Can you hear the vacuum?

One of the interesting things about living in Rancho Jurupa Regional Park is watching the park empty out on Sunday when all the weekenders head back to their sticks and bricks homes.  The park was almost at capacity over this weekend, but by 11 am it was almost empty......almost as if someone had turned on a large vacuum.

Sunday is NFL day, so I took the outside TV that I keep in the basement through storage area and moved it into the "garage" (trailer) for the day so while I worked on my mountain bike I could watch whatever game was on at the time.  One of the nice upgrades to their cable TV service here in the park is that they now have HD channels available, and I love watching sports on the HD format.

Around Noon my brother and his family stopped by our site to say their "until next times" before they started back to their home in the San Gabriel Valley and their workaday lives.  For us it is time to recharge our batteries after a great three days visiting with family and friends we have not seen for almost 2 years.

TLE spent a good part of Sunday reorganizing some of our cabinet storage areas in the salon area of our coach, and thinning out the stuff we were keeping in them, as well as doing the laundry.  I've been doing a lot of re-organizing in the trailer over the past few days, too......there is just too much stuff in there that is not getting used, and taking up a lot of precious space.

Not much else to write about......except we will be starting our volunteer jobs on Monday.  First we will show up at the kiosk at 6:30 am Monday to help open at 7 am, when the park officially opens.  We did work in the kiosk off and on when we were here a couple of years ago, but some procedures have changed, and frankly we haven't thought about any of that in 21 months so we need to be re-trained on the various fees, and how to use the computer software.  Later in the day we'll clean a couple of the cabins that were rented over the weekend.

The new Lenovo

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got my first new laptop in about 10 years.  I've been using a Dell Inspiron 6000 for a long time, and it is getting tired.  My good friend, Tom McCloud, turned me on to Lenovo laptops.  I was able to get a "refurbished" one for $296, and that is what I am using now.  I'm still getting used to the full size keyboard, and the spacing of the keys, which is quite different from my old Dell, but I love it so far.  I'm also getting used to Windows 7......the old Dell had the Windows XP platform.  Click the link to check them out....the best deals are in the "Outlet" section.

Thanks for stopping by!

Full Cup

My basic nature is to see the proverbial "cup" as half empty, not half full.  It doesn't mean there is something wrong with me, but is something I have come to learn about myself........I must resist that pessimistic instinct.   The thought of coming home after being gone for 21 months was, because of my nature, a little disconcerting.  Right now I am seeing my "cup" as not just half full, but completely full......fuller beyond my expectations.    Our first 3 days home have been wonderful.....almost magical.....and if I would have been seeing it through my usual "half empty" eyes I would have missed so much.

Saturday started out cold, dreary, and drizzly.....the kind of day where my instinct would be to stay inside out of the moisture.  As a professional soccer referee I spent enough time out in the elements ranging from rain, wind, snow, sleet, etc. and now I prefer not to do so.  Nevertheless, TLE and I had made a commitment to our daughter, Kate, to join her at the Ontario Soccer Complex near our "sticks and bricks" home to watch our granddaughter play in the U-8 (under 8 years old) soccer league at 10 am, so we were in the car at 9:30 headed west on SR-60 as rain pelted the windshield.  As we passed by I-15 the rain stopped.....okay, the cup is getting fuller...:D

 By the time we arrived at the soccer complex the drizzle had stopped, but it was still very cool......cool I can handle!  Charlise plays soccer in AYSO Region 583.....TLE and I were two of the original founding board members of Region 583 back in 1987, and were on the board for over 16 years before we finally retired.....long after we had any children still playing soccer.  As a result we made a lot of good friends over the years, and some of them are still involved in the Region.  Kate mentioned that one of my friends, Ken Mangelsdorf, was the current Regional Commissioner, and was probably there on site, so I walked over to the information  desk, and found Ken there in his familiar spot.  Ken and I spent countless evenings over the years at City Council meetings trying to get this very soccer complex built.....Ken way more evenings than I, so it is so nice to see it finally has been built after 27 years of effort, and many broken promises by the City Council.  Ken and I spent about 20 minutes catching up before I excused myself to get back to Charlie's soccer game.

We headed home after Charlie's game stopping off at Stater Brothers (local supermarket chain) to see if they were still carrying my favorite Snap-E-Tom Tomato and Chile Cocktail.......yes they are, and they have the big cans!  We snapped up 10 of them.

