Hello From Sunny California

We arrived in Pasadena about 1:30pm Friday afternoon. Bob's daughter was going to be away from the house for awhile Friday so we killed some time at a huge Salvation Army Thrift store, a visit to Rite Aid for an ice cream, and then a stop at Trader Joe's so I could replinish my cold cereal supply. As we headed up the hill toward there house she sent a text message that she'd be there in a few minutes and she actually pulled up right behind us.



It's only 1,200 miles from my place in Washington to their house in Pasadena and doesn't normally take 4 days. But taking 4 days is one of the joys of being retired and not having to hurry. The first night we camped out in the parking lot of the Seven Feather's Casino in Canyonville, Oregon. We had dinner (they are so busy we had to wait for 50 minutes to be seated) first and then wandered around....and then he moved the truck clear out to the end of the parking lot for the night.



Heading down I-5 Tuesday morning, we just took out time. We did stop in Redding, CA for our first In-N-Out burger. Robin sent me a text that In-N-Out's were closed on Tuesday (LOL) but she was just pulling our leg. From Redding we continued on to the town of Corning, CA (know for their olive industry) and we were directed to a lovely California State Campground called "Woodson Bridge Campground." There were very few campers there and we found a really nice spot across from the campground hosts. They didn't have any hook ups but the sites were all paved and level and surrounded by lovely shade trees. The camper has a potty, and it is nice to have power but Bob has installed lots of battery operated lights even suitable for reading. The campground bathroom complete with showers were right across from us.



Wednesday we left the campground and our goal was to get to Fresno, CA in the afternoon inorder to visit with Linda (Footprints In The Sand) and her family. We stopped at a large truck stop just a few miles from the campground for a late breakfast/early lunch. After eating we headed out. We hadn't gone very far when we heard this loud thump from under the truck. Bob thought maybe he'd just run over something on the highway so we continued on. Then we heard several more thumps....so when he could,he pulled over to the side of the road. He went back and looked under the back of the truck and discovered the rubber had come off the left hand inside tire. (The truck is a dually~two rear tires on each side) We hobbled slowly along the freeway to a rest area where he called AAA for assistance. After spend 20 or 30 minutes on the cell phone with them trying to pin point our location, the lady said "Oh sorry, AAA doesn't change inside tires." Bob talked to a guy at the rest stop and he said the next town was Williams and it was only about 6 miles south of the rest area. And he said that there were 2 tire shops in the town. So onjce again we were back on the freeway at 45 mph (with the emergency flashers going) and we finally pulled off the freeway, into Williams, where a guy at a hamburger place directed us to a tire shop. We pulled in, a nice young man came out and for $25, he pulled the outer tire off and replaced the bad inside tire with a tire Bob just happened to have with him that he was bringing back to Pasadena.

We finally got on our way but by now we were so far behind in our schedule. I so wanted to see Linda and her family and after the tire repair we still had about a 4 hour drive. We finally rolled into Fresno about 8pm but we missed their exit the first go round. So after driving around and another couple phone calls to Linda, we finally found our way to their neighborhood and there they all were, waiting in their yard, in the dark for us to arrive. It was so good to finally meet another one of my AOL JLand/Blogger friends. And it was so fun to meet her husband and Son 2, Son 3 plus Miss Holly. Since it was dark, we only got to see a few of Linda's beautiful roses. But it's obvious that they have a lovely yard. After a short visit, they gave us directions to a local Wal Mart where they allowed RV's to park overnight. Once the guy got all the shopping carts rounded up in the lot, it was very quiet and we got a good rest. Being right there at the store gave us a chance to pick up a few needed items plus we were able to visit the Goodwill just across the parking lot.

Thursday morning we continued down Highway 99 until it merged with I-5 below Bakersfield, CA. It was about 3pm in the afternoon when we went over the Grapevine, heading into L.A. We stopped in the town of Gorman to get a bite to eat and asked about campgrounds in the area. They told us there was one, so we went to check it out. Bob thought since we weren't in a big hurry...it might be better to wait until the next morning to head into L.A. instead of fighting the rush hour traffic that afternoon. We went out to the campground & found out it was a campground for people with dirt bikes, quad runners and all sorts of ATV's. The guy at the gate told us it would be dirty and noisey on the weekend but Thursday afternoon/evening would be rather quiet. We went ahead and paid the $10 for a campsite and drove in. There were a few people camping with dirt bikes but they weren't a bother at all. The only thing that was disturbing was the wind that came up that evening. Bob figured at one point there were gusts up to 70-80 miles per hour. I told him if it rocked the camper we could just pretend we were out at sea on a cruise ship. It actually was a very relaxing night. Being out in the high desert like that~it was so quiet.

Friday morning, we left the campground about 9:30am and continued our journey into Los Angeles and then Pasadena. The traffic was so much lighter than it would have been the evening before...so that was a good decision.

So that's about all for now. The battery in this laptop is going quickly, so I can't go back & check spelling, grammer etc. so please excuse any mistakes I may have made.