California We Are Here!

I promised in the last post to expound upon my comments about an incident at the RV Park.  It happened one very windy afternoon.  David and I were outside grilling chicken breasts in between the two rigs.  The winds are called the Santa Ana winds by the weather folks and it was quite warm.  As we sat, we heard this loud “craaaaack” only to look up and see a huge limb coming towards us.  There was no time to react!

You see there is this large, nice shade tree David has his rig parked under.  One potential hazard of shade trees is the possibility of a limb breaking off and hitting the top of a rig.  Fortunately for us and his rig, the limb had a lot of new growth limbs and leaves helping to cushion the fall as the limb fell on the top of his motor home.

As you have heard before, ‘all’s well, that ends well.’  Besides having to climb onto the top of the rig with a saw and cutup the fallen limb into manageable pieces and being late to eat; the rig was not damaged and we were not endangered.  Oh yes, the meal was fantastic too!

I failed to mention in the previous post concerning Polly’s Pies Restaurant about the cornbread.  Besides ordering the Strawberry Lemonade as your drink, ask the waitress for a bread plate.  You could even tell her to leave off the rolls and only bring cornbread.  The rolls are good but the cornbread is muuucchhh better!  It has a cakey type texture and sweet.  The cornbread is almost like a dessert instead of bread.  This will make your visit a Double Yummeee!!

Now for the other expanded story about our visit with my cousins.  As mentioned in the last post, we were trying to conceal our California presence in order to surprise both of them.  We found out Nancy, who lives in Arkansas, was planning a visit to California to see her sister.  Well that 'sealed the deal' for us and the surprise worked well for Margaret.  I called her to let her know we were in the area and planned on showing up during Nancy’s visit as a surprise for her too.  Margaret thought that would be fun and agreed to keep the ‘secret’ of our proximity.

To spring the surprise, we were supposed to show up one morning (supposedly unexpectedly) in time for Margaret to cook lunch.  David and Sophie are to be with us so they could enjoy meeting and hearing the stories from our childhood.  She did not want to begin cooking a huge lunch before we got there as it might tip off the surprise. 

Before we arrived, Nancy asked Margaret did she know Larry was in California.  Margaret expressed surprise and tried to dismiss the subject to throw her off track.  Nancy was not to be dissuaded.  She is a natural bloodhound and thought something might be afoot.  For you see, she had seen me tagged in a Facebook post David had made about a visit to the Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs, California.  She was not real sure about the geography but California was the tell-tale.

Anyway she suspected we might show up while she was there but was definitely pleased we did and even more so that Margaret and I had not been able to completely surprise her this time.  We will try again someday and this time it will work.  Right Margaret?

We had a swell time and Margaret prepared a superb meal.  We had Fried Chicken (like we used to have growing up), brisket, green beans, roasted potatoes, watermelon, rolls and much, much more.  I was stuffed like a little (okay, okay, a big) pig.  We shared memories and stories galore.  David and Sophie got to meet everyone.  Beverly and I got to meet Bob, Margaret’s husband, and catch up with Gary, Nancy’s husband too.  It was wonderful, especially the stories told on my sister, Elaine.  Beverly said later she had not heard those before.  LOL, Elaine was not there to defend herself so it was PERFECT, just sayin'.

Just like old times!   Fun, Fun, Fun.
(Why am I the only one with white hair?)

As Nancy said though, the thing that would have made it complete was to have our brother and sister (Rick and Elaine) with us.  Hopefully we can do that sometime.  It was simply a great day and the time flew by.  We planned to leave earlier than we did to avoid some of the traffic but even though that did not work out, it was a wonderful time.  But who woulda thunk it?  You drive halfway across the country to visit family you grew up with as children.  What an adventure this life is!  Next posting I will share some of the sights and places we visited during our sojourn in California.

California Here We Come!

It is April1 and we left Phoenix (Buckeye) with all the other April fools.  We have watched the steady exodus of snowbirds for the last couple of weeks and today’s a big leaving day since a lot of the monthly and winter stay folks are leaving today.  We can definitely see it is time to move because the high temps are hovering at 90+ degrees.  It is too hot to stay outside during the main part of the afternoon unless you are in a shaded breezy place.

We stopped at a park situated on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.  It is a nice park with green grass; something we have not seen for a couple of months unless we saw it driving by a golf course.  This is a great place for a little R&R before moving into California.

Down by the Colorado River at the River Breeze RV Park

We haven't seen this much water anywhere for the last 2 months!

We bought gasoline at a station on the Arizona side of the state line because it is $1.00 cheaper per gallon than when you cross the river and state line into California.  The difference is attributed to taxes, which is funny because the California primary is coming up soon.  We see signs that read, “Vote No on E” and the line right below that reads, “We Pay Enough Taxes".

I for one believe it as evidenced on our sales receipts from purchases at stores and restaurants.  There is even a “CRV” tax on bottles and cans purchased.  CRV is an acronym for California Redemption Value; you can get this back if you carry your emptied bottles and cans to a recycling center.  In other words, it is a tax because it is too much trouble to save, store and transport these empty containers to the approved places.

