There comes a day in every RVer's life when we have to do some adult things. Yesterday was one of those days. We started out grocery shopping and then continued on with laundry. It was past time to wash our bed sheets. I figured it I was going to walk to the park laundry, I might as well do a load of jeans too. It meant walking back and forth, up and down a steep hill, four times to finish the laundry. I figure I got my exercise. By day's end, we felt like old people. And, if you want to know the truth, we felt like old people at the beginning of the day too. I guess acting like grown-ups didn't hurt us, but we didn't like it either.

Here's the bright spot, though. I finished the Posies quilt top.

so I'll link up there on Saturday.

The kitties were no help at all with this. They were not behaving like grown-ups. They were behaving like lazy kitties, which I suppose is their full-time job.

After I'd put away the sewing stuff for the day, a new "booster seat" arrived at the Amazon locker nearby. You might recall I was griping about my chair, which is really too low for sewing. The chair has a soft spot "hole" in the center of the cushion where I sit. It doesn't allow me to sit high enough to sew comfortably. I'm sitting on it as I write this post, and it's very comfy. It gets rid of the hole I sink into when I sit on the chair without it. 

 

My friend, Cathy, recommended this booster. I found it on Amazon right here. Right now, it has a $2 off coupon. You can read the description if you click on that link. Now I'm looking forward to doing some more sewing so I can see how I like it for that. Thanks for the recommendation, Cathy. 

Next up, I'm going to start sewing together the Thimbles quilt top.

For this project, I've already done all the cutting, like I did for the Posies. It makes sewing it all together a pretty easy and quick job.

Last night, I tried a new recipe. Someone on Facebook posted that she had tried it, declaring it "so easy and delicious." Well. I'm always on the hunt for things that are easy and delicious, and so it seemed like a good one to try out for ourselves. My picture makes it look sort of ghastly, but it actually tasted really good. This is 20-Minute Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Pesto Sauce. We had it with some of the frozen corn we grew in our garden this past summer.

It looks a lot better in the picture from the recipe below.

I made it just as written with two minor changes. I used regular cream instead of heavy cream. I still have some regular cream I brought from home, and I wanted to use it. This is a diet-friendly recipe at 371 calories per serving. Using regular cream probably cut the calorie count a little more. Certainly, it cut the fat some. Also, I didn't have any fresh basil, and so I sprinkled a little dried basil over the top. If we were home, I might have made my own pesto, but I used some I found in the grocery store. If you're looking for store-bought pesto, it generally lives in the same section with the pasta sauce. As for dinner, we liked it, and it'll be a nice addition to my database of camping recipes. It's all done in one skillet, which made for an easy clean-up too.

Okay, so today we're having friends visit after lunch. Rick and Danni spent the week with us at Lake Skinner, and they're interested in seeing the RV park where we are now. Later today we'll head over to see Debi and Jim...the other friends we met in Lake Skinner...and have dinner with them. So it's a busy day of socializing. Probably not much more will happen than that. If there's time to sew, I'll get a start on sewing the Thimbles together.

When I last wrote, we were hoping to visit the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, California. The weather was looking iffy, and so I asked everyone to cross their fingers and hope for the best. And YOU GUYS CAME THROUGH! 😎 It ended up being a very nice afternoon. I have lots of pictures to show you. But first, let's just take a look at how the day started.

Sadie was stretched out on Mike's lap. 

 

I neglected to bring a ring to hold my floss bobbins, but a large safety pin will do the trick.

The view got even better as we approached Torrey Pines South Beach.

We took a wrong turn, and had to backtrack some, but eventually found our way to the gate.

Entry fee to the park was $15 per car, which was steep, but we were happy to pay it.

The image below of a tree in silhouette is kind of the classic view of a Torrey Pine. They have the appearance of a deciduous tree, but the needles of a pine tree. They are considered the rarest of all pine trees. Wikipedia tells us they are "a critically endangered species growing only in San Diego County in the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and the coastal town of Del Mar to the immediate north, and on Santa Rosa Island and San Miguel Island, offshore from Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara County. The Torrey pine is endemic to the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion."

After the traffic jam and wrong turns, our shadow selves were pretty happy to be there.

Here's another shot of a Torrey Pine, not in silhouette. Pinus torreyana is a broad, open-crowned pine tree growing to 26–56 feet (8–17 meters) tall in the wild, with 9.8–11.8 inches (25–30 centimeters) long leaves ('needles') in groups of five. The cones are stout and heavy, typically 3.1–5.9 inches (8–15 cm) long and broad, and contain large, hard-shelled, but edible, pine nuts. 

We took the beach trail, but only part way. Mike's sister Meredith has some medical issues that leave her winded on this sort of trail. We walked until she cried "uncle," which gave all of us an excuse to stop.

Oh yes...and watch out for these guys. The day was really too chilly for them, and we didn't see any.

Of course, you'd be disappointed if I didn't take pictures of every blooming thing, and I was pretty darned excited to see these prickly pear cactus in bloom. It's a rare treat.

Here's another shot of a torrey pine tree.

Looking out toward the ocean, we could see some sort of Coast Guard practice rescue going on. 

I didn't notice this until I downloaded the pictures from my camera. Look far out on the horizon and to the right in the photo below, and you can see a ship there.

Looking south, we could see the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier.

I got a closer view of it a little later in the day.

Below is a map of the trails in the area. I've marked with a red arrow where we were standing. But Mike had other plans. He really wanted to go to the "gliderport" where we could watch the paragliders. We used to visit the area when we were still dating and watched what were then "hang-gliders" by the hour.

So we bid good-bye to the trees and then headed on down the road for a couple of miles.

As we walked out, I caught a few more blooming things. There was wild sage growing here, and it smelled heavenly.

Heading back the way we came, we could see the North Torrey Pines Road Bridge.

From there, we headed farther south to the "gliderport," which is more fancy and civilized than it was when we were kids. It used to be just a cliff where people ran and jumped off and sailed away with their hang-gliders. Now there are picnic tables and a snack bar, and even a gift shop. I wish I could have gone into the gift shop in search of a shot glass and refrigerator magnet, but I'd left my mask in the truck, and so I was confined to the outdoors.

We parked and walked to where the action is. Just a hint: If you don't want birdsh*t on your car, then I'd suggest not parking here.

Walking on, we came upon this magnificent thing...someone probably knows what it is.

Here's a closer shot of one of the flowers. It appears to be some sort of cactus or succulent.

Here, we used to watch what we called "hang-gliders." Below is an image I borrowed from Creative Commons. There were no hand-gliders present yesterday. 

It was mesmerizing watching them, and I took quite a few pictures. 

We stood watching them for about half an hour. That's Mike and his sister, Meredith, in the image below.

