MY FIRST DUTY HOME.

I love being on the road. And, I had to come home, but my first duty home was to stop by my local grocery and grab a six-pack of Black Butte Porter. I was only out for a short stay but a girl's gotta have access to a decent dark, chewy, hoppy beer once in awhile.  (Jim calls it motor oil.) Even the stores where we shopped didn't have a decent craft beer I could buy.


Another thing they didn't have was an olive bar. Those little French picholines, dark green, spiced Scicilians, Greek, kalamatas,  Spanish sevillanos, luccas, manzanillos,  yummmy.

My trip home was smooth. My cameras was deep in my carry on and I didn't take pictures from the plane, but the rice fields and canals and flooded fields from the air, gave the impression there is no water shortage in California. All the lakes and reservoirs had yellow soil lines showing how low the levels are. We had never heard of a 500 year drought record until this year. Now we know what it is like. Summer in winter. Not good. So little snow.
 Time to deepen my well.  Get ready to pay higher food prices as the drought continues.
A group of Churches and faith healers are up on a nearby  peak as I write to send up prayers for rain today. I'm not a believer in such things, but I don't oppose the effort. Jim's son is quite willing to send some snow our way, but, as we know that doesn't work either. Time to move to Alaska, but they don't have olive bars or BBP there. Whatsa girl to do?

CALAVERAS BIG TREES STATE PARK.

This recent family reunion was special to me since I met my second to youngest brother's daughter and her family for the first time. (My brother died unexpectedly at age 50 in 2005.) They drove here from Colorado, where they've recently moved.   They lived most of their lives in Nome, Alaska. These are my brother's grandchildren aged 10, 7 and 5, who  don't like candy, and refuse most  sweets. They are unfamiliar with foods like artichokes, avocados; had never tasted  lemons and limes.  They ask if the fruit they are eating is a peach or an apricot. They had never eaten cherries and were amazed to find out that they are not all red as they are pictured in books. Insects we find normal everyday nuisances amaze them. In Nome they mostly hunt and fish and augment their diet from "The Safeway".   They are staying with me until the 27th of July and I've been showing them around the Motherlode.

Our first stop was Calaveras Big Trees State Park. A huge pine tree had fallen through the kiosk and they were doing business outside under a canopy while the kiosk is under repair.  (A photo of a photo)  The incident happened about six weeks ago. Before we went,  I teased the kids and asked them to trace in the dirt the circumference of the biggest tree they had ever seen.

Their parents were as stunned to see the trees as the kids were who didn't know what to expect.

The giants never fail to awe. They are sequoia giganteum and are the biggest trees on earth though not the tallest.  Sequoia sempirvirens, the "coast redwood"  grows a bit slimmer and taller.

Trying to count the rings would take all day, but the kids did learn that the biggest stump in the grove is over 1,200  years old. A hunter in the 1800's discovered the big trees and went back to his camp and described them to the rest of the logging crew cutting timbers for the mines. They laughed at him and thought he was telling stories. He couldn't get them to come out and see for themselves. So the next day of hunting, he came back to camp and said he killed a huge bear and needed help to haul it in.  When they got up a  couple of horses to carry the bear, they were introduced to the big trees and felt the same kind of awe we all do on a first visit.

They never fail to amaze and I've seen them many, many times.

To be able to walk through the hollowed core of a big tree is a pretty trippy experience.

After walking the grove, we drove down to the river picnic grounds and ate our lunch and went swimming. The way the kids described it was, "This is the best water I've ever seen."  All enjoyed the great beauty of the park.

And, they are so right. Great beauty just fifteen miles from where I live. I'm glad to have visitors to inspire me to enjoy these massive giants that were here before Christ, and were alive when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Nome you may or may not know is quite flat,  drab and featureless until the snows fall.  Where they live in Colorado is also quite flat and desert-like, although driving through the state in the mountains, is to experience grand forests and scenic views. They have much to see and learn about this great country, as I do.  It's why I travel.

BLM LAND AND A DANCE BAND

We left Horst and Margot yesterday, but not before Horst regaled us with more tales of a most interesting life while living in Russia and the difficulty of mastering the language. He gave me a copy of his book in manuscript form and they loaded us down with oranges, tangerines, lemons and grapefruits from their yard.

 He adores Margot and insisted on showing us a velvet shirt she had made him and his white sweater that she knitted for him thirty years ago.
Then we headed a short distance across town to a small 5 acre section of BLM land, next to the highway outside of Yuma, that is highly popular with RVers. Jim's former singles group, the WINS park here every year for their communal Christmas and New Years. Some WINS belong to the Escapees singles group as well and when we pulled into this popular free camping place, there were about ten WINS and a couple Escapees among the hundred or more rigs camped here. They limit people to 14 days, as do national and state camp grounds. There are no hook-ups.

We decided to walk the perimeter of the 5 acre plot (sans camera)  and then we stopped at the VFW, which sits next to this spot, for a couple of drinks. They have live music 5 nights per week, just one reason this place is so popular with RVers.  A lively band called Dakota was playing good swing, western, and polka music and the dance floor was loaded. They also serve dinner here and as it neared dinner time, the dancers lined up for dinner.

I talked to the couple sitting next to us and discovered she had a daughter that lives in San Andreas, 16 miles from my home in Murphys. Her significant other lived in Mountain Ranch for ten years before his wife died. He, a native of Bodett, Minnesota and she a native of Yuma.

Across from us, a couple, she from Embarrass, Minnesota and he from Alaska. I have two nephews who live in Alaska and have visited that marvelous state. It never ceases to amaze me when meeting people on the road, the connections you share.

We had a rockin' good time and most likely will pass this way again some time.