For All The Susan’s, Pizza Lovers, and Idol Fans

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

We drove out of the Hilton driveway at 0900 this morning, right on time. Really. It was the time we picked to leave. I believe this is another First for us … actually right on time. On my way to get the Buick so I could stage it for loading, my new publisher friend, Paul, and his wife, Doreen, stopped to greet me on their way to play golf and ask if I got the cards her left. I hadn’t done that yet, but I did. Diane and I both find that meeting him is kind of an omen. We just don’t know what kind, yet.

We made it out of Las Vegas without mishap, which was pretty amazing, then Diane drove her 200 miles which placed us a little north of Tonopah. If you do a little math on a map, you may figure out that Tonopah is more than 200 miles from Las Vegas, but don’t tell Diane. We were looking for the Subway Sandwich shop for lunch, but drove all the way through town without seeing it. So, she pulled over to the side of the road and made us PB&J sandwiches. I got apples and our bag of grapes for dessert, Diane got peppermint patties and carrots. We were set, so I crawled into the driver’s seat, readjusted all the mirrors, the seat, and steering wheel the clawed my way back into the northbound traffic on US 395. It wasn’t too difficult because there wasn’t a lot of it.

I have to mention that while Diane was driving, we drove passed Cheech AFB and she was affected by all the UMDE fowling the air. Cheech is, perhaps, the main facility where Unmanned Drone pilots are trained. It may also be the facility from which all the overseas drones are controlled. I don’t know that, of course, but it could be true. We do know they fly drones because you can watch them takeoff and land quite often. Just like the ones you see on TV. The “E” on UMDE is for exhaust, of course. It’s probably not true that it really bothers her, but she started sneezing right about then. So, that could also be true.

I drove my allotted 200 miles, that actually worked out to about 170, then Diane exerted her authority and recaptured the driver’s seat and drove the rest of the way to Susanville. I expertly guided us to our abode for the evening, the High Country Inn. Nice facilities. Overpriced, I thought, until I paid $18 for a medium pizza that was about the size of a Papa Murphy’s small pizza. We can get their mediums for $5. Once in a while. A caveat to this is that tonight’s pizza was a pretty awesome hand-tossed piece of culinary wonderment. I ate all four of my pieces but Diane stopped at three. She has one left for breakfast, lucky duck.

Now we’re just lounging in the room watching American Idol. So far our favorites are Alex and Sam. We loved the guitars. Nice.

The Las Vegas Monorail & Jersey Boys

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was a perfecting ending to a very relaxing vacation.

No, wait! The perfecting ending is when we arrive home safely. That hasn’t happened, yet.

It was, however, a terrific day before we begin our grueling trip home. The decision was to make it a two-day run … about 500 miles segment. That means, of course, that I will be allowed to drive, more than once, time permitting.

Now, about today.

It started with a very nutritious breakfast of oat mill smothered in brown sugar, and a couple pieces of toast. We don’t usually eat that hearty at home because we never seem to both be up at a reasonable hour when food is necessary. A typical morning sees me with a banana and a raspberry yogurt somewhere between 0600-0730. Diane doesn’t get up until 1000 or so. By then I’m ready for lunch, but she hasn’t had breakfast, or coffee. Because of the latter, I’m not allowed to make noise until the first cup is poured. But, that’s an old story that’s been told many times previously.

After breakfast, we bundled up in our swimming suits and headed for the pool. We can see it from our window, fifteen floors down, and knew it wasn’t crowded. We selected two lounge chairs away from the crowd, composed of the other 5 people near the pool, reclined, fired up our iPads and just layer there in the shade. Yes, the shade. I’m not allowed to lay in the sun, even when I had apply spf 50 over the majority of my body. The reason is because I tend to develop little crispy spots that, left alone, can turn cancerous. So, unlike many things in my life, I’m pretty careful when it comes to the sun. Mainly I’m careful because I have Diane in my head asking if I’ve but on sunscreen, especially my little ears. Since I cannot lie to the voice in my head, I surely won’t lie to her in person, so I just do it. Admittedly, there are times when I have to say “no” and go back to make myself shiny with sunscreen.

