see us and go outside. Susy ran down to KFC to pick up dinner for us while I walked the dogs and Lorraine and Kaitlyn put stuff away. We ate dinner and everyone got ready for bed, a long but very nice day. Thanks to Dorothy and Joe for the directions and Susy for the tickets and driving.

Next day was another rest day for us, at least until the gals headed out for some shopping, Mark came over in the morning and took Kaitlyn with him to Disneyland. I hung around the coach and did a few things but mostly played with the dogs and rested.

Thursday was going to be another busy day for the gals, they were to meet with Mark and Kaitlyn at Disneyland. I don’t do well in crowds or waiting in long lines so I elected to stay at the coach instead of going to Disneyland. I managed to clean the coach, wash the windshield and put some of the stuff away for traveling the next day. Lorraine and Susy didn’t get home until after 10 pm, tired but happy to have spent a good day with Kaitlyn at Disneyland.

Next morning we got up and got everything set for traveling. We had to pull forward to dump the black tank, hookup the car for towing and still managed to be on the road before 9:00. We got to the Elks in Santa Clara just before 4, got set up and watched a collage football game before taking Susy back to her place. Mark and Kaitlyn decided to stay in LA for one more day and another trip to Disneyland.

We had HEAVY traffic through LA but it cleared up once we go to I-5 headed North. Not sure why but the South bound traffic was really heavy and stopped in a few places, glad we weren’t caught up in that. As I’ve said before, California needs to do some major road repair to the freeways in the state. We really got our teeth rattled a few times! When we leave here to head to Palm Springs, our GPS wants to lead us through the LA area vs. going through Bakersfield, don’t think we will be following that route.

Yesterday Susy and Lorraine were planning on going to a movie but Susy had a terrible headache so we just stayed around the coach, I watched the two playoff games while Lorraine and Susy watched the Rose Bowl game we had recorded. Lorraine also made some homemade chicken noodle soup as it was rainy and cool, very nice.

Today we are over at Susy’s, Lorraine and Susy are taking down the Christmas tree and decorations. I will carry them down to her garage as soon as I finish this. Afterwards, I will will watch the Seattle Seahawks play the Washington Redskins this afternoon while Lorraine and Susy go to the movie they didn’t make yesterday.

The weather has once again been more winter like than not. We had cold nights while in LA, in fact, two nights it got cold enough to have heavy frost on the windshields of the cars when I got up in the morning. But it did warm up nicely during the day. On the first, when we headed out to the parade, it was in the mid 30s but warmed up to the mid 60s when we were at the game later in the afternoon. All the locals I talked to were complaining about who cold it was and most of them were wearing heavy coats.

We had to drive through some rain and snow on the way down but had nothing but sun on the way back. The clouds started showing up yesterday and it rained pretty hard last night with continuing showers this morning. It is warmer here in the Bay area, at least from the valley we were at in West Covina.

We have doctor visits this week, Lorraine to see her doctor tomorrow and I get another pulmonary fit test on Tuesday. I haven’t heard anything more about getting my CPAP machine so depending on that, we are planning on leaving here on Wednesday, stopping at Bakersfield for the night and getting to 1000 Trails in Palm Springs on Thursday. We plan on doing a walk-in to the FMCA rally in Indio while we are there, Joe/Alice will probably drive up from Hemet and spend the day with us there too. We will be there a week or so until we head out for our trip to Quartzsite during the annual RV week there. I’ve talked to a couple of friends of ours who will be there too so we are looking forward to visiting with them.

Ok, now to add some pictures and get this posted.

At the Rose Parade, everyone is wearing coats as it’s cool, Lorraine says it’s COLD.