17.11.27-30. Welcome to the UK

I arrived at dusk after a 9 hour flight from San Jose to London, then a reasonable 2.5 hour layover and 1 hour shuttle flight to Manchester.  I was hosted for three pleasant nights and two days by Sarah's mom Judy, and Dave.

  They live in Greenmount, a small village 30 miles north of the airport.  They were kind to let me sleep till noon the first morning, then I took a walk around the neighborhood in the beautiful but chilly afternoon sun.

Next day we had lunch and a pint at their local pub.  Then Dave and I went on a three mile  walk together in Redishire Woods

On another chilly but beautiful  day.

I very much enjoyed getting to know Dave and Judy better since the first time I was here, I was primarily caregiving for Mike in the early stages of his disease, so did not get around as much as I would have liked. 

Here we are with Judy and Sarah's dad at the wedding party in May 2015

Next stop.... Curt and Sarah's house in Sheffield,

 and I get to meet my new granddaughter!

Judy and Dave drove me from their house in Greenmount the 54 miles to Sarah and Curt's house in Sheffield on Friday morning.  They were happy to make the trip because they were anxious to see baby Brynne again.   It was an interesting drive for me - only a few miles of motorway ( freeway) and mostly two lane roads through villages, towns and beautiful English countryside. I enjoyed the ride despite my upset stomach - we decided it was probably because since I've been a bottled water girl for so many years, my stomach wasn't happy after two days of tap water ( which tasted good to me, and I had been drinking freely since my arrival).  We stopped for bottled water just before we got to the kids house in Sheffield.  This is NOT a third world country where it is not OK to drink the water, I'm just a water snob from years of living in California

17.11.12-26. Home base

I took my time driving the 580 miles from Newport to home base because driving alone is slower than driving with a navigator, and driving the motor home is slower than driving a car. Simply getting gas is an ordeal. First step is finding a gas station large enough to accommodate 32 feet of rig with the Jeep in tow. Second step is waiting for the 75 gallon tank to fill. Actually, I try not to let the tank go much below half full so it takes less time to fill.  Plus, the generator runs off the engine gas tank and will not pull gas if the tank is under 1/4 full.

The first night I took advantage of another benefit of being an Oregon State Park volunteer host - one free night camping while in transit to or from an assignment. Last year Mike and I drove down the coast and stayed at Harris Beach State Park near Brookings. This year I went directly down I-5 and stayed at Valley of the Rouge State Park just north of Medford. I got a pull-hrough site for easy in and out.  I arrived just before dark and had a nice riverside walk before going in for leftover dinner and a good night's sleep.

The second night was a special treat because I hooked up in Redding with Eric and Claudia

who were heading down from their summer home in the coastal mountains between Redding and Eureka. They spent the night and we had a short walk along the Sacramento River

with their dog, Jamie before parting ways again.

The third night I spent in the back lot of Thunder Valley in Roseville - a favorite layover spot of ours - especially in the cooler months!

The next six nights were spent spare room surfing at the homes of Yvonne, Marian, Connie, Kelly and Glenda, Laurie and Bob, Chris and John.  I also hooked up for meals with Dollie, Shirley and Diane.  It is always good to come back home to check in with family and friends.  This was a short visit, so I did not get to see everyone I wanted to - looking forward to next time!

I had some Jeep work done at Auburn Autohaus and some MT work done at B&B RV - both were important stops and conveniently coordinated with my short time frame.

And last but not least, I finally managed a few hours at my storage unit to reorganize and pull out some photos and baby items to take with me on my upcoming trip to see Curt and his new daughter, Brynne in England.

Next stop was the Elks Lodge in San Jose where I parked MT for six nights while in town to enjoy Thanksgiving with Kelly and her family. Eric and Clay came too, and we were hosted at Kelly's parents house for three nights. 

This was the first Thanksgiving in ten years we were not  all together with a large Dempsey/Brown/Tomczak/Scott extended family gathering. 

  Here we are in 2006 at our house in LOP

We've lost quite a few since then, 

but all are with us in our hearts and minds every day.

17.10.03 - 17.11.11. Newport OR

I returned to Newport, OR and South Beach State Park for two months camp hosting this year. While there were a lot of memories of being there in prior years with Mike, the memories are good and I was happy to be there to relive them.

In September 2013, we did not know Mike was not 100%.  We were yurt cleaners that year.

When we returned in the fall of 2014, we were starting to be concerned about Mike's vision and balance, but he was still on duty with me as site cleaners in the primitive campsites loop.  Here is Mike cooking salmon at our campsite for lunch one day.