We laid on our lounges long enough for the sun to make it’s way past the palm trees and shower us with glorious sunlight. Glorious, cancer-causing sunlight. Once I started sweating, I decided to immerse myself in the pool, just once. I stood up, sucked in my stomach, for the benefit of all those around me, and walked calmly to the stairs where I bravely stood on the first step and suppressed the urge to get right back out. It was cold. For some stupid reason, I thought it might be like Mexico where the pool is heated even though it’s 80-90 degrees outside. Silly me.

I stood there a bit, then bravely took another step, then another, until the water reached a level around the top of my swimming suit. This means, of course, that tender parts of me that like to remain warm, were now cold and making an attempt retract themselves back into my body cavity. Not all of them made it. I stood there building up my resolve to fully immerse my entire body, but it took a while. After a while, it became evident to my tender nether regions that clinging to the hope they could alter my gender was a total waste of time. So, they relaxed and descended once again to the proper place.

Then I took a breath and relaxed my legs, lowering my normally buoyant body into the water up to my neck. As soon as I could breath again, I made a few swimming-like strokes into the pool, finally getting my head wet. I had done it! I was totally wet. Objective met.

So I got back out and returned to my assigned lounge, next to Diane. I stayed there until she determined we’d been there long enough. It was that, or perhaps embarrassment because I was laying there with a towel covering all exposed parts of my body. Not normal for most people next to a swimming pool, I know, but t was comfy.

Back in the room we showered, then each ate a couple of hotdogs in preparation for an exciting end to the day. We had tickets for the Jersey Boys. We just had to arrive at least an hour early to trade our vouchers for real tickets. That meant we had to be there by 1730.

Since we chose to use public transportation for our trip to the Paris Casino, we left around 1530 to catch the monorail. It’s not a long trip, so we were at the Paris stop around 1600. From there it’s about a 1.5 mile walk through Bally’s Casino to the Paris ticket office. Getting the tickets that quickly meant we had a 2-hour wait for the doors to open so we had to entertain ourselves.

Gambling doesn’t interest us, so we found a venue with chairs situated along the main thoroughfare, bought a couple of large $6 root beers then sat there watching people for two hours. We even talked. A lot. It was good, and the time went quickly. An incredible array of people passed us by.

Finally it was almost 1800 so we extracted ourselves from the chairs and headed for the theater.

Once there, we were allowed into the area where drinks and snacks were served for enormous prices. We weren’t thirsty, after downing those 32 oz drinks, but the smell of popcorn was overpowering and I couldn’t resist. I mean, how bad could it be anyway? Well, $4 for a 32 oz cup full of popcorn. That’s not much popcorn. It disappeared quickly.

Finally the doors opened and we were admitted to the theater. Our seats were looted in row KK seats 30 & 31. That’s eleven rows from the front, about center stage. I picked them all by myself. It was a great location. We were quickly joined by a ton of other folks from all points of the globe, I’m sure.

Not being shy, I struck up a conversation with the couple to my right, in seats 28 & 29. This turned into a bit of a small world moment for us because turns out Paul is a publisher from Boston. I’ve avoided thinking, or contacting these kind of people for a very long time even though many people tell me I should write something sensible and see what happens. To me that sounds a lot like a job. But, who knows. Maybe in the half a million words I’ve shared in all these posts there really is a story.

The Jersey Boys show was absolutely incredible. One of the best we’ve ever seen. It took us both back to our school days when the Four Seasons were starting up. Great music, non-stop for almost 2 hours. Just amazing and totally recommended. The language is a bit rough, a lot of the time, but it’s like a Bruce Willis movie where you know it’s going to happen, but it seems to be OK. We loved every minute of it and were sad when it all came to an end.

After the show I talked to Paul a while about his publishing business and we ended up trading phone numbers. Since we plan to leave early in the morning, he said he’ll leave some business cards at the reception desk for us. I’m curious to see where this is going.

The monorail trip “home” was uneventful, and we sat here a bit, unwinding. Now it’s time for bed. Next news will be from Susanville, California if all things go as planned.

