HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Greetings to all and Happy New Year

David calls this my 'Q-Tip' look. It has been so cold here in Sacramento that a couple of days have been warmer in the mountains with the snow. We did see a little sun yesterday but for the most part it has been foggy. The whole Sacramento-San Juaquin valley is known for it's fog. I have seen it go 90 days in Sacramento without any sun.

We are looking forward to the New Year and hope to be able to travel as much as possible. We do know that we will be in Red Bluff for the next few months and then who knows. We have thought about maybe Alaska, east coast, or Mexico. Of course I still want to see Mt Rushmore.

We will be spending the evening at our Daughter Michelle's tonight with their family and my Sister Lenette and her Husband. We hardly ever make it to midnight so figure we will celebrate the east coast New Year. Tomorrow we will go to my Mom's to spend the day with her.

I make no New Years resolutions because I just can't stick to anything. So all I can say is that I hope each one of you have a safe New Years celebration and that the new year treats all with kindness and health.

Happy Campers

David and Carol

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Even Molly has Holiday Spirit



















David's Sister Mary and her husband Steve















David, Mary, and all the Nephews















David, Steve and our Granddaughter Allison















Carol's Mom

It has been a wonderful Christmas for us. We were very fortunate this year to be able to spend so much time with family. We are still in Sacramento so we have been able to spend some quality time with everyone.

Christmas Eve we went to David's Sister's. Mary and Steve have a very nice home in Folsom. Of course it was raining. Our Granddaughter, Allison went with us. Mary had invited family and friends for food and drink and so we ate and drank. David's nephews all came by with their families. He has not seen them in about 20 years so it was very special to him. As you can see by the pictures, David is the runt of the family. They have all grown up to be such nice men, have very nice and pretty wives and children. It was really the highlight of this Christmas for David and I think for his Sister also. All of this family rarely sees each other so it was very special. Thank you to Mary and Steve for having us and for making this time of year what it was meant to be.

On Christmas day we went to Carol's Mom's house where another special gathering was underway. Carol's Sister, Lenette and Husband Todd were here from Missouri and they brought Carol's Great Nephew, Kirk from Kansas with them. Our Daughter Michelle and her family were there and Carol's Nephew Eric, his Wife Christina and their little girl were there. Not only was it a great day for us but it was a wonderful time for Carol's Mom who had not seen her Great Grandson for about 7 years. Of course we ate and drank again. It was good for Carol's Mom to have 2 of her children and spouses, 2 grandchildren and spouses and 5 Great Grandchildren.

We have been able to do alot of things while we have been in Sacramento. Carol has been able to spend some time alone with Michelle and enjoyed every minute of it.

We will be here until Jan. 6th when we will be leaving and going to Red Bluff, CA. We took the job there at an RV Resort and will be there for at least 3 months. It is only 2 hours away from Sacramento, close to Shasta and MT Lassen and only 6 hours from Carol's Brother, Charlie and 6 hours from Paso Robles.

We hope everyone has had a great Holiday and pray for all to have a wonderful New Year.

With Love, David and Carol

Happy Campers

FAMILY

Hello from Red Bluff. We are here looking into a workcamping position.
We were driving in Sacramento and saw a car with Durango RV Resort on the side door. We decided to call right then and see if they were looking for workcampers. The person that answered the phone said she didn't think so but would give our number to the manager just in case. 3 minutes later Bill called and said he may be interested and to please send a short resume. We emailed one off and he wanted to meet us. We made arrangements to come and visit 2 says later.

When we got here, Bill explained the whole place, took us on a tour, made hotel arrangements for us to spend the night and said he and his wife Donna would pick mus up at the hotel that night and take us to dinner.

The resort is fairly new but is very pretty and clean. It has a message room, lap pool, dog wash, beautiful club house with a huge fireplace and all leather furniture. The is an outside bar-b-que with fire rings and ponds with waterfalls and the best part, it is right on the Sacramento River.

We would work 2 days a week for full hookup, free laundry, cable, free propane and free wifi. If we like it, we could become full time paid employees.

So we are meeting with them tonight to give them an answer.

Last night we went to my Mom's to help wrap more gifts and to see my sister and nephew who just arrived from MO. We had a little dinner and talk then went back to our 'home' to get ready to come today.

