Here we are, on the road: We’re in Santa Clara, California

11/25/13 Lorraine’s report

Hello from Santa Clara, CA. Yes, we made it to where our daughter, Susy and Kaitlyn, our granddaughter live. You can bet I was happy to see them! It was wonderful to see my girls after being away from them since Mother's Day, even though they flew out to visit us over the 4th of July in Minneapolis, MN.

So last week we spent a wonderful time with Joe and Alice. We went to buffets, spent time visiting and went to a movie, where I got a bit sea sick from the movie-saw Captain Phillips. That was one intense movie! And by Tuesday, we were getting on the road, a day early again-- weather concerns.-they predicted heavy rains which did happen, but after we got in..

We were lucky and made it all the way into our spot here in Santa Clara Elks Lodge before the rain. We were setting up when the rains hit; and boy did it hit hard. It poured outside, cats & dogs.

After setting up, we went to get Kaitlyn from her school. and we couldn't find her coat her Mommy sent her to school with. She just had to run like crazy to get to the car because of all the heavy rain. She was just as excited to see us as I was to see her.

Since then we have picked her up after school, even though we have scheduled doctor appointment, me with my doctors, and Chuck with his at the VA. And as usual we have spent the days with Kaitlyn.

She wanted Nana's Mac & Cheese as soon as she got to the rig. We had that with Nana's pork steak. She was one happy camper, this is her favorite.

Friday night Kaitlyn wanted to spend the night, and after her daddy left, I got a migraine, but that didn't stop me from having her spend the night. We had a lot of fun, and we both slept pretty good.

Saturday, Kaitlyn had her Brownies, (part of the Girl Scouts) and Susy & I had some shopping to do. We took off to Gilroy, CA. Rick, my son, needed some things from the Outlet Mall, so off we went. It was a nice day, and Susy & I enjoyed our time together!

Yesterday, Chuck & I went over to Susy's to wrap what we found for them for Christmas. We had another nice time together. I took food and we had Roast Beef with carrots, celery, potatoes, onions and green beans; and Mike brought some rolls, which were delicious. Seems like we enjoy just being together!

Today we need to get Rick's packages into the mail. Not sure what we'll do after that, except to get Kaitlyn after school.

On the 30th is John's birthday, Happy Birthday, John! I think that is it for now. We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Till next time, Hugs to all,

Lorraine

11/25/13 Chuck’s report

We are back with our daughter and grand daughter, we left here the day after Mother’s day last May and since then traveled to the East Coast and back. Sure was a good trip, we saw lots of this great country, marked some things off our bucket list, met with old friends, made new friends and enjoyed being together. We didn’t have this big of a trip planned when we left here, our plans only included going to my mother’s side family reunion in Minnesota in June. Once we made it that far, Lorraine commented we were already about 2/3 of the way across the nation and suggested we attempt to see the NE part of the US and hopefully during the fall tree colors.

It was a work in progress as we traveled the rest of the way, I had a rough idea of places and times and we were able to fill the remaining sections just fine. We were able to see both the Professional Baseball and the Football Hall of Fame for example.

And we managed to be in Vermont and New Hampshire at the peak “leaf peeping” time. We had mostly good weather while we were back there, of course there was some rain and bad days but overall it was a very good summer/fall. I think this trip compares to the trip we made to Alaska five years ago, probably about the same mileage and time on the road from start to finish. We had never been to the NE and decided we really liked some of the area, probably not enough to live there due to the winters but enough that we will probably return again someday.

Ok, now for our life this past week. After posting our blog last Sunday, we picked up Joe and Alice and headed out to the brunch buffet at the Riverside casino. This is sure a good one, we usually try to get there at least once every time we are are in Laughlin.

After our brunch, we headed to the Loser’s Lounge where they have a bunch of TVs, showing all the NFL games. We were there to watch the Seahawks play, unfortunately, they weren’t on any of the big screens, that was saved for the 49ers and Green Bay games, shoot. But we were able to watch the Seahawks win their game, they are having a great season.

Monday the gals wanted to take in a movie so we went to see Captain Phillips, about the cargo ship that was captured by the Somali pirates. He ended up being taken hostage and held for ransom. It was a very intense movie, especially the last 30 minutes or so.

After the movie, we headed to the Tropicana to try our luck on the slots for awhile. After a bit, we headed back to the Riverside where we had dinner. This was our last night in Laughlin, once again we both commented how we like it better than Las Vegas, less hustle and bustle for sure. We sure had a great time with Joe and Alice too and to top it off, I think both Lorraine and I were able to come out ahead on our slot play.

Tuesday we got everything loaded up, Joe and Alice came by to see us and away we went. When we leave Laughlin headed for here, we usually overnight at Bakersfield but this time we decided to push on to a place we knew about a couple hours further down the road. We had to make a stop for fuel, our usual stop is the Flying J just North of Bakersfield so we headed there first. Boy, what a zoo at the truck stop, our usual fuel stop is less than 1/2 hour, this time we were there for over an hour. We use the truck pumps and this time the the drivers were leaving their trucks to go inside even while they were in line waiting to get to the pumps. Usually they move ahead after fueling so the next truck can start while they go inside to pay but this time they weren’t even doing that. I talked with one of the drivers who was fueling up and he said this place has really gotten bad, it is over crowded and filled with surly drivers most of the time. We may have to find a different place to get fuel if we have more experiences like this one.