Las Vegas

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today’s schedule called for us to leave for Las Vegas at 0900 and we made it right on time, at 1000. Around noonish, we decided it might be a good time to eat something so I asked my iPad to find us an IHOP. She did, and we checked in to a really busy one in Perris, California. We had to wait for about 15-20 minutes, and pretty much every seat was full, all the time, so we were confident the food would be hot, and good. We weren’t disappointed. The silverware they delivered was even still warm from the dishwasher. We were definitely a minority in the facility, but that didn’t matter. Everyone was extremely friendly and made us reaffirm our desire to learn Spanish. Or Mexican. One of those.

After lunch we joined a plethora of vehicles and re-established our position on I-215 North. It was all going well then it all fell apart when I saw a huge bill board advising everyone to re-elect Sheriff Stan Sniff. It made my mind whirl with possibilities of other interesting names in public offices. Unfortunately I can’t remember any of them right now, but you have to admit it’s an interesting name for a sheriff. Kinda makes you wonder what his wife’s name is and what they named their kids. How about Scratch Ann? That’s not nice, I know, but how can your head not go that direction? I’m over it, now, and if I ever meet Mr. Sniff, I’ll apologize. Honest, I will. He won’t know why, but I’ll do it anyway.

In Riverside the temperature soared to 80 degrees, then went up a couple more in San Bernardino. Then we started climbing, gently, to over 4000 feet. The speed limit concerned Diane most of the way because there wasn’t a lot of guidance provided by the highway department. We encountered a number of warnings that the speed limit was dropping to 60, then 55, but getting back up to 70 was kind of left up to the individual drivers. Then, 20 miles down the road there might be a sign approving the speed everyone had been driving all that time. More like 75, even though there was a very large police presence on both sides of the freeway.

About 60 miles from our destination, we encountered the only, got that?, the only rest area open on the trip. There were others, of course, but every one of them was closed. Feeling blessed, we stopped, along with an abnormal number of Oriental folks, all of whom seemed to be smoking, because Diane was getting tired and her bladder was apparently full.

Diane was tired because the cross winds for most of the trip were not subtle, sometimes jerking us quite severely. It was reasonable that I take over driving responsibilities, although I’m not normally assigned that task.

Problems started just as soon as I put the Buick in ‘R’. There were 4-5 Oriental people standing behind the car talking, and taking photos of something. I waited, patiently, revving the engine, even whistling out the window at one point, but they wouldn’t move. Finally, Diane got out and made them aware of my desire to run over them, and they dispersed. Apparently, they were feeding birds.

Finally they moved, and I carefully made my way from the parking spot, and on to the freeway entrance. Diane told me she had been cruising at 74 most of the time, so I should set my sights on that speed. I did, and blended right in quite nicely. Shortly after doing that, we noticed the southbound lanes slowing down and it wasn’t long before all 3 lanes were cruising along at bruising 13 mph. We know it was 13 mph because Diane looked at Waze, who knows all that stuff. This continued for almost 20 miles. It was pretty amazing. We had to have passed thousands and thousands of cars. Let’s see, cars are about 18′ long and in this instance were about 3′ apart, so call it 21′. Now, 5280 divided by 21, times 3 for the lanes, and times 20 for the distance covered is 15085.7142857142858 cars. Considering that some of the vehicles were semi trucks, I figure I can round that up to an even 15,085 vehicles we passed during that time. That’s a lot of vehicles.

Finally, we hit the end and I could let it go. There was a point in time where my Oregon upbringing almost caused me to get off the freeway and get in line on the southbound side. Logic intervened, however, and kept me heading North, to LV. Diane isn’t aware of that brief impulse and I’m pretty sure it would have upset her a great deal had I acted on it.

We arrived at our destination, 121 Karen Avenue, Las Vegas. I got us checked in and everything moved to the room, while Diane parked the Buick. When she got to the rooms, we made supper. She baked both the potatoes we had and I made salad. Additionally, I heated up the one remaining chicken breast and ate it with my salad.

After eating, I went back to the Buick to get some things we missed on the first effort, and I stopped by the concierge to order up tickets for The Jersey Boys at the Paris. It’s the first show Diane thought she would like to see, so I got them. It is, incidentally, our anniversary trip.

Now I won’t have to buy a card.

Here in Vegas, by the way, it’s a stunning 57 degrees. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 70.

Go UCONN, Women and Men.

