Mon. Oct. 28, 2013: Death Valley National Park

We pulled out of the Bishop KMart  parking lot one day later than planned.  It was a very comfortable and beautiful spot.

We decided to take the scenic route through Death Valley National Park

for the second leg of our journey to Las Vegas. 

We stopped early to enjoy the view from the top

before descending into the actual valley - sea level and below.  It was very windy - it blew the motor home around on the road, and when we stopped for lunch down below, be ate a few grains of sand with our lunch, but it was really amazing to see the vast expanse of desert.

 

Our final leg, after getting out of Death Valley was a short 2 hour drive into La Vegas.  More on that tomorrow.

Sun. Oct 27, 2013 - John Muir Wilderness

This morning we worked at Black Sheep espresso bar, the one owned by Peter, Val's son-in -law.  It had all we need - breakfast, coffee and internet - very nice.

Then, we followed Val's advise and drove about 30 minutes up into the mountains to the nearest

trailhead - South Lake - and took a short hike in the John Muir Wilderness. 

We had no idea we were so close to such remote wilderness. 

It was very COLD,

and windy, but awesome.

Sat. Oct 26, 2013 - On the road again - first stop: Bishop, CA

Finally, we are ready to leave after a traditional Saturday morning breakfast at Katrinas

We are headed to Las Vegas for two weeks at our next Thousand Trails location while we attend a three day conference at Caesars - our 8th annual Sleeter Accounting Solutions conference.

 

 

First stop -  a pit stop at Donner Summit

Then south on Hwy 395 where we enjoyed the vivid gold fall colors all the way to Bishop, CA

Where we had dinner with Val Higgs and her daughter Shauna and her husband Peter and son Wayland.  Nice of her to let us drop in when we didn't even realize it was her birthday!!! 

Sweet PEO sister visit.

 

Fri. Oct 25 2013 - Auburn Autohaus

Today was supposed to be get-away day.  We moved the motorhome to Auburn to get it smogged, then went to work while waiting,  but my client visit went much longer than anticipated, and Mike was busy working at Courthouse Coffee, so we changed our plans,  We stopped in to say goodbye to Mom once more at dinnertime, and spent 90 minutes at the storage unit, then parked overnight under the awning at Auburn Autohaus ( after getting permission from client Russ, of course) for a an easy leftover Bucca dinner and a good night's rest.

Thurs., Oct 24, 2013 - Moving day

This was our original check out day, so we moved the motorhome to Thunder Valley for one night because we are not ready to leave for our next road trip south to Las Vegas.  Down to one car, so we coordinated our day's meetings and errands - a lunch and client visit at Evans Kitchen and a visit with dad in Sac then back to Thunder Valley for a home cooked meal tonight.

Wed. Oct. 23 2013. Visit with Boones

Another week is flying by - I stayed with Kelly on Monday night after a bust client day, then helped her with her Krazy Kat bookkeeping on Tuesday morning before a much needed haircut and visit with Mom.T.


Tonight we had a nice visit and dinner with Jeff and Becky at Bucca di Beppo in Roseville - good to catch up. - Should have taken a picture!!!

Sat. Oct 19, 2013 - Boat races at Lake Minden

Something interesting at the Lake Minden home base this weekend - the park filled up with campers pulling all styles and sizes of racing boats for two days of races. 

Here the race director was setting bouys

Here, the big boats were preparing to launch

And here the boats were racing around the lake - several very loud laps.

 

 

Fri. Oct. 18, 2013 - Business as usual

The week flies by when we are in the home base neighborhood - I spent three nights couch surfing to visit with friends, family and attend to business:  Tuesday night I went to a PEO meeting and stayed with Chris, Wed. I attended meetings at Sierra Pines, then had dinner out with Scott and Suzanne Gardner and crashed at Kelly's house, then Thursday I visited with Dad and went to the CSEA continuing Education dinner on Fair Oaks Blvd in Sacramento, then crashed at Connie's House. 