By the time we got back on the road, we could tell it would be after dark before we got to our planned stop for the night. But there just aren’t too many campgrounds along this stretch so we pushed on. Sure enough, it was dark by the time we stopped and set up. Seeing as how we were only going to be here overnight, we didn’t put everything out. But because we don’t have sewer service at the Elks here, I wanted to be sure our tanks were flushed and empty so I did need to hook up water, sewer and power.

The forecast since we left Laughlin had been for rain, it started that night. Next morning, it was cloudy but not raining, the forecast was for heavy rains along the way. We got everything ready for travel, especially got the holding tanks flushed well and headed out. Once again, I must comment on the horrible road conditions here in California, I sure don’t know where they are spending all the road tax moneys they get but they sure should be spending it on road repair, in my estimation anyway.

Three times we had a some rain sprinkles on the windshield but didn’t hit any rain. We thought we would hit rain for sure as we traveled over the mountains but even there all we had was heavy clouds and wind. As we came down the hills, the clouds got even heavier and more threatening but still no rain, yea. We made it to the Elks, unhooked the car and backed into our site and then it started raining, whew, just in time. It rained pretty hard for most of the afternoon but we got set up then drove over to pick up our grand daughter from school and spent most of the time indoors so it wasn’t a big thing.

Speaking of our grand daughter, we actually got here a day ahead of schedule so she wasn’t expecting us. She saw us when we got there and came running up yelling “Nana, Nana, you are early”. Two of her teachers said they knew we were coming, she had been keeping everyone up to date on our schedule, ha.

That evening Lorraine made a good dinner of pork steak and Katie’s favorite, mac and cheese. Susy came by after work and we had a time, all too soon it was time for them to head home.

Thursday morning I had an appointment to see my new doctor at the VA. This was mostly to get my prescriptions updated and meet her. I left with a good impression of my new doctor, she had me make another appointment for when we are here in December, she wants to do a full blood work-up and a full physical. She refilled my prescriptions for another year and may change them after she gets the blood test results on our next visit.

After the VA, we drove over and picked up Katie and made a stop at Costco. We haven’t been to a Costco for awhile so this proved to be a large cart full of stuff for us. We also picked up a roasted chicken from there and they also had Dungeness Crab in the seafood area so Lorraine had that for dinner while we had chicken.

On Friday, we headed over to see Lorraine’s doctor. She went over some issues with him, made another appointment there too. She also had her prescriptions refilled for another year. Once again, after the doctor’s visit we went over to pick up Katie and came back to our coach. Susy had gone to her dentist that afternoon and had a crown removed and prepped for a new one so she didn’t feel like eating a big meal. She stopped by and picked up hamburgers from In n Out for our dinner.

Katie convinced everyone that she HAD to spend the night with Nana. Of course, she didn’t want to go to bed at normal bedtime, she is an 8 year old after all. There was one thing after another, stalling for time after it was time for bed. As it was, she managed to stay up at least two hours past bedtime, good deal the next day wasn’t a school day. She and Nana sure have a great time together!

Saturday, Katie woke up and had the back TV on even before I got up, she is an early riser even after staying up later than normal. After I got my shower and walked Misty, she came up to the front and watched TV and we played a couple of games although I guess I don’t play dolls very well according to her.

After a bit, Mark came by to pick up Katie so they could go to her Girl Scout activity in the afternoon. Susy came by to pick up Lorraine and they headed out for an afternoon of shopping. I had been feeling under the weather for the past few days so took advantage to just rest, even took a nap. We all got together that evening for dinner, we ordered in pizza.

Sunday we headed over to Susy’s place, Lorraine wanted to start wrapping some of the Christmas presents she has been buying across the US this past year. And she had a pot roast for dinner for all us cooking all day, the smell sure made everyone hungry. Another good day but we didn’t get a chance (or take the time) to write our blog on Sunday so we are doing it this morning instead.

The weather while we were in Laughlin was nice and after the rain here it’s been nice too. We are wearing long pants however, it gets too cool at night and in the mornings for shorts.

We have been lucky, since we left Red Bay on the 5th, we haven’t actually driven in rain. We have had it rain on us at least four times when we were parked but we weren’t driving so the coach still looks ok. When we drive in the rain, the coach gets pretty dirty from the road grime and oils. Plus it seems some of the drivers lose all their driving skills when it rains so it’s a bit more tiring for us to travel in the rain.

Our plans are to stay here until after Thanksgiving. We have reservations at Palm Springs 1000 Trails for two weeks then we will be back here until after Christmas. We have to nail down our plans for the winter, probably Yuma but we are considering a couple other spots.

And now to add some pictures, get this posted and get on with our day.

Alice and Joe on the left, me and Lorraine on the right.