Eventually, our eyes were full and we decided to head back ahead of rush-hour traffic. As we left, I caught this quote on the side of the snack bar.

It was an interesting quote coming from Leonardo da Vinci, whose life spanned the 15th and 16th centuries. He was a man ahead of his time, wasn't he?

The kitties switched places for their morning naps yesterday. Smitty stretched out on his window hammock.

Inside, I was busy putting together an Orange Upside-down Cake. We had dinner with friends last night, and I brought dessert. This was made from some oranges from their trees, but I purchased the one blood orange at the grocery store. 

I was a little worried about this when I flipped the pan upside-down and removed it. There was quite a bit of orange juice from the blood oranges, and I worried the cake would be soggy. It was not. It was delicious, and it was served with a dollop of whipped cream. We enjoyed it and there are two pieces left for our dessert tonight. This was originally a test recipe for America's Test Kitchens, but it has been published in Cook's Country now, so I can share the recipe. It's pretty simple to make. Here you go.

I took lots of pictures of these, but I'm only sharing a few with you. You're welcome.

There might have been a time when I knew the names of more of these things, but I no longer do. Feel free to chime in if you know something. This tree grows in abundance here. It has the most interesting seed pods.

They are about a foot long, and green turning to brown, when they drop off.

There were quite a few hibiscus in this color along the way.

These little yellow jobs were tiny...about the size of the head of a glass-headed pin.

These two crows were my walking companions. At one point, one of them had something that looked like a red berry in its mouth, but it flew off the second I pointed my camera in its direction.

Here's something I should know the name of, but I don't.

I believe these ones below are magnolias, and they are growing at many of the sites too. Our campsite was littered with spent pods when we arrived.

I only saw these happy yellow guys below in one place.

Here's another interesting tree. It was aggressively pruned back at some point in time.

And look at these wicked thorns on its trunk!

Here's another tree with some interesting pods. They grow in clusters on the tree.

They open up like a clam shell.

Inside, they look like this, although I have a feeling they had spilled a lot of tiny brown seeds in the process.

Okay, so here's the office, which is closed because of COVID right now. Beyond is the building where the restrooms and laundry are located.

And I'm sorry, but even if you're the office, you need to take down your Christmas decorations. It's mid-January, for goodness sake. I'm sure there's some kind of law against this. If there isn't, there should be, don't you think?

Between the two buildings is a pool, which actually is much smaller than it looks in this picture. It's the one downside of this park. The pool is quite some distance from us, and it's very small.

There's also a very small hot tub.

Inside the laundry, I found this framed photo of the park we've usually stayed at in Hemet. You can see their luxurious constellation of pools. There are three hot tubs and three large pools. The hot tubs are at different temperatures, depending on how hot you like your water. 

So, we regret the pool situation, but look beyond (above) the pools in that photo above, and you can see how large and packed together the RVs are in the park itself. And you're only seeing half of it in this photo. There is a whole other half outside the frame that is just as large and packed together. This park in Escondido is small in comparison, and we have some breathing room between our sites. 

When we're traveling in our truck camper, I'm forced to use the park laundry, and I'm constantly on the hunt for quarters. With our fifth wheel, I have a washer/dryer combination in the RV, but I still sometimes like to use the park laundry to wash jeans.

And there was beautiful bougainvillea also growing in abundance and in different colors. It's one of the things I miss most about California.

Succulents are a favorite in sometimes drought-ridden California. They thrive here.

And then there's whatever this next thing is. It was about the diameter of a quarter.

Okay, so at first glance, I thought these next trees were eucalyptus. But then, I noticed the bark was wrong, and they had some clusters of red objects growing among them. It was hard to see because they were high overhead.

So I zoomed in with my camera and got a better look when I uploaded the pictures. I believe these are just giant bottle-brush trees. I had no idea they could grow so tall!

In Hawaii, we called bottle brush "Pele's Tears." There was a legend behind it that if you picked a bottle brush flower, it would start raining. And since it rains a little almost every day in Hawaii, it's not surprising that people believe the legend. (Just now I Googled Pele's Tears and came up with an explanation that had nothing to do with bottle brush. Don't blame me...I'm just the messenger.)

Below, these black berries (as opposed to blackberries) appear gray in the bright sunshine. In fact, they are almost black.

Here's a white rose...

and a canna...one of my mother's favorite flowers.

Rosemary is blooming right now, and it is planted in hedges all around the park.

And whatever this is...

And this...

And that was the end of my walk. Not bad, huh?

Here are the three baskets I have so far.

Now I have the next one ready to go, and that's where I'll start this morning.

We're going to take a "chill" day. We're both in the mood for a skillet cookie, and so I'll bake one of those. I'm hoping to get some more sewing in today. If I'm able to sit myself down at the sewing machine, I'll start sewing together the Posies quilt top.

The weather could have been more cooperative yesterday. I was hoping to get out for a walk, but it was overcast and raining off and on during the day. Today is looking brighter. I'll probably be able to do that this morning. It is Sunday, however, which means Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes for breakfast. It also means we're having dinner with friends this evening, and I'm bringing dessert. I'll be baking an Orange Upside-down Cake using some of the oranges they gave us from their trees. I've made it before, and I'm certain I've blogged about it, but I couldn't find it anywhere. It was a test recipe for America's Test Kitchens, and so maybe I didn't blog about it. You'll just have to wait to see today's version. It has been published in Cook's Country now, and so I'll be able to share the recipe tomorrow.

I was lucky to have my stitching cat by my side while I worked on my slow stitching. The morning can't start any better than that.

As for the rest of yesterday, I spent another day sewing. I was able to finish off all the French roses I cut and kitted up for the journey. There were five more to make:

It's going to be a colorful quilt. I like the golf ball fabric in the image below.

And I like the mix of colors in this next one. See the little heart on the center piece?

And this was the last one. I was kind of tired of them by the time I finished this one.

Adding to the five I made the day before, here are the ten latest French roses.

Adding to the five at home, I have 15 blocks. I'll need 25 to finish off the quilt. I'll finish the rest when we get home. This is my goal for January's

Good morning, my friends! We had a day that included a little of everything yesterday. I got out my sewing machine for the first time this trip, and I'll have some time to do some more sewing today. It's still dark outside as I'm writing this, but my spirits are bright. There's nothing like a day at the sewing machine to set the world right. 

While we ate our breakfast yesterday, this was our view:

and now I've moved it to the last position before I finish it off. This shouldn't take too long. I think this is my favorite basket so far.

While I was stitching, Mike got Smitty out for a walk. Sadie went for a "watch" on her catio. You can see Smitty in the lower left corner of the image below.

Sadie seems completely at peace with her indoor-only status, but she runs to the catio whenever Smitty goes out and snoopervises his comings and goings.

