McAnoy

2018-08-30 – WBCCI 2018 Southwest Adventure Caravan – Day 12 – Durango, CO

Quiet day in Durango… Blogging, laundry, walking around the RV Park… This is about as exciting as it gets…

We rode into town in the late afternoon with another caravan couple. They wanted to walk the town a bit and we wanted to try out an olde timey saloon.

We went to the Strater Hotel, founded 1887. We were told that in the early days one of their draws was their fresh food – rare in mining communities. This was accomplished by raising cows and chickens in the lot behind the hotel…

The saloon was great – all ugly Victorian decor (I know – that’s redundant…). But the waitress was great and the drinks were good. We even tried an appetizer of smoked dates wrapped in bacon with a drizzle of honey… Marvelous! Just what we wanted.

At the appointed hour we joined the other caravaners for dinner in the hotel – this was the real reason we chose this place.

The food was good, the wine was acceptable and the service was great… This hotel has been in the same family for over four generations. However, the fifth generation has decided they no longer want to be in the hotel business, so the hotel is for sale… It will be the end of an era…

So, as is my tradition on short days, I will include some pictures of our perfect and great Grandchildren…

This is Evelyn, 6 1/2 months old…

This is Roisin – what you can see of her, learning to hang around…

And this is Roisin again, 5 1/2 years old, reading to Evelyn whilst Mom puts the boys to bed…

And the boys:

George is almost 3 and Ian is 4 1/2… First day at the new preschool…!

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

September 7, 2018 1

2018-07-11 – WBCCI 2018 Wine Tasting Caravan – Day 10 – Farewell

All good things must come to an end. We said our goodbyes and the four Airstreams headed out on separate journeys.

We drove south about 12 miles, then west some 200 miles, driving along the California Coast. I know, most of you think the ocean is west of California, but for most of Southern California the ocean is south!

We did manage to stop along the way and walk a bit at the oceans edge…

We arrived at our storage spot a little after noon…

We unloaded the Airstream and drove the 5 minutes home…

As is our custom, with short blogs on travel days, we post photos of our grandchildren. They are in Canada right now, visiting friends and family…

Our next trip will be for one week at San Clemente State Beach. Temperatures should be in the low 80s – better than the 100+ days we are having here in Redlands…

And an enjoyable time will be had by all…

August 2, 2018 0

2018-05-13 Mothers Day

Mothers Day 2018 was memorable for several reasons… First, of course, is to honor all the mothers among us. This year our daughter became a mother again for the 4th time, with the birth of Evelyn:

We gathered for Mothers Day at their house in Burbank; they’ve been camping out in the guest house since Christmas, so it was great that they could celebrate in the newly remodeled “big house”…

Thirdly, we have been packing and moving and unpacking and remodeling and such since March, so this was a nice time to relax and spend time with family.

One more event in May:

Ian’s Birthday:

It was a long day, with lots of driving, but an enjoyable time was had by all…

June 26, 2018 0

2018-03-11 The Blessed Event

In the early morning hours of March 11, 2018, Evelyn Joy McAnoy was born to our daughter, Erin Joy McAnoy, and her husband, Kevin.

Her three older siblings are looking forward to meeting her!

Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Grandfather, and Father are all doing fine…

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

June 24, 2018 3

2017-10-16 Westbound; Home!

We left the Visalia WalMart at about 8:15 this morning. We pulled the Villa over the Grapevine, and arrived in Irvine:

2017-10-16 California 01 Irvine 03

Our intrepid crew was waiting to greet us:

2017-10-16 California 01 Irvine 01

Happy Hours and a home cooked meal ensued; an enjoyable time was had by all…

June 10-October 16

128 Nights

Over 15,000 miles, including about 1,000 miles as part of the WBCCI Nor’ by Nor’east Caravan

28 States, 5 Canadian Provinces, all 5 Great Lakes, 10 border crossings between US and Canada

Public transportation: 7 Train trips, 4 bus trips, and 3 Uber rides (not counting excursions as part of the Nor’ by Nor’east Caravan)

8 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings

5 Laura Ingalls Wilder sites and museums

Visited by our grandchildren: 2

12 Visits to friends and/or family

3 Visits for service on the Chevrolet Silverado truck

5 visits for service on the Airstream

143 Airstreams seen along the road or in RV parks ( plus 24 on the Nor’ by Nor’east Caravan, 31 at the Carson City Rally, 98 at the Jackson Rally, and many, many more at the various Airstream dealers we visited along the way…)

October 17, 2017 7

2017-10-11 Westbound; WBCCI Region 12 Rally, Day 2…

Today we are seeing the results of the NorCal fires. The air is very smokey and it smells smokey as well… There are no fires nearby, but Napa and Sonoma counties are really suffering…

2017-10-11 California 01 Jackson 01

One of the features of this rally is the “Maintenance with Vinnie” seminar. Vinnie Lamica runs an Airstream service and maintenance center here in NorCal; he spoke for 2 hours on all the things we need to know to keep our Airstreams in top shape. Very informative. I took copious notes and made lists of things for me to ask C&G to do to the Villa.