Around 3:45 we headed back out to watch my 13 year old grandson, Christopher (son of my son Chris)  play baseball in a local winter ball league......of course, as we arrived the drizzle began hitting the windshield again....uggghhh!  Once again I chose to ignore the drizzle, and got out of the car anyway.....the drizzle stopped shortly thereafter and we had a delightful time talking with my son and his wife, and then my son's in-laws, Ed and Linda, whom we hadn't seen for almost 2 years.  We are blessed that we really like my son's in-laws a lot, and have been on vacations with them on several occasions.

We left the game in the 4th inning to head back to Rancho Jurupa where our kids were gathering again to have dinner and another campfire together......and what a great evening it was!  We had chili prepared by the loving hands of Jeannie (my brother, Phil's wife) and corn bread prepared by my daughter Meredith.  We sat around the campfire for about 4 hours talking and laughing.

Just after 10 pm we said our "until next times", and packed it in for the evening......yep, the cup is way past half full.....there is no "empty" around here!  Much better to see the world through my "half full eyes"....

Thanks for stopping by!

Turn about is almost always fair play.....

Friday was much, much cooler than Thursday, and that was due mostly to heavy cloud cover.  At one point we thought it would rain.....but it didn't.  After posting Thursday's blog entry I began to go about the job of setting up our camp site for 2 months.  For those who have been around us when we are in one spot for more than a few days, or a week you know that a lot of stuff comes out.......recliners, awning mat, sun screen, awning lights, malibu lights......and on it goes.  

Additionally, I ran power to my trailer, refilled the oil reservoir for the DD using the last two gallons of Chevron Delo 100....the reservoir is full with 3.5 gallons of oil, but I will need to order some more at the local West Marine before we hit the road.  I purchased 4 gallons when we were in Savannah, GA at the local West Marine, and have used less than two since March......not too bad for a 31 year old diesel engine!

We have an 80 foot concrete pad which, as you can see, is surrounded by dirt....most of the sites here in Rancho Jurupa are surrounded by grass......and don't get me wrong, they are nice, but when you are here long term it is easier to be in one of the "dirt" sites.....you don't have to worry about the mowers that come once a week to mow and edge around your site.....we always had to move a lot of stuff so they could mow.  And, secondly, there are no sprinklers to water our motorhome, trailer and car in the dirt site.

Whilst I was doing all this manual labor, including setting up the BBQ, and fire pit (notice I have the wash tub fireplace out) TLE was off shopping for the night's festivities......what festivities you ask?  Well, we were having the kids over for a BBQ and fire, along with my brother Philip, and his wife Jeannie.  We expected 4 of our kids, including Kate's two kids, plus Phil and Jeannie....a nice manageable group, right?  Well, here is where the "turn about is fair play" thing comes in.

Our kids had planned a surprise of their own........I will let the next pictures tell the story.....

 Not everyone who came appeared in this picture, but you get the general idea......when our kids were growing up our home was a hangout place for them and their friends......and we actually liked all of their friends.  Well, all of those kids, who are now full grown adults, showed up Friday night.....I counted somewhere in the vicinity of 35 people at one time.  Just like it has been on the road, we are once again surrounded by young people......young people we have known since they were like 6 years old.....but are now peers.  My son, along with Tony and Mike entertained us with some acoustical guitar music.....my son, Tim, seated just to the right (stage right) is playing his acoustical bass.  Tony writes most of their music, and we both love it.  What a night we had.....and yes, we were surprised big time as car after car arrived at our campsite disgorging 4, or 5 people at a time.  We laughed, hugged, sang along to the music until about 10:30 and then it was time to say "good night" to everyone.  I found out over the course of the evening that most of these young people read our blog.....I had no idea.

Even now, as I write this blog entry less than a dozen hours later I am still smiling......we love surprises just as much as we like giving them.  We are humbled, and honored to call all of you friends in the truest sense of the word, and to call you all honorary Hockwald's.

Life is good......and I want to know who says "you can't go home"?  We are glad to be home, and looking so forward to the next two months with family and friends......WOW!!!

Thanks for stopping by.......literally!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!!

