March 1 - 4, Pacifica, CA
Thursday, March 1. I awoke this morning to hearing the gentle pitter patter of raindrops and am so glad that it wasn't the heavy duty stuff we've had for the last few days. The wind has died way back down also. Maybe we can enjoy the outdoors today.
Late yesterday afternoon we found out that the Suzuki repairs will cost us about $1200 - tires were all worn uneven because of the wobble, the wheels are all bent (causing the wobble), and it needs rear brakes. No surprises since the wheel replacement was on our list of things that we are currently working for, but we thought the tires would be ok. Can't wait to have the motorhome tires replaced - that's going to be in the $2000 range - another reason we're staying put and working for a while.
We had a wonderful dinner with a mixed green salad and blue cheese, pan broiled tenderloin, and roasted corn. Yummy! Then watched the comedy, "Funny Money" with Chevy Chase and got some good chuckles from that.
Friday, March 2. Yesterday afternoon we found out that I will be starting to work a regular 20-24 hours/week starting on Tuesday the 6th and Mike will work today, then start his regular shift on that day also. It kind of confuses things because we thought we would have the 4 days off when Rita and Denny will be here, now we have to juggle things to get someone to work those days for us. I liked retirement better when I never had to worry about work.
I spent a good part of the day getting Vernon's brochure printed, starting with a trip to Staples in the morning, standing around there for over an hour waiting for examples of different papers. I then drove across town to have Jill trim my hair at Sublime. I do feel much more comfortable driving around in the Zuk now. Also, I'm getting to know my way around but seem to go the long way just to avoid the freeways that I find to be a bit scary in that little car. Back to Staples to pickup the brochures - they turned out pretty good (see example in the photos).
It was a beautiful, sunny day although it cooled down real quick in the afternoon when the wind picked up.
Saturday, March 3. We started the day by going to meet up with Ben and Ruby at Fort Funston, going for a nice, long walk and playing with the little dog. That place is so much fun just to watch people and their dogs, but its also a beautiful park. After leaving there, we went to the mall so Mike could replace his shoes, since he was mowing yesterday and ruined his walking shoes.
The weather was so nice when we got back to the park, that we just put the lawn chairs on the grass and sat and enjoyed the view and the sunset. The neighbors came over and joined us for a while.
Sunday, March 4. Such a nice day, we couldn't have asked for any better. The weather was beautiful, the day had a relaxing start, an interesting middle, and an even better wind-up. Vernon stopped by with his 3 dogs late this morning to settle up on my pay and to pick up the printed version of his brochures. He was happy with how they turned out and we had a nice visit.
And did I say that the weather was beautiful? I sat out at the picnic table on the edge of the cliff and just relaxed and watched for anything moving on the ocean. Some fellow workcampers told us yesterday that they had sighted a whale, so I was vigilant in watching and hoping to see the same. No such luck, but I did enjoy just watching the world go by - because the weather was so nice, there were lots of ships out there today.
Later in the afternoon, Ben and Ruby came by to pick us up and we headed south to Moss Beach where we stopped to check out the menu at The Distillery, a restaurant we have been wanting to go to with Ben and Jill. The patio overlooks a small bay and we sat and enjoyed the scenery with a "..."tail. The patio has rocking benches and heavy woolen blankets just in case you get cold. Ruby wasn't welcome at that place, so we drove a little farther south to the Half Moon Bay Brewery, also located on a small inlet next to the harbor. The inlet was a perfect place to play fetch with Ruby because the surf wasn't intense and it was shallow, so she could run way out in the water to fetch the ball. She also met several other dogs that she had fun playing with.
Once Ruby was sufficiently exercised, we went back to the brewery to have a drink and some food. We were all pleased with the fare and it was a fun place to hang out. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and its one of the reasons that its so nice to be close to Ben.
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March 5 - 11, Pacifica, CA
Thursday, March 8. The week is passing quickly and I haven't yet updated the journal. I need to keep in the practice of doing that because I do enjoy it and think it is a good exercise for my mind. There really hasn't been much happening now that we are back on our 4-day work shift. I now have a regular schedule of 12:30-5:30 each day and am learning more and more each day. Its kind of hard to remember when you are away for 4 days.
I'm working with Adrienne who has been in this park for a year and a half, living in a 1972 19-foot motor home until Sunday when she picks up a used 1980 24-foot Class C. She is very active in the RVing community and writes books and articles RV Today and maintains a daily blog for women RVers.
