March 28, 2010
Finally I am finding a little time to update this blog! Since we have been at Park Sierra, we have been dealing with many of the issues that non-RVers deal with on a regular basis. One of the big issues is arranging and attending medical appointments to deal with some of the health problems we are developing as a result of advancing age. Happily, we are fairly sure that we do not have any life-threatening illnesses. But it is finally time to deal with some things we have been putting off. So last week we had two days of appointments and this coming week there are three more; such tings as mammograms, dermatology, lab tests, an x-ray of my hammertoe, etc. I won't bore you with a complete list....
When we aren’t at Kaiser, we have been either socializing with our many friends here, or trying to deal with rig organization and repair. After 13 months on the road, there is a lot to deal with! Additionally, there are still some preparations we need to do to get ready for our April transatlantic cruise. On April 11 we will join many of our friends from last year’s Around the Horn cruise on the Independence of the Seas to sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton, arriving on April 25. Then Elaine and I will fly to Barcelona where we have rented an apartment for a week. We hope to visit some places outside the city too, such as Montserrat. On May 3 we fly back to Florida and then will catch another flight back to CA.
Before arriving back here, on March 21, we spent about 6 days at Jojoba Hills SKP Park in southern California, near Temecula. Our good friends, Dick & Carol Schneider, and Joe & Carla Calwell have lots there, and we had may delightful social times with them. Here are a few pictures of some of the events:
Dick, Carla & Joe:

Elaine & Carol:

For St. Patrick's Day we drove to Darran & Marielle's in San Diego where Elaine and Darran fixed a great corned beef meal.

Marielle's sister Meg, and her husband Ben, also came, as well as Darran's good friend Brian, his wife Jen and their baby McKenna. Here we all are at the dinner table:

It has been a LONG time since we have been around such a young, and cute baby, so we enjoyed holding her:

Brian & Jen and McKenna:

Meg & Ben wearing some of the beads we got at Mardi Gras:

Darran & Marielle like to play with McKenna:

Of course, we needed a picture of the Moms with Darran:

One of the delights of visiting Darran & Marielle is that they live about 2 blocks from Mission Bay in the Pacific Beach section of San Diego. So we love to walk on the pedestrian walkway around the bay:

After we returned to Jojoba, we enjoyed a lovely cocktail party with Joe & Carla on their new lot, and old friends George and Madelyn also joined us.

Later we had a delicious dinner with lots of friends held down at the Ranch House. Here is a picture of Elaine with Vicky & Terry Webb, who also have a lot at this park, but are Boomer friends of ours from our summer at Lake Kachess:

A few days ago, we drove to Merced to see my granddaughter, Paige, who was home for quarter break from college. We all went to lunch together at Applebees, then did some thrift store shopping before dropping her off at her boyfriend Christopher's house. He took the following picture of the three of us. Too bad Paige's eyes were closed!

It was great to see her and she is not only doing well in her classes, but also at her job as assistant manager at a retail store called Pac Sun. We are very proud of her and miss the days when she used to be able to stay with us for one or two weeks at a time.
Here at Park Sierra, there have been lots of Happy Hours and dinners but we haven't taken many pictures of these gatherings. The weather has been sunny and nice but we are due for some rain starting Tuesday night. Hey, maybe I will finally get the taxes done!

3/24/10 Sorry it has been so long since our last update! We have been very busy with socializing during our stay at Jojoba Hills SKP park, and while there we also squeezed in an overnight visit with Darran & Marielle in San Diego. Sunday we drove all day to get back to our lot at Park Sierra because the neighbors were having a big party, partly to welcome us back and partly to say "goodbye" to some of the people who were leaving for a while. Since then we have been busy with doctor's appointments and catching up on chores such as paperwork, and getting resettled on our lot here. Even now we do not have time for a full report, since it is late and we have more early appointments at Kaiser in Fresno tomorrow. So I just wanted to let you know that we are well, and in a few days, when things slow down here a little, I will do a more complete report and post some pictures of our recent doings.

