West Coast Swing Part II

 

Destination: Dodger Stadium, but first some sightseeing.  We left in plenty of time to make one of my favorite drives down the Pacific Coast Highway.  But to get there we went through Malibu Canyon.  When you come out of the canyon and see the Pacific Ocean, it's breathtaking.

Pepperdine University might just have the most stunning view of any college campus.



            

                Pepperdine University       

The Dodger Stadium experience was one of the best since we started our journey.  When you watched a Dodgers game on TV, Vin Scully would talk about Chavez Ravine, so I thought the ballpark was in a valley, but quite the opposite.  The stadium and surrounding parking lots have a 360 degree view of L.A. 










    

The 3rd oldest stadium in baseball behind Fenway and Wrigley.



From our seats, we could see the mountains which was really cool.









It was Jackie Robinson Day.  All the players wore the number 42 and they had tributes throughout the game on the video board.

Since he played for the Dodgers (in Brooklyn) his wife, son and daughter were also there.

Even though it got chilly later on, Jane was prepared.







After we left L.A., we drove to our campground near Hollister, about 100 miles south of San Francisco.

The day after we arrived, we decided to go to Carmel and drive down the famous 17 Mile Drive.


Wow!  Talk about a ritzy neighborhood.  "How ritzy was it?"  I'm glad you asked, it was so ritzy, they charge you $10 just to drive through. 






             That's actually somebody's house.  King Arthur?














Although the conditions were not ideal, we had to take a picture of the most photographed tree in the world, the Lone Cypress.

And then of course
there's Pebble Beach golf course.



Am I drooling?




The next day we went to San Francisco to see my cousin Bob and his wife Maryann.  We hadn't seen them since Chris and Angie were at Golden Gate Seminary, over 9 years ago.  It was great catching up with what our families are doing and Bob shared things about my parents, during their time in South St. Louis, that I didn't know.







Next up, the Rangers at the Oakland A's.  The game was a blowout and not in a good way, but another stadium crossed off my list.

I didn't realize they named the field after Ricky Henderson for being Nolan Ryan's 5,000th strikeout. :)




Our next ballgame was not for two weeks, which gave us some time to be tourists.  First stop, Crater Lake National Park.

Yuba City, CA to Prospect, OR is one of the prettiest drives we've ever made.  We drove through the pine-covered mountains of northern California, past Mt. Shasta and into the Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon.  It was cloudy, foggy and rainy when we arrived at Crater Lake campground.  The next day was the same, except without the rain, so we decided to go to Mill Creek Falls.

To get to the rapids, we had to go through the Avenue of Giant Boulders, very cool.

We guessed that the waterfall across the river was maybe 75-100 ft.






We wanted to go up to Crater Lake, but it was snowing up there, raining where we were and still foggy. 

So we didn't think we'd be able to see anything.

We were supposed to leave the next day, but the truck started having transmission problems and we had to put it in the shop in Medford.  With a rental car and a few more days on our hands, we caught a break in the weather and on Saturday headed for Crater Lake.  It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and is in a crater formed by a collapsed volcano.  It is fed only by rain and melted snow.


                                       


                                                 There was 10-12 feet of snow.










We look like we're freezing, but actually it was 55 degrees and we were quite comfortable.

Maybe the 7,000 ft. elevation had something to do with it.











                                            It turned out to be a beautiful day.






We got the truck back and headed for Portland and a trip to Mt. Hood.

We were only scheduled to be at the campground for one full day and again, the weather smiled on us.




Timberline Lodge, built by the WPA in the 1930s was a work of art.

Snow up to the roof.  The area averages 21 ft of snow each year.

Looking down at the huge stone fireplace.



Everything was built by hand.  All the furniture is made of wood. 

And the mountain was pretty impressive too.  We were at 6,000 ft. and the mountain peaks out at over 11,000 ft.


Again, a very comfortable 55 degrees.

 

Then, it was on to Seattle for a Rangers game with the Mariners.  But no trip to Seattle would be complete without going to the Pike St. market where they sell fish, fudge, flowers and a whole lot more.

 

One thing we learned about being in the Pacific Northwest in May. . .













It's cold here!!! 

I'm in there somewhere.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The temperature said 50, but we had a 20 mph wind blowing right in our faces and it felt like 30.



That completes our baseball stadium tour for this year.  Jane's been to every park except the new one in Atlanta and I still have Fenway and Atlanta left.  That's a trip for another time.