And all of that snoopervising puts her in the mood for a nap. She really loves that morning sunshine.

We wanted to get some avocados since the whole week's menu includes chunks of avocado sprinkled on pretty much everything we're planning to put in our mouths. It's a short drive north from where we are, and then our favorite Mom & Dad fruit stand is just off the interstate.

They had different flavors of honey and pretty bottles of olive oil.

And lots of avocados for $5 per bag. We found Fuertes and Hass (Mike's favorite).

And here's a new one on me...Bacon Avocados. Really?

Also, a nice supply of citrus. Our friends Deb and Tom already gave us a bag of lemons, oranges, and mandarins from their trees, or we would have been all over the citrus.

They also had garlic, tomatoes, and persimmons. It's all grown locally. We're told that most of the avocados sold in grocery stores these days come from Mexico. Here, at this stand, they are California avocados...the very best kind.

We don't have any honey with us and so we picked up a jar of this avocado honey. It's a dark amber color, like maple syrup.

And two bags of avocados. They aren't quite ripe, unfortunately, but it shouldn't take them too long. There are five avocados per bag, which makes them about $1 per delicious avocado.

We had Barbecued Sirloin and Blue Cheese Salad on our menu for dinner last night. I'd hoped to use some of the avocados for that, but we'll give them more time to ripen and try to be patient. As for last night's dinner, I made some Quick Pickled Onions. 

I substitute the pickled onions for the shallots in the salad recipe. And the salad was so good. I didn't take a picture of ours, deciding instead to dive right in with both hands and my face. Here's the picture from the recipe, though.

Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself because earlier in the day, I set up my sewing machine at the dinette. I like sitting there next to the window. I had the sun shade pulled down because the bright sunshine was warm coming in. Pfelicity was serviced after our last trip south...her first visit to the spa of her life...and she was sewing nicely.

It's not a bad place to sew. My chair is a little low. I'm going to do some sewing again today, and I think I'll add a pillow to boost myself up a little. My goal was to sew together the ten French Roses blocks I brought along. The pieces are all cut and pinned together. I just need to sew around the edges. Here's the first one:

When I kitted these up before leaving home. I added the thread I was using and the scissors I was using the cut the backs. (If you've forgotten how these are made, you can see my old post right here, where I went into some detail about it.

These are made from my huge stash of flannel scraps, given to me or exchanged with quilters far and wide that I don't know. It was kind of fun poking through them. Of course, there were a lot of juvenile prints, probably used for making baby quilts. But I still enjoyed seeing the frogs, and dogs, and dinosaurs, and soccer balls sent to me by some folks. It told me something about the people who sent them.

Am I the only one who sees a fried egg in the one below?

When I got to the fifth one (below), I was getting tired of sewing.

Mike has an appointment to get the wheels aligned on his truck today. While he's gone, I'll finish the rest of them. Finishing these up is my goal for January's OMG, and so I'll be glad to get them finished and my goal for the month accomplished. If there's still more time for sewing when those are done, I believe I'll start sewing together the quilt blocks for the Posies quilt top.

Okay, so that was yesterday and the plan for today in a nutshell. We had some lovely weather yesterday. I'm hoping for a repeat today, and I want to get out for a walk. There are lots of pretty blooming things in this park, and I'd like to show you around. We've been pretty happy here so far. We think this might be The Place we've been looking for in Southern California.

As I mentioned yesterday, we had grocery shopping to do. We first stopped off to get our beloved Egg McMuffins. With our dually truck it's sometimes difficult to negotiate sharp turns in a drive through lane, and so we generally go inside for this. This is true especially when we're traveling and only trying a particular drive-through for the first time. 

So we drive up to the local McDonald's and there is a sign in the window that says...and I'm quoting the fonts here:

DINING ROOM NOW OPEN!

"Great!" we say. So we don our masks and walk to the door where we find a sign that says:

Dining Room Closed.

Okay...well that was 20 seconds of my life I can't get back. I only mention this in case someone at McDonald's is reading and gets the notion to take down their stupid sign. But, you know, all's well that ends well, and no one died. We were able to get through the drive-through and we enjoyed our Egg McMuffins in our private dining car...literally, a car...or a truck, if you want to get all argumentative. We had to wait for our OJ to be delivered to the car, and while we waited, I snapped this picture of a blooming thing outside the restaurant.

So, yesterday I got busy tracing the motifs. There is one for each day of the month of February, which happens to be International Embroidery Month. I brought along my lightbox for this sole purpose.

Also, I brought along about a half yard of scrap fabric for my background. I used a small ruler, mainly for making sure I had the motif straight on the 5 x 5 piece I'd cut. I'm just kind of eyeballing it to center. They'll all be cut rather close to the outer edge of the stitching.

This year's project was to be colored with colored pencils. I'm doing mine with crayon. Here's my thinking about this: the colored pencils actually give a better result, but it's a much more involved process to use colored pencils on fabric. You can watch Meg's video about how it's done right here. When I was packing things up in anticipation of this project, I considered bringing all that stuff along, but then decided to go with the easier box of 64 Crayola Crayons. They'll work just fine for this project, and so that's what I'm using.

When the tracing and coloring was finished, I used a piece of scrap stabilizer and pressed it to the back.

And because this is a complete scrap project at my end, I'm working with small pieces of stablizer cut from other projects. Again, this will work fine since it will be trimmed close to the stitching. And the whole project fits hand in glove since I need the iron to heat-set the crayon. I can iron on the stabilizer and heat set the crayon in one fell swoop.

And there we go. Day 1 is finished. Only 26 more to go, plus two larger ones to finish off the month.

It took several hours, but all the inchies are ready for stitching now.

And since I didn't know what colors of floss I'd need while I was packing, I brought all my floss bobbins along. I'll just wing it, choosing my floss colors as we stitch through the month.

The only other thing we did yesterday was to pay a visit to the Amazon locker nearby to pick up this pattern from Aunt Martha's. This is only the second Aunt Martha's pattern I'll be making. The Wine Country quilt was the other. These are good traveling projects, and I worked on stitching the Wine Country blocks on a previous trip.

The one I picked up yesterday contains heat transfer embroidery motifs of all 50 state birds.

A quilting friend posted about this pattern on Facebook. She picked up her pattern, which happened to be around 50 years old, on a free table at her guild. (At least, that's what I think happened.) Anyway...she showed some of the transfers, and I said, "Hey! I need that!" to no one in particular. So I did a search online and found this pattern. Cool, that it's still available after so many years. And also cool that if I ever get around to actually stitching it, I don't have to trace the motifs. They'll iron onto my fabric slicker than hot snot on a doorknob. (Like that? I had a friend many years ago who used the idiom, and it stuck with me.)