Otherwise we had a quiet day. Lots of walks. The campground sits on a plateau, sloping down into the canyon on most of its perimeter; there is a “nature path” all around the perimeter of the campground, part way down the slope. It has a few ups and downs, and it is 3/4 mile from the door of the Villa and back again. We have been walking this path several times each day. For excitement, we walk clockwise sometimes, and counter- clockwise other times…

The highlight of the day: Mexican dinner with the Warrens:

2017-10-11 California 01 Warren 01

Kathy and Larry Warren were on the Nor’ by Nor’East caravan, and they live about an half hour drive from here. Since we refuse to eat Mexican food outside of California (some rare exceptions can be made for Arizona and New Mexico…) we have been over four months without having Mexican food. So tonight was the night.

The Warrens selected El Torero, located down Hwy 88, just past Jackson. It is located in a storefront in a grocery store strip center, and the interior was nondescript, but the food was just what we were looking for:

2017-10-11 Mexican

It wasn’t fancy or authentic, but it was very satisfying!

We returned to the Villa, then gathered with several other Airstreamers in the big tent to play various games of Joker.

You’ve never heard of Joker? Don’t worry – no one has, except Airstreamers. It is a hokey version of Parcheesi, Sorry, or Kick-in-the-Pants, played on home-made boards. (Some boards are extremely well made and beautiful art in their own right…) Except that it uses normal playing cards (Devil Cards, to you Calvinists out there…) instead of dice, and each card does something different. I hate games like this. Games of chance that do not require much skill other than remembering all the rules are meaningless to me… We played three games.

Another light photo day, so here I present my grandson George X, getting a ride, compliments of his great-grandmother (my mother…):

2017-10-11 George X

An enjoyable time was had by George X…

October 14, 2017 0

2017-10-09 Westbound; San Francisco…

There are no planned activities today; the rally doesn’t officially start until tomorrow. So, as we like to do, we decided to take a walk through an adjacent city; we decided upon San Francisco:

2017-10-09 California 01 San Francisco 01

Other than this selfie, we forgot to take any pictures while we were there… Oh, well!

In any case, we drove to Pleasanton, then took BART into The City (as the locals call it, as if it’s the only city in the world. I thought it was silly when I first heard it in 1972, and I think it’s silly today…)

We did some walking and window shopping; Lynda wanted to do some serious shopping around Union Square, and I headed to Tadich Grill, where I met my former Partner at TCA, Thom Cox. It was fun to be back in Tadich again, and it was great to catch up with Thom on the state of the world and the state of TCA. I can’t comment on the state of the world, but apparently TCA is doing fine without me. Yay!

After lunch, at about 3:00 pm, Lynda and I met up and returned to the Villa.

Happy Hours ensued, and an enjoyable time was had by all…

And since I have no other photos, here is our granddaughter, Roisin, outfitted for her Tae Kwon Do lesson…:

2017-10-09 Roisin

October 14, 2017 0

2017-10-04 Westbound; Lakeview, Oregon…

We had a leisurely morning in the Villa. We went for a walk and marveled at these strange formations:

2017-10-04 Oregon 08 Bend 012Ice 2017-10-04 Oregon 08 Bend 01 Ice

We were told that this is ice. mmmm… Well, it was 30 degrees here this morning…

We left the park and headed southeast; we drove over a very remote part of eastern Oregon (over 95% or people in Oregon live west of here…). The land is very rocky and volcanic; the views are wonderful:

2017-10-04 Oregon 09 Views 03 2017-10-04 Oregon 09 Views 02 2017-10-04 Oregon 09 Views 01 2017-10-04 Oregon 09 Views 04

After about three hours we reached the Junipers RV Park in Lakeview, OR. The RV park in in the center of a 5,000 acre working cattle ranch. The sun was warm but the air is cold. (I haven’t yet figured out how that can be…) We parked the Villa and set up for another cold night:

2017-10-04 Oregon 10 Lakeview 02

Happy hours ensued and an enjoyable time was had by all…

PS: Since this is another short, travel day post, I have added pictures of the grandchildren (and their Mom…):

2017-10-04 McAnoy 02 2017-10-04 McAnoy 01

October 10, 2017 0

2017-09-22 Westbound; Moving on to Couer d’Alene, Idaho…

Another easy drive today. We relaxed and spent the morning in the Villa. It was still cold, and it was raining off and on. I hitched up early, and we pulled out at about 11:00 am.

2017-09-22 Missoula 01 KOA