The Beach, Rocks, Dead Chicken, and Seeds

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

This morning I woke up with a terrible back ache. Normally, it wouldn’t concern me, but this is the third morning in a row. Now I’m thinking it’s terminal. We have, however, been walking more than normal, so it may be as simple as that. Or, it could be that we’re sleeping in a queen bed that’s about the size of a double and we’re just not used to that. Maybe my back hurts because of the small bed makes me fearful of touching Diane at some point in the night so my body is just seizing up in self-defense. The latter is more probably so maybe it’s not terminal after all. It’s just fear expressing itself in new ways.

After all the knots worked themselves out, we took another nice long, slow walk down the beach picking up agates. That’s not a new activity for us because we pick up rocks everywhere we go. They aren’t, however, always agates.

Following are photos taken to document the day. The first one is a “selfie”, something we’ve done a few times. Diane found a nice flat boulder to sit on, so I joined her and captured the moment.

This is looking north up the beach from whence we came. Those of you in Oregon will notice a distinct difference between this beach and those at home. It gets better on the north side of the pier, but there are plenty of what I’d call river rock all over the beach. It’s not a place that’s very friendly to bare feet. It’s because of that, and other various reasons, that I wear my sneakers every time we leave the room.

On the way back down the sidewalk part of The Strand, we discovered many of these balancing acts. Some of them defy gravity and all are fun to view. Pretty tricky stuff.

This one is a photo of the park next to our current residence. It’s the building farthest to the left in the photo above the lady in the hat … on, snap! That’s Diane!
This is north of the pier. Lots of scrawny palm trees with little tops. That’s my lovely bride looking at the guy walking up the beach.

Here’s the beach end of the pier complex. The top part ends at South Pacific Street. The other side is headquarters for the Life Guards.

See … told ya.

After resting from the walk, we took a trip to Camp Pendleton for gas and chicken. Gas for the Buick, and chicken for our afternoon meal. On the way back, Diane mentioned our nutritious breakfast of toast and oatmeal, commenting that it doesn’t seem to stick with her like it used to. I suggested that, perhaps, the oatmeal might be from China because that’s what Chinese food does to pretty much everyone.

We got gas, and chicken, then did a pass through the MCX (Marine Corps Exchange), looking for things we didn’t need. I got a new shirt and a nice little pin for my Lions vest. Then it was back to the room so Diane could cook the chicken. She had stir fry on her mind.

While she cooked, I sat like a lump on the sofa waiting for her to beckon me for assistance, but she never did. I only offered once, knowing that inserting myself into her routine, unwanted, is not healthy. So, I just stayed in lump mode. When she was done, this is what my share of her efforts looked like. It was very tasty. I think I gained 8 pounds before quitting.

While eating we turned on the NCAA Final Four to watch UCONN Huskies and Florida Gators go to war. For most of the 1st half Florida pretty much stifled UCONN and the score was 16-4 at one point. Then UCONN staged a magnificent comeback to lead 23-20 at halftime. Now, with about 5.5 minutes to go, UCONN is up by 10 and seems to be cruising. But, there’s lots of time remaining and anything can happen. Florida is, after all, the favorite as 1st seed while lowly UCONN is the 7th seed underdog. I would have cheered for UCONN regardless of their seeding, but since they are the underdog it’s especially gratifying that they are doing well.

Now, I just have to ask … what the heck is it with “seeds” with regard to playoff rankings? I took that question to Bing and got a pretty good answer. It appears to have been started in the 1800’s with tennis tournaments where top rated players were scattered, seeded if you will, throughout the contestants to ensure they didn’t meet each other early in the competition. The terminology carried over to single elimination tournament play for the same reason and that’s why you see #1 playing #8 in the brackets.

If none of that makes sense to anyone, I’m sorry, but I don’t care. It’s the best I’ve got.

Go UCONN! They are playing for the NCAA Championship!

Fun In The Sun & Popcorn

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was another relaxing one. We got up at our new normal time, 0730-ish, then fiddled around, drinking coffee and reading, until 1000-ish. At that time we decided it was time to eat so I got busy cooking. With permission, I decided it was time for eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and toast. As luck would have it, Diane baked two potatoes yesterday but we only ate one of them so we had one I could hack to pieces and fry them.