We decided a few days ago that we would arrive "home" one day early in order to surprise our 5 kids!  We didn't tell anyone, and I didn't even let on in my blog what we were planning, so sorry for the minor deception the past few days.  Thursday came up clear and windless in Lone Pine......another in a long line of windless days!  Our plan was to be on the road by 8 am and home by Noon, and, in spite of getting up late, we were able to roll the wheels by 8:10 and were heading south on US HWY 395 at 60 mph.  

The early morning view along US HWY 395

The loooong view towards Coso Junction

On our  trek south through the Owens Valley we passed through the oh so familiar villages of Cartago, Olancha, Coso Junction, Pearsonville, and Inyokern before turning left at the junction of SR-14 and US HWY 395 to continue on with US HWY 395 toward Ridgecrest.  Eventually we passed through Johannesburg where we chose to stop on the outskirts to take a short break.

We started the day knowing we would have 4 big climbs over the 200 miles remaining between us and "home".  The first was climbing up past Ridgecrest .......about 8 miles of 5% grade.  The second was the 7%, 4 mile grade up to Johannesburg where we took our break.  Okay then, two down, and two to go.  The third was just past Kramer Junction at the intersection of US HWY 395 and SR 58 (it is also known as the Crossroads of the Mojave Desert, but we have always called it "Four Corners", because that is what my Dad called it).  The fourth and final climb would be just after we rejoined I-15 in Hesperia.....the climb is about 4 miles at 5%  to the top Cajon Pass, followed by a 12 mile , 6% downhill grade into the Pomona Valley, and "home".

What the road looks like approaching "Four Corners"

From Four Corners it is only 80 more miles home, and our anticipation continued to grow.......US HWY 395 crosses some pretty remote and desolated country on this last stretch.

We have stopped in Four Corners to eat here often over the years

Before we knew it we were approaching the summit of our last climb....Cajon Summit.......shifting down into 3rd gear, then letting the "Jake" brake do its job slowing our descent into the Pomona Valley.

 The Pomona Valley

Not far now....

We arrived at Rancho Jurupa Regional around 12:10 pm and were met by our good friend Caroline who is still working in the entrance kiosk.  Before long Ranger Valerie came over to welcome us back.....so nice to see familiar faces, and to be back at our favorite country park!

Our home for 2 months

Mt. Rubidoux looms large over Rancho Jurupa....I took this picture about 2 years ago during our 12 month stay in Rancho Jurupa Regional Park

After getting ourselves set up....well mostly set up....it was in the high 80's when we arrived, so we didn't spend too much time outside....we're not used to this kind of heat.....LOL!!

Once we had the A/C cooling down the coach we hopped in the 'Bird and drove over the the Riverside County Headquarters to update our paperwork with Tony, and then we headed out on our quest to surprise each of our 5 children, who were not expecting us to arrive for another 24 hours.  First stop was at my son, Chris' office.....of course, on the way there we got stuck in traffic on I-15 caused by a multi vehicle accident for 15 minutes....welcome back to SoCal......we finally reached the office and  parked around the corner so he could not see us coming.....when we opened the door we found he and his wife Rochelle.....by the way, Rochelle is the best daughter-in-law ever!  We love her to death!   Of course they were very surprised as we exchanged long hugs, and talked for about 20 minutes before continuing our surprise the kids quest .  

Next up on our surprise list was our daughter, Sharon, who teaches 5th grade.  We called her boyfriend,   Rod, who let us know she was leaving school shortly, but was going to stop off at the local Target before she went home, so we hatched a plan to surprise her at the Target, which was only 3 blocks from the office.....we drove over quickly, and while TLE watched one entrance I watched the other....finally, about 20 minutes later Sharon walked in.....we waited until her back was to us, and then walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.....needless to say there were screams of surprise and joy as we exchanged hugs.  We swore Sharon to secrecy as we headed off to our next surprise visit.

Next up was to drive down to our home, which my daughter Meredith, and son Tim are leasing from us to surprise them....by this time it was getting on to 5 pm, so we were slugging our way through rush hour traffic down Haven for 5 miles.   We rang the door bell....no answer....hmmm...Mere's car and Tim's car are in the driveway.....then we knocked on the door...still no answer.  So, I dialed Mere's phone number and ask her if she is home....she answers hesitantly....."yes"....I then ask her why she is not answering the door......there is a short hesitation, then I hear her scream, and run downstairs.....she threw the door open and we hugged.  Just about that time my daughter, Kate, comes through the door.....she had stopped off after picking up her daughter, to see Meredith, so was totally surprised to see us there.  Within another 3 minutes my son Tim came through the door....so the surprise was complete!

