April 27, 2013 Santa Maria to Solvang; Hwy 101 to Hwy 1

 

It is a beautiful, sunny, coolish-warmish day (Warm in the sun, cool in the shade).  About noon we head out for fuel and then take Hwy 101 south.  It is three, then two lanes of highway.  Along the way are mission bells, some with signs “Historic El Camino Real.”  “The mission bells seen on the 101 Freeway and other locations have been in place since the early 20th Century to mark the original route of El Camino Real (Spanish for Highway of the King or Royal Highway) from San Diego to Sonoma. The 700-mile-long El Camino Real linked California's 21 missions, which were founded by Father Junipero Serra and spaced approximately one day's journey apart by horse. Over the years, El Camino Real gave way to modern highways, principally Routes 101 and 82”.  http://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr32.htm

  

Lots of fields of strawberries and grapes along with yellow ice plants and other pink flowers blooming profusely.  Here and there, cattle graze.  Very peaceful settings among the green mountains.

 

At Buellton, we turn off Highway 101, go over the Santa Ynez River and enter the town which sports “Avenue of the Flags.”  Buellton is “Home of the Split Pea Soup.”  This Santa Ynez Valley boasts of their perfect weather – Summer temps 70-80 day/50 night with winters around 55/33, 9-17” of precipitation and smog-free. 

We head from Buellton to Solvang, three miles east on a tree-lined highway.  Solvang is a Danish community and has many clues as to it’s heritage, from the names of the streets (e.g. Copenhagen), names of businesses, architecture, and food choices.

 

Some of the sights we see as we drive through Solvang.  We find a place to park easily and are greeted with sweet bells ringing at the 1 PM hour from this beautiful bell tower. The street leading to the bell tower is closed off to traffic and is packed with Datsuns for a car show.  They are lined in two rows a block long and gleam in the sun, their proud owners glad to talk about how they found their particular gem.

We find Solvang Restaurant which we had picked out from many choices. 

We choose some Danish choices:  Jerry had the Danish hot dog topped with French friend onions and a curly cucumber (in vinegar) garnish in a paper cup.  (LOL he said they could have skipped that it was so small…)  I had the Danish meatball, sliced on a croissant with Tilsit cheese (very creamy with a tang).  Yummy.  For dessert we had to try their famous Aebleskiver (a round pancake served warm with raspberry jam and powdered sugar.  Delicious.  They sold the pans and mix if you wanted to try to make them at home.

This windmill was another sign of Danish heritage.

 

Jerry looked at the cars while I browsed the shops nearby. 

Then we cruised around the area, finding lots of crops and harvesting operations.  I spot kale, cabbage, lettuce and ???  Skirted Vandenberg AFB and some NASA buildings.

Found Highway 1 – our first glimpse of this famous road.

Here is a typical scene of strawberries grown under plastic pup-tents and grapevines on the hillside.

 

Back in Santa Maria, we see the First Methodist Church – beautiful building. 

More exploring tomorrow!

4-26-13 – a very busy day

Left the Bakersfield Elks about 10 am.  They were sure nice folks.  We took Highway 99 south to pick up Highway 166 – a designated scenic route in parts of it.  And it was…

The first part was flat farmland with mountains on two sides.  Saw alfalfa, fruit  trees including orange trees being trimmed to be square for easier picking.  Lots of new fruit trees, roses at the entrance to a trucking company.  Oil wells, skinny sheep, pinto ponies and birds nests on the top of poles were in our sights.  There are lots of wells (oil or gas) and very few signs of people.  We skirt the Carrizo Plain National Monument on the east side and then the south side.  After Maricopa (900’) 83 miles to go it is 2:10 pm.  Pink oleanders bloom profusely along the edge of people’s properties.  A large M on the mountain proclaims Maricopa is alive and well.  Oh, oh – up we go – steep incline ahead!  We should have guessed with a sign outside Maricopa that 166 was open…lol.  It doesn’t look very steep in this pix but we had to stop about five times to let truck cool down as it was overheating.  We would go up about 145’ in .4 miles and beep, beep our overheat signal would scream at us.  Egads.  Took us over a 1/2 hour to get up this huge grade with very little relief of flatter land.  Finally at the top at 2:54! 