Before dismantling the potato, I got the bacon going so I’d have some grease in which to fry the potato. Diane may have preferred that I fry them in butter, or Crisco, but I didn’t want to. I was in charge. I did, however, fry the eggs in butter. That’s Diane’s choice. I, personally, prefer anything that needs to be fried to be fried in bacon grease. I even fry up sausage patties in bacon grease.

Breakfast was awesome, then Diane bundled up for our trip to Del Mar and the car show. Me? I wore shorts and a t-shirt. Admittedly, it was a brave thing to do because the breeze coming through the windows was a bit on the chilly side.

Having previously agreed that we would take a train to Solano Beach, then walk to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, we meticulously checked, and rechecked the schedule to ensure we knew what we were doing. You see, there are about four trains that ply the rails between LA and San Diego with many commuter stops along the way. Interestingly, though they whiz by within a few blocks of our temporary residence, they are not a distraction.

Armed with all this information, we set out for the Oceanside Transit Center, a fairly large complex from which we could exit the area on any of the trains, or busses. Once we arrived, we joined some other neophyte train riders to catch the 1228 train to Solano Beach. An attractive young transit policewoman loudly informed everyone that the next train for our chosen stop wasn’t until 1432, a three-hour wait. I had a brief education by the young lady who pointed out the error in my thinking process that led us to believe we had actually figured out how to read the complicated schedule.

At this point, Diane and I looked at each other, for the first time in days, and voiced our concern about having to wait for three hours for the planned trip to the custom car show. Then we started talking, another rare event, and learned that we were both victims of the dreaded GOTM syndrome. That’s the one where one of us agrees to do something they think the other one really wants to do, like in the story about The Gift Of The Magi. Remember that one? Well, turns out we both thought going to the custom car show because we thought the other person really wanted to attend the show. After talking about this for a while we came to the conclusion that neither of us really wanted to spend time indoors, walking around for hours looking at custom cars. We’ve seen lots of custom cars in the past so we determined that our time would be better spent walking around Oceanside’s back streets to see what we could see, so that’s what we did. We wandered, all the way north, almost to the far end of The Strand.

Then we had to walk all the way back. It was really a nice walk, however, and neither of us was hurting worse than normal at the finish line. Still, we found it necessary to rest for the remainder of the afternoon which turned chillier making our choice to stay inside a good one.

Later, I made some popcorn, for myself because Diane doesn’t eat it, and it brought up the merits of making good choices about which bowls to use. You see, one previous day I selected a bowl from the counter, dried it out, dumped my popcorn in it and plopped myself on the sofa. Diane said, “did you wash the bowl?” I replied, it was wet so I just dried it out. “You know, don’t you,” she asked, “that I soaked my feet in that bowl?” In no way intimidated, I responded, “yes, but you did it twice an I rinsed it between soaks.” She pointed out, “but, Jerrie! I cleaned the polish off my toes with acetone in that bowl!” Sniffing the bowl, I didn’t detect a hint of acetone, so figured all was good.

Although I didn’t look Directly at Diane, I know for a fact that she stared at me with furrowed brow for longer than normal, then went back to what she was doing.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to be OK, but one never knows, does one?

Now we’re just in a wait and see mode to discover if I come down with some sort of exotic athlete’s foot kind of thing in the back of my throat. On the off-chance I do, I’m reading about foot fungus medicine on-line to see if it’s a bad thing to ingest. Looks good, so far

Sempre Fi my Brothers & Sisters

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today we took a trip to Camp Pendleton to forage for food as we were apparently running low.

I accompanied Diane into the commissary, and followed her around for a while until she suggested that I go get a haircut. Boy did I trick her because I got every single one of them cut, not just one.

That’s a Marine haircut that I got in a Marine barber shop for $8 in 8 minutes. Maybe less. Although I retired from the Navy, and I’ve always heard about the rivalry between the two services, I’ve always considered them to be my brothers and sisters. They are all warriors and I totally respect their dedication and integrity. So, I got a haircut to honor them, and the sweater I’m wearing in the photo above has a Marine emblem on the back.

When I was done I drove carefully back to the commissary and stopped by the spot closest to the exit door and waited for that person to appear and move their car. All the people lined up behind me got a little testy, but I didn’t mind. I just put my blinker on and waited. It didn’t take more than 30 minutes or so.

