Made it to Citrus Heights

So we left Bakersfield around 7:30 am...a 300 mile route by going via I-5.  Both US-99 and I-5 have their problems...but on the advice of Nancy Kissack, we went I-5 because the condition of US-99 in and through Atwater, where she lives, is REAL BAD due to construction where, as she says, the concrete barriers are on both sides of your vehicle with just inches to spare...which has lead to many wrecks over the past few weeks.  Well, I HATE the concrete barriers on both sides...one side is ok, but both is something I try to avoid even in a car.

We arrived just before 2 pm, shook up from the numerous spots along I-5 that need desperately to have work on them.  Let give you one example.  I see a sign which says, "Road Work Ahead" (and I immediately think someone needs to change that sign to "Road Work Needed" because the road is in bad shape.)  I see another sign about 2 miles up the Interstate which says, "Road Work Ahead".  I see another sign about 3 miles later which says, ""Road Work Ahead".  I think you get the drift.  About 10-12 miles down the Interstate from the first sign, and now passing 3 or 4 more signs, we come to the 'Road Work'...it was a REST AREA which has been torn down, and in the process of being rebuilt.  THAT is the ONLY road work we came across during this 12 miles stretch...all the while, getting shook up from bumps, potholes, and even what seemed to be frost heaves in an area where it does not snow, it does not have hard freezes, but there are dips in the roadway which are just like frost heaves of Alaska Highway fame.  How does the state which boasts to be the world's fifth largest economy have such crappy roads???  I am embarrassed by my "home state", and it just goes to show that they are more concerned about a rest area, than 12 miles of crappy roadway.  And EVEN when the road is in good shape, it seemed that each time we came upon the smallest bridge over the roadway, that they can't make the roadway and the bridge meet...so it is a BANG as you get on the bridge, and a BANG when you get off the bridge.

In a few days I will try to write a blog to include pictures from the past two days of travel.  We are just glad to be back in my sister's backyard, and looking forward to someone's 92nd birthday next weekend.  🙂

ps: Indy was very happy to be back in the green, lush backyard, and among her Aunts and Uncle and of course, Cousin Parker.

"Neither tornados nor heat from fires nor gloom of hurricanes stays these RVers from their travels"

Citrus Heights, CA – at Sister’s House

Above is the most recent, as of 2 am ET time Saturday, of the path and strength of Hurricane Irma.  A very VAST change from just 36 hours ago when the projections showed it on the eastern side of the state.  “IF” this projection holds true, well, the “eye of the storm” (or darn close to the eye) will pass right over our condo in Holiday.

Above left is a map from google, with the orange balloon showing where Holiday is…in the picture right, which is a blown up of our area of the first picture, you can see the path line…and it sure looks like it will be right over Holiday.  Of course, these projection paths change from day to day…now changing about every 4 hours as its approach is so near.  Who knows…perhaps by Saturday night it will head so far west that it won’t even hit Florida at all…or it “might” just head up to the panhandle where many Floridians have evacuated to.  Marcia said that happened before when a Hurricane was suppose to hit Tampa area, so people went over to Orlando…and guess where it hit?  Yep, Orlando area.  Anyway, not only has the path changed…the strength as it passes through has increased from a Cat 1 or 2 to now a Cat 4. 

Back on April 30th and May 1st I blogged about a Tornado that we just barely dodged in Blytheville Arkansas on Saturday night (Sunday early morning) when we parked at a Walmart Parking Lot, and just across the Interstate at a Shell Station, a F1 tornado did damage to a Shell Gas Station below.

You can read about that night by visiting those two blog posts by clicking these two links:   April 30th Post ….. May 1st Post.   That was a very scary 20 minutes…no TV working, and if it wasn’t for our cell phones going off with an emergency warning, we might have just slept right through it.  Well, with Hurricanes you don’t sleep through them…they last for a long time…and if you are in the path, you are scared or stupid.  Thank goodness “WE” are not there, sitting comfortably in Citrus Heights at my sister’s house (comfortable now that the 109 temps have vanished for the rest of the summer…we hope…)  Of course…that was not the end of it because we faced another Tornado being close to us while in Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico on May 8th!  We also saw some hail as we traveled a few times this year…one hit pretty hard and I was shocked that none of our windows busted in the HHR.  Then there was the fire in Southwest Oregon, which led to our evacuation back to Sacramento.  That fire, by-the-way, is now at 178,000 acres, and only 5% contained…but so far they have kept it away from Brookings and from Alfred Loeb State Park which was shut down…and remains shut down…just five days before we were to return to the park for a two week stay.  We just decided it was best to get out of Oregon so that we did not take up any camping spots that locals who were evacuated from their homes might need.