Other than that, there's not been much happening around here. Yesterday, Elaine (a fellow workcamper) and I went for a nice walk to the Pacifica pier and back. We've decided to walk when we can because we both enjoy it. Unfortunately, we work opposite schedules so will have to work that out.
Saturday, March 10. I just got back from a nice, long walk to the Pacifica Pier where there is a public walkway along the coast.
We got through the workweek ok and I'm feeling like I'm catching on. The weather has been beautiful this week and it looks like it will continue for a few days.
Sunday, March 11. Daylight savings time started this morning and some things, like my computer and phone changed over by themselves. There was a lot of news the last few days about the problems that might be caused because they moved the start of it up by a couple of weeks.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, it had to be in the low 70s. We took off at about 11:00 to take the 49 mile tour around the city. By the time we finished, our odometer read 63 miles. We got lost in Golden Gate Park and ended up taking another route. We got distracted when we saw Haight Street and decided to take a detour to Memphis Minnie's BBQ. That was well worth it because we both enjoyed the sandwich and beer so much that we bought some of the pork to take home with us. Mike wanted to go there because he had heard it advertised on one of our favorite radio stations, KPIG, and he wanted one of their bumper stickers. Unfortunately, they were out of stickers but we were still glad that we went.
We got back on track and the next stop was Twin Peaks where we got a panoramic view of the city and the bay. On through the maze of streets in the downtown, Japantown, Chinatown, North Beach, the Wharf, the Marina, the Presidio, Richmond, and back to Pacifica. We both agreed that we would not recommend the driving tour to folks. We think it would be much more relaxing to take one of the guided tours and to just drive to the specific neighborhoods that you want to spend time at. All in all, the drive took us about 5 1/2 hours, a little much for heavy, city traffic.
It was a great day.
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March 12 - 18, Pacifica, CA
Monday, March 12. A busy day, starting with laundry then a trip to meet Susan, a lady I found to do alterations on the t-shirts that the park gave me to wear. They are so long that I have to have them shortened. Susan is very nice, is from China, and is fascinated with our lifestyle - the conversation led to that when she questioned my phone number starting with 352. She was very excited to hear that I was from Wisconsin because they grow a lot of Ginseng in the La Crosse area.
The afternoon brought another interesting experience - initial dental appointments at the UCSF Dental school. We decided on that route because it is so difficult to get appointments with dentists and we could get in here and get things taken care of before we leave. Neither of us have any problems with our teeth, so a cleaning is all we really need. It all turned out to be a positive experience and will have follow-up appointments in a few weeks.
Ben and Jill invited us to join them for dinner. Ben got home just as we arrived and Jill was busy trying to clean up the shower that had a plugged drain. Ben and Mike worked on that - Jill got some good pictures of Ben, standing in 2-3 inches of dirty water wearing shorts and Jill's rubber boots that came almost to his knees. We all got a laugh when it came time to take the boots off, because they were stuck to his feet and Mike had to help him pull them off. It was a real stubborn problem and required a trip to the store for more drain chemical, but was cleared up by the time we left.
Jill's chicken fajitas were delicious and we had a very nice visit.
Friday, March 16. I can't believe it - this morning as I was opening the shades to let in the morning sun, I saw a pile of trash just outside the fence and about 2 feet from the edge of the 80 foot cliff. As I took a better look, something moved and I realized it was two people all wrapped up in a sleeping bags. Later on, a young girl got up and went into the big rig that was parked behind them. Guess they just wanted to sleep under the stars and be close to the surf, but they sure didn't choose a very safe place to sleep. Dang, its cold at night here too. Oh well, people are kind of strange, huh!
Our work shift started again on Wednesday and I've been asked to come in early for the next 2 days as the weekend is booked solid. Its not a problem but I had stuff kind of planned for the mornings - oh well, it will all look good on the paycheck.
I've gone for walks the last 2 mornings with Elaine and have gotten in about 2.5 miles each time. I'm really enjoying it and have already dropped a few pounds. Also have been tracking what I eat on the USDA food pyramid web site. I've been finding that I eat only about 1800 calories/day but am not getting enough veggies and meat/beans. I think it helps to track because it sure makes me more aware.
Saturday, March 17. HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! It was the last day of our 4-day shift, it's 8 pm and I'm ready to retire for the night. I was asked to work 8:30-5:30 instead of my usual 12:30-5:30 and I only slept about 5 hours last night. Don't know what was going on, but I just couldn't go back to sleep after waking at 3am. It was a busy day and the time went pretty quickly.
