And so...another trip down, and I'm back to home-base. Ahh....there's just no place like HOME!
It
was a whirlwind of a trip....Wednesday to Wednesday. And boy, you can
put a lot of fun into that short amount of time if you are so inclined.
Which I was.
We flew from San Luis Obisbo to Denver to Raleigh-Durham in the middle of the pandemic, and from there it's just a bit more than a 2 hour drive to the farm. At the farm, the chillin' commences immediately. It's a different way of life, that's for sure. Things are quiet, almost too quiet (except for the night when the cicadas come out...dang those things are LOUD!) The night sky opens up when there's no moon, as there are relatively no neighbors...you need a car to go to the next house (unless you don't mind a long walk). Well, the one neighbor is about a quarter mile...guess that isn't really that far, it just SEEMS far.
I noticed right away that back in Virginia everybody seems a lot less excited about "the Virus" than we are here in CA. Like a lot of people aren't wearing masks....tho you still need them to go into most establishments. But everybody seems way calmer.
On Friday my bro-in-law John (my Navy buddy who set me up with his twin sister Jeannie 20 years ago) and I had a "guys road trip" and drove his jeep to Cincinnati...took us about 8-1/2 hours including a few stops. I think it's about 450 miles give or take. About the same distance I was driving to visit Dad in Pahrump and later Las Vegas, or Mom down in Yuma.
John and Jennie grew up in the Cinti area...and have many friends there...that's what this road-trip was all about. Jeannie and Peggy (Johns wife) flew out on Saturday as their plans had already been made well before John and I invited ourselves to come along. Saturday afternoon/evening was the first big EVENT: the Fake Corn Roast...hosted by good friends in their lake-association cottage. Basically everybody brings some kind of dish for the pot-luck, and everybody (each family anyway) bring something to "auction" off, all proceeds going to the association to help cover costs of maintaining the facilities. Michelle (recently retired...used to be one of the VP's at Go-Jo) is both the host and auctioneer...and she is hilarious, and good at the job! All kinds of things were donated, and many great bargains were had on all kinds of stuff. It was a blast! (and enormous quantities of Purell products (turns out Purell is part of the Go-Jo family) ends up inside auctioned items, or outright in the open.
Prior to the auction was the pot luck lunch/dinner...and the feature item is the roasted corn-on-the-cob. (this event was called the "Fake Corn Roast" as the association has the "Real" corn-roast but we missed it, so Michelle and Pat (the owners of the cottage we were at) held one for family and friends...tho all the friends are pretty much family one way or another...probably about 30 to 40 people counting the kids).
After the Fake Corn Roast we drove back to Cinti, and on Sunday was the Pontoon Boat trip on Lake Brookville Lake IN, which was only about a 45 minute drive from Cinti where we were staying. Jim and Jackie (our hosts in Cinti where we are staying, and lifelong friends of Jeannie) are the owners of the pontoon boat, and they, Jeannie and I, John and Peggy, Bob and Terry (Terry is Jims sister), and Pat and Michelle all were on the boat. So there were 10 of us, but it's a quite large boat (turns out a Pontoon boat is basically a "Party Boat"...I didn't know that before, having never been on one). We spent a goodly portion of the day on the lake, and I personally spent a goodly amount of time IN the lake (I'm a water-dog at heart...LOVE being in the water). I did get a pretty good sunburn on my forehead...it's STILL peeling 6 days later. It's been a LONG time since I had a sunburn!
And that was pretty much it...on Monday John and I drove back to the farm, and Jeannie and Peggy stayed behind for the MAIN EVENT: "the girls trip". That is a road trip for 8 gals up to Putin (sp?) Bay, somewhere north at the Great Lakes (not sure WHICH lake). They drove up on Weds as I was flying home (almost)...and are still there today...I think they drive back south tomorrow maybe (Sunday)? I'm not really in on that plan. I know Jeannie doesn't come home till next Saturday...after the "girls trip" she and Peggy fly back to Richmond and drive back to the Farm, and Jeannie then hangs out for the rest of the week sucking up some relaxation. Also we will be flying back to the farm for Thanksgiving...so that's just a few short months away....wow.
