With Big Bend Nat’l Park in our rearview mirror it was “California here we come.” First stop was for a few days at the Las Cruces Elk’s Lodge for some big city shopping for supplies and stuff. This Elk’s Lodge just finished putting in several nice FHU RV sites.
From there it was on to the Bernalillo (Albuquerque) KOA for another couple of days. Now, I thought I have learned from my mistakes over the years. After many instances of being misled by locals, I STILL tend to give them the benefit of the doubt when they give me information. Many times we ask “locals” about the area, how to get anywhere, etc., we either get incorrect directions or the ever popular “I don’t know…” I have learned over the past 8 years to ask the clerks at the RV parks if the interior roads were easily navigable for my 40’ bus with Jeep in tow or do I need to disconnect prior to driving to our site. More than I care to admit I have been told “No problem, no need to disconnect…” only to find out the hard way and having to try to disconnect the toad at a difficult angle. Well, the Bernalillo KOA female clerk just laughed at me when I asked if I should disconnect at the office, and told me I would see her humor as I navigated the spacious interior roads of their park. Well, I did not see her humor as I promptly got stuck on a very tight turn in the half-lane wide road and needed a sledge hammer to get the toad disconnected. Shame on me…We did get a chance to sample some of the local fare by way of a couple of breweries, Basque Brewing Co. and Kaktus Brewing Co., neither of which were real memorable.
Moving on we overnighted at the Holbrook (AZ) KOA, then a couple more days at the Prescott Valley Elk’s Lodge. From there we returned to the Jawbone Canyon OHV area outside of Mojave, CA for an overnight boondock, then into Atascadero for a pre-birthday visit with our granddaughters Hailey & Ellie, both soon to be 4 & 2, respectively. A couple of days entertaining the girls at a couple of local play areas, then we needed to head over to Madera and assist Jeanne’s mom (Yvonne). Her health issues became a priority and required the family to team up and relocate her to brother David’s home in Anderson, CA so she could be closer to medical assistance. Her previous residence in Coarsegold, CA was just too far away from her frequent doctor’s appointments in Fresno and Madera. So we got her moved out, with Jeanne’s brothers Dwayne’s and David’s help. With Yvonne loaded up in Rosie with us, we set up short camp at the Madera District Fairgrounds for a couple of last minute doctor appointments in Madera. Unfortunately, Yvonne began a bout with A-Fib and a racing heart and we got her into the ER. Less than a week later, heart settled down and stable, Yvonne was released and we made our way to Anderson and her new digs at David’s house. The task was then to get her settled in with all new medical personnel.
Well, with everything else in life, it seems timing is everything. We mooch-docked at Dwayne’s house for our time there which we surely appreciated. But soon all hell broke loose. With all the headaches involved in trying to establish medical care (for Jeanne’s mom) after a move, we got hit with off-and-on sloppy weather, rain, hail, wind, etc. And since that is not enough to contend with, China decided to let loose on the rest of the planet with the China virus (China virus China virus China virus China virus China virus China virus China virus, there, I said it!) and with it came the ensuing stock market crash. We stayed very busy tending to Yvonne’s medical needs, appointments, etc. and the issues related to the China virus China virus China virus were not conducive to much heading out on the town, visiting friends, or in other words having much FUN! But hey, you know the saying about life, lemons, & lemonade. Dave & I found a fairly clear day to hit Lake Shasta in his fishin’ boat for some good quality self-quarantine time. He caught the lone, scrawny little trout of the day, but you know the saying, “Your worst day fishin’ is better than your best day workin’!” On another day we decided to commit an act of civil disobedience, Jeanne & I hiked the Flanagan Rd. Trail to Chemise Peak overlooking Lake Shasta Dam. It was a fairly easy 5+ mile hike and as it was, we discovered a whole lotta other folks committing the same act of civil disobedience. Go figger…Time for society to re-engage I guess…
Well, this was not much of a blog post. We are kinda in limbo still because of China and our governmental response. We will continue lollygagging indefinitely in the Redding area until Yvonne’s health care regimen gets established & stabilized. Until next post…
(Editor’s note: Don’t ask. I am in the process of recovering my previous posts from my Blogpost days and backdating them into this blog. If this all works, I will have amazed myself.)