Friday, November 11, 2011
Learning from my mistakes
Deborah recommended a must-see local historical mission/state park, Mission La Purisima.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Back to Fresno–Back to Caching
We have been quietly thinking about placing a few caches lately. While we were in Elkhart we place a small Altoids tin cache in front of the RV/MH Hall of Fame. Thus far it has been found 13 times and 10 Travel Bugs have been traded there. That is a pretty active cache and we are thrilled that people have visited this great RV’ing Museum. At that time we also were notified that 2 of our caches in Fresno had gone missing. As soon as we got back to Fresno we check on Lean on Me #1 and found it was still there. This is a picture of that Lean Rail designed by Julie, our very talented granddaughter.
We checked out Lean on Me #3 and it was indeed missing so we replaced it, but this time across the street because the “Muggle” factor was too great. That means there are just too many non-cachers that are hanging around that could take the cache when they see it being found.
Remember, in our last blog we learned about the Merci Train.
We looked up the California train and placed a cache, “Forty and Eight”, there. It has been found 4 times. We told the story of this interesting piece of history for the cachers in Fresno.
During this caching activity, we got on line and ordered several different kinds cache containers. We place a very unique cache container right in front of our old house. It was a pretty tricky cache and we labeled it a 3, 5 being the hardest and 1 being the easiest. We were pretty excited when a local cacher, Dr. A, came to find it and left this log, “ Buford1 and I got to the cache site and I thought it was going to be a quick grab, but it turned out I was fooled. So we searched and searched. "B" from T&BnaRV came out to find out who was looking for the cache, and also very nicely shared a pathtag with each of us. I was focusing in on something that I thought might be the cache, but Buford1 was afraid I might do something wrong and so convinced me to be cautious. Finally I went and got a hint from the RV, and it turned out I was right on track, so got to gloat a little bit to Buford 1! This is a very creative cache container, and I'm giving it a favorite point- in fact the first favorite point I've awarded! Thanks for a great night caching FTF with a super cool container. #2405”. This from a cacher that we have admired her cache ‘hides’ and her impressive ‘finds’, 2,405, for a couple of years. If you want to check out the information on “Eastside Connection”, check it out, but I can't show the picture because it would give it away.
Another activity we went to was the placing of an Eagle Scout project by McKenzie, the son of friends, Don and Michele. He did all the research, planning and building of the recycling bin for the Ronald McDonald House in Fresno. His story even appeared on the front page of the Life section of the Fresno Bee. We were so proud of McKenzie and this great supportive family
We took Mom to Chukchansi Casino Buffet to have dinner with our friends, Cool Judy and Luke Rinehimer. We traded stories, laughed, ate until we couldn’t eat any more and practically closed the buffet. It is such fun meeting up with fellow RV’ers. Judy and I have worked together on Smart Phone and Geocaching Workshops. Even though some times we don’t see each other for many months we just seem to pick up where we left off like no time has even passed. We just love the closeness of our RV friends.
We were also busy with the usual Doctor’s appointment and lab visits. We had some work done on the Jeep, and just the usual daily ‘stuff’ that keeps us busy when we visit Fresno like helping with computer challenges of friends and family. Though we were pretty busy following the Big Fresno Fair, we were getting a serious case of “Hitch Itch”, so last Friday we left Fresno and traveled to the Santa Maria. We are staying at the SM Elks Lodge, a very nice full hook-up on a paved pad. This conveniently places us between Solvang and Pismo so we can take day trips in the Jeep.
We have been caching and eating and even met for lunch with our Special Quest friend, Deborah. Stay tuned for pictures of our coastal adventures in the next blog.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Home Again, but only for a short visit
Sometimes I write a blog to let everyone know where we are and what we are doing. Other times I write a blog to help me remember what I we did. This is one of the second kinds of blogs so if this is not your cup of tea, check in next time.
We were in a hurry to get back to Fresno to get some work done on the RV, update some medical prescriptions, get some banking done… just mundane stuff. The best part of coming back to Fresno was spending time with our family.When we arrived, hungry and hot, from the desert we were greeted by Granddaughter, Julie, and her boyfriend, Claudio. Julie has been a loyal employee of Chipotle and Claudio now works there as he waits to join a fire department or ambulance company. Those kids know how to order the special dishes.
It did not take us long to hit the road again, this time to the Golden Spike Rally in Carson City. We had a great three days but no rest. This was our agenda:
From the day we arrived at the Gold Dust Casino RV Parking area we were busy. The next day started early with a light breakfast then we carpooled the short distance to Mills Park to ride the 24” gauge open air train.
Then a delicious lunch, trip to the Nevada No. RR museum.
The car on the left proved to be a very special discovery. It was one of 49 antique box cars filled with many treasures, china, jewelry, dolls, art work, etc., sent to the United States in 1949 by the people of France to thank the US for their generosity following WWII. These box cars, called “Forty and Eights” because they carried 48 equipped soldiers or 8 horses. In 1947 the people of the US had sent 700 hundred box cars filled with food, shoes, and clothing to help the people of Europe following the horrific occupation by the Nazis. While we were visiting this museum we asked where the California car was and were told, “Fresno”. Boy, we made plans to look that up when we got back to Fresno.
Following the museum tour we had a ride on the 1926 Edwards Streetcar.
We finished the day at Reds Old 395 Grill with a scrumptious dinner and an amazing decor.
Sunday we again carpooled to the Virginia &Truckee East Gate RR Depot to ride up to Virginia City.
This is our Golden Spike Club.
We were again stuffed by the time we left the Red Dog Saloon.
THEN that evening we ate again at the OleOle at the Casino. Who says Golden Spikers do not know where to find good food?
After all that fun, food and friends, we were on our way back to Fresno to work in the Floriculture Department at the Big Fresno Fair. Our daughter, Jennifer, is the Superintendent of that department. There are a lot of plants and flowers shown in Floriculture: Orchids, Cactus, Green plants and every day a different group of flowers are brought to the building starting at 6:45 am. Every day of the fair, daughter-in-law, Olivia, and I would greet those early rising gardeners, register the entries and help the judges by logging their results. It was a long 13 work days, but also lots of fun. To see a fun blog on the fair, check out granddaughter, Julie’s, blog, http://tedthetravelingturtle.blogspot.com.
This is getting pretty long and I still want to tell you about our latest caching adventures, the “Forty and eight” and the “Eastside Connection”, so stay tuned. The next blog will not be delayed as long as this one. Currently, we are spending the week in Santa Maria, CA, so I’ll have time to tell you all about it. So until next time, we are still caching on the road.
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