17.07.21-24. Visitando con familia

It is good to have family and friends at a time like this. I intentionally put MT ( aka: the Motorhome) in a truck service shop for routine repairs and storage because it is difficult to find a place to park MT when I come back to home base. I knew I would have lots of opportunity for safe haven and good conversation while in my local neighborhoods of Auburn, Rocklin and Sacramento. 

Friends?  Check! - see the previous post 

Family?  Yeah!  First stop was Connie's house.  We have been talking regularly by phone since Mike left, but it was good to spend an evening together in person over a delicious oriental noodle salad, fresh tomatoes and cookies for dessert while I brought out the Mexican shopping trip bag. Connie selected a heart shaped dream catcher to keep her other Mexican ornament company in her kitchen - a hand-made-by-Lupita doily from the altar decorations for Eric and Clau's redwood wedding in Aug 2014.   Here are Connie and I on the way to the wedding 

And the altar itself with the doilies hanging between two trees witnessing a beautiful wedding 

And for good measure, here are Mike and I dressed for this wedding 

On Saturday morning I drove from Connie's house to AT&T park in San Francisco to enjoy a day game at our favorite ballpark. 

I arrived early to sneak in to some field level seats and get a good view of the pre game festivities. 

Mike and I always liked taking a walking tour of the ballpark during the game for food and to see the sights on McCovey Cove. 

I gave myself permission and plenty of time to remember all the trips we made to San Francisco and the ball park in the past. Here we are in 2016 when we got to see the game from ADA seats in the front row of the 3rd deck with a great view of the bay.

I was more than a little teary-eyed when the Giants hit a game winning single in the bottom of the twelfth inning and all the team rushed out on the field to congratulate the batter and Tony Bennett started singing "I Left my Heart in San Francisco" but my partner was not there to share the celebration with. Oh well, I know Mike was there in spirit. I enjoyed the day for him, me and us.

On Sunday I took my time making the 300 mile drive north to see Eric and Clau at the farm they are working for the summer. 

We had a good Bar-BQ dinner the first night and the next day Eric baked sour dough bread, pizza, cookies and kale chips in his clay oven. 

We had a couple good walks in the forest - one mid day with their dog, Jamie

And another at beautiful sunset

where we went to a high spot to get cell reception for communication and research on our phones. 

I stayed long enough to get reconnected, speak a bit of Spanish and make some good progress with my knitting, but not long enough to be put to serious work on the farm. The heavy lifting I did was to help them gather live greens from the forest for the sheep to feast on in their pasture, and to help n the kitchen - right up my alley!

After a leisurely 2nd morning I packed up and headed down into 100 degree heat to return to my local neighborhood and my travel logistics plan. Little did I know I would be thrown a vehicle curve ball in a couple days......

17.07.17-21 Visitando con amigos

The last time I was in Auburn was late December, right before Christmas.  I was in a state of shock over the loss of Mike. I had been receiving love and support from my local family and friends since we arrived in town six weeks earlier to let Mike relax in a house and provide a large place for family and friends to come visit. It was a very satisfying time, except for the reason we were there doing what we were doing. 

After Mike left, I had one week to fall apart, one week to plan the memorial service and one week to get my stuff organized and out of the house, get back into the Motorhome and travel to Carlsbad where my actual recovery could begin. I now know that when I left Auburn in December I was completely clueless about how deep and physical the pain of losing Mike was going to be, but I DID know that those weeks in Auburn would have been completely different and more difficult without the help and love I received from my family and friends. 

Therefore, when planning how to spend the nearly 8 weeks I had between leaving Southern California after returning from Mexico, and reporting for my next camp host duty on Sept 1 in Newport, Oregon, there was no question in my mind that I would go through Auburn and visit with as many family and friends as I could.

The four day road trip north was a good start ( see 17.07.13-17 la Calle a Sacramento).  I saw one set of friends - Roger and Michal, and one set of family: sister-on-law Kelly and her family. Her mom, Pat has adopted me as her daughter, and I am happy to have an adopted mother. 

Upon arriving in the Auburn area, the first item on my agenda was to drop off MT (aka: the Motorhome) at my local truck engine service station so they could do some routine maintenance and repairs - MT is my home and I need to keep him running smoothly! 

So I turned off and defrosted the refrigerator, put what I wanted to save in my cooler and dropped it and a very small load of non-refrigerator perishables at Kelly's house in Rocklin (very near Thunder Valley where I had stopped the night before to sleep and on the way to the truck service shop in Auburn) where they could stay out of the heat for the next 10 days while I will be living out of my car and staying with family and friends.  