That's all for now, we will let you know how the job thing comes out.....

Still Happy Campers, David and Carol

GREETINGS FROM THE HAPPY CAMPERS

Snow started falling in Placerville

Yesterday we took a ride up to a place called Volcano. We went to look at a place that is looking for work campers. The bottom picture is the spot we would have. It is a little too primitive for us. It is near a town called Pine Grove. There is nothing there and it would be a little tight to get the 5th wheel in there. So, we decided that we wouldn't go there. While we were there it started to snow so we thought we should get back down the hill. Now there is really nothing wrong with a little snow but we know our luck. We took highway 49 and went to El Dorado. I grew up in this area so it was interesting to see the changes. We stopped at Poor Reds to eat lunch. Poor Reds has been there for as long as I can ever remember and is known all over the state. They have great bar-b-que. They are also known for their drink, the Golden Caddilac. When I was pregnant with Sarah, David would occaisionally go to Reds and get me pork dip. He would bring it home and we would sit on the floor and eat and watch soap operas. So, we went there for some pork dip. After that we went to Diamond Springs, the town I grew up in and lived the first years of my adult life in. Sarah was also born in Diamond Springs, at home. Diamond Springs holds alot of memories for me so it was nice to be there. We left there and headed to Placerville. As we were going down into town, it started to snow again. We ended up getting on the freeway and heading back down to Sacramento. Davids sister, Mary lives in Folsom so we stopped and visited on our way back home. It was a full day but we ended up staying up way too late and didn't want to get out of bed this morning. We got up to rain and it is still raining. Oh well, I guess I can't have summer weather all year long. Molly has been sick today. David bought her a new bone and she ate the whole thing. I think it made her sick. So she is now sleeping it off. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

Hope to hear from everyone.

David and Carol

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

I guess this about as close to home as we are going to get. The weather has been nice but a big storm is supposed to be coming in...snow and everything. Yesterday we went to my Moms. She had me wrap everything she had in the bottom of her hutch. These are all the things she has been saving for years. Last year we wrote everyones name on the bottom of each thing so it was easy to know who to make the tag out to. These were all placed under the Christmas tree. She has been telling all the family that she was having a big party on the 19th so I asked her about it. She didn't remember she had said it so I guess we'll do what we can to help her with the party. She is very happy right now and that is really good. My one brother that was coming from Oregon will not be able to come. He got layed off and is trying to get another job. So, I guess the party will be a little smaller. Well, we are off for the day, going to take a ride.
David and Carol

SUNSHINE

This morning I woke up tp actual sunshine. This is the first morning since we have been in Sacramento that we haven't had fog. Of course, that is so typical of Sacramento. When we lived here, there were times when we wouldn't see the sun for 90 days. This time of year makes me think about those days when we lived here. We were so broke all the time that we had to go to the Salvation Army to get Sarah a Christmas gift. We also got a bag of food for our Christmas dinner. One year we gathered sleeping bags, coats and blankets from all of our neighbors and took Sarah downtown to the Greyhound bus station and handed them out to the homeless. I think that is something that Sarah will never forget and it gave her a more compassionate nature. We also went caroling with our church here in the foggy, cold weather. Sacramento is the place David and I met each other. That would be 30 years ago. Geez, I'm old....

Yesterday we perused the mall just to be somewhere warm. Too many people, too much stuff. I'm not sure what we are doing today but I'm sure it will be another exciting day. The good part is that we enjoy being together and I always have plenty to do. I'm making several Christmas gifts this year. Hopefully, I'll be done in time.

My brother, sister and nephew are coming to Sacramento for Christmas. My brother lives in Oregon and my sister in Mo. and nephew in Kansas. My Mom will be happy to see them. My Mom has dementia and we never know if she remembers if we are going to visit or not. Most times she does not remember. So the day they are going to arrive, I'll have to remind her. In alot of ways God has been good to her. I think sometimes it's a blessing to her not to remember everything, she is always happy.

So, I guess that's enough for today. Now I know every reader of this can hardly wait for the next post, being that we have such an exciting life. I'll try to spice it up a bit...maybe I can make up an exciting adventure..who knows.