 

Stayed on the high desert flatland for a while.  Saw more farming with irrigation pipes, workers walking along rows of plastic tending new plantings.

Near Curyama, saw these trees trimmed.  Why?  Curyama had a hardware store and elementary school – that’s it.  Then a large estate with horses in the field which is ringed with tall poplar trees.  Four huge harvesting machines are in the next field.  Wonder what they are picking?

New Curyama is a bit larger with high school, library, two eateries and a motel. 

Fifty miles to go and we start downhill gradually.  We see jersey cows, ranches, ads for Branger bulls, green mountains replace the beige and we skirt Las Padras National Forest.  We had a “dirt devil” swirling around and actually hit our truck with a bit of debris it picked up.  That’s a first!

Now  black cattle replace the rich brown ones and then white cattle.  This ranch house was right close to the road.

Look – it’s a DQ rock – looks like a chocolate twist!  LOL

Lush greenery with all shades of green from the very light new tree growth to the dark green of live oaks.

Yes!  We are finally here!

Beautiful Elk’s Lodge in Santa Maria, CA.  Got set up and registered.

We are in the parking lot but have water and electricity @ $20/night.  No other RVs here but regular RV lot with sewer hookups is full with a dog show this weekend held on the Elk’s grounds.  May peek at that tomorrow or Sunday. 

Went into the Lodge for dinner.  Cook your own meat.  This is a huge lodge with 4500 members!  They had the food set up in the dining room, but after you picked out your meat (J and I each chose huge rib-eyes…off my diet for tonight!).  We put wooden markers with our name on them into our steaks. Then we took the plates out to the grilling room on the patio.  This is a separate building about 80’ square with a huge grill pit in the middle!  The grill was probably 18’ x 6’ and the pit bottom was probably 3’ lower.  The huge metal grate already held lots of meat being cooked.  They had sections designated for beef, pork, chicken and fish.  A chef periodically checked the pit and added more wood.  WOW!  What a setup.  There was a bar in this room as well as tall round cocktail tables to sit at while you waited for your meat to cook.  After grilling, we went back inside the dining room and picked up the rest of our food.  They had salad bar with lots of choices, baked potatoes sour cream and chives available, steak fries, pinquinto beans (famous for them here in Santa Maria along with tri-tip roast.), and garlic toast.  A lot of food for $13!.  I brought half of my meat and 2/3 of my potato home.  A full and blessed day.  Our truck didn’t burn up (as we saw a large scorched area on the road up the grade.)  And we met some really nice people and we had a scrumptious dinner.  Off to explore tomorrow!  Yippee. 

April 23, 24, 25, 2013

Before I forget, here’s a pix of daughter, Jenn and granddaughter, Guiliana on Sat. 4/20 at the Farmer’s Market.

4/23 – Made our way from Blythe, CA on “the 10” to Redlands, CA…about 3 hrs.  Very hazy, so I didn’t take photos.  Beautiful temps – 70’s.  Got settled in at the Elk’s Club RV parking.

Enjoyed pizza dinner with Jenny (Daughter-Daughter) – so named because as she and daughter, Sarah, were growing up, Jenny spent a lot of time with us…thus like another daughter.  Jenny’s daughter Eva is so darling.  Kicking myself I forgot my camera so no pix of them.

4/24 – had a relaxing am and then about 3 PM went to the post office and grocery store.  Made parmesan crusted chicken to take to Jenny’s for dinner, along with salad and French bread.  She bought a strawberry-rhubarb pie, so we were in food heaven a bit later at her place.  Her hubby, Ben was there tonight and we had a great visit.

4/25  Up and on the road by 10 am.  Headed up I-15 and made it up the longgggg grade.  Here’s a pix of a huge mansion out in the middle of no-where.