.

In the kitchen with Mere, Kate and Tim

It's rare you can pull off a surprise like this one without the word getting out, but we did it and are so happy we did!  We finally returned to the park around 6:30 emotionally wrung out, but with big smiles on our faces.  Friday my brother Philip and his family will arrive in their travel trailer for the weekend.....we have really missed them too.

It is good to be home with family, and we are so looking forward to the next 2 months as we catch up with family and friends!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mr. Sherwin's Grade

Unlike Tuesday, Wednesday came up clear and windless.  We have both remarked often in the past 10 days how little wind we have encountered on our journey south, and that makes driving so much more pleasant.....no cross winds, or headwinds to speak of.

Around 9 am I put a call into the new Resident Ranger at Rancho Jurupa to confirm they were expecting us Friday, and to find out what spot they would put us in.....it was a pleasure speaking with Robyn Jensen, and based on our conversation I think we will get along just fine.  

When we arrived in Mammoth Monday we only plugged in the electric....no water, no sewer, so getting ready to roll the wheels was easy peezy, and we were ready to motivate down the road by 9:40 am.

Our first destination of the day was Bishop, CA....about 42 miles distant, and one long 6% grade that would take us from just over 7,000' elevation down to close to 4,000' in just 8 miles.  We got to Sherwin Grade in about 25 minutes, and pulled off after a couple of miles to take in the GIGANTIC view.....TLE managed to capture this great panoramic shot....you can just see US HWY 395 slithering off in the distance.

We were in Bishop by 10:30, and headed right for the large Von's parking lot just off the highway.  Originally TLE was going to drive into Mammoth Village Wednesday morning to Schat's Bakery to buy some of our favorite bread, but since there is also a Schat's in Bishop we decided to do our shopping there instead.  From the  Von's parking lot it was about 1/2 a mile walk over to Schat's Bakery where TLE quickly loaded up on several loaves of bread.  I threw in one Cinnamon-Raisin loaf.

The weather in Bishop was just the kind of autumn type weather I love....short pants, t-shirt and flip flops weather.  We took our prizes back to the coach, then walked into Von's to pick up a few things, including some chicken breasts to BBQ that night.  On our way out we stopped at the Starbucks Coffee bar and got some frappuccino's....a mocha for me, and a vanilla bean for TLE.  We sat there just enjoying the moment, and the fact we were in no rush to be anywhere.

All in all we spent about an hour and a half in Bishop, but it was time to start rolling south again to our destination for the day.....Lone Pine, CA.....one of my favorite Owens Valley towns.  The next town south of Bishop is Big Pine, then comes Independence, and finally Lone Pine.  We noticed as we drove south that each of these little towns has spruced itself up over the past few years.  Prior to a few years ago they were beginning to look a little thread bare, but not Wednesday.

Lone Pine is only 60 miles from Bishop, so before we knew it we were at the northern edge of Lone Pine passing the familiar motels, fishing shops, parks, and restaurants that we have frequented often over the years.  The RV park we had our sights on was Boulder Creek RV Resort where we have stopped often going and coming to Mammoth and Lake Tahoe.  As is our style, there were no reservations made, and none needed....there were only 5, or 6 RV in this large park, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Lone Pine's main claim to fame is that it sits in the shadow of the highest mountain peak in the lower 48.....Mt. Whitney.

Mt. Whitney - 14,505'

We were set up by 1:30 pm, and just spent the afternoon with the windows all open enjoying the warm, balmy 73 F degree weather.....again, not a breath of wind.  Around 4 pm I started a camp fire, and we sat outside for the first time in a couple of months enjoying the early evening air, and watching the almost full moon rise into the night sky.  

Around 5:30 I began to BBQ the chicken breasts, and TLE made a great heirloom tomato salad to go along with the chicken.  Every time I don't have to move my laptop so we can sit down and have a formal dinner I fall more in love with the remodel we did at my brother's home.  It has just made living in our coach much more functional.

