04-03-2020 Writing About It

It is now 5:30 AM and I have been awake since 2, finally up at 3 thinking I could possibly write a blog post.  It’s funny how I can procrastinate this simple chore, and yes, this time it feels like a chore rather than a delight.  But it needs to be done. I need to try to track the milestones of our life, not just the great trips, but the down times.  March was most definitely a down time, but it didn’t really begin until March 10, when we laughingly enjoyed what was to be our last pedicure for a long time.

On March 10th, the Virus was still a distant rumor, just a tiny hint of what was to come.  We felt safe enough with our pedicure technicians wearing their masks as they often do. By March 13th, the rumor was big and loud enough that I called my hairdresser and asked if she minded if I cancelled my appointment.  She was still open, but understood completely.  At almost 75 years old, and with a random muscle disease as yet undiagnosed, I didn’t want to take chances.  Now in Oregon, all barber shops, beauty shops, and nail salons are closed along with many other so called non essential businesses.  It is a bit interesting to see what is deemed essential, with liquor stores and pot shops being high on the list.

Many of my blogging friends have done a fantastic job of continuing to write about the complexities of their lives as they deal with the Virus.  Covid 19. It. Some have said we should keep a diary of these times, of our lives as we go through what feels like a truly crazy dystopian novel. I haven’t done that well, in fact I haven’t even tried.  I have days on the calendar that list things that need to be done, but the huge blank spot in that calendar are appointments and outings.  All those doctor and dentist visits, blood work that needs to be done, hair  and nail appointments, dinner with friends, Friday nights at the winery with wood fired pizzas and a bottle of good red.

A trip to the beach, something we have done almost every March since we had the MoHo, cancelled at the last minute.  We had planned 3 days at an RV resort near Gold Beach beginning on March 23.  I called to cancel after social media went into a frenzy about too many people heading for the coast, but the owner refused to refund our deposit, saying everything was fine.  The very next day Oregon’s governor closed the RV parks.  Instead of the refund I would have received, I got a credit for another date in June.  Unknown to us and unmentioned by the park manager was that the cost in June was summer rates, quite a bit more than we planned.  I was NOT happy.

Our planned cruise to Scotland is scheduled for early July, but we are reasonably certain that it will be cancelled as well.  We have the ability to cancel with a full credit for a future cruise just 48 hours before our first airline departure so will wait a bit before cancelling.  Not exactly excited about getting on a long flight or a cruise ship even in July, and am pretty sure we will not be going on that cruise this year.

We are practicing social distancing, isolating at home.  Often, it doesn’t feel much different than usual.  We aren’t hugely social creatures, enjoying our own company, enjoying our home and our little almost acre.

That acre has been a godsend in the last few weeks.  We can still go outdoors when the weather allows and fiddle around with home projects to keep us busy and moving.  I can get 10,000 steps in a day simply walking up and down to mow and rake and haul debris to the waiting dump trailer.  Mo spends more time outside than I do, being less picky about the temperatures and willing to don outerwear to get out there.  I’m more of a warm weather person, I really don’t like working in the cold.  Maybe because I spent so many decades as a field scientist working outdoors in some rather awful weather. I’ll go for a walk, but actually doing yard work in cold damp weather isn’t any fun for me. 

Mo’s big project this month has been getting a solid, level gravel floor in the lean-to area of her wood shop.  She had to mix many bags of cement to enclose the area so that it would contain the gravel.  She then ordered a big load of rock, and shoveled it into the space bit by bit until she had a very nice solid floor. She was happy that she had her trusty tractor to help move the gravel from the pile to the shed. No more blocks trying to level up her sawing table.

Instead of braving the chilly weather I retreat to the sewing machine or make some cards, clean house or cook:  warm pursuits that keep me happy and far from bored.  I don’t think either of us has been even remotely bored in the last few weeks.  But things seem to be getting crazier every day, and the somewhat vague lockdown of just about every kind of commerce in the state of Oregon is beginning to take its toll. 

My dearest friend, Maryruth, came down with pneumonia early in the month, just as her husband Gerald was recuperating from a heart attack and major heart surgery.  It was still a time when I could take them food and groceries, but as the month progressed even that changed.  Maryruth never had a fever, was never hospitalized, but also was never tested.  We haven’t visited in person for 3 weeks now.  She is better, Gerald has recuperated wonderfully, but with compromised immune systems, there are no dinner get togethers, no card playing dates, no girly crafting days to share.

