Travels with The Rayman

It’s Thursday night here in the Northwest.  I’m in the back of the Dog House blogging having thoroughly beaten Rayman at Scrabble tonight with mostly vowels.  My first hand  drew had 4 “o”s, an M and 2 “e”s.  I spelled “moose”.  And then I drew about a dozen “i”s.  The whole game was like that.  Twice, my hand had not one consonant.  However, some how, I eeked out a solid victory.

Rayman is out front watching the end of a football game.  Beau is sleeping next to me.  He had a big day.  We drug him all over the place.  Today’s venue was house hunting in Washington state, in the Vancouver area.  Our main interest was some new homes that are green, eco homes.  It took us a while to find them.  The first address was a new site they were just starting to build on.  Boring is all I can say.  Then we plugged in the next address and we ended up near the Columbia River in a questionable neighborhood.  Ends up, that’s where their “corporate offices” are.  We went inside and asked where we could see an actual model.  Finally, we drove to the new model.  It as very nice.  The houses with the view were all the two story houses.  That’s a non-starter for us.  No more stairs.

We then drove more or less willy-nilly around Camus, WA.  Found some lovely hilltop homes that were way too big.  I feel like Goldilocks.  “My, what big houses you have.”  Oh, well.  It was a lovely day for a drive.  And we managed not to get lost.  Must be losing our touch.

I’m in the mood to talk about food.  Yesterday we played golf in Wilsonville at a lovely development that we would considering living in EXCEPT for the freeway noise.  It is too close to the freeway and the prevailing winds moved the noise to the houses.  Too bad.  The golf course was comprised of 3 courses of 9 holes each.  They were short courses so it only took about 3 hours to play 18.  Nice.  I like the concept a lot.  Just because it was short didn’t mean I couldn’t lose balls, get in the bunkers, go in the water, hit trees and sundry other faux pas.  It was great fun and after we finished we went to California Pizza Kitchen for a late lunch (3 ish).  Ordered chopped chicken barbecued salad and a flat bread with bacon and Brussel sprouts.  Yummy for a chain restaurant.  Also fast and very convenient.  For dinner we had ice cream and chocolate.

Today, after we returned from our house hunting, I brined some skinless, boneless chicken breast and thighs.  Also made some tziki which is yogurt, garlic, cucumber, dill, lemon juice and lemon peel.  Then after Rayman cooked the chicken, he roasted one ear of corn and two pita breads.  We then stuffed the pita bread with the chicken and the tzini and boy, was that good.  Had it with some watermelon on the side.  Some of the simplest things are so delicious.

Here’s the link for both.

http://http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/06/hot-to-grill-boneless-skinless-chicken-breast.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/easy-tzatziki-recipe.html

This Saturday we are going to return to Vancouver to cook dinner with Ryan and Tamara.  Almost all recipes are from a cookbook Ryan gave me for xmas last year.  Hazelnut crusted salmon, a celery root and apple salad, and wild rice cakes and asparagus.  Polishing it off with a plum torte which is really more of a plum cake.  Got that recipe from the NYTimes yesterday.  It happens to be the most sought after recipe they have ever published.  I’m expecting good things here, folks.

Rayman has dry skin on his thumbs.  It is driving him crazy.  The only known remedy is to sleep with cotton gloves on after gooping up the thumbs.  Then he has to avoid water and soap on those poor thumbs.  This is driving him to wear little “thumbettes” of pretty blue latex.  He cuts the tip of the thumb off two latex gloves to do this.  It does look, uhm, interesting to the casual observer.  And i think he bought latex gloves that are too small.  He just huffs and puffs to get them on and off.  He dons the full set when he is going to work in water, like squirting the Dog House, washing the car windows, that sort of thing.  My recommendation that he buy larger gloves went completely unappreciated.   But until these thumbs heal themselves, he is consigned to protecting them against egregious soap.  I am now the main dishwasher, which is not my favorite thing to do but for the good of the order, it is what I must do.   Of course, I am part of the problem because I insist on using dishes that are dishes, not plastic or paper plates.  I enjoy a good meal on good dishes.  Call me crazy, I know it’s true!!!

Didn’t take any pictures today.  So, drats.  The blog is a bit of a bore, I’m afraid.  Perhaps tomorrow.

So many things have been happening.  Where to start?