Our plan is to spend a couple of days here in Lone Pine, then finish the last 200 miles home on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Mammoth Day

Back in the early 70's to late 80's we would spend 2-3 weeks a year snow skiing at Mammoth Mountain in California.  At the time we lived in Pasadena, CA and the 300 mile drive to Mammoth would take 5-6 hours.  Then in the early 90's I got tired of waiting in lift lines, and got caught up in the mountain bike craze.....there were no lift lines....there was no waiting, and it didn't cost $60 per person to do it each day.  Over the years of our marriage we have spent just as much time, if not more, in Mammoth as Lake Tahoe.  With the advent of mountain biking many ski areas built "bike parks" for mountain bike riders to use during the summer months, and Mammoth built one of the best.  Even though you ride a gondola, or chair lift to the top of the  mountain to begin riding, there were no lift lines, and as we used to say, the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park is better than an "E" ticket ride at Disneyland.  Many of you will recall that back in the early years of Disneyland they sold you a book of tickets for the rides.  Each ride (depending on its popularity) was rated "A" to "E"...."E" being the most desirable.   Typically in a given day my friends and I would cover 50-60 miles of downhill trails at Mammoth on our bikes.  Needless to say I have shed a lot of blood on this mountain over the years, and like Lake Tahoe, memories are planted deep here for both TLE and I.

Tuesday dawned with a heavy cloud cover, but no forecast of precipitation of either the liquid, or frozen variety, also the over night temps got into the low 20's....yep, winter will be here soon.  Instead of driving around town like we usually do when we are up here, we decided to just take off walking to see what had changed, and what was the same.  Our first stop was the Breakfast Club, a very popular local breakfast eatery where we have had many breakfasts over the years.  It is just a short walk from the RV park, and this is one place I am glad has not changed.....the food is simple, but delicious.

After eating we walked up the main drag to the outlet stores where I found a pair of Teva sandals at a bargan basement price at Value Sports where we have shopped often over the years, and TLE found a pair of wonderful slippers at the Bass Shoe Outlet store.  We walked up Old Mammoth road and window shopped for a while.  As we expected, not much has changed in the past two years since we were here last.  On Wednesday TLE will run up to the Schat's Bakery to pick up some bread.

 The RV park in the distance

Mammoth Mountain.....has about 18" of snow at the top right now.

After walking just over 3.5 miles we headed back "home" to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.  We planned to leave around 4 pm to drive over to the June Lake Loop to have dinner at one of our all time favorite eastern Sierra restaurants.....The Carson Peak Inn.

The drive over to June Lake was uneventful, but we found a road block with a detour sign taking us around the backside of the lake due to some road construction.  As a result, we just missed the sun going down behind the high mountain peaks......sunset occurs a little earlier in the high mountain country.  This was what I was able to get from the parking lot of the Heidelberg Inn.....another place we have frequented often over the years.  We love the enormous fireplace in the lobby.

TLE and the Heidelberg Inn

Since the Carson Peak Inn doesn't open until 5 pm, and it was only 4:30 at this time we drove down the "Loop" road past Silver Lake just taking in the beauty of this drive.  It was just past dusk there, but the views were striking nevertheless.

Silver Lake at dusk

Taking a picture of the picture taker

TLE's panorama shot of Silver Lake

By the time we finished with our picture taking it was almost 5 pm, so we headed back to the "Inn" for our 5 pm reservation.   As it turned out, and we should have know better, we are in between seasons with the summer revelers long gone, so we were the only customers at opening time.  Frankly I kind of liked having it all to ourselves.  Our server, Janice, asked us what kind of music we would like to listen to on XM/Sirrious Radio, and we asked for Sirriusly Sinatra (channel 71).  We enjoyed our conversation with Janice, who has been a June lake resident for over 34 years.  I told her I have been coming to the Carson Peak Inn since 1963 (with my parents) and have been here dozens of times over the years.  The interior has not changed much, but it has been refreshed over the years a few times....I love the rich wood paneling, and the eclectic collection of lamps that provide light for the diners.

Every time I come to the Carson Peak Inn I have their Filet Mignon.....still one of the top 3 I have ever had.  We ordered a bottle of BV Coastal Pinot Noir to go with our 3 course meal.  TLE had pan fried rainbow trout....everything was perfect, and we had a wonderful time.

The 18 mile drive home was uneventful.....just as we like it.....and we arrived back "home" around 6:45.  Tuesday night is NCIS, NCIS L.A., and Person of Interest night.....as usual, all three shows were great, and we headed off to dreamland around 11.....well, TLE did.  I was having trouble updating one of the apps on my laptop, and it took until about 12:15 am for me to finish it.  Normally that would bug me, but since every day is like Saturday now.....no BIG deal....:D

Wednesday we will slip down Sherwin Grade into Bishop, CA and then on south to our next destination of Lone Pine, CA.....we're almost home kids.....just a couple more days!  Your patience is appreciated!