.

Here’s a pix of the Cajon summit area at 4105’.  Stopped just south of Victorville for fuel $4.299/gal.  Knew it was going to be higher in CA – had paid $3.73 in AZ before leaving that state. Really windy here today.  Here’s a scenery shot just before Boron, CA.  There a lot of Joshua trees growing here in the high desert.

At Boron, noonish, we met, for the first time, some “Kissin Cousins” that I found on Ancestry.com.   They are part of our Vinall tree (by marriage in the past) and live in Lancaster, CA.   They had suggested we meet at Domingo’s in Boron.  Boron is an interesting small town just outside of Edwards Air Force Base.  It is a favorite restaurant for the Astronauts.  Lots of pictures around the restaurant walls like the one below showing various astronauts dining here…one was of eating here as their first meal after being up in the space station.  Scott and Marilyn were telling us they saw 5 of the first 9 space shuttle landings here at Edwards AFB.  How thrilling that was for them and their children!

Domingo’s is located on Twenty Mule Team Rd. and Scott gave us a sunset picture he took (prior to the huge sign being torn down) of the 20-mule team –the transportation method used to haul the borax mineral on a torturous two-week trip in the 1880’s from Death Valley where it was originally mined and processed, to the Mojave, CA railhead (Mojave is a nearby town.)  The mule trains traveled near Boron and ironically drove over one of the two largest borax deposits in the world.  Today the well-known Borax mine works this deposit.  We went past it as we left town – Huge!

We had a delicious lunch while exchanging life’s info and a lot of genealogy stories. When going to pay our bill, Jerry discovered I had not returned his VISA card to him after getting fuel.  Oh oh. 

Our waiter took our pix with “Domingo” as we were leaving. 

Outside the restaurant.

I immediately called the gas station and they had our card.  I apparently dropped it on the way to the truck and someone found it and turned it in.  He said it was right after we left, so he is sure no-one had used it.  He will mail it to us at the Santa Maria Elks where we will be 4/26 for a few days.  I will check with Merrill Lynch to be sure no one has used it.  Egads.

2 pm on the road again.  Lots and lots of bikers going the other direction.  Lots of longggg  downhills with some uphills mixed in for interest.  LOL  Lots of windmill farms on the hills as we go down towards Bakersfield.

Went past (though couldn’t see it without pulling off) the hlghway, the Tehachapi Railroad Loop – the elevation so steep that they had to build the railroad tracks in a loop he grade wasn’t so huge…the trains end up going over themselves.  Would be interesting to see if you could catch a train doing the loop-de-loop!

We are finally out of the mountains and into fruit growing areas.  Signs for farmers markets (below), u-pick fruits, cherry festivals and fruit stands abound.  (not open yet, though – darn.)

We see a few blooming trees and these gorgeous yellow roses.

Orange groves with the trees shaved off in squares for easy picking.  Other fruit trees and grapevines are abundant.

 

Finally to Bakersfield about 3:30 pm.  Stopped at the BMW shop to get the starting problem fixed but they didn’t have the part.  Traci in their office located one and we will get it in a few days when we get north in San Luis Obispo.  Easily found the Bakersfield Elks not that far away, went in to sign in and pay for our parking, had a beer and set up camp.

Solved the water problem we had had all day with water gushing out of the inpipe when we turned on the pump.  After much to-do and putting in a new water pump – under the kitchen sink in all kinds of contortions due to the cramped conditions under there – we determined it wasn’t that.  Finally checked the water inlet filter and when Jerry had cleaned it out this morning after unhooking the water hose, he had inserted it backwards, and the metal screen filter was pushing on the valve – duh!  Oh well, a learning experience!  LOL   Had light supper as we had a big lunch and relaxed with TV. 

A very busy day but very interesting and fun.  So glad to meet you,Scott and Marilyn Shackelford!  And so awesome to have two evenings of visiting with Jen, Ben and Eva!  Life is so full of blessings!

IA, AZ, CA in 24 hrs.

