Cut Off At The Pass

While in Riverside, I needed to get supplies for the Indio rally, so one morning I set TWO GPS units because navigating around there is just crazy.  No one said streets had to be straight.  After four miles and six turns, I finally found the grocery store.  Unfortunately, I was still in need of some things they didn't have.

I remembered an Albertsons across from the Cakewalk cake decorating store.  Maybe I should check that out since it's only ten miles away ... two as the crow flies.  With all my printing paper, sausage and felt-tip pens in hand, I headed back to the RV Park.

Traffic was heavy ... I was in the lane trying to get to the freeway.  All of a sudden I see in my right mirror, some guy in a smashed up black Versa practically running on the sidewalk to get past all the waiting cars.  When he got to me, he tried to jam in front of me.

I was too close to the car ahead and I just kept going.  Apparently that pissed off the 20-something  tattooed skinhead kid driving, who started waving his hands and fingers at me.  Hey kid ... you can wait in line like all the rest of the cars.

He was able to bully his way in behind me, but not before he waved some more and yelled out a bunch of expletives.  Having had enough, I opened my window and said "Could you speak English please".  Well that went over like a lead balloon.  That's when I thought ... uh oh ... he's behind me and I'm a BIG target, as he began showing gang signs like he was having a fit or something.

Thank goodness a Riverside Police car showed up in the nick of time and the kid quieted down just long enough for me to ditch him on a side street, race around the corner and hit the freeway on-ramp. Next time I should probably keep my mouth shut, but it just irritates me no end when those kids think they can bully everyone.

The next morning it was time to head out to Indio.  I left early since I hate their rough freeways.  It being a Sunday morning, I could cruise along with little traffic.  In no time I was in Indio with it's beautiful 70 degree weather.

This year our big Sam's Club parking lot was open, so we staged there to prepare for the trip to the fairgrounds.  Everyone gets a number on their rig AND the tow vehicle, so the guy following you knows who to follow.  Not that it matters, because when we get to the fairgrounds lot, numbers mean nothing.  It's like herding cats.

Hurry up and wait, although this year they did a stellar job of parking and our three hour wait was only one and a half.  It gave us a chance to get reacquainted with our members.

Once parked, we went to town setting up our party spot to the left in this picture.  There is a good rain storm predicted for tonight and tomorrow, so we didn't set up the shade covers.  The good news is we are nicely parked on pavement at the high end of the lot.  There will be no swimming pool this year for us.

Not bad for a parking lot park!!  

Literally twenty minutes later, my oil was being changed and the rig lubed.  Jim Fulkerson Mobile Lube meets me here every year.  Super simple, costing around $400.  This year is the year of the transmission oil change, which he will be back to take care of this morning.  There's at least four other rigs getting work done today just with our group.

About 7:00 there was one snag.  When we arrived, the generator wasn't on, so no electricity.  The company was called and the switch was flipped and we were in the money ... at least for a time.  The second I turned on my TV, the power went out.  By 8:30 and three phone calls from our illustrious Treasurer Kurt Simon, it was back on.

Seems someone who was parking with a group very close to the generator, decided he wasn't putting up with that noise.  They told him there was no choice ... that is where they park every year.  Apparently he got a little testy and as he nonchalantly walked by, hit the off switch before getting in his rig and driving off.  Nice guy.  Too bad he will never be allowed back.

I've thrown together a continental breakfast for this morning, just because, so I have to get busy.  It's so nice to see everyone's smiling faces again.

The Victorian Age In Southern California

If you lived in Riverside California in the 1800's, you were probably in the citrus horticulture business, better known as oranges.  That's where Mr. and Mrs. James Bettner settled in the 1870's.

Unfortunately, life was not always good in those years.  Her husband died, as did her son, leaving her with about $19,000.  Catherine decided for whatever reason, as a 40-something widow, that she wanted to build her own home in this location.  That's practically unheard of.

Mrs. Bettner built this Queen Anne Victorian for approximately $11,000.  Seems that didn't leave her much of a buffer, but none the less, she moved in with her one male Chinese servant and lived here until 1928.  Chinese women were not allowed into the U.S. ... only the men.  At one point, her servant went home, got married, then returned without his wife, to live out his life here.

