It Was A GREAT Day

 It was 56 degrees when I woke up at 4 am.  That's pretty chilly when you have all the windows and vents open.  My sleeping bag is not really made for cold weather.  

The batteries were at 97% when I went to bed, 96 upon waking up.  I haven't dry camped in this thing at all, so it's going to be interesting to see how long I can survive.  I forgot and left the Starlink plugged in.  Coffee was made by boiling water on the induction top in less than one minute.  Between lights, the water pump and the Spyder iPad control, I was down to 88% in no time.  If dry camping for more than a day, I will have to pay more attention.  It took about four hours for the solar panels to bring it back up, probably due to the shady parking spot.

Once again, the routine was completely off, so I went inside to have coffee with Cyndae.  No one was up of course, so I headed out on the patio.  I think it was 8:00 when I was joined by the girls.  That's when Cyndae brought up the idea of moving all of the stuff in her garage to the other side so she could fit a car in the single-car side.  I said let's do it!  

This is the before.  I forgot to take the after picture, which you would not believe.  That big bureau was moved after emptying it, along with two big shelves completely full to the ceiling with heavy boxes.  I think the five foot tall Craftsman to-die-for tool box on rollers was the easiest to move.  She was thrilled to get stuff out of the way and the car actually INSIDE, but just by inches.  The remaining mess will take WEEKS to sort through.  I don't mind the big move, I just can't imagine the sorting part.

Once done, we locked up the garage and went to U.C. Davis to the garden.  Wow ... that place is HUGE with buildings everywhere, surrounded by trees, with nothing being kept up or pruned.  Apparently they "rent" garden plots by the year to anyone who wants to grow their own.  They even supply the water.  This is one of the paths to the back.  

Plots are fenced off with whatever they happen to have handy, and weed growth is epic.  You can barely tell what the plants are for the weed coverage.  They also have rats, mice and squirrels that eat up everything, so netting is necessary.

This is Becca's garden plot, with tomatoes, three kinds of squash, grapes, pomegranates ... and dozens of things I could not identify.  Becca had a 5 gallon bucket full in less than five minutes.

The tomato vines are covered with fruit that will ripen soon.  The problem is finding enough time to pull the weeds and gather the produce.

The grapes surrounding the plot are coming along nicely.  I'm sure when they are ripe, anyone walking by will snag one or two.

From there we headed off to the Clay Oven for lunch.  All that garage work had me starving.  Chicken tikka masala was my choice, with garlic naan bread.  I haven't had this in ages, and it was SO good!

I considered staying another night, but sadness took hold, so I headed out south on a back road to miss the parking-lot freeway.  It wasn't too bad until I got to Rio Vista.  There are four stop lights from one side to the other, that made for a very long wait.  Apparently EVERYONE did not get a holiday day.

Having to cross the bridge over the Delta didn't help.

I've ridden this highway on bikes MANY times, and never EVER was the traffic this bad.  

My 2 hour return trip turned into a 3 hour marathon of driving.  Lucky for me, the van did its job perfectly, only now there's a message that says SCHEDULE "A" MAINTENANCE.  What the heck is that?  I think it's an oil change, but it's not due for 20,000 miles, and I doubt I even have 10,000.  These Mercedes dealers, they sure like to squeeze you for the bucks.

BIG surprise ... when I walked in the house, there was Kitters, a little leery at first, but happy to take her place on the armrest.  

I didn't find any other critters roaming the house, so hopefully she left them outside.  

It was nice to get away and be distracted, but alas, you always have to go back home and the sadness returns.