Ok,
I’ll preface this with, yeah, we didn’t take many photos.
But,
it’s similar to our trip in March, so they’d be about the same.
We knew
we wanted to get out of the summer heat for our anniversary, and we succeeded.
On Sunday, July 7th we headed over to our new favorite getaway town,
Cayucos. We stayed in Space number 7 this time.
Space
number 9 last time. What we didn’t foresee was another,
different, health issue that mostly grounded me—again.
As we
left the Fresno area heading toward the coast, it was exhilarating to watch the
temperature slowly climbing as we crossed the San Joaquin Valley into Avenal
and Cholame, and then started dropping.
Late
morning temps were in the high 90s° F headed to a high in Fresno of 113°.
In
Cholame it was 101°, but by the time we got to Paso Robles, it had dropped to
the mid-90s again.
The
trailer was looking a little dirty, so we found Golden Hill Self Wash in Paso
Robles, and were able to wash off the storage yard dirt.
Kari was much happier. The spray from the wash
was like an outdoor swamp cooler.
It
felt refreshing.
Heading
west on SR-46 out of “Paso,” toward SR-1, it was fun counting down the
temperature as it dropped the further we went.
We stopped in a large dirt turnout a few miles short of SR-1 and enjoyed lunch
in cool weather and a distant ocean view.
Arriving
in Cayucos, there was a nice Marine Layer, and it was 63°, substantially lower than what we set our air
conditioner at home. It was heaven.
The
whole week was just the same. We kept an eye on the Fresno
temperature, and just smiled at each other.
As we
were preparing to come here for our March trip, I dropped a heavy hard plastic
box on my right foot, with a corner striking the top center of my foot.
It
was excruciating, I could barely walk, and it was restricting the first few
days during our visit. I felt terrible not being able join Kari
walking around town. It slowly got better, yet still hurt for
weeks.
After
returning from the March trip, we had several projects we wanted to complete
before the summer weather hit. The finished removal of the
aforementioned orange tree from hell was one of them.
Up
and down a ladder, twisting around to hang new curtain rods and curtains, older plants
dug up and removed, replacement plants put in, and finishing touches on
repairing the heavy front water fountain. Finally, adding an awkward to install shelf over the bed in the trailer.
I
freely admit the obvious, I’m not in shape anymore—except maybe the shape of plump.
During
all those projects, I beat myself up pretty badly for things I once was able to
do much easier. And frankly, I probably should still be
able to do them without the damage I caused my body.
I
felt like I strained or pulled muscles, ligaments, and everything else in my
legs. Knees, which my doctor had previously shared suffer
unfixable damage with age, hurt so much I could barely walk.
And
somewhere, somehow, for the first time in my life I pulled a hamstring in my right leg. Hopefully it’s the only time.
My
gosh it was painful. I communicated my
woes with my primary physician via the handy app, and he confirmed my
suspicions. He told me to continue to stay off my
feet and keep cold compresses on it.
The
hamstring slowly got better as expected.
Not
so much the knees, especially my right knee.
On
this trip, sadly I was once again severely limited to walking
distances. (I am going in for a consultation with
my physician soon.)
The
trip continues.
I was
able to walk around town a little bit.
Twice
we walked to Bijou Bakery for breakfast.
They
have a great seating area under a large canopy.
The bacon
quiche and pastries were delicious.
Spending
several days in the coastal climate is always a reminder for me about growing
up in similar climates. We really enjoyed our time, reading,
relaxing, and Kari taking Parfait on long walks around town.
As
she walked, she noticed several properties for sale.
That
led to wondering how outrageous the real estate market is in Cayucos—and it
is—to realizing once again, the only way we could move to a place like this is
to win the lottery. Kari purchased tickets, knowing that with any
winnings we have already agreed to give have the net to our church. We’ll be staying in Clovis. Our
church is getting an extra dollar this year.
Our
time in Cayucos briefly overlapped with Fresno friends.
On
our second to the last night, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Luanda
Garden Bistro. We dined in a recessed garden patio with Fresno
friends Chris and Bill Trollinger and former Fresnan Sharon Van Loon who
is now a local in the area near Cayucos.
On
our final night, we joined those three again at a home next to our RV park
rented by Fresno friends Tina and Gary Kinsey, who were hosting a traditional
taco night for their large family gathering.
It
was crazy, delicious, and very fun.
We
broke camp the next day and headed south to Ventura, stopping for lunch in a dirt pullout
along US-101 north of Santa Barbara for an ocean view trailer lunch.
We noted how trashy the highway is thanks to discourteous people tossing their litter out. By coincidence, as we ended our lunch, a CalTrans team showed up and started cleaning the area. Some heroes wear orange.
Ventura
County’s Hobson Beach Campground was our destination for three nights.
There really isn’t a view of the Pacific Ocean from the campground site due to the protective
rock wall, yet the sounds of the ocean are constant.
I was
a bit worried it would be noisy at night because there were so many children
running around during the day, but at 10 pm, the only sounds were the ocean. The
campground also has a snack bar with good food, and the showers clean.