We hope the sun shines on you today.
David and Carol

CHRISTMAS IN SACRAMENTO

MY MOMS HOUSE

MY MOM AND STEP FATHER, JIM

Grandson Chris, Daughter Michelle

Grand Daughter Miranda

We have finally landed somewhere for awhile. We know we will be here for at least a month.

David came to our house to pick me up but we found out the laptop that was now in San Luis Obispo was not ready yet. He decided to leave me there for the Thanksgiving holiday since he would be done with his job and back in a week.

The company doing the new jacks on the 5th wheel finally came out and got that job done. So the next week, David packed everything up and headed for home. About 100 miles down the road he had a blowout in the middle of nowhere. He called Good Sam for assistance but we did not fall under their roadside assistance program (my fault, I signed up for the wrong one). So, Terry and his dad left our house and drove all the way to David. The tire was so torn up it in turn tore up some of the underneath part of the 5th wheel and wrapped itself around some bar up there. Anyway, between the Terry and David they got it fixed and drove to a place to put air in the spare. They ended up getting home around 3 in the morning.

David was able to go and get the computer and then we were on the road to a town called Meridian, near Sacramento. We were pretty excited to go to this place because it was on the delta and only about 1 hour from my Moms. So of course we went according to mapquest (worse map program ever) and soon found the map to be wrong. After driving the hour from my Moms, the map said to turn onto 3rd street. We passed 4th and thought 3rd would be on the other side of the river, it was not. I called the RV park and they said to turn around and take 4th. Now turning around a 5th wheel on a 2 lane road is not an easy task. David finally found a wide spot in the road (he is getting quite good at this) and he made a u turn. We went back to 4th and went forever on this road. I called again and they said yes, we were on the right road. We finally got up on the levee road and saw the sign for the park. The problem was...off of a levee road, the RV park entrance was up a hill and then a horseshoe turn down into it. Of course with a 5th wheel the size of ours, there was no way to get in there and looked like there was no way to get out. We passed it by and decided to go back to Sacramento. The main problem was that we didn't know where we were. We continued down the levee road winding back and forth on a 1 lane road. After about 20 miles, we saw our first car and pulled it over to ask directions. They gave us directions back to Sacramento.

We had planned to set up and then meet my son Michael, who was in town, for dinner. Michael, Michelle, and Allison met us at the new RV park. The plug here was different than any one we had come across so we had to go get an adapter. We finally made it to dinner and had a nice evening with our family.

The next morning David wanted to change spots because he couldn't get the 5th wheel level. So we moved to another spot. When he set up he still couldn't get it level and after some investigation found out we had a broken bracket on the suspension and the 5th wheel was resting on the tires on one side. He called Good Sam again (this time I had gotten the correct plan) and they sent someone out to fix it. $150 dollars later it was fixed. The guy that worked on it said it was pretty rare that it happened and usually when you've been driving on very winding roads. So them night before on the levee road must have done it.

After it was fixed we moved to a spot I really like. We are at the Cal Expo RV park and the new spot is right next to the horse race track so we can watch the harness races. Yesterday we went to see my Mom and Step Father and take them a Christmas tree. We stayed and decorated it and had a good visit.

We are again Happy Campers.

David and Carol

IS IT EVER EASY?

I'm sorry it has taken me sooooo long to get to this. Of course, know us and our Faber luck, we have again fallen into the world of repairs. I will write more about this later. Right now we are in Sacramento for the month so we will be able to spend the holidays with my Mom and the rest of the family. It has been a hard go but we thank God that we are safe and we reached a destination where we can recoup for awhile. After we get a little settled, I will write more.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

FALL AT OUR HOUSE

I know it has been awhile since I posted anything. I felt like I really didn't have alot to say. David came last Monday but we decided I would stay at the house for several reasons.

Of course..if it's not one thing it's another. The company that is supposed to be putting in our new jacks on the 5th wheel have so far screwed up everything they could. The guy that was doing it got into an accident, some of the bolts were not delivered and one of the jacks was not the right one. Now, those of you that know David, know how well he took all of this. He called, told the owner off who in turn said he would sue David for slander, etc. So, we still do not have the jacks fixed and I'm sure if it were a cafe, they would spit in our food.

