September 5

 We decided to just keep driving, arrived home around 6:15 p.m. Drove through a haboob near Picacho Peak, arrived to the beginning of a small thunderstorm. I got a few rainbow pictures, may eventually post them.

Today is September 7, Cary's birthday. We have been busy for two whole days, totally exhausted and lots left to do. Spent several minutes on hold with my doctor's office and the newspaper office before just hanging up. Our landline is out of order--I think I was "speaking" with a chatbot yesterday when I tried to get help. Hung up after the third ask of my phone number and second "May I connect you with a technician." My fingers are crossed that our friend's son who works for the phone company can get her tomorrow and figure out the problem!

Enough whining. Cary's sister brought over pizza for a birthday lunch. I had a salad and carrot cake too. Cary got a nap!

September 4, Newberry Springs and wifi

 Last night we were in Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park, no wifi. The traffic was awful in town--loads of construction (at least everyone was forced to drive slowly). 

Today was a short one, got to Newberry Mountain RV Park before noon. The woman who waited on us (she may be the owner or manager because she waited on us last time too) showed us some pictures on her cell phone of a man in a bear costume who travels, this time across the country) to earn money for various charities. Her 3-year-old twins posed with him for an Instagram photo. I found something on Facebook, couldn't managed to copy a photo.

I am Bearsun | Facebook

Pictures from the park, finally cooled off enough to take a walk. Tomorrow night we will be in Quartzite.

Sept 1-2

We wanted an early start to the day knowing it would be a long one.

The wild fires in Oregon and California made for some smoke-filled driving in places. This is not fog!

When we finally got to the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park, we had put in 319 miles, many on a curvy, narrow road heading from CC to Grants Pass, Oregon. When I got into the trailer to start opening up, I got lightheaded, dizzy and the trailer started spinning! Not sure what caused it, but Cary got me to lie down on the couch, put a cold, wet towel on my forehead and brought me ice water. Ugh. The travel had not been that horrible, but I suspect I got dehydrated. Better soon, luckily.

Some friends from the Village Camper Inn arrived here shortly after we did. They plan to do another long trip today, but without winding roads. They live in Lake Havasu.

We are now in Patterson at the Kit Fox RV Park where we have stayed several times before. Made a trip to Walmart to refill Cary's prescription. It is nice to have internet again. And some local tv channels. And it is nice to be closer to home.

                     The remains of the sunset, viewed from our RV park in Patterson

Last Day in CC

 It has been wonderful. Time to go home though. Miss family and friends...and I think the trailer is full, so there is no room for any more yard sale/thrift store finds!

I am listing names of folks we have met and gotten to know over the years, just to refresh my memory by next year when we return:

Richard and Gudrun, Wally and Kathy, Kathy and Roy, Charlotte and Ron, Gene and Ursula, Sharon and Rudy, PJ, Debbie, Yvonne, Gary and Janelle, Peggy, Linda, Sara, Ron and Delores, Martha and Ron, Pam. I probably left someone out! Yep, I almost forgot our neighbor, Tim, and Betty and Bill.

Beautiful Monday

We needed one more picnic and day by the ocean before heading home.

This group was celebrating their first day of second grade. The little boy waved while the little girl tattled on one of her brothers. They were exuberant. Mom is teaching them at home since the Covid rate is so high right now.

Our RV park is so beautiful nestled in the redwoods.

 

Last Day

 We had a great last day of tours, hard to say Good Bye to Paulette and Lee. She gave us some butter and eggs that they weren't going to use up by tomorrow when they start the trip back to Florida. They took pictures which she says she will send me.

Now--getting ready to head for home in three days.

A friend in the RV park captured this image on the internet, taken by a drone, and thought I might like a copy. Isn't that gorgeous?!

Beautiful Morning

What a difference! Yesterday was so foggy we could barely see 20 feet ahead of us as we walked to the lighthouse.

