We're finally underway. That was the hardest departure ever. We left the driveway at 4:45PM, drove 20 miles and parked at the Petaluma Elks Lodge. It made it easier to be at the Coast Guard base early the next morning to get Carole's new dependent ID card. That done, and a farewell breakfast at Della Fattoria, we drove to our favorite halfway point, Harris Ranch.
Harris Ranch was an odd place to spend Christmas Eve and we had it all to ourselves. The parking lot lighting makes this photo look eerie.
Breakfast Christmas morning was the best Cinnamon Rolls ever!
Now we are spending 10-12 days in Southern California. The Friday before we left, Linda got an infusion of Zometa. The endocrinologist wants blood work in two weeks so it was simpler to stay within a Kaiser Region for the lab work.
No hardship there! Daytime temps near 80° and nights in the fifties. Flowers everywhere and wonderful, tropical vegetation.
Our usual camping place didn't work out but we found a strange spot at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. It's a packed dirt parking lot and it's only $18 - half what Seal Beach would be.
As we pulled in and went to unhook the car, Carole realized that she had left the car ignition on, so a dead battery. Fortunately, we have these wonderful jumper cables that Linda has had for umpteen years, (about 40 years to be exact). She got them when Sally worked at a company that made jumper cables. Thanks, Sal, they still work.
As we pulled in and went to unhook the car, Carole realized that she had left the car ignition on, so a dead battery. Fortunately, we have these wonderful jumper cables that Linda has had for umpteen years, (about 40 years to be exact). She got them when Sally worked at a company that made jumper cables. Thanks, Sal, they still work.
The view out our back window. Not sure what the vegetation is, but there are birds in it, so Dancer and Katie are happy.
This is the view from our front window. As you can tell this is not a very fancy place. And the helicopters fly day and night.
Our next door neighbor, Mike, is a Wounded Warrior, here for PTSD treatment. He tells us he is 42 years old and did 28 years in the military. After repeated injuries, he was not expected to ever walk again. He loves his motorcycles and began building a trike he thought he might be able to ride. As you can see, he worked so hard to be able to ride his BMW again that he now walks and rides.
He bought this big RV used, so he can stay on base while he is in the rehab program. He lives in Simi Valley and goes home every two weeks to mow the lawn.
Sunday morning we went to the Long Beach Farmers' Market. Linda wanted Cherimoyas but they weren't available yet. The farmer did have Dragon Fruit. We bought strawberries, asparagus, avocado, apples (from Stockton!) and hothouse blue- and blackberries. It was so different from home because it's so near the warm growing area in San Diego County.
We thought this was such a unique way of displaying persimmons. The colorful plastic baskets made quite a likable presentation.
The driver of this beauty put his purchases in the rumble seat!
Long Beach always did have marinas, but now they have many times the former number of boats in them. Good revenue stream I guess.
I read and enjoyed your blog. Thanks for the link. My Zometa appointment is this Thursday.
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