Watsonville, CA

We’re having a wonderful time on the California coast, visiting Don’s sis-in-law and family. Susan retired from being an RN at a nearby hospital, and became Nanny for her two granddaughters, Carolina (4) and Olivia (11 months).

Both girls are full of energy and laughs. I don’t know how Susan keeps up with them, as we’re about the same age and I got tired after only a few hours!

Their Mom Lisa manages well, too.

Gigi and Brandy are getting along well, and Gig likes being in the back yard and off leash. She’s been very good around the little girls, too – we didn’t know how she would act because we’ve never had her around children before.

Yesterday, Don and I baby-sat the girls while Susan took a neighbor to the doctor. They love their Uncle Don!

And they also like sitting in my lap, sharing one of their many books, and playing games together.

Later, Don and I drove to San Jose airport to pick up Susan’s daughter (and Lisa’s sis) Laura, who flew out from her home in Massachusetts.

Late afternoon, Susan’s sister Jane and her daughter Katy came from San Jose for a visit.

Lisa’s husband Sergio joined us later and we ordered a huge Chinese dinner delivery. We’ll be snacking on the leftovers for days!

What a great family, huh?

Blogging Catch Up

Now that Don and I are traveling again – Hurray! – I plan to publish more frequent posts to my blog. It’s hard to actually catch up, despite the title of this post, as so much time has passed. But here are some recent highlights.

Getting ready for our return to life on the road started quite a while ago. When Don finally started feeling better sometime in January, his excitement for traveling again fueled a level of energy I hadn’t seen for a long time. He created his own “Honey Do” list and, one by one, marked off each task. (I helped with a few of them.)

We put Carrie (the Honda CR-V) to sleep for several (maybe 6-7) months and changed the insurance to storage status.

We arrived at the Pima County Fairgrounds a couple of days early, and got a site fairly close to the buildings where meetings and activities were to be held. Hard to see in this picture, but our truck is perpendicular to our motorhome behind it (with the patterned windshield cover). Meeting rooms are to the left and behind me.

Don had fun shopping with Jan and Bill in the marketplace!

One of the best parts of Escapade is reconnecting with friends. ZoAnn Macon and Donna Swanson are both great friends with us and each other.

Zoe’s hubby John Macon is equally huggable. (We stood up for Zoe and John when they got married, so it’s always fun to see them enjoying life with enthusiasm!) And Donna has been a great friend of both mine and Don’s for many years.

Happy hours were held every day all around the fairgrounds, with more than 2,000 attendees.

We enjoyed dinner at Mama Louisa’s Italian Restaurant (on Houghton) with long-time friends who have been active in the Escapees RV Club for many years and are responsible for many of the club traditions that we still follow. Seated: Jan Tenpenny, Beth Roberts, Wayne Roberts, with Joe Tenpenny standing with me and Don.

Anyone would be happy to receive this beautiful quilt, with many Escapade banners from previous rallies. Wayne Roberts held out one end of the quilt…

…while Molly Pinner, Beth Roberts and Brenda Neil held the other end.

Gloria & Frank King handled the CARE booth along with Judy LaCorte and her hubby (not pictured), also named Frank.

And Bill Mains modeled a very stylish hat in the Lost & Found stash.

The final event of the rally was a dance party and celebration of Kay Peterson’s 90th birthday. This wonderful woman is co-founder of the Escapees RV Club, along with her late husband Joe Peterson. She has published several books, and has inspired so many RVers to live a fun-filled and rewarding life on the road. Happy Birthday, Miss Kay!

It’s great to see the younger generation picking up the reins to lead the organization. Travis and Melanie Carr, shown here with their sons Gabriel and Decklin, are focusing the direction of the company towards young traveling families, much as Travis’s grandparents, Kay and Joe, did when they started the club.

You might also be interested in reading Jan Mains' most recent blog post about Escapade, as she included a few pictures of us and more of the activities of the week.

Tonight we are in Needles, CA at the Elks Lodge. (Finally out of Arizona after 2 years!) Our trip today covered 373 miles, so we were a little tired when arriving, and it’s warmer here than we are used to. But we have a pretty view of the valley and distant mountains, and there was a very nice sunset tonight.