As we make our way into Southern California, we drive through Palm Springs and pass Bob Hope Drive while traveling on Sonny Bono Memorial Highway.  Along the way, we drive through a huge windmill farm.  This farm is located in a pass through the mountains where the wind naturally gathers and blows most of the time.  Passing that area we come to Beaumont and turn left to head south into Hemet.

Agricultural checkpoint entering California.

Howdy!

Windmills everywhere

Even up the mountainside in the distance!

The sight we behold is fabulous.  Having not seen green and mostly brown for such a long time our eyes were treated to a feast of green on the mountain sides as we descended into a valley between mountains.  The valley was lush and green too.  We are thinking we are glad we picked Hemet as our next home.

Arriving at the RV Park we are told most of the snowbirds have already exited and we can have about any place we choose.  A helpful volunteer showed us a couple of sites that are shady and quiet.  After being here awhile, we have come to appreciate more fully this choice.  There is the exception of one incident with details forthcoming in a later posting.

It appears Hemet is a retirement community as there are a number of dedicated neighborhoods that allow only residents aged 50 or over.  The day after we arrived we washed the travel from our cars and went exploring.  We found an interesting lake and camping area south of Hemet known as Lake Skinner Recreation Area.  Looks like a great place to get away and we suspect it gets a lot of summer business.

We also found a restaurant named Polly’s Pies that seems to be a chain.  Since there are no Cracker Barrels, we think this might do in a pinch.  If you ever stop at one, be sure and order the Strawberry Lemonade for your drink.  Yummeee!

We have been reticent to post our arrival in California for a couple of very good reasons.  We wanted to surprise my cousin Margaret, who lives nearby, and her sister Nancy, who is making a visit here about the middle of the month.  There will be more about this in the next posting.

Our first excursion was to the National Hot Rod Museum to look over the exhibits and history behind the NHRA.  Bibi is definitely getting her education on the various forms of car racing, cars and drivers.  She says she never realized just how much there was to learn.  She is a fast learner and has gotten most of the jargon down now.  We will be scheduling a NHRA drag race to attend when we locate one close to us in the future.

For now she will have to settle for a dirt track race event we have scheduled in the near future.  We have tickets to attend the World of Outlaws Sprint car races at Perris.  The speedway is only thirty miles from where we are staying and we will say more about this in the next blog post.  Here are some pictures from the NHRA museum visit.

Mr. NHRA, Wally Parks.  No, the statue not me!

David and I are in Hog Heaven!

These are the real thing.

There are even a couple of pink cars for the girls.

Yes, they are everywhere.  On the floor, on the wall and even overhead.

That is it for now.  There will be another blog posting soon.  Enjoying our time here in California.

Quick Trip to Texas from Arizona

Bibi and I visited a local music festival the following week.  It was a LOCAL (mainly from Arizona) talent affair with multiple stages and performers.  My favorite part was the workshops on various subjects offered during the day.  We also had a great time parking ourselves under the shade trees to listen to various musicians jam.  One very interesting character played the banjo with his dog’s leash looped around one ankle and his macaw/parrot perched on his shoulder.  All this while he was picking and singing a song.  He and a blind fiddler made some awfully pretty music together.

As you can tell, I am pretty easy to entertain.  Bibi snapped this picture of me listening to these two and commented that she could tell I was having the time of my life.  I responded by letting her know, that was the truth and I was as relaxed as I could possibly be.

Jam Session

Macaw on Banjo picker's shoulder with blind fiddler in pink shirt

Enjoying the session along with the little one next to me

She and I attended a Dulcimer workshop after this particular jam session and were pleasantly surprised to see familiar faces.  A husband and wife, who work at the McSpadden Dulcimer shop in Mountainview, AR, led the workshop.  Come to find out, they ‘winter’ in the Phoenix area each year and are annual participants in this particular festival.

Dulcimer workshop leaders from Mountain View, AR

Of course, when you have an all-volunteer staff and performance lineup, you get the good with the bad.  We had to actually take our leave of a couple of performances to save our sanity, not to mention our ears.  All-in-all it was a wonderful day and a great change of pace.

We made a trip to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens one evening to see a special light show.  An artist, Bruce Munro, has taken Fiber Optic Lights and decorated certain areas of the garden.  Each night only a certain number of tickets are sold to keep crowds and crowding done for visitors.  The attraction is quite something to see once it gets dark.

Interestingly, the colors are more vivid in photographs than in person.  This is one time, you get a better picture than seeing the display in person.  Usually a two dimensional photo is not as good as the real three dimensional view your eyes see.  Not so in this case and so I will let the pictures below speak for themselves.