Cooking a deep dish quiche for supper

I can see that I am rambling as I write, trying to recapture how it feels to be required to remain at home, to stay away from family and friends.  Like many others, I am calling more and texting less, wanting to hear the voices of those that I love as they navigate the same scary waters.  My daughter Melody is working from home, but her honey is still going to work.  They made an offer on a house early in the month, before anything was known, and unbelievably they were funded, inspected, appraised and managed to close within a couple of days of the original closing date, yesterday. Is moving considered an essential activity? 

A lovely old home in Oregon for my daughter who loves history and old houses

My grandkids, Melody’s family, are all somehow magically safe at the moment, with Xavier, the most immune compromised with Type 1 diabetes on paid leave from his job at Fred Meyer.  My two grandkids and their two roommates share an apartment in Albany, Oregon, with one working at Home Depot, one working at WalMart, one currently unemployed but with some savings, and Xavier at home.  They are being careful and they are not ignoring the warnings.  Millennials and younger, they are paying attention. I am proud of them.

Deborah, a financial manager at Southern Oregon Head Start is considered essential, even though the facilities are closed.  She is getting paid and even if she weren’t she has a gazillion hours of sick leave she can use.  Her honey is retired, with a stable income as well. With unemployment applications topping 10 million so far, I am incredibly grateful that the family has resources and is safe.  What I miss are the weekly or biweekly Deborah Sunday visits.  Grandson Matthew is at home across the street, and we wave when we see each other.

Keith and my grandson Steven, and Deanna installing new hardwood floors in their home

Daughter Deanna and her husband, the truckers, are miraculously at home at their property in Northern Washington. They planned a month off to do some down time, to work on their home and property before all this started.  Now they are trapped there, without income, but unwilling to go back on the road and get stranded somewhere unable to move.  The airplane engines that they transport are stopped cold at the moment, and other drivers who do what they do are spending most of their time waiting in truck stops with no open restaurants.  It is hard on their savings and their retirement plans, but at least they are trapped at home instead of somewhere far away in a truck.  They also have property to play on and plenty of home projects to keep them busy, a freezer full of food, and plenty of isolation in a very tiny remote community.  I am grateful that they are safe.

I took down the St Pat’s decor, and put up Easter.  I do love the Easter decorations, but realized this year that love is mostly based on knowing that I will be sharing an Easter meal with family, and the decor is just a backdrop to brighten that precious family time.  Something that will not happen this year.  Back in mid March when I put it up, I did think that maybe this would all be over by Easter.  I know some of the world thought that as well, but now we know better.  Social isolation will no doubt last at least through April and probably much longer.

So many people have said what am feeling:  the days are all running together.  We have settled into a routine that is only broken when one or the other of us waken in the night and then we sleep till 8 or even 9am.  Unheard of around here!  We are binge watching Newsroom after dinner, if you can call two episodes a night a binge.  It is for us.  The Sunday night airing of the final season of Homeland can take my mind off of anything else.

The dog knows when the 4 pm chime rings it is time for her walk, and at 5 it is time for her dinner and at 8 she is insistent that it is her bedtime.  The days are pleasant, sometimes even lovely. 

I am enjoying uninterrupted time for quilting,working on a bed quilt for Deborah.

Another dear friend in Idaho is a crafter/card maker and turned me on to the Tim Holtz Facebook Live demonstrations on Saturdays.  She sent me some Tim style cards, so different from my somewhat regimented and orderly card making style. 

The Stampin’ Up style of cards I am used to making

I learned that it is very hard for me to just cut loose and get all crazy with random stuff, and was surprised that there is such a big learning curve to the chemistry of the particular style of Distress card making.

Learning to make wild colorful creative backgrounds, Tim Holtz style

It is very similar to why I had so much trouble trying to play blues piano when I was trained classical, as much as I loved the Blues. Laura is inspiring me to just cut loose and play with the colors and the paper and don’t even try to think of what it will be like in the end.  Challenging, and just what is needed to take my mind off of what is going on in the world around us.

Yesterday the sun came out after many gray, drippy days.  We needed the rain, and I don’t mind it, but I so miss the sunshine.  Even with a hard frost on the grass in the early morning, the day was gorgeous.  Mo and I treated ourselves to a drive to the compost center for a truckload of nice rich compost for the annual flower garden on the sunny side of the RV shed.