While completing my transition from motor home dweller to car camper for the next 10 days, I had an emotional visit with Glenda (who is living in Kelly's house) as I got caught up on how her own family issues are progressing.

Next I dropped off MT in Auburn and then had a really enjoyable lunch date with Mary, a friend from my former business life in Auburn. Hi Mary!  I'm sorry we did not take a picture. Thanks for lunch and for the reconnection!!!

The first night out of MT I spent the with Shirley in Foresthill. Shirley's husband, Jordan, and Mike worked together for several years.  Shirley and I got to know each other as spouses on a business trip to Nice, France in 2003? We went to Shirley's favorite local watering hole for dinner and to visit with her friend Cynthia,

And had a really nice morning with kayaks on Sugar Pine Reservoir

The next three nights were spent with dear PEO sisters and their spouses.  Each house provided a VERY comfortable guest room and bed for the night, plus good catch- up conversation:

Dollie and Richard:  were interested listeners to my Mexico trip tales and we had a fun time sorting through my Mexican shopping trinkets. Dollie picked out " una tortuga hecho de Hennequen de Izamal"  (a turtle made of Hennequen from Izamal). 

Marian and Robert: took me to the LOP Sports Lounge where we met up with other PEO sisters and their BIL's for dinner. 

Then back to their house for Mexican trinket shopping - Marian chose a dream catcher with an iridescent feather and Robert got a bottle of hot sauce.   The experience of story telling related to the trinkets was fun for us all. 

Jenny and Pat:  Jenny provided yummy appetizers with wine on their lawn with a view, then we had a tasty Chinese chicken salad and got to visit with their younger daughter, Maureen who is home from an archeological dig in Montana and had some stories to tell. 

After dinner we all watched Mama Mia for some light hearted sing along entertainment. 

Then on Friday Jenny and I met up with Chris and her sister Sue.  Chris did a great job of trailering and launching four kayaks on Lake Valley Reservoir up Hey 80 near Yuba Gap for a mid day kayak adventure. Very enjoyable!

It is good to have friends!  Thank you all for hosting me, for the love and hugs, and for letting me cry on your shoulder as I re-enter Mike and my home town. 

17.07.13 - 17. La Calle a Sacramento

It seems like I did not get fully undone from the trip to Mexico before it is time to pack to leave MT (aka: the Motorhome) again - to return to my hometown family and friends for the first time since I left in December, one week after Mike's memorial service.

But first I had to drive 610 miles northbound to Sacramento in the summer heat.
I chose to break it up into 4 short driving days with plenty of down time at some point in each day. 

I got off to a good start -  the first driving day was hot, but went off without a hitch.

-  efficient packing to road readiness allowed time for a short swim in the Wilderness Lakes adult only pool after the jeep was hitched up before I left at 10:45 AM. 

- lunch date with Elvita, my new Spanish speaking friend,  at a shopping plaza area near her home in Corona ( I always look for the Best Buy/Ross/etc big box store parking lots when I'm towing the Jeep because it is easy to park, and usually has an anchor restaurant nearby)  a short hour drive north on a new travel path to Camarillo. 

 - I went to a HUGE RV salvage and parts store - StarDeck Industries in Corona - after lunch. The very attractive lady behind the counter gave me some hubcap schooling which helped me find the right hubcap for MT ( to replace the one that got away on my road trip back from Phoenix this past March.).

 - interesting and relatively low traffic drive to Camarillo taking a new path through Pasadena instead of LA because I was starting from Wilderness Lakes in Menifee. 

 - Early evening arrival at the really comfortable street parking near Roger and Michal's house in Camarillo.

 

This really comfortable bedroom has been a frequent stop for us when traveling between Sacramento and San Diego

 

This time we gave Roger a break from cooking and went out for pizza dinner where we toasted Mike and baseball and over a pitcher of beer and good conversation. 
 

Day 2 took me as far north as Atascadero.  I decided to stop there while looking at Google Maps this morning and was reminded it was 335 miles to my ultimate destination in San Jose, and that is just too far for me to drive in one day.  California wildfires were in evidence from Hwy 101 oday

 

I arrived with no incident at about 4:30 and was planning to have a leisurely evening, listening to the Giants and getting organized in the Jeep and with my travel bags - I'm still working on the unpack from Mexico and repack for trip north to Oregon. 

Instead, I had what could have been a serious accident during the set up process at the Atascadero Elks Lodge RV parking.  I was doing one thing ( plugging in the utilities) 

and thinking about the next thing 

(going to pay for my spot and have a beer in the Elks Club lounge).  