 

Had an absolutely wonderful trip to IA.  Few out of Mesa on 4/14 (Jerry drove me up to Mesa from Tucson) and cousins/friends, Ron and Diana picked me up at the airport about 7 pm.  Rude weather – cold and rainy!  Grabbed a bite to eat and was home by 9 PM.  Met our renter, Margaret.  She is a real sweetie!

Monday morning, had an eye appointment and picked out new frames. Shopped for new outfit for Hall of Honor Friday. Spent several hours with daughter, Jenn and great-granddaughter Guiliana.  Tuesday had a Dr. appointment and was able to spend more time at Jenn’s.  Granddaughter, Jessi, and her baby Myliana were there.  So many blessings!

Guiliana watches as Myilana swings.  Below, Jessi and Myilana 3-21

Ran errands both days…renewed canoe license, etc.  Picked up new glasses – not quite right.  Adjusted them.  Hmmm.  Wear them til Thursday and come back if not OK.

Wednesday did post office run and some other errands. Met  friends, Barb and Steve at our fave restaurant, Azteca 4.  (Used to be El Rodeo)  Had wonderful visit with them.  Thursday hung out with Jenn, Jessi and greats. 

Friday was the DHS/CHS Hall of Honor Induction at Central High School (my alma mater and where I worked for 33-1/2 years.)  I had nominated my friend, Tamara, and she was inducted into the hall of honor.

Class of ‘63 Inductees, Tamara Duggleby and Ed McCormick

 

Tamara and me in the Hall of Honor.  Her plaque is to the far left of the picture.

Nice ceremony, brief reception, tour of highlights of remodeled CHS and then we went to lunch at Riefe’s.  Mary and Marilyn went their own ways and Tam and I drove around Davenport to see our old haunts.  Dropped her off at the motel, drove to Blue Grass to change and back to get her.  Outing Club dinner was lovely and speakers were funny…Finally home at 10:30!  Long….but awesome day.

Saturday, took Jenn and grandkids Zack, Jessi and two greats to lunch.  Granddaughter, Abbie was at a friend’s house, so didn’t get to see her again.

Sunday, picked Tam up for church and then had lunch in her room.  Son-in-law Donovan gave me a ride from Little Acres to the motel where we chatted a while, then friend, Mary picked us up for dinner at Biaggi’s.  Was a lovely end-of-the weekend event with delicious food and several friends.  Mary took me over to the airport after dinner.  Flight was late leaving (10:15 pm instead of 9:15 pm.  So by the time we landed in Mesa, it was 1:15 AM my body time….wayyyy past my bedtime.  LOL.  Anyway safe landing, Jerry picked me up and he had found a close-by parking space so we boondocked. 

This am, got groceries at a Superwalmart and on the road about 11:30.  We’re both tired so won’t go too far.  Stopped at Blythe, CA (just over the AZ line on I-10.  Will crash early and proceed to Redlands tomorrow.

Here are recent pictures of Sean and Cailey from Sarah in MT.

Newest favorite food – spaghetti!

  Year 1 birthday cake 4-3-13

First ice cream cone.

What a big girl – and so pretty!  5-1/2 y.

Catchup

(lGolly, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  Not a lot to report.

We’ve been relaxing and enjoying the million dollar weather!  Highs from 75-85ish and lows in the mid 50’s so we can sleep with the windows open at night – the best!

Went to the semi-annual 4th Ave Street Fest – about 400 vendors from jewelry to pottery to art (all quality stuff.)  Met our AK friends, Bob and Mary Anne there and enjoyed wandering the booths. Bought important “stuff” a tye-die hat for Sean for is 1st birthday (tomorrow) and caramel corn and fudge for us…Had beer at our favorite place, the Sky Bar and pizza from The Brooklyn Pizza Co. (lunch), then ate at Magpie’s Gourmet Pizza for supper (shared a salad and a calzone with Jerry) and a beer.  (Bad diet but yummy).  Home about 9:30 (wayyyy past my usual crash time.)  LOL

Determined the generator fuel pump wasn’t operating correctly.  The gen would start ok, then quit after about 15 minutes.  After speaking with Simonton, the local Onan expert, and after doing a few “tests of disconnecting this and running the gen, and then changing that and running, it, we decided it was the fuel pump.  So a new one on order. 