Being the Victorian lady she was, the entire house was painted pink on the inside.  It was a sign of the times.  You will also see pictures people took of their children who just passed away so they could keep an image of their loved one hung on the wall.  This is Catherine in her Sunday-best dress.

I've never seen turquoise used in the Victorian era, but Catherine apparently loved it.  The colors on the china match the chairs.  This dining room is surrounded by pocket doors, since taxes were charged based on how many door handles there were in your house.

Every good home needed a music room, so this is where Mrs. Bettner seated her guests for tea.  Much of the furniture in the home belonged to Catherine.  The wallpaper has been installed by the Riverside Museum, none of which is original.

The white oak woodwork is amazing and every ceiling downstairs is covered with it except this one.  Here you see more original furniture.   These walls are not covered with anything but huge cracks, from earthquakes I imagine.  All the hanging lights are also original and some of the most beautiful I've seen.

Amazingly, the kitchen remains intact.  The McDavids, who purchased the house after Catherine passed, left it totally original, building a more modern kitchen on the back porch.  Since the museum has owned the building, that has all been removed and reverted to the laundry room.  The legs were removed from the stove by Catherine so heavy containers could be more easily lifted to the top of the stove.

There was a large storeroom on the porch, surrounded with brick to keep the contents cool, as well as a real ice box.  Yup a wooden box in which they put ice to keep meat cold.  Can you imagine if this was your washing machine?  Not used by Catherine however, since it was the servant's job to keep all the "under clothing" clean.  In those days, outer garments were never washed, only brushed.

Heading up to the second floor on this magnificent staircase, we found the woodwork upstairs not nearly as fancy and made of pine or redwood.  After all, there was no need to impress anyone upstairs because only family was allowed.

The library is pretty spectacular anyway, with tall book cabinets.  This is where Catherine read her New York magazines looking for the latest new trends.  The two Chinese gowns are very old and only allowed to be worn by Chinese Emperors.  Put it on and you would be put to death!

I imagine these came from her servant, although Chinese artifacts were highly collected by Victorian homeowners.

There was one bathroom upstairs, complete with cast iron tub and commode, although these particular ones are not original to the building.

There were very large closets in her bedroom, unusual in homes like this, with these amazing hinges on the doors.  I've no idea if they are new or old.  There was also a room for linens that had a built-in foot pedal sewing machine.  

Like most places, we exited through the gift shop which had some very reasonably priced cookbooks.  This one caught my eye ...

On the way out, wishing I lived there and not the museum, someone spotted this squirrel having lunch in the crook of a tree.  I snuck up on him and got a closeup.  He never did run away ... he was too busy eating his pinecone.

I took the day off from visiting museums to run errands and gather supplies for the Indio Rally and probably came close to getting shot.  This is Riverside remember.  I'll tell you about that one tomorrow!!

A History Of Flight

How many hours can you walk around with no seating in sight??  Turns out it was a lot longer than any of us imagined.  Our first stop was at March Field Museum where we were met with this statue celebrating man's best friend.

Our docent was a very nice gentleman who had LOTS of stories.  I know because we listened to so many I lost count as we went around the small museum on our six hour tour.  Truthfully, it was only three hours, but that's a pretty long time to be regaled with stories while standing on feet that are screaming bloody murder.  Remember, we are a rather ancient group!!

Obviously I was a little more interested in the pretty patterns on the wall.  

You'll find a little bit of everything here, starting with World War I and II from Eddie Rickenbacker to Chuck Yeager.  Don't forget to throw in the space shuttles ... it's all here.

This is a piece of canvas used to cover some of the first planes flown.  I can appreciate the visual image of kicking ass.  

There is an entire wall dedicated to wooden propellers which were attached to all manner of flying things.  More interesting to me were all the pits and dents on the metal tip covers.

This is an original wing from a 1920 plane.  It's made of wood.  The pieces are very delicate and don't look like they could stand the stress of flying.  This frame would be covered with some of the above fabric.

Look close at a small portion of that wing and you will see teeny tiny screws and nails used to hold it together.  How in the world did these things not just fall apart??

The star of the indoor museum was this jet.  I'm sure you want to know what it is, but honestly, by the time we got to this point, all I wanted was a chair.  I forgot to take a picture of the name tag.  It's big and it's black, although not the one you are thinking of.  It's smaller than that!