 

We didn't have as many taking tours, but I guess the season is winding down. I wore my Arizona Wildcat shirt and someone in the first group commented that his daughter was there now. I told him my grandmother and her sisters had all graduated from the U of A. He asked to take my picture!  We are all still wearing masks, so that was interesting.

Speaking of masks, Cary spoke to a nurse who was walking around outside the lighthouse. She told him three people died yesterday of Covid; a refrigerated truck is now parked outside the morgue because they have run out of space. Some people are still coming out to the lighthouse without masks (they are not admitted), and a few think we are being ridiculous. It is just not that hard to wear a mask!

This afternoon we got together in the usual potluck site at the park for a farewell gathering to a couple of the RVers who have been coming here for years and won't be back. Her eyesight is going, making it a real challenge to get out and walk around. He is very sad. S'mores were the party food!

Forgot This

 On Tuesday we drove to Brookings for fuel, stopped by the thrift store where we found two books. Half price. I am now reading The Jane Austen Book Club and Cary is into Rage, by Bob Woodward. 

I have not read any of the Jane Austen books, but I think there is a story here, regardless of my knowledge of them.

Cary has been enjoying (Is that the right word for a book about Trump?) this one.

Fog and Sun

We arrived about 9:30 so I could take some pictures inside the lighthouse with the hope of turning them into a Power Point later. It was very foggy at that time.

 

When we left about 12:15, the sun was out, just beautiful.

Our tours went well. The folks from the RV Park made it out and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

We may only work three more days. Because of the tides, there isn't much of a window for the new folks to get their supplies over and for Lee and Paulette to take their things out on the last day. We shall see.

Wednesday, August 25

 After four days off, we were ready to return to work today. We got a call last night from Karen at the museum to tell us a group of seniors would be at the lighthouse at 9:30, a half hour before our official opening time. We got there, but no tour group. So we just did the tours with the folks who were out there and ready. Maybe 45 minutes later the group showed up; we hadn't been told they were coming from Grants Pass, a town in Oregon about 80 miles from Crescent City, a curvy route and not a speedy one. Eight or nine ladies were excited about learning about the lighthouse, so they made good listeners. 

Cary made a spinach omelet for supper, one of his specialties, delicious. On our after-dinner walk we ran into some people who wanted to see the lighthouse but were convinced they could never get across the water. I told the woman our hours are 10-12 tomorrow; Siri had told her otherwise! I showed her the tide chart on my phone, so we hope that she, her husband and the friends camped next to them make it out in the morning.

It was another beautiful day, nowhere near as windy as last week. When we got up yesterday the thermometer said it was 46 degrees; today it was 56.

Friends

 Our friends, Martin and Peggy, made a stop in Crescent City on their way home from Portland after the arrival of their new grandson. I didn't take any pictures of us! We met for Mexican food again at Perlita's. All of us enjoyed our meals and catching up on the last month's activities. 

                                  

Saturday August 21

 Yesterday we went to the thrift store in search of a belt Cary could use to hold the fire extinguisher in place. He found one and fixed it to fit. On the 50 cent rack I found a pair of capris. Total expenditure: $1.00

This morning was a beautiful day for yard sales. The wind didn't kick up till later this afternoon.

A cute gate at one of the sales. We did find some goodies--we are easily entertained.

I am sure in the past that I have posted pictures of the flowers in this yard at the RV park. They are always beautiful.

Isn't this great?! When Cary wakes up from his nap I can get more info about this Airstream trailer.

He's awake now. It is a 1997 model, 35 feet long, Chevy V8 engine. They have owned it four years. It sat eight years behind someone's barn. Cary thought they should paint "Southern Pacific" on it!

The granddaughter of the owners of the RV park got married here this afternoon. I got a few pictures of the venue before the hoopla. They have a DJ and managed to get the food catered after thinking they might have to order pizzas when the restaurant had to close because of Covid. I saw the truck from that restaurant later on one of our walks, so it must have worked out.

