May 9, 2004 - Lake Minden, CA

Actually, we're in Nicolaus which is about 25 miles North of Sacramento, CA, catching up on this journal.

It's off to Mexico to get our teeth and eyes cleaned and examined.  Well, actually, we'll defer the eye cleaning, and let them sell us new glasses.  Worked out pretty well, too.  It's Tuesday and the end of April, so the crowd is non-existent.  We were done before lunch.  That's the border into Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico.  No guards, just walk in.  There's a huge parking lot adjacent to the border, but since they charge to use it, we just park along the highway along with lots of other "thrifty" people.  We both love Mexican brick, and this was the first time we'd seen Mexicans building in Mexico using Mexican brick.  We've seen it used a lot in Quartzsite and other places in Arizona.

We like shopping in Los Algodones.  The shops are small and crowded, but the vendors are polite and as you can see, the streets are spotless.  Drug stores, liquor stores, clothing, knick-knacks, restaurants and Dentists and Opticians all over the place.  The whole town appears to exist to cater to us tourists.

We had time for lunch before picking up our glasses, and there was this fellow walking around putting the big hat on guys and taking pictures.  I can't seem to resist taking pictures of people who take pictures, and he was kind enough to stop and pose for me, even if we didn't buy any photos from him.  Both of us had our eyes examined and bought new lenses that are the "transition" type, with trifocals, for a cost of $260.00.  It was $225 last time for regular lenses but with new frames, and I got titanium frames.  Can't beat the price, and the 3-hour service is nice as well.

Going back to the U.S.A. was easier than usual this time.  No line at all.  The guards were busy with their computers, and just glanced at us.  While we were doing our border run, we stayed at Yuma Lakes, a RPI park for $8 per night including full hookups.

The pretty lake had a flock of egrets roosting for the night.  The "salt free drinking water" kiosk is a pretty common sight in Arizona.  With the filtering system we have in the motorhome we don't buy water any more, but we did when we had the 5th wheel.  That's us with the black windshield sun screen (thanks, Frank) and green awning.

And here's the reason we're where we are now, in Sacramento.  Son Rick, his wife Lynn, and our granddaughter Alexandria, or Lexi, as they call her.  And she likes to play with toes.  Hers or yours, doesn't matter to her.

Like lots of 9 month (almost 10 months, now) olds, she has her own way of crawling, and carrying stuff with her is no trouble at all.  I'm not sure if Barb was putting things in the bucket and Lexi was taking them out, or if it was the other way around.

We could have left Barb there for the night and she'd have been totally engrossed with the electronic toys.  The little round thing vibrated, and we got a good laugh when it startled Barb, you betcha.

Dinner time is always fun, for us adults as much as Lexi.  Barb was making faces at her while her mom was doing her best to feed her.  Pretty cool headed kid.  Puts up with a lot and no fussing in the meantime.

Well, almost no fussing.  Grampa isn't her favorite person at the moment.  It was her snack time, and she knew it, and her folks were a little slow (in her opinion) in getting things ready.  They'd come to visit us, and it didn't take the little girl long to find our sliding closet doors.

When I was in high school, I joined the California Cadet Corps.  Mostly because I was too clumsy for the normal PE classes.  One major attraction for me was the fact that the Corps had a rifle team, and while I was pretty good at popping tin cans with my .22 rifle, I wanted to learn how to get better.  And this is the man who taught me--Col. Tom Armstrong with his lovely wife Mary.  Can you believe it?  A couple of weeks before we got to Sacramento (where I was raised), I got an e-mail from a fellow who was putting together a reunion for the Corps, and in the process of exchanges, I learned that Col. Armstrong was still in the area.  I could hardly wait to meet him, and let him know how much more than marksmanship I'd learned in his classes, and how much I still enjoyed shooting.  We had a great time swapping stories over lunch in Old Town Sacramento.  I may not be able to make the reunion, but I'll be scanning pictures out of my old year books for the guys (and women too, now) who will be there.  That was a special lunch for me, as he's the first person from my high school days I've actually seen since then.  I've had a few e-mail messages from a couple of guys, but this was the first meeting.  He was adamant about me attending a class reunion sometime, and I well may do that.  I'd better!  He's a Colonel after all!  And Barb working on her first bear.  This last December while we were doing a SOWERS project, one of the women there was a bear maker, and Barb got the directions (hand written, yet!) from her.  Projects like this keep her busy while I'm pecking away at the keyboard, or driving down the highway.

Well, you can guess who the bear is for, even without his arms.  Yet.  And there's Frank & Susie.  Or Susie & Frank, depending on who you're talking to!  We met them here at Lake Minden because they'd sold their truck and needed to have their trailer pulled to the dealership where they were dropping it off several years ago.  We had the big truck of course, and that was the beginning of a lot of stories.  They work for Southeast Publications and stay pretty much on the west coast.  Well, kids and lots of grandkids are on the west coast as well, so that's a pretty good reason in itself.  Anyway, we heard they were in the area, so meeting them was a "gottado."  We enjoyed them coming over to see our home, and then we managed to have breakfast with them one morning.  Frank and Susie like doing research before they buy something as much as we do, and they were an invaluable aid in motorhome selection.  We have different brands, but I knew a lot more about what to look for because of what Frank shared with me.  If you're a long time reader, you'll remember the story and pictures of when we went to the Joshua Tree Monument together several years ago.  Yup, the yellow mustard fountain story.  We always seem to get a lot of laughing done when these guys are around.

