Hi there, welcome back to our story.
Our last episode concluded on Wednesday, June 24th, when
we arrived at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge on the Central Coast of
California. We have been coming to this area at least once or twice
or year since we started our full timing adventure. The reason was
that Jackie has family living in Pismo Beach, a coastal town about 20
miles north of Santa Maria. We stay in Santa Maria because the Elks
Lodge here has a very nice RV park with full hookup 50 amp sites for
which you can make advance reservations. They are $30 a night, which
is high for an Elks Lodge, but very moderate compared to RV park
rates in this very touristy area.
This is the first time back here since
about this time last summer. That last visit was the last time that
we were able to see Jackie's Aunt Donna, who passed away at 94 late
last year. Her grandson Corey, who has been her full time care giver
for the last dozen years, still lives in their house on the hill
overlooking the Pismo Beach pier. He inherited the house upon her
death and intends to keep it and continue to live there. After we
got settled into the Elks and got set up for our two week stay we
spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing after our three
day journey to get here. We contacted Corey and let him know we
would come by tomorrow to see him. It is really nice to be back in a
cool place again after the heat of the desert.
Thursday, June 25th, we
awoke to an overcast and cool morning. It was nice to be able to do
my daily walk again without sweating my face off. We left the coach
about 1:30 and went out to do a couple of geocaches and then drive up
to Pismo Beach to visit with Corey. We got two caches and one DNF
and arrived at what is now officially Corey's house on the hill. We
had a very nice visit, although it was odd and sad to be in the house
and not have Aunt Donna around to talk to. We had brought a frozen
lasagna and some garlic bread with us which we cooked in the oven
after cocktail hour. We had a very nice dinner with the three of us
and we left around 7:30 or so and headed back to Santa Maria. After
we got back to the coach we watched some TV and went to bed.
Friday, June 26th, we left
the coach about 12:30 and drove to a local truck stop cafe called
Pappy's, located in the south part of Santa Maria. It was
recommended to us by Ron Kopf, the husband of Jackie's cousin
Stephanie who lives in Fresno. Ron travels a lot for work and told
Jackie that Pappy's had the best chicken fried steak anywhere. It is
an old place, founded in 1959, with a distinctly cowboy flavor. The
menu is pure truck stop comfort food. Jackie had the chicken fried
steak and eggs, which was huge and she said it was, in fact, very
good. I had the Santa Maria BBQ tri tip melt, which was on sourdough
bread with onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese and served with an au
jus. It was, by far, the best tasting beef sandwich I have had. We
will definitely be coming back to Pappy's. After lunch we did some
geocaching in Santa Maria, getting five new finds and three DNFs. We
then did some shopping, Walmart and Lowes. After we were done we
went back to the coach, had cocktails but no real dinner because we
were still pretty full from lunch. We watched some TV and went to
bed.
Saturday, June 27th, we had
mostly a stay at home day. I did go out after lunch to get our very
dirty car washed and stop at a Von's to get a couple of things that
Walmart didn't have yesterday. About 4:00 Corey came over to visit
and have dinner. We sat and talked for a while and then did
hamburgers on the BBQ. He stayed until about 7:30 or so and then
left to go home. We watched TV until bedtime. Sunday was a stay at
home day. Did the Sunday paper with coffee in the morning and then
spent the day doing chores. Jackie made a nice chili relleno for
dinner. Monday was laundry day. We went out after lunch to the
local laundromat and did our clothes. After the washing was done we
drove up to Pismo Beach and met Corey at his favorite neighborhood
bar, Scotty's. We had a couple of drinks, talked to Corey and some
of his friends. By 4:30 we were on our way back to the coach. We
had cocktails and chili relleno leftovers for dinner.
Tuesday, June 30th, the
middle of the year already. Today was a stay at home day. Did a few
chores but mostly relaxed for the day. Did some pork chops on the
grill for dinner. Wednesday, July 1st, we left the coach
around 12:30 and went to a local restaurant called The Pantry on
Park. We had been there about four years ago and really liked it, we
just never got around to going back. Jackie had an omelet and I had
liver and onions. Both dishes were very good, prepared nicely and
were generous portions. The only down side was the service, which
was not so good. Friendly, but they payed more attention to chatting
among themselves and watching their phones than checking on us.
After lunch we drove up to Arroyo Grande to do some geocaching.
Jackie also got her haircut in between caches. We were able to get
seven new finds, with no DNFs. After caching we went back to the
coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Thursday, July 2nd, we left
the coach about 1:30 and went out to run some errands and do a little
geocaching. We got two new finds and a pair of DNFs too. We also
had four caches that we went to try and get only to find that they
were in State parks that have been closed because of the virus thing.