Okay, so the only thing on today's agenda is to drive north a few miles and see if we can score a bag of avocados. Our next week's menu is depending on finding delicious avocados. Actually, the avocados will be a bonus. The menu goes either way. If we don't take too long doing that, I'm really hoping I'll have some time to set up the sewing machine and do some sewing.

My dear friend Debi and I had a great FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip) yesterday. And, if you're like me, you know there's nothing better than a good FART. Debi and I have been friends for a long time, but we don't often get good one-on-one time together, and so the shopping was only one part of the nice day we spent together.

We started at Quilter's Cottage in Fallbrook, California. I first visited Quilter's Cottage way back in March, 2018. That was before the pandemic. (Have you noticed yourself marking time as BP and AP--before or after pandemic?) Back then we walked around all unmasked and smugly showing our faces...smiling at one another and sticking out our tongues. Good times. 

Since my last visit, the store has changed owners. It is still in the same quaint building. I don't know, but this might have been someone's house at one time.

I'm not a vintage sewing machine buff, but some of you are.

This store featured lots of colorful fabrics. There was quite a bit of Kaffe Fasset.

I found several things on these shelves I liked. I'll show you in a minute.

In this room, they had a lot of black and white fabrics and a lot of solids and tone-on-tones.

Each room seemed more colorful than the last.

I noticed this basket of "toweling." I love this stuff, but I never have any ideas about what I would use it for.

In this corner, there was a nice supply of notions.

Back here...a nice, brightly lit classroom.

One of the classes they're teaching now is this scrappy dog class. Aren't these cute?

Over here, a whole wall of my favorite Creative Grids rulers.

Debi picked up this journal and showed it to me. Certainly you'll get no disagreement from me.

And Debi is a retired nurse. I think this little package was wrapped up and set here for her to see.

And you know I love thread as much as I love fabric.

So when we'd thoroughly explored the shop, I chose this fabric as my regional fabric. I already have this store represented in a previous Shop Hop quilt, but with a new owner, I figure it should get a second chance at Shop Hop quilt fame.

You might remember I selected a backing for the City Bank quilt, but after considering it for a while, I decided to use something different. The fabric I chose originally is light, while the top is going to be dark. I decided I wanted to go with something darker, and so I got four yards of this one. It's probably too much, but I really like this fabric. I'll find another use for it. (Also, I just now looked up to link to the original fabric, and seeing it again, I might decide to go with the original. I still like this new one, and I'll find something to do with it.)

And this one. I'm still on a quest to make an art quilt from a picture I took in Colorado on one of our ATV trips. Besides, there's something I love about bricks and mortar.

We had lunch at a local restaurant. They had a nice outdoor patio, and these cyclamen were growing right next to our table.

From there, we visited Grand Country Quilters in San Marcos. This was a new shop to me. Debi informs me it is for sale right now. Anybody wanna buy a quilt shop in San Marcos, California? San Marcos has a great climate!

Walking through the front door, it looks like this. 

There wasn't a lot of fabric in this store, nor is it a very large store. They had a nice selection of wools, and Debi tells me she comes here for wool when she wants it.

They had a lot of vintage prints. I love the vintage prints, but I don't often use them.

They made good use of their small space with some of these free-standing shelf units. They had a nice supply of neutrals.

Also, a pretty wall of Valdani floss. This isn't easy to find, even searching online.

They had some pretty scrappy quilts. This one made me wish I had a snowball quilt on my list of WIPs. Maybe that will be my next quilt.

These little scrappy minis caught my eye too.

I didn't end up purchasing anything there since their fabrics weren't really the kind I use. 

They had a pretty window display, ready for Valentine's Day.

Inside...oh my...look at all that color!

And this shop really specialized in color with a large selection of Kaffe Fasset prints.

And look at this cute panel. I noticed in the middle on the right, there is a Bible verse.

Debi looked up the verse while we stood there: "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." 2 Corinthians 9:6. Sow, sew...who cares which is which.

They also had these beautiful prints that looked kaleidoscopic.

In the rear of the store were these pretty batiks. I grabbed one here. I'll show you in a minute.

On this long wall, a supply of batiks. And look at that pretty panel there. 

From where I was standing, I could look up and see more vintage sewing machines.

These two were toy sewing machines. I'm not sure about this, but I think I had one like the one on the right when I was a kid. Mine was red. In my military family, things had a way of disappearing between moves. I don't know what happened to my little sewing machine, but it disappeared at some point.

Debi and I were discussing my difficulties with using large scale prints in quilts. In this shop, they had done that very skillfully. They just cut them into Dresdens or kaleidoscopic blocks. There were some very pretty quilts hanging on their walls.

Also, I liked this idea of simply putting them in large wooden embroidery hoops and then hanging them.

Way toward the back of the store was this one made up of Dresdens. Debi informs me she'll be teaching this class soon.

I decided on the fabric below for my regional print. 

While I was having my fabrics cut, I turned around and spied this one stacked on the floor for reshelving. I just liked it, and so I added it to my pile.

It had an interesting silky feel to it. Check out what it says on the selvage edge. "Made with love, not pesticides." I need to check into this more. You can see more of their fabrics right here.

And then I got a yard of this batik. I just liked it.

Outside, were some more blooming things. I know the name of these, but it escapes me at the moment.

Debi gave me this rosemary salt she'd made. I wish there were a You Tube for smells because this smells so good! We were wishing we had a steak rub with us, and I think this will make a great seasoning for when Mike barbecues next time. Thank you, Debi.

Back at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch, Smitty had his toys all corralled where he could keep an eye on them. They get wild sometimes.

Sadie was taking a turn snoozing on the catio. The kitties really love this warm Southern California weather.

Okay, so it's all fun and games until the "groceries empty" light comes on. We have to do our grocery shopping this morning. It's been a while since we've done any grocery shopping, and so the list is rather long. The only sweet spot in that scene is that we're getting our beloved Egg McMuffins for the first time this trip. When we get back to the RV, I'll get to work tracing and coloring the designs for the Crabapple Hill Stitch-along starting February 1st. I'll tell you more about my idea for the stitch-along in tomorrow's post.

When I looked up from writing yesterday's post, I found these two relaxing at the back end of the RV. 

Smitty held still for me to put his harness on, and so he was able to get out for about a 10 minute walk yesterday. He's feeling less fearful here since there are low shrubs all around our site he can get under if he wants to. Here, he sniffed that fresh California air. He told me he wants to use this as his Facebook profile photo...if he had a Facebook page...which he does not.

Also...and this was a big bonus...he spied his favorite wide blades of grass right away, and spent a good five minutes of his walk munching on them. Grass, man. It's his favorite. And California is a legal state, so it's all good.

