livingthedreamwithsallyandvic/wp-admin

Since we last talked we have had some crazy stuff happen. First we were on I-80 East driving from CA to NV. when a wheel flew off the camper! The same one as the last time! OMG. We think it got loose when we went over a pothole at the rest area we had just stopped at. This time we not only lost the wheel, the axle was broken. Triple A was useless so we called highway patrol and had to find our own help. Without the axle the camper cannot be moved. It can’t even be put up on a flat bed because the back end of the camper would not be supported. Also the 13’ camper plus the height of the flatbed makes it too high to go through some of the overpasses. We ended up having the axle chained up and towed ourselves to an area the highway patrol picked out. Kingvale Shell.

It was a gas station, pizza joint, another area for snow tubing and disc golf. There’s also lots of heavy equipment. Everything is owned by the one guy. We checked in with the gas station manager and were told you’re fine over there. We found a company called Axle Surgeon, got an estimate, he ordered the parts and thought we OK.

Friday morning after 2 days in place we were approached by a very angry gas station manager. He thought we should have been fixed and on the road already. He gave us an hour to vacate the property. He threatened to have us towed (which would cause enormous damage) or possibly use one of those snowplows or bulldozers and push us off the property into a ditch or wherever, who cares as long as it’s off their property. The man was loud and verbally abusive to both of us. We were stuck there unable to move and get away from this place.

Fortunately the Axle Surgeon guy, Chad, came to our rescue. He called in a couple of favors to get enough parts that he could give us a temporary fix. By the time he finished it was dark but we hitched up. The station owner had called the Sheriff’s office. 4 sheriffs were there to make sure we left. They were all nice guys trying to help us. They even gave us an escort with flashing lights to the Donner Summit rest stop where we stayed overnight.

The next morning Chad came back and towed us 30 miles to (Sparks) Reno NV to a Travel Center. He has a working relationship with the TC to work on vehicles. He parked us in a good spot in the back. There are probably 150 semis parked here. There is a hotel, casino, restaurant, truck repair facility, tires, oil change place, gas station – everything a trucker needs. It’s a huge place. When the trucks are running their refrigeration systems there is a low constant rumble but there is no highway traffic noise and no idiots yelling at us.

We expect Chad to show up tomorrow with the parts but it could be another day or two. We have everything we need and are OK for now.

Trivia: one side of the hotel parking lot has a sign that says “no bobtail parking”. What is that you may wonder. When the cab is separated from the truck body, the cab alone is called the “bobtail.” There is a separate section for the cabs to park.

Donner Summit

We walked the path around a marina combination park this morning. Swanky residences are along a part of it.

If you’d read this far now you have to listen to me brag about Vic and Zoe. Our “walk” this morning turned out to be a 2 mile trek. Both of them did it with no issues! Yay especially for Vic. I’ve never seen him do 2 miles with no problem.

After lots of discussions and what ifs we have decided to go back to Florida after all. There is too much on the east coast to leave behind. High on the list is how more difficult it would be for me to visit family. Then there is the birding that we enjoy so much in the winter.

We are still selling our homestead in Clerbrook. We will use Kars Park in Merritt Island as a home base during the winter months, with a trip to Key West and other birding places as the mood strikes.

Our friends Walt and Darla are getting the place ready to sell. Our lease is up Nov 1 so fingers crossed it sells quickly and we won’t be stuck paying the monthly rent for long.

We’ve been to Fisherman’s Wharf several times and usually have an awesome meal at one of the many restaurants. The sea lions and sea otters cavort in Monterey Bay and although very noisy they are fun to watch.

Another one of our favorite things to do is 17 mile drive which has several scenic places to stop. This beach is one where Zoe loves to roll in the sand.

Another stop is called Bird Rock. The sea lions and sea otters hang out there.

We’ve had many good times here in Watsonville and I will miss this place.

We will start back to Florida in a few days.

Dear friends,

We’ve been based in Florida for seven years and have driven across country to California 3 times. This year we found a little town called Watsonville that we like very much. This is a little pocket of perfect weather, the people are friendly and it’s a great location near the Fort Ord commissary, near Monterey and the Fisherman’s Wharf and less than two hours from San Francisco. We are situated such that it’s an easy hop to the other side of the Sierras and the western states of Nevada, Wyoming and Montana. Or we could go north to Oregon and Washington state.

We’ve been camped here for several weeks and gotten to know people at the Elks Lodge as well as several locals and we feel at home here.

You may recall some of the travel issues we had coming out here this year. Traveling 3000 miles twice a year plus all the driving around seeing the sights adds up after a while. It’s a lot of wear and tear on us too.

Add in all the unpredictable weather that gets more extreme and intense every year. Contrast that with how easy it is to live off solar here with sunny days and cool nights.

We’ve decided to stay out here in the western part of the country. We are giving up our site in Clerbrook, FL.

We will miss many friends and family. I’ve just renewed this blog for two years so know that I plan on keeping in touch on our end.

Love to all,

Sally, Vic and Zoe

After 25 days at the Petaluma Coast Guard Training Center we had to leave. We were granted a couple of extensions past the 14 day limit because of Vic’s ability to schmooze and make friends. The woman is charge of reservations, Jodi, fell in love with Zoe. She went out of her way for us. Before we left we put together a thank you basket for her with local jam, crackers, cheese, etc including a hand embroidered kitchen towel.

