Pleasanton (5/15/2005)

This week we started off in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and ended up in Red Bluff, California. In the middle we spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area (specifically Pleasanton) visiting Rich’s family. Max has decided he likes to travel on top of the kennel in the back seat. It seems he likes to be able to lay down and see out the windows at the same time. It doesn’t seem comfortable to me but ….
In general things seem to working well for us. We are experiencing some difficulty with mail delays, especially with bills where we do not get a 2nd copy on EMAIL. We have missed a couple of deadlines and been a little late on others. On a personal note, Rich and I seem to be dividing the day for personal time. I sleep in, so he gets to have the mornings alone; we spend the middle of the day pretty much together; and Rich goes to bed early and I get the late evenings to myself. Rich plans (this trip and the Alaska trip), reads, and plays games (I’m guessing as I don’t see it) during his time and I do finances, publish this blog, design quilts on EQ5, read, and play games during my time.
Monday I woke up and started to pack the bedroom for travel. Rich told me not to bother as we were not going anywhere. When I asked why he asked me to take a look outside. There was snow everywhere. The weather report said chains or snow tires were required on the pass and since we do not have either and don‘t need to travel in that kind of weather we spent the day reading and relaxing inside. We decided to do a little shopping when the snow seemed to have quit, but while we were in the grocery store the snow really started to come down.
Tuesday The weather report was for more snow but it had not happened when we got up so we packed up and left. It did not snow for the trip but there was an amazing amount of snow on the side of the road through the pass. The buildings had snow to their roofs. Driving was pretty tense until we were on the other side of the pass past the snow line. When we arrived in Pleasanton I set up the dish (we were anxious to see the end of The Amazing Race). Unfortunately, although I was able to hook up the dish we did not have any local channels. I was able to get them to give us Bay area stations but we still need national stations as we travel. Hopefully, one of these days they will finally authorize it.
Wednesday We were both tired and slept in. We spent the afternoon visiting Rich’s niece Stacey and her new son Mathew in Pleasanton and Rich’s mom Georgia in Castro Valley.
Thursday We had a lazy day: did some shopping at Costco and spent a couple of hours with Rich’s mom Georgia again.
Friday The Alameda County Fairgrounds (our RV Park) hosted a RV Show so we took a look at the new trailers, 5th Wheels, Class ‘A’ vehicles, and Class ‘C’ vehicles. Size is always a trade-off (big enough to be comfortable, and small enough to drive comfortably). The new vehicles have some cool things, but we are pretty satisfied with our vehicle. After the show we visited Stacey and Mathew, and Georgia again and had dinner with Rich’s brother Ken.
Saturday We drove with Ken to see the house he is building in Placerville. That night we tucked Georgia into bed and said good night and good bye for this trip.
Sunday We left Pleasanton and drove to Red Bluff. Apparently we did not spend enough time here last fall when the truck broke down and we were stuck here so here we are again.