Inside, it didn’t take me long to find Diane because she wore her new hat … the one she bought at Hearst Castle. I have a photo of her wearing it, somewhere, but can’t find it right now so I’ll just share this one of my right foot that I took on our way “home” from Mission Viejo …

I think it’s a very dramatic shot of an undramatic foot wearing a festive sneaker, and little fake socks. Notice how the shadow eliminates the need for anyone to be struck with awe by the skinny stick-like leg. I think I’m going to blow this one up, have it framed and give it to Diane for our anniversary. She bought the sneaker for me for this trip. She said I can have the other one when we get home. Can’t wait for that! Neither can Diane because my left sock gets really dirty and people stare at me in public.

They did that before I started wearing just one shoe, though, so that’s really not reason enough to yearn for my left shoe.

After returning from our shopping spree I made a couple of trips from the car with the food that will last us for a few days. Hopefully.

It was chilly, too chilly to sit on the beach, so Diane put on her sweat suit and sat on the deck, facing the setting sun, reading her book. Me? I stayed in the safety of our room and tried to take a nap, but Diane had the living room window wide open and I was cold. I suppose I could have put some long pants and a long-sleeved shirt on, but they were in the other room. I didn’t want to make any sudden moves that might distract Diane so I just toughed it out on the couch. I did, however, sneak into the bathroom and got my towel so I could cover up my little legs. There was a breeze blowing across my exposed elbow so I installed one of the couch pillows on top of my elbow and it helped a little. I actually nodded off for a short time. About 8 minutes, like I did at the barbershop.

After Diane finished her book she came back inside and started waiting on me, something I thought was overdue. That’s an out-and-out lie, of course. She waits on me all the time. She promised to do that the day we got married … you know …. “… love, honor, obey, and wait on …” and she hasn’t disappointed me. Fortunately, we wrote our own vows and that part wasn’t in mine. Well, it was, but I forgot to say it during the ceremony. She didn’t. Therefore, she’s really kind of obligated to cater to my every whim, even the whims I don’t remember having. I’m sure she’ll deny this, but that’s OK as long as she keeps waiting on me.

Now, having said all that, I’m going to start looking for resources on the internet so I can learn how to take care of myself. I’m sure that’s in my future, like, as early as tomorrow. Perhaps even a little later this evening unless go to bed before she reads this.

I know, I could edit all that out, but I don’t do that. Once it’s visible on my computer, it’s a done deal and I have to live with that. Like saying something really dumb in public … you just can’t take that stuff back, ya know?

I need another glass of water, and I’m going to go get it myself. For practice.

Then I’m going to quit.

Somewhere in Mission Viejo

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

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 …

Oceanside, CA

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was very quiet and peaceful.

Although we both felt as though we slept in, we were up before 0800. We were moving, too.

After a leisurely breakfast of nourishing Cheerios, coffee, and pills, we put on our outside clothes and took a walk down the boardwalk, and to the end of the Oceanside Pier. Along the way we stopped to watch the surfers running down both sides of the pier. The waves were quite magnificent due to the coming storm, so we witnessed a lot of amazing wipeouts.

After the walk, we got our beach chairs and took them to the beach, about 30 feet away, and sat there until Diane got cold enough to see the need to retreat indoors. I was sitting there in my little shorts, and short-sleeved shirt and she was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt. I admit, I was a little chilly, too, but no way was I going to cry Uncle first. She doesn’t know that, so don’t tell.

For all the “Mike’s” out there … we found your bench …

Our “home” …

All of the inside boards of the pier railing, both sides, have names on them, like this …

That’s a lot of names.

Back in the condo, Diane pulled one of the arm chairs into the patch of sun, got her book going, then fell asleep. I wound up taking a nap on the couch. For supper Diane had a tuna melt, and some soup. I ate the rest of the soup. Real exciting stuff, huh?

Port Hueneme to Oceanside

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today’s another banner day for me with regard to blog entries … this is #580 and I still haven’t run out of words. Go figure ..

The day started with a mostly calm journey down Highway 101, and ended the same on I-5 at the southern extreme of our intended journey. The middle, through the heart of Los Angeles was just as we remembered … about 20-85 minutes of dodging daring drivers driving very expensive cars. We noted that about 1 in 10 of the cars passing us were new. The obvious explanation is that they each had recently wrecked the last one they had and were out breaking in the new one.