As many of you know, we bought a new RV.  It came with growing pains.  It seemed to us like it had less storage, but now I think not.  It’s just different storage.  So, we have become space planners buying plastic see through boxes at a rapid rate to put our provisions in so that I can see them when I am cooking.  Spices in one.  Dry goods in another.  A regular tidy Tilly exercise.

My friend, Nancy, who is also traveling in an RV, recommended an electric frying pan for cooking outside.  Think bacon, fish…etc.  So, I bought one on-line.  It is bigger than the state of Texas.  What in the world was I thinking?  It now lives under the bed.  I better throw a party so I can use it.  What the heck can I cook in it?  Looking for ideas here, kiddies!!

The new digs are delightful.  A faux fireplace that blows out hot air.  An ice maker.  What they won’t think of.  Rayman is impressed with built in vacuum and the big tires.  Huge Michelins which I am happy about since we have precious cargo on board.  I’m taking about Beau here!!

We have USB plugs everywhere.  And three TVs.  OMG.  We hardly ever watch TV.  However, speaking of TVs, I think Saturday Night Live needs me.  Wouldn’t it be a hoot if they had the Dancing Trumpsters (think Dancing Itos).  Lead by the Trumpeter Swan himself.  Oh, the fun they could have with that idea.  They are missing the boat here.

Part of our draw to Oregon is that my cousin, on my dad’s side, is moving here because her two fabulous daughters live here now.  It would be great fun to have family around and now that Uncle Ralph is gone, the idea is catching on.  That and Ryan, our son, lives here too.

We met up with Ryan on Thursday for Mexican food at a Portland restaurant that required about a 30 minute standing in line wait outside on the sidewalk.  Por Que No?  was the name of the place.  Cute, inventive and the Mexican food was good and inexpensive.  We were undoubtedly the oldest people there.  Gosh, that feels funny.  Seems like just yesterday…

Then on Saturday, we met Ryan and his lady friend, Tamara.  They had just returned from Burning Man where epiphanies were realized amid sand storms and nudity.  What does it all mean?  Makes Woodstock seem quaint.  And makes me feel old.  Anyway, being with the young adults was really fun.  Tamara is a landlord several times over and just bought her 3rd house.  Works for the State of WA Transportation Department after a career in TV (behind the scenes).  After we stuffed ourselves with pulled pork, brisket, and ribs, we walked the neighborhood (Alberta) and saw one of the houses she owns nearby.  Also visited the McMinnimus Kennedy School which is now…Well, don’t take my word.  Here’s the link.

http://www.mcmenamins.com/KennedySchool

Then on Sunday, we attended a birthday party for Portland’s newest residents, Cenk and Kristen’s twins.  They turned one on the 10th.  New house.  Great neighborhood.  Lots of people came.  A cousin that hales from Alaska and now lives in Lake Oswego (not the lake itself, but the town of).  Her partner, new neighbors with children, sister Ali and her betrothed, Bernat (from Spain).  It was a hoot.  Again, we were the oldest people in attendance.  I picked up Ezgi, the one year old twin girl and she burst into tears.  Such a touch I have.  Emre, her brother was more sedate but I admittedly did not hold him.  It would have shattered me.

In between all this, Rayman and I have been driving through neighborhoods that surround Portland.  We also met with a realtor to talk about where in the world the one story houses are located.  They are a dying breed up here.  Most houses are two stories and a full basement.  It was an instructive meeting that still has us talking and scratching our heads.

Who knows what will become of us.  This much is clear.  There are lots of trees with lots of leaves that will be falling in another month.  Who rakes up those leaves, anyway.

Beau is happy.  He went riding around with us today.  Tomorrow, he won’t be so happy.  We’re off to play golf!!!  Can’t wait.  He will be bored as a post but we must get out and play a bit too.  Most of our dinners/travels only last a few hours.  Golf is a 6 hour deal by the time we drive to and fro and play.

You may think this is all fun and games.  But I’ve been busy talking to the painter of the rental house I am sprucing up to sell.  It’s on Ocean in Cayucos.  Eddie the painter, called me at least 3 times a day every day while he painted the place inside and out.  He was great.  I will miss our calls.  His check went out in the mail today.  He had a crew and they did the whole thing in about a week or so.  I hope it looks great.  The pictures do.  I highly recommend his work.  My friend, Diane Wyatt, will be meeting with the carpet salesman tomorrow and will help pick out the carpet that will be installed.  A shout out to her for her help.  And to Melissa, my pedicurist.  She and her husband picked out the inside wall colors for me.  Silk Stockings.  Uhm.  I picked the exterior paint before I left.  I don’t know what I would do without friends like these.  Thanks, guys.

