Visiting Gold Country

Monday 17^th

Over Sunday and Monday everyone went their separate ways, while we had determined to stay an extra day sos that we could take in a bit more about Gold Country, it really is a beautiful area of rolling hills with many small villages and towns tucked into the valleys, there is a lot of evidence of the mining that went on here many years ago, we revisited the Kennedy Gold Mine, which we have passed last year when we drove up 49, this time we swung off the main road to a small town with a grand name called Amador City, if 20 houses can be classed as a city, but it was very pretty., we drove on through and parked in Sutters Creek, a town which looks as it did in the 1850s, thought the wooden sidewalks have been replaced with concrete, many of which Sally could not negotiate in her chair, but we still saw plenty. There are many antique/junk shops, also many preowned clothes shops, full of the fifties and sixties fashions that Helen is looking to have at her wedding, so of course this set us off looking at vintage memorabilia, which was very interesting. In many windows were  posters advertising a local event – Vintage Fashion Show and Afternoon Tea, for the local people Vintage included Victorian, Edwardian, Suffragette, Flappers, pre war and post war fashion (so the poster said and I a sure that it would have been a great event, unfortunately not until October, when we will be many miles away. It was here that we found a lovely shop with hundreds of musical boxes and chiming clocks, many of them Disney, so we spent a fair while there trying the different items on display.

We moved on to the next town, this one is bigger, called Jackson and list the hub town for this area. It too has a main street, which is now bypassed, so is very quiet. We parked the car and started to stroll, once again many antique and clothes shops, though we did find a huge sweet shop, which we were forced to go into and look round. We saw a huge variety of sweets, fudge and ice cream, I was forced to sample some of their homemade fudge, but not tempted to buy any. We did find a huge array of Cookie Cutters and bought a pack of various sized hearts, we think that it might be a good idea to make and decorate heart cookies for Helen’s Wedding, but we shall see, at least we have the cutters even if that idea does not fit into the plan.

It was now time to eat, we asked the Candy shop people where was a good place and were directed to Mel’s Diner, originally just a kiosk it had become so popular that it had now opened as a large diner. We chose a booth (green leather) and ordered a New York Strip, fries, one trip to the Salad Bar and two plates, we were embarking on our new strategy of trying to share meals, not only to save money, but also to try and keep the calories down (more of that later). We had a very nice meal, well cooked and ample for both of us, though we did have fun balancing all the salad on the plate you get for the salad bar. I succumbed to a milk shake – a peanut butter milk shake, which was delicious. Feeling full, but righteous, we continued our exploration of Jackson, which included the newly refurbished National Hotel, all the time feeling that we were extras in a cowboy film, because the street was so reminiscent of the towns we see in Westerns.

Our last stop was some shopping, which would enable us to resupply after a week of not leaving the campground (except to get the truck done), Sally had not left the campground at all. So Walmart was the first stop. Since beginning to lose weight my trousers have been getting bigger and bigger, so I figured that it was time for a smaller pair. I chose some Wrangler Relaxed Fit, same as I bought last year, but a size smaller – 38” and a pale blue Tee shirt, then tried them on. They fitted perfectly, the only thing being that the Tee shirt was a L, rather than the XL, or XXL I had been buying and when we looked at the jeans instead of picking out a 38”, somehow I had picked up a size 36” waist!, so from a tight 40” I have now gone down to a 36” waist! I felt quite chuffed at that. We completed our shopping and returned to the trailer to start packing ready to leave tomorrow to follow the old road which brought the Wagon Trains from the East to California, though we will be travelling in the other direction, as we head to Lake Tahoe.

