Catching up is hard to do...

On May 1, we took a side trip up Hwy 101 (aka Redwood Highway) destination Brookings, OR via Crescent City. This was really for a side job for Hubby, but may as well enjoy the journey, right? So we stopped to enjoy the sounds and smell... ahhh.... and... well, let's see if the pictures load.
and then... (ooohhh... I'm getting the hang of this picture thing... Yay!)

Lucky me! Aww.... after all these years... still crazy about him! :-)

And then...

There's Ian! (He thinks we're funny!)

Before we headed out on the 19th we were had the fun of spending the weekend with Jana Smith (and boys Jake and Josh) and also managed a brief "meet-up" with Kim & Dennis Goza and friends Libby and Linda.


I have to say that leaving Humboldt this time was a bit harder this time... Our very good friends, The Welch Family, will soon be moving to Ohio. While we wish them all the love and blessings for a safe trip and getting settled in their new home, we will truly miss them and Humboldt just won't be the same without them.

(Me, Jana Smith, Space Welch, Rich, Smiles Welch)

We will look forward to, hopefully, catching up with them when they come through Sacramento on their way across to Ohio. And, OF COURSE, it will give us an incentive to go visit soon...

From here I will insert a couple of blogs that I wrote while we were traveling last week (yes, it's taken me a week to get these posted... sorry...) Along with a picture that gives an interesting perspective of traveling 101 in large vehicles. Unfortunately I was not having luck getting the camera adjusted on the really "tight spots"... but for you who have not traveled this highway before it gives you a hint... there are just areas that you take it slow and easy...



On to the blogs:

Tuesday - May 19, 2009

Headin’ out of Humboldt…

Heading south on Hwy 101, (aka the Redwood Coast Highway.) At the moment we are passing the exit to the Avenue of the Giants. It is very rare that I take the co-pilots seat in our motorhome. Typically our Ian rides “shotgun”!

We took our time leaving today. We have decided that we prefer to travel late in the day when leaving Humboldt enroute to warmer climates; as we are today. The semester ended for Humboldt State Universtiy (HSU) last week. Summer Break! I think somehow we are doing this backwards, though, most people head to where it is cooler, during summer months. We are going to where it is much warmer.

Our destination is hubby’s parents house in Oroville, CA. Some of you may know where Chico, CA, is; Oroville is about 30 miles or so south in Butte County. Tonight, our first destination is to Yuba City, CA. There we will visit our son, his wife and our three grandchildren. Yuba City is only about a 40 minute drive from Oroville, so we will be able to visit them often this summer.

So, back to my riding “shotgun” --- It’s a rather different view from here. Watching the road come at you and go away. In our RV even the largest of vehicles look rather small. I am blogging as we head down the road at 60mph to the tune of Lynard Skynard. Yee Haw! We love our life!

Despite Ian loving his typical “shotgun” position he seems to thoroughly be enjoying the opportunity to turn his “Longshot” Nerf gun (thank you Josh) into an “air guitar” to play with the band… he’s dancing around, rockin’ out as we head south.

And my hubby, well he is just cruisin’ – He drives our behemoth like it’s our minivan. I know we both look forward to the day when we do get to take our “Moby D” down the road more often. Currently 'Moby' sits for most of each semester; we travel primarily on breaks. Once Rich graduates we anticipate that he will work in a location for a few months at a time, or so, and then we will travel to some place new. (We do have plans to do a bus conversion... more on that another time.)

It is funny, we recently realized that since we have been married we live in a place for a couple of years and then we are ready for something new. The same seems to be true for our current stay in Humboldt. We recently admitted to each other that we have “itchy feet” to move on.

We know that hubby will continue at HSU for at least one more semester, but after that we are just not sure. He is starting to look at programs elsewhere to see if he wants to consider transferring. Our oldest son and family are looking at moving to Texas, perhaps as soon as the end of this summer. That is a bit of a catalyst for us to head out and maybe spend some time in Texas for a bit.

Truth be told, it is a difficult decision. We really like Humboldt and have some great friends whom we will miss when we leave. HSU has awesome Natural Resource programs available. We are not sure if we can find anything that comes close somewhere else. Perhaps we will be here for a few more years with his studies and just be content travelling during school breaks… time will tell…

I’ll sign off for now… and just enjoy the view for awhile…

Wednesday – May 20, 2009

On the Road Again…

We rolled into Robinson Rancheria, on Highway 20 near Clear Lake, at about 9:30pm and decided to finally stop for food and rest. Hubby decided he was tired, so after food we called it a night. We don’t gamble much, hubby being raised in Reno, NV, casino’s don’t have much appeal. But we are thankful for the big parking lots and for how welcoming they are to be able to stop for a rest.