So what has been going on for the past two weeks????  Family time, Doggie Grooming time, Computer fixing time at mom and dad’s place, and trying to keep cool.  Temps in Sacrament quickly raised right after our arrival, and yes, got up to around 110 degrees.  When it is that hot…the inside of the motorhome is in the upper 80’s.  Thank goodness the hot spell broke on Tuesday, but we will be back in the low 90’s Saturday, Sunday and Monday before they dip back down again.  But that sweat on my brow won’t be from the heat…but from worrying about our friends, family and our Condo as they endure Irma.  Our prayers and thoughts are with all of you...

Week One with Family – Citrus Heights, Ca

When I think of Citrus Heights, or the surrounding towns/communities of Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Carmichael, Roseville, West Sacramento, Elk Grove, even Folsom…I just consider it all part of Sacramento.  Having been raised and lived in the area for the first 30+ years of my life, and having had addresses or associations in most of these communities, it is just how I see it.  And when I think of Sacramento, there are many landmarks which come to mind…the Capital, the new arena, the Sacramento and/or American River, Sutter’s Fort, Old Sacramento Folsom Dam…even the iconic Folsom Prison…but most of all, I think of the Tower Bridge.  The Tower Bridge spans across the Sacramento River, and opened to traffic in 1935.  It has not always been gold…that feature coming in 1976 as part of a Bicentennial project aimed at matching the gold in the dome of the Capital Building nearby.  The word “Tower” has been very important in the 20th Century Sacramento…Tower Theater, Tower Cafe, Capital Towers Apartments, and the most famous...Tower Records (founded in Sacramento in 1960)…just to name a few.  We plan to be here through July 11th, but we will be back sometime in September and will be here (except for a few short trips) through Christmas. 

Arriving a week ago, we did attend Aunt Rosie’s Celebration of Life on Saturday down in Oakdale.  When the minister ask people to say on word about Rosie, the three most common words were kindness, sweetness, and loving.  Yep, that sure was Aunt Rosie.   It was nice to see a few cousins who were there, one of whom I had not seen since the early 1980’s.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary (whom we have visited and written about before) were there, along with my mom and dad…four the last five of the children and their spouses of my maternal Grandmother. 

We also took mom and dad out to dinner last Friday, took dad to a few doctor appointments yesterday, got a few things done on the motorhome, got a huge laundry mess taken care of, and we have sweated out about 25 pounds from the heat…although the last few days have not been “too bad”, which is kind of like saying to a young man on a blind date, “She is not as ugly as I thought she would be….”, or to the young girl on the same date, “He is not as much of a dork as I thought he was…”

Arny’s mom, who is in her early 90’s, is doing pretty well.  I watched her last night while Sandy and Arny went to dinner…an easy task since she was already in bed for the night.  I went in shortly after they left and said, “Hello my lady…do you remember who I am?”  (Of course, she has seen me a number times this past week, but at this age you want to reinforce everything all the time.)  “Yes.” she says.  “What is my name?” I ask.  “Umm…umm…”  Seeing her bit of confusion I said, “I will make it easy on you….am I Roger of David?”   “DAVID” she replies, with a big old smile….   We sure do love that lady…

Month long family visit over – on the road again

We arrived in the Sacramento Area on August 19th…this evening, with tears in Bubba’s eyes, we left and started our trek up the Sierra’s on I-80.  Yes, Bubba loves his Uncle Arny and Aunt Sandy so much that he really had tears in his eyes.  Can’t capture that on camera, but I felt the tears on his furry little face.

We got a lot done during our 33 day visit (if I counted right).  Fix everything that broke down on the Alaska trip, saw my parents numerous times, and my two sisters and one brother-in-law, saw  both of my brothers who live in the area, and made the trek to the Bay Area to visit my oldest son and his girl friend, another trek with mom and dad and Marcia to visit mom’s sister and husband down by Modesto, and Marcia and I even went to Tracy to meet up with friends from back home who were out visiting their daughter.

As always, there is never enough time to see everyone…we did not find the time to visit with Aunt Flo, who has her hands full taking care of her mother who, at 90+ just moved in with her, and I did not get to see any of my friends from when I lived her some 30 years ago.  But, we will be back…probably next spring.

Now it is off to Salt Lake City to see my daughter, then Phoenix to visit a good friend of Marcia’s, then Kansas City are to visit my youngest son and hopefully some cousins and an Aunt and perhaps even a Niece this time.  From there we are off to Arkansas to visit some of Marcia’s family, some mutual friends, and the big yearly physical exam.  So it is a long way to Florida…especially the route we are taking.  And I have not even looked to see how many miles we have driven since we left Florida back in March…but since it has been three oil changes, that means a minimum of 15K miles.  Oh my…that’s a long drive! 