Back inside, Smitty's treats of valor were dispensed. Sadie gets treats of condolence. She was more interested in getting a drink of water. It's important to stay hydrated, you know.

And after so much excitement, Smitty decided to take a nap on his catio. 

Snzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

And, could things be any better for kitties? The morning sun is shining in on their hammocks. Sadie took her morning nap right there. She laid there until we were sure she would burst into flames, and then she got down. She got too hot and took her napping to a shadier spot.

We left around noon to meet up with our group of friends at a local BBQ joint. We've eaten at Enzo's before, and it's really good food. They also have a huge outdoor patio...always appreciated in these COVID times. When we were ready to leave, our server took this picture of us. 

On the right are our friends Tom and Deb. In front are Rick and Danni. Behind them are Debi and Jim...and I don't know who those party crashers are on the left. They always bring their unruly shadow selves with them, and then things get rowdy. After lunch we headed over to Debi and Jim's house, which was just a short distance away and had a regular old gabfest. We are all graduates of Vista High School, although different years. Except for Mike and Jim, we were all in the band together, and our band experience made us life-long friends. Say what you will about Facebook, but it allowed me to reconnect with these wonderful people.

Good morning, my friends! We're back in civilization...as long as you're talking about the internet. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I'm taking notes, and I'll report back on my findings in a day or two. For now, I can upload pictures reliably again, so I'm a happy camper AND a happy blogger. 

We had only about 40 miles to drive yesterday, and so we stayed at Lake Skinner until around noon. We couldn't check into this new park until 1:00 p.m., and our timing was pretty much perfect. Before leaving, I had some extra time to work on my slow stitching, and I filled in my hoop.

Also, it seems a good time to say that the 2022 "stitched inchies" project is posted on the Crabapple Hill Studios website now. You can find the pdf pattern, supply list, and instructions right here. This is one of my favorite stitch-alongs, and I'm so happy she's doing it again. She's calling this year's project "The Neighborhood," and it's all made up of bird houses. And you know I love bird houses.

Last year's project was done a little differently, but I winged it and made another small quilt.

If you check in on the pattern for this year, you'll see she did it like last year. I already have an idea for how to do mine, using up all those felt squares I purchased earlier this year. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm just excited for February 1st to arrive so we can get started. Oh yes, and don't forget, it'll be the day I can reveal my quilt for The Endeavourers challenge. It seems like February 1st is going to be a red letter day.

Okay, but let's get back to our drive from yesterday, shall we? Leaving Temecula, we passed by orange groves...

and grape vines. Temecula is Southern California's wine country, and they have capitalized on the marketing opportunities that presents.

We got a chuckle out of what you see below. We've been saying all along that driving laws in California are mere suggestions. (And I'm sorry for picking on you, California, but honestly...you guys drive crazy down here.) Anyway...apparently you are given the option of violating the red light if you're willing to pay the $357 fine. No whining. Just letting you know the consequences of the choices you make. Also...wear a mask.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this building. I'm thinking this tile roof was designed by a quilter.

Okay, so we headed south on Interstate 15 to our final destination. Pretty smooth sailing, and nice weather...warm and dry. I wore short sleeves for the first time yesterday.

I wanted to tell you something about this rugged southern California landscape. For this, I'll turn the blog over to someone I met while consulting The Google. This gentleman, Bill Walker, tells me he's been "studying the earth sciences my entire life." And according to Mr. Walker,  "You’re seeing exposed granitic rock that’s undergone arid-climate weathering. 

"The granite is there because 100–120 million years ago, a tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean was being forced (subducted) under the North American continent. As the ocean floor was forced down to depths of hundreds of miles, it melted. This molten rock rose upwards towards the surface through layers of rock. Some of it may have erupted through volcanoes, but most of it slowly cooled miles underground in huge masses called plutons, gradually turning into granitic rocks.

"Tens of millions of years later the region was uplifted many thousands of feet. This allowed erosion to gradually remove the miles of rock overhead, eventually leaving the granitic rock exposed to the elements. The various types of granitic rock, such as granite, granodiorite, etc. tend to be massive in structure. That means that cracks (“joints”) are far apart and the rock tends to split into boulders rather than small fragments. Arid-climate weathering then tends to make the boulders rounded.

"That’s how we got today’s landscape in this corner of California." Thank you, Mr. Walker.

Where Mike grew up, there were rocks like this all around his parents' property. He liked one particular rock that had a large flat top, and he liked to lie there sunning himself like a lizard. I can remember going to his house once, and his Mom told me where he was: "He's out sunning himself like a lizard on a flat rock," and I knew right where to look.

Also, here's the object of our desire in southern California...delicious avocados. Below, you can see a grove growing on one of the hillsides. We picked up a whole bag of delicious, ripe, buttery avocados for about $5 last time we were down. We know a place, and that will be at the top of our list over the next few days.

Okay, and so we're checked into the RV park. It's a pretty nice one. We're withholding judgment, but it holds promise as our new "The Place," in southern California. We're close to Interstate 15, but far enough away that the noise is barely audible. And yesterday, I tried an Amazon locker for the first time. I ordered an electric juicer online and had it delivered to an Amazon locker near the RV park. It's close enough that I can walk if I want to. It was slick. They sent me an email with a bar code. I simply scanned the bar code on the "locker" device, and a door popped open, revealing my juicer. Cool! This is the one I got.

I have a juicer at home that I like, and I considered bringing it along, and then didn't. Mike drank up all the lemonade I brought from home, and so we decided to add one to the RV as a permanent resident. This isn't the same one I have at home, but I like it just as much. And, of course, we needed lemons if we're going to make lemonade, right? And it just so happened there was a grocery store right across the street.

In about five minutes, I'd juiced all the juice I needed for lemonade. We didn't have anything to put it in, and so we emptied out a nearly-empty jug of orange juice and used that. Oh yes, and pay no attention to the "no added sugar" label. What's true for orange juice, is not true for lemonade.

And then we had our fave Kentucky Lemonade, which consists of a shot of bourbon and then filling the glass with lemonade. I had already consumed about half of mine when I took this picture. I'm not a fan of bourbon, but I do like it in this drink.

And that was a tasty way to end the day.

Today we're having lunch with the same bunch we've been camping with. It'll be the first chance we've had to see Tom and Deb, whose RV broke down on the way to our camping trip. Bummer. Deb is printing the Crabapple Hill pattern (mentioned above) for me, and that will short circuit my prep time considerably. To print, we have to take things to Staples. It should be easy, but it never is, and so I'm imposing on my friends. I have a quilt for her too...it seems a fair exchange. 

