And it came to pass in those days that a decree came out from Arizona that Joanne's niece, Ashley, should be married on the 2nd of January, 2010. And so, due to the dreaded criminal-like treatment peace-loving Americans receive from the TSA, Joanne decided to avoid aforementioned treatment, instead embarking on a 2 week long road trip in her 23 foot motor home to attend the wedding of Ashley and Frank.
In the process of describing the planned trip to her friend, Raisa, who lives in Roseburg, OR, the question of when we would be leaving arose. A fine companion was Raisa, as well as secretary, navigator and photographer (while Joanne was driving).
Being cautious and prevention-oriented, Joanne spent a month making the motor home roadworthy. In so doing, it was discovered that the water pump needed to be replaced, so she had that done. The microwave door was dragging on the plastic moulding below it when it was opening and closing, so she had that raised a little. Unfortunately, the repairman failed to test the microwave after doing the repair, and just before leaving, Joanne discovered that it did not work, so she brought hers along, as well as her toaster oven, in case the oven didn't work either. Later it was discovered that the microwave would work if one held the door closed tight. But who wants to hold the door the whole time something is cooking?
Joanne also knew that the refrigerator did not work, and had that checked as well. She was advised that it was completely kaput (a little German lingo there) and would need to spend $1300 to have it replaced. She wisely decided that $1300 would be better spent on something else, so decided to use the motor home refrigerator and freezer as a cooler. Since she is so astute, Joanne realized that if she just put bags of ice in the refrigerator, eventually there would be bags of water dripping, then eventually pouring onto the floor around the refrigerator. So she devised a scheme to prevent this undesired outcome: Tupperware and/or Rubbermaid-like containers to contain the ice and the water that the ice eventually becomes. Almost daily, the lovely maidens found it necessary to purchase more ice to replace the melted ice.
After spending half the day packing the motor home, the departure occurred on December 19, early afternoon. The lovely maidens had no want for food, as there was enough food packed for nearly 2 months. This relieved Joanne's parents in the unlikely case of becoming stranded for whatever reason.
The lovely maidens traveled south on Hwy. 101, and were able to see "Big Tree" in the Redwoods. They decided to take a short walk on a path there which was labeled as a loop, and approximately 1/2 mile long. After much walking, and definitely longer than 1/2 mile, they decided that the trail really was not a loop, and hoped they didn't get lost in the Redwood forest. The trail eventually came out to the road, and after many more steps, and the intuition and agreement that the motor home was in a specific direction from where the trail met the road, they made their way back to the motor home, about an hour later than they wanted to.
Since Joanne is a member of Naco-Thousand Trails (through her parents), the maidens were able to stay at their campgrounds for free. Their first night was spent at Russian River, in the Napa Valley. There was not a single night that they arrived at their camping destination before dark, so they were not able to see their surroundings until the light of the next day.
Upon their arrival at Russian River, Raisa thought she heard some activity being made by the refrigerator and suggested they turn it on to see if it would work after all. So against her better judgment, Joanne succumbed to the peer pressure and turned the refrigerator on. The maidens heard a lot of noise being produced by the refrigerator and thought they were going to be saved from the necessity of buying ice every day. After about an hour, Joanne wanted to get something out of the refrigerator, and upon opening the door, was practically asphyxiated from the monumentally horrendous (and every other strong and nasty, negative adjective you can think of!) odor of ammonia, which is what a kaput refrigerator emits when it is running. The monumentally horrendous odor of ammonia then triggered the shrieking of the carbon monoxide alarm. At this time, it was about 10:00pm, and the only way to remove both problems was to open all the windows and door, thus disturbing the neighboring campers. Fortunately for the lovely maidens, there was only one neighboring RV, and the occupants did not emerge from their vehicle. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for the alarm to disengage, and of course, it was necessary for the refrigerator doors to remain open until the odor dissipated, which took a couple of hours or so. The lovely maidens immediately switched off the refrigerator, and did not ever attempt to restart it.
There was another incident later in the trip when the carbon monoxide alarm shrieked in the middle of the night. Since it was next to Raisa's bed, it was incumbent upon her to silence the alarm, something she had been instructed about, but not thinking she would ever need to do so, she did not pay close attention to the instructions. She didn't remember what to do, so she tried to rouse Joanne, who was sound asleep and didn't hear anything since she sleeps with earplugs in her ears. Raisa shook Joanne to awaken her to no avail, since Joanne is used to sleeping with her cats, who walk all over her during the night, so Raisa just waited for the alarm to disengage, which took 45 minutes to an hour. The whole time, Joanne never woke up!
The second day the plan was to visit a tech museum in San Jose, but due to the size of the motor home, there were no parking spaces available, so that idea was scrapped. It was just as well, since they didn't arrive at the next campground, Morgan Hill, until after dark as well.
The next day, the maidens embarked upon their journey at an earlier hour than before, since they had to travel a few hours to the Hearst Castle, where they participated in 2 tours, one during the day, the other in the evening. Joanne was looking forward to seeing the painting that was used for this year's Madonna and Child Christmas stamp, but the maidens were too busy snapping pictures that they didn't keep up with the tour guide, and missed the painting. The castle was very beautiful, and the ceilings were quite ornate. Each room had a different sculpted ceiling. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous, creating a festive atmosphere. The evening tour even had actors playing the parts of guests to the castle during the time of Mr. Hearst's residence there. Mr. Hearst always had guests, for whom it was a great honor to be invited. If one ever declined an invitation, they were never invited again. Two people who were invited, but declined the invitations were Shirley Temple, because her mom thought it inappropriate, and Kathryn Hepburn, who at the age of 17 didn't know why she would want to go to a ranch. She later said refusing the invitation was one of her deepest regrets.
