Charlie and I spent most of the past week visiting with old friends and relatives in the So Calif area.
Our son Jeff and wife Carol dropped by Paradise by the Sea for a few days in their old RV. The rig has some miles on it but it suffices for what the kids need right now… a place of refuge until Carol retires in a month or so. They are going to try to “full-time” in that 30-year-old relic. I will be surprised if that adventure lasts a year, but they are resourceful, frugal, and willing to get their hands dirty.
Vaya con Dios, Amigos.
Oldest son Tim and wife Shanon took over dog sitting duties on Saturday when we began a mini road trip to visit old friends. Our first stop was San Diego Harbor, where we cruised on Terry DeArmond’s 52’ yacht with old friends Jim and Nicole Houle. Terry is one of Charlie’s oldest bookkeeping clients (he’s a general contractor) and Jim is a CPA that Charlie works very closely with.
In his earlier life, Jim was a professional drummer with some marginal heavy metal groups. His group “opened” for some well-known bands. Back in the day, his performing name was “Jimmy Jam”.
We cruised the whole harbor, ate snacks, drank a lot, and exchanged stories. The weather was great and there were all manner of Navy warships being serviced. Typically, there will be one or maybe two of the Navy’s biggest ships (Nimitz class aircraft carriers) in port, but on that Saturday there were three. They are the largest warships in the world, at around 1,000 feet long, can travel at 30 knots, and have a crew compliment of 5,000 sailors.
The next day we drove about an hour up to Temecula to visit my sister Claudia and husband Ted. They have a very beautiful home there that is the result of a perfect blend of talents: Ted is the D.Y.I. expert and Claudia has the design gene.
Her house was gussied up for Halloween.
They are also estate sale junkies, so they find a lot of cool things for cheap. One example is the slot machines that they purchased for a total of about $100 because they were allegedly “inoperable”. Ted fixed them without much effort and now they grace the couple’s TV room: very cool.
Ted also collects and restores cars and motorcycles, and his small garage is filled with “projects”.
We spent part of the day visiting Old Town Temecula and Temecula Valley Wine Country. Wow, a lot has changed in the four years that we’ve been in Nevada!
Claudia served us up a huge breakfast one day.
We reciprocated with a nice dinner at the Lazy Dog in Temecula.
For the next couple of days we visited with old neighbors Clark and Karin Pace in Murrieta. We lived within a few feet of each other for twenty years in Bear Creek, traveled a lot together, and shared many adventures. Karin is retired and Clark is currently working for Amazon.
Karin is an ex-home decorator for a large developer in Southern California. Her house was Halloween-ed.
We spent a lot of our time playing cards: Hearts, Spades, Shit on your Neighbor, etc. I was incredibly lucky to win a bunch of games, as both Clark and Karin are very good card players.
We concluded our visit with the Paces by treating them to a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory in the Temecula Mall, where I enjoyed my favorite dish, Cajun Jambalaya Pasta. Yummy!
The only bad part about this short reunion tour was the WALKING PNEUMONIA that we both acquired somehow. Case Zero of this small pandemic might have been our daughter-in-law Carol, who reported feeling crummy a day after we saw her in Paradise by the Sea. Anyway, this particular plague reminds me of the malady that both Charlie and I suffered from last year at about the same time. That beast took two months to defeat, and was the worst sickness that I’ve ever suffered from except AIDS. (Just checking to see if you’re awake!)
When we arrived at my sister Claudia’s house earlier in the week, we had already been to emergency care and had started antibiotic treatment. However, Claudia gave us a Covid test before welcoming us to her home… and we both passed.
It was a small consolation, though, as we spent a good deal of time sneezing, dripping, and coughing. No fever, though, so I don’t think we were contagious.
About a week into the illness, I am feeling better and Charlie is about two days behind me in the recovery. I think we will beat this thing. (Poor Charlie: she has a broken foot and now has to endure walking pneumonia! She’s a trooper.)
Our three dogs got a real workout while we were away. Tim and Shanon, and a host of visitors to our rig at Paradise, kept the dogs busy playing with them.
It’s more than 24 hours later now and the dogs are still trying to recharge their batteries. They’re dog-tired.