Time to close.  Beau needs a walk and so do I!!!

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen,

So, I penned this blog a few days ago(Sept 8th) but it sounds relevant so I will share it with you.

It’s our first full day in Portland, Oregon.  We landed here yesterday afternoon.  Under sunny skies and half a talk of gas in the Dog House.  The way we got here was via highway 20 out of Sisters, Oregon headed west.  Then we veered off and headed northwest on highway 22.  A beautiful drive that had us following along a river for many miles as we descended from 4500 feet to 125 above sea level.

There was plenty of trees to see, however, there was a stretch of highway that I’ll refer to as Cutback Mountain.  Or Burnedback Mountain.  Looks like the area had either been ravaged by fire or clear cutted.  Or both.  Not very attractive.  However, the rest of the ride was a visual delight.  We saw reservoirs, rivers, road kill and rest stops.  The West is so special.  Beautiful rides on the backroads.  A truly magnificent mash up of miles that delight the eyes and the nose.  The smell of conifer in the air.  The whiff of skunk.  Oh, dear.  Poor skunk.  And poor raccoon.  And poor deer.  And poor opossum.  We saw them all laid out flat on the blacktop.  Just glad we didn’t have to witness their demise.

And what is it with deer crossings?  How do they know where the deer cross?  The sign says, Deer Crossing Next 18 Miles.  A sign like that strikes fear in my heart.  OMG.  The Dog House cannot be stopped on a dime.  Or a deer, for that matter.  To ponder the outcome is to induce a sense of panic.  What if Bambi bolts out into the street?  Okay.  That’s a question I cannot answer.  So, let’s just hope those deer steer clear.

While wandering north on 22 we drove through agricultural land.  Fresh, berries, eggs, corn, peaches for sale.  We saw wineries here and there.  And then we saw a sign for the Frank Lloyd Wright house and a garden.  While we’re here, we’re gong back to visit there.  It looked lovely.  And Silverton was a cute little town.  Another place to snoop around when we have time.

Eventually, the road #22 gave way to the freeway.  And on to the Interstate 5 we roamed.  And before you knew it we were in Tigard, OR where the RV park is located.

We only got lost once, a new record perhaps.  And here we will be until Sept 25.  Then we need to move so the plan is to perhaps head north to Washington, the state.  Until then we will be in an RV site that has the Tualatin River running beside it.  It’s a bit noisy because of the highway traffic near by, but we can live with that as the highway is above us in the form of a bridge that spans the Tualatin River.

The fun news is that our friends, Al and Charlie, are here until Saturday.  So, they had us to their RV last night for a delicious salmon dinner with all the trimmings.  Steamed rice, broccoli cooked perfectly, salmon with pesto and tomato on top.  And a great salad to finish off the piece de resistance.  For our part, we brought wine and a pie from Sisters bakery.  Charlie (that’s a she) asked Al to put the pie in the oven to warm it.  She thought he had turned off the heat.  When it was time for pie and ice cream, Charlie discovered that Al had left the oven on 400 so the pie was more than a little hot when it emerged.  We let it cool off for about 2 hours.  Just kidding.  For a few minutes and then ate it with great gusto.

Al and Charlie at breakfast.

Over dinner we made plans for today.  They took us on an adventure today using public transit.  We rode on a bus, a streetcar, a trolley, and streetcar.  We walked delightful neighborhoods and took in the sights, including all the great people watching.  The first place we went was Pine State Biscuit restaurant.  It was so good that we ate around 9 something, it’s 3:30 now and I’m still full.  Just saying.   Yummy.  A certain amount of waddling occurred after eating all the food.  Quite a meal.  Then we just walked around the neighborhood looking at how it was arranged.  Portland reminds me of a European city.  You live in a neighborhood and you get to know it quite intimately.  Each neighborhood has it’s own groceries store, bar, brewery, ice cream shop.  The Wal-Mart affect is not evident in Portland.  Lot’s of small shops.  Quaint, cute, interesting.  Here’s some pictures.  If I could live in a neighborhood like these, I think I could be more than happy.  The diversity is refreshing.  The vibe in young and that’s a good thing.  Fun time was had by all.

