The Big Escape

 

Heading into the Redwoods, Northern Cal

Yes, we have temporarily left the Sacramento area.  We are currently at Huntley Park, Gold Beach Oregon...one of our favorite places to just kickback and camp, enjoying the peacefulness and friendly atmosphere that we enjoy here.  Thursday we left the upcoming 100 degree weather, drove to Bear River Casino near Eureka where we stayed the night, and continued on to Huntley Park Friday.  We will be here until Monday when we continue up the coast.  

Ferndale is known as the "Victorian Village" because its entire downtown resides on the National Register of Historic Places.  

It has been a comfortable ride.  Drove through the Clear Lake area, through the Redwoods, and a side trip to Ferndale, a quaint little town near the Bear River Casino.  Got gas at the Casino gas station paying $5.65 a gallon, way less than the $6+ offered at regular stations.

Bear River Casino

The Bear River Casino Resort is owned and operated by the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria.The Bear River Band is a federally recognized Native American tribe composed primarily of Mattole, Bear River, and Wiyot people.

 

Friday we enjoyed a nice drive along the Newton B Drury - Redwood Scenic Parkway, in the Redwood National and State Parks.  Traffic along Highway 101 was not too bad, a few ongoing construction zones, but no long waits.  In Brookings Oregon we stopped at Fred Meyers for some gas, low $5 range, and groceries. 

Camp at Huntley Park

Arriving at Huntley Park around 2 pm, we were greeted by the park manager Shawn, who after 6 years still remembers us.  We have not moved the van since parking.  The only slight downside was needing the generator running to operate our AC yesterday for 3-4 hours due to the 90 degree weather.  FYI: when we first started coming to Huntley Park in 2017.  In 2019 we were going to be here for most of the summer...but Dad went into the hospital, then rehab.  He survived that scare, but not the one in November...we all sure miss him.  Then COVID hit, and as the years went by, we just never made it back to Huntley Park until this year.  Part of me wants to stay the remaining 3 weeks of our planned trip sitting right here...but there are other places we want to return to...and one new National Park to visit...so tomorrow we will continue up the coast.

One of my favorite Cooper Pics from Nancy's Blog

 Our hearts go out to our blogging friend Nancy who lost her BEST BUDDY Cooper to heart failure a couple days ago.  We know how hard it is to lose a dog, especially a great companion that Cooper was.  So sorry for your loss...and your hurting Nancy  Read her blog about Cooper HERE:   

 

We also heard a couple of weeks ago that Gerry, Marcia's oldest friends, passed away with Gerry's daughter Ruth holding her in bed.  A quick and peaceful passing, but it leaves a huge hole in Marcia's heart.  We just saw Gerry back on March 29th.  You can read about that visit HERE:    Above is one of my favorite pictures of Marcia and Gerry, taken back in January of 2016, Amelia Island, Florida.  YES, that is Skruffy on Marcia's lap.

 

Back in Arkansas Again, (even though it is a pass through on I-40)

After living in Arkansas from 1991 through 2012 it always feels like a "coming home" moment.  Today, a little I guess, but we are just passing through.  Our goal, to get to Georgia for a visit with Marcia's long time friend Gerry, who is just a few years older than Marcia.  

 

We left Texola at 8 am, got to Brinkley Arkansas after 4 pm, with an hour lost going from Mountain Time to Central Time.  Traffic was not too bad...got through Oklahoma City without any problems...the same with Little Rock.  Lots and lots of large trucks, as always.  Tomorrow we need to drive about 400 miles to get us within 90 minutes of where Gerry lives.

Tonight we are staying at the Brinkley RV Park, which is part of the Super 8 Motel...price is around $30.  It is just too hot to try and stay at Cracker Barrel like I had hoped for...in fact, our Air Conditioner ways on for nearly the entire night last night...and will be until we get home.  I have tried different was to do this, and setting it so that the fan runs regardless, helps to create a loud "White Noise" which masks the on and off of the compressor.  Right now it is nearly 9:30, it is 81 degrees and 80% humidity.  If I don't have the A/C going, the humidity gets to me real quick.  Welcome home to the SOUTH.

Forgot to Schedule Campsite for 4th -- Fireworks Come Early

 

Woke up last night with that 'cold sweat', the one you have when you KNOW you did something wrong...in this case, it is what you DIDN'T do that is the problem.  It is Monday morning (although 1 am in the morning) and in just seven days it will be the 4th of July.  The 4th is one of the BIG campground crushers...when EVERYONE and their Mother goes Camping for how many days as they can get away with.  In this case, it falls on Sunday, so either Friday or Monday are part of the weekend, and in some cases, BOTH days...take 3 days vacation and you can get NINE days off in a row.  I spent over 2 hours trying to find a campground with openings over he weekend along our route...to no avail.  More on that in a minute.

Marcia got to enjoy a 2 1/2 hour, uninterrupted visit with her good friend of nearly 60 years, Gerry (picture above was from 2014).  Gerry lives with her daughter and son-in-law, and her granddaughter, her husband, and their new baby boy (about 3 months old).  They all live in a very large house, with the younger generation having the entire upper floor to themselves, and with Gerry having a portion of the lower area to herself.  Living outside Atlanta now, we made it a point to travel over to their house.  I stayed with Indy in the motorhome trying to find a place to stay over the 4th.  GRRRR....no luck.