More Bluegrass

Sunday 16^th

Wow what a great weekend! The weather was beautiful, nice and dry and warm. There were a number of good bands on, in particular we enjoyed The Bluegrass Brothers, with their new line up which includes Kevin Prather, who used to be part of James Kings Band. We chose a shady spot at the back, but could see and hear everything clearly as it is only a small amphitheater and just sat and relaxed, listened and watched. After the concerts Sally went to bed and I took both the mandolin and guitar to friends to sit and jam until the small hours. Our neighbours, Terry and Jeannie, were friends  of James King and had invited him to eat with them, so we got a chance to have a little conversation with him as he was passing  by. I really want to remember the people who I jammed with, as in a few months they will drift from my memory. Randy Sheldon, guitar.  Ernie, a great musician, who made the wagon circle with Randy Sheldon and Cliff. That guy has a guitar collection, which includes a guitar made in 1808! No he didn’t have it with him. Paul, patient, great and gentle guitar, Lou great bass player, Randy the excellent mandolin player, Rodney the Brit, Lolan, guitar and daughter/niece Amber, Vic, who makes his own bass and dobro, one which had a selective Tremolo Arm to enable him to play minors! Each with built in amp and speakers. Pat Calhoun, accordionist and husband George, Jeannie, guitar. Ed, guitar and church organiser. Kristen (bass), Laura and Dan, such a laugh (way out in their tent), who lent me his jacket against the night chill and nearly lost it. Steve and Mary, we didn’t pick but it was great to see them in their new RV, looking much fitter.  Jo a great tub thumper. I want to remember these people, so I guess this page is the place to do it.

Great time at the Bluegrass

Friday 14^th

So now is the eve of our festival.

We have had the prelims. But after tea we are to be entertained by James King, The Bluegrass Brothers and Third Generation.

So far we have been here for five days and spent our time keeping in the shade during the day, and playing bluegrass in the evenings. It is so nice to be able to sit out until 1.00 in the morning in a Tee shirt and shorts. Sally has not had to worry about where the Wellies are, if her waterproofs are at hand, or how many layers she needs to keep the right temperature. Instead we have both had our instruments out and taken part in several jams. Now that I have the new mandolin I have been playing that more than the guitar, not necessarily very well, but playing anyway.

The budget for car maintenance has taken a bit of a hammering this week. Two new all terrain tires, new battery, wiper blades, oil change and two new batteries for Sally’s wheelchair haver taken their toll on the budget, still it has been pretty cheap over the last five years, so we won’t complain (too much).

9/11

Today is September 11 – 9/11 Anniversary, and people are still talking about it and its effect, even over here in California. It is also J.P.’s birthday and Joes birthday. What a great coincidence.

As I sat here I have talked to those people and they have given me some books about the role of women in the pioneer wagon trains that used to come through this area on their way to California, very interesting. He also suggested we visit a place called Bodie in Nevada, where there is a large ghost town, we are looking forward to that.

Plymouth Ho

We made our sad farewells to Pete and Jan and set sail for Plymouth, where we duly arrived mid afternoon, finding the fairground was straight forward, so we then searched for the optimum parking space – shade, power, water, flat…… but only got a little way when we were hailed by some of the people we had met at Calusa last October. ‘Hey, here is your parking space, pull up beside us…. Here, we will run a power cord, hey and you can share this water spicket, ho there is a gray water dump just here, then we can do some pickin.’ We had arrived at the Plymouth Bluegrass Festival! It was really great to have people who remembered us and were still happy to welcome us.

Settling in and a fabulous night of Bluegrass.

Friday saw Terry washing the trailer outside and hosing down the truck and doing myriad of other things to get us ready to move on. Sally unpacked and organised the inside of the trailer. We spent time catching up with Peter and Jan, who had been doing a days supply teaching in her old school. An early night was needed as we are both still jet lagged.
Saturday was busy as Terry tried to chase up a spare part for the truck which was put into a paint shop to be sprayed silver to match the truck and was never delivered to our friends house as promised. This was despite about 6 phone calls both from the UK and back here in the USA, and numerous emails. Success, Terry finally managed to catch Hugo at his home and retrieved our spare part.
Then Terry had to find two replacement plastic roof vents as they disintegrated when he washed the roof of the trailer! It's amazing how things degrade in the strong sunshine over here. Well, they have lasted 6 years so let's hope the new ones will last as long. He spent ages fixing them and I managed to get all the internal parts washed and cleaned before he reassembled them. We are water tight once again.( Very important as one vent is above the bed!)