Al bought the tickets for the transit system on line and then just flashed his phone as we jumped on the various modes of transport.  Very slick.  And each bus stop had a sign telling you the time of the arrival of each bus/trolley.  They really have this down and the ridership is impressive to this visitor.

Tonight we meet Ryan, number one son, for dinner.  Very much looking forward to that.

And the beat goes on.

At the mouth of Skull Cave.

What a wild and beautiful landscape we found ourselves in yesterday.  The Lava Beds National Monument is a must-see and do park.  Out in the middle of no where near the Eastern Oregon border, it can be found just south of Tulelake.  Did you know Tule is a reed like plant?  The Modoc indians made their canoes out of it and worked the lake way back when.  When the Indians inhabited the area, the lake was 75% bigger than it is today.  The settlers, after running the Modocs off their land, drained much of the lake for agricultural crops which are still there today.  However, the birds don’t seem to care.  Tulelake is a stop off for thousands of birds that migrate up and down the great state of California.  When you look out at the lake, you see some birds early in the season…or perhaps they are the ones that hand out here all year.  Don’t know.  But we did see lots of birds.  From afar.  I should get myself some good binoculars.

However, that’s just part of the story.  The Lava Beds National Monument is fascinating.  It has, guess what?  Lava beds.  Black, dark rock (unscientific explanation) scattered throughout the landscape.  And a neophyte “geologist” would just love this spot.  Are you reading this Gary?  You can imagine the lava spewing forth and hardening into the various shapes that are present in the Beds.  And beside the Beds, there are cones and other odd geological wonders.  We climbed up to a cone and peered down into it and it seems like a bottomless pit.  And there are caves.  The caves are rated easy, moderate, and difficult.   We took easy.  And it was deep and cold and had very small steel stairs down to the bottom where a floor of ice could be observed.  On the ceiling, there are bats.  Couldn’t see them very well.  But they live in the caves and the Park Service is trying to save them from a bat virus that has already killed 6 million of those darling little creatures.  While not the prettiest of creatures, the lady at the visitor’s center expressed their important in the ecological web of life.  We left convinced that bats are cool members of our earthly society.

Entering the cave.

Lava beds.

We tromped all over the park.  And confined ourselves to the one cave.  We only had the day and there were battlefields and other things to see.  Plus, it was about a 45 minute drive from our RV campground to the park.  We should come back.  The place is other-worldly and bleak, and beautiful.  You cannot see a telephone pole.  There are no houses.  It is remote and out of the way.  And so oddly different.  We loved it.

After returning from the park, it was usual routine.  Feed Beau.  Walk Beau.  Fix dinner.  Eat dinner.  Only thing different was that we watched TV.  Our satellite worked!!  How, I don’t know.  But it did.  After one show, I went to bed and continued my read about the Mob in Cuba.  A true story.

This a.m. we got up and got going.  We drove from the RV park near Lava Beds to Sisters, Oregon.  What a beautiful little town.  Population about 3,000.  With the Sister’s Mountains nearby and visible, it is a very picturesque community.  We are here for 3 days.  The only adventure we had was finding a gas station and getting gas.  Our digital devices let us down.  By the time we were on fumes, we turned off the main highway and ended up in a residential area.  There we parked while we searched to the nearest, cheapest gas.  When you are buying 56 gallons, you need to be aware the price/gal.  Anyway, we found a place and headed off for it.  This meant retracing some of our path and two left turns.  Left turns are not my fav in an RV.  And today every vehicle in the state of Oregon was on the highway.  We finally found the station but the driveway was so narrow, we had to unhitch the car in order to leave the station.

The long and short of it is that we escaped the gas station and drove to Sister’s RV park.  A dandy place.  Lot’s of gardens, a lake, trees.  So many trees we can’t use our satellite tonight and that’s why I’m blogging.  TV keeps us from doing so many things.  We are much better with less of it.  Especially during this election cycle.

But I digress.

So, we pitched our tent, so to speak, and Rayman washed the outside of the windows while I dusted (2 Swifter’s) and dusted the floor.  This new RV has a built-in vacuum cleaning system but this p.m. was not the time to try to figure it out.  Everything is so complicated.  Patience is required so tomorrow is the day to fool around with the vacuum.

The entertainment system may be the end of me.  OMG.  The people that write and produce the DVD that explains everything…have some explaining to do.  It has taken me 4 days to figure out how to turn on the radio.  Really.   The RADIO.  So you can imagine how frustrating it is to try to get the TV to work, the blu-ray to work, the surround sound to work.  In a word, we haven’t figured it out.  And may never.  You figure with all the buttons and options one can select, there must be about 3,000,000 variations.  And we have to figure out the right one.  Good luck with that.