Tomorrow I'll be visiting some quilt shops with my other Debi friend who is part owner in one of the Escondido shops. And so you can see our social calendar is already filling up. I'm afraid Thursday will need to be a grocery shopping day, but I'm clearing some time for a sewing day too. I've missed my sewing machine, and I'm hoping to get back to it in the next couple of days. I need to get going on my January OMG, which is to make the ten French Roses blocks I brought along.

Okay...so I think I've blathered on long enough. Until tomorrow...stay safe and stay healthy.

It was a beautiful sunrise this morning. If there weren't already many good reasons to have cats, then having them around to make sure I always see the sunrise in the morning is reason enough. If it weren't for them, I might have missed this beauty this morning:

Inside the RV, it looks like this:

Our friends left for home yesterday. We will move along today. Mike and our friend, Rick, sat at the table talking about "Man and his RV" stuff.

The weather here has been lovely all week, if a little chilly. It seems warmer air is moving in, and it was a blustery day yesterday. Remember that picture I showed you early on?

I recall thinking it was strange for the trees to still be adorned with all their dead leaves. Leaves fell from the trees in Oregon months ago. Yesterday, with the wind blowing hard all day, they began to give up the ghost. It was impressive standing here. I made a little video that doesn't do it justice. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

The ground at our feet had been mostly clear. Within a few hours, our campsite was covered in a carpet of leaves. This was the view at my feet.

Most of my time for the last few days as been spent slow-stitching. I filled my hoop once, and I'm very close to filling it again. I think this one is going to be pretty when it's finished.

The last couple of days have been spent gabbing and catching up with good friends. One couple of our group wasn't able to make it to our little get-together because the fuel pump on their motorhome went out as they were driving north. We were sorry to miss them, but we'll have more time to meet up at our next destination in Escondido, California. I have taken no pictures for the past couple of days because I've been busy flapping my lips. It hardly would have mattered, though, because with the weekend nearly here, the campground is filling up. With more people here, more people are hogging the bandwidth available to us with our weak cell signal. And so I'm giving up the fight to upload pictures...except for this one from another trip when I caught Sadie basking in the warm sunshine:

It was another day of slow here. The morning was spent slow-stitching, in the usual way. I filled my hoop again.

We were a little more lively after that. Mike and I went for a short bike ride. His ride was longer. He rode back to the RV with me when I'd had enough, and then he rode a little more. I'm still riding with a significant amount of fear, and so I keep my outings short. Also, it makes my arm hurt a little reaching out for the handle bars. It was a good ride though. I figure each time I can ride successfully, I'll have a little less fear for the next time. And, besides, it was a really lovely day yesterday. We were able to be out riding with just jeans and sweatshirts (and helmets). No coats were necessary.

There was a woman (out of sight) at the next campsite. She was talking using a rather loud voice, and that spooked Smitty. He was only out for less than a minute when he wanted back in the RV

In another split second, he was nearly in full-blown panic mode. Have you ever had the experience of walking, say, out of a darkened basement, when something spooks you a little and suddenly you're on the run with monsters nipping at your heels? (Happens to me all the time.) Yeah...that's a little how it is with Smitty. Oh well. We'll try again.

Sadie seems completely at peace with her indoor-only status. When Smitty has his harness on, she runs to the catio where she can watch and walk vicariously.

Later in the afternoon, I finished off the second basket.

I'd show you the two together except that...

Okay...there we go.

And then I got the third one ready to go. These are hard to see when there's no stitching.

There was just a little bit of floss left on my needle when I hooped it up, and so I stitched just this little bit.

That's where I'll pick it up this morning. There's a lot more stitching to be done on this one. I won't have it finished as quickly.

We had to walk quite a distance from the campground to get out from behind the trees for a picture. Everything was taking on tones of red in the twilight of the setting sun.

To my left, the reeds at the lake's edge were very pretty, and the lake was mirror smooth.

There was a family packing up to leave in the area where I wanted to stand, but I managed to capture the sunset from where I stood. 

And that was the end of our day. It gets chilly when the sun goes down, and so we all end up back in our RV's after that.

Sadie is a heat-seeking cat, and she sought out the sunshine at the back of the RV yesterday morning. She's sitting there this morning too. She knows the sunshine spot will arrive soon enough. Below, you can see her view from the back window.

With our weak signal, it's taking forever and a day to upload pictures. I waited about five minutes for the ones you're looking at today. At some point, my patience will wear out. For now, I'm getting 'er done. Also on the get 'er done list, I filled in my embroidery hoop yesterday. This block is about 2/3 finished now.

With the weather finally on our side, I went out for a walk yesterday morning. I loved the graceful white trunks of these trees across the road from us.

I wish I could have caught these guys in better light. It's hard to know for sure, but from the sound of them, I'd say these are grackles like the ones we see in Boulder City. Click right here to hear the sounds they make.

Turning to my left, I encountered this sign, and I paused here to consider whether I could call my feet an "authorized vehicle."

My shadow self was there egging me on, so what could I do but follow her lead.

Walking on, I was able to get closer to the lake. Looking out across the expanse of water, I could see the dam responsible for this reservoir.

Zooming in, I could see it through the reeds.

Also present, some coots. 

To my right was a picnic area, and people fishing.

Farther to my right was a boat launch with more people fishing. And here's another question I have: If people are not permitted to swim in the lake, why do they let the fish swim here? And you just know those fish are pooping in the water. I rest my case.

Looking to the left, the sun was sparkling on the water off in the distance.

Turning back, I had another view of the mountains.

Also, I caught this bird. I've identified him as a Western Kingbird. We saw some of these when we spent the day with my friend Judy up at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, and so I was feeling smug at being able to identify him.

Also, I passed by a eucalyptus tree. This is one of those things that when you see it, you can say you know you're in California. We saw these lining the freeway as we headed south. They're so pretty with their peeling bark. When you rub the leaves between your fingers, you can smell the eucalyptus scent.

I'm just about to get back to my embroidery. Maybe I'll finish that block off today...or maybe not. It's nice having no agenda nor any place to go.

We only drove about 200 miles yesterday, but it seemed like way more. We avoided going through Los Angeles, Pasadena, Long Beach, and that whole constellation of cities near Los Angeles, but we still had to get south through the Riverside area. Good grief...the drivers here are absolutely crazy. 😨

And, honestly, the atmosphere in those areas feels pressured and intense. Or maybe it was our white knuckles giving us that impression. In any case, we made it...alive...which is something of a miracle. We're here for a full week now, and one of the couples in our four-couple group is here already. We're camping side by side, and so I think we're going to have fun this week. Hopefully, we won't get kicked out of the park.

