A change of venue....

 6:56 am - Saturday - December 20th - Rancho Cucamonga, CA - 49° F, h%, humidity 52%, wind 2 mph out of the north by northeast......partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were spending a few days at Rincon Parkway, just north of Ventura, CA.....

.....about a week earlier we had just finished our second stint working for Amazon during 'Peak Season' in Fernley, NV.  Over the course of the week we made it south and west to the Pacific Ocean....a fitting place to unwind after 7 weeks of working in a concrete bunker....lol!

Our family tradition for the past decade, or more has been to gather at the home of our oldest son, Chris, and his wife Rochelle (TAR - The Amazing Rochelle) on Christmas morning to have breakfast, and exchange Christmas presents.  I think the only time we missed was our first year on the road when we were spending 5 weeks in Cedar Key, FL, otherwise we've flown home, once from Nashville after our third and final stint working for Amazon during their 'Peak Season' in Campbellsville, KY.  This year Chris is taking his extended family to Mammoth Mountain for Christmas to go skiing and snowboarding, so we are gathering at his home on the 20th  to keep the tradition going.

We were up early Friday so we could be on the road by 8 am (7 am SoCal time) to make the 6 hour trip.  We've made this 345 mile trip from Seligman to SoCal several times now, and it doesn't really feel like a 6 hour driving trip  (really 5 hours, but we stop two, or three times).  TLE usually drives about half the miles, which is nice.  Most of the drive is on I-40 through the high desert.....

.....I haven't had a haircut since November 11th, making me at least a week past due, so as we were descending Cajon Pass into the Pomona Valley TLE got me into the 'Lineup' at Sport Clips in Rancho Cucamonga.  We arrived there around 12:25 pm (1:25 pm Seligman time), and I was in the seat in 5 minutes....perfect.  It actually only took us 5.5 hours door to door!  While I got my ears lowered, TLE went over to Albertson's do pick up a few things.  She returned just as I was paying for my haircut.....talk about a well oiled machine!

Next up was a quick stop at the local Trader Joe's to pick up a few things, then we were on our way to our hotel (4 Points Sheraton in Rancho Cucamonga) where we checked in just shy of 1:30 pm.  We stayed here a few months ago when we flew down from LPG&RVR to meet our new grandson, Caleb Jett Garcia, and loved it.  We've stayed in several hotels around the area over the years we've been on the road, and this is our favorite.

Around 4 pm we drove over to 'The Hat', a SoCal institution since 1955 with 11 stores, which serves the best Pastrami Dip sandwich in the west coast as far as we are concerned.  The only place we've had a better one is at Katz's Deli in Manhattan, NY since 1888....kind of a head start....lol....

.....it's only about 3 blocks, and we probably could have walked there faster than driving in the insane rush hour traffic on a Friday evening.  Their Pastrami Dip sandwich is so loaded with Pastrami that you could make a second Pastrami Dip with what falls out while you're eating it....serious!  Of course, on a Friday evening the place was packed, but we managed to snag the 2nd to last table available.  In spite of how busy they were, we had our order (2 Pastrami Dips and a large order of onion rings) within 5 minutes.  They really put the food out quickly! TLE counted no less than 11 people working behind the counter to crank out those orders. Neither of us could finish both halves of our enormous Pastrami Dips, or all the onion rings, so we took them back to the hotel to be finished off later....

Day

Night

....our room is on the 4th floor and we have a nice view of the shopping plaza next door.  At the other end of the property is our favorite local coffee shop called 'The Nook', where TLE is right now as I am finishing my latest missive, buying us two Americanos.  Just as I wrote that she returned with the magic elixir that makes life worthwhile....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!