Hello everyone,
Here I am again. We've been settled in California for several weeks and haven't travelled at all since I last wrote. We are in a nice RV park, "Sounds of the Sea" in Trinidad, California. It is appropriately named because you hear a lot of seals barking from the rocks in the ocean which is only about a quarter of a mile from here. We've had a few days of heavy rain (mostly when Lynn's sister and niece were visiting) but for the most part the days are sunny, with a few clouds and temperatures in the low 60's. There can be some fog but it usually burns off fairly quickly. Or, we can go to Mckinleyville or Arcata, just down the road and get out of the fog.
We have a lot of time on our hands, now that we aren't travelling every day or so. We read a lot, keep up with our email and see Andrew, Marjo, Celsiana and Luna about once per week. We are attending a small Methodist church every Sunday. We really like the preacher and the church. They are currently having a study of Adam Hamilton's book, "When Christians Get It Wrong." We signed up for it and bought the book but the scheduling hasn't worked out for us to attend. We are enjoying the book and getting some new insights as to why the mainline denominations are shrinking. The pastor is preaching on it each week during the study.
The church also got a work group together to help clean up Patricks Point State Park, which is just down the road from here. It is a beautiful park but is suffering from lack of funding, since California is not in good financial shape.(A lot of rest areas were closed in southern California.) We spend last Saturday weeding around the curbs at the Visitors Center and then scrubbing one of the bath houses. They are scheduling this work group every second Saturday so we probably will be out there again next month.
We try to take at least one day trip each week. So far we have been to Grant's Pass, Oregon (no, they didn't name it after me) which gave us a beautiful drive through the Smith River recreational area. Then we went to Ferndale, a small town south of Eureka which is billed as a Victorian village. One unique feature here is the cemetary, which is built on a hill. Last week we went to Redding, California. The drive is through the coastal mountains and I felt like I was driving in the Grand Prix. We did see snow on some of the mountains. This too was a beautiful drive.
As I mentioned earlier, Lynn's sister and niece, came for a short visit last week. It rained the entire time they were here but we had a great time with them. Andrew directed us to some great restaurants so we enjoyed a lot (too much) of good food. Will have to watch our weight now.
We do wind up with a lot of time on our hands and we are re-thinking our plan to stay here until Christmas. We are thinking about leaving here mid-November, driving down the California coast all the way to San Diego (obviously skirting San Francisco and Los Angeles) and then to arive in the Phoenix area at mid-December. We would spend Christmas with Derek and leave there mid-January and take a leisurely trip home to Winston-Salem, arriving home mid-February or early March. Hopefully it won't be too cold then.
When we arrive in Winston-Salem we will be more or less homeless. We have just leased our condominium for a year so we will have to move into an apartment for a while.
On a lighter note, I guess I got carried away with the California life style and grew a goatee/moustache for the first time in my life. Whether I was tired of shaving or I wanted to fit in I don't really know. However, it didn't take long for the itchiness to get to me (I don't know how you do it Gene or Riley.) I kept it long enough for Dee and Leslie to see it, then shaved it off. My face is much more comfortable now. Check the pictures and let me know what you think of it.
Well, that is our news for now. Let us hear some news from you.
