Travels with The Rayman

From the shores of Pismo Beach, April 21, 2015

It all started on Saturday.  Our Italian friends invited us to dinner along with our friends, the Wyatts.  It was a delicious dinner featuring Italian food.  And the wine flowed freely.  The evening started out with Diane asking us about our upcoming trip to Pismo (25 miles from home, more or less).  We recounted that our plans had us leaving on Sunday, the next day and that we were meeting two other couples from Gilroy and the plan was to eat, drink, golf pretty much in that order but not at the same time.  Diane wanted to know why they weren’t invited.  OMG.  Of course, the answer was, “Gosh.  We never thought about it but why don’t you come.”  She said, “Okay.”  She grabbed her phone, called the Pismo Beach RV Resort and made a reservation.  Talk about decisive.  That was decisive.  And that’s the way it happened that 8 of us were heading out the next day to Pismo.

We arrived about 3 p.m. because check-in was 4 p.m.  As we were setting up the Gilroy couples arrived.  Judy and Larry and Barbara and Gary.  Judy and Lar have a golden doodle dog that is about twice as big as Beau and 7 months old.  Judy and I decided to walk the dogs.  While we were gone, Hal and Diane arrived and Diane came over to our site.  She was visibly upset because as they were entering the park, an RV was coming the other way and was almost in Hal’s lane.  Hal moved over to avoid hitting the RV and that’s when he hit the pole.  It was on the passenger’s side.  It ripped off the mirror, dented the body and broke the awning holder.  Basically.  OMG.  Enough to make one drink as if one needed an excuse.  And as Rayman and I were feeding the masses that night, everyone came over for happy hour and dinner and the evening began.  Empathy was poured.  Commiseration was exuded.

I made poulet au poivre (pepper), creamy beans from scratch, and endive with a fabulous dressing from scratch.  Oh, and the apple galette for dessert.  From scratch.  Rayman had a hard time getting the fire started so dinner was later than it should have been.  And while he was tending the fire and darkening the endives, the dogs were playing and the dogs proceeded to knock over the grill that was on the ground.  That’s when the endives “bit the dust”.  Rayman was going to throw them away.  Uh, nah.  I ran out and saved the endives, brought them in, rinsed them off and tore a few leaves off it they were too sandy.  Rayman in the meantime collected the hot coals and placed them back in the barbie.  Then when they were browned, dinner was served.  Everyone was a good sport.  And only one person got grit in their teeth.

We ate in the RV because it was cold and breezy outside.  Some people had an exceptionally good time and were unable to play golf the next day.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.  Actually, Diane hadn’t been feeling well before they arrived and Hal didn’t bring his golf clubs for some reason that remains mysterious.

So…the next day there were only 5 golfers as Barbara had a procedure on the bridge of her nose and her Doc warned her not to play golf and so she came along for the fun and tended the flagstick a lot.  We were lucky to have her.  Seeings how we had an afternoon starting time, the man behind the desk said we could play as a five some and so we did but we had to let smaller groups play through.  Understandably enough but, there were a lot of 2 somes out there so the game dragged on.  And the wind was blowing and it was mighty cold.   We finished late in the afternoon and didn’t sit down to dinner until 8 p.m.  4 of us ordered in, Barb and Gary went out and Hal and Diane, they ate early on in their RV.

But I digress.  Sort of.

Larry is a big barrel chested man with a mighty swing and on one of the holes, he drove his ball into a backyard of a house sitting too close to the fairway.  Said ball ricocheted off the fence and thru the window of the house.  The owners were home and so names, addresses, telephone numbers were exchanged.  An expensive round of golf for the Hazens that day.  Ironically, the Hazens live on a golf course fairway in Gilroy and have replaced many windows in their own house over the years.

Today, we took the day off and went wine tasting in Arroyo Grande at Talley Vineyards after picking up sandwiches at a local deli.  Again.  Cold.  Foggy.  Breezy.   It was at lunch at the winery that we decided to alter our plans for tomorrow and play the 12 hole challenge course instead of the long, regular 18 hole course.  In the a.m. before the wind.  Learn by doing, I guess is the classification this change of plans illustrated.   Enough with this wind already.

And with any luck at all, we will escape any future problems.

As a follow up, the Wyatts will have the Ford dealership in Arroyo Grande fix their coach.  They (the Ford people) came out today to assess.  This is the first day Diane felt good enough to go along so lunch was fun with all participants participating!!  And Rayman is taking a nap as I type.  I’m swearing off wine…sort of.  One glass with lunch.  One glass with dinner tonight.  I’ve been partying too much, if there is such a thing…there is.  And I will continue this behavior for a while.  The old grey mare isn’t what she used to be…In fact, I think she may take a nap now.  After all, I got up at 8:45 this morning and I’m not sure that was enough rest for me!!!!!!!