The Gold Country!

We slept in late and even brought Gizmo into bed with us. At 9:00, I made a call to Marble Quarry RV Park in Columbia, off Highway 49 in the gold country, the park we are staying at on the caravan. They had a space for us so we firmed up plans and started to get ready. After showers and breakfast, we pulled out about 11:00 am and headed for Columbia. “Karen”, the Australian voice on our GPS, decided to take us on a slightly circuitous route through the agricultural fields instead of a more direct route. The trip was enjoyable. We saw lots of vegetables, fruit trees, cattle, and even a big flock of wild turkeys. I leered! We arrived about 3:45 and settled into a very nice site just above the office. Since it’s too late to drive around the area, we will now kick back, relax and “work” tomorrow.

We started down the hill toward Sonora and Jamestown, stopping at the Visitor Center in Sonora. It was a wealth of information and we (I) walked away with a heavy box of brochures and pamphlets. We continued on to Groveland and the Yosemite Pines RV Park. The park is on the “primitive” side but should be OK. Personally, I like the primitive parks. They get me back to nature.

After exploring the park to see the best way to bring the caravan in, we headed for town to the Groveland Hotel to check it out for our scheduled breakfast. We then went across the street to a GREAT Mexican café for lunch. I had two pork enchiladas with rice and beans and Claudia had two chili rellenos, also with beans and rice. We split the dinners, which were absolutely delicious. I WILL go back there again in October. We then returned home to update all our paperwork and do laundry.

The next day was Sunday. We (including Gizmo) slept in. (I’m not sure about Valentino. Does a fish sleep?) Over coffee, we planned our next destination. South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, Carmichael and Sacramento were all in the running. Carmichael won and we plugged the address for the Elks Lodge into the GPS and took off.

We meandered through the rolling hills of the gold country on Highway 49, passing through the old historical towns of Angels Camp, Drytown, Sloughtown and a few others that you need a magnifying glass to see on a map. We pulled into the Elks Lodge shortly after noon, paid for a two-day visit and got the rig set up. This is a beautiful lodge with 50 amp hookups, free Wi-fi and a pool. Depending on several factors, I just might get wet later today. Now, several phone calls are in order and will determine what we actually wind up doing today, tomorrow and ??????????????

Well, I did get wet…in the shower! We are heading to Ellie’s house (Claudia’s step-mother in law) for a reunion and dinner. Both Claudia and I thought it would be nice to shower before we go see her. With the rather warm days now, showers are coming more frequently. As I type, the digital thermometer is reading exactly 100-degrees outside air temperature (in the shade). That’s warm! I gave Gizmo an ice cube to chew on. For some reason, he loves ice cubes. Every time we get ice, he runs to the refrigerator and looks longingly at us, begging for a cube. He does have personality!

We drove to Ellie’s and then went out for Italian food. Good dinner and a good visit. We returned to Ellie’s to continue the visit. After the visit, we drove to Claudia’s old house about two miles down the road. It was in disrepair and was pretty sad. Claudia’s dad had always taken pride in the house. Today, it looks like a rental. We returned to the rig for TV, phone calls and computer work. Tomorrow will be a meet with a buddy that used to work with DMV as a fraud investigator. He and I once hammered an RV rental company for a couple of million in fines for fraudulent registration violations. Ah, memories!

OK…today is Monday and we are off to explore…right after romping the mutt. He went bonkers for two reasons. One, he was on grass and he always goes crazy running on grass. Secondly, he must have felt much better after pooping because I found out he had been chewing on my cellular antenna wire and probably ingested some of the wire. Now that it’s out of his system, he probably feels much better. Luckily, the main wire doesn’t appear to be broken so I just taped up the cable with electrical tape to cover the exposed shield wires. I will have to be sure no cables hang down in the future. First on the agenda today is to visit the caravan park in West Sacramento and then on to Old Sacramento. After that, who knows? Right now the temperature is 103.5 and going up…but it’s a dry heat! The A/C is working double-overtime! Tonight we meet John and Sharon for sushi.

“Karen” took us on a circuitous back door route but, what the hell, we are retired and don’t keep a schedule anymore. We pulled into the parking lot at Mikuni Sushi in Fair Oaks a few minutes before six. John and Sharon soon showed up and we all wound up in big bear hugs. Sharon has to be the most kind and wonderful person in the world. She absolutely has to be to put up with John. I can’t describe John for you because this is a family blog and you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. Let’s just say he’s one of a kind and has a heart of gold. All the years I have known him have been wonderful, but VERY stressful. Working cases with him was always like walking a fine line… a VERY fine line! He was a master at making a case and giving some scumbag a “dirt nap”. Let’s just say we had a lot of fun working together and leave it at that. The meal and the company were fabulous…and long overdue.

We decided to stay another day here in Carmichael, mainly so Claudia could get a haircut. We also need to make a decision on our next stopping place. Right now, it’s looking like it will be the Elks Lodge in Petaluma but that’s not set in stone. This might be a three cup of coffee decision.

We had another vote. Everyone voted to stay another day so Claudia could get a haircut at 4:00 pm. I forked over another $16 for the night and came back to the rig to putter around with miscellaneous jobs. Today is pretty overcast and really quite comfortable. It’s almost 10:30 and is only 81-degrees. After careful consideration, we have decided to go to the Elks Lodge at Petaluma. There’s a lot to do over there so I suspect we will be there for two or three days as well.

Since I have good Internet here, I think I will shut up and get these musings off and into cyberspace.