2014 was the year we met camp host buddies Kathy and Rod ( see August 2017 Eclipse entry) and we enjoyed watching a couple baseball games in their Airstream.

because we did not have TV in our rig at that time. That was the year the Giants won World Series
#3.  Fun times! 

We did not return to Newport in the fall of 2015 because Mike was not feeling great, and we stayed close to home so he could take it easy and receive physical therapy treatments in Roseville. We had a visit from Mike's sister, Chris from Austin and went to San Francisco to enjoy the memories of our time there an pay a visit to where we spread Mike's brother Fritz's ashes over 20 years earlier.

Then in October, 2016, we returned to Newport for another month of camp hosting.  This time, Mike stayed in and I hosted alone.  It was a very rainy month and it was PERFECT for us.  Lots of time to stay indoors - reading aloud, creating music playlists, watching baseball and planning our very short future together.  We also had three sets of camp host friends come by for a night or two.

We hosted dinner in our motorhome since Mike did not enjoy going out to eat any more at that point.  Here we are with Ed and Sharon who we met earlier in the year in Southern California at an Escapees RV park.

 And here we are with Pat and Keely who we know from hosting at Martis Creek in Truckee.

This year I returned alone and was happy to be here.  This is a good shot of the rear end of the motorhome in the distance in a camp loop closed to visitors because it is mid-week in the fall.  I had the place to myself.  Very nice!

I enjoyed riding the bike Connie gave me.  There is a nice bike patch access to the Yaquina Bay waterfront, and smooth park roads for a quick spin for exercise.

 

  This is the fishing pier which attracts crabbers and other fishermen in the shadow of the bridge that takes Hyw 101 over the Yaquina Bay.

 I spent several nights at the campfire of fellow camp hosts Scot and Diane.  Here is Scot on duty one day tending the burn pile controlled burn.

This is the same burn pile where I took the scotch broom that I extracted from all over the park.  I chose my own work spots based on whether I though I could make a difference in the time I had.  Scotch Broom is an invasive species that is pretty easy to pull by hand when small, and easy with a tool I used for the larger plants, but if left unattended for a while, the plants can grow to tree size. 

 I left those alone

When I was off duty, I spent time at the ocean.  I liked to go to the dunes on the north jetty where I could get protection from the wind for some late fall sunbathing while watching the fishing boat traffic on the Yaquina River.  

This is the spot where, on a windy day, I let some of Mikes ashes go and watched as they flew together in a ghost-like formation up into the sky and disappeared.  

That was a beautiful and knee buckling experience!

The Yaquina Bay, the bridge and the land north and south of the bridge on the ocean side 

remind me very much of Marin county, San Francisco's lands end and the Golden Gate Bridge.  

On a smaller scale, of course, but very beautiful, also,

 and I know that Mike and my love of San Francisco transfers well to Newport, OR. 

I will return to this spot, for sure.

Until we meet again, my love.

17.09.27-10.02 Five nights in Iowa

My maternal grandmother, Bertha Johnson Randall was the oldest of 12 siblings.  The last of her siblings, Ollie, passed away recently and his nieces and nephews  (my mom's cousins) gathered to remember their parents and to honor Ollie's inheritance gift.  I was an oddball in the gathering, since I was a member of the next generation, but was warmly welcomed as my mom's representative.

I was received at the DesMoines airport by my mom's cousin Dave and his wife Diane

( here we are with their daughter Shanna and grandson in the family town of Decorah 

having ice cream after lunch the first day)

 and I stayed the first night at their house in Madison County Iowa, famous for being John Wayne's birthplace, and was the set for the movie "Bridges of Madison County".   

Dave is a rancher and trains horses. You can never have too many sunset pictures, right?

Next day we attended a family birthday party for Einer, 102 years old.  He sang for us in front of Buck Hollow Band who's female singer is my second cousin, Teresa.

On day she took me to see her very unusual home in the country.  She and her husband John ( also her band mate) lived off the grid for several years as they were working on turning an abandoned cabin into a nice home.

The main event, a gathering of the Johnson family cousins included a three cemetery tour to visit gravestones.

Here is my mom's cousins Denny ( who I also visited in Bend in August while there for the eclipse) and his sister Diana who lives near Portland. 

Here are my mom's cousins Joanne, Jan an Lorrie.  They were the brains and brawn behind this family gathering, who planned and provided meals and housing for the entire group which included 28 people at its largest meal.  These ladies also taught me how to play pinochle on my lat night in town.  Fun night!

This mom's cousin Lorrie and her husband Chuck, who's house I stayed at two nights.