Time to start heading back to warmer regions; after all, we still have friends, kids and grandkids in Texas that we haven't seen for over 4 months, but we have a few more things to do before we get back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Coast Swing

No, it's not a dance, just our meanderings through the land of fruits and nuts.  California really is Americas Salad Bowl, so they say.
Lots of agriculture, stuff growing everywhere and we can't identify most of it.
Our first contact with the nuts was on the freeway.  Seems as soon as we crossed the state line and were officially in California, people started tailgating me (and not the pre-game party-in-the-parking- lot kind).  They are also in an extreme hurry to get where they are going.  I'm not judging, especially in my case, having lived in Texas most of my life and more than happy to drive as fast as I can on those wide open stretches (BTW I was the youngest to "earn" my PhD in defensive driving.), but they are all going by me on both sides like I'm standing still.

We reached our campground in Jamul, CA only to find that it's in a canyon and there was NO cell service.  The sites were on both sides of a highway and we had to get in the truck, cross the road and go to the swimming pool area to get a cell signal. (first world problem, I guess)

 

For my birthday, we decided to just go to San Diego and bum around for the day.  Of course, a trip to San Diego would not be complete without going to the Del Coronado hotel.

A guy was there building sandcastles for a wedding and this one just happened to mark the date.

These guys are truly artists.  The detail is amazing and when I asked him, "How do you do that?", he said, "You start with a big pile of sand and remove the part that doesn't look like a castle."  Simple.

Fun fact:  The Del Coronado, opened in 1888, is the second largest wooden structure in the U.S. We decided that the people hired to paint the exterior have perpetual job security.






Slightly because of the traffic issues and mostly because we're cheap and didn't want to pay for parking, we found a Park & Ride, parked the truck and took the MetroLink train to the game in San Diego at Petco Park. Because the train has a lower fare for seniors and the parking lot doesn't.
 
 

Our favorite spot; behind home plate, in the upper deck.  Great view of downtown and we can always see the replays on the video board.

The high temp that day in San Diego was only 68 and by the end of the 5th (inning, not Jack Daniels) it was 59 and we were ready to go.







We moved from Jamul (San Diego) to Menifee (Los Angeles) and went to the Rangers game at Angel Stadium.  Really nice stadium inside and out.  It got cold here too, but it was the Rangers so we  hung in there for the full nine innings.  Rangers lost but we stayed for the whole ugly thing.

Even the mouse is apparently an Angels fan.





















Here we are again, upper deck behind home plate.  No downtown view here but the mountains are really nice.



Today, 4/13, we moved again.  Now we're in Acton and preparing to go to Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

 

Time to Catch Up - Part II

More Fun / Less Stress

This was our second trip to Voyager RV Resort in Tucson.  The first time we spent a month back in Oct/Nov of 2015.  It's a great park for senior adults with over 300 activities and events to keep retirees out of trouble.

We wanted to see what Tucson was like in the winter months because, after all, our # 1goal was to find a place to settle down when we have completed our sight-seeing tour of the U.S.

Tucson is situated at 2500 feet elevation and we found out that in January and February, it gets dad gum cold, violating our # 2 goal of never being cold again.  Thank goodness for our electric mattress pad.  I will say this in Tucson's favor, even when the highs were in the low 60s, when the sun was shining, it was plenty warm for pickleball.  It wasn't quite warm enough for Jane to go to the pool for water exercises though.  The low humidity, almost no bugs and beautiful mountains make it a pretty desirable place to be.  Oh, and did I mention lots of pickleball, 14 courts and they keep 'em busy.

They also have some gorgeous sunsets over the mountains.

 

By early March, we had the wheel / axle fixed and the body work completed just in time for Jimmie and Ed to come visit for a few days.  We had a great time going to Sabino Canyon, near Mt. Lemmon.

The next day Ed and I played golf while the girls went to line dancing and water exercises and played pickleball.

Jane here - while I was line dancing and going to water exercises, Jim was busy honing his pickleball skills.  He became a rated player at the 3.5 level.  The ranking system goes from 2.0 to 5.0.  The week after Jimmie and Ed's visit, the park held it's annual pickleball tournament.  Jim entered the men's doubles and  mixed doubles and received a bronze medal in men's doubles and a silver in mixed doubles.

                 In mixed doubles, they lost the gold medal match by 1 point.  Maybe next year.

Then, it was time to check off another one of our travel goals, to attend some Texas Rangers spring training games in Surprise, AZ.  My cousin, Rick Spear, was in Surprise for some games also and we got to see each other there!  I knew he was there through the wonder of facebook. 
















The Rangers and Royals share the same stadium and there are 14 other teams that go to AZ for spring training.

Spring Training is over and it's time to start the season and we're headed west to attend games in San Diego, LA, Oakland and Seattle. We will see the Rangers at all these games except San Diego.  Then, we will have completed our goal to attend a game in every major league stadium (actually, Jim still hasn't been to Fenway and I remind him that I've been there whenever we watch the Rangers play the Red Sox on TV)

We made it to El Centro, CA. 

This park is between Yuma, AZ and San Diego.

We can look out our window and see the mountains in Mexico.
