About One of My Hometowns

I first moved to Citrus Heights during the summer of 1975, while I was home for the summer from college in Iowa.  Mom and Dad had decided to move from South Sacramento, which was becoming a bit like a war zone, up to Citrus Heights.  Over the next ten years I lived in Citrus Heights at three more locations with friends after I moved out in 1977.  One would think I moved every year during those years…living in ten different locations before finally marrying the first time in 1985.  (It did not stop there, I moved seven more times over the next 10+ years after getting married…but that’s beyond the scope of this post)

   

House left was mom and dad’s house, house right was a corner duplex that I lived in with a friend and previous co-worker Jay.  I moved out, he moved out and his parents moved in and lived there for another ten years or so.

   

House left was another duplex that I lived in with Jay until he got married…around three years had passed from when we first shared a duplex.  I had lunch with Jay last week.  House right was my friend Brad’s house…he was also a co-worker as he managed one restaurant while I managed another, and we also co-managed a restaurant together before I got promoted to run another location.  I moved out from there when he married Daria...I really need to get down to the Modesto area to see them too.

Three of the four places I lived were less than 2 1/2 miles from this intersection. Although the fancy sign was not there, it was called Sylvan Corners even back then.  I had no idea that this corner was the spot of the first school in the area, nor that the community was called “Sylvan” until 1910.  As we travel in or motorhome we tend to get to know a bit about the history behind the town, community and/or National, State or local park we camp at.  Yet I knew very little about Citrus Heights until I started to talk to Arny about it, and then did research as I would if I was visiting it for the first time.

I had driven by San Juan High School more times than I could count, since it was less than a mile from two of my residences, and along a busy corridor.  I had no idea that it was first established, at a different location, in 1913, offering the youth a chance to go beyond Elementary School without having to live in Sacramento and attend Sacramento High School (which is where dad went to school). 

By 1915 a high school (pictured above from school’s website) was built along Greenback Lane, and twenty years later it was replaced with the makings of what is present day San Juan High School, which has seen many additions and improvements over the years.

Another landmark that I had passed many times as I drove along Auburn Blvd just along the border of Citrus Heights is the 12 Mile House which was built in the 1920’s, but probably had its roots from previous buildings at this, or near this, location which were also known as 12 Mile House, or 12 Mile Station.  In late 1920’s this building was built as a bar, and remained an active bar for many, many years, closing just before the new century began.  It is the only business building still in existence that pre-dates World War Two within Citrus Heights.

  

Just a mile down Auburn Blvd is the 14-Mile Roadhouse, build around 1851 as a stopover for the teamsters taking supplies up to the mining camps.  Its name was derived from being 14 miles from where the old Auburn road left Sacramento.  I thought maybe this was the route of the Pony Express or a Stagecoach line, but those followed the Highway 50 route.  Old Auburn Road did become U.S. Route 40, one of the original 1926 U.S. Highways, which was replaced by I-80.

Another structure which I had passed by many times over the years is this old white Baptist Church, dedicated in 1921 as a Quaker Friends Church, and is the oldest and first Church in Citrus Heights.  It became a Baptist Church around 1975 after the Friends Church moved to a larger location.

In 1970 ground broke for Sunrise Mall, and by 1975 there were 101 shops anchored by J. C. Penney, Liberty House, Sears, and Weinstock's.  Macy’s replaced Liberty House in 1984.  In 1996 Weinstock’s was replaced by a larger Macy’s, and Macy’s, Penney and Sears are the current anchors and there are still over 100 other stores in or on the Mall’s property. 

I can remember in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s that one could hardly find a parking place during the Christmas rush…but you could do all of your shopping right under one roof.

There are a few older homes from the early 1900’s still around, and one of the best is the Rusch House, which sits on the corner of Rusch Park.  Built in 1916, it sits on the original 480 acre Volle Ranch.  Fred and Julia Volle crossed the plains back in 1853, settling in Sacramento before moving to what is now Citrus Heights.  Ten of their eleven children grew up on the ranch.  Fred Rusch, their grandson, and his sister Julia were raised by the Volle grandparents because their mother died shortly after giving birth to Fred.  By the time Fred was 15, he was managing the ranch.  These two grandchildren inherited the house, and in 1950 gave 15 acres to establish the park, and thus created the Sunrise Park and Recreation District.  

   

The Sylvan Cemetery started in 1862, and many of the original settlers of the community are buried here in the 18 acres cemetery.  I was impressed with the section they set aside for veterans, many of whom served in WW2.  Again, I had driven by this cemetery many times, and had never entered it until today.  Actually raised in Sacramento, I just never took the time to find out about Citrus Heights despite living here four different times.  I am glad that I finally explored some of its very interesting history.  From ranch land, to farm land, to residential housing…and there are many other communities around Sacramento which have just as interesting histories as Citrus Heights does.