Thanks for stopping by!

Homeward Bound....

Monday we knew we would would re-enter California for the first time since we left almost 21 months ago.  Our destination was Mammoth Lakes, CA.....just about 128 miles to the south of Carson City, NV.  Just 29 miles distant was the California border, and the California Inspection Station, which we have passed through dozens of times over the years we have transversed this section of US HWY 395 north and south.   This stretch of US HWY 395 between Carson City and Mammoth Lakes is one of our favorite stretches of blue highway in the U.S......and for us it has been like a second home.

The California Port of Entry is right on the shores of Topaz Lake, and is quite small, but every time we pass through this inspection station I am always concerned about what questions they will ask.....almost as much as when we entered Canada last July.  The last time we were asked if we had any Christmas trees with us.....wait, what?  This time the one and only question we were asked was if we had any firewood.  Sometimes  the questioning is quite extensive, but this time all I had to do was answer "no firewood sir", and we were on our way back into the not so "Golden State".  

We glided through Coleville, Topaz, Walker, and Bridgeport.  We like Bridgeport, and had planned to stop here for lunch, but parking along the street was impossible this Monday, and I didn't want to venture on to any side streets in this very small town.  TLE managed to snap a couple of pictures as we passed through.

 County Court House

 Ranch land just north of Bridgeport....I love this view every time we pass this way.

About 15 miles south of Bridgeport is Conway Summit, which at 8,138' is the highest elevation point along US HWY 395......we have been stopping here for the obligatory picture of Mono Lake for decades.......I can remember stopping here with my parents back in the 50's as we headed home from our Lake Tahoe vacations each summer.  The view is big, long and spectacular, and was no less impressive on Monday.  We dawdled around at the summit for about 30 minutes just enjoying the view.  The climb up to this summit from the north is a long grinding climb......from the south you gain 1,500' elevation in just 4 miles.

TLE's panorama shot....you can almost see our lunch stop, Lee Vining, in the distance.

 TLE lining up her panorama shot

Another thing we almost always do going north, or south through Lee Vining is to stop and have breakfast, or lunch at Nicely's Restaurant......Monday it was lunch.  Again, in town, the parking lanes were just not wide enough for us, so we drove about a 1/4 mile south of town and parked the coach, then walked back into town for lunch....by this time it was 1:30 and I was getting famished.

There "she" is just south of Lee Vining patiently awaiting our imminent return.

The food, as always, was good.....TLE had her customary Rueben sandwich, and I had another French Dip.

Just a few short miles south of Lee Vining is the northern entrance to the June Lake Loop road, which we love, but was not in the cards for us today.  You can see the June Mountain Ski area in the distance.

Back in the 60's when we were on our way up to Lake Tahoe we would almost always spend a night near June Lake before continuing on to Lake Tahoe.  I love the June Lake Loop, and if you ever get a chance drive it....you will not be disappointed, no matter the season.

Pretty soon we had reached the last summit of the day, Dead Man's Summit, just a few miles north of Mammoth Lakes.  By 2:30 we had arrived at Mammoth Mountain RV Park located just on the outskirts of Mammoth Lakes Village.  We have stayed here often over the years.  It is quite expensive at $45 per night, but it is the only game in town right now.....everything else is "closed for the season".  This RV park is pretty empty as we are in between seasons here.  There were probably less than 10 RV's in the entire park, so we pretty much had our pick of spots, and chose a water/electric site on the pavement so we would not have to unhook our trailer for the two days we will be here.

I know, we're kind of stretched across several sites, but that's the advantage of being here in the off season.....plenty of room for us.

Around 5:30 we drove into the "Village" for some drinks and an appetizer at Gomez' Mexican Restaurant.....one of our favorite dinning places in Mammoth......and whenever we are in Mammoth we have a meal here.

Well, that's it.....we are officially back in California, if only for 2 months, but we have returned, and I know our kids and grand kids are waiting for us to get it into gear and just finish the drive home.....right now we are about 300 miles from home, and it looks like it will take until Friday for us to cover that distance.

Thanks for stopping by!