We are headed to Oxnard tomorrow to visit Mary and Lance, so I won't be updating until we return on Wednesday. Mary set us up for a whale watching cruise on a sailboat and we're both looking forward to that.
Sunday, March 18. What a day! We left Pacifica at 10:15 to head for Mary and Lance's house in Oxnard. Just south of Gilroy, Shi**y Brown started to make a loud, clunking noise and the temperature was slowly rising. We made it as far as the Valero station in Prunedale and it wouldn't go any farther. Mike thinks its something very serious with the engine (and that was just rebuilt a year ago). Maybe we were scammed back then - who knows?
We proceeded to call for a tow and Sam, the tow truck driver showed up in about half an hour. What a nice guy he was. He wouldn't let us pay $80 for a cab to get us to the Monterey airport where we could get a rental car, so drove back to his house, got his own car, and drove us there. He refused to take an money from Mike, but we talked him into taking $40. Situations like that really helps to restore your faith in humanity.
We decided to make the best of a bad situation, so stopped by Moss Landing to see how the new managers, Pam and Rick, were doing. They are all setup and looking very comfortable in their new digs and the park is looking good too. After a short visit there, we stopped at the Sea Harvest, had a nice Halibut and Ono dinner and watched the Sea Otters playing in the water.
We were so looking forward to hanging out with Mary and Lance again. Dang it! It kind of feels like I'm destined to not see whales. The last time we went on a whale watching cruise in San Francisco, we were on the boat for 8 hours and didn't see whales.
Here is what Mary wrote to me to describe the whale watching trip that we missed. "It was a beautiful, sunny day. We were in Santa Barbara harbor aboard the SUNSET KIDD. The sail boat is 41 feet, and there were about 12 of us with 2 crew members. There is a baby gray whale swimming around the harbor area. He's been there for about 3 weeks. I guess there's a good supply of food for him. We were out for about an hour or so,sailing out from the coastline, before we sighted any whales. Then, up ahead, we see the BLOWS! It looks like steam coming off the ocean surface, and then all of a sudden, the body of a whale comes up! We sighted 2 different "pods" of gray whales. Each pod had 5 whales, as far as we could tell. There were 4 adults and one baby, the mother and baby swimming side by side. At one point 3 whales did the BLOW, then came up and did a deep dive in unison, showing their tales. It was so cool!!!!! Factoid for your day--a whale's tail has markings, and each is unique just like our fingerprints. These whales are migrating back to Alaska from Baja. They spend December thru May migrating south and back north.
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March 19 - 25, Pacifica
Monday, March 19. Neither of slept well during the night, worrying about the car and what to do about it. Mike talked to the mechanic at the garage in Prunedale and was told the engine is shot. He referred us to a place in Salinas that rebuilds engines. After Mike had a conversation with that guy, we are thinking that is the route to go - not sure of the cost yet.
I did some research and found that we can rent a car for much less here in Pacifica, so will be doing that, taking the one from Monterey back, and stopping by the garage in Salinas today. I sure would rather be doing something other than that with my day off. What an adventure!
We picked up another rental car just a few blocks from the RV park and drove both to Monterey. It was a beautiful day, so not a bad drive at all. After dropping the car off at the airport, we proceeded to Salinas to visit the guy who was recommended to repair/rebuild/or install a used engine - the verdict was that the engine was shot, just as Mike predicted. Steve, the mechanic, was very reassuring and just going through his garage showed us that he was very experienced, being in the business for 20 years.
As of now, we have decided to have it fixed. This is based on the fact that we can't get anything for it the way it is. If we fix it and sell it, we should be able to recover at least some of the $$$ we've put in it. Also, since we plan to venture into Mexico when we leave California, it may be best to keep it. Any vehicle we have will take a beating on the roads in Mexico.
After talking to the mechanic, we headed down to the garage where the Suzuki sits. The owner said he would let us keep it there for a couple of days while we decide what to do. Another nice guy!
From there, we stopped at some car dealers to see what our options are and we could probably pick something up at a fairly reasonable price. Our problem is that we don't want to dig into the reserves any deeper than we have to, thus we are leaning toward fixing the Suzuki.
Friday, March 23. Today is our 39th anniversary and we both agree that its been a pretty nice ride. Here we are in California where it all started, although that was in Long Beach. Since it was a work day and we were both pretty tired, we had a nice dinner and a glass of wine to celebrate. Mike surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers too.