Then David got a speeding ticket on the Arizona side. He said the guy was a real jerk, of course.

Next while I was gone the laptop went to blue screen and shut off. The only place we could take it was to Best Buy because it is still under warranty. There is no Best Buy anywhere around Laughlin and the closest is in Las Vegas. Anyway, David brought it home and took it to San Luis who found out it was a hard drive problem. At least it is on them to fix it. However, that means I lost everything in it. It should be ready to pick up some time next week. David will be finishing up his job at the end of the month so there is no point for him to come back and pick me up for just a couple of days.

We will be going to a town called Meridian. It is in Northern California. It is on the delta and about 1 hour from my Moms. We are going to stay there the month of December. After that in January, we are going to Quartzsite, AZ to the biggest flea market ever. We are spending a week there.

We got another job offer from a hot springs resort and spa in Death Valley and are considering that until we move on. There are so many places we want to see but need to wait until spring and summer.

So, I will be spending Thanksgiving here with the kids. I am sure they are probably real tired of me at this point but parents are here just to irritate their children, I know I am.

Fall has come to Lake Nacimiento. It is beautiful right now. We have a little coastal fog every morning and then it heats up in the afternoon. Can't complain about the weather. The Grandkids are all fine and growing, I'm always happy to see them.

Best Wishes to all. I hope you have lots to be thankful for this year, I know we do.

Happy Thanksgiving

David and Carol

HOME FOR AWHILE

MOLLY AT HOME

MY WORK BENCH SITTING EMPTY

GARAGE AND CAR

BACKYARD

OUR HOUSE

I thought maybe I'd just show the house...don't ask why. I've been here almost 2 weeks. In that time, I went to Sacramento to see my Mom. Allison (my oldest Grand daughter) came with me and helped me clean house. We also went to dinner and helped Mom figure out her address book. After I came back home, I had a couple of Dr. appointments and then David will pick me up next Monday. The weather has been nice since I've been here.

Last night my friend Anna took me out to dinner. We had a good time talking and we even got to have a margarita. I do miss my friends.

It has been nice getting to be around 3 of our Grandsons during this time. When they are small they grow so fast, I'm afraid I'll miss something. Nick is doing good in his new school, smartest kid in class, Logan has learned to use the toilet, and Wyatt is continuing to practice his insane screaming...he is quite good at it.

David is not happy at his new job. They changed his hours to evenings so I guess this job will be short lived. We are now looking for a new place we want to go to. We're not sure if we want to go north or south. Molly was happy to get home but I can tell she is ready to get back on the road. Every time I get my purse she is at the door waiting. She also misses her Daddy David.

It has been nice to be able to drive my car for awhile and do some things I wanted to do but David and I miss each other and are anxious to be together again.

EASY ON THE EYES

These are all pictures outside our back window. It is really nice to wake up to something this beautiful. Who knows, I may be able to get out the art supplies and paint one of these views.

It seems that the people over on this side of the RV park are more friendly than on the other side. I think the ones over here are more long time people. Yesterday when we moved in (which is always a chore), one of our next door neighbors came over. It turns out that he is from Bakersfield, CA and is here so his wife can go to some school around here. I met the ones on the other side this morning. They are in a big bus. You can just about see it all here when it comes to RV's. For some people it's like driving a semi truck with all your household belongings. Some of them have 40 ft. buses towing a 25 ft. trailer filled with motorcycles, golf carts and junk. I saw one 35 ft. 5th wheel pullin a double decker trailer. On the bottom was an ATV and on the top was a boat. I guess they kind of think 'just in case I need it'. There are some really old ones that look like they've seen better days too but I guess it really doesn't matter what you travel in, just as long as you can travel.

After David gets off of work today, we will be driving to Paso Robles. It will take about 7 hours. Neither one of us like that trip but at least it's close enough to do in one day.

As the pictures show, anywhere that pleases the eye can be a Paradise. So, I'm signing off from our little bit of Paradise.