I love putting fresh compost down getting ready for the annuals in this garden

We enjoyed the gorgeous spring day during the 20 minute drive along the Rogue River.  We stopped at the drive through of Rogue Roasters for coffee to go for the drive.  It was an exciting outing for us.  I carefully wiped the credit card and the coffee cups with Clorox wipes from our last container.  Mattie even had a puppicino.  These are tiny cups of whipped cream that Starbucks has for dog customers, and the local Rogue Roasters was happy to oblige when I asked.

We have 18 more days of toilet paper, which I had stored prior to the hoarding kerfuffle.  I always try to keep the TP in the cupboard so I don’t have to shop for it often, so I was prepared.  Who knows if I will be able to get more, but I am getting a bit nervous about it. We are planning to head to WinCo on Sunday morning. Local conversations on Grants Pass Community Chat indicate that they are doing an excellent job of practicing social distancing, and are fairly well stocked.  We will see how that goes. So far we haven’t had any desire to brave the 30 miles and unknown that is Costco.

As others have said in blogs and facebook posts, not much to report.  Still, it seems important to write it down.  Someday we could all look back and say, wow, that was something.  Someday it could be completely behind us.  Then again, someday we could look back and say, that is when the end of the world started, or the beginning of a new word we don’t recognize.  It could be anything.  That is the uncertainty of these times that makes writing a blog feel so disjointed, that makes life feel so disorienting.  We are adjusting to a new reality, and no one really has a clue what that reality will bring.

01-18-2018 Testing Live Writer

Been hearing about a few problems with Live Writer later and thought maybe I would give it a go before I have a ton of writing and a ton of photos and can’t get it to upload.  So here goes the test.  With a photo or two and a comment or two, of course.

It doesn’t snow very often here in Grants Pass, but early in January we got a skiff.  Lasted only a few minutes and it was gone.  My kind of snow.  The rest of the time has been either foggy, cloudy, or raining except for moments of brilliant sunshine that appear now and then and make everything look all technicolor.  Especially the green grass of winter.

I spent many days piecing the Blooming Nine Patch quilt that has been in the back of my mind since I saw a similar one at the Sisters Quilt Show in 2013.  Been collecting all those bright Kaffe Fassett quilts ever since with this quilt in mind.  It is a daughter quilt, destine for my youngest child, a Leo through and through, full of sunshine and drama. 

I somehow envisioned a sunrise as I was developing the color flow in this quilt that has more than 900 stupid little blocks!  geez!

Daughter Deborah and I took a quiet Saturday to get our hair done together and then go out to lunch at the Twisted Cork in Grants Pass.  Mo and I had eaten there once before, so I knew what kind of a treat we were about to enjoy.  We decided on a wine flight to accompany our 3 appetizers, small cups of soup with artisan cheese bread, and the best dessert anywhere ever, their toffee bread pudding with caramel sauce.  Best lunch I ever had and it took us two hours at least to eat and enjoy each other’s company.  Great times like this make me so happy that she lives near enough to visit often.

Speaking of living near enough, we get to leave Sunset House for our upcoming trip because this same daughter has agreed to stay at the house while we are gone.  Such a relief to know someone will be around to take care of things.  Kudos to her partner for giving her up for the time she is here.

The days are getting close.  I feel like I am surrounded with bb’s in a funnel, everything heading toward departure day.  Coming up soon.  So far weather reports show the current storms lessening as we get closer to leaving, and the passes should be clear as we travel south.  Yippee.

Now let’s see if this baby posts!

09-06-2018 Preparing for Italy with just a Carry-On

I am not leaving till later in the month, but when I posted on facebook about managing to pack it all into just a carry-on, I got requests for how I did it and what I packed.  I decided a blog post was the best way to handle that.

First, I have to say that I have to thank Erin and Mui from Two to Travel for all their wonderful insights about traveling, for web links and suggestions, and general encouragement.  In the past, when I have traveled overseas, either with Mo or with my daughters, it has been with a tour group.  Lots of good things to say about that method of travel if you want to see a LOT of stuff with help with all the details, including shlepping around the baggage and getting it into the hotels and back out again.

This trip, however, is with daughter Deanna, who prefers a more relaxing vacation, one where we stay in one place for a week or two.  We have chosen to stay a week in Positano on the Amalfi Coast toward the end of September, and for two weeks in Florence during the first two weeks of October. 