Last night we had been invited, along with Peter and Jan to their friends' music party.

It was great fun with fun people , good music - from Bluegrass to golden oldies - and fabulous food.

Debra and Glen had cooked a huge slab of roast beef which melted in the mouth and everyone brought a dish to share. Jan had cooked an amazing cake with cream cheese and raspberry frosting which was used as a birthday cake as we discovered it was Debra's birthday.

I only had a mouthful, just to taste it, and it was scrummy. Terry had a huge piece so bang went his weight loss again!!!!

We really enjoyed our night with these lovely welcoming people and hope to meet up with Helen and her hubby at the 49ers Encampment in Death Valley later on.

Today, Sunday finds Terry putting the spare part on the truck and trying to straighten out the running board which was damaged last trip and fixing it back on. Hard to do when the temperature is already up to 84F (29.5C) in the shade and likely to reach 94 as in the two previous days. I'm busy doing washing - the pillows needed a wash and then we already have a weeks worth of clothes to do. Big thank yous to Jan and Peter for their hospitality and help - Peter is helping Terry to fix the truck.
Tomorrow we plan to set of for Plymouth to get there in good time to get an electric hookup - we really need the air con. There is a Bluegrass Festival there the following weekend which we are booked into. We hope to meet up with Mary and Steve Tilden who we stayed with near Mount Shasta two trips ago.

We were reunited with our trailer and truck yesterday, after two nights in San Fransisco with our lovely friends, Rich and Debra- a well needed rest day. All was well inside but everything outside was covered with a thick layer of dust, leaves and spiders webs. Terry found three wasps nests under the bonnet (hood) of the truck but quickly dealt with them with a killer spray. He still got stung though! It is very hot here in the Central Valley in California - - our outside thermometer is saying 94F. Thank goodness for air conditioning. We have spent today unpacking and getting the inside of the trailer and truck organised and shopping for supplies. Terry is going to get up very early tomorrow to wash the trailer before it gets too hot! The truck will go through a car wash. It's great to be back.

Here at last

Well we have made it here at last.
I am tucked up safe in our bed in the attic of Rich and Debra's house in San Leandro, ready to drop to sleep. It has been quite a journey this time as the flight was delayed for two hours while we waited for a pilot to show  up. While in the departure lounge we saw on Facebook that today was Emma and Julia's first day back a school, so that was nice. Sally seems to have coped quite well with the travel, though we are both tired and have bum sores from sitting down for so long.

My saddest memory from today was a conversation we had with a couple in the departure lounge, they looked like they were in their eighties, they explained to us how this was to be their last visit to Vancouver, her illness now meant they couldn't return to Canada again, they had to sell up and dispose of everythingnever to return again, she was almost in tears as she told us.

I spy a giant Teddy outside Harrods


Sally single handedly stops Starbucks from sinking into liquidation as we get a drink.

Ready for the off!

Well, we are finally ready to set off tomorrow to travel by train down to London Kings Cross. We get a taxi from there to Paddington Station and then catch the Heathrow Express to the airport. We will stay overnight at a motel and get to the airport for 7.30 am for our 10.30 flight to San Fransisco, pick up a hire car and drive to our friends Debra and Rich who live in San Leandro just over the bay from SF.
We are going to stay a couple of nights with them before heading of into the Central Valley to be reunited with our rig. Some friends, Peter and Jan have stored our rig for us on their land, near Merced, for which we are very grateful. Then we will be ready to set off travelling again.
We are really looking forward to seeing our friends again and to getting some lovely hot sunshine.

USA here we come!!