The next leg of this journey will take us, we estimate about three hours, through the hills that lead to Colusa and then into Yuba City for a visit with our son and family. Our old rig can only do about 20-25mph on the hills, so it’s slow going… but hey, isn’t the journey what it’s all about?? Isn’t that what we learn by enjoying this lifestyle with our kids?? We can only hope…

Until Next time...

Modern America...

Sorry so very long in between posts... again... I thank you for your forgiveness I will try to catch up. This may be a bit of a muddled post... I want to catch up on a few things since I last wrote.

First off I want to explain my reference to "Modern America" ... the pic of me with my laptop was taken by Ian on our recent trip from Humboldt County (CA) to Butte County (CA) to visit hubby's parents for a couple of months.

When I first saw this pic it reminded me of bygone years and a conversation my mom had with my brother. Now close your eyes and visualize this... oh wait, you have to have your eyes open to read this... sorry, silly me... As I was saying, try to imagine this.

First off you have to know that my brother is one of the biggest Garth Brooks fans that has ever lived. And uniquely enough he resembles Garth to the point that we once were traveling Route 66 together and a bunch of teeny-boppers got giddy when they thought they were waiting on Garth 'live and in person'... it was ok, when they found out he wasn't Garth, he was still a cute -- single -- guy!

So, back to "Modern America"... It was in the 80's (don't ask me to remember specifically the year; numbers are my brothers thing...) and my brother had managed to get one of the illusive "wrist bands" that entitled him to stand in line at ARCO Arena (Sacramento, CA) to 'maybe' get to buy tickets to Garth's upcoming concert.

So as any good little fan would do --- he camped out at ARCO the night before, then dutifully stood in line. However, Joe (my bro) wanted to insure his opportunity, and that of friends and family members, to get tix -- so he called Ticketmaster on his cell phone (or it might have been Dad's cell phone) as soon as they went on sale. [yes... he managed to buy tix via phone thanks to his trusty Visa.]

Now, today with cell phones being as prevalent as they are, that perhaps doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. But back then, some of you may remember, cell phones were about the size of a brick... LOL! Anyway, I remember the conversation when my brother called my mom (from the cell phone of course) to tell her that he got tickets to see Garth... while he was still standing in line to get tickets to Garth... and Mom's words... "Welcome to Modern America."

Enough reminiscing... thank you for indulging me...

more in a bit...

4-20 in Humboldt

Our posts are long overdue... and this will just be a short one... but just HAD TO!! HAD TO make a post on 4-20 in Humboldt. We sit here quitely relaxing 200 yards from the beach listening to the waves crash to the shore. Meanwhile less than five miles away hundreds of revelers partake in one of Humboldt life's "greener activities"... LOL!

Humboldt is known for being "green" in more ways than one. Today, 4-20, the influx of transient visitors to this fair county is exemplary of one form of the "green". For those who don't understand the significance of this calendar day Google "4-20" -- It will explain the origins behind this celebration of Cannabis. In short, while March and St. Patrick's Day is about the "wearin' o' the green" --- April, and 4-20, is about the "smokin' o' the green" -- Any questions??

As we sit here watching the minutes tick away on 4-20 aware that we do not have any herbal supplements of which to partake, we realize that... we must be getting old... LOL! But we are taking a moment to recognize this unique snippet in time, of which most revelers will only vaguely remember... It is quite unique also to be in Humboldt County on this particular date... If you missed it... there's always next year... :-)

It's already spring...

I feel like such a slacker. I haven't posted in weeks... That is so bad. I really need to get my act together. I am still trying to figure this out, I will confess, I still don't know how to post pictures. Perhaps when my hubby returns from his latest diving adventure he will help me. After all he is the one who is so good at "painting the wall..." [Note: for you that do not know what that means, refer to my first entry...]

Ian and I spent spring break (Rich's school break from HSU -- last week)at Grandpa and Grandma's in Oroville, CA (near Chico) while Rich went with his dive class to Catalina Island. Yes, you read that right, Ian and I stayed near Chico and Rich went to dive at Catalina. Puttz! (Go ahead -- tell him I called him a puttz! Go for it! tee hee hee!)

He had a really good time; it was both exhausting and exhilarating. He had eight dives in the matter of four days. It was not two each day as you might think, ah no, what would have been the challenge in that? It was one the first day, then three the second and three the third and one the fourth and then they left to come home -- a mere 700+ mile drive, one way. No problem! (Maybe on second thought I'm glad I stayed with the in-laws; just the drive alone was exhausting the way they did it.)

Now that he is not-quite-caught-up on his rest from the last trip (we got back a week ago today, late at night...) He is leaving tomorrow morning for another dive. This one will only be a weekend dive, but they are going to Monterey, CA, which is about 400 miles (one way) from where we are. Oh did I mention that they will have a night dive upon arrival at Monterey tomorrow, yes, they had two or three of those at Catalina (I can't remember which) great fun I am sure. Not!!