And so, I leave you with some pictures of the week.
Jeannie and I on our flight from San Luis Obisbo. We were doing our part to protect ourselves
At the farm, Watching TV with a beer. Bosley (mini poodle) on my lap. Dogs like to lay on me.
Wednesday, around 3pm, Raleigh-Durham airport strangely quiet. It's a pretty big airport too!
Our road trip almost over...here is the crossing of the Ohio River from Kentucky into Ohio heading into Cincinnati.
And of course, right off the highway, the home of the Reds.
And the home of the Bengals.
This is Jim and Brody. Brody is a super-cool dog...so mellow...just like Jim! They even have the same facial expressions! Brody of course is wanting Jim's beer.
And THIS is Jungle Jims! Don't know if they are elsewhere, but it's the Super-duper-whooper-pooper of liquor/food/whatever stores. It's enormous! We shopped for a while and only saw a portion of the store!
Here are Brody and Bella, waiting for food.
Starting the party a teensy bit early, Jackie and Terry ON the boat while driving down the road (just down to the boat-dock).
Girls gone wild! L to R, Jeannie, Michelle, Peggy, Terry and Jackie. There is some serious American Idol singing going on here...
And back at the farm, the next morning, sipping coffee on the front porch (LOVE this part of vacation/farm-life). That is an Amish wagon clip-clopping down the road. Just a beautiful morning.
Here is an evening just-past-sunset shot looking across the same road from the same porch.
Raleigh-Durham airport, 12:15pm, Wednesday. Keeping my eyes open for zombies leaping out from the empty stores. Almost NO people, so there MUST be zombies. I've seen it in the movies!
Here is Denver airport, just a BIT more crowded than Raleigh-Durham airport. This is taken AFTER I got off my late-departing airplane from R-D, hence late-arrival in Denver, and myself and another guy RAN clear across the airport, switching terminals (taking the train) from B term to A term, and missing our plane by MINUTES! (they actually left 3 minutes EARLY damn them!) Now the other guy is United Premier Gold, and I'm Premier Silver, and being as San Luis Obisbo is an end-airport, NOBODY is missing a connection at 9pm...that plane will spend the night and fly somewhere the next day. They COULD have waited for us (a small regional jet), they KNEW we had landed. But NO! You have to admit, that's how you piss off loyal high-mileage customers! And they gave us NOTHING for our troubles, except for the lovely SIXTEEN HOUR (yes, 16) layover for the next flight to SLO. Paul (the other guy, a retired Army officer) spent the night lying on the floor of the airport. I was going to, but Jeannie rather insisted I get a room (I'm also a pretty good customer at Marriott...they at least treat me pretty good with my Titanium Elite status...just need ONE MORE YEAR of Titanium to get it for LIFE! I've now got 9 straight years....just one more!) Yeah...I travel too much. For work I mean.
Descending to San Luis Obisbo airport. You know you are back in California by the crispy-brown countryside. Except for the trees that is.
And the Marine Layer (some people call it "Fog"). This is quite typical on the Central Coast...our summers can be cooler than our winters as the winds shift and the layer moves onshore a LOT during our summer months. Temp at 1pm/landing time was a cool 62 degrees in San Luis Obisbo (SLO).
Here are the monsters on a walk the next afternoon (Friday) after I got home from work. They have matching pink harness's (different sizes). They walk together pretty great. I started daily walks way back in March after I came home from the mission and was stuck on 2nd shift (and had all day off, in to work by 4pm). Now they expect their walk, and Jeannie and I do a pretty good job keeping them moving. Sophie is a good weight, Abbey has a few extra lbs (the vet says she has "no waist"...needs to lose 3 lbs).
Here is Sophie after the walk and dinner. She looks rather beat, doesn't she?
And here is Abbey after the walk and dinner. Also somewhat tired. She is such a clown!
And so...have a great weekend/week. Later gators...the game is back ON!