We stopped at an RV supply store but were unable to find what I
need. Suzie Babcock gave us their propane fire pit, which had hardly
been used, but I need to get the right fitting to make it work on our
coach. So far I am not having much luck with that. We then stopped
at a Von's store in Arroyo Grande for a few things. It was a
disappointing stop as they were out of a lot of stuff because, I
presume, the holiday weekend. After Von's we headed home just in
time for cocktails. We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.
Friday we went out after lunch to run some errands and do a little
geocaching. We stopped at Costco to gas the car up, ten gallons
after a month and a half. We stopped at Home Depot and then Walmart
for a few things. After errands we got three new cache finds along
with one DNF. We then went back to the coach and relaxed for the
rest of the afternoon and evening.
Saturday, July 4th, Happy
Independence Day! We relaxed at home until about 3:00 when we left
the coach and drove to the KFC in Santa Maria to pick up dinner for a
4th of July party at Corey's. We got the chicken and
sides and then drove to Pismo Beach for the party. We have spent
several 4th of July holidays over the years in both the
current house which is now Corey's and the larger house next door
which is where Jackie's Aunt Donna and Uncle “Barkey” used to
live. They lived in the area for some 50 years and built four houses
on the hill, all right in the same area. Corey's brother and sister
inherited the smaller house below Corey's which still belonged to
Donna as a rental. It is up for sale now. The other smaller house
they sold not long after they built it. We used to love coming here
for the 4th because Pismo Beach shot their fireworks off
of the end of the City pier, which is directly below the house.
However, this year there is no formal fireworks show because of the
lockdown. We still had a fun little get together with Corey, and a
couple of friends of his Gloria and Shaffer. Gloria and her husband
have a summer house in Pismo and Shaffer is the bartender at
Scotty's, Corey's favorite bar. Jackie's cousin Pia and her
boyfriend were supposed to come over, but they canceled at the last
minute afraid that there might be a lot of people they didn't know.
The five of us sat and talked, drank and had chicken dinner and had a
great time. We left around 9:30 and drove home after dark for the
first time in a while. There was no public fireworks, but there was
no shortage of private shows going on for the entire 20 mile drive
south to Santa Maria. When we got back to the coach the neighborhood
around the Elks RV lot looked and sounded like a war zone. It kept
up until well after we went to bed at 10:30. Fortunately, we never
heard any sirens, so everyone must have survived the night.
Sunday, July 5th, we did the
usual Sunday morning paper and coffee. We left the coach about noon
and drove to the In N Out burger place for lunch. Had to eat in the
car, but it was still good. After lunch we did some caching, getting
a half dozen new finds and a couple of DNFs. We are now just 50
finds from hitting our 10,000 milestone. Yea! One of the caches was at the Santa Maria Airport and I saw this old A-4 Skyhawk near a small museum. After caching we
headed back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon
and evening. Monday we left the RV park after lunch and drove to the
Costco to get a few things before we left the Central Coast area. We
went back to the coach and put everything away and did a few chores.
Around 3:30 we left again and drove to Corey's in Pismo Beach for one
last visit. It was just the three of us and we sat and talked, had
some cocktails and snacks, and for dinner Corey made some locally
made burritos with a side of rice. We had a nice meal and visited
some more. We left around 8:00 and drove back to the Elks. We
stayed in with the TV the rest of the night. Tuesday was a stay at
home day. After lunch I spent a couple hours outside putting away
all our trinkets. We spent the entire day and evening in the coach
relaxing with the computers and the TV.
Wednesday, July 8th, another
travel day. We had the coach buttoned up and ready to go by 10:00,
heading North. Ultimately, we are on our way to Peggy's house in
Mineral, California, near Redding, for what was to be the 5th
annual 50th wedding anniversary. However, a couple days
ago Peggy called and said that she was canceling the party because 33
people, many of whom are younger people and people Peggy doesn't see
very often, was way too many with the Covid virus still running
rampant around the country. She still wants us to come and spend
time with her and her kids, but the party is off. That works out for
us because we are going North into Oregon anyway and we have to be
somewhere, so we just kept our reservations at the RV park in
Mineral. Last year the party was nearly canceled when Vernon Died a
couple days before, but they turned that into a celebration of life.
This year's will be a celebration of family. Today's journey was
only 130 miles north and east to the town of Coalinga off of the I-5.
The trip was pretty uneventful and we arrived at the Almond Tree
Oasis RV park at 12:30. We got parked and set up for our two night
stay here. Relax today, some caching tomorrow, and then on to the
next two night stay. We have three of these short stops before we
head into the mountains and Mineral. After we got set up we just
relaxed the rest of the day.
The end of our two week stay here in
Santa Maria marks a good point to get this episode published and
online. Until next time, remember that you can’t always control
who walks into your life but, you CAN control which window you throw
them out of… See ya soon.