We found reasonable air fares after a few kerfuffles with already paid for  Air Canada flights out of Vancouver, cancelled and converted to Lufthansa flights from Seattle, through Frankfurt, and on to Naples.  Deanna and I settled on two Air BandB apartments, and transportation from the Naples airport to the Amalfi Coast and then returning to the train station in Naples a week later by the owner of the Positano BandB for a reasonable fee of 100 Euro each way. 

Thanks to Erin, I used The Man in Seat 61 website to book the fast train from Naples to Florence for our two week stay when we leave Positano.  We paid just a bit more for business class seats on the train. 

Our apartment in Florence is overlooking the Arno River, just down the way from the Ponte Vecchio bridge, with a view of the Duomo from the terrace.  The terrace which is on the third floor, no elevator. (remember that baggage thing?)

We will be in Italy during shoulder season, but a time still quite popular in Italy because the heat has dissipated some but the really bad weather will not have yet begun.

The weather, of course, makes for some complex packing.  Warm enough for chilly rain, cool enough for 8o degree possibly humid days.  Dressy enough for some fine entertainment in Florence, and comfy enough for hiking the Amalfi Coast.

I went to a packing class held recently at our local AAA office, by Anne McAlpin, “packing guru”.  The class was fun, and I was surprised that even in our small town there were more than 100 people in attendance.  I learned a couple of things, got some handy hints, but most of all it was about selling lightweight and useful travel items.  I rolled my eyes at the sales pitches, but found myself purchasing a few goodies in spite of myself.

So, for those who wanted the detailed run-down, here it is.

My Carry-On weighs 4.2 pounds, and has spinner wheels on the bottom.  I managed to get all of this packed into it.  At first I used those ziplock packing bags, but discovered that they didn’t really change the volume as much as I expected, and kept stuff from slipping nicely into crevices.  So I skipped them entirely, but I did use a couple of lightweight compression cubes, and am a fan.

Anne said something about 3 bottoms and 9 tops, and I have no idea what my ration is, but here is the list.

First, choosing what to wear on the airplane is interesting.  I wanted something comfy, nice looking, relaxed, layered for fluctuation temperatures, and of course, the heaviest shoes, so this is what I chose.  The jeans are my most comfortable and best fitting, but I hate that they don’t have pockets.

 

The shoes are surprisingly lightweight, and are my choice over my Keen hiking boots, which might still end up being the final choice. This same outfit will serve me well throughout the trip, I think, with the shirt being wrinkle free tencel and the scarf dressing it up when needed, and the lightweight long sleeved tee from REI serving as a warmth layer if needed later. Oh yes, one pair of those ridiculously expensive compression socks for flying, and maybe for hiking as well.

I found one of those killer down puffy jackets from REI, on sale 50 bucks!  Much less than the 300 Patagonia version and it fits better than they did as well. A packing cube holds the down jacket and my packable black raincoat/trench.  I packed a travel umbrella, and waterproofed the red shoes.

Another cube holds my nightgown, undies, bras, and power converters.  Not too many of the undies since I am capable of washing them.

For our nice dressy event at "The Three Tenors”, I have a travel knit purple tank, matching cover-up and black skirt.  For moderately nice dressing, I also have a rayon arty cover up to wear with the black tights or the black skirt. 

I can dress up just about anything from jeans to the skirt with the spiffy stretchy black blazer jacket, and a wrinkle free white shirt. 

For pants I have a pair of lightweight REI hiking/travel pants that will roll up, a pair of super comfy light denim capris, a pair of dressy black capris, and black tights.

I threw in a funky pair of black shorts and a black cotton lightweight shirt for hanging at home on a hot afternoon, and had to throw in a tee shirt just because. 

Then just because I could, I also threw in another lightweight print top that can be worn cool and sleeveless (not to the churches!) or dressed up with the black jacket.

For shoes I have the red Keens, a pair of Taos very lightweight, very supportive denim sneakers that don’t look like running shoes.  No photo yet of those.  I had a problem coming up with shoes that would look nice with the skirt, and finally settled on a lightweight pair of flat sandals.  Might be a bit weird, and not very Italian (they wear stillettos everywhere I think) but most of my dressy shoes have heels that I don’t want to have to wear walking from our apartment to the bridge. I also packed my very casual but incredibly comfortable black oofos for walking just about everywhere, even on cobblestones. 