This is my mom's cousin Gloria whom I shared transportation and a bed with for three nights (lodging was tight and we were both calm sleepers, so we got along just fine and enjoyed getting to 

know each other😏)

This is Jan who hosted the first stop of three with her two sisters for progressive breakfast the first morning.  I wanted to show the cornfield in her backyard.  

This is mom's cousin Joanne and her husband Justin.  

Joanne is the family historian an was the lead planner for this event

The larger group gathered on the property in northeast Iowa near Wadena where all their parents were born.  The current landowner build a beautiful lodge near the old homesite where 12 of us slept and which hosted the family gathering for two days.  

I am happy to be reconnected with my mom's cousins and to hear their versions of family tales that I remember from my childhood.

17.08.22-09.26; VITAL down time

I am in the middle of a red-eye flight from Eugene, OR to Des Moines, IA for a family reunion on my mom's side.  I learned of this event in July when I contacted the 2nd cousins I know (see the entries dated June 28-July 2, 2014 from Mike and my road trip to Michigan) to let them know I lost Mike.  Cousin Joanne replied with condolences and the news of this reunion.  My initial reaction was "Hmm....interesting. Too bad I cannot go because I have camp host plans in Sept and Oct in Newport, OR."

But one week later, I realized I wanted to go and needed to find a work around. So I emailed the host coordinator, Ranger Angela, with my request for a week off in the middle of my hosting responsibilities. She replied "Of course - family and personal care first - we will cover for you while you are gone". So off I go now on an adventure that will make Carletta and me happy, I'm sure.  More on that later.....

Since I wrote last, I've allowed myself some rest and relaxation time. Some alone time. Some time to do nothing but knit and watch movies. That is not exactly true - I've also been biking, cooking and eating well, attending to my camp host duties, and (when I feel like it) visiting with the other camp hosts.  

I am definitely not alone. There are 10 other sets of hosts on duty at South Beach State Park in Newport, OR - it is a big park. Some hosts I remember from past years - this park is similar to South Carlsbad State Beach in that the hosts tend to schedule themselves year after year because it is a nice park and a nice town.  Last year when we were here Mike stayed at home 

while I went out for camp host duties, so the other hosts didn't really know him until he came out with me for a mid-month camp host potluck dinner. 

Every day after that dinner they asked me "how's Mike?"  So this year, on my first day back I was able to get a welcome back hug and really good cry when I told a couple hosts who asked about Mike - he is not here in person this year. 

A normal day for me often goes like this....

- Sleep until I wake up naturally.

- Ride my assigned golf cart to the hospitality center where camp hosts gather for their daily assignments and campers come in for ice, firewood and fresh brewed coffee.  

- Work the assigned list - litter pick and sweep/rake the recently vacated campsites.  A busy day includes 40-60 campsites and a light day only 10-20. Just depends on how many guests check out each day.  On the light days I do some self directed landscaping related work to pull Scotch Broom ( a non-native fast growing invasive species). 

Small plants can be pulled by hand, but if allowed to grow to bush size with a trunk of 1/4 inch or more, I use the special scotch broom tool from the ranger' work shop.  I really enjoy both types of work because it is outdoors and independent of others. I can listen to the ball game or podcasts/book on tape while at work. 

- return to MT often during work for food and rest

- after work, do house chores

- head out at dusk for a beach walk and end up at Scott and Diane's camspite for a fire. 

A really interesting day went like this:

While I was making my morning rounds with my pick stick and bucket, a camper crossed the road from his campsite to where I was working in another site to ask me a question.  This is not unusual, but his question was!  He initially asked "Do you speak Spanish?"    I was so excited!  I said "Si un poco" and proceeded to answer his question of the moment in Spanish. It was just like getting back up on that horse!  He was a young adult with English about as good as my Spanish. That is all I knew. I thought about the encounter all day. I knew where he lived. I knew I wanted to do some more speaking in Spanish. So at sunset time I returned on foot to see what was going on.  He was sitting at the picnic table with two other young adults - one guy, one girl. When the first guy recognized me, he introduced me as "la mujer de esta mañana" and they welcomed me in.  Jesus and his friends Sandra and Gabriel where from Spain. They had just come from summertime cherry harvest work in Vancouver and were starting on a west coast driving tour all the way to Mexico. They were learning English and were happy to have me join them for the evening at their campfire. In Spanish I told them my story of Eric, Claudia and Mike, and encouraged Jesus to continue his English learning with DuoLingo - it is working for me!  I enjoyed the experience completely. We exchanged Facebook contacts and Jesus suggested I look him up when I go to Spain ( I didn't have that on the list, but maybe.....)

