Day tripping.....

9:47 am - Thursday - June 30th - Likely, CA - 74° F, humidity 21% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the west by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were visiting 'Little Big Horn'  (Custer's last stand) in Montana......↴ 

Susanville, about 88 miles from LPG&RVR, has a Walmart, and TLE wanted to drive down to do a big shopping there this time to get things she only gets at Walmart.  On top of that the new 'Top Gun' was playing at a local theater, there was a very nice Goodwill, and there appeared to be a good Mexican Restaurant in town, so why not take a day trip, right?  We chose Wednesday (our 3rd day of our weekend) to drive south to spend the day in Susanville.  We left around 10 am, and after a very uneventful 1 hour and 20 minute drive we arrived at the local Goodwill where we did some 'junking' for about an hour before heading over to the Walmart to do our shopping.  The Goodwill is one of the nicer ones at which we have shopped, and we both found a couple of things without which we could not live.  

That is where the wheels came off our plans.  The Walmart was not a 'Super Walmart', and was quite small, not very well stocked, and had NO produce section.  After spending 20, or 30 minutes wandering around looking for things not in stock we finally checked out with just a few dry goods items.  So our plans to do a major shopping were scuttled.

Next we turned our attention to our lunch plans, but, for some reason, the Mexican restaurant we had our sights set on was closed.....doh!  TLE found a local casino advertising an onsite micro brewery, so we quickly shifted gears and headed over to the casino (Diamond Mountain Casino) about 3 miles distant, arriving there 5 minutes later.  Upon entering the casino we found they had discontinued the brewing operation a while back (during COVID), but they had a nice 'pub' on site with some local draft brews.  There were no alfresco options, and the non-smoking section was separate from the 'pub', and had no atmosphere....double doh!  Oh well, it was now 12:30 pm, and we were getting hungry.....the food did get good reviews, so I ordered their Bacon Bleu Burger, and TLE their BBQ sandwich....the reviews were correct.  The burger and fries were top notch, and TLE loved her BBQ, so lunch was not a total bust.....lol.

We had planned to be at Walmart for a lot longer than we were, but after aborting our big shopping mission, and heading to lunch it was only 1:30 pm, and we still had an hour until the movie began. With not really much else to do to kill an hour (we're not gamblers, so that was out), so we decided to head for home.  If we had found a pleasant way to kill the hour we would not have started for home until after 4:30 pm meaning we would not be home until 6 pm.  As it turned out we arrived home about 20 minutes after the movie would have begun, and are happy we headed for home when we did.

The balance of the day was spent napping, and then sitting outside as the evening descended upon LPG&RVR.  There were martinis, and a cigar thrown in for good measure....a nice way to end another day as June slides into July.

Thanks for stopping by!

I love rural America!

7:29 am - Wednesday - June 29th - Likely, CA - 55° F, humidity 35%, wind 2 mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.....the heat in the air from the past few days is gone, and it is quite chilly this morning....YAY!  On this date in 2013 we were in Sheridan, WY with Newell friends Tom, Darlene, Forest and Cindy, on our way to Alberta, Canada......↴

Left to right: Cindy, Forest, Tom, Darlene, TLE

Three Newell caravan

Even though the high temp dipped below 90 for the first time in a few days Tuesday you could still feel the heat in the air from the three previous days....it felt warmer than the forecast 88° F high.  Before it got too warm I got out my Haibike SDURO and rode the LPG&RVR perimeter road around the golf course.......

....I covered 3.76 miles in just under 23 minutes averaging 9.9 mph with 229' of elevation gain.  Once again I was able to do the entire ride in assist level #1.

We needed to make a run into Alturas to run several errands, including a stop at the local DMV to get the renewal tags for the VW Beetle.  I paid for the renewal registration, and tags online over a month ago, but they never arrived at the P. O. Box down in SoCal.  There are many things about rural America which I love, and one of those is going to the DMV....there is never a line, or a wait.  You just walk up to the window and get your business done.  In SoCal you must make an appointment a week, or so in advance, and then wait in line for an hour, or two before you get to that 'window'.  We had our tags, and were out the door within 10 minutes.

While we were in town we picked up a few grocery items at Grocery Outlet, some bicycle tubes, and JB Weld at Ace Hardware, then Rite Aide for some padded back rests for our Adirondack chairs, and then Rubio's for some of their amazing Street Tacos.....

......the only chair pads they had at Rite Aide were orange.....how fortuitous was that?  Anyway, we got our Street Tacos 'to go', and headed to the local park to eat them at one of the picnic tables in the shade.....YUM!!!