It took two days with help from our friends to figure out how to turn on the ice maker.  This thing is complicated.   Space age meets stone age.  We’re stoned and lost in space!!

Tonight we had Aidell’s sundried tomato sausages, corn on the cob and eggplant…all grilled to perfection by Rayman.  I prepped and planned.  He cooked.  I cleaned up.  And here we are.  In a beautiful spot with fresh bread from a local bakery in Sister’s for tomorrow’s Labor Day breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast.  Life is good.

After frolicking several days in the Mohawk Valley of California, we took our leave from the River’s Edge RV Park.  A lovely time was had by all.  Ruth and Tom left to return home to Avila.  Whether they make it or not is for the oddsmakers.  A very long trip with places to break it up along the way.

We on the other hand were headed north.  And our trip was complicated by the fact that Rayman had only 3 pills left to lower his cholesterol.  After an exhaustive search on the internet, it was determined that there was not a CVS between us and Portland via our intended route.  So…what we did was separate.  Rayman drove the Fit to Reno (highway 70 east to 395 south.  And I tootled in the Dog House to  Hallelujah Junction where a gas station with a large parking lot was found.  There I parked and waited for him to return with pills in hand.  We hooked up and off we went up 395.  Beautiful ride to Susanville where we stopped at the Safeway and shopped for provisions for our stay near the Lava Beds National Park.  Ray astutely drove through a valley of well paved roads with wide shoulders.  You know where I’m going with this?

After the Rayman got in the Express Lane at Safeway with $131 worth of grociers, he was duly embarrassed, just like me last week.  What’s with us anyway?   So busy are we looking for the shortest line that we do not look up to see the huge sign proclaiming “EXPRESS LANE – 15 ITEMS OR LESS”  that we continue to break the rules unintentionally.

But I digress.

When we left the parking lot of Safeway, we went the wrong way (don’t ask).  All I can say is that I was not the co-pilot.  I was driving.  So, we did a big circle around Susanville and headed straight up a very steep, narrow, curving road.  Miss a turn and we’d be lost for days at the bottom of the mountain.  And the grade just kept on and on.  My driving skills were duly tested.  This was highway 139.  And I don’t think I exaggerate when I say that Cal-Trans hasn’t been hard at work on this two lane highway, say, for at least 15 years.  Bumpy, cantankerous road.   When we finally peaked out, so to say,  the terrain leveled out as we drove along at about 5,000 feet elevation.  The pine trees look stunted, we think from a lack of rain.  As we drove by Eagle Lake, it looked like a giant mud puddle.   The area lacks tall mountains that gather snow so the lakes are still low.  Eagle Lake looks doomed.  As did a huge lake to the southeast of Susanville.  Honey Lake.  Oh, my.  Honey Lake looks like the Great Salt Lake.  A dry lake bed of sorts.  Perhaps there is water in it…we were a ways off to really see it but it looked like sand from a distance.

With Rayman at the wheel, we drove to our current location, Eagle’s Nest RV park.  Quite a place.  It sits off the road quite a distance.  We drove in and were expecting a typical RV park.  That is not what we found.  There were no signs pointing us to an office.  The park was littered with mostly old RVs that are way past their prime.  Some are homes for the park’s population.  Each RV site has a patch of green grass.  Not knowing where to hook up, Rayman approached the only permanent structure, a blue house littered with “stuff” all around.  When he returned he said that we were assigned site 19.  And the man that he met was a mess.  He was on crutches and looked like Jeb Clamped, a worse version.  So, we drove around but did not see any numbers of the various sites.  Where was site 19?  Jeb finally came out and jumped in an old golf cart and drove to the site.  His manner was one of annoyance.  Turns out he was an okay guy.  He had a self drawn map and proceeded to tell us a few things about where to go and what to do.  Since we were visiting the caves, he wanted to clue us into a cave, his cave, down a road on the way to the National Monument.  And to visit the cave, we would need helmets and he just happened to have some old helmets in a box on the porch.  “Help yourselves”, he implored.  He drew on the map the location of “his” cave and pointed out the northern part of the cave had collapsed so we were told not to go down to see that part.  WHAT?  Collapsed?  off-site?  unmanned, so to speak?”  Not on your life.  He was a hoot.

