Jacqueline’s Jaunts

My 95-year-old Aunt Ruby is in a rehab center after breaking her hip in the past few months. She then broke her femur not long after that. She also developed a hematoma after a nurse accidently knocked her side against a wheelchair. On Friday, 22 April 2022 I saw a photo my cousin Lisa (Aunt Ruby’s youngest daughter) posted on Facebook. She was visiting Aunt Ruby in a rehab center. I saw the photo a few minutes after Lisa posted it and immediately texted her. I wanted to see if we could facetime so I could say hello to Aunt Ruby and ask a few questions about the photo.  The weird thing about this is I was struggling with what to write about this week. The theme, Negatives, was giving me a tough time. I couldn’t come up with anything I wanted to share. This conversation ended up solving my problem. In the genealogy world we call this serendipity. The following reflects the conversation I had with Aunt Ruby. She was in great spirits and instead of dwelling on the negatives that happened

03-21-22 Monday  Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA to Castro Valley, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 2.25 Miles: 111.1  Arrived: ~ 2:00 pm Last travel day for our Oregon trip. Of course, the weather on our last day would be beautiful. We didn’t have much to get ready and we were on our way around 11:00 am. We headed up the hill toward the office to use the air compressor for that darn tire. Barry thinks it’s the tire pressure sensor he installed. He installed one on all the tires. He will check when we get home.  Ride was fine down 101 through Santa Rosa. We didn’t hit that much traffic going across the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, but we did hit rough road all the way home. We say this every time we get into the Bay Area back from a trip, the roads are horrible. Potholes, patches, ridges, uneven pavement, and whatever else. Just don’t know why our roads can’t be fixed.  Made it home and the unpacking process began. Checked all my indoor plants and everyone seemed fine. My orchid

03-20-22 Sunday  Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA, Cloverdale, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 0 Miles: 0 Arrived: 0 This morning was cold and breezy in the mid 40’s. Both up and showered. Breakfast and planning our day. We decided to start our day at Francis Ford Coppola’s Winery and see what direction we ended up after that. We didn’t make reservations and since there were only two of us, we decided to take our chances.  We were able to get into the restaurant and thank goodness because I was STARVING and about to get hangry! Lil’ Debbie’s and tea for breakfast was not cutting it. George was our waiter and he never wrote anything down. Wine was fabulous and he brought us a small bag that contained two bread donuts, deep fried and sprinkled with salt. We did our best not to order more, so yummy.  I ordered the ½ chicken brick baked with veggies and Barry ordered meatballs + penne in tomato sauce. Both meals were excellent and of course the wine was excellent. I couldn’t eat al

03-19-22 Saturday  Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA, Cloverdale, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 2.5 hours Miles: 122.2 miles Arrived: 3:30 pm                                  Raining this morning so getting ready to leave was a bit messy for Barry...poor guy. Fred and Helaine came over and we exchanged contact information. They also wanted to see our RV and check out the ceiling lights we replaced. They are thinking of doing the same thing.  Barry was still concerned about the front left tire but said he would just keep an eye on it. He thinks the tire sensor may be failing.  We stopped in a little town past Willets called Hopland for gas. He was able to get into the station but getting out may be another story. If you are not aware, when towing a vehicle we can’t back up.  This station you have to enter on an upward slope and turning right onto the road is going to be challenging. As it turns out Barry couldn’t turn right, so I get out with my walkie talkie and guided him pas

03-18-22 Friday  Benbow /Garberville KOA, Garberville, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 4 Drive Time: 0 Miles: 0 Arrived: 0 I had a call at 8:30 am so we were up at 7:30 am. The meeting was with the directors of the Oakland Family Search Library. Just an informational meeting and the things they have planned for the library. They have been here since November 2021.  As mentioned in yesterday’s blog the site is nice. We decided to stay in camp today and just enjoy the day. Bacon, eggs, hash browns and biscuits for breakfast....so scrumptious. I spent the day cleaning up my laptop. Cell phone signal was iffy so I couldn’t use my hotspot to update my blog. Barry did chores, cleaning the BBQ, adding water to the coach, clean under storage bins and I’m sure a few other things.  During the day Barry met a former Harlem Globetrotter player who’s retired and a retired firefighter who had a 7’ tall smoker he welded. He smoked bacon, a pork roast, and a tri-tip and you could smell it all over th

03-17-22 Thursday  Benbow KOA, Garberville, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 3 Drive Time: 3+ hours Miles: 122.2 miles Arrived: 4:00 pm 03-17-22 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!! We pulled out of the KOA at 11:05 am and headed south on 101. About seven or eight miles out of Crescent City we hit numerous construction sites and one lane traffic controls. The highway runs along the mountain side and has beautiful views. You can see by this map how close the road is to the coastline.  We took the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway off 101. The drive was a scenic route and much prettier than the highway. Dabbles of light coming through the trees made the ferns and ends of the redwoods look silver. An incredible effect throughout the drive.  We stopped at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center so I could get another stamp. There was a ranger that answered a lot of our questions. He seemed very knowledgeable. I spoke to him at length about the Marbled Murrelet. He informed me that they are on the edge of e

03-16-22 Wednesday  Crescent City, California Crescent City Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 0 Miles: 0 Arrived: 0 Woke up to a beautiful morning. Simple breakfast of cereal and a banana. Cleaned up a bit and ready to explore the Redwoods. We stopped by the KOA office to let them know our cable signal was very snowy and the cable line had water in it. Also asked about the channels. The channels listed on the paper with the map of the park is wrong. The woman behind the counter says they change cable providers often so it’s never right....uuummmm. No comment from me. We bought a couple of nice lightweight jackets and off to the National Park Visitor Center in Crescent City.  Zoom in for details At the visitor center I got my passport stamp and purchased a few stickers for my passport book. The Ranger behind the counter pulled out a map and showed us how to get to Howland Road and some ideas for hikes in the area. One he told us about was a hike to the ‘Grove of Titans.’ This hike has