David and Carol

ON THE SHORT ROAD

Davids New Workplace

RV Park

Retro RV

Retro RV

Today we will be moving again from one space to another. Employees of the casino are given more permenant accomadations. So we will be moving about 3 rows over. I think our new space will be better. It backs up to the golf course so it's more private and nice to look at. Moving entails packing everything up no matter how far you are moving, so today is all about packing and cleaning.

Tomorrow after David gets off work we will be driving home to Paso Robles. David will drive back here for work and I will be staying in Paso for a few days. I'll be able to enjoy Nicky's birthday and be able to go to Sacramento to see my Mom. There are always those things to do like going to a yearly appt. to the DR. I'm exited to go home and check on everything. David will come back and pick me up in a week or two.

The motorhomes above are real vintage looking. They had a little rally here and there were about 6 of them. The orange one has a corvair engine. We thought they were all really cute. It looks pretty overcast this morning, like it is going to rain. The weather has been wonderful. It has been about 93 degrees this past week. Love the summer weather.

That's all from this little piece of Nevada Paradise.

David and Carol

Summertime....and the livin' is easy

This is one Happy Camper Couple

TV and Dinner

Molly after her trip to the Beauty Parlor

Working Man

Sundown on the RV

Nothing really new for today. Well, since David was hired for this job,,,he got a raise before he started and then today during orientation, he got his hours changed to days. So I think it will work out for awhile. We are having to get new jacks on the front of the 5th wheel so there goes his first check and then tires for the truck which will be his next 2 paychecks. The weather here is really warm. It is just like summer time. It seems like everyone that travels has a dog. It is nice for Molly. She loves being around other dogs, doing dog things, sniffing each others butt, etc. I'm always busy with my projects. So, I guess that's it for now...

David and Carol

NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA AND NEVADA

5. Coming into Nevada

4. Arizona

3. Almost to Arizona

2. New Mexico

1. Going thru New Mexico

We have been here in Nevada for awhile now. We just got to a place where the internet would work right. We are in Laughlin, NV and when you go across the Colorado River you are in Arizona. So just to go shopping you will be in 2 different states. The river is the real jewel here. It is really pretty and the casinos are right along the river. We are staying out of town aways. We are at the KOA which is next door to the AVI Indian casino. So the place we are staying is basically an Indian reservation.

We were not sure what we were going to do. So, we stopped here to regroup while waiting for some other things to come thru. David decided to go over to the casino and see if he could get a short time job. They hired him on the spot as a security guard so I guess we'll be here until something else comes thru or we get itchy feet. He figures he can work enough to pay for new truck tires when we need them.

I'm going to try to get home for awhile to visit family and pick up a few things.

Molly went to the beauty parlor today and got a hair cut, bath, nails and teeth brushed. She wasn't happy when we picked her up. She thinks we tricked her but she sure looks pretty.

The desert isn't what you would call Paradise, the sunrise and sunsets are different but they have their beautiful times too when they hit against the mountains. So, goodby from a place that's almost Paradise.

STILL HERE

Our internet service has not been too great. Hopefully, it will get better. We are in Nevada but will be moving again tomorrow. Nothing much has gone on lately to talk about. The weather here is nice and warm so I guess we can handle it for awhile. I can't send any pics because of the internet so I'll try later.
Love to all,
David and Carol

THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS

Texas is definately the state we would move to if we could. Texans have so much pride in their state. We were really impressed by all the homes that fly the Texas flag. That is something you never see in California. Not only do they fly their flag but somewhere on the outside of their house, they tack up the lone star of Texas.

Texans work hard and they play hard. They are friendly and will wave or talk to anyone. We were amazed at even teenagers who would sit down next to us to eat and start up a conversation. One of the towns we went thru had a population of 400 people but they have 3 churches. It is a conservitive state where they don't talk about political correctness and think everything runs fine without it. God, family, country and guns are what they live by and what they think is important. No one can buy alcohol before noon on Sunday and some stores close, hanging a sign in their window that says they are closed so their employees can worship and spend time with their family.
There are big skies where the clouds are low because there is nothing to hide them. Texas is a huge state that is like a country all to itself, a place where young people say yes mam and no mam. Speed limit signs are posted for day(75) and night(65). It is the only place we've seen where a young girl can wear daisy dukes, play pool, have only one leg and no one gives her a second glance. A place where David can mistakenly go into the womens restroom, not notice that was where he was, come out and no one even notices.
Texans are proud of their sports. They love the Dallas Cowboys even when they lose(sorry Michael). It is a place where everyone makes you feel welcome, (thank you Celeste). We met nice, respectful people and had a lot of fun with some(Steve and Joy).
We are born and raised Californians and we love our state but we love Texas too and felt right at home there. Even though we are no longer there, we know the sun rises and sets in the paradise called Texas.