Planes are even hanging from the ceiling.

There's a small section on commercial airlines, including uniforms and airplane models.  What you see here is actually a reflection of the model, which is the one closest to me.  

From there we went into the space shuttle area where this real jet engine sits, along with a picture of it taking off.  They even have some of the monitoring stations from Houston Texas, where you can actually sit and relax, while listening to ten more stories.  

In case you were wondering, that strange thing people saw in the sky a few days ago was a space shuttle test run by a commercial company.  The interesting part is the first thrusters were actually flown safely back to the earth (instead of burning up or crashing somewhere) so they can be used again.

It was a full two hours before we got to the outside displays.  We women instantly spotted the four picnic tables in the shade, where we parked for the duration of the visit.  Although we were supposed to ride the tram, it was busy elsewhere.  The guys walked another 30 minutes around the field.

Here for your enjoyment is a picture of the same type of jet used in Top gun.  Maybe an F-14?

It really is an interesting place to visit, with so much to see I couldn't show it all here.  Wear your most comfortable shoes, bring lunch and water and pray you don't get our docent.  Just kidding.  He was really very knowledgeable.  

From there we went to lunch in a big shopping center, where I found a cake and cookie decorating store from heaven.  I never knew they existed.  We had a quick sandwich at subway, raced through the store and headed off to the next museum ... the Heritage Home.  Pictures tomorrow!

Riverside ... Land of ...........

Cough ... cough ... sneeze!!  No, I'm not allergic and it's not the smog.  It's the SKUNK!!!  I'm in the beautiful downtown city of Riverside where you keep your doors locked and your purse tied to your body.  Okay ... parts of it really aren't that bad!

The trip down was uneventful, except I kept having arguments with my GPS the entire trip.  I've traveled this way a lot, so I kind of knew where I was going, plus I wrote down specific instructions on a post-it attached to my steering wheel AND programmed my phone.  No one wanted to go where "I" wanted to go.

I thought it was pretty simple, just follow 215 South.  About 30 miles before the destination, my GPS had me going off on a side street into San Bernardino.  I think she told me to turn around about 34 times.  I stayed the course that was in my head.

Pretty soon traffic was horrible with six overhead signs I tried to speed read as I drove under them.  Driving and navigating my phone at the same time didn't help, but at long last I found the turnoff .. although the name wasn't quite the same.  That landed me in the middle of the Festival of Lights.

I squeezed between the rows of parked cars, taking up the entire road.  At long last, I crossed the river, which I knew to be a good thing.  Stress makes my hair fall out by the handful.  I think that wig I bought last year is going to come in handy.

Amazingly, out here in the land of freeways, highways, roads, cars and a million houses, there is a huge County Park named Rancho Jurupa.

They open up their summer reservations six months in advance, which is when our illustrious leader signed up for 15 spaces.  Everyone arrived safely, but there were horror stories about the traffic they encountered.  Our next rally is scheduled for San Diego.  I told them "don't even send me an invite".

Directly across from me is a big empty space with the river in the distant tree line.  We all have 50 amp service, which is really nice since the daytime temperatures have risen into the 80's.  I'm finally WARM!!!!!  

Up early as usual, I tried to keep the dogs from barking and waking the neighbors.  As soon as I opened the door, I smelled it.  SKUNK!!  Really?  Right here in downtown Riverside?  (It just dawned on me how they named the city.  I never knew!)

I gingerly took one dog at a time outside, but didn't see any skunk.  He surely has been close because the smell is overpowering.  I got hit by a skunk once a very long time ago, something I never want to repeat ... but that's a story for another day.

It's going to be a long day of museum hopping and navigating the streets of Riverside, so I better get my act and my post-it notes together.  

Turn That Thing OFF!!!

Oh the joys of RV'ing!

I waited as long as I could.  I only had a three hour drive to the first parking spot.  Traveling with this many animals can be a challenge, and the first is to give Jonathan my parrot a rest.

Poor baby hangs on with both feet and his beak as we bump and bang down the freeways.  You'll know it's me because I'm always in the center lane, trying to give him as good a ride as possible.

