January 26, 27 & 28, 2009

Monday 26~~~~We had our friend Gary come over for breakfast this morning before we left for El Centro, California. We had a great time with him driving us all over sight seeing, he lives in Carlsbad, California and knows the area real well. We arrived in El Centro about 3:00 PM, we called our friends John and Linda from Oregon who are staying here also. We picked them up and we went out for dinner at Applebee's coming back to our place to play a couple of card games of Spite and Malice. Sharon won the first game and Kent the second, we always have fun playing this game together. Tuesday 27~~
We went to the post office to pick up our mail and Sharon's Prescription which was supposed to be forwarded here from Santa Barbara. They had no package for us, so now we are back to square one with trying to find it again. After several long phone calls to the different post offices, Kent was totally frustrated and a little short with the man on the other end, he told Kent he needed to act professional if he was going to help him. He was no help, so Sharon decided Kent needed a break from it all and she made a phone call to Santa Barbara Post Office and we found out there are 4 post offices who do the General Delivery there. Kent had asked if there was more than one office that our package could be at and they had told him no. Sharon happened to get lucky and call the one where the package was at and they are going to forward it to El Centro and we will have to go back for it. She said the confusion was because they are a little behind with Christmas mail??? DUH!!! After all this, we went to a Beauty salon the lady in the campground recommended. Three girls work there and two were working today. Both girls cut hair for the campground, so they didn't know who I was talking about, so I picked one . Big mistake, I picked the wrong one, I had a 50% chance of getting the good one and I got the not so good one. (I remembered to ask who was in the middle chair) there were 4 chairs so you couldn't tell which one was the middle one.) The girl doing my haircut wasn't her. She finished the cut and was styling it, of course she had me turned away from the mirror, I looked at Kent and he said are you sure you want to wear your hair that way! She turned me around and I about flipped, I told her I could not leave looking like that. She kept telling me all the reasons it looked that way and it was what I wanted. The other operator told her to cut it with a 90 degree angle in back to shorten it and get rid of all the pieces sticking out. She told her that is what she did. the other girl said, NO, you are doing a 45 degree angle. She showed her how and she still insisted it couldn't be done and thinning shears break off the hair and a razor is never used on fine hair like mine. By now I was totally frustrated and looking at Kent's face I knew he agreed with me. He tried to make matters better by asking if retired stylists were hard to do. When she knew I was a stylist she tried harder, but I said to the other girl, Can You fix it for me PLEASE!!!! I could see the look on her face that she knew it was bad and I think she was happy to fix it for me..She did a pretty good job fixing such a mess, without insulting the other operator by doing the whole head. She wouldn't take any money, so I gave her a nice tip and paid the other girl what she asked for a haircut plus a small tip. So this day will be referred to as the hair cut from hell. No I am not sending a picture of the haircut!!!! The only picture we took is a picture of Pepsi on his favorite place in the morning if the door isn't open, looking out the bathroom window.

January 25, 2009

Sunday 25~~~~Today is Thresa's birthday, the 4th one of our January birthdays we are missing by being on the road. So glad we have our cell phones so we can call our kids a lot and keep in touch. Gary picked us up again this morning and we drove to the annual Carlsbad Marathon. There was 20,000 people running in the race. Some of them ran 26 miles and they were back to the finish line from their run before we got there. We had plenty of time to see a lot of runners come in though with that many people running. It was real interesting to see the support the people gave the runners.With that many runners and walkers for the races plus all the people like us who came to watch all the streets and parking lots were full and the runners had to park and walk quite a distance before they could even start the run. We all got a work out before the day was over. From here, we drove to Camp Pendleton Marine Base where we drove all over checking it out, it is many square miles in size. While we were driving around looking for the museum, we came across a huge and I mean huge paint ball field where we spent some time watching the paint ballers fight several battles. One of the boys we were talking to was from Silverton, Oregon and had just moved there. They had several large battlefields and all ages of kids doing it, even some girls. When we left here, we stopped at the museum of old artillary, climbing on all the tanks, jeeps, etc. just like little kids. We decided you have to be pretty young and in good shape to hop up on those tanks or even get off. Some were hard to get into as you can see in the pictute of Kent trying to get into one. Getting out was even harder. LOL Today we remembered our camera, we got lots of pictures of us being silly.