So, a List:

2 long pants      1 tights    3 capris   1 short

2 dressy tanks with 2 dressy cover-ups   1 dressy skirt     3 scarves

2 nice casual shirts    1 funky casual shirt 1 tee shirt short sleeve   1 tee shirt long sleeve

1 dressy blazer    1 packable down jacket   1 raincoat   1 umbrella

4 pairs of shoes, dressy sandals, funky sandals, red walking shoes, blue sneakers.

The one thing that could throw this whole thing out of whack is the need for some kind of more waterproof shoe, like my hiking boots, so I am not sure how that is going to work, but I’ll check again with the weather as the trip gets closer. Then again, wet sneakers wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Now for the “Personal Item”, which will actually be two, but the small cross body purse will fit inside the Baggalini tote for boarding the plane.  In the purse will be my passport, ID, a small amount of US currency and a small amount of euros, for tips, food and such, and a credit card.  The phone and a mophie charger, charging cord, and pen. 

In the tote will be the laptop, laptop power cord, and a small a small cube containing my medications (not many), phone charger, extra batteries and charger for the Lumix camera (carried by Daughter Deanna) new nifty fast inflating neck pillow, ear buds, and inflatable seat pillow.  I am hoping that my larger scarf will serve as a bit of a cover up while flying.

In another nifty little purchase is a TSA allowable packing cube (beats a ziplock, really) for the liquids on one side and dry food snacks on the other side, now required to be pulled out for security checks.  I’ll have an empty water bottle ready to fill after going through security.

I won’t be taking a lot of toiletries, since I would imagine that there are some nice fun goodies that will be easily available in Italy.

Finally, around my waist, will be the RFID blocking money belt which with a bunch of Euros (already purchased through AAA), my medical insurance card (even though I will most likely have to pay and then get reimbursed) an additional credit card, and a debit card, all reported to the companies for traveling, and two of them with no foreign transaction fees.  The debit card will have fees if I need more cash, but at least that will be a good exchange and I can get cash if I need it.

One last little tidbit of information learned at the class:  I always thought making photocopies of your cards and passports was a good idea.  Instead, she said to photograph them and then email the photos to yourself.  Instantly available if you have internet access.

Verizon phone will be basically off, but I’ll pay the minimum International charge for emergencies, will download google maps of Florence and the Amalfi Coast for use offline, and have downloaded Google Translate in Italian for offline use.

I will also have printed receipts for the pre booked train tickets, pre paid museum tours, and our Three Tenors night in Florence.

Planning this trip has been really fun for me actually, minus a few stressful glitch moments.  Much easier actually than trying to plan 3 months going to Florida next winter.  Geez, what a pain! I was on the phone for 90 minutes last week on the first moment when the Family Camps near Jacksonville came open for our window of reservations.  Somehow we got lucky, and got what we needed, but that is another story.

01-28-2018 South at Last

On Sunday morning the skies over Grants Pass were gorgeous.  The often present winter fog was nowhere to be seen, blue was all around us, and a few puffy clouds toward the south were lined with gold from the early sunlight.  A perfect travel day! 

Our preparations for this trip were easy.  We were basically settled into the new house and had all the time in the world to get ready.  A day to wash the rig, a day to check fluids and tires on both the MoHo and the Tracker.  Two days to pack.

Packing was interesting.  For the first time in a long time, everything we have is in one house.  If I can’t find my swim suit, I don’t have to wonder in which house it might be hiding.  It is either here, or already in the MoHo.  Then of course, there is the ever present question of exactly what to take. 

It is chilly here, of course, it is still winter in Grants Pass.  A much warmer winter than what we are used to in Klamath Falls, but winter nonetheless. It is really hard to imagine that shorts and sleeveless shirts will be all that we need, in spite of the predicted 80 degree weather in the southland.  I packed some long pants, some capris, some shorts, and way too many long sleeved shirts.  Mo did the same, but she is better at this than I am, packing quite a bit less. 

Food supplies are always another question, but this time I had plenty of time to cook and freeze.  For a week prior to leaving, I cooked big meals, and froze the leftovers, and we had nice containers filled with chicken enchiladas, bean soup, turkey soup, carnitas, and spaghetti sauce among others.  The little MoHo freezer was packed to the gills for the three weeks ahead.

