Ukiah, CA

Today marks 2 years in our travels. We have adjusted the living space to better meet our needs: dining room table is up against the slide wall and the desk (set up at each stop) is positioned on the back living room wall. this opens up the space and provides for another chiar on the slide for watching TV.

When we are back in Santee for the winter, we are finally going to have the desk and associated drawers permanently built-in and the dining room table plus storage secured on the slide.

After the rush of the first 18 mnonths we are slowing down our travelling. Our summer this year is on the Northern California's, Oregon's, and Washington's coast lines. then back for 4-5 months of winter in the San Diego area. We are planning our summer 2011 as we travel this summer.

Cloverdale, CA

Karma loved the river! She chased her ball up and down the river's edge. Yea I did throw it n sections that were over head - she swam to get it but her preferences is to bound through the water making as much splash as possible.

We liked this park even though it had some access challenges. You couldn't always see the road in front of you on the curves that went up/down the hills. the sites were relatively cool considering the outside temperatures in the high eighty's and ninety's.

Cloverdale, CA

Today, Ruthi needed to go to the nearest hospital for a blood test. While waiting to be called to the lab, she noticed another patient registering for care who did not have English skills. A passer-by stopped and helped patient get started by doing some of the translation for her. It seemed to Ruthi, that it takes a lot of courage to be somewhere where you wouldn't know the language.

What this reminded Ruthi of was how her Italian grandparents (nonno, nonna) and a lot of her aunts/uncles came to the USA to work the coal mines in the Carolinas without English skills. Ruthi's mother was born here but did not learn English until she entered first grade.

How bad it must be somewhere else, that a person would come here with no way to communicate with everyone else! How isolating/frightening to not understand the medical questions or procedures! Remember our reactions to our visit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada - where Boots' high school French helped but mostly the Canadians spoke English. We were able to communicate and knew we were only staying a few days and could get back to English-speaking areas quickly. A big difference between that and the situation Ruthi experienced today,

Cloverdale, CA

Got into this new RV Park late, by our standards (5pm). We are allowed to select our own site - good news / bad news. Not knowing the camp ground means it's looking at the map and wandering around to find something that will be easy to back in. One plus that was provided were indicators about whether or not the roof mounted satellite dish would work vs the mobile tripod dish. Mostly we squeezed through narrow, narrow roadways missing trees hanging over the roadway to the first site that looked doable for our backing skills. All of the sites with good satellite coverage for roof mounted domes were taken.

We found a partially shaded slot with access from down the hill with little turning challenges. Boots' first try put the rig within 8-10 inches where we wanted it. The oppisite side of the rig was on the edge of the paved site and the drop off was 3-4 inches and then mostly down hill. So, we continued for another 60 minutes getting farther and farther away from our goal instead of closer. It had looked so simple - just turn the wheel a little bit and then we'd creep to the left but instead we creeped further and further right. We called a time out and decided to start from down hill again and "@#$%" it and take what ever happens. Miricles of miricles we again ended up 8-10 inches from perfection and took it! So, wood and the rubber mat filled the in the ledge at the door. And set up the rig before crashing inside with the fans on full force.

Cloverdale, CA

We had planned on spending the night for free at the Camping World in Vacaville, CA. But the temperatures were in high 80's heading to 90's when we stopped to get a few items at the Camping World, Our next stop was ok with our coming in a day early so we headed there - making a long day!

Sparks, NV

We are at a new RV park much closer to central Reno. In fact, while it is addressed in Sparks, it is hard to really tell the boundary line. We are probably right on the line to the North East of Reno.

OK, now we are getting Summer weather. The last few days in Quincy and today in Reno we are in the high 70's to mid-80's. Much better than the cool days we had but still hotter than we'd like. As Boots' son said, we are looking for the perfect weather!!!

Quincy, CA

Karma has discovered the "new" kittys at the kids house! Their dog, Sunny, plays very actively with them "mouthing" them and generally harassing them inside the house and out. The kittens seem to put up with Sunny but they are unsure about Karma. She charges them whenever she sees them out in the open OR can get to them in their hiding places. Their response is typical cat - hunched back, big hiss, and a swat. Karma keeps trying to make friend but she is a bit big and fast to get into their faces.