James 4:15 says, "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

If the Lord wills and we live, here's where we plan to be this year -

April 5-8 San Diego
April 9 - 13 Los Angeles
April 14 - 19 San Francisco/Oakland
April 20 -22 Oregon House, CA
April 23 - 26 Crater Lake, OR
April 27 - 30 Mt. Hood, OR
May 1 - 5 Seattle, WA
May 6 - 8 Florence, OR
May 9 - 10 Mt. Shasta, CA
May 11 - 18 work our way down to Santa Barbara and then to So. Cal.
May 18 - 27 work our way to Flagstaff, AZ
May 27  meet up with Bill, LuAnn and Becca in Flagstaff

There will be some time spent in Texas and at the lake in Arkansas after that and then back to Texas for our annual doctor appointments and to get the RV and truck inspections.  We have reservations for the winter in a park in the Rio Grande valley in Texas. Some other couples from the park in Tucson will be there so that should be fun.  It is always a little intimidating going to a park where a lot of the snowbirds already know each other from years past and we are the newbies.  So knowing people when we get there will feel good.

So.......here we go......another wild and crazy spring.  Have you ever awakened in your own bed but not been sure what city you are in???  Always an adventure.

 

Time to Catch Up - Part I

A Very Different Holiday Season

In August we filed an insurance claim to replace our roof.  Finally, the claim was approved and we scheduled the work to be done starting the 14^th of Nov.

We made a hotel reservation for a week, but of course, the job did not get finished, which carried us into the week of Thanksgiving.  It was going to be a short week and the chances of getting our home out of the shop by Thursday were decreasing rapidly.

Brian had planned to stay with us in the RV, but now it looked like the 3 of us might have to spend Thanksgiving in a hotel room.

However, our heavenly father knows our needs before we do and in this case, he provided a way we could spend Thanksgiving in a much more comfortable situation.

Some friends of Chris and Angie said they were going out of town for the week and we could stay at their house while they were gone.

It couldn’t have worked out better.  We had a great Thanksgiving, everyone had a place to sleep and the house was wonderful.  5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms plus a theater room, game room (with Ping Pong table) and a huge dining room where we enjoyed Jane’s wonderful Thanksgiving lunch. 

Christmas was also unlike any we had had previously.  We had a new roof and after getting a new set of axles, the house was set up in our “home” city of Livingston, TX.  It’s where our mail forwarding service is located, 70 miles northeast of Houston, in the piney woods of east Texas.

                                                              Jane's unique Christmas tree

Chris, Angie and the kids spent Christmas Day with Chris’ family, 90 miles to the south.  Brian came to spend a couple days and the 7 of us slept at our house on Christmas night.  For 7 people to sleep in our house on wheels was a record that will probably never be broken, at least we hope so.

We had a great Christmas celebration on the 26th and the weather was nice enough that we ate Jane’s fantastic Christmas lunch outside, under the awning. 

 

Brian went back home to resume work, but the six of us spent the next few days going to the park, playing with new toys and games and just enjoying meals and being together.  Caleb rode his new bike in the park and we shot rockets while Hannah painted, danced and sang songs.

 While the rest of humanity was getting ready to count down to 2017, we were on the road again, headed west on I-10.  We made it to Junction, TX and then drove on New Year’s Day to Las Cruces, NM.  We had 300 miles left and made it 299.25 before our right rear wheel on the RV fell off, tearing up the side of the RV.  Seems the guy who put our wheels back on, when we had the axles replaced, forgot to put the cotter pin back in the spindle. 

Some people would say that we were lucky that the wheel fell off less than a mile from our destination.  We were lucky that it didn’t happen 30 seconds sooner, when we were going 65 mph on I-10.  We were lucky that the wheel didn’t hit another car and hurt someone.  I prefer to believe that we have a loving heavenly father who is able to protect us from harm.  We drove 1129 miles, mostly on the interstate at 65 mph and the wheel fell off when we were making a turn at 5 mph.  Thank you Lord.

 

A good Samaritan in a pickup truck behind us stopped and picked up our wheel for us.  We agreed that he would go home (a short distance away) and come back with a ratchet and chain.  Another passerby stopped and called the Sheriff’s department to send a squad car to assist.  I used my 2.5 ton floor jack to raise the axle up off the street and we were able to limp in to the RV resort to a temporary site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spite of having to get estimates, schedule the work, countless emails with the company that caused the damage, and then getting the work done, we managed to get involved in the activities of the park.  I started playing pickleball, Jane went to line dancing and together we took a class in ballroom dancing, learned the foxtrot (sort of) went to a couple of concerts and several dances and tried to do the things we were expecting to do when we arrived.  We got to see the people we had met last time we were in Tucson and made new friends.  Jane took a beginner pickleball lesson and played games with beginners. (We all know that I am not athletic……so this has been quite a stretch! Jane)

Part II follows.