Personally I think I might draw the line at diving in the dark. The water is dark and murky enough already. By the way, did I tell you that he saw sharks while diving at Catalina? Oh yes, lots of them. He told me what kind, but I'm not the one with the ocean major at HSU; guess I'll have to get the info from him again and post it later. Or better yet, perhaps he'll post about his trip(s) and post pictures. Yes, pictures, that would be good.

After all, we really don't know if those were itty bitty sharks, or kinda smallish sharks, or medium sharks, or large sharks... we just know he saw sharks... ahhh, I think it's enough to know he saw sharks, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the kind that we once had in our aquarium; and I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have wanted to be diving too close. Yes, I know that we are not on their food chain list, but just in case... after all a surfboard doesn't really look like food, does it? Enough said.

Speaking of pictures... rumor has it that there are pictures of my husband on the boat en route from Catalina Island to the mainland. To this you say, "so, what's so exciting about a boat ride?" To your question I answer, ah but these are not just any pictures... as I understand the story my husband chose to wear his favorite attire back to the mainland (that would be his Utilikilt) and it was a very windy day.

As my hubby innocently enjoyed the view from the deck of the boat, others got a view that... well... was one of the answers to the age old question "What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt?" and that answer be... "What the good Lord blessed him with." (Trust me that we do know there are many ways to answer that question, but this one applies here... tee hee hee...) I understand that cameras were a snappin' but I have not yet seen any "incriminating photos" LOL! But as this is a family blog we promise to only post PG rated kilt pics herewith.

Speaking of my desire to learn to blog. I want to thank all the FOTR's that have listed their blogs on the FOTR website (www.familiesontheroad.com) I have enjoyed viewing many of them. Most recently I was catching up with Krystal and family (http://showustheworld.blogspot.com/) and saw that she noted our blog at the bottom of hers under the Lemonade Stand "If Life Gives You Lemons...Make Lemonade" -- I'm not sure how ours fits into the category that could potentially be deserving of sporting the Lemonade stand, but that is a goal I can aspire to achieve. Thank you very much. Thanks for including us on your list, Krystal. Personally I love your blog, you inspire me much.

I wish I could share something else funny or exciting going on, but I'm drawing a blank. I'll have to make notes and share it next time. Hopefully by my next post I will have figured out how, or have hog-tied my hunny down long enough, to post pics. Perhaps once I understand how to do it I will go back and post some older pics with a bit of retrospective over the past two years.

Until next time...

A quote to ponder: "My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare."
-- Mike Myers

In the beginning...

This was written in the last week while I was pondering how to start this Blog.

It's a blog... Hmmm... Well, it's only taken us just over two years to get this going. I really thought that we would have figured this out sooner. After all... life is an adventure and adventures are best shared. Aren't they?

So, let's back up... (I promise a digest version...)

Where did this all begin? I must admit, it is a bit of a blur at times. December, 2004, Rich had enough of working Juvenile Detention and Rehabilitation. He was going back to school... it just took some time to figure out the specifics.

At one point he considered teaching high school. Then after a visit to the website for Humboldt State University (HSU) to check out their Marine Biology program -- it quickly became clear that the focus was to follow Rich's passion: the ocean.

Although Rich started HSU with the intent of pursuing a degree in Oceanography, as time goes on it seems that Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation better fits his passion of everything to do with the ocean... including being "in it" (vs. being in a lab or office.) So the chosen minor, appropriately, Scientific Diving.

Back to the blur... somewhere around August, 2006, Rich -- with the encouragement of his counselor at Butte College (Oroville, CA) -- applied to HSU. After various contacts with the University regarding necessary documents, etc. in early November, 2006, we decided that we would travel to HSU (Arcata, CA) to take the final documents needed for Rich's application; after all -- we had never seen the area where we were considering spending several years.

After a brief visit (three days) we were definitely intrigued by Arcata and very excited about the prospect of moving there... the following Fall... we thought. Yes, the fact should be duly noted that during Rich's application process we had it in our minds that he was applying for the 2007/08 School Year, with a start date of Fall 2007. Consequently when we received his letter of acceptance three weeks later (one day before Thanksgiving) with a start date of January, 2007, we were quite startled -- elated, yet startled nontheless.

We were startled that the letter came so quickly after document submissions and additionally that it was for a start date not quite two months in the future. OH --- MY --- GOSH!!! Downsize and quick!! Thank goodness for Craigslist and Freecycle.