Wednesday and Thursday are off duty days. I've been staying pretty close to home (for rest and relaxation) rather than venturing out (to explore the larger area like Mike and I always did in prior years.  Here we are last year out to an off-day seaside lunch in Depoe Bay- about 20 miles north of Newport).  

I am still coming to grips with the fact my life has changed.  I am in a lovely place to "simply be" for a while as I contemplate my options for the future.  I am not accustomed to the concept of "simply being" so I am struggling with letting myself do this, too, but I'm enjoying the learning curve:). I wrote to my PEO friends that I was feeling very unproductive.  One of my sisters replied that this is "vital" down time. I understand because I can feel it is true and I  like the sound of "vital".  What I'm doing here and now is definitely not unproductive, but vital time for my adjustment into life without Mike. 

17.08.14-21 Solar Eclipse

After I left home base I had a leisurely week to get to my next activity - attending a Solar Eclipse party near Bend Oregon.

My first day on the road was a short drive north from Thunder Valley to Redding where I stopped for groceries and a coffee shop to spend some time on my travel logistics.  I noticed there was an Elks Lodge with RV parking facilities in Redding, ( I joined the Elks Lodge last year primarily because the Elks Lodge RV facilities had been recommended by several fellow RV'ers as a convenient layover while traveling).  I was ready for an easy day, and had already driven 150 miles, so decided to stay in Redding.  I have stayed in several other Elks RV lots since becoming a member, but this one earns the top review so far - right on the Sacramento river with a really nice bike trail that I rode once at sunset upon check-in and again the next morning.......

before a swim in their really big pool. 

 Then I headed out for another 150 mile drive before it got too hot. The second day of travel took me in to Oregon, just north of Klamath Falls where I stopped in the late afternoon at a casino parking lot and had a peaceful evening at home with a nice view of the Oregon forests in the distance.

Day three of travel took me to central Oregon and LaPine State Park about 30 minutes south of Bend because I had one night to fill before checking in to my Thousand Trails reservations nearby.  I had another riverside bike ride - this time along the Deschutes River and in the Deschutes National Forest.  The excitement related to the upcoming solar eclipse was evident here - people from far away places and talk of where they would watch the eclipse on the 21st.

Next day I moved a short 10 miles to the Thousand Trails campground just south of Bend where I will be for a week. I was very happy to have made contact with Denny, my 2nd cousin from my mom's Iowa family who lives in the area now and was very happy to connect with me as well.  He took me to Paulina Peak in the Newberry National Monument area for a birds eye view of the recreational wonderland he calls his neighborhood,

then to his house to meet his wife, Shirley who took this picture of newly acquainted cousins.

I had one day of rest at home before heading out on Saturday Aug 19 toward my camp hosting friends Rod and Kathy's house in Camp Sherman where I would stay in their cowboy guest room for three nights to enjoy the eclipse experience safe and sound, away from the crowds that descended on the area.

Others braved traffic jams and paid big bucks to camp in a field with thousands of others, but Rod and Kathy live inside the band of solar eclipse totality, so once I arrived, the only travel I did was by bike with Rod and his son Tim - a 10 mile bike ride in their neighborhood.

Mike and I always said it is good to live where other people vacation, and they do! 

On the way to their house, I passed this forest fire which was causing some local evacuations, and creating concern about good viewing of the eclipse,

Mike and I always said it is good to live where other people vacation, and they do! 

On the way to their house the first day, I passed the forest fire near Sisters, OR which was causing some evacuations and concern over clear viewing of the eclipse,

but on the day of the eclipse, the sky was clear.  There were ten humans and three dogs at their house: Rod and Kathy with their two sons, me and two others for overnight lodging and three who came in by car from inside the neighborhood for dinner the night before and for breakfast on eclipse day.  

We had eclipse branded wine, moon pies and eclipse related music from pre-designed sound playlists the night before.  Then on eclipse morning, we had an early breakfast with champagne mimosas to get us in the mood.

The eclipse started right on time as predicted, and we moved our chairs to the front lawn to watch the moon cover a larger slice of the sun minute by minute.  We enjoyed a little more than an hour of cooling temperatures, dimming daylight and crazy conversation and pictures.

Here we are in anticipation of the big moment at 10:17AM

and here were are during the total eclipse at 10:19 AM

Just like you saw on TV, but in person, it was indeed an unforgettable experience!

More eating continued after the sun came back out, and later in the afternoon,

we took a hike to the headwaters of Jack Creek in the neighborhood to enjoy the sun and the beautiful world we live in.