Yup, Lexi's bear is done.  Isn't he cute?  I can hardly wait for my own bear!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the California scrub jays are enjoying our discarded peanuts.  They grab one, eat it, then grab at least two more and go hide them someplace.  Funny to watch them go over to the gravel road and stuff one under a pebble, and then take more pebbles and cover it up.  Or in a hole in a tree, or just poke it into the ground.  Noisy guys, too.

Here we are hanging out with "the kids."  This time, we're at the Sacramento County fair.  Hard to believe it's fair time already.  This was mostly FFA and 4H stuff.  We got a real kick out of Lexi's backpack.  Sun/rain shield and all.  And then of course there's the baby camel taking a nap while it's mother gives rides.  Well, it's not giving them, it's selling them, but you get the point.

Not sure what Barb is yelling at me about, but I got a kick out of Lexi kicking her dad.  Lexi is real laid back, but she doesn't miss a trick.  Here she's watching a horse in the stall behind Lynn.

Barb gets all the grins, even when there's animals to watch.  No, that's not some cross-bred animal, it's just a horse with a zebra mask on.  It's owner is 11 yrs old, and rather clever.  The girl holding the horse is just a spectator who apparently wants a horse but has never had to muck out stalls in the rain or 110 degree heat, never been thrown off, never been stepped on, never been bitten, never had to stay home from an overnight field trip because she had to feed and care for her animals.  Needless to say, I've done all that, and have no particular fondness for horses.

Well, now, let me modify that a bit.  These horses I could develop a fondness for.  Only my legs are too long to ride one.  These short-legged fellows were all over the place raising Cain with the crowd and posing for pictures.  One tried to get Lynn to give him a bite of her corn dog, but failed.

Finally managed to get a usable picture of the ride selling camel, and then it's off to the races!  Pig racing is great fun in our opinion.  These little porkers were heading to the prize of Oreo cookies and ice cream.  Sounded good to us, as we ate ice cream and watched them run.

We first saw pig racing when we were living in Washington some years back at the Puyallup Fair, so this is a sport we've enjoyed for more than a day or two.  Don't know why it's so much fun, but it is.

Hanging out with these kids is cool.  All three of them are pretty laid back when we're with them.  Lynn is a stay-at-home mom, and maybe that accounts for some of it.  Lexi likes Barb's buttons and rings, and we're told that given the opportunity she'll go after earrings and watches too.  The Army had an obstacle course set up for the kids, with appropriate yelling to go along with it.  Everybody seemed to be having a ball.

The animal barns are a hit with all of us, and again Lexi just took it all in without much comment at all.  Been a while since I'd watched a goat being milked, but this young lady knew her stuff.  Not sure what was up with that kid, but it was being gently rocked and hummed to as it slept.  Some goats have all the luck.

I'm told that by working with their animals and showing them, that the kids learn valuable life lessons.  I learned I didn't like to do it.  This beautiful blue-eyed ram had a very deep voice and a very loud voice.

And Lexi has a very high voice and a pretty loud one too.  She was not particularly pleased with looking up a that ram from her stroller and having him make all that noise.  While Lynn and Rick were quick to comfort her, we were all laughing at her anyway.  She'd been so quiet for so long, just looking around and all of a sudden she let us all know that things were not at all right in her world.  A few moments later she was back in the stroller looking at rabbits.  They were nice and quiet.  Couldn't resist the pig with its butt in the food pan.

Or this pig with it's head in the food pan.  What a life, eh?  There were even some hotrods on display.  This one a well restored 1940 Ford pickup with the wooden floor in the bed.  It was built the same year I was born.  Sorta wish I was in that good of shape myself.

Another of the classic rods, and then the presentation of the bear at the end of a long day.  The kids were in a cancer walk in the morning, and had to get up and going real early.  Good thing Lexi is so laid back, or she'd have been a grump in the afternoon.  As it was, she just kept being cool about everything.

Well, maybe it'll taste good, eh?  Hope bear used deodorant!

Next day it's lunch with the kids.  And whoever said that having babies isn't for gadget freaks!  Their neat Honda CRV is nearly packed with baby stuff!  What fun.  Rick and Lynn know the owners of this little place, and we got to meet them.  It was fun to hear them talk about the challenges of owning a restaurant, as it brought back memories of the short time we did too.  Place is called the Java Garden, on Vernon Street in Roseville.  Great food and priced very reasonably.

And with all those cute baby pictures (don't ya just love her hair!), we're all caught up again.  If our plans work, next will be Southern Utah and a whole bunch of National Parks and National Monuments, and great things to see.