Thirty minutes later as I was sitting with a group of friendly strangers, one of who was also learning Spanish, a couple entered the brightly lit lounge and asked if anyone owned a Southwind.   I do!  They told me I had water troubles in my rig. I jumped up , ran out of the place and back to MT to see what was the matter. I had carelessly attached the hose that brings in fresh city water from the water spicket at my site to the black water tank flush nozzle rather than the fresh water tank nozzle on the Motorhome.  My internal holding tanks (which thank goodness were empty and had been very recently power washed out by a mobile service man while I was staying in Wildetness Lakes) had filled up completely when I turned the water on and left for the lounge. They had flooded out onto the floor inside 

 

and were dripping from the edges of the tanks underneath onto the ground. The neighbors saw the problem, turned off the water at the source and came looking for the silly Southwind owner in the bar. Operator error created a mess and I spent the rest of the daylight hours sopping up water from the floor and carpet with towels. I got the carpet so it didn't squish when I walked in the wet spots before I gave up for the night. 

 

Two lessons learned:  

1:  tape off the black water tank flush nozzle so that won't happen again ( because to say "only think about one thing at a time" is like asking me to become right handed - not gonna happen!)

2:   Slow down and check your work - this Southwind is my home, and if anything bad happenes to it for ANY reason that would be another life changing moment.  I've had enough of those lately - no more for a while please!

Day 3 took me from Atascadero to San Jose Elks RV park where I plugged in electric (but no water) opened up the slides and windows, turned on a floor fan and crossed my fingers that everything would dry out in the 100 heat while I went to visit with Kelly, Jim, Pat and Tom for 24 hours. Lucky for me it did dry out.   I'm waiting to see if the wood underneath stays odor free - we are in a heat wave, so I'm optimistic!

Pat cooked us a feast for dinner and we enjoyed catching up on family news, and sharing stories of my trip - I pulled out to display and tell the stories behind the experience of buying the trinkets that I brought back from Mexico to share with family and friends. Kelly is a role model when it comes to shopping, so I thought she would enjoy seeing all the goodies and getting to choose one for herself.  She did enjoy the experience, but was teased when she learned that no, it was not an "all you can eat" shopping spree, but a one trinket per person limit. She actually got two items ( because Jim declined -  saying he enjoyed the presentation show and that was gift enough) the large colorful hair clamps which I had earmarked for Kelly, too, and the small Hennequen turtle which I had placed no value on but learned that others saw it completely differently.  

After the shopping spree, we watched Pride and Prejudice - the older, extra long movie with a young and handsome Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.  

Day 4 drive started late in the afternoon. I went to church with Pat in the AM and had some more visit time with all until 2:00. Then I returned to MT (aka: the Motorhome) to take advantage of the electricity ( and related air conditioning - did I mention it is HOT?) to finish packing the suitcase for a 10 day car camping vacation once I get to Auburn. Once I left San José I had my final drive through San Jose and over the Altamont Pass and arrived three hours later at sunset at Thunder Valley 

 

where Mike and I have parked numerous times before for a night or two while getting organized for the next thing. This time I was not visited by Thunder Valley security at all. Sometimes they come by and give a free parking pass good for up to four nights. 

I was only staying one night. Tomorrow is the first day of the car camping vacation. My current road trip from San Diego to Sacramento is over, and except for the near disaster with the mini flood, the trip was smooth sailing.  

Buen viaje esta verdad otra vez!

Safe travels is true once again!

17.06.28-07.12 Re-entry

Tonight marks the end of my second week back in the states. I purposely re-entered slowly, wanting to keep the experience alive and the Spanish going. 

The first three nights I stayed with friends:

Chris and Rick, who took great care of my Jeep at their house while I was gone, also picked me up from the airport and gave me a comfortable place to relax and let the shock of being back  in the US sink in. Chris was a dedicated reader of this blog, and I enjoyed the feedback she gave me during the trip and during our night and morning together.

Roger and Jeannie housed me for two nights. Jeannie was not feeling 100% but did a good job of staying strong and we had some really good conversations. They were interested listeners and encouraged my stories about Spanish and traveling alone and missing Mike, because they had not read much of the blog - only the posts I published with a link in Facebook. I was happy to meet one of their neighbors at the pool on my first full day back - this person overheard us talking about my learning Spanish, and jumped in the conversation saying she grew up in Spain as a child but had lost much of her Spanish since her parents did not keep the language alive for her when they moved to the US. (This is not an uncommon story.)  But she had enough to understand me, and we had an enjoyable short conversation. Day one - Spanish conversation? Check!