We are getting things packed up because we are leaving on a jet to Texas and will not return to Phoenix until the day before we pull out.  We are making a very quick trip to Longview and Melissa to see family, keep four doctor appointments and complete three tax returns; all in a seven day period.  We enjoyed the time there and had a great time with everyone, even if it was a hurried time.

Arriving back in Phoenix, our airport taxi drivers (David and Sophie) picked us up and carried us back home to the RV.  We spent the next day cleaning and prepping for the move.  We are leaving to visit a park on the Colorado River located right on the Arizona/California state line.

A New NASCAR Fan????

The preparations for the NASCAR race seemed to be non-ending.  I have not seen Bibi this excited about something she knew nothing about in a long, long time.  I am fearful she may catch the bug and become a rabid NASCAR fan.  BUT it is one of our items on the Bucket List so off to the races we go.

Here she is sporting the program for the day with Sophie.  Notice the clear plastic purse Sophie is holding.  Bibi has one at her feet just like it but a different color.  These purses along with the appropriate "non-hollow tubing" seating have been our singular focus for procurement this past week.

Are they excited? - - - YES, they are!

Thank goodness all of that is behind us now and we are finally here and ready for the big race.  After getting up early to avoid the crush of people, we have made our way to the event.  There are many ‘shopping’ opportunities in and around the racetrack today.  You can buy just about any type of apparel, food, gadget, etc. and still find other things to rent.  It is very mind-boggling to say the least.

It is Race Day, headed for the racetrack!

Care to spend a little money?

David and Sophie let Bibi tag along with them to look over most of the opportunities while I found a nice quiet shaded bench underneath the stands.  My perch provided a most unique place to participate in a favorite pastime while Bibi shops which I refer to as ‘people watching.’  There were many unique specimens to observe during this time.

Bibi really is a neophyte in the racing world.  Sophie pointed out Richard Petty to her and told her she should take his picture.  Her response, “which one is he?”  After staring at her for awhile to ascertain whether she actually believed her ears or not and was she serious, Sophie pointed towards the only guy wearing a Cowboy hat, sunglasses and sporting a mustache.  All of these items part of RP’s regular persona and attire.  Picture taken, she proudly marched off to tell me she got his picture.  Sigh-----!

Which one do you think is Richard Petty?

Yep, that's right.  The one in the fancy hat.

The race event is a grand spectacle and there are many things happening all at once.  It is very hard to take it all in when attending in person.  Skydiver jump team, pit crews preparing their areas, driver introductions, big screen TV interviews, National Anthem, military jet flyovers, fireworks and the race hasn’t even started yet.  When it finally does start and the cars spread out and begin lapping then it really becomes confusing keeping up with the action.

Newly Inducted NASCAR fans into the Live Event Venue

One of four parachute jumpers coming down onto the track

National Anthem time, Pit Row ready to start those engines.

View of track and pit row from our seats.

-Thanks to our rented Radio Electronics, we can listen in to driver conversations or the TV broadcasters or the Radio broadcasters to keep ourselves in the know.  A really fun time is listening to the conversations as the cars come in to the pit area, especially if they screw up and go past their spot a little and have to back up.  The language gets pretty colorful, especially Kyle Busch when he messed up for a second time.  These marvelous devices serve a second very important purpose which is ear protection.  These cars are very loud and could easily damage the hearing.

Weather was superb and made for a very enjoyable day.  Sunscreen and lightweight clothing provided the best protection on a typical sunny day for Arizona.  Phoenix is called the Valley of the Sun for a reason.  We are certainly enjoying it here right now, especially the sunsets but will have to leave before the temps start climbing.  Mid 80s here are quite warm and will become unbearable when reaching the 90s and 100s.

Yaaayyyy, what a finish!  Who won, who won?

Good thing we had this tower to tell us who won.

Bibi was a bit disappointed there were no wrecks or accidents during this race.  It ran pretty fast and there were only a half dozen caution lights so it was almost non-stop racing.  Fun for me and the drivers but Bibi was looking for more mangled metal.  The last couple of laps were intense because of the caution that came out right at the end of the race.  The finish was truly photo finish and looked like there was literally an inch or two between first and second.  After we watched it on the replay screen behind pit row, that is.

It was a grand day for a race and a grand race.  The only thing left to do was ‘trudge’ our way back to the car and leave.  Of course, this entailed waiting in line to turn in the radios that were rented and to make the long trek back to the car with the other hundred thousand or so folks.  After we made it to the car; it was pull out and wait time.  Actually we did not move more than four car lengths for approximately one hour.  When it was finally our time to move, we made good progress because we went the opposite direction of the vast majority that were trying to make the way back to Phoenix.

Since we were headed west of the track this put us into the minority of folks escaping the huge mass of humanity and vehicles exiting the area.  We made our way to Cracker Barrel and a good meal in short order after moving which improved our spirits considerably.  We were amazed to discover we each had walked almost 3.5 miles from car to track and back to car again as registered on our iPhone app.

The last step in the day’s activity is to take a nice long hot shower and fall into bed.  That is all for now and we will post again soon.