We made the decision to fix the Suzuki, our logic being that it is probably worth $4-5,000 if it is running, but worth nothing if it is not. So it will be getting a used engine from Japan and should be ready for us in about a week. We've been doing a bit of car shopping this week, but keep leaning toward keeping it around for a while. Mike still wants to go test drive the real thing, a Jeep.
On Tuesday, when I was doing laundry, I met Gayle Zinda, a woman who has written the book, "Pink Lemonade", a story about a friend's battle with cancer and her own battle with cancer. She is now traveling the country in a pink motorhome with advertising all over it - promoting her book and doing motivational speeches. The strange thing is that she lives on Lake Kegonsa in Stoughton. What a small world. I intended to purchase a book from her but she had left before I got to her. When I arrived at work yesterday, she had dropped off a copy for me.
We're back on or work schedule and they have added an hour to my day so I now start at 11:30. This morning, I am going to Home Depot to get a few plants to spruce up the beds a little bit. I've been meaning to do that but just haven't gotten around to it.
Sunday, March 25. It's FRIDAY! I'm tired and ready for the next 4 days off. I worked on one of the flower beds for a couple of hours yesterday morning before my shift. I pulled out some lanky looking plants and replaced them with some new ones. It's busy around here on the weekends, so the time has gone fast.
I was feeling a bit sad this morning, remembering Rocco, as this is the anniversary of his death in 2002. I still miss him.
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March 26 - 31, Pacifica, CA
Monday, March 26. Last night I finished reading Willie Nelson's book, "The Tao of Willie", his guide to the happiness in your heart. It was so good that I read it over 3 nights and would highly recommend it to those of you who read this journal. Mike also enjoyed it. He just has such a common sense approach to life, a respect for the environment, a great sense of humor, speaks to all of us through his music, and just seems to fully enjoy life.
It is a gray, foggy morning and we are hoping to load up on propane today, but will have to see what the weather is the rest of the day.
I'm getting excited to see Rita and Denny again, as they arrive on Thursday this week. Mike and I will be working on Friday and Saturday mornings but will be hanging out with them in the evenings and on Sunday and Monday.
Tuesday, March 27. It was a restless night for both of us, as the wind was raging all night long, rocking the motorhome and making noise on the rooftop. As we sat here having our coffee and catching up on the news, weather, and our e-mail, we got a call from the guy in Salinas who was putting the engine in the Suzuki. He had completed the work and test driven it, and it was ready to go.
So off we went to Salinas, picked up the car and paid the big $$$ to get it. Sure hope we did the right thing. We decided not to take the freeway because it was so windy - winds gusting up to 40 mph. I picked out a route that would take us in a pretty direct path to Pacifica. The drive was a perfect Miata road but we missed a major turnoff and ended up kind of out of the way in Watsonville and close to Highway 1. That took us up the coast to Pacifica but was a bit of a challenge due to the wind.
Boy, were we tired when we got back to the motorhome, only to find that the wind was still making lots of noise and it was probably going to be another one of those nights. So it self medication with a couple of co**tails, a good movie, and good old Benadryl. Hope it works.
Wednesday, March 28. We watched the movie, "Bobby" - the story of the day that Bobby Kennedy was shot back on June 6, 1968. Mike and I were living in Long Beach at the time and we were rooting for Bobby all the way, although we were too young to vote at the time. What a sad, sad, story. We both thought it was a very good movie.
That crazy wind stopped raging some time during the night and the combination of sleep aids that we took seemed to help. This morning, the motorhome is covered with salt once again - it is hard to see out the windows.
Saturday, March 31. Rita and Denny arrived on Thursday afternoon and we sat around the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. In the evening, Ben joined us and we all had a great tenderloin dinner and some good catch-up conversation.
On Friday, Mike and I worked and Rita and Denny took a tour of the city on AM/PM Tours - they really enjoyed and would highly recommend it to others that visit. In the evening, we joined Rita and Denny for dinner at Nick's at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica. They are known for their seafood and lived up to everything we've been hearing about the place.
Today, Mike and I worked until 2:30 and we all decided to have some quiet time. We may join Rita and Denny to hear some Jazz at Nick's later on tonight.
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Created on 03/01/2007 09:48 AM by bridge
Updated on 03/31/2007 07:49 PM by bridge
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