Site 19 is actually quite impressive.  We look north out our front window and see a line of tree surrounding a meadow about the size of 2 football fields.  No phone lines, no power lines.  It is very quiet except for the “pen of dogs” behind us.  It is really weird.  A Michael Vick type of weird.  The dogs can’t see out of the covered enclosure.  We can’t see in.  We just know they are there because they all barked once and I thought it was coyotes.  Whomever owns these dogs should be reported to authorities.  It seems inhumane to us.  Oddly, almost, the dogs never barked all night long.  It was stone quiet up here.

We didn’t arrive until about 4:30 and no one was interested in cooking dinner so we had leftover lamb that I made sandwiches out of.  And gin and tonic.  And berry pie ala mode.  That was dinner.

Oh, and I’m happy to report that we got our satellite dish working and had some TV for the first time on our trip.  So, we decided to watch our DVDs that came with our new Dog House.  When we started it up, the sound blasted us out of the place.  Frantically, we tried to figure which one, of 32 different remotes controlled the sound.  OMG.  We did figure it out but I would be hard pressed this a.m. to tell you which remote did the trick.  So, we sat there while the nice man on the DVD explained how the entertainment system worked.  And I am not exaggerating when I say that I am quite sure we learned nothing.  He talked too fast and hurled instructions so non-stop as to render the DVD quite useless.  Perhaps if we could have figured out how to pause the DVD, we could have made progress.  Suffice it to say that we threw up our hands, mumbled under our breaths and returned to the basic bunny and ducky TV watching.  Figuring out our system works will require further exploration preferably when we aren’t so tired and low on patience.

Rayman was a happy camper.  He discovered a football game.  I went to bed.  And that was pretty much everything we did yesterday.

Just to fill the dear reader in, the day before we drove west out of Quincy up a big mountain to see Buck’s Lake.  We sat out on the deck of a lodge (Buck Lodge, I think).  Rayman and I each had an ice cream bar while Ruth and Tom drank water/sodas.  Beautiful spot with a lovely lake full of fish.  Hope to return there after my fishing lessons.  I do want to to learn how to fish and it is one my plans.  It’s on my bucket list.

Then in the evening, we drove up to Sardine Lake for drinks in the boathouse and dinner in the rustic old lodge.  Priceless.  If you haven’t done this yet, you need to do it.  Small, quaint, picturesque.  Perhaps it’s the West’s Hamptons only in the mountains with John Muir looking down with approval.  Oh, and with levis as the appropriate dress code.  In other words, casual and relaxing.

Tom is happy at Sardine Lodge.

Mr. Rayman at Sardine Lodge.

Not my best pic but check out the dining room.

Ruthie. As lovely as ever.

So, it ’s off the the Caves today.  Hardhat, flashlights and all.  They recommend knee pads.  Not for me.  I’m not going to crawl in a cave.  If I can’t stand up, I’m not going in.

Yesterday was quite a day but before I enumerate on all the things that happened, let me tell you where we are.  Clio, CA.  Up in the Sierra Nevada mountains in some of the most beautiful places ever.  It is located in Mohawk Valley.  Click on this link for more info.  http://www.graeagleplumas.com   The Feather River runs through it.  An unpopulated place, at an elevation of 5,000 feet, the pine trees grow on every mountain and meadows are treeless.  Cows graze in the meadows and the Canadian geese hang out in the meadows early in the morning.  You see occasional deer and if you listen closely, an owl will call out in rhythmic hoots ever so often.  The train comes through several times a day and the engineer tugs on the horn wherever it is required.  You only notice that at night.  The valley rumbles and the whistle blares.

There is a post office in Clio.  And not much else.  Down the highway, Graeagle can be found.  It boasts a golf course, a few small retail stores, a lake with Graeagle Yacht club where you can rent paddle boats and kayaks by the hour.  It’s a small lake but gets lots of action because it is close to town (almost in the middle) and has a parking lot.

When we arrived here for the second time this month, we were driving our new motorhome.  Our virgin voyage.  What a delight the new rig is to drive.  We had no idea the newer machines were so much easier.  What a difference a rig makes!!  So, being new to us, there is a steep learning curve.   Advanced electronics.  Less storage because we have a huge refrigerator, a “fireplace”, much bigger TVs, a larger shower, a lou in it’s own room with a sink.  So something had to give.  The storage is less in order to make room for all the new and improved items.  So, a period of adjustment has been entered into.  Thank goodness our friends, the Coverts, came up for the weekend.  They have been indispensable to our period of adjustment.  So has it been a godsend for the Donnollys to be here too.  They arrived on Friday for a week.  We are blessed.