Initially, as we neared Los Angeles, the amount of north-bound traffic seemed pretty normal for seven lanes of new cars. The number quickly increased making it quite evident they were all rushing to escape the city before the next earthquake hits.

Then, about the middle of the LA proper, the southbound lanes become the escape route and the real excitement begins.

The frenzy continues, and builds, as more and more new vehicles join the quest to seek safety, from severe seismic sensations, to the south. During the fray, most of the vehicles ricochet off one exit or another until only a few of us remain. We continue southward, to solace, in Oceanside … the number one liberty town for pretty much the entire Marine Corps. We don’t mind, however, because we’re well protected from invasion of any sort.

We arrived at our destination at 1430, or so, meaning we made the trip in 3.5 hours with only one stop. That was for donuts because Diane was hungry. I mean, really hungry.

So, before leaving the Port Hueneme area, we stopped at a small donut shop in Oxnard that I spied. They had awesome looking donuts, but they also had apple fritters which I happen to know Diane loves. They also had some good-looking cinnamon rolls. So, I bought one each, and away we went.

These pastries were not minor pieces. They were huge, so we had to wear our car bibs to keep from making pastry stains on our clothing. We washed them down with the semi-good coffee I purchased at the exchange before leaving the Navy base. This minor form of sustenance sustained us all the way to our destination which means we didn’t have to stop.

Once off the freeway, we made our way to 121 S. Pacific Ave in Oceanside. It’s an ocean front resort, right on the water, almost. Actually, separating the resort from the water is a very narrow road, a boardwalk, made out of cement, a fence and a wide area of sand. But, it’s still Oceanside, right?

Still, it’s nice. We got a parking place, opened all the doors, and loaded everything that fell on the ground onto a cart and took it to our room.

I’ll go back down tomorrow and get the rest of it. Shouldn’t take more than two trips.

We have a corner unit on the north end of the third floor of the Easternmost building of this two building complex. We have a really nice deck that has a terrific view of the wall of the Westernmost building, and it looks down on a very large patio area that forms the roof of the parking area between the two buildings. However, in our little corner, we have two windows that provide a pretty nice view of pretty much everything that’s going on.

Before …

… and at sunset
After the trip we simply enjoyed just sitting around doing nothing. Actually, we like sitting around doing nothing pretty much anywhere we go. That will change tomorrow. Diane already has a Costco trip planned, and I’m pretty sure she’s scoped out locations for all the thrift stores in the area. If not yet, I know she will. Diane was enjoying sitting around doing nothing that she recruited me to make dinner, which I did. We had tuna salad sandwiches. They were really good.

Tomorrow, we will try to connect with our friends, the other California Mike and Kathie, who are only about 40 miles away. After driving over 1000 miles, 40 miles is nothing, really. Besides, Diane will be driving.

Now I’ll share a couple of photos from Hearst Castle, then quit …

Travis AFB, Hearst Castle, and Port Hueneme Naval Station

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Another banner day for us because we were up, dressed, and out of our room before 0730. On the way our of the lobby we each got a cup of coffee from the Java Station … $4.35 for both. Better than hotel bathroom coffee, but a bit expensive for just coffee. Thankfully, Diane packed my favorite creamer so I could dose it up to a condition where it was compatible with my tender palet.

Getting on the road toward a more southerly location was pretty simple with Waze in charge. She talks, better than Google maps. I also like her use of slang. For instance, when a corner is coming up Google Maps says, “In one mile, turn left.” Waze just says, “In one mile take a left.” more user-friendly.

As I “speak”, we are cruising, in excess of 70 mph, south on Highway 101 about 175 miles north of our first destination of the day, Hearst Castle. We got up early to leave because it’s a 5 hour trip and we have reservations for an Old People Tour at 1400. I doubt if we’d get a refund if missed our appointment. So, by golly, we’re going to make it on time. Probably get there way early. Might even have time to get lunch, which would be nice, because Diane made us hit the road this morning after ingesting only a yogurt and a pint of coffee. I suppose if I was more assertive I could convince her to stop for a bite, but I want it to be her choice, not mine. In her defense, she’s been asking me on a pretty regular basis if I’m hungry. I’m really not, but I could probably eat half a horse. That’s just the way I am. I can eat a lot, whether or not I need it. I must learn to control that because my A1C is in the danger zone of pushing me over that fine line of that tells the world I have diabetes. I prefer not to go there, but if Diane continues to let me eat whatever I want, that’s what’s going to happen. She needs to be more careful with me.