Mike was equally as occupied with his errands and business, and we hooked up back sat the ranch on Friday night to relax and have a home cooked dinner.

Sun. Oct 13, 2013 - Sac. Farmers Market

today we drove in to Sacramento to get some goods at the Farmers market under the freeway downtown.

Then a visit with Dad at the Rowena Palms and a bike ride along the American River Bike Trail

for exercise - it was a beautiful fall day.

Sat. Oct. 12, 2013 - Visit with Kelly and her brother Rob.

Today we drove in to Rocklin and Auburn on errands, and had a drop in visit with Kelly and Glenda who were being visited by Kelly's brother and sister-in-law, Rob and Mel.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2013 - Lake Minden Thousand Trails

                       Thousand Trails - Lake Minden is our new home for the next two weeks.

It is a 1.5 mile walk around the lake - great for Mike's morning walk

We have good internet in the park, so today I worked here and made a delicious casserole for dinner. 

 

The park is situated near fruit and nut tree groves and farmland midway between Sacramento and Marysville near Highway 70. 

Conveniently located to both of our parents, friends and family. 

We'd. Oct. 9, 2013 - first Thousand Trails park

After work, Curt's car errands and a visit with our respective parents, we left Thunder Valley and checked in to our first Thousand Trails park ever. We found this membership by shopping on Craig's list and finished the purchase transaction while we were in Oregon. We got here at dusk, so did a quick settling in and an easy dinner at home in favor of saving the park exploration until tomorrow.

Tues. Oct 8, 2013 - Gravity

Coffee Shop work in AM, the. Lunch with Dad at the Palms.  Today we ate in his room.  More coffee shop work in the afternoon and a visit with Mike's mom in her dining room his evening before meeting Mike at the Auburn cineplex to watch the space adventure movie Gravity in 3-D. Cool!

Mike was busy with Curt who is still in Auburn - he had been shopping online for a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, and Mike took him to see and buy it today.  Exciting!

Mon. Oct 7, 2013 - two dinner day

Today I met my newest client face to face in Auburn after working via phone and computer connection the past two weeks - a visual is important!  Then more work at the coffee shop before a trip to Sacramento to have dinner with Dad the his home,  The Rowena Palms.  We sat out in the  dining room and dad fed himself the hot dog and tater tots.   After his dinner and a nice visit, I drove to Auburn to meet Mike for dinner at Chevy's with Boykins and Redmond's.

Sun. Oct 6, 2013 - football with Steve and Terri

We snuck out of Kelly's house pretty early this morning to return to our home parked at Thunder Valley for breakfast and some computer work. Then down to Sacramento farmers market to get some goodies for the week, including some sweet corn to take to dinner at Steve and Terri's house tonight where we watched the 49ers clobber Houston.

Sat. Oct. 5, 2013 - family visits

We took Curt with us to visit my dad in Sacramento, then Mike's mom in Auburn, the had some lunch at Katrina's.  They took me to Jenny's house and I had a very nice visit in the warm fall afternoon sun with Jenny - good to catch up with each other's family and travels. Mike dropped Curt off at his friend, Kory's house and went back to the Motorhome to prepare for dinner while I went to the coffee shop to get some TBC work done.

We hooked up this evening at Kelly's house to relax and have a delicious jambalaya dinner cooked by Mike.

Fri. Oct. 4, 2013 - Another day, another son sighting

We had a few minutes to visit with Eric and hula hooping Claudia

before departing Samuel P Taylor State Park. We decided we would like to stay there for May and June next year if we get an offer - we met the camp host coordinator, Ranger Derek, and are optimistic about an offer.

Next stop, Auburn  Autohaus to claim our Jeep. We decided to take the easy and least expensive path and put in a new transmission, and we called Russ a couple weeks ago to have him do the work so the car would be ready today when we got back.