January 19 through 24, 2009

Monday 19~~~~This morning our friend Gary picked us up and we drove Dana Point stopping at the "Ritz Carlton' so Kent could show Gary and I how neat the place is on the patio that over looks the ocean, the view was awesome from there. Kent stayed here when he was a business man on one of his many business trips to California. From here we drove to Newport Beach where we walked down to a neat view point where we ate our picnic lunch and watched some porpoises in the water and some surfers. The weather was close to 80 and we sure enjoyed the warmth of it, feeling happy we aren't back home with the cold spell they are experiencing there. Next we rode a 3 car (plus a few passengers) ferry to Balboa Island. It is a real neat island with very expensive houses and a lot of neat shops. We just wanted to see what was there and we have plenty of time to do these things. We forgot to bring our camera, so we have no pictures of this beautiful place. Tuesday 20~~~ Today is the Inauguration of President Obama, we started watching it in bed early and Sharon stayed home all day watching all of it. Kent got bored early and spent the afternoon with Gary doing errands they needed to do. Sharon watched the TV until the Inauguration ended at 10 PM, Kent played with the computer and then watched some television. It was quite exciting to see so many people attending the inauguration and beings we had just been there last fall, it was so neat to have been in all those places they showed on TV and to know how far they had to walk to get there. We were tired from all the walking when we were there, we rode a city bus as far as the buses could take us and it still was a long ways. I can't imagine all those streets being closed and walking 15 -20 blocks or more to stand for all those hours to see them drive by. I don't think I could do that. Wednesday 21~~~~It has been sprinkling rain off and on this morning, Gary drove us around the route of the "Carlsbad Marathon" to be held on Sunday. I had packed another picnic lunch for us which we wound us eating in the car because of the sprinkles. We just got done when the sun really came out, so we walked the beach and collected more sea shells for Sharon's bird bath she is going to make someday when we are off the road traveling so much. This evening Kent and I went to a movie at the Carlsbad library, they have free movies on Wednesday nights at the theatre there. Saturday 24~~~ We went to the Casino in Valley View with Gary today, none of us got rich today. On the way home, we stopped at the Mission so Sharon could go to Mass tonight. When Mass was over, Kent came back and we headed for Temecula where we met our good friends Dallas and La wanna, (picture) we went to our favorite pizza parlor where we had a great time catching us on each other's lives while eating pizza. They are actually from Oregon also, we met over two years ago at an Elk's Club and we have stayed in touch ever since and we keep finding each other at different places. We sure have fun together.

January 16 through 18th 2009

Friday 16~~~ Today was a long hard drive for Kent, the traffic was a night mare as the roads are quite narrow and bumpy. California is always broke and having problems, it certainly isn't because they spend a lot of money on their highways, they have the worst roads ever. We are in an Elks Club Park in Oceanside. We ate dinner and watched TV and went to bed before midnight which is unusual for us, we usually start for bed at eleven and it is almost midnight before we fall asleep. Saturday 17~~~Our friend Gary who lives in Carlsbad, right next door to us, came and visited us today. We drove to Temecula to a pizza parlor that we really enjoy and we spent some time at the casino there also. Kent and I got $10 free slot money to play from the casino, so that was fun. Sharon came home with $5.00 of her money, we played for a couple of hours, so we were happy to play that long and not lose. It sure would be fun to win a lot just once though. LOL Sunday 18~~~ We went to Mass this morning at the Mission at Sam Luis Rey, this is a real old Mission that we went to last year when we were out here. Gary called us and wanted us to come to his place for a BBQ, we had a salad in our fridge, so picked it up and we went there for dinner and we stayed and watched the two football games that were played today. It was a long weekend, so we were pretty tired when we got home tonight and we have a full day planned for tomorrow.