After one final stop at the Likely Post Office to pick up my new Paper White Kindle we were home and into the A/C cooled interior of the Newell by 2 pm.   My original Kindle is 11 years old now, and now longer being supported by Amazon after August, so it was time to upgrade....

....the reading screen (6") is the same size at the old one, but the Kindle has a smaller footprint.   While the old Kindle battery would last a few days, this new Kindle battery will go for weeks, plus has a touch screen, and I'm able to surf the net on it, if I wish.

Another thing I love about rural America is that all the stores in Modoc County are fully stocked....there is no panic buying, no bare shelves anywhere, and the variety of products available is what one would want, and expect.  Whatever you need can be bought, and the prices are not too bad.

Thanks for stopping by!

A shady deal......

 8:16 am - Tuesday - June 28th - Likely, CA - 71° F, 20% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the south by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were having breakfast alfresco while watching a World Cup match between Brazil and Chile in South Lake Tahoe, CA.......↴

On our off days I like to sit outside on the 'lido deck' drinking coffee, and welcoming in the new day, but as of late the sun has been intruding into my sitting space.  TLE made a corner piece years ago to supplement our sun screen to provide just a little more shade in these circumstances.....

.....that little added shade makes all the difference, especially now that summer has actually arrived.  When it was cold I did not mind sitting in the direct sunlight, but at 4,500' elevation the sun can get quite intense in the summer, as TLE can attest.  Once we had the corner piece installed I decided to put up the sun screen for the trailer entrance for the first time in years.  The sun comes in that door most of the day, and really makes it hotter in the trailer than I like.  I haven't had this awning up since 2015 in South Lake Tahoe.......

......I had to move some snaps, and find the rope lines, then set the poles in place, which took a while, and by the time we finished TLE and I were both ready for the A/C cooled Newell interior.

We decided to head over to the  Clubhouse around 11:30 am to have a putting contest, then have lunch on the veranda.  The special of the day was a French Dip, and being a big fan of the French Dip I ordered that, while TLE ordered a Chef salad.  That was pretty much the highlight of our day as it got up to 94° F, so outdoor activities were pretty much out of the question.  There is a slight cooling trend over the next 7 days, and we will see temps in the 70's on Sunday and Monday (4th of July).

There is a new TV series coming out on July 1st called 'The Terminal List' based on a series of books by Jack Carr (former Navy SEAL) by the same title. I've been reading those books since they first came out a few years ago, and just finished the 5th book in the series Monday night.  These books are real page turners, and I'm hoping the series will capture the spirit of those books.  If you're looking for some good summer reading, and like action/adventure, you will like these books a lot.  My daughter Meredith turned me on to the books several years ago, and I cannot wait for book #6!

Since we had a big lunch, TLE just sliced up some of the 3rd top sirloin we grilled Sunday night as a snack, and that seemed to suffice.  We both are continuing to maintain our weight loss, and both have leveled out....I've lost 32 pounds since January 31st, and that seems to be a good weight for me, especially since I can maintain it.  I still eat pretty much what I want to eat, just less of it.  We don't eat breakfast, and have only one big meal per day, followed by, or preceded by, a smaller meal.  Sometimes the small meal, especially on work days, is lunch, but on the days we are off we usually have a bigger lunch, then a smaller dinner, and only eat between 12 pm and 8 pm.  On top of that, my newer 32" waist shorts are starting to slip off my hips, so I'm still losing inches.

Thanks for stopping by!

Off by 4.....

8:02 am - Monday - June 27th - Likely, CA - 67° F, 21% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 93° F.  On this date in 2016 we spent the day with Dan and Carol Gates, college friends, at their cabana on the shores of Lake Tahoe near Incline Village......↴ 

I can't remember everyone's names, but Dan and Carol are right front in this picture....what a great day!

Sunday was our Friday, and for the second consecutive day I reported for work at 7:30 am.  It was going to be a 'hot' one, and as expected, most of our golfers had early tee times.  TLE thought she would need 12 carts (hot day, plus it was Sunday, which is 'vacuum day', as you know), so I staged 16 initially, then three more later in the morning for a total of 19 carts.....as it turned out we rented 16.

Golf can be a very colorful game....lol!  These are just some of the dozens of golf balls I have found just driving around doing my job.

Once I was sure TLE had enough carts I headed up to the large Pavilion to run the sprinklers a few more times hoping to get that grass greened up before the next group arrives on June 30th for the 4th of July weekend.  