Uhm...so, Blogger has a brand new format (at least for me making a post). Let me know if you see things I need to fix..like the text size seems kind of small. I hate the new format for making a post...I guess that's progress (much like every edition of Windows...WHY OH WHY do people have to CHANGE things just for the sake of change? It was FINE as it was!)
ReplyDeleteOne thing that REALLY annoyed me making the post in the new format...working with pictures in the post. Like it's impossible to put my text NEXT to the picture it's associated with...there are some horrid auto-spacing things going on and it SUCKED! I'd import a bunch of pics, and some of them I couldn't even get a space between them to add text...it just wouldn't let me! I ended up cutting the picture out, THEN adding a few empty lines, and THEN pasting it back in the middle of the lines. Really? Why does working with pictures have to suddenly become MORE difficult?? Good progress Blogger. NOT!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the posting difficulties, it all looks fine to me.
ReplyDeleteOMG you went to Jungle Jim's!! You were in my hometown of Fairfield - lived in a farmhouse built in 1914 - I went to elementary and jr. high school just about 2 miles or so farther north from JJ's (the buildings just torn down and replaced about 3 years ago) I had a nearly one hour bus ride as the bus went along to various stops at outlying farms after I boarded - even though I lived only a couple of miles from the school. I remember when Jungle Jim's was just a farm stand, selling from the back of a truck - he set up along that road, instead of at the farmer's market in downtown Hamilton around the courthouse.
I hope that your corn roast was locally grown Silver Queen sweet corn - the best! When I was growing up, that area (Fairfield) was still very rural, with farms where there are now subdivisions, and my mother bought tomatoes, corn, beans, apples etc at the roadside stands instead of Kroger's in the summer. Good memories of growing up there, being able to wander through fields, play in the creeks, & swing on grapevines in the woods!
My most recent cat (died a few years ago at the age of 20) LOVED ice cream - she would get up in my face and try to get some off the spoon as I was raising it to my mouth. "They" say that cats and dogs can't taste sweet, but she sure seemed to -she would ignore plain milk - and my daughter's shar-pei mix has a vast appreciation for fruits and sweet veg like pumpkin - so I wonder if that is really so.
BTW not that far from JJ's is where Cincy Cyclocross usually holds the UCI Elite races every October - although this year I think they are all scheduled to be over near King's Island
BTW it is Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. We've been to the island, and to Kelley's Island nearby, but never hung out in Put-in-Bay itself because bars are not my thing. We (daughter and I) would go to a little village called Lakeside on the lake shore, in sight of the islands for a weekend or half week most summers until she was in high school. I hope Jeannie kept her guard up - P-in-B has had a significant outbreak among visitors in the past month.
ReplyDeleteHey Rae...wow, I was really in your "home turf"! It seems like a nice area actually (our friends we stayed with live in Mt. Healthy). It's only my 2nd time in the Cinti area...it was 20 years ago when Jeannie took me back there the first time. Jungle Jims...wow...never seen anything like that before...hard to believe it started in the back of a truck. It's bigger than a Super Walmart by FAR! I think it has time zones it was so big! And yes, I believe I heard the corn was some special local grown...that would likely be it (unless there is another locally grown corn that is awesome). At the start we all gathered round and shucked back the husks (not tearing them off) and stripped off the hair, then recovered the corn and soaked in water before grilling them...pretty great actually! (along w/ burgers, dogs, brats, whatever else was cooked)...and after all that was the auction of all the goofy and cool stuff everybody brought...all the proceeds went to the community association to help with costs. It was a grand time, and the auction was hilarious and fun!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that I think dogs and cats CAN taste sweet..maybe not like we do but they just go CRAZY for stuff like ice-cream (and Abbey is always trying to get into my coffee mug when I'm sittin on the couch...cuz I add some kind of flavored creamer to it...white choc. mocha, carmel macchiato, italian sweet cream, etc). When it's plain black coffee she isn't interested.