January 13 through 15th, 2009

Tuesday 13th~~~Kent went back to the Post Office, and still no package, so they will forward it to us at another address. The surf is so high this morning, it has completely covered the tide pools where we had so much fun last night on the beach. The tide splashes water so high it comes half way up the stairs going down to the beach. It sure is a high tide and has such large breakers. No surfers out there this morning, to rough to be out there. We left about noon, stopping for our picnic lunch at a lovely pull over where we could watch the surf while eating. We arrived at our campground about three o'clock, it took us 3 hours to drive 115 miles because of the heavy traffic. The campground was almost full, but they had room for us, the people here are quite friendly, so we will stay here a few days and do some sight seeing in this area. Wednesday 14~~~We went shopping today and to Kaiser Permanent for Sharon's prescription that didn't come yesterday. The weather is so warm here, about 80 or 81 degrees and after the ice and snow in Oregon, we are really enjoying it a lot. Thursday 15~~~ Today we packed a lunch and we drove to President Reagan's Library (pictures) and Air Force One!!! It was wonderful and way more than we expected, we spent over two hours touring it. They have an exact replica of the Oval Office at the White House including exact replicas of the furniture right down to the Presidential Seal on the carpet. The carpet was ordered for the Oval Office but it came with a flaw, which thy noticed after it was laid, so they donated it to the Reagan Library. They told interesting stories about Reagan when he was in the Oval Office. Air Force One is so huge, they have redone the upholstery and furnishing's to what it was when Reagan was President. It served President Nixon through President George W Bush. They got a new Air Force One the last year of GWB, so President Obama will have an almost new 747 plane to fly him all over. (Picture) We also learned from one of the guides that First Lady Jackie Kennedy when in office did not like the color of the Presidential Plane Airforce One which was at the time red and white. She hired a very qualified man to draw up designs of the plane using the colors blue, white and gold, then she chose the design of the plane which is still the design of Airforce One used today. We sure do learn a lot about all the President's by our traveling to all their homes and libraries. Tomorrow we are on the road again. la la la !!!!

January 12, 2009

Monday 12~~~~We are headed to Santa Barbara today, it is a short drive, so we packed no lunch, big mistake, as the Elks Club there was full. We were headed for a state Park on the way, when we remembered we had to stay in Santa Barbara because Sharon had a prescription waiting at the post office General Delivery. We found the campground and it wasn't set up for rigs the size of ours, but we managed to get in one of the spaces with Kent's excellent parking ability and Sharon the parking attendant helper. LOL The place is "Hobson State Park" and it is right on the ocean. It was one of the nicer parks we have stayed in as far as beauty goes, in a long time. (picture) Of course we are partial to the ocean and the beautiful sunsets. We went on a long walk on the beach exploring the many tide pools that was there. Sharon has never touched any of the live sea mammals in the tide pools before and she really enjoyed it once she got over the fear of something maybe eating her finger off. (Can you imaging this, a woman who raised 5 children and all the times they went camping at the ocean to never have touched a sea anamone.) She found a neat (Conk) shell and lots of other large shells that of course we had to take with us. She says that someday when we are home for a long time, she is going to make a bird bath with cement and all these shells in the cement like her Aunt Jane used to make. We are only staying here one night, as the cost is $45 a night and that is not in our budget. It sure is pretty here though, we had the most beautiful view of the sun setting on the ocean from our trailer windows as we cooked and ate dinner. (picture) The sea was full of surfers catching the beautiful waves, they are pretty good at riding them. (picture) Most of them wear their hair pretty long, not much business for the hair stylists here. Kent is driving back to Santa Barbara early in the morning when the post office opens to get the mail, then we are going to Canoga Park .

January 6 thru 11 , 2009

Tuesday 6th~~~ We like Pismo Beach as we have stayed here before a couple of times. This is where the people let the air out of their tires and drive on the sand with their big motor homes and campers pulling a trailer with their ATV's. Everyone is very friendly and it is fun to watch them come and go. We drove our truck on the beach where we watched a beautiful sunset. Then we went over to the Elk's and we talked to some people who are on the road also and then we went to our house on wheels to fix dinner and watch some television. Wednesday 7th~~~~Kent went to the hardware store and he worked on a few minor repairs, Sharon cleaned house. Thursday 8th~~~ We drove to one of our favorites steak houses "the Trading Post" for dinner. They cook over a wood fire pit and we like to sit by the fire and watch them cook our food. (pictures) This place is out in the boon docks and Obis't imagine how it got to be so famous being so far from any town.
Friday 9th~~~ We drove to San Luis Obispo to Kent's store ,"COSTCO" to have our pictures put on a disc, (130 pictures) so we can start fresh again with this trip South. From here we drove to "Morrow Bay State park" (pictures) before heading home for Sharon's famous " chicken and dumplings" for dinner. Saturday 10th~~~We walked on the beach today and Sharon with Kent's help, came back with 46 sand dollars. After Mass that evening, we went out for Pizza. The place wasn't very fancy or didn't seem very busy, while we sat there waiting for our pizza, all kinds of people showed up picking up their orders to go. We were the only ones to eat there, the crew was so fun and polite we really enjoyed the time watching them, plus the pizza was about the best we have found on the road. We think we are the world's best pizza critics, as we certainly are in a lot of different states and many pizza parlors. Sunday 11th ~~~~ We packed a picnic lunch that we ate on the Pier at Pismo Beach while we were watching the surfers, fisherman and a big pelican on the dock begging for fish bait from the fisherman.(picture) Next we drove home and walked the beach again picking up more sand dollars. That evening we went to the Elks Club for a few hours of Karioke singing. A friend of our told us about a good fish and chips resturant near here, so we went there for a late evening dinner. We are leaving here in the morning, heading for Santa Barbara.

