Thursday, April 19, 2012

Three Rivers, California

Today we arrived at Three Rivers California and are staying at the Three Rivers Hideaway RV Park.  We are staying through Sunday, and it was only $112 total, so that is just a little over $27 per day, not too bad.  The town's name comes from its location near the junction of the North, Middle, and South Forks of the Kaweah River.

When we left Phoenix Wednesday, we went to Prescott Arizona to see a friend of mine named Roger.  Roger is the Assistant Director at the Prescott Public Library, and he and I started work at Pine Bluff the same day back in January 1991.  He became the new Reference Librarian, and I became the new Extension Outreach Librarian.  Roger left around June, 1993, and moved to Fort Smith Arkansas to be the Reference Librarian there.  After working there for about 10 years, he moved to Prescott.  Of course, I stayed in Pine Bluff, and became the Director in August 1993.  We have stayed in contact all these years, and due to his move to Fort Smith, I became friends with others in Fort Smith with whom I still keep in contact with too.  If they are reading this, they know who they are, and I give them a big Dave hug....

We left Prescott around 2 pm, and we made it to a rest area in California just shy of Barstow, California.  It was smack in the desert, the Mojave Desert.  Been through it before, never stayed over night in it.  But it turned out that we had a great spot in the Rest Area, fairly quiet, and the only complaints came from Skruffy and Bubba......"Who stole the #*%*@&* grass?"
Yep kids, there is no grass out there in the desert....ain't much of anything to tell you the truth. (And please watch your language, we have a mixed crowd of people out here reading this.)


Thursday we hit the road fairly early, and we soon came upon the
Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California.  They have an "airplane graveyard" where they store decommissioned airplanes to steal parts off of them and put on working airplanes.  This picture does not due it justice, but it does show some of the airplanes, and the many wind generators up on the mountain behind it, and in the air was strange looking airplane which just happened to fly over as I took the picture.

Eventually we got to the part of California that I remembered....
 Orchards along side the road, and smog hiding the mountains in the distance.
Oh yeah!  And some of the best scenery around!  Looking forward to our visits to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.  Above is a picture of Lake Keweah, and in the distance, hidden by the haze, is where we are headed to see some BIG TREES!  (Bubba can't wait...too bad he doesn't know how to lift his leg....)  

Lake Keweah is fed by the Keweah River after the three forks combine into one river just below the town of Three Rivers.  It is not really a lake, but a reservoir used to store water for people, farms, and flood control.  But is sure is a lovely lake anway.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Longtime Friends

Today Marcia was able to see and visit with a very long-time friend named Joyce, whom I had met via Skype, and finally was able to met her in person.  Joyce lost her husband Parker about a year ago, and with the full help of her daughter Laurie, she sold the large house, moved into a nice townhouse near where Laurie lives (like 2 minutes away), and has really taken her life back.  Parker suffered from dementia for well over a year, and it was hard on all of the family.  Laurie took charge and took care of dad, mom, worked full-time, and devoted her life to the cause for the past 2-3 years.  Frankly, she was taking care of mom and dad even before his dementia started.  She is, as Marcia says, a true "Saint".  Joyce does not know what she would have done without the help of her daughter.

After going over to Joyce's house we went to a late breakfast, and Laurie showed up unannounced with a BIG HUGE "Marcia" as she walked in the door.  After breakfast I had to find a Camping World to get the cover for the refrigerator vent which flew off in Texas.  Of course, Joyce wanted to see the motor home, and we happily gave her a tour before I dropped Marcia and her back off at Joyce's house.  I found a nice, brand new Camping World in Avondale.  This cover fits many different types of refrigerators, and I will install it on Wednesday or Thursday.  

That evening we all went out to dinner and had a wonderful visit and good dinner.  I was so impressed at the love and dedication that Laurie has for her parents, for her work, and I appreciate the love she also has for Marcia.  It was so very nice to finally meet Joyce, and she is doing so much better now than she was a year ago.  I hate these short visits, and next time we will have to stay much longer.  


The dogs did very well staying in the motor home while we were gone.  Of course we saw them when we gave Joyce the tour.  I did drop back by after getting the vent from Camping World.  The longest "home alone" was the 5 hours from there until we got back from dinner.  They did fine, and both showed lots of appreciation when we arrived back after dinner.