We had looked some at rental prospects and realized that for our needs (housing only during school semesters) renting was not practical. Not only was it tremendously expensive, most places wanted very large deposits and one year leases. Neither of which were practical for us. Oh ya, and few landlords were "dog friendly" (at the time we had two Boxers: Cupcake and Molly.)

Our conclusion, we would live in an RV... not sure exactly what, but we were confident that "more would be revealed" -- we just had to have faith. Back to 'first things first... downsize.' During this process, I must admit I was amazed at how liberating it was to get rid of "stuff" -- the "question of the day" became "how important is it?"

Truly, if we think about it, most of us have too much stuff! Comedians have done bits on the subject, and it is all true ... we have stuff... and our stuff has stuff... then we have to store our stuff and clean our stuff and insure our stuff... UGH! TOO MUCH STUFF!!

***to be continued *** Carolyn

This I wrote a couple of nights ago when I thought I was REALLY ready to post it... LOL!!

As I sit here preparing to embark upon our first Blog, the story of Noah comes to mind. Now, not the traditional Biblical version, mind you, but the way Bill Cosby told the story. [Note: those who are post Baby Boomers may have no idea what I am talking about... and perhaps when I'm done you can share this blog with your parents, and after their laughter they may say "Ah yes... I remember that bit..." and share with you the comedic humor that we found on a 33RPM album.]

The condensed version, and how it relates to the blog, is as follows: Bill Cosby relates that Noah is going along with his day, minding his own business and he hears a booming voice call his name: "NOAH!" [Noah looks around] Then he hears again, louder: "NOAH!!" Now that one got his attention... and then, as the story continues... The booming voice says "It's Me, GOD!" And Noah says: "Ri-i-i-g-g-h-h-h--t!" God proceeds to tell Noah that he wants him to build an Ark. Again Noah says: "R-r-r-i-i-i-g-g-g-h-h-h-t!" "What's an Ark??" God continues to tell Noah the dimensions... as we all know it's in 'cubits' ... Noah, again says: "R-r-r-r-r-i-i-i-i-i-g-g-g-h-h-h-t-t-t-t... What's a cubit??"

That snippet of the story is very much how I feel about doing a Blog... "R-r-i-i-i-g-g-h-h-h-t! What's a Blog?" And furthermore "How do you do one??" I confess, I am not my husband. You tell him to "paint the wall" and by darn, he'll paint the wall. No prepping, no taping off, no drop cloth (well, maybe a drop cloth); just give him a bucket of paint and a brush and he's on his way.

Thus the same approach is taken with our "Blog" -- I was still reading the book [Blogging for Dummies ... yes, I know, I resemble that remark ... technologically speaking... SO!! And your point?! Without people like me the 'Dummies' series would never have been such a hit ... ] and he was already setting up our blog. He typed a few sentences and said "There! It's started..." "AAAaaaaggghhhh...But, but, but... Oh never mind" I say in a totally failed voice.

Where were we? ... Oh yes, painting the wall... er, I mean, starting the Blog. Cosby; Noah; Blog; Paint; Ri-i-g-g-h-h-t-t! It's a Blog; ... I guess this is where it begins; bear with me, I'll do my best.

In the beginning... There was "The Plan" and "The Plan" was good. Wife's Plan was: Let's get an RV, travel the country and explore. We can work as we go, teach Son through the places we go and the things we do; sounds like a great Plan to me ... Apparently not to Hubby and "The Plan" went on "The Shelf" ... Wife reluctantly accepted Hubby's reluctance and "The Plan" was shelved. [Note: Shelved vs. dumped -- then ... there was "Hope" ]

Several years later...

Hubby was ready for a change. First move from one state to another; pursue different line of work and return to school. Hubby's question: "What do I want to be when I grow up [STRIKE THAT!! Pre-Nup says only allowed to get older, not grow up!] Okay, okay ..." "What do I want to do ... NEXT ...??" After seeking, the answer came: Return to school to follow the passions of your heart ... everything to do with the ocean; especially SCUBA diving. [BIG Smile!!]

Wife agrees that this is a good choice, as she trusts that Sharks are safer, at least more predictable, than Juvenile Delinquents (as in previous career choice.) Then it comes ... Wife's "Aha!" ... After Hubby gets degree "The Plan" will work. We can travel with Hubby's research. Yes! "The Plan" is good!!! [BIG Smile!]

Then it gets better, Hubby is accepted to Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA ... our new "home" [a blessing from G'pa and G'ma] is "Moby D" -- our 36' motorhome. Yay!! And so it begins...

*** to be continued *** Carolyn

I thought that one of the two, above, posts should be put into the Blog... After reading them to Rich he said that he thought I should post them in the order written. So, in a way they work together -- I hope -- to give you a picture of what brought us to this point. Not sure what I will blog about next... this is kinda fun. ... stay tuned ... Carolyn