Jerry finally got around to taking the truck to an alignment place since it pulled to the left and the steering center bar wasn’t level when it should have been.  They said the pitman arm, idler arm and ball joints needed replacing…Egads.  So he took it to Motor Mike (real business A-1 Total Recon) a neighbor down the street who does this.  We bought the parts at NAPA with a discount and he is taking the truck apart this am and determining for sure if the replacements are needed and then  will align it.  (Good news would be they were scamming us at the repair shop and not all parts are needed….???  Will know soon.  Then an oil change and it should be good to go on the road again.

Still awaiting Jerry’s new glasses…ordered4rom the VA on 3/14 and they said 3-4 weeks and we should see them in the mail!  Right now he is operating with only once lens in the glasses…looks kind of strange but he is seeing well – the best news.

Treated ourselves to a massage at the Asis Massage School last night.  The class will graduate next week, so they were very good.  Decadent pleasure…then a beer and pizza at nearby Sky Bar and Brooklyn Pizza.

Have been enjoying my free time with adding to my genealogical families.  This week have made contact with a new “cousin…many times removed” who is descended from Eliza Jones who married James Vinall, a brother of our Henry Vinall who came to the USA in 1849, my 2 Great Grandfather.  She lives in the Scottish but is originally from New Zealand.  She has been sending me some Briitish census records from 1841-1871 which places James and his family in Portsea, Hampshire, England and working at the HMS Dockyards there.  (Interestingly Eiza’s father was a police officer for the dockyard.

Found out from the Sisson Family website (part of my Lord to Soule Mayflower line, that they will be having an 11th Biennial Gathering in June, 2014  in Providence, RI…so that’s on my calendar! 

Well, that’s enough blather for one day.  Let us hear what you’ve been doing. Hugs to all.  Love you…bye!

Tucson, AZ, continued

Hi all,

Haven’t posted for a bit, as we haven’t been doing too much to write about.

Jerry had a very successful cataract surgery and we’re down to one drop of two meds a day (down from 3 drops 4 times.)  Had exam yesterday with his eye surgeon who has proclaimed him 20/20 with new lenses and he does not need his 2nd eye cataract done at this time.  Should receive new glasses in about 3 weeks.

Went down to Green Valley for a fun day with our AK friends, Bob and Mary Anne.  Had a Mexican Train domino marathon and great dinner.  Wonderful to see them and have a visit.

Took our friend, Rick, out for pizza at Brooklyn Pizza in downtown Tucson.  Great pizza and dark brews.  We have also eaten at BJ’s, a great brewery and good food. 

Went up to Cornville (north of Phoenix about 2 hrs) to visit Roger and Jackie (Jerry’s uncle and wife.)  They started up their outdoor spa for us and it was heaven…beautiful setting with rock waterfall, warm sun and birds singing!  Great Italian dinner one night, then up to Jerome for Mexican at Quince.  Jerry conned our waitress out of a bumper sticker which reads:  “We’re all here.  Because we’re not all there.”   LOL!  He hasn’t decided where to place it! 

Going to meet Boomer friends, Frank and Gloria at Poco and Mom’s for lunch today…great Mexican restaurant that Bob and Mary Anne introduced us to.  Hope to get some motorcycling in, as it is now warm enough…ya think?—gonna be 90 today! 

Have been checking the AZ Patriot Guard website, but no missions lately.  Hope to do some while we’re here.

Have a new photo of Cailey (5-1/2) and Sean (10 mo in this pix), now 11 mo.

 

Cailey is in dance lessons and pre-school and Sean is in walking, climbing and pulling her hair  LOL!

Let us hear from you!  Love and hugs from us both!