We went over to Pleasanton to the RV show. We shared a breakfast at our usual stop, the Rising Loafer in the village (428 Main St) nearby. An Italian sausage, green pepper and Swiss omelet along with a nice blueberry muffin.
We entered the show about 11:15. It's a big mostly indoor show. Motorhomes , 5th wheels, trailers ad other stuff was in abundance. The most expensive MH we toured was a Country Coach for $1,300,000. It's not in our search price. We saw a couple of nice RV's. My favorite models were the Monaco SVE, 30SFS, a 30' with a full slide. The most roomy short RV we've seem. And of course, we saw our other favorite, the Fleetwood 39V Excursion. Quite a bit of difference in length. One is more for fulltiming and staying in State and federal Parks. The other is just the most roomy, nicely built RV, good for fulltiming but not for parks. Obviously, we're still thinking. Another interesting coach was the Georgetown 35.9TS. It's on the new Workhorse UFO rear engine chassis, a gas rear engine coach. Very nice!
We saw a lot of the same looking, not to functional RVs. There were some nice discounts on some. We managed to resist all salesmen.
We were disappointed. We didn't see any National RV's at the show. None. Rather Odd since Alpine Recreation was supposed to have a Pacifica there. They may have, but "it" was on the road for a test drive the times we stopped by and since the other National dealer, I think it was Manteca RV was supposed to be there with the other models including what I wanted Lou to see, the Surfside. Manteca wasn't at the show even though the shows website indicated they would be a couple of days previous. Odd. Anyway, Lou still hasn't seen the Surfside, that I like due to its size, features, and price. I've seen it at Quartzite, last year and in Bakersfield last week. Lou missed both opportunities.
We also didn't like the food and drink prices. $3 for a bottle of water. Odd that none of the drinking fountains were turned on. We left about 4pm and had dinner nearby at Mexico Lindo (6690 Koll Center Pkwy). Good food.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Another Geek Outing
About 2pm I headed to the California Avenue Caltrain Station in Palo Alto. I went up to San Francisco, 4th and Townsend St. It's a short walk down Townsend Street to the Adobe (formerly Macromedia) building at 7th. I went to attend another Adobe flex seminar "Meet the Flex Team". These are the guys that developed Flex and Apollo. The products are supposed to be able to create desktop applications that can be deployed on any platform. Just what I'm interested in. Live and learn!
My friends Arnold and Andy were there. They are real professionals. My skills would best be described as emerging. It was nice to get all the questions and concerns addressed. For me, it doesn't look quite ready enough but for the long run it looks good. Again, there was pizza and other stuff like salad and most importantly, beer. Since I was riding and not driving, I enjoyed one. I thought the free beer thing had died due to liability concerns. It's nice to see some people are still living.
A short walk back up Townsend Street to the train station and I was on the way home.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Bad Dog Meeting
Tuesday:
Nothing to do with animals.
I went up to San Francisco to the BAADAUG (Adobe User group) meeting. I was going to drive up with my friend Bill but he canceled just before 4:00 pm and that left enough time to get to the CalTrain station, about 10 blocks away, and catch the 4:11 train to the city. The following train at 5:11 pm would make it a little tight trying to get to the meeting site in time. There's about a mile walk to a new unfamiliar meeting site in the big city. The costs for taking the train are lower for one person but two people can drive up and pay for parking and save a little. The train arrived in San Francisco at 5:00 pm. That was a fast trip.
The meeting was a little orientation to Flex, an Adobe web development tool. It was Interesting, and of course, the pizza was good.
Lou delivered Dawn to her apartment and got her settled in for the start of school tomorrow.
Wednesday:
Since I'm trying to learn all these Adobe products, I signed up for a bunch of online seminars. This morning was the first on the use of CSS with Dreamweaver 8. It was informative. The biggest problem I have with these seminars is that they are scheduled. Since retiring, me and schedules have difficulties since I usually don't know what day it is let alone what time. It's always Saturday.
Thursday:
Tinkered in the RV cleaning up after our trip including the unenviable task of dumping the holding tanks. Quite easy actually with the macerator.
At noon, another Adobe seminar on the use of XML, DTD, and XSL files with Dreamweaver. Interesting. I use an XML data file for the map GPS locations on the Camp and Route Map pages. There's a lot more I'd like to do so look out, someday.
Nothing to do with animals.