We’ve been talking about my torn rotator cuff and whether or not I should have the surgery. So far, 100% of the people who responded to my question about success have reported that it’s a no-brainer … I should do it. So, with that thought in mind, she’s making a list of all the things I need to get done before I get laid up for recovery. It’s interesting that the new list has different things on it than the normal one before all this talk of surgery.

The sun has appeared and the visible clouds hold no threat of moisture.

…

Just as I typed that last, Diane decided that it’s time to eat. So, I asked SIRI to find us breakfast and she directed us to an IHOP in Salinas. Now we eat.

…

Breakfast was good. When we got there it was standing room only and we had to wait for about 15 minutes. We didn’t mind waiting because it’s a good sign that the food will be fresh and hot. It was.

After lunch we made our way own Highway 101 to Paso Robles where we made a right turn on Highway 46 and followed it to Highway 1 where we made another right turn, going north. Our goal was San Simeon where we made another right turn on Hearst Castle Drive. We had reservations for a tour of the castle at 1400 and we were an hour early so had plenty of time to look around the gift shop and view the castle from afar. I didn’t realize it was so high up in the hills.

At the appointed time we boarded a bus for transport up one of the most crooked roads we’ve ever been on. You need go Google Hearst Castle and check the road out. It’s pretty interesting. Then, visualize a ride up it in a city bus that, once in a while, meets another bus coming down. Pretty exciting stuff.

Visiting the castle is recommended even though it’s off the beaten path, unless you just happen to be driving up or down Highway 1 on purpose. It’s a beautiful drive and the castle is quite magnificent. We spent a couple of hours there but saw just a little bit of the interior. It’s an all day event to see everything, and we didn’t have the time.

Just before turning in to the park, we saw numerous zebra mingled amongst the cattle roaming the property. They run wild there. They are the remnants of Hearst wild animal park that spanned, at one point, nearly 1/4 million acres.

After leaving the castle, we returned to Highway 1 and turned left. The next destination was Port Hueneme Naval Base. It’s located near Ventura on the coast, so staying on Highway 101 was the quickest way.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. It’s like driving through a gold course with rolling hills on which cattle have etched their presence in evenly spaced ridges encircling each hill, no matter how tall, from bottom to top. It’s evident this has been going on for many, many years. quite decorative.

At one point Diane asked how far we had to go and I told her 130 miles, I believe. She checked the Buick’s computer and learned we could make it about 90 miles on the remaining gas. So, a stop was necessary. We were hungry, anyway, so I asked SIRI to find us a gas station and a place to eat. As luck would have it, about 10 miles down the road was an exit that had gas stations on all four corners in addition to a number of fast food places.

Since we were going to a Navy Base, I didn’t fill the tank. I’m guessing gas will be a little less on the base. The gas we got cost $4.12 a gallon for regular. That’s the most we’ve paid, so far. After dumping $30 in the tank, we went next door to get a Domino pizza. Not your normal food to eat while flying down Highway 101, dodging all those California drivers in a hurry to get home, but that’s what we got. It is, after all, Saturday night, and that’s usually what we do.

Since I was the navigator, I got to hold the pizza on my lap until it cooled down enough to divvy it up, a piece at a time. We have car bibs so keeping shirts clean isn’t a problem and we were pleasantly surprised that eating pizza on the road is actually easier than eating a hamburger. We figured it was better for us, too, because pizza has way more bread type food in it.

The trip got longer and longer as the sun began to dip below the horizon, but we finally arrived safely at the Port Hueneme Navy Lodge, just about dark. It was a relief to be “home”.

Now we’re all wound down and ready to call it a night. Tomorrow, our last leg of this southward journey is a much shorter one. The downside is that it’s through the middle to Los Angeles. Hopefully they won’t have any more earthquakes while we’re transiting the area.

If that happens, we’ll have to stop at Penney’s for new underwear.

Cheers.