We left as planned within minutes of 9am, not a bit of traffic anywhere.  On Sunday morning the freeway was basically empty, the skies clear and lovely until…ooops….as we drove south toward Ashland and the Siskiyou Summit, the fog settled in.  It wasn’t really cold, and there was no snow.  We had planned carefully.  Only the day before chains were required over this pass and over Mt Shasta.  We actually changed our departure date to miss the snows.  Lucky us!  Many times as we have traveled south for a winter respite we have had to drive through snow and ice and fog.  This time it was only the fog, and it was a piece of cake.

In fact the entire drive was a piece of cake, all the way to Lodi, where we checked into our favorite little park at Flag City RV.  It is clean, quick, a Passport America park, with level cement sites and everything we need for a simple overnighter on our way to and from the southern part of the state.

Within minutes of landing, we were hooked up and I had Mattie on her leash ready to go play in the wonderful, expansive, grassy dog park.  UhOh.  The beautiful expanse was now completely ringed by huge solar panels, so much so that the only place to walk was on the bottom of the storm water catchment basin, in the wet stuff at the bottom.  Solar is great, but geez it is ugly, and it was claustrophobic walking in there.  The person at the desk told me that they spent “millions” on the panels, and their power bills dropped from between $20,000 to $30,000 a month, down to $20. per month.  All those panels power just the RV park, without any extra to sell back to the power company.  She said they would recoup their investment in 3 to 4 years.

It was our first night out in a long time, and it felt good to be camping in the MoHo somewhere other than our front yard.  California deserts, here we come!

If you click on a photo and discover you are in an album from another year, it is because I had to cheat.  I didn’t take one single photo on this first day out, and a blog post with no photos is pretty darn ugly. 

Writer’s Block

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon: nice evening after a gorgeous day

I really didn’t want to fall into the trap of trying to explain why I haven’t written.  Kind of like writing in your diary, “Dear Diary…sorry I haven’t written”.  Diary doesn’t care, I am sure.  Every one of us who write these open ended online journals run into writer’s block now and then.  This time it hit me half way home from our last trip.  If you don’t know me from elsewhere, you might think that we are still lost somewhere along the California coast.  If I were to return to my blog a year from now, trying to figure out where we were in April, I might be rather disappointed to see that we possibly beamed ourselves, Star Trek Style, from Eureka to Rocky Point.

There is so much going on at the moment in our lives that travel memories have taken a bit of a back seat, but that is another story.  Maybe I’ll get to it eventually, but not right now.

In actuality, the last two days of our short little vacation were spent ambling along at a snail’s pace.  We decided that Highway 299 would be a good route back toward home, over the beautiful Trinity Mountains and following along the gorgeous Trinity River. Called the Trinity Scenic Byway, the route is the main road that connects the upper Sacramento Valley to the California coast.

When we left Eureka, the fog was still hanging in over Humboldt Bay, but by the time we reached Berry Summit the fog was just a wisp in the wind shrouding the mountain but not obscuring the beautiful views. The day was brilliant, the skies gorgeous, the traffic minimal.  Redbuds were in bloom and the hills were Ireland green.  That springtime green thing in the coast range can be so incredibly vivid.  Like no other green I have ever seen anywhere.

We had a destination in mind, a mere 100 miles over the mountain to the little town of Weaverville, where I had scoped out a small RV park.  We were in no hurry, and stopped along the river for photos and views.  A few miles west of Weaverville, we found a forest service campground and pulled in to check it out. 

Not a soul in sight, and the camp host site was empty, but there were no gates to keep us out and after walking around a bit, listening to the river, we said, “Why not?!”  Our tanks were empty, we had plenty of water and no need for power so we pulled into the sweet little spot, opened up the door to the sunshine and the river and settled in for a lovely evening.  Three bucks with our senior pass.  Much better than that 35 bucks it would have cost in Weaverville.

The next morning we rose at our leisure and ambled on down the road to the sweet little gold rush town of Weaverville.  It was charming in the way that California gold towns can be, with interesting store fronts and historical signs on the buildings. 

We visited the Joss House museum visitor center, enjoying the well done displays of the Chinese culture that thrived in Weaverville during the gold rush.  Neither of us felt like waiting around for a tour, so we skipped the inside of the Chinese Temple. 

Once again, we were reminded of the great contribution made by the Chinese to the development of the American West.