January 4, and 5, 2009

Monday 5th~~~ We got off to a early start this morning, as we left the truck hooked up last night, we had no power or water to disconnect so that made it easy. Sharon packed us a lunch to eat on the road, we drove about 270 miles to Salinas, California. We stopped and bought a few fresh vegetables and some bakery bread for dinner tonight. We are staying at the Elks Club here in Salinas, it is a nice roomy lot and it is about full of us RV'ers. We are backed up against a Golf course so we can watch the players driving off the tee. We are headed for Pismo Beach tomorrow. Tuesday 6th~~~~ It is a beautiful day here in Salinas this morning. We were on the road by 9:30 this morning, we packed a lunch in case we decide to stop and tour something. Good thing we did, as we stopped at an old Mission at San Miguel, Ca. that was founded in 1797 by Father Francisco Lasuen. We toured the museum that was the living quarters of the Padre Franciscans at one time, the building is huge with very tall walls with large beams supporting the ceilings It had all the rooms where they cooked and baked and did their everyday chores. The Mission is not open to the public as it in need of repairs to make it earthquake safe by building codes. Today the Mission serves as a local parish, a mission for training young Franciscans and a center for retreats and meetings. We really enjoyed seeing and reading how they built such a large structure and how they lived, cooked in the open ovens and survived on so little with and such primitive tools.Such strong, faithful people they were, I don't think we would have done very well back then. We arrived in Pismo Beach about 3PM, the weather was beautiful with a slight breeze and lots of sun about 75 degrees. The ocean is flat with lots of campers camping on the beach and riding their ATV's. Plenty of things to do and watch here.

January 3, 2009

Saturday 3rd~~~~We are on the road again, heading south for the winter,. It is a chilly dark drizzly day, Sharon spent the day reading her book while Kent drove and listened to the radio. We packed a good lunch which we ate on the road. We drove 260 miles to Corning, California where we boon docked in the parking lot of the Rolling Hills Casino. Boon docking means you just use their parking lot with no electricity or water, we have all those with our trailer ( battery) , so we run the furnace and lights and water pump and we do just fine. We just can't run the TV or the dish satellite because we don't have AC electricity. We ate dinner in the casino and then we went back to our home on wheels to play cards before calling it a day. Kent won all three card games!!! Too bad he wasn't that lucky on the slot machines. LOL

January 1 ,2009

Thursday 1st~~~~ We left Salem this morning with mixed emotions, glad to be leaving the cold, wet, snowy weather but sad to be leaving our families and friends. It sure is a lot of work reloading the 5Th wheel with all the things we had taken out and the new things to put in, plus emptying the fridge and freezer to a smaller one. We drove as far as Canyonville, Oregon (Seven Feathers Casino) where we met Sharon's daughter Pammy and Jeff and camped with them for a couple of days. We went to the casino for dinner New Years day and had fun playing the slots. We came home early and played cards quite late, the girls were the winners that night. The next morning we went over to the lovely huge swimming pool and we had a great time playing in the water with our noodles and relaxing in the hot tub. Next we went for a nice walk around the park, it was rather brisk with a little mist so we gave that up and we went to our trailer to play more cards. We played 3 more games, and the guys were the winners today. We made some twice baked potatoes and Kent grilled some steaks while Sharon made a salad and we had a great dinner. Then we headed back to the casino for some more fun on the slots while Kent played Keno. The next morning Pam and Jeff left around noon and we spent the rest of the day being lazy watching movies and dozing. Oh how lazy we can be when we are on the road.