A New Reality

My Mom passed away on Feb. 8, 2016. We laid her to rest on the 20th. We had already shelved our NOLA trip because of her health. Right now I just don't have the desire or the wherewithal to plan a trip. We'll see what the future brings. 

Thinking Ahead

After some thought we have decide AK is not for us this year. Sharon's Mom is a fragile situation and we would not want to be out of contact or have to drive a few days to secure a flight home if there was an urgent situation. That said, we think we will try to do NOLA and the Florida Keys in March-April. Still a lot of planning involved but Sharon can probably fly home fairly easily if need be. 

We also want to stop in TX and get a few upgrades done at Little House Customs along the way. (special valves we have heard about and a double step)

We want to spend time in NOLA for a few reasons: 1) Genealogy research for both my French family and paternal line. Then there  is the WWII Museum that wants to  accept some artifacts from Mom's WWII service. Yes, those could be mailed but it would be such an honor to present these things in person. The Florida Keys - always wanted to go there. The drive should be interesting! Lot's of planning ahead!

The Refrigerator Issues

I wanted to post  an update about  this.  It took about a month at Paul Evert's RV to get our fridge fixed. We were not in a hurry as we would just put our  Casita back in storage so it took time. After the repair Paul Evert's told us the damage from installing the battery backwards was $450. Ouch! John too the receipt to Interstate Battery and talked to the manager. He asked what would make John happy. He said $450. (I'm not sure I would have had the nerve to say that!). The manager opened the till  and gave him $450. WOW! We will certainly frequent Interstate Battery in the future and highly recommend them. It was a  mistake, but they made it right and we really appreciate it. That said, we  will not  hold our tongue next time things don't seem just right!!!

Heading Home

We got an early start because we wanted to get home, unload everything, and get the Casita to Paul Evert's RV before they stop accepting units to the service area at 5p. The fridge issues have not been resolved and in addition the freezer door came off in my hand a few days ago. Using duct tape it is held in place ... my laptop also stopped working! Despite the challenges we have had a nice time. We are thankful to be home safe and sound.

-Humor-

Our Last Day

We had a very enjoyable last full day. We drove up the coast just a little ways to see the amazing Elephant Seals. Such incredible creatures. The ones we saw were females and youngsters, weighing approximately 1500 lbs! They seemed huge! I can't imagine how large the males would look at 5000 lbs. I would like to come back when the males are here and for the birthing. We stopped at several locations along our drive. We weren't looking for them but surprisingly saw the much talked about Zebras still left from the Hearst private zoo. We had some decent Mexican food for lunch and came back to pack up some things. Thankfully things have pretty much dried out from the rain. We walked on the beach near our camp in the evening.

Elephant Seals

Lunch Time

Zebras! 

Tony

Sunset

San Simeon SB - Hearst's Castle

Today we will have our visit at Hearst's Castle. We took a short walk this morning and then headed up toward the castle. We are glad it is a cool day so Tony can wait in the car safely. We took him into the Visitor Center with us first because we were early. We also had a small snack there before the tour. When tour time came Tony was safely tucked away in the Jeep. It is a steep and crooked ride up the  hill to where the tour begins. The trip up is narrated and very interesting. We took our "cottages and kitchen tour" and enjoyed it. It is a beautiful place, quite opulent for my tastes. It was quite a place in its time, actually it still is. Hearst was an interesting man with a nature to serve just himself it would seem. The structures here are lovely but one has to wonder what other good he could have done with just a small portion of his wealth. I am glad I saw the place but I have no desire to go back. I over heard others saying how one visit is just not enough, it was for us. We got Tony from the Jeep and then watched the movie about the building of the castle and more information about Hearst himself. Oh brother, the few people there sure made over Tony, John loves that! Our trip back to camp was lovely because we stopped along the way to watch the sun go down. A lovely day with beautiful weather. 

Castle On The Hill

A Cottage

The Fire Truck

Sunset

Leaving Morro Strand

Today we are moving to San Simeon State Beach. It poured down rain last night so we have a sizable puddle to contend with when packing up. Before packing up we went over to Morro Bay Campground and took showers. They were pretty pitiful showers as the water never did get very hot but it was a shower. I would have preferred the Casita shower to that. We headed out about 11am and made a few stops along the way. We took a nice walk on the beach by Cayucos Pier. There was a City Water worker there and he said there was a grand opening for the pier two weeks ago. I don’t know if that is true or not and we have no Internet tonight to check that tidbit of information. We had lunch in Cayucos at Duckie’s Chowder House. I had the Shrimp tacos and they were delicious. John chose fish and chips. He said the fish and chips at Giovanni’s is better. We were going to walk the pier after lunch but decided we should get to our destination and get set up before the rain hits, if possible. We planned to buy gas in Cayucos but we forgot, we are really low and that makes me nervous. Anyway, we made it to Cambria and got gas for $3.69 per gallon. Since the price changes so often I don’t know if that is a good price or outrageous! We passed the Hwy 46 turn and it was just a little further north to San Simeon State Beach. Thankfully the dump station is functioning here and we emptied and refilled with fresh water so we are set for now. Unfortunately, it rained pretty hard the whole time we did that but it slacked off while we set up camp. We are in site #107 for this stay. There aren’t many people in the park tonight. There are over 100 sites here, very nice sites, some are tent only. We are unsure of the walking distance to the beach. I started out for the beach but there were signs saying No Dogs and Tony didn’t have his vest on we we turned back. After we were completely set up we realized we do not get very good phone service in our campsite. Up at the Ranger Kiosk where we came in there was good reception. It might have been prudent to pick a site up on the knoll up there but the sites didn’t look appealing at the time. oh well. We decided to drive up to Hearst Castle Visitor Center just to see how far it was. It is not far at all. We drove around the area and then finally did see the castle way up on the mountain. We used a few turn out Vista Points to watch the water and watch for something interesting, no luck this time. We did see some vultures finishing off a carcass near the campground though! We have had showers off and on since then. We came back and made a nice hot drink, played cards, watched a video, read, and fell asleep. Tomorrow we will have our visit there!

Our Puddle

Cayucos Pier

Tiny Birds

Duckie’s Chowder House

Vultures

Hearst Castle in the Distance