It was a cold 40 degrees and overcast/foggy when I left.  I took a leisurely drive around the neighborhood to get back in the swing of things.  Not really, I discovered I forgot to lock the door and set the alarm.  Thank the Lord I remembered THAT one!!

I was trying to sneak out quickly so no one realized I was gone, but that second trip around, parked in front of the house while I ran to the door, was a dead giveaway.

Three and a half hours later I pulled into beautiful downtown Bakersfield.  Wasn't I surprised to find it close to 70 degrees and the fog had changed to smoke.  This Valley definitely needs a good wind storm, but please wait until I'm over the hill.

Orange Grove RV park is the place to stay this time of year.  It sits smack dab in the middle of an orange grove and you can pick one bag full for free.  I have to admit the oranges are not as big and beautiful as previous years, but there are just thousands and thousands of them.  A bumper crop!! 

All was going well ... I met my neighbors, a full-timing-for-20-years couple ... until this morning.  At 5:00 am the loudest diesel engine in the park started up.  Are you kidding me?  Turn that thing OFF!! I was awake anyway, but I'm sure no one else in the park was.

Wouldn't you know it was my neighbors.  I'm sure there's a good reason to leave that early in the morning ... they have a five hour drive to Tracy.  I guess they didn't want to miss breakfast.

It's different getting used to motorhome life again.  I've kicked the dog's water bowl over twice and forgot the microwave is half as strong as my one at home.  As always, there's a problem.  I put in a new water filter and it killed my water pressure.  I'll deal with that later.

At any rate, I'll be back on the road sometime this morning, heading further South.  I've got to say I'm LOVING this warm!!!

Roses Galore!

Ever since working one year at the Rose Parade float barns, I've been even more adamant about watching the parade on New Years Day.  Naturally the year I was there was eventful.   I stayed at an Elks Lodge that didn't really take reservations, even though I was told they did.

Turned out there was no room at the inn.  After moving a couple rigs around, I finally got a 110 plug for the puppies and I.  It was 34 degrees at night, getting all the way up to 50 something during the day.  In order words, we were freezing, but at least we were inside when working on the floats.  Not that it mattered, since flowers need cold to stay nice so there was no heat.  It was like working in a freezer.

As you can imagine, I now appreciate the work that goes into these beauties as the puppies and I watched from our comfortable, semi-warm couch.

Seems the Weather Gods shined down on Pasadena with lots of sun and kept it much warmer this year.  The flowers on these floats are either placed in glass vials full of water, or in buckets with foam soaked in water.  Imagine someone cutting the stems off 20,000 roses to exact measurements and placing them in rubber capped vials.  Oh the fun!!  

On the other side, the REALLY fun part was getting a huge cupful of glue and a paint brush.  Hanging from scaffolding, we painted the glue on to the float pieces, then smushed, threw or delicately dropped things like coffee grounds, flower petals and brussels sprouts on to the paint-by-numbers dragon, car, globe or whatever we were assigned to cover.

Deja vu ... I'm pretty sure I saw this guy in the parade last year, doing the same hat trick.  It's okay though, because the float is a stunner!!

By the way, if you watch the Rose Parade on the Hallmark channel (312 if you have Direct TV) you will see the entire thing with NO commercials.  

In no time, Cooper was dreaming of flying along with the red car headed for camping, his ears blowing in the breeze with his legs trying to keep up.  Wake up Cooper ... the parade is over.

Last night was the beginning of the Magic Kingdom of Bingo's New Year.  I played hooky.  Although as a gesture of my appreciation for them taking over for me while I'm gone, I went to the upstairs lounge and bought everyone a New Years drink.  

We got so carried away, we completely forgot about Bingo!!  We should be set up with the doors open at 4:30.  I think they got downstairs at 4:25 as I snuck out the back door.  Reason being, I'm hitting the road this morning.  Time is just flying by!!

Poked Full Of Holes

You know how you stick a fork in meat to see if it's tender?  It makes the meat full of holes so all the juices flow out?  That was me yesterday ... and I'm here to tell you I'm tender as can be and short a few tablespoons of juice.

That's what happens when you own a motorhome.  It constantly requires repair of some sort or other. It's like an earthquake on wheels as you drive down the highways and byways, loosening every nut and bolt there is.