We originally planned to go north and see Oregon and Washington but between the fire potential and the heat dome we instead came back south. We are staying in the parking lot of Elks lodge #1300 in Watsonville. We’ve already met two very friendly Elks couples that live here. This is the town that has an awesome farmers market every Friday, yay!

One day we went to a nearby park and met Sue and her dog Cookie, a Shih Tzu with very similar colors as Zoe. She’s a caregiver for dementia patients.

We’ve been enjoying this town and it’s unbeatable weather. Google 10 day weather for Watsonville CA and you will see why we are here.

One day recently we went into Monterey Bay – Fisherman’s Wharf and had lunch at Palluca Trattoria. Food was great!

Our table overlooked the sea lions that live and play in the harbour. They “bark” very loudly and just about drowned out the restaurant background piano music.

We also love going to Moss Landing, a state park nearby consisting of sand dunes with a Beach on the ocean side and a body of brackish water on the opposite side. Sea otters and sea lions and harbour seals all play here. Kayakers are plentiful. There is also a marina.

Hope y’all are staying cool/dry/safe with all the extreme weather happening around the country.

SF is only an hour from us (Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma). We decided to stay over at a hotel and see the sights. We went yesterday morning.

There was a toll ($10). Checked in to our hotel.

We walked the couple of blocks to Fisherman’s Wharf and decided to do the hop on hop off double decker bus tour.

First stop for us was Chinatown. We walked quite a bit then had lunch – authentic Chinese sesame chicken – delicious.

Our next stop was Haight Asbury. Lots of interesting houses and murals.

Walking down the street, this had just happened.

Our last stop was Fisherman’s Wharf. Loads of shops, food and people watching. I found a backpack made in Nepal from the Himalayan gift shop. We wandered around there and ended up getting a bread bowl of clam chowder. By now it was past 6 pm and we were hungry again from all that walking!

We walked back to the hotel where we all pretty much collapsed. Vic’s pedometer said 7.5 miles.

The trip was so much fun and the food was great! All those people though! Really reminded us how much we love and appreciate our lifestyle.

We are staying at the Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma. There are only 6 sites, each one generously sized and spaced out around a semi circle. We look out our back window at a lake surrounded by a walking path. We’ve taken several walks, there are walking/running paths all over the place. There is a lot of wildlife here: wild turkeys, deer, hawks, kingfishers, and more, supported by the many fields and unmown areas on the base. They’ve created a wildlife sanctuary intentionally or not.

Here the House Finch is hovering waiting for this leaky faucet to drip.

The area around the lake is thick with vegetation with yellow flowers. We discovered bullfrogs are using it for their habitat.

(We think: our bird identifier app isn’t working right now.)

Vic used the speaker and a bird call app to bring the bluebird in closer.

Can you believe the variety of wildlife here? Also do you love this scenery? The area surrounding the base is farming countryside, so enjoyable to look at cows and horses and fields of hay.

This is a famous drive that follows the Pebble Beach golf course for a while and then follows the rocky coastline, meandering through neighborhoods of multimillion dollar homes. At times you can’t decide whether to look at the stunning homes or look at the stunning scenery.

One of the landmarks is Bird Rock. The sea lions and sea otters are numerous, as well as loads of birds. The fog was thick the day we did this drive so we sat and waited quite a while for the fog to lift so we could get photos of the wildlife.

While we waited Zoe and I walked along the foot path and found stairs down to the beach. The piles of seaweed were enormous. It wasn’t the kind of beach that you would bring a blanket and lay out. It smelled yucky from all the seaweed and the shoreline is rocky with huge boulders. There are signs everywhere warning people to stay off the rocks in case the ocean decides to throw up some giant waves.

This tree is 250 years old and probably the most photographed tree in the world.

Those are the highlights. If we hadn’t been fighting the weather … the fog kept lifting and then getting heavy and did that until late in the afternoon.

We stopped at the ORD Commissary on the way home. The army base is not there anymore, just the commissary. Unexpectedly it was extremely well stocked (even had sushi!) and the prices were incredibly good.

Tomorrow we leave for Petaluma Coast Guard Station. We have had a wonderful time here. There is much to see and do in this area and the weather has been fantastic.

Most days we stop at Moss Landing. The sea otters are a big draw but there is other wildlife. There is a marina so tons of boats. Kayaks are available for rent too. There are giant sand dunes, if you are ambitious you can walk up the path provided and see the ocean on the other side.

The following are from our Friday trip into Monterey Bay

We started the day early with a ride into Monterey Bay. We were so early very little was open haha. We shared a cinnamon bun and a coffee at a little shop. We did a lot of walking around, checking out the shops as they opened up.

Everywhere we looked there were flowers. Pots along the street, little landscaped areas, or just randomly growing everywhere.

Then we went over to Fisherman’s Wharf, browsed the tables of goods and watched the sea lions for a while. We sat and ate clam chowder bread bowls (memorable!).

We took a break at home then went to the Watsonville Farmers Market, held every Friday at 2 pm. You have never seen a market to rival this one. Holy Cow. Food stands, flower stands, fruit stands – the smells were mouth watering. The produce and flowers were so beautiful they could have been photographed for a magazine. This is a big agriculture area so everything was locally grown. the market stalls lined two sides of a city plaza / park. They even had a bouncy house set up for the kids.

Some stuff we’ve seen during the past week.

We haven’t been to Cannery Row yet or gotten clam chowder at the Wharf so that’s on the schedule for tomorrow. The clam chowder comes in a bread bowl, yum!