Corning, CA

Our drive over the Siskiyou Mountains was uneventful yesterday, in that there was no snow to be seen, except on Mount Shasta, but we couldn't see the top of the mountain.  We did have a lot of rain, with sun breaks mixed in, which made the drive somewhat interesting. 

Dark skies heading south on I-5:

A little while later, partly sunny skies at the Siskiyou summit in Oregon:

After a lunch stop at the Weed rest area, we drove past Shasta City (still no snow) and hit fog when we crossed the final Lake Shasta bridge.

Dave and I arrived in Corning, CA around 2:45 yesterday afternoon.  Corning is a town of about 7500 people, located right on I-5, south of Redding and Red Bluff and a few hours north of Sacramento.  The big draw here for us is the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park which offers full hookups with good, free WIFI for $25/night.  There are no restrooms in the park, however, and no cable TV.  But the sky is open for good satellite reception.  Another draw for us is the casino golf course which is highly rated. 

The food at the casino is notably good, but we haven't eaten at the buffet yet since we like a bargain, and the 2 for 1 senior bargain nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Since tonight is New Year's Eve, the casino is offering a  big party with lots of food and a comedy show, all for the (NOT) bargain price of $140 per couple.  No thanks.  Dave is usually asleep by midnight and neither one of us are party people.  I know, we're boring!

This morning, Dave and I drove around Corning and did a few errands.  I stopped at the Quilt'n Thyme store and bought a couple of items since everything was 20% off today.  The store has an interesting background--the owners are foster parents who have adopted seven of their special needs foster children.  She is a long-time quilter who has made many quilts to donate to hospitals, and he is a former teacher who is also a pastor of a church.  I was surprised and pleased that a town as small as Corning has a quilt store.

Another stop we made was at the famous Olive Pit store.  That store is always busy.  I tasted a few different olives, and then bought my old standby--almond stuffed olives.  It's a fun store to visit.  They also sold California oranges, but I didn't need a 15 pound bag, so I didn't buy any.

Dave stopped at Radio Shack but didn't have much luck there, so after lunch we decided to drive over to the "big" town of Chico which is about 35 minutes southeast of here.  He went to Best Buy and bought a product with the salesman touted, but didn't end up working for what he wanted (omni-directional digital antenna).  See his blog for more details on this "local channels" project.  We'll be returning this product at the Best Buy in San Luis Obispo. 

After Dave's errand at Best Buy, I visited Honey Run quilt store in Chico and finding some bargain fabrics that were 40% off.   I forgot to take a picture of the quilt store, but it was located in a cute, older craftsman-style house.  Different fabrics were displayed in different small rooms of the house.  The clearance fabrics were located in a closet.   After a successful visit to the quilt store, we headed back to the RV and took a walk around the RV park.  The park's RV spaces had filled in again, but there were still a few spots left at 4:30 pm.  This is a first-come, first-served park with about 70 spots plus a no- charge overnight area where RVs and trucks can park. 

We're going to hang around here until Tuesday or Wednesday since we don't have reservations to arrive at Pismo Beach until Thursday, January 5. 

Happy 2012!

We're On Our Way!

Click on Dave's blog to read the details about how our water main got fixed.  The plumber and concrete borer came on Tuesday, a day earlier than we had originally thought and  they were able to install the new pipe all in one day.  That left yesterday as the day to pack the motorhome, forward our mail, stop our utilities, etc.  The rainstorm we had in the afternoon put us in the mood to head south!

After a couple of set backs this morning, which I'm sure Dave will blog about (slides wouldn't come out, step wouldn't come in) Dave managed to fix the problems and we finally left home around 10:10, about an hour after we had planned.  The drive was rainy with just a small amount of wind, and we passed the last hour listening to one of those online Trinity Church sermons that I talked about in my last blog.

We are settled for the night at Seven Feathers Casino RV Park.  There's a new Oregon state rest area here at Exit 99, but we headed up the hill to the RV park after getting gas at the casino.  We paid $3.36 per gallon for gas which included the discount.  We had seen gas much cheaper at a Pilot station at the Rice Hill exit--$3.15 for unleaded, but we didn't need gas at that point. 

The RV park is busy, as it usually is around New Year's, but they still have plenty of sites left for those of us who arrive without reservations.  The sites are a bit high-priced here--$34 after using both the casino discount and a Good Sam discount.  We're going to head over to the casino for dinner tonight and take advantage of the $8.99 rib eye special that's not on the menu.  It's also seafood night, so no doubt the buffet will be busy, also.

The temperature is unseasonably mild (55 degrees right now) and we hope that the warm temps continue until we get through the Siskiyou Mountains tomorrow.  The plan is to head for Corning, CA with an overnight stop at Rolling Hills Casino.

