Friday, May 4

Mike - About an hour out of Banning with a nice tail wind, heard a bang, looked back and smoke coming from trailer tire. NOT AGAIN. (In '09, I'd replaced one tire before leaving, and blew two more during the trip. 2nd time I also replaced the 4th. 1st blowout was on I5 N of Sacramento, and waited about 2 hrs for roadside assist.) Pulled over and nursed it another 100 yds to an exit. Changed it myself this time and drove the 60 miles to Blythe. Pulled into a gas station on outskirts and asked for a good tire place, which was just a mile or so down the frontage road. Walking back to RV, I saw something not too far off and could not believe it was a Boeing V-22 Osprey. It was doing touch-n-goes in a circular pattern, so got out the video camera and filmed a run. Thank you Lord for such a great spirit boost; w/o tire I'd have missed it. This was longest leg of trip, and 7-1/2 hour day turned into 11 hours. After setup, pool and spa were great relief!

Thurs., May 3

Mike - Drive S. on 99 not bad, but Grapevine S. of Bakersfield a real grind, then down toward LA, whose drivers the opposite of "Los Angeles"! NASCAR on steroids. Lane right backed up with exiting cars, but Idiot#1 ahead of me hits brakes and tries to join the line! My several tons of truck/trailer moves left, but car beside me; only God knows how I missed him; we're both shaking, as #1 nearly ended our trip! Need to fuel. I obey GPS's command to "exit and turn right". "Recalculating" WHAT! "Turn right". Right through grade school done for day. So is my patience! Finally, "Destination on left"; oops, only houses! "Drive 1-1/4 miles"; nearly tossed it out the window! Shopping areas ahead -- everything but a gas station; must be an electric vehicle only area!!! Whatdayaknow, I'm back where I exited the fwy. 8 miles to empty (i.e. 4). Right turn signal on for approaching onramp, but Idiot#2 pulls out from right. I hit horn, brake and "roof", not necessarily in that order; fortunately she hits gas not brake or would have been wearing my grill across her face! GPS: "Fuel next exit, then turn left". In left lane at light, gas station on right!!! Change to right turn signal, light changes; will they let me in? Four cars zip by before I swing wide and into station. After fueling, cannot back out; onramp across street, no divider, only traffic from right, light turn green, so start across 4 lanes. Light turns, room to cross behind car #3, but car #4 (Idiot3) looks at me and stops in front of me. ARE YOU KIDDING? I'm now blocking 2 lanes in each direction, but car #5 (must have been out-of-state) leaves room, but can't clear until light changes. (Note to self: upon return home, put truck and trailer on Craigslist!) J's laptop hard drive giving errors!!! My blogs too long for her phone. She backs up what she can. We'll ignore errors and pray it holds out; hope John (Carolyn's husband) in Colorado Springs can help. Arrived Banning later than expected, but had nice visit with Sandee, a deaf ex-co-worker from my McDonnell-Douglas days in Long Beach (CA) before we moved to WA in late '83, so had been 28 years.

Spent the day visiting with my Aunt Helen (90) and Lloyd (95). They took us out to eat -- I didn't even try to win that argument! Helen has a wonderful music box collection, and played one of her compositions on the organ. Lloyd won the Silver Star in WWII as a tank driver. His unit often spearheaded for Patton's 3rd Army where my dad fought, and after comparing maps, Lloyd and my dad fought within yards of each other at times. Lloyd was having surgery the next day for a cancer area on a forearm, so that was an area for prayer. We laughed a lot during the fun, but short, time with them.

Judy - I really enjoy Mike's aunt and uncle. It amazes us on how well they do. The minds are good and they both still drive. When we going out to eat Mike and I were concerned about his uncle driving at 96 but he was a good driver. It amazes us because our parents all had alzheimer's and were not doing as well in the 80's. It is no wonder Helen has so much spunk. She had to defend herself against 3 older brothers with the oldest being Mike's Dad. We loved their sense of humor and did a lot of laughing.

Mike: Arrived Chowchilla 9 hrs after leaving Shasta. Easy drive down I-5,
then bounced down 99 from Sacramento! Horrible road conditions until
around Merced. Beautiful weather; could see snow on both coast and cascade
ranges to each side!

Judy: Traveling has been fairly easy until today. When we finally got to a
smoother road we felt like we had been beaten. As Mike said the weather
and scenery were wonderful. We stopped for gas in Livingston only to find
out our Visa had been terminated. Mike had forgotten to forward our home
phone to one of our cell phones so when Visa was unable to get a hold of us
they terminated our Visa. We were able to get it reinstated. One of our
neighbors is going to go to our house and set up our phone to forward our
phone calls. It is so nice to have such good neighbors. Thank you Dick

This is Mike's post about yesterday (4/30).

Rain during night made prep for leaving wet. Headed East from Eugene on
Hwy 58 over the pass. I'd worked on 58 for hwy. department during a college
summer in 1965, but had grown up (yeah, me and area) so much could
recognize on a few places. Pulling a 6-ton trailer up the grades a real "drag"!
Connected with Hwy. 97 and headed South into strong head and cross winds.
We stopped in Klamath Falls to get internet back on Judy's phone. Mileage
said 124 miles to empty, so 60 to Weed should be a breeze, but that breeze
made it 6 miles to empty by Weed. Phew! $160 to fill with diesel. . Ouch!
Low 37 during night at Abrams Lake (Shasta). Brr! But at least sunny this AM
(5/1). Shoulder a real pain; thank God for pain pills!

On to Merced and warmer, dryer climate! Then I'll probably gripe about the heat.

Today, Mon. April 30 we drove to Abrams Lake RV Park, Mt. Shasta, CA.
Much of the drive was cloudy and rainy. We encountered a sideways wind
going over the mountains which was difficult driving for Mike. I did not have
internet on my cell phone much of the way so we stopped at a Verizon store
Klamath Falls however even after I was able to get internet the glare from the
sun made it difficult to see the screen. The drive to MT. Shasta was beautiful.
I took some mobile photos of the mountain and will post if I am able. We
have stayed at this RV park before. Even though it is called Abrams Lake it
is not a lake but a pond.