We have a very weak cell signal, but I think with patience and persistence, I'm going to be able to do this. Before we left Bakersfield yesterday, I took a picture of the catio. It is sporting a new (very expensive) cover this year. We'd had the older one for over ten years. It was made of rip-stop nylon, and it served us well. When it started splitting on all sides, it was time to replace it.

After about an hour, we started seeing the first of many Joshua trees, even though we were more than 200 miles from Joshua Tree National Park.

On the east side of Tehachapi, the wind turbines were pretty against the backdrop of snow covered hills. There is a lot of wind energy being generated in this area, and high profile vehicles (that would be us) are warned about big wind gusts. We had no problems yesterday.

Beyond, we came across this mining operation. Checking in with The Google, I learned this is Golden Queen Mining's Soledad Mountain Project. Golden Queen produces both gold and silver metals from Soledad Mountain and is one of the last remaining gold mines in the state of California. 

The mine was first operational back in the early 1900’s, but gold and silver production was brought to a halt during World War II.  Low gold prices after the war kept the mine closed.  In recent years rising gold prices led to the push to reopen the mine.  Golden Queen received their state operating permits in 2014 and work on the infrastructure of the mine began.  Today the Mine utilizes  conventional open-pit mining methods, cyanide heap leach and Merrill-Crowe processes to recover gold and silver from crushed, agglomerated ore.  In addition to gold and silver, Golden Queen also produces aggregate material as a byproduct of mining processes.

After another hour or so, we reached Lake Skinner Recreation Area...yeah, that was the best I could do with the sign, which was on Mike's side.

Here's a better one. We were paid in full, we thought, and so we were chagrined when the woman at the gate asked us if we had any pets with us. "Two cats," I piped up. We always claim the cats. I didn't use to but then someone told me they liked to know if there was some kind of emergency. That made sense, and so I always answer when asked. Little did I know they were going to charge us an additional $28 for that...$2 per cat per day (7 days). Well. That certainly soured us on the place before we ever got through the gate. The cats don't even come out of the RV in a place like this, so what possible cost is there to the park? Whatever. We paid it and groused appropriately.

We walked the short distance to the lake after greeting our friends. It's a pretty lake. This is a source of drinking water for the community. Because of that, there's no swimming allowed. Boats are okay, which seems weird. They're okay with boat exhaust, apparently, but not with our filthy bodies. And I say again...whatever.

The sites are nice and level and we have full hook-ups. You can bet we'll feel no guilt whatsoever at burning their electricity.

There isn't a whole lot to say about yesterday. We drove nearly 200 miles on one single road to our spot for the night. We were able to find an inexpensive overnight stay in Bakersfield...not too close to the freeway, and nice level sites. It's a far cry from the mudhole "resort" we stayed in the previous two nights. A while back I started keeping a list of RV parks that we black-listed, and some we chose as favorites, including site numbers if there was a particular spot we liked. This one will go on the nice list. The other one went on the naughty list.

The one interesting thing we saw in yesterday's drive were the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains, where there's been record snowfall this year. Of course, they were on Mike's side of the truck, and so this isn't a great picture. I think you can get the idea, however.

This morning I'll move my hoop and continue on my merry stitching way.

What a wonderful way to start the year with a visit to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge with a dear friend from high school. We knew it would be a long day, and so we left the kitties in good stead with a final dispensing of kitty treats. Sadie was in her element because the morning sun was shining in on her hammock. She gets so toasty lying there, I worry she will spontaneously combust.

Okay, with them tucked in and fed, we headed off. It was about a 45 minute drive. The area is lovely, however...pretty much all agricultural.

There's a driving tour all around the ponds where gazillions (even more than bazillions) of birds can be seen in and around the water and also flying overhead.

My friend Judy is a fabulous bird photographer, and a practiced birder. She is involved in all sorts of community activities related to the local wildlife refuges, bird counts, Audubon chapters, and I don't know what all. She can spot birds with her naked eye, when I can't even get in the general vicinity. And she has a spotting scope, pictured below. She can train the scope right on a bird (almost like a visual laser pointer) so that everyone can get a look. It makes for a very interesting and fun day.

At the first viewing platform, we found a big grouping of coots. Judy helped me to learn the name of this particular bird on our last visit two years ago. To me, they'd always been ducks. Now that I know the difference, they're easy to spot.

For me, their feet are the thing. They have these pillowy feet that allow them to walk easily on marshy surfaces. I took dozens of pictures of this grouping trying to get a good picture of the feet.

Judy told me the name of these birds, and I've already forgotten. She mentioned they were very photogenic because of their red legs, and because they tend to wade in shallower water, leaving a reflection on the surface. You'll see in a moment, I took a lot of pictures of them too.

Our goal for the day was to see the sandhill cranes fly in, which meant waiting until after sunset. When we arrived, there were some off in the distance on one of the berms between ponds.

One of the things I love about this place is seeing the many geese, ducks, starlings, and all other different kinds of birds, flying in and out by the thousands.

I don't actually have a lot to say about these pictures, and so I won't comment on all of them. I'll just let you see what we saw.

Here's a red-tailed hawk. He was some distance away. I took several pictures of him, just hoping to capture something. He had his back to us at first, but at some point (unseen by me) he turned around. I didn't know I'd captured the front of him until I took the pictures off the camera. Always a nice surprise.

We saw quite a few Great Egrets at various locations.

And lots and lots of snow geese. Judy tells us these are actually Ross's geese. Ross’s Geese nest in low arctic tundra, especially on islands; they forage in wetlands, meadows, and agricultural fields. At night, wintering birds roost with other geese on lakes, reservoirs, or wetlands. We've seen them all up and down the state as we've driven south.

The one below is an ibis.

Here's another hawk...way off in the distance.

Judy spotted these two bald eagles way off in the distance. I could eventually see them too when she described where to look. We all got a good look through her spotting scope.

Here, I just liked how the clouds were reflecting on the pond.

Judy was excited to find these Tundra swans. We see these at the Klamath NWR in Oregon too. Tundra Swans nest on arctic tundra. Look for Tundra Swans during winter on estuaries and coastal waters, and some inland lakes. On migration and in winter, they may leave the water to feed in agricultural fields.

Eventually, we saw them fly overhead.

Any bird of prey will stir up the geese in this way. It's eye-popping seeing so many birds.

Here's a short video I took of them in flight when we visited two years ago. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

Later he walked out from behind the reeds, and we could really see that he was "quietly arrayed," and that "he glittered when he walked," just like Richard Cory.

We were nearing the end of the loop when we spotted these squirrels. I swear on my quilting grandmother's grave, these squirrels were as big as cats. 

Judy was able to pick out a burrowing owl from this landscape. I was able to get a good look in her spotting scope, but I could never see it with my naked eye to get a picture. Here's a not-very-good shot of one I captured from our last visit.