On Tuesday,
July 16, our 36th wedding anniversary, our first full day in Ventura
was fulfilling the primary need to dos, first, visiting the grave of my
parents.
Stepping back to November 16, 2023, I mentioned in a prior
post I was in Ventura for my aunt’s funeral, who is buried a short dis from my
parents. After her service, I went into the office to inquire about
my parent’s grave. Their flower vase was originally donated by the
Ventura South Rotary Club. The base is basically two pieces.
One
is a tube that is permanently installed in the ground, and the other piece was
smaller in diameter. One way in the hole, and there's a metal cover for the hole. Pull it out, flip it over and put it back in, and boom, flower vase. It was always off center and at a different
distance from the headstone as compared to others.
It’s
always hard to find, and it never seems the groundskeepers flipped the lid back up
to cover the hole. I have measurements and photos from
prior visits to help, but we usually have to dig around stabbing the ground at
an angle with a long screwdriver to find the edge of the tube because without
the top in its proper place, grass fills it up. So my
office visit in November 2023 resulted in submitting a work order to have the vase
checked and moved. There was an understanding that I might
need pay for a replacement, but they would contact me if there was an issue.
I
never heard anything, so my presumption all was well.
This
visit, no matter what we did, we couldn’t find the vase at all.
Over
twenty years, and this was a first.
Not
wanting look weird, but the two of us were kneeling over a gravesite, one with
a hand trowel and the other with a long long screwdriver, stabbing away
probably looked rather odd to someone paying attention to us.
I was
beyond frustrated that I couldn’t find it.
Kari
kept checking while I drove to the office and waited for them to finish with
another client. I shared the situation about the vase, when I was there
in November, the work order I wrote out and handed in to them personally, and
our current frustrations. There was keyboard typing, file cabinet
checking, and hushed conversations off to the side.
The resulting report was,
they had no record of the work order I had submitted.
Yet,
for a fee of $25, they would locate the vase by the end of the day, but
recommended in the future to call in advance and pay the fee and they would
locate it beforehand. Not knowing Kari’s progress, I declined
their offer for today and left the office.
Kari hadn’t had any
luck, so I went with Plan B. I dug a small hole with the trowel,
stuck the flowers directly in the ground, added water and compacted the dirt
around them.
I’ll call in advance next time.
Consolation
came in the form of required delicious corn burritos from Foster Freeze.
I’ve
talked about them before, and I’ll talk about them in the future.
But
that’s enough for today.
The
final stop before heading back to the trailer was a stop at McConnell's Fine
Ice Cream on Main St. Barbara Streisand had mentioned it in
her book, especially the coffee flavored ice cream. Kari
bought a selection, and they were all good, especially the coffee.
I
saved it for home in Clovis, and topped it with something my mother did,
chocolate syrup with a topping made of crushed cornflakes and peanuts mixed
with melted brown sugar and butter. Yum!
Our
anniversary dinner was a grilled steak, small red potatoes that were mashed,
and salad. Simple and delicious. I only wish I left my nicer shirt on before
taking our anniversary selfie photo. I'm still crazy in love with this woman. I'm a blessed man.
Wednesday,
July 17th was live person visitation day. The morning started with a
visit to our campsite by former Buena High School classmate Tim Hoctor. When we head into Ventura, Tim is one of the
folks we always wonder how he’s doing. I’ve
always really liked Tim, but in all honesty, Tim and I weren’t the closest of
buddies. We attended different Junior
High schools so we didn’t have that bond.
At Buena, we had classes together, hung with the same common folks, and
attended the same parties and events.
Tim, as a career realtor, was really
helpful after my father died when we were preparing to move my mom to Fresno
and sell their Ventura home. Since I was working
in the Bay Area at the time, Tim would occasionally stop by and see my
bedridden mom as we were getting the house ready for market. Later, Tim shared that he always enjoyed talking
with my mom (just that makes one feel good), but added something she shared with him. I think it was the
last visit with my mom, and Tim asked her if there was anything else he could
do for her. She said, he could go
outside and smell the grass for her. Tim
said it was an emotional moment. We had
a great chat getting caught up with each other’s lives, mutual friends, and
travel adventures.
In
the afternoon, my cousin Bill Stone and his wife Shelly hosted us at their
home. Kari had never met them, and it
was really nice getting caught up and sharing with them. They included their current desire to move to
Oklahoma so they could be closer to their daughters and grandchildren. They surprised me with a photo album that had
a lot of photos of my father when he was younger, many during World War
II. I’m going to enjoy going through it
and exploring some of my father’s past that he didn’t like to talk about,
something not unusual for many WWII veterans.
On
July 18th, we headed home, back to the heat. It was our first trip over the Grapevine with
our little rig. It performed very
well. Lunch was parked at the Taco Bell
in Wheeler Ridge so Kari could run next door to In-N-Out to pick up
burgers.
The
only incident, or close call, was north of Bakersfield on SR-99 approaching
Merced Rd off-ramp. Some people just
gotta drive like idiots. Enjoy the video.