NEVADA

ARIZONA

NEW MEXICO

NEW MEXICO

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

I guess I got the pictures in the wrong order, oh well. Don't you just love that there is a UFO museum in Roswell? I think I am going to try to do 2 blogs today. I really just wanted to let everyone know where we are right now. It was a very long ride to get here and guess what? The wind is really strong here this morning. I have said this before but for those of you that know me, you know I hate the wind. The last time the wind was not blowing was when we were staying in San Antonio. Maybe that's why it is my favorite Texas city. While in San Antonio, we actually got to use our awning. That was over a month ago and we have not used it since because of the wind. I'm hoping I can get back to the blog page again today. The place we are staying does not have a great wireless signal. Until then....

WE ARE HERE....WHERE?

I had so much to say tonight but it is now 9:30 and I just finally got online. I will say, we are in Nevada. The wind is blowing a little but not near as much as last night. Last night we were in New Mexico and got caught in the middle of a huge windstorm. We ended up with about 4-5 hours of wind the magnitude of an earthquake. It rocked our poor 5th wheel so hard we really did feel like we were in an earthquake. Of course, neither one of us slept. I had to lay with a pillow over my head because it was so loud. David came out to the couch. We both prayed. By morning the wind had blown so hard we had about 1/2 inch of sand on everything in the 5th wheel. We left as early as we dared to and drove all day to escape what they said would be another night of wind. So tonight, yes, it is windy but it is a warm gentle wind. Tomorrow I will write some more. I'm not really sure if anyone even reads this blog because there are no comments left. So please, if you read it, just leave a little note that you read it.
Until tomorrow,
David and Carol

....STILL ON THE ROAD...

Tonight will be another short one. Traveling all day and getting ready to travel the next wears us out. We are in New Mexico today and plan to be in Nevada tomorrow. If you ever want to take a mindless ride on straight road with nothing to look at, try going Highway 285 thru New Mexico. Miles and miles of nothing. Who ever thinks our planet is overcrowded should come out to the middle of America and see the thousands of miles of empty land. We passed thru Roswell today. I didn't see any aliens (from UFO's) but I'm sure they must be there. My Mother spent some time here with my Dad when he was in the service and they had just gotten married. She remembers it very fondly. I called her as we were going thru the town and let her know how much it has grown. I took some pics to take back to her. Molly still has not pooped so I guess she misses Steve more than we thought she would. Hopefully, I'll be able to give a better story with pictures tomorrow.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Well, we are on the road and movin'. Tonight we are in Fort Stockton, TX. Nothing much going on here. Tomorrow we are going through New Mexico. We will be going through Roswell so maybe we will see some aliens or UFO's. Tomorrow night we will be in Albuquerque. The weather is a little cooler here than it was in Magnolia Beach.

I also did not see the sunset tonight. The RV park we are at hires workcampers in their little restaurant. Pretty darn good food. Molly also misses Magnolia Beach. She is sitting at the door with her head hung down...all depressed. She misses her boyfriend Steve. She hasn't even been able to go to the bathroom because she only went when Steve was standing there.

So, for now this is as much excitement as I can muster up. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

It is with Sadness....

SUNRISE
SUNRISE
SUNSET
STEVE AND JOY
It is with sadness that we will be leaving this beautiful place and wonderful people. Steve and Joy, we will miss you immensely . We have had a good time with you and hope to see you again and travel with you.

This area is really pretty to look at and the weather is still so nice it's like summer time here. I hope we have made a little bit of a difference here and we will miss seeing the sunrise every morning over the gulf and the sunset every night over the lake.

We will be leaving in the morning for parts unknown. We will let everyone know where we end up. Please keep reading and leaving comments.

David and Carol