We finished up the loop, and then drove around again to choose a spot to sit and wait for sunset.

Along the way, we saw this tree full of swallows and red-winged blackbirds.

Here's another shot of the red-winged blackbirds. They look like just blackbirds until they fly, but I believe you can see a little spot of red on the right wing of the left bird in the image below. Or maybe it's just a reed...work with me here.

The sun was close to setting, and the shadow selves of these three musketeers were ready for the sandhill cranes to fly in.

It ended up being a pretty sunset.

And then we started seeing line after line of sandhill cranes flying in. They split off from one another and went in two different directions. They came in waves of maybe a few dozen or more. Here's a little video I took of them. I love the sound they made. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

A fine way to spend the first day of the new year. This will probably be an annual event. It's fabulous seeing the birds, and even more fun to spend time with one of my oldest and dearest friends.

Welcome to 2022, my friends! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get online this morning. I started this post yesterday evening, and wasn't able to upload any pictures. This morning, all the yahoos (and their automatic weapons fired off at midnight) are still in bed, and so they aren't hogging all the bandwidth. Not that I would ever hog bandwidth...just sayin'. And this gives me an opportunity to say our internet access could get a little dicey over the next week or so. Tomorrow we'll be heading to a small park in Bakersfield before reaching Lake Skinner Recreation Area, a California state park...or maybe it's a county park...either way. Those are the kinds of areas where we're often in an internet desert. If you don't hear from me for the next week or so, that will be the reason.

But let's back up to our last driving day of 2021. As we left Oroville, we could see the snow-capped mountains off in the distance, and we were glad we weren't there.

I've been enjoying seeing the bazillions of birds along our route, though. I'm told by those in the know that these are snow geese, with possibly some other kinds of geese mixed in.

I might have said I thought we were going to make it all the way to SoCal without ever setting tires on Interstate 5. I was wrong. Our navigation unit directed us onto I-5, and I believe I-5 shares the road with CA-99, which would explain it. We dreaded getting on the interstate here because...and I'm sorry to have to say this, California...California drivers are crazy. Especially on the interstate. So Sacramento loomed ahead.

And we ended up right in the thick of it until we reached Stockton and were able to get off again. Phew!

This RV park calls itself a "resort." And I'll just say that using the word "resort" has one "resorting" to wishful thinking. It *is* right alongside the Merced River, however, and that part is very pretty.

Looking in the other direction, it looks like this:

The bright sunshine had everything faded to black in my image, but here, I looked in the other direction again. I like the reflection of the sky on the river, even if everything else is in silhouette.

So, I don't have much else to tell you about yesterday. I started the second of nine basket blocks. This one will go faster than the previous one.

Today we're meeting up with my bird-loving friend from high school, Judy. We should see *lots* more birds today at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Internet or no, I'll be back eventually to tell you all about it, even if I have to do a time traveling post. 

Good early morning, my friends. It's almost always early morning here in the Traveling Three Cats Ranch. That's because we are awakened by the pitter patter (read that: "thundering herd") of little feet. Lots of little feet. They can only last so long, and then they decide it's time for the household to wake up and get with the program. The "program" being the dispensing of morning treats. Generally, this means a return to bed at some point, but for now, we're up and at 'em.

It was a driving day yesterday. There was some time for slow stitching in the morning, and I filled my hoop.

So we had some sunshine for most of the day yesterday. We ran into rain again about an hour from our final destination. Nevertheless, it was nice to drive on mostly dry pavement for most of the day.

We passed over and back across the South Fork of the Eel River several times. At one point, we crossed this bridge. You can see the old highway bridge below.

And then, we were back into the redwoods. Use that car for scale to judge the size of these trees. It makes the drive dark when we're in among them like this.

We were still on US 101 until we were about 25 miles north of Ukiah. We were to head east on CA 20, and right away we started seeing these signs. And, let me just tell you, this was worrisome. We did have chains with us, and so we boldly went where the Traveling Three Cats Ranch has never gone before. 

And I'm not kidding about that "never gone before" part. Mike lived his whole childhood in California. We are both natives, although I moved around with my military family, and didn't return to my home state until I was 12. Still, we drove through a part of California here that neither of us had ever seen. It was lovely. This is Lake County, California. (We have a Lake County in Oregon too.)

We did run into some snow, but none on the road. We also passed by several dry snow plows.

There were plenty of barns to see along the way.

Also some run-down and abandoned structures. There was one abandoned structure with beveled glass in the windows, and I wondered why someone hadn't taken those windows out before leaving the place to fall in on itself. Here's another rundown structure. I believe someone is living here, however.

At one of the higher elevations we traveled yesterday, we saw Mendocino Lake. This was small potatoes compared to the lake we were about to see.

Eventually, we came to Clear Lake. My friend, Marei, tells me that Clear Lake is the largest natural lake fully in California.

There were a number of small communities ringing its shores, and lots of boat hoists with boats raised out of the water for the season.

We stopped at a tiny rest stop to allow traffic to pass our pig of an RV...scourge of the highway...and noticed a Porta-Potty there. And, you know...any port in the storm; or, in this case, any Porta-Potty in the storm. It was clean! With seat covers! And two unwrapped rolls of TP! These are the things that get us all excited on a long drive. While I waited for Mike, I zoomed in on this little community.

As we turned away from the lake, we came across this burned area. There is lots of green returning, but the trees are all toast.

Some of these places were idyllic, with isolated farms and ranches.

There was a little dusting of snow on the hillsides. I like how these trees left little uncovered circles of grass beneath them when the snow fell.

It was a diverse landscape we drove through yesterday, beginning with big trees, lakes, and finally fruit and nut trees lining both sides of the road. We also happened upon some vineyards.

We passed through a portion of the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, where we were treated to lots of birds. We saw many egrets standing alone, and this big flight of birds off in the distance. 

Since we were seeing so many egrets, we thought these must be the same bird. My friend, Judy, the birder and entomologist, doubts these are egrets. She guessed swans. There were some seagulls in the mix too. We'll be seeing Judy at our next stop and spending some time bird watching with her. I'm excited to see her again.

We also saw lots of hawks. It's almost impossible to get a good picture as we're speeding by. This was my best attempt from yesterday's drive.

And then, this one. I believe these are crows...you know...a "murder" of crows. There was another one that didn't make it into the picture, and they looked kind of sinister sitting there.

We were nearly to our spot for the night by then. When we checked into the RV park, they gave us two goodie bags for the kitties. Whoa! Kitties hardly ever get goodie bags. Those are usually reserved for stupid woofies, and so this was quite a treat.

Inside, some of our favorite cat toys and little bags of Temptations...their favorite treat!

The kitties immediately got on Yelp and gave this place a two paws up review.