Finally, we drove the Jeep to Folsom to pick up Curt - he got a ride down from South Lake Tahoe with a friend so we could have dinner and visit for the evening. We ate at Dos Coyotes in Folsom. Curt is doing very well and planning to get a vehicle - he is tired of waiting on friends for rides and carrying all his belongings on his back.

After dinner we all took the Motorhome to Thunder Valley Casino to park for a few nights while we visit with Mom and Dad and take care of local business.

Thurs. Oct. 3, 2013 - Samuel P Taylor State Park with Eric and Claudia

Another 6 hours driving time through northern California and we arrived at Samuel P Taylor State Park about 4:00.  We decided to come here to check out the park as a potential camp host spot next summer. We had company:

Eric

 

and his girlfriend, Claudia who has recently arrived  for a visit from her home in Cancun.  We had an enjoyable evening - happy hour by the campfire until dark when we went inside for dinner. They stayed in Eric's tent in some open space nearby.

Wed. Oct. 2, 2013 - Back in CA again

We had a pleasant drove south along Highway 101, stopping to take in the ocean view and for naps and meal breaks. 

Six hours driving time total landed us just south of Eureka where we parked overnight at the small but accomodating Bear River casino.

Tues. Oct 1, 2013 - Motorhome repairs before goodbye to Newport

We turned in our keys and said goodby and Mic

and Mic and Linda

 

at the Hospitality Center before hitting the road in time by 8:30 AM

We delivered our MH to Newport Marine and RV Service

- just up the road between the park and Newport. Very convenient!  We had an appointment we made last week to get all our little issues taken care of before leaving town.

We had breakfast out, then made out last visit to the Newport Library

the had our last seafood lunch out at the Yaquina Bay harbor in a new place that had lots of buoys outside for decoration

while the motorhome repairs were completed in time for us to return the rental car and hit the road. We drove a couple hours south to Honeyman State Park where we slept on our Park Volunteer guest pass for the night.

Mon. Sept. 30, 2013 - Final day

Today was exciting. Some hosts left today, and the rest of us said our goodbyes

....  where are you going next, etc.  Here are Adrianne and I, fellow Yurt cleaner who lives in Arizona during the winter months. 

 

We are having trouble with our electric outlets - we shorted them out by using too many things at once, I guess, and don't know how to fix, and we needed to work so we went in to town in the AM.

Then back to the park to clean our  two yurts

during a lull in the rain...

then full focus on getting the outside ready to roll tomorrow morning bright and early. 

Sun. Sept. 29, 2013 - Day 3 of a crazy storm!!!

Mike went in to town for supplies in the morning while I worked in the MH.

Not many people showed up for the weekend due to weather, but the yurts are good in rain , so we still cleaned five in a pouring rain....

 

 

then took a break at home for the rest of the afternoon and watched a movie while the wind and rain raged outside. I took a run out to see the ocean during a lull in the rain just before nightfall - very exciting - similar to the storm we had in Cape Lookout last Feb.  The wind was still raging and I got covered with sticky sand.

I went to the hospitality center after to report about the wind , and met up with Wendy

to finish the fancy binding off stitch she started teaching Linda and me the week before. - I finally finished my 3x3 swatch last night and wanted to finish the lesson before we both moved on.

Sat. Sept 28, 2013 - typhoon winds

It was a rainy and very windy day. We learned that the weather had been accurately predicted based on the remnants of a typhoon in Japan coming our way.  Wow!  We went out anyway to enjoy our day off - drove north to a high coastal lookout appropriately named Cape Foulweather

where we almost got blown over from the wind, then on to Depoe Bay again - this time
 to have lunch out at Mazatlan - a recommended Mexican restaurant. We both ate our own meal for a change, rather than sharing, and then took a nap

in the car in a driving rainstorm long enough to miss the visiting hours at the Hatfield Science Museum.  We skipped dinner tonight - too full - but hunkered down in the warm dry Motorhome to knit and listen to our audiobook River god by Wilbur Smith and started the organization / packing for the road process as we are leaving on Tuesday morning.