3/14/10 Tonight we are at the Quechan Casino west of Yuma and on the road to Algodones, where Elaine has an appointment with the dentist tomorrow morning. He will check her titanium post to make sure the bone is healing where it was inserted, and then we will be free to head back to California. She will have to return in 3-6 months to get the final tooth put on the post.
While waiting for this appointment, we have been camped out at Mittry Lake with Mike & Marilyn Harrison. Here is a picture of the lake from our camping spot:

Unfortunately, it was pretty darn windy 75% of the time we were there. We were hoping to use our time to catch up on paperwork, household chores, and start doing our taxes, but many of our RV friends were around, and we had lengthy visits with them, so our spare time evaporated. One of the visitors was Maria Navarro, who was on our Panama trip with us. Her partner, Bruce, died about a year ago and we were happy to learn that Maria is doing OK and making a new life for herself here. Other visitors were our old friends, Lee & Susie Blattner, who have traveled with us a LOT. Some friends of Mike & Marilyn's who also came were Bob & Sam Fleckner. So we all had a nice corned beef dinner together last night at MArilyn & Mike's. Here are Lee, Sam, Bob & Elaine at one table:

And Susie, Mary, Marilyn & Mike at the other table:

Previously we had enjoyed a nice visit with Dave & LaVerne Markle, and today when we dropped by the RoVing Rods site for their gathering, we saw them again and also Bruce and Bunny Ratliff.

Our year-long travels have prevented us from doing anything with the group this year and we have missed that!
While staying out in the Foothills the week before, cruise friends Rick & Denice Osborne had hosted us at their home for dinner. Tonight they joined us here at the casino so they could see our RV. We had a nice Happy Hour together and then adjourned to the casino. Here is a picture of them:

We will all be on the Independence of the Seas together starting April 11 when we sail from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton.
Our plans for next week include driving to Jojoba Hills, the SKP park near Temecula for a visit with Joe & Carla Calwell and Dick & Carol Schneider. We will also stay overnight on Wednesday with Darren & Marielle in San Diego so he can cook a St. Paddy's Day dinner for us. Can't believe it has been a year since we have seen them! Then we will head back to our lot at Park Sierra next Sunday.

3/7/10 This will be a quick update because we are having company for dinner and I have to help prep it. Ron & Carol Leonard have graciously allowed us (and Mike & Marilyn) to stay here on their lot while we all get our business taken care of so we have been here for a week. Of course, we have been having some social activities, and also have squeezed in some visits with RV friends who are here for a while.
Yes, Elaine managed to get in to have the beginning phase of her dental implant done in Algodones. When we arrived here and met Ron & Carol's friends and neighbors, Linda & Ray, we learned that Linda had recently had a very good dental implant experience with Dr. Emmanuel Cordova. So Monday we went to his office and spent most of the afternoon waiting to get in for an assessment. He has a very modern office with the latest computer imaging equipment for x-rays, so they did that and determined what Elaine needed to have done, quoted a price, and set up an appointment for Tuesday. That day she spent 3 hours in his chair while he removed the remaining root of the tooth that broke and installed a titanium post and a temporary tooth. Now she is taking antibiotics and waiting for it to heal. She wasn't supposed to return to his office until the 15th but yesterday her tooth became loose, so tomorrow we will go back for him to stabalize it.
Our plan is to head for southern California once she has been cleared by the dentist on the 15th. Until then, we will be leaving Ron & Carol's Tuesday and move out to Mittrey Lake with Mike and Marilyn. Some friends we haven't had time to see will be coming out to visit, hopefully. Tomorrow night we will be having dinner at Rick & Denice Osborn's, some cruise friends who live near here.
Friday was Marilyn's birthday so we went out for dinner with them, Carol & Ron joined us, and we all had a great time.

Then we had cake and ice cream in Marilyn & Mike's rig and the neighboring couples joined us. Here is a cute picture of Ron & Carol we took at that event:

Our friend, Frank, who worked with us at Lake Kachess several summers ago, also lives near here, so we went walking with him and several of his friends one day. Here is a picture of the 3 of us:

Padraic & Willie Ley, from the Boomer group are also here so one day Padraic came to visit and it was great to catch up on their doings, since we haven't seen him for several years. He also helped us with our computers. THANKS Padraic!! (I forgot to take his picture - too bad cause he is a cutie).
It is raining heavily today and we are trying to catch up on inside stuff. Check back with us in a week or so for another report.