November 15-21, Making my way to Borrego Springs

I arrived in San Jose, California to nice warm sunshiny weather.  What a treat. My brother and cousin both live in San Jose.  My first stop was to see my cousin Rich.  We grew up in the same small town (Pacific Grove) and he and my brother and I all hung out together as kids.  I often stop in San Jose to see my brother and cousin on the way to Pacific Grove but I have missed my cousin Rich the last few times.

Rich is a wood turner and makes lots of beautiful bowls and other wooden objects.  He loves to find an unusual piece or type of wood and then turn a bowl.  He also gives wood turning classes in his shop.

                                                   This is one of my favorites.


Rich also is a train collector and has a garden train.  The day I visited him, the Bay Area Garden Railway Society was having a series of open houses displaying the trains, and Rich's   garden train was on display.

I spent the night at my brother's  and then headed down to Pacific Grove to visit with Mom.  I was blessed with more warm sunshiny weather most of the week.  Friday I headed towards Frazier Park to see my friend John.  For those who follow my blog you know John had major surgery over a year ago and I am happy to say I think he is doing really well.  He has had a few bumps along the way but for having such a serious major surgery has made wonderful progress.  He has his one year checkup in a few weeks and we are keeping our fingers crossed that tests will be clear. It  rained Saturday morning and was generally a "yucky" day so I decided to spend the rest of Saturday in Frazier Park and leave early Sunday morning and avoid L.A. traffic on the way to Borrego Springs.  Wow was I surprised when I woke up Sunday morning:

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get out of Frazier Park on Sunday, (most of the roads are gravel, full of ruts, and steep) but the sun  came out for a little while and melted some of the snow and I was on my way by 10:00.  Once I got down to the bottom of the hill and hit the freeway the roads were clear and it was pretty easy driving to Borrego Springs.

The WINS are staying a few miles east of Borrego Springs for Thanksgiving week. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces upon my arrival and reunite with friends I haven't seen since last spring. I've never been to this part of California and I am looking forward to a great week.

November 13, on to California..finally

When I last posted my RV refrigerator and forced air furnace were on the fritz. I was able to make an appointment for Friday.  I was particularly irritated about the heater acting up because it had been exactly one year since I had a new switch put in it.  It turned out the switch was stuck, so it was an easy fix but not cheap as I was charged 3 hours labor.  

The repairman also told me he smelled ammonia and that my refrigerator would have to be replaced but didn't offer any explanation and added he was charging and small additional diagnosis fee (for smelling the ammonia is suspect) and a new fridge would cost about $1,400 with about 4 hours labor to install the new one. ($110 per hour)  I wasn't going to purchase a new fridge just because there was an ammonia smell so I  called another repairman who had done work for me but was 50 miles away.  He asked a lot of questions and said he could squeeze me in on Monday and indicated he felt four hours labor was  a tad high.   I figures with $1,900 on the line a few days wait wouldn't hurt.  

I arrived at the second repairman's business on Monday and within ten minutes he had my refrigerator working but....five minutes later it quit.  Oddly, no ammonia smell. He pulled the old refrigerator out and found a weld had broken..unrepairable. He had several new refrigerators in stock  so a new refrigerator was installed and I was on my way, satisfied that I did in fact need a new refrigerator. I was only charged 1 1/4 labor for everything and was given a substantial discount on the fridge.  Recall information was checked and unfortunately mine was not on the list.  The new Norcold looks much more sturdy and should hold up better. A second opinion certainly paid off.  I suspect frost heaves and bumpy roads of Alaska resulted in the broken line. 

So now I was off to Portola, California to see my youngest son Jeremy.  Good thing I had my heater fixed..night time temperatures dropped to 22 degrees..burrr.  Last year at this time, I was just south of Portola and night time temperatures at that time  dropped to minus 10 so 22 wasn't bad.  

I'm now  officially on my way south for the winter.  Today's temperatures in the Sacramento area reached 65 degrees.  YESSS!.  I'm on my way to the coast to see my  brother and then my Mom and then on to catch up with the WINS in Southern California.   Can't wait!!!

 

 

 

November 4- Beeline to Reno

                                           Sunset at  I-80 rest stop

Generally, I don't like to drive more than a few hundred miles a day but the trip from the farm to Reno was an exception.  Having a taste of ice, snow, and freezing fog, I wanted to get to Reno and get some business taken care of before more bad weather set in, so marathon days of driving were on the agenda.  I used to drive twelve hours a day when I was part of the insurance catastrophe team and we were required to drive at least 12 hours a day in order to reach our destination, so I figured it was no biggie to drive to Reno in a few days.  Wrong!  Six hundred mile days are a thing of the past..I'm not thirty any more.

Sadie used to sit by me between the diver's and passenger seats and it was a little weird not having her sitting there.  Without Sadie I didn't need to stop as frequently so I had to remind myself to stop and get out and walk around the rig and check things out.  Walking around without her was a little unsettling, but I guess I'll get used to it with time.

The drive was not uneventful.  My refrigerator and propane furnace quit; my GPS quit charging; and I was delayed an hour at a rest stop where my keys fell behind a permanently installed bench and I needed a coat hanger to get them out. (I was not the only person who had lost things behind the bench..all kinds of stuff was scooped out, including $1.00 worth of change.) Anyway, I was able to schedule an appointment to have things check out today so hopefully I can be back on the road to California next week to see family.

After all of my rushing to beat the bad weather, it looks like the next few days will be warm and sunny..a real autumn summer.  I'm looking forward to seeing my son's new house in Portola  to so some hiking in the hills around Reno and catching up with some old friends.

November 1...goodbye to Saskatchewan

I left the farm this morning to head back towards Nevada and then on to California.  I really hadn't planned to stay on the Farm so long but it has been so relaxing and nice to be in one place for awhile.  Also, Sadie became an issue.

 Sadie just loved the farm.  She was able to run free as she pleased or just lounge around near the house.  She rarely ventured out to the road and if she did it was to follow me on my bike or go for a walk.  Sadly, Sadie is not returning to the states with me.  She didn't return from the field one night and I have combed the fields and nearby farms and no one has seen her.  The general  consensus that the coyotes or coons got her. She was tagged and "chipped" but to date I've  no phone calls so I don't think she will be returning.  I'm very sad to say the least, but I know her last days were spent doing what she like to do best..running and chasing critters and swimming.

I've been asked several time if I'll get another dog.  The answer is no, not because I don't want another dog but because I think it is very hard to travel with one.  There are so many places dog are not allowed and thus are left in the RV which is not fair.  There have been times when I have had to kennel her which was very hard on both of us. For now I'll get my "dog fix" from fellow RVers or visit the local dog park. Sadie has been with me for nearly  eleven years and will be dearly missed.  Good bye Sadie.