Never been to a Cyclocross race, never even seen one... but it looks fun..I just cringe at the MAINTENANCE of the bike after each race! Gosh...I just got rained on this last Saturday morning ride (no rain was forecast, and I got clobbered by 3 cells that moved thru...rain, lightening (VERY FRIGHTENING!) and thunder...I was really afraid I might get hit but I had to get home after the storms moved in and cut me off (Jeannie was flying in from Cinti at 1pm...I left at 7:30am thinking I had time for a nice 50, quick shower and pick her up), figured I'd either make it on time or be dead out on the road as a crispy critter). Thankfully I made it...we don't get storms like that very often and I had no idea we were getting some that morning. We had a SERIOUS storm-cell go right over us out on base last Thursday morning...lightening strikes VERY CLOSE to our building...it shook like we were having earthquakes...with the sizzle/crackling of lightening and the thunder-clap immediately after...very crazy...we saw a few strikes out our window view not far away at all. Before this it's been years since I saw lightening out here.
Ahh...Put-in-bay...she said it like Putin (the Russian president). Said they had a great time, even tho they didn't do much...I think there were 8 ladies there...(the usual "girls trip" group...they do stuff every year). I know Jeannie is pretty paranoid so I'm sure SHE kept her guard up...I can't believe her hands haven't just fallen off from the millions of hand-sanatizer uses she's had in just the last few months. She washed her hands about 100 times a day BEFORE all this began! I'm forever tossing soaking wet hand-towels out into the garage and putting out new ones. I'm afraid if one of us would catch "IT" it would be me...I just don't have the "wash my hands a zillion times a day" instinct built in. But so far so good.
Well...this week is crazy....we are in the midst of our annual "heat wave" where it's high 80's or 90's on base and in Santa Maria...and if you go inland at all it's over 100. Everyday when I get home it's in the 80's in the house (no AC in most homes)...have been putting a fan in the opening to the attic every evening blowing warm house air into the attic (thus forcing out the super hot air filling the attic)...just trying to cool the house off some. And the last few days have had smoke added to the fun, coming from the River fire up by Salinas (south of Monterey). The smoke has permeated everywhere...inside our houses, work, my garage smelled like it was on fire this morning. I did a mt bike ride Tuesday after work, and it was pretty horrible. But I really need to ride, so I'm just going to live w/ it (hope to ride tonight too). Be glad when the winds shift and blow this stuff away from us like normal (and the hot winds off the desert will go back the other way and we can get back down to our 60's and 70's).
ReplyDeleteOk, kids it’s TIME! I watched the Dauphine last week (the hour per day that NBCSports gave us) - it was BRUTAL and beautiful. INEOS seems to be in a spot of bother. Now I read that Froome is doing the GIro and G is doing the Vuelta (or maybe the other way around?) - neither one did well in the Dauphine, and they’re not cut out to be domestiques. But anyway, I am READY for leTOUR!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Barbara, welcome back...been a long time! Glad you are still out there! I am completely unaware of what's going on in the cycling world...feels like the entire world is still shut down (with the exception of my work...we are killing it, getting ready to roll out the door AGAIN in mid Sept...our 3rd mission of the year). Of course, I don't have NBCSports on our DTV package, or any sports for that matter...I WOULD have upgraded for le Tour, but as that didn't happen (and I was on work travel anyway) there was no sense in paying for it. And I'm pretty much unable to get to most web sites at work now, what with so many working at home (bandwidth...they are all logging into their work PC's from home) so big brother has really limited where we can go to on work computers. About time for bed...last week was a total loss to my personal cycling "comeback"...the fires up north are really crushing us with smoke. I did a short mtb ride last Tues in the smoke, and it sucked...and that was the cleanest air we had all week...just been worse every day. Waiting for normal winds to kick back in and cool us down...we set a bunch of record highs last week too..and the normal winds would push the smoke somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteSo...le Tour starts in FOUR DAYS!!! It will be very interesting to see what KIND of Tour this will be...it's been a strange year, and I'd venture that none of the riders are in their usual "Tour fitness". Any idea what kind of broadcast we are going to get from NBCSports? I'm debating whether to pony up for a month of upgraded satellite service, or do I just go with the internet package (can we still do that?) I'm going to be on travel so will miss the third and most of the 4th weeks...(as of now we fly on Sep 10th and return on the 18th).
ReplyDelete