Christmas Surprises

Our Christmas Eve surprise was a major leak in our water main from the meter to the house.  The leak is under some concrete, which will have to be bored out to replace the pipe.  Since it has been Christmas, nothing will be able to be fixed until at least tomorrow (Tuesday).  We were planning on leaving for Pismo Beach this week, but our trip will be delayed for at least a day or two. 

In the meantime, we've been able to use our water as needed and then Dave turns it off in-between uses and during the night.  It makes me realize that I would not make a very good pioneer!  If the problem can't be fixed this week, Dave and I are thinking about turning off the water, which we do anyway when we travel, and getting the problem taken care of when we get back home in a few months.  To all the full-timers who don't own a stick house, this is a problem that you won't ever have to deal with!

On the brighter side, before the water main pipe broke, we celebrated an early Christmas with Tim, Kiersten, and Sophie on December 23.  It's always good to see them and Sophie was delighted to be celebrating her first Christmas.  One of the traditions that we started this year was to read the nativity story to Sophie.  In this case, we used a nativity set, "What God Wants for Christmas", that I ordered from Family Life Today.  It beautifully presents the true meaning of Christmas, along with seven boxes to open, which contain the angel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, a shepherd, and a wise man.  The final box contains a mirror (which Sophie loved) indicating that the gift that God wants for Christmas is YOU! 

Sophie, 8 months

Since Sophie didn't have a box to play with, she decided to play with the tag.

All that activity made Sophie thirsty!

Christmas Eve Dave and I attended a new church, Trinity Church of Portland.  The church meets at the chapel at Western Seminary in Portland and the pastor is Dr. Art Azurdia.  He is on the staff at Western and is a dynamic speaker.  We enjoyed the reverent, traditional Christmas Eve service and decided to attend church there on Christmas Day, too.  What a great service.!  Art  preached about how the true meaning of Christmas is often lost in the midst of the sentimentality of the season.  The true meaning of Christmas can be summed up in eight powerful words:  Christ came into the world to save sinners.   It was a powerful message, and good powerful Christmas hymns added to that message.

We are happy that the Trinity Church sermons are podcast, so we'll be able to listen each week, even when we are in Pismo Beach.  Click on sermon archives to find out how to listen to these fine sermons by Art Azurdia. 

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christmas Lights

One of the minor irritations of the Christmas season is finding replacement bulbs for Christmas lights.  The LED lights are efficient, but expensive.  The white LED lights look like they are blue, not white.  I like the colored LED lights, but again, they are expensive.  I do like the fact that they are not hot to the touch and are safer to use.

I am starting to get used to the energy-efficient bulbs, like the ones shown on the tree in the cartoon.  It remains to be seen if they will last as long as they claim, especially since they cost so much more than the old-fashioned light bulbs.

Don't get me wrong--I am totally aware of the true meaning of Christmas, and the Reason for the Season is not about light bulbs!  But Christmas lights do brighten up the dark, short days during December and are a reminder of the Light of our lives.

Jesus - Light of the World!

John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

 

Home Again

Now I am back from the beach and I have full-time access to the internet again.  But I find that I'm too busy to post much on my blog.  What am I doing, you ask? Well, the usual pre-Christmas stuff added to my new hobby of sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  I still have a few more Christmas gifts to make, and I won't be posting any pictures of my sewing, at least until after Christmas.  I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises, you know?

Sunset at the beach at Cape Disappointment

While we were at the beach, I bought some lovely lighthouse fabric which happened to be on sale.  I got inspired to start piecing a quilt top using the disappearing nine patch pattern.  It's going pretty well, and even better now that I bought myself a 1/4 inch presser foot.   I ordered the new presser foot from Amazon.com and paid less than $4 for it--well worth the money.

Before that I was using masking tape to mark an edge for 1/4 inch seams, and that worked very well until I had to change my bobbin thread.  To open the bobbin case, I have to remove the masking tape.  That gets a bit tedious to do over and over again.  Thus, the new 1/4 inch presser foot is greatly appreciated.

A sneak peek of a piece of the lighthouse quilt

Since Dave and I were at the beach (Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, WA) for two whole weeks, we really felt like we were residents there. I bought my Christmas stamps at the Ilwaco post office and it was great to walk right up to the counter and not have to wait in any line.

In early November, Dave and I went on a day trip to Wildwood National Recreation Area along Highway 26 East, one of the roads that lead to Mt. Hood in Oregon.  The recreation area is free for those of us with the national park senior pass.  It's a fun place to go for a walk, and this time of the year the paths were virtually empty.

The Salmon River

Moss-covered tree

Now I just need to stop sewing and get my house cleaned, put the tree up, write my Christmas cards, etc, etc.  That's the goal, anyway.  ;-)