We left around 2, and headed to Calhoun Georgia where we had a one night's stay at an older KOA (one that looks and feels much better than the one we were at last night, and they DON'T have the gall to call it a 'Resort' either.  As we pulled onto I-285 from I-85 there were these two very large potholes...ones I could not miss...and there was a BAM and a BAM and KABOOM!  Above you see what is left of our Microwave Convection Oven. One of the mounting screws broke, the other pulled out from the Microwave, and it all came tumbling down on top of our stove and countertop and faucet.  The only thing broke, besides the Oven was the faucet....and our shorts.  YES, scared the living daylights out of us...that's for sure.

I will provide pictures of the Campground in my next blog because, tomorrow morning we move to another spot in the campground and can stay for another six days!  HALLELUJAH!  They had ONE spot open (but it was taken for tonight only), and we were there to grab it.  And LOOK, this 'NON-RESORT' brought us some cookies for checking in....how nice that was, although we are both on a non-sugar diet...perhaps I can lure someone to help me toss that heavy microwave convection oven into the trash barrel for a couple of cookies.  😉

Old Friend at Amelia Island

Back in December of 2014, Marcia had a meet-up with her friend of 50 years Gerry at a Cracker Barrel near Ocala Florida…at that time they had not seen each other for 20 years, but had kept in contact.  Gerry was living in Chicago, but was down visiting her daughter Ruth, and we all agreed to drive the 100+ miles each to meet in the middle.   Last year Gerry moved into the same Condo complex that Ruth and her husband David live in, giving up the cold winters of Chicago.  We attempted to visit them back in February when we visited St. Augustine, but then I got sick and we cut that trip short.  So we decided to visit on our way out of the state.  Unfortunately, this time it was Ruth who came down ill…so we picked up Gerry and took her out to dinner…or should I say, we drove as she took us out to dinner.

Ruth had picked out the restaurant a few days ago…Sliders Seaside Grill right along the ocean.  Gerry has trouble hearing, Marcia has trouble walking, and the location was of concern…but it need not have been.  Probably couldn’t have been a nicer place for a 3 hour, yes, 3 hour dinner. 

    

At 4:45 when we arrive the restaurant was not very busy.  We got a corner table right by this aquarium, which when I sat down was at my back.  We got a parking place as close as you can get, right by the ADA ramp that enters into the bar area (upper right),  making short distance to our table.  As we looked out the windows (upper left) you can see the ocean…although they were not interested in anything else except catching up and telling old stories.  Even the 10 minutes from being sat to getting any attention from a server did not bother anyone (well, that bothers me just a bit because of my background in restaurant work).  However, from that point on, the service and food were just fine, the company was outstanding.

About 2 hours into it the ladies took a potty break…and I got a good picture of the fish behind me.  The tank was large and held about six or seven fish.  It did become a slight distraction at times when young kids, with mom or dad in tow, come over and look at the fish…their talking halted Marcia and Gerry’s conversation a couple of times.

By 7:30 we decided to call it a night.  Gerry had some food to take home, but Marcia finished her Redfish, and I finished my fried shrimp.  We dropped by a Publix Grocery store for a couple of items, and then I proceeded to head the wrong way going home, so Skruffy’s 8 pm feeding time turned into 8:30…but all was well.  Did not get any pictures of Amelia Island…will do that next time when we hope to stay an extra day or two.  The RV park we are in, Lofton Creek Campground, cost $30, is in Yulee about 9 miles west of the ocean.  It is not a large park, and you will have trouble getting in during the busy season, but we did not have any trouble in mid-April. 

Christmas Update

This is about the extent of our Christmas decorations…this and the seven "led" candles in our two front windows which automatically come on for six hours each day around 6:00 pm.

   

   

On Monday we traveled to Gainesville to meet an old friend of Marcia’s who lives in Chicago, but was in Florida visiting her daughter.  Above is Gerry and Marcia who had not seen each other for at least 20 years, although they had kept in touch over the years. These four picture were taken by Gerry’s daughter Ruth, who sat next to me as we sat across from Gerry and Marcia while at the Cracker Barrel that we met at.  (By the way, Marcia has the pink shirt on, and Gerry has the white shirt on.)  You can see by their faces how happy they were to see each other again….I commented to Ruth that it was as if they had never missed a beat of their friendship over the years.  We sat in Cracker Barrel for 2 1/2 hours, but it seemed to less than an hour.  We are hoping that Gerry will move down to Florida to live near her daughter Ruth who, with her husband, are moving into a condo near Jacksonville.  They currently own a home in Georgia along with the condo in Florida....but they want to move down to Florida.
  

Christmas Eve we went to Brooksville to have Greek Christmas Eve with Marcia’s brothers, sister-in-laws and their kids and grandkids.  I think there was around 30 people there, most of whom I had met before…..all except for a young baby whom we both met for the first time, and Marcia’s sister’s daughter and grand-daughter whom I had not met before.  It was a chance to finally met her sister, but she was sick with that crud that I had a few weeks ago, so perhaps next time.  We also went to a special Christmas service at Church before coming back home.


Today we went over to her brother Mike’s house to have Christmas with Mike and Sandy, there grown children along with their growing grand-children.  We had a nice time, but it sure got a bit loud when one of the six dogs started barking…because it did not take long before all of the dogs were barking.  It was also nice to spend some time with Bubba.  Don’t know about all of you, but I know someone who is just beat!  All this Christmas stuff was just a bit too much for her.

Of course, we celebrate this time of year the birth of our Lord and Savior.  Merry Christmas to you all.