To be continued...
In the process of describing the planned trip to her friend, Raisa, who lives in Roseburg, OR, the question of when we would be leaving arose. A fine companion was Raisa, as well as secretary, navigator and photographer (while Joanne was driving).
Being cautious and prevention-oriented, Joanne spent a month making the motor home roadworthy. In so doing, it was discovered that the water pump needed to be replaced, so she had that done. The microwave door was dragging on the plastic moulding below it when it was opening and closing, so she had that raised a little. Unfortunately, the repairman failed to test the microwave after doing the repair, and just before leaving, Joanne discovered that it did not work, so she brought hers along, as well as her toaster oven, in case the oven didn't work either. Later it was discovered that the microwave would work if one held the door closed tight. But who wants to hold the door the whole time something is cooking?
Joanne also knew that the refrigerator did not work, and had that checked as well. She was advised that it was completely kaput (a little German lingo there) and would need to spend $1300 to have it replaced. She wisely decided that $1300 would be better spent on something else, so decided to use the motor home refrigerator and freezer as a cooler. Since she is so astute, Joanne realized that if she just put bags of ice in the refrigerator, eventually there would be bags of water dripping, then eventually pouring onto the floor around the refrigerator. So she devised a scheme to prevent this undesired outcome: Tupperware and/or Rubbermaid-like containers to contain the ice and the water that the ice eventually becomes. Almost daily, the lovely maidens found it necessary to purchase more ice to replace the melted ice.
After spending half the day packing the motor home, the departure occurred on December 19, early afternoon. The lovely maidens had no want for food, as there was enough food packed for nearly 2 months. This relieved Joanne's parents in the unlikely case of becoming stranded for whatever reason.
The lovely maidens traveled south on Hwy. 101, and were able to see "Big Tree" in the Redwoods. They decided to take a short walk on a path there which was labeled as a loop, and approximately 1/2 mile long. After much walking, and definitely longer than 1/2 mile, they decided that the trail really was not a loop, and hoped they didn't get lost in the Redwood forest. The trail eventually came out to the road, and after many more steps, and the intuition and agreement that the motor home was in a specific direction from where the trail met the road, they made their way back to the motor home, about an hour later than they wanted to.
Since Joanne is a member of Naco-Thousand Trails (through her parents), the maidens were able to stay at their campgrounds for free. Their first night was spent at Russian River, in the Napa Valley. There was not a single night that they arrived at their camping destination before dark, so they were not able to see their surroundings until the light of the next day.
Upon their arrival at Russian River, Raisa thought she heard some activity being made by the refrigerator and suggested they turn it on to see if it would work after all. So against her better judgment, Joanne succumbed to the peer pressure and turned the refrigerator on. The maidens heard a lot of noise being produced by the refrigerator and thought they were going to be saved from the necessity of buying ice every day. After about an hour, Joanne wanted to get something out of the refrigerator, and upon opening the door, was practically asphyxiated from the monumentally horrendous (and every other strong and nasty, negative adjective you can think of!) odor of ammonia, which is what a kaput refrigerator emits when it is running. The monumentally horrendous odor of ammonia then triggered the shrieking of the carbon monoxide alarm. At this time, it was about 10:00pm, and the only way to remove both problems was to open all the windows and door, thus disturbing the neighboring campers. Fortunately for the lovely maidens, there was only one neighboring RV, and the occupants did not emerge from their vehicle. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for the alarm to disengage, and of course, it was necessary for the refrigerator doors to remain open until the odor dissipated, which took a couple of hours or so. The lovely maidens immediately switched off the refrigerator, and did not ever attempt to restart it.
There was another incident later in the trip when the carbon monoxide alarm shrieked in the middle of the night. Since it was next to Raisa's bed, it was incumbent upon her to silence the alarm, something she had been instructed about, but not thinking she would ever need to do so, she did not pay close attention to the instructions. She didn't remember what to do, so she tried to rouse Joanne, who was sound asleep and didn't hear anything since she sleeps with earplugs in her ears. Raisa shook Joanne to awaken her to no avail, since Joanne is used to sleeping with her cats, who walk all over her during the night, so Raisa just waited for the alarm to disengage, which took 45 minutes to an hour. The whole time, Joanne never woke up!
The second day the plan was to visit a tech museum in San Jose, but due to the size of the motor home, there were no parking spaces available, so that idea was scrapped. It was just as well, since they didn't arrive at the next campground, Morgan Hill, until after dark as well.
The next day, the maidens embarked upon their journey at an earlier hour than before, since they had to travel a few hours to the Hearst Castle, where they participated in 2 tours, one during the day, the other in the evening. Joanne was looking forward to seeing the painting that was used for this year's Madonna and Child Christmas stamp, but the maidens were too busy snapping pictures that they didn't keep up with the tour guide, and missed the painting. The castle was very beautiful, and the ceilings were quite ornate. Each room had a different sculpted ceiling. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous, creating a festive atmosphere. The evening tour even had actors playing the parts of guests to the castle during the time of Mr. Hearst's residence there. Mr. Hearst always had guests, for whom it was a great honor to be invited. If one ever declined an invitation, they were never invited again. Two people who were invited, but declined the invitations were Shirley Temple, because her mom thought it inappropriate, and Kathryn Hepburn, who at the age of 17 didn't know why she would want to go to a ranch. She later said refusing the invitation was one of her deepest regrets.
To be continued...
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