A very wise man named Tom Westerfield once told me, as we walked around my rig somewhere in New Mexico when I followed their rig on our way to Maine .... you need to get a good screwdriver and carry it in your pocket. You're gonna need it.  As it happened, I had TWO screws missing, which he promptly replaced.

Ever since then, I've done my best to keep MY eye out for things like that, so important stuff doesn't fall off while motoring down the road ... like your entire awning!!

The first to go are these little slot covers on every window.  As soon as you bring the washing brush down the window, these pop off.  You would think they could figure out a better way.  Thin breakable plastic is NOT the ticket.  

Silly me, when this one fell to the ground, I ran my fingers along the window frame to remove the dirt before replacing it.  BIG mistake.  I sliced my thumb tip wide open.  Do you have any idea how many things you use that thumb tip for?  I now know painfully well! 

I found two of the three missing pieces of cheap plastic and replaced them, adding a little extra silicone to keep them in place.  

Next up, while washing the rig, I noticed the bolt cover was ajar at the top of the slide.  I climbed up the ladder, removed it (more black plastic) and look what I found.  The bolts are coming clear out of the side.  I'm surprised they are still attached at all!!  

I grabbed my handy dandy tighten-things-down gizzy I found at Harbor Freight.  Truthfully, I got this to try and fix a loosened screw on the inside window frame, which can't be reached by normal means.  I still haven't been able to reach it.  At any rate, it worked fabulously to tighten the nuts above.

BUT .... see the metal track the cheap black plastic slides IN TO?  Yup ... another poke on the right hand next to my fingernail .... OUCH!!!  A little more juice leaked out.  

I only checked the roof and the outside.  Just imagine how many bolts and screws are loose underneath where I never check.  That's just scary.  I think this year when I have my oil changed by Mr. Jim Fulkerson in Indio, I will sweetly ask him to give it a once over.

Apparently I was't poked full of enough holes, because at the end of all that work, I spent some time playing the ball game with Jessie and Cooper.  Jessie never bites down hard ... really ... but totally by mistake, she gave the ball a hard chomp when my finger was still attached.  Not exactly a hole, but a nice bruise underneath my fingernail. 

Number four came from Cooper, whose jaws are like a steel trap, all from the exercise of biting down hard to hear the squeaky toy.  Yup .... insert fingers in puppy mouth and you get another BIG hole!!

In spite of bandaids and antibiotic cream, my poor fingers poked full of holes hurt every time I touch something.  I can tell you I'm VERY tender!!  I spent the rest of the day keeping the couch from running away.  The countdown to takeoff has begun!!

HAP HAP HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Gosh .... another year has slipped by in a flash.  Wasn't it just yesterday that the internet-computer world was going to crash down around our heads ... Y2K or something?    I hope your New Year's celebration was a happy one with no hangovers for the New Year.  May Blessings rain down upon all of us for 2018!!

New Year's eve wasn't all that spectacular here, as fog crept in and blanketed the Valley, keeping temperatures in the low 50's.  The only thing on my To-Do list was to finish washing the rig.

In spite of a few minor mishaps, I finished scrubbing and rinsing about 3:00.  She looks 100% better, if you don't get too close.  In spite of washing, rinsing, washing and rinsing again, there are still streaks and spots I can't reach.  I figure the less time spent on a ladder where I might break my head, the better.

Cooper, Jessie and I sat around and watched the ball drop, which Cooper orchestrated for us at about 7:30 p.m.  

By 8:00, everyone was asleep on the couch.  If it weren't for all those other crazy people out there shooting off guns, M80's and fireworks, it would have been a quiet night.

Thankfully, it wasn't near as bad as it has been in the past.  Every time there is the slightest pop, Miss Jessie runs shivering to my closet where she hides in a dark corner.  I was sure we were under major attack when one BANG went off and actually shook the windows of my house.  Now THAT'S scary!!

After maybe 30 minutes, everyone seemed to run out of ammo .... or maybe everyone in my neighborhood is getting old.  At any rate, by 11:00 it was quiet as a mouse.

HAPPY 2018!!!

As for today, there is one thing to be said about washing your motorhome.  You encounter all manner of things that need to be repaired.  I'll work on those today and report tomorrow.