This morning arrived early, as did yesterday, around 0730. Even though we were up early, it took us until 0900, or so, before either of us were ready for some serious breakfast. For that, Diane fired up the micro and made us some very nutritious oatmeal. Adding a bunch of brown sugar made it almost perfect, but it took two pieces of white bread toast to put it over the top.

After such a wonderful breakfast, we had to rest, so didn’t get moving until eleventy-thirty, or so. It was then that made our move to swap pajamas for outside clothing, and the point in time where I made my first underwear change of this trip, something that Diane found terribly disgusting. It was a test, you see, to find out if she really knew I’ve been wearing the same underwear since last Thursday.

That’s a lie, of course. I changed my underwear yesterday. Really. I’m sure you don’t care, and some may recite one of the acronyms I hear the most … TMI … you know, Too Much Information. I do tend to share a lot of inappropriate information, but it is what it is.

If I have already offended any of you, I’m sorry, and this is the point in time where I refer you back to my Home page that has my disclaimer. I don’t remember what it says, but I’m pretty sure it covers this kind of stuff.

After applying the appropriate layers of clothing … multiples for Diane, shorts & T-shirt for me … I called our Mission Viejo friends, Mike & Kathie, to warn them we were headed their way. I talked with Mike yesterday and received permission to make today’s call, so it was all good. I was informed that nothing had changed and we were still welcome to visit so we made haste to head north before the offer was rescinded.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking garage Diane ordered me to find the nearest car wash, so I did. We went there and got the Buick cleaned up nicely. The  car wash people vacuumed it, washed it, hand dried it, and did the windows inside and out for just $10.99. Watching the young man hand dry the vehicle, and clean the windows, made it clear a tip was in order. He did an awesome job and Diane was super pleased that she didn’t have to drive a dirty vehicle all the way to Mission Viejo.

WAZE informed us that the trip was about 40 miles and would take 45 minutes which would put us at our destination right at 1245. If Diane had driven a bit faster we could have arrived at 1234, which would have been really cool. I love arriving places at a time when the numbers are in sequence. It’s special. The only other time during the day that can happen is 2345. I’m just guessing, but I think that’s true.

I-5 consumed almost all of our time to our destination, with just a few miles on the end to the right of the freeway. The latter part of the trip was very pleasant through some very beautiful neighborhoods so it wasn’t a surprise when WAZE directed us to “take a left” into a gated community.

After stopping at the gate Diane identified us, stating who we were going to visit. At that point, the guard pulled his BB gun and ordered us out of the car. Another guard appeared, seemingly, from nowhere and frisked us, twice, then alerted the guard with the harmless gun that it was OK, we were clean. I’m assuming, of course, that this kind of communication transpired … all we were able to see was the small nod from the guard covering us, then he lowered his weapon and told us we could re-enter our vehicle. Then he went into the guard shack and returned a moment later with a pass and allowed us to proceed.

Our destination was about a block away, as the crow flies, but it involved two rights and three lefts to get there. After the last right, we spied Kathie standing in the street waving, waiting for us. We were concerned about parking because there wasn’t a vehicle in sight, anywhere, but Kathie directed us into their driveway, an obvious effort to lure us into a situation where the HOA could confiscate our car and leave us afoot in Southern California. However, Kathie was very convincing in her assurance that all was well and that we were safe.

It was good to see Kathie & Mike again. It’s been a while. The last time we saw them was when they lived in Oregon City. They moved here after Mike retired.

Their house is magnificent, in all aspects, which didn’t surprise either of us. Mike & Kathie live in model homes no matter where they go. In this community there is no need to own a lawn mower, nor do they need to worry about ever painting their house. It’s covered. Pretty amazing.

We weren’t surprised that they had lunch waiting for us because we used to take turns having lunches at each other’s homes when all of us lived-in Oregon. Plus, that’s just the way they are. They feed people. We had planned to treat for lunch, but their idea was better because it gave us an opportunity to catch up on events in our lives. It took a while.

After that, we took a tour of the area, checking out the two recreation areas, the social centers, the gardens, and the botanical garden. The community has 1900 homes behind the gates so it surprised us that we encountered very little traffic. Just an occasional old person walking one or two small dogs. I, personally, was perplexed by one encounter where I attempted to make friends with a frisky little guy, and he barked at me. The lady holding his leash said she wasn’t surprised because the dog had already been told to beware of me. I was amazed. Not only could this strange lady not know who I was, neither could the dog. He was a scruffy little guy, so I just turned my attention on the other three curly white dogs. They were very friendly with me so apparently didn’t get the memo.

Then we went back to Mike & Kathie’s home where we looked at photos and had ice-cream. We visited more until the light began to fade a bit, then made our farewells so we could return to Oceanside before dark. Diane doesn’t like to drive in the dark, and she won’t let me. I only get to drive in really scary situations like ice and snow, not sunshine. This parting wasn’t sad like the last one because we know we’ll meet again. Who knows? We may take them up on their offer to spend a couple of days, and never leave.

We really enjoyed our day with them. One of the best, ever.

Back in Oceanside, we stopped at a Circle K to get a loaf of bread but the lady clerk said we’d be better off going back up the street to the Red & White market where there was a larger variety of choices. We did, and I got the bread. Then we went back to our condo.

Diane was going to have a couple of pieces of toast, and I was going to have a PB&J. Unfortunately, Diane overcooked her toast so I had a toasted PB&J, which is OK. I like those. She made another pair of toast, a little lighter shade.

That’s the day … Thank You Mike & Kathie …