Once I had the sprinklers going I picked up the Husqvarna riding lawnmower and mowed the large grass strip in the middle of our parking lot, then around 10:30 am I headed out on the John Deere to finish mowing the tee boxes on holes 17 and 18.  I figured I could get out there, mow both tee boxes, and be back by 11:30 am for TLE's lunch break, and that is how it worked out.

The big Pavilion has 6 full hookup sites, plus 4 'buddy sites....two on either side of the Pavilion

Once again I took just a 30 minute lunch, and was back on the job by 1 pm.  By that time it was over 91° F, and shade was getting scarce.  I continued watering the grass around the big Pavilion, and finally began to see the ground getting saturated......that ground was really thirsty!

As I was watering the grass the carts we had rented in the morning began to return so it was time for me to start my afternoon cart washing ritual.  By 4 pm all 5 Club Car electrics had been returned, cleaned, put away, and connected to electricity.  There were still a few Yamaha gassers out there, but they can be washed Monday morning.

Early evening views....

I was home a little after 4 pm, grateful I was missing that last hot hour of the day.  TLE had turned on the A/C when she was home for lunch, and I left it on after my lunch, so I returned to a nice, cool Newell interior.....those 40 year old A/C's just keep trucking along.  After a hot shower, and a short nap I returned to the Clubhouse to get the list of late arrivals, and available sites for 'drop ins', and headed down to flip the sign, and post the two lists.  I had barely returned home when TLE arrived.  

TLE has been helping out 'Café Kathy' by bussing some tables when they get real busy, and holding the door for her, or Theresa when they are delivering breakfast and lunch orders to our alfresco dining area.  As a 'thank you' Kathy gifted TLE 3 top sirloin steaks, which we in turn grilled for dinner (we only ate two of them....the third we'll slice up for steak sandwiches in the coming days).  I got them to a perfect 125° F (medium rare). The meat Kathy orders is top of the line, and these steaks were melt in your mouth delicious!

So, once again, we are beginning another 4 day weekend......I love this job!  Thanks for stopping by!

Schedule change.....

6:14 am - Sunday - June 26th - Likely, CA - 56° F, 49% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the east by northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were standing at the 45th Parallel.....in other words, half way between the equator and the north pole, in Yellowstone NP......↴

On hot days, and by that I mean days over 90° F, I will begin going to work at 7:30 am, take a half hour break, and be off work by 4 pm.  Since it was going to be over 90° Saturday I followed my plan, and was on the job by 7:30 am washing three Yamaha carts which had not been returned by 5 pm on Friday.  I was able to get 20 carts staged before 8 am, and that included gassing up 15 gas powered carts.

After that I took a tour of the park to be sure all was well.  I stopped in the 'meadows' where the star gazers had all their telescopes set up for night viewing.....

....there are probably 30-40 expensive telescopes in that field....these guys are serious.  I also took a picture of the kids playground, which is also in the 'meadows'.......

....and pictures of our tent areas....the first picture is of sites 1-4, which are right next to the back in RV sites in the background.....  

.....these sites are separated by a gravel road from sites 5-10, which are in the next picture, which is where I spend a couple of hours cutting the long grass on Friday.......

......I needed to ride the slow John Deere riding lawn mower out to mow tee boxes for holes 3, 15, 16, 17 and 18, so I left around 9:45 am hoping I could get all of them done before TLE's 11:30 am lunch break.  I managed to get 3, 15, and 16 done by 11:20 am, and knew there was no way I was going to get back to the Clubhouse by 11:30 am, so I called TLE and let her know I'd be 10 minutes late, which I was......from the 16th hole it is a good 20 minute drive back to the Clubhouse.

I took my 30 minute lunch and on my way back to the Clubhouse I noticed the current occupants of the large Pavilion had vacated, and the grass really needed watering so I spent the next 90 minutes running the automatic sprinklers through multiple cycles, plus using a couple of hoses with sprinklers attached to drench some of the dryer areas.  By the time I was done there I could see golf carts beginning to clutter the Cart Return area, and headed down to begin the daily washing ritual.  By 4 pm (my quitting time) all but three carts had been washed, so I left them for Sunday morning.

I was home, showered, and relaxing in the A/C cooled Newell interior by 4:15 pm......I returned to the Clubhouse at 5 pm to get the list of available sites (there were two), and the late arrival envelopes to post, then went down to the Night Registration building to flip the sign, and post the aforementioned information.  By the time I returned TLE was home.

I grilled some carne asada for our taco dinner around 6 pm when it had cooled down outside, and after dinner we headed outside to enjoy the much cooler temperatures....