With no desire to continue east to a boring interstate, we turned north on Highway 3, following the western shore of Trinity Lake.  The road was narrow and steep in places, but not unmanageable.  We stopped to view the nearly empty lake and read the non existent signs.  Sign vandalism is just stupid.  Although perhaps not as stupid as damming a river and backing up a lake over miles and miles of placer mine tailings. 

Now that the California drought has exposed the land drowned by the reservoir, I wonder if people who are users of the millions of gallons delivered annually to the California water project are at all worried about the lead and mercury left in those tailings.  I still can’t figure out the mindset of certain news pundits who say the California water problem is due to the environmentalists stopping the building of more reservoirs.  The ones already there have no water in them!  Talk about a waste of money!  Let’s build more dams so we can have more empty reservoirs?  This drought is long term, and not going to end next week.

We did see several warning signs stating that in 42 miles or so, the road would be unsuitable for trailers.  No problem.  We have driven those kinds of roads many times in the past.  After passing the little community of Coffee Creek, where we found nothing at all, we continued north toward Scott Mountain Pass.

We ignored the sign that said no trailers once again, and within a mile knew that had been a mistake.  Picture a hairpin turn with a 15 percent grade.  MoHo groaned up the hill and we managed to find a turnout on the very narrow road to unhook the baby car.  Next time we will pay attention.  This is not an easy climb, and definitely not a place to be towing. And no, there are no photos of these few challenging moments.

Mo drove on ahead with the MoHo while I followed along in the Tracker, enjoying the gorgeous views and the beautiful wild landscape of the Trinities.  Descending into the Scott Valley is a treat, with a landscape of ranching and river that is the heart of the old west.

Our evening destination, a mere 80 miles north of Weaverville, was the tiny community of Etna, California.  Just 20 miles south of Eureka, Etna is charming and quiet, and boasts a great little RV park, Mountain Village.  A Passport America park, there were level sites, full hookups, and grassy spaces between rigs.  With the park nearly empty, we enjoyed the late afternoon thoroughly.  For a mere $16.00, we spent our last night before returning to the cottage at Grants Pass the next day.

It has been just over three weeks since that day.  In that short time we spent a few days working at the cottage.  Mo managed to get the 30 amp to the MoHo shed and we mowed the acre that is greening up and growing fast.  My scheduled surgery required a few visits to Eugene and those overnight trips are always more delightful with the MoHo.  The one time we stayed in a hotel we decided, never again.  

After Eugene, it was time to bring the MoHo back over the mountain to her berth in Grants Pass.  We missed having her at home and with winter behind us, it was time.  Of course, the only winter we had this year showed up on Easter Sunday with 1/2 an inch of snow and then again on April 14 with another half inch.  Crazy.

In the last couple of months, we have made some big decisions about the future, moving toward a final goal of building a “forever”  home on the cottage property.  I also decided that it was time to sell the little house I bought in Klamath Falls back in 2002.  Daughter Melody decided that as a now single mom, she needed a bit less house to manage.  She has lived in the Klamath house since 2008. 

Melody and my granddaughter Axel each now have an apartment at the small complex that Mo has on the edge of town in Klamath Falls.  Mo and I put some time in refurbishing those apartments, painting and cleaning, getting carpets and flooring installed so they are all nice and fresh.  It was hard work but also a fun project, nice to see the apartments all pretty again.  Renters are not often much fun, and don’t seem to care about how they live.  I am glad that we no longer have to deal with crummy renters who trash the place.

With Melody out of the Klamath house, it was time to spruce it up for sale.  I had renters in there during the time I lived in California for my final working years, and it needed fresh paint when Melody moved in back in 2008!  Again, Mo and I have been busy painting, fixing, repairing and getting the house ready for market.  I am really hoping that the time is right, and that she will sell quickly.

It is a great little historic bungalow in an historic neighborhood in a nice part of Klamath Falls. 

Early on during this three week process, I got a phone call from the two surgeons who will be working on me, saying that the surgery had to be rescheduled from April 13 to May 4, so I gained an extra three weeks to actually get the Klamath Falls house project done.  At least hopefully.

Mo and I feel like we are working again.  We leave the house every morning to go to one town or another, work all day, and drive home late all tired and worn out.  After surgery I am not supposed to lift anything over five pounds for 3 months!  Crazy.  So everything has to be done NOW or it won’t get done, at least not by me. 

So, writer’s block?  Yeah.  I think I have a reasonable excuse.