October 2023 - A Quick visit to CA with Beau, Part 1

Stop off in NoCal on way to SoCal for Grade School Fundraiser

DAYS 1 ~ 6, October 7-12

Barry, Brian, and Will. Alameda, CA

Heading out on a Saturday midday from North Bend headed south toward Vancouver, WA. Beau and I were on the slow road (and it was slow) to visit my in-laws and our first layover on our way to Southern California. Pete and Shelly are wonderful hosts and a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with. There is always good food and best of all, lots of laughing. Visiting with them always makes me happy and this time was no exception. A bonus was that my nephew Sam was there visiting as well on his time off from his job as a pilot with Alaska. Often times my niece Anna is there as well, which ups the giggle and laugh factor significantly but not this time. Still, it was a great time. Pete does wonderful things with the barbecue and this time it was a lot of chicken. Oh, and he does wonderful things with cocktails too! They made Beau feel very welcome and he totally enjoyed running around their beautiful yard and garden area and reveled in all the love and attention. In the morning after a breakfast including fruit and as always, great coffee, Beau and I mounted up and rode out of town.

We continued down I-5 as far as Canyonville, OR where we pulled into Seven Feathers Casino and fueled up before sliding into a spot at the Casino's free RV park. After getting Beau some dinner and a good walk on the large grass area for dogs, I got him settled in and went in to visit the casino. I've parked here maybe four times before but never checked out the inside. I made my way through all the noisy slot machines to the sports bar. I was lucky - Sunday night football with the 49ers playing! Yea! I sat at the bar in front of a big screen, had a nice dark beer and an individual pizza and chilled off the days drive watching football. Nice!

As I never disconnected the trailer the night before as all was level, we had a no-fuss departure early in the morning and had a straight shot down I-5 and then west to Alameda, CA. As the speed limit in California for any vehicle towing a trailer is 55, I just hung around the right lanes and did my thing and let the rest of the crazies on the freeways down there do their thing. I crossed the bridge into Alameda and took the residential roads (cuz that's all there are in Alameda) to my friend Brian's house where he had coned off the parking spot in front of his house for my trailer. I disconnected the rig and conveniently drove up in front of the house next door. There the T@B sat for the next few days.

Brian is a longtime friend, co-worker, roommate, and adventure buddy. Oh the stories he could tell. Brian's partner/girlfriend Eve is a warm, welcoming, lovely woman and is a joy to be around. They and their cute little dog (Lucy?) made Beau feel just as welcome. The dogs had a blast together and it was great being able to hang out with old friends and go on walks around town, my old stomping grounds. We walked around the streets and enjoyed looking at Halloween decorations.

Alameda, CA. This is about 1/20th of what this guy had around his house. No wonder my son hates clowns!

Brian had asked me if it would be alright if he invited a couple people over for pizza and a beer while I was there. No problem bro! Turned out to be eight of my dear friends that I used to work with. Many of them I had't seen for 10-15 years! What a wonderful evening. Brian is always so full of surprises. Most of them good.

Willard Thau, Barry Smith, Brian Lodge, Bob Thompson, Ted Blanckenburg, me -

David Wong, Laura Sexton, Cat Tolentino, Carolyn Horgan.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay with Brian and Eve. Lots of evening walks in a t-shirt. Lounging in the sun on their nice big porch reading a book. Going out to breakfast at the cute little cafes. My mom always said house guests are like fish and newspapers; they all need to go after three days. So it was back on the road for Beau and I.