So excited were we that we announced dinner would be at our place and we were doing the whole meal and providing the libations.  Wildly bold but so appropriate as a big thank you for tasks done and yet to be done to help us through our new RV experience.

The plan was on Thursday to do the walk thru at 9:00 and then start transferring everything from the old Dog House to the new Dog House.  How hard could that be?  Well.  It was 97 degrees in Sacramento and our old and new RVs were about 110 inside.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Who put all this stuff in this RV anyway?  What a pain in the derriere.  It took hours.  The only thing we had to eat and drink were peanut M&Ms and water.  Oh, and a few Fritos.  By the time we were done, sweat was pouring off us and we were exhausted.  However, our work was not done.  I had to drive the Fit to Whole Foods to buy some trout for our big dinner the next night.  Along with a whole list of other things.  And because the move took longer than expected, Rayman headed out in the new RV and I was to catch up.  Rayman’s last admonition to me was to hurry.  So, I did my best to hurry.  I ran around Whole Foods trying to find everything on my list and a few things extra (never go grocery shopping when you are hungry).  One of the extra things I bought was marinated olives and feta cheese.  And I got the trout on ice.  However, I also bought bone-in pork chops, and a rack of lamb.  And frozen shrimp and scallops.  These things required refrigeration but the refrigerator was heading up Interstate 80 and I was still in the market.  Well, I got in line, off loaded the groceries and as I was doing that I noticed that the olives had tipped and the container was leaking oil.  Olive oil.  So, when I got to the cashier I warned her about the oil on the floor.  She left the register and cleaned it up herself.  Then as she started checking the groceries, she said, “Next time you come in, please notice that this is the express line (15 items or less).  I had $200 worth of groceries.  I was mortified.  OMG.  I profusely apologized and informed her that our Whole Foods doesn’t have an express line.  Then I apologized to the people behind me.  I apologized to the magazine rack.  I am extremely good at falling on my sword because of all my previous experience.  It was horrible.  I just wanted to melt into the floor.  And because I had fresh trout on ice, I picked up a special “keep it cold for 24 bag”.  Only it was defective.  And the display was empty.  The checker’s helper had to go off in search of another one.  OMG.  Time stood still.  I continued my apology tour.  Finally, I made my escape with my tail firmly between my legs.

Then I called Rayman.  I implored him to meet up with me as I had perishables, after all.  He and I finally met up at a rest stop above Colfax.  But before we did, I called him and told him my car was almost empty.  So when we met up, he told me to drive the new dog house and he would follow to the next gas station.  That was about 20 miles away though we didn’t know it and the low gas light came on.  Finally we stopped at the first station and filled up.  Then we rode up the road toward Truckee.  And we were so enthralled with our new dog house that we missed our exit and had to go 10 miles further, turn around and come back to the proper exit.  We were exhausted.  And it was about 5:30 at this point with another hour to go.  OMG.  What a day.

The next day, Friday, was a crazy day too.  Our new, expensive dog house would not level properly.  So, we called the dealer.  They said to bring it back.  No way where we going to do that.  So, Rayman got on the phone with the people in Alabama that made the RV.  All patience was gone.  A runaround ensued.  In order not to get in too deep, I decided I needed to go to Portola, a town about 20 miles away.  So I left Rayman on the phone with Alabama and I headed out.  Well.  The air conditioner only blew hot air.  So, I stopped at the gas station in Graeagle.  No one there could help until Tuesday.  So I drove to Portola and went to the same repair shop that we had visited last week when our horn didn’t work.  The man asked me to drive the car into the bay.  He then asked me to turn on the air full blast.  I complied.  He then sauntered around to the driver’s side and looked in.  He came back to the front of the car and announced that the air conditioning button was not pushed in.   OMG.  I went into full apology mode (a trend was forming).  He said that as far as he was concerned, “this never happened”.  The repairman in the next bay was snickering.  I was only slightly embarrassed because it was so hot that I was too relieved to have any self respect.  I drove off with a few big thank yous.

When I returned to the RV park, the rig was level, I was cool, and all was right with the world.   That’s when we met up with the Donnollys and I started cooking dinner.  Here’s the proof of our trout dinner.  Yummy.