After three nights inland, I headed back to the beach for an afternoon on my way to the Motorhome.  When I saw it and got near my stomping grounds I was hit with a strong wave of emotion returning to the place I spent the first four months after Mike left. It was good. 

 

While I sat there on the beach, attempting to hold on to the memories of the next to months I spent in Mexico by eating avocado,

 

I got a text and picture from Adriana, my friend from the restaurant Eleganzza in Valladolid ( see Valladolid - Traveling alone) 

 

We were both thinking about the great experience of getting to know each other in her restaurant, town and home. 

Beach re-entry and more Spanish writing complete, finally it was time to return to the Motorhome. Mary enjoyed her time living in it and camp hosting while I was gone. She had just completed her last shift and was beginning to think about her next move. 

I left my suitcase in the car and acted like a guest during our one week visit and transition.  We did a lot of talking - Mary is pretty good with Spanish too and she helped launch my current learning curve two years ago with a very memorable lesson about how to to conjugate verbs. 

 

On Sunday I went to the local farmers market and bought a tamale for lunch from a very Spanish speaking vendor just so I could have a conversation with her.  The tamale was good, too, of course!

 

After two nights we moved the Motorhome out of the camp host spot 

 

to a no-hookup spot Mary was comped for three nights which was really good to have available to us since it was July 4 holiday time. 

On July 4, I rode my bike ( thanks to Connie who gifted me her bike when I left Auburn in December)  the 6 miles north to visit with some camp host friends who had a ocean front comp spot ( as camp hosts we are allowed two complementary weeks but they are hard to schedule due to high demand and small number of available sites).  When I arrived I was thrilled to be introduced to Elena's friend Elvita from Peru. I asked "Tu hablas español?"

She said Si! and I madre every one laugh because I clapped, jumped up and down with joy and launched into my under-utilized Spanish. We traded contact information too!

 

My camp host buddy, Elana on the right is Latina too, but I never knew that since we did not talk about it before this trip. Interesting!

When Mary and I ran out of free nights at the beach, we moved inland to a Thousand Trails campground that Mike and I have stayed in every year after finishing up at the beach. 

 

As usual this time of year, it was hot. Not just hot - red hot 113 degrees. So Mary and I took a day off for board games in the clubhouse air conditioning because even with the A/C running on high, the Motorhome could not stay cool. 

So the next morning, before it got too hot again, Mary took off one day early and I got my house back. I enjoyed the transition time and visiting with my long time friend ( we know each other from the Stockton years when we were both having babies) but after 10 days I was ready to unpack and get settled in before starting the trip north. 

My first act was to take a day trip up to high country to get out of the heat. I met my nephew Jimmy at a restaurant for lunch

 

Then went even higher to the cute town of Idlywild which has been on my list since we started coming to South Carlsbad, but due to health challenges, Mike and I never made it together. Too bad - he would have liked it too. I figured it was a good was to spend my birthday - cooler at 7,000 feet in the mountains. 

I took one full stay-at-home day ( I did not even go to the pool for exercise) to begin the moving in, rearranging, purging process which I really enjoy. If it hasn't been used or moved in months, it is taking up space!  I didn't complete the project in this one day, but I put a big dent in it and had a relaxing time doing it!

Next up was an overnight trip to visit Mary Pienton in Lake Forest ( Orange County). Mary worked at Touche Ross & Co in Grand Rapids Michigan way back in our right-out-of-college days. We have been staying in touch from afar over the years,  and she arrived in Orange County about the same time we started  hosting at South Carlsbad, so now we are neighbors again. We got caught up poolside in the afternoon, then I tagged along to her volunteer gig at the Laguna Beach art festival  and pageant where they turn a series of  larger than life sized painting replicas into living art with all the back stage activity of  more traditional theatre. Very interesting and enjoyable. 

 

The next morning I drove south to my old neighborhood and hooked up with Robin for a walk at the beach, and then we joined Beth for lunch in Encinitas. Both these friends came to me through Mike's disease. Robin lost her husband two years ago and Beth is still caregiving for her Mike. Here we are last year when Beth and Mike came to visit us at the beach

 

My last act in Carlsbad this year was to go over to Beth and Mike's house to watch the All-Star game on TV with Mike. He and my Mike are both baseball fans. Every year Mike and I make a point of finding an interesting place to watch the game. This year I shared the experience with Beth's Mike instead and we toasted Mike Tomczak and honored his extraordinary baseball knowledge over a beer. Perfect for all of us!