 

.....I stayed outside smoking a cigar until after 8 pm.  I had barely gone back inside when TLE pointed out that we were going to have a nice sunset, so back out I went to memorialize another sunset.....

......thanks for stopping by!

Acclimation.....

 6:20 am - Saturday - June 25th - Likely, CA - 53° F, 35%, wind - CALM.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2012 I was having a couple of brews with my mother, Virginia.......↴

I am slowly becoming acclimated to warmer weather here at LPG&RVR as we edge ever closer to the 90° mark.  Beginning Saturday we'll have three consecutive days in the 90's topping out at 94° on Sunday and Monday before dropping back into the mid to low 80's, for which I will be thankful.  For the second day in a row I wore no sweatshirt to work, and on Friday I wore shorts, not pants.  Walking outside to get in Club Car #20 one could feel the warmth already resident in the air.

Golf cart wise the day started with a bang, but by 11:30 am only 14 carts had been rented.  Ultimately a 15th was rented, but that was it.  All the carts, but two were back in the 'Cart Return' zone by 1:30 pm.

Once those carts were washed and put away I picked up the John Deere riding lawnmower and headed down to our tent sites (#'s 6-10), which were in sore need of mowing.  We haven't had many tenters to date, and those we have had have stayed in sites 1-4, but we expect to have more from this point, so it fell to me to mow the rest.  There must be over an acre of grass down there, and it took me a couple of hours to mow the sites.  It was also very dusty, and I returned to the Clubhouse with a fine layer of dust over myself, and the John Deere.

After washing the John Deere, and the last couple of carts I was done for the day, and headed down to the entrance to flip the sign which directs customers where to go to register.  After 5 pm they must visit the 'Night Registration' office to register themselves, and pick a site.  For the second night in a row we had no open sites to offer late arrivals without reservations.  The park is completely full, and about 2/3's of those customers are here with a 'star gazing' group which comes here annually on the new moon to do just that.  Of course, they don't only gaze at the sky at night.  Here some guys were focused in on the sun using special $5,000 filters so you could see the sun, and the solar activity......

.....they asked me if I wanted to see what they were seeing (I wish I could have gotten a picture of what I saw), and I accepted.  You could see the solar flares happening.....very cool!

I was home shortly after 5 pm, and TLE shortly thereafter.  We, once again, sat out on the 'lido deck' enjoying the early evening breezes before heading in for good around 6:30 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

A nice rhythm.......

 6:22 am - Friday - June 24th - Likely, CA - 50° F, humidity 54%, wind - CALM.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were camping near Devil's Tower in Wyoming.......↴

We were back at work Thursday, and there were already a number of people waiting to get their carts and tee off at 8 am.  TLE only needed 14 golf carts initially, but I put out 20 anyway.  As it turned out we only rented 15, so she was pretty close.  Thursday was also the day we clear the driving range of golf balls.  We've been having trouble with the cart which pushes the ball retrieving machine around the course, but Bob and Walt thought they had gotten it fixed, however, after one pass around the upper part of the driving range it began to stall out again, so I reported that to Bob, and decided to pick up what few balls there were with the 'Shag Bag'.  I was done within an hour, and got some good exercise in the process.....lol.

I was barely done collecting the driving range balls when I saw that the small Pavilion had been vacated by its current tenants so I retrieved the Husqvarna riding lawn mower and headed up the hill to mow, and trim that site before its next occupants arrive.

With nothing else to do before TLE's lunch break I began washing the two 5 gallon buckets of balls I picked from the driving range, and managed to get one bucket done by 11:30 am.  I basically get a two hour break from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm each work day....the first hour is sitting in the Clubhouse office, whilst TLE takes her lunch break, answering the phone, and answering questions of customers, then I take my lunch break, and head home.  It's a nice break for me, especially now that the days are becoming warmer, but usually by the time I get back from my lunch break there are a lot of golf carts in the 'Cart Return' area, and then my afternoons descend into washing, and stowing one cart after another.

Frankly, the jobs I do are not that difficult, or physically demanding, I don't mind any of the jobs I'm tasked with doing on my four day shift, and there is enough variety that I never get bored.  The 8 hour work day passes quickly for both TLE and I as we both stay busy.  I make it a point to stop what I'm doing every so often, and just look around at the amazing views which surround LPG&RVR.

I was home a little after 5 pm, showered, and sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs on the 'lido deck' by the time TLE arrived home from work at 5:20 pm.  We both sat outside until almost 6:30 pm enjoying the early evening balmy breezes, and listening to a little Frank Sinatra before heading inside for the night.