Very Windy

 Once again we got to the parking lot by the lighthouse and couldn't get across. I spoke to Paulette, who told us just to go home. By the time we would get there, it may just have been open an hour. As the moon approaches full, the tides are more intense.

This morning I got two loads of laundry done,

 even got in a walk before the wind got to be too much.

More Wind and a Delayed Start

 Because the tide was still up yesterday until just before start of the tours, we should have expected a similar situation today. We arrived at the parking lot about 12:35. I took these pictures a few minutes later. Tours were to start at 1:00, but we were unable to get across until 1:20 or so. It is still so windy; we both used hiking sticks to keep us upright. The people you see on the walkway here are younger and probably more agile than we are! 

A benefit of our delayed start was seeing a guy we had met last month on our picnic. He is still in town because the place where he plans to take his van for transmission work can't get to it yet. We had spent quite a while talking to him at that time. Today I was able to get pictures of his adorable puppy, Little Miss. She does tricks and he got her to pose for me on this post.

The tours went well. A few people had to pass for lack of masks. The last tour was a young couple here on their honeymoon from Ohio. We are totally exhausted again, picked up two cans of Campbell's clam chowder for supper, accompanied by cornbread mixed from a box.

p.s.

 I just thought of something I could have added yesterday. Frequently when we travel and even in Tucson, someone looks at me and thinks they know me. I tell them I just have a generic face. Yesterday one of the women in the first tour told me she knew me. Turns out she lives in Tucson in the Sunnyside District. Her kids went to Los Ninos and Chaparral (where Cary and I worked). But neither of us recognized each other's names and maybe I convinced her that she didn't know me after all. But that is the closest anyone has come to possibly knowing me.

One time in Tucson my sister and I were in a thrift store when a woman was sure she knew me. She looked familiar to me, but after rattling off all of my group associations and comparing them with hers, we decided that we probably only knew each other from going to thrift stores!

Another Windy Day

We left early for the lighthouse with plans to stop at the library for some new books. It is closed now, due to Covid, pickup service only. I am glad they are being cautious. Cary found a book on the free cart set up outside.

Because we were so early, we drove to one of the view points on the ocean where I took a few pictures. Cary got out his binoculars and could actually see people out on the jetty, a very dangerous idea. And it is clearly marked not to do that! 

We could see the lighthouse too. A beautiful sunny day, regardless of the wind.

 

Across from our viewpoint, there was a family exercising at the Brother Jonathan Memorial. The Brother Jonathan was a ship that sank in 1865. It was carrying a huge shipment of gold. Read about it here:

Brother Jonathan (steamer) - Wikipedia

I took the picture because it is wonderful to see kids playing outside!

 

 A very interesting day. The sun was out when we got up; that hasn't happened in quite some time. I took a few pictures walking out to the lighthouse at 10:30, but most turned out to be (very bad) selfies--too hard to see what you are trying to shoot! The wind was starting to blow pretty hard, certainly much harder than we had experienced in the past. By the end of the four hours of tours, windows had to be closed because things were blowing inside. A very strange whining noise emanated from one of the wood burning stoves, giving an understanding as to how ghost stories might have been created. 

We had a challenging time walking down from the lighthouse, really concerned about blowing off the walkway! But we made it.

I have never mentioned all of the great feedback we get after the tours. I love seeing folks' eyes light up (all you can see with masks) and hearing their well-thought-out questions. Karen, at the museum, told us she and Harlan were very glad we were working this month; our experience to help out with the situation with Lee not being able to do as much as he expected.

Monday Monday

 Another busy day, but it went smoothly. I didn't get any pictures, but here is one from yesterday. A large group of Mennonites visited the island, didn't take the tour because of the mask requirement. They were back again today, unless it was a different group.

Cary grilled  chicken, enough to have tomorrow night and some to freeze. Tomorrow we don't start till 11:00, tours until 3:00.