We've settled into a nice rhythm here at LRG&RVR, and are more thankful by the day for our decision to spend the summer here, and are now talking about a repeat performance next summer.

Thanks for stopping by!

Post interlude.....

 6:21 am - Thursday - June 23rd - Likely, CA - 51° F, 59% humidity, wind - CALM.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2013 we were on top of Lookout Mountain near Spearfish, SD with David and Denise Zonker......↴

Well, all good things must come to an end, and Wednesday our two day interlude came to an end.  Once again we were up around 6 am, but we both felt refreshed, and mellow after two days of mineral hot springs soaking.  We wanted to get home to enjoy the last of our four day weekend, so we were on the road by 8 am heading back through Cedarville and over the Warner Mountains.....

Population 514

Mount Shasta in the distance as we descend from Cedar Summit

.....we stopped in Alturas to do our weekly shopping, and were home a little after 9 am with the rest of the day ahead of us.  I knew I had a couple of packages at the Post Office, so I went to the clubhouse to get the key for the LPG&RVR P. O. Box and headed back into Likely.  As I hit the crossroads of Jess Valley Road, and US-395 I saw quite a few antique vehicles parked across the street next to the fire station, the star of which was a Pierce Arrow......

.....included were a couple of Fords, two, or three REO Speed Wagons, a Brush (never heard of that), a Buick (not your father's), and a Maxwell, as well as a couple of vintage motorcycles, including a Harley Davidson.....what a cool surprise!.....

....after taking more than enough pictures I headed home with the mail, first dropping off the LPG&RVR mail at the Clubhouse along with the P.O. key, and then home for the balance of the day.

I spent time making some adjustments to my Haibike SDURO, and fixing a flat on TLE's eBike to the front tire.....glad that didn't go flat on our ride into Cedarville.  Even though I carry all the appropriate bike tools, as well as spare tubes, and patch kits, it is never fun to fix a flat on the side of the road, which I have done more than I wish to remember.

It got to 89° F Wednesday, and for the first time since we arrived at LPG&RVR we turned on the bedroom A/C, which still, by the way, blows ice cubes.....well, not literally, but you know what I mean.  For a forty year old unit it sure works well!

TLE made Reubens for dinner.....man that woman can cook!.....

......restaurant quality all the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Interlude, day 2

 6:30 am - Wednesday - June 22nd - Cedarville, CA - 46° F, humidity 52%, wind 2 mph out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were at Manito Tap House in Spokane, WA sampling some of their brews....."a Steelhead Stout for me" she said.....↴

It gets light here even earlier than in Likely, and we were up a little after 6 am as a result....even with the curtains closed it was too bright in our room to sleep in any further.  Of course, when you have your own hot springs hot tub you take you coffee in the tub, right? How do you like that ''farmers" tan?......

....so that is how our day began, and ended. There was more reading, napping and soaking throughout the day, and a bike ride into Cedarville for lunch thrown in for good measure......

.....yup, we brought our eBikes specifically to ride into Cedarville to have lunch on Tuesday.  Woody's (burger place) opens around 11 am, so that is when we began our ride.  The one way distance into Cedarville to Woody's from Surprise Valley Hot Springs is about 5.4 miles, and we arrived there around 11:30 am.  Cedarville on a weekday is not very busy, even in the summer, so we were not surprised to find we were only the 2nd guests of the day.  I had read several Yelp reviews (Woody's gets 5 stars on 21 reviews) about their Western Burger (with cheese and bacon) so that is what I ordered....

.....I forgot to take a picture of my plate until I was half done....lol....it was a very good burger, and all of the ingredients were fresh, and certainly worth 4 stars in my book......I've had better  burgers, however, this one is not a 5 star burger, but was definitely worth the almost 11 mile round trip bike ride!  Surprise Valley is made up almost entirely of a dry lake bed which stretches for miles north and south....

.....in all we covered 10.78 miles in 1 hour averaging 10.7 mph as one might guess.  595 caloric units were disposed of on this eBike ride...

,,,,we were back at room #13 by 1 pm at which time we took another soak.  There were several more putting contests.....sometimes I forget how competitve TLE can be....lol....however, on this day I prevailed in two of the three best out of 10 putting contests.

Our stay at Surprise Vallley Hot Springs has exceeded our expectations, and we definitely want to try to return later in our stay here in Modoc County.  The accomodations were very nice.....in fact, surprisingy nice, and the privacy of having your own hot tub fed by hot mineral springs water is the way to go as far as I am concerned.  

Thanks for stopping by!