I went up to San Francisco to the BAADAUG (Adobe User group) meeting. I was going to drive up with my friend Bill but he canceled just before 4:00 pm and that left enough time to get to the CalTrain station, about 10 blocks away, and catch the 4:11 train to the city. The following train at 5:11 pm would make it a little tight trying to get to the meeting site in time. There's about a mile walk to a new unfamiliar meeting site in the big city. The costs for taking the train are lower for one person but two people can drive up and pay for parking and save a little. The train arrived in San Francisco at 5:00 pm. That was a fast trip.
The meeting was a little orientation to Flex, an Adobe web development tool. It was Interesting, and of course, the pizza was good.
Lou delivered Dawn to her apartment and got her settled in for the start of school tomorrow.
Wednesday:
Since I'm trying to learn all these Adobe products, I signed up for a bunch of online seminars. This morning was the first on the use of CSS with Dreamweaver 8. It was informative. The biggest problem I have with these seminars is that they are scheduled. Since retiring, me and schedules have difficulties since I usually don't know what day it is let alone what time. It's always Saturday.
Thursday:
Tinkered in the RV cleaning up after our trip including the unenviable task of dumping the holding tanks. Quite easy actually with the macerator.
At noon, another Adobe seminar on the use of XML, DTD, and XSL files with Dreamweaver. Interesting. I use an XML data file for the map GPS locations on the Camp and Route Map pages. There's a lot more I'd like to do so look out, someday.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Bakersfield
Sunday:
We discovered that Camping World doesn't sell LPG on Sunday so we headed over to the Ranch Market for breakfast. The Ranch Market, on South H Street at Wilson Rd, is a full service super market that happens to be a Mexican market as well. It's always festive and they have the best Mexican food, fish and meats.
Lou had some pork soup, Dawn some chicken soup and I had a Torta Cubana (a roast pork and ham sandwich). Great breakfast!
We then went over to Uncle Doug's and arrived shortly before they returned from a Yucca Valley visit to his brother (Don's uncle,) Emery's place. We had a nice visit.
Monday:
On Monday morning, the RV was fueled and gassed (LPGed) and ready to roll. We were then on the road a little after noon. We stopped for a late lunch at Harris Ranch restaurant. Lou and Dawn shared liver and onions and I had another breakfast of their homemade corned beef hash. All very good.
We arrived home about 6:30 pm, did the usual mad vehicle shuffle to get everything parked and started the usual return to home task of going through the mail.
We enjoyed our trip but all good things, even short trips, come to an end.
We discovered that Camping World doesn't sell LPG on Sunday so we headed over to the Ranch Market for breakfast. The Ranch Market, on South H Street at Wilson Rd, is a full service super market that happens to be a Mexican market as well. It's always festive and they have the best Mexican food, fish and meats.
Lou had some pork soup, Dawn some chicken soup and I had a Torta Cubana (a roast pork and ham sandwich). Great breakfast!
We then went over to Uncle Doug's and arrived shortly before they returned from a Yucca Valley visit to his brother (Don's uncle,) Emery's place. We had a nice visit.
Monday:
On Monday morning, the RV was fueled and gassed (LPGed) and ready to roll. We were then on the road a little after noon. We stopped for a late lunch at Harris Ranch restaurant. Lou and Dawn shared liver and onions and I had another breakfast of their homemade corned beef hash. All very good.
We arrived home about 6:30 pm, did the usual mad vehicle shuffle to get everything parked and started the usual return to home task of going through the mail.
We enjoyed our trip but all good things, even short trips, come to an end.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Reagan Presidential Library
We puttered around this morning finally on the road sightly before noon. We headed a bit North to Simi Valley to the Reagan Presidential Library. We just added these visits to our itinerary as we pass them. This is our first such visit.
It's an interesting place. We were there until after 4:30 examining it. It is about 80 percent propaganda but interesting all the same. The gifts are quite interesting. Among them, Reagan received a lot of belt buckles.
Can you see the sign, we didn't. The sign under the stop sign basically says "No RV's". We traveled into the parking lot. It was a little tight and there was only one other RV there. Before we left, a little scooter stopped by to say we couldn't park there.
We had to park down on the street about a 1/4 mile back.
After a nice dinner of leftovers at the RV, we then headed toward Bakersfield stopping for the night at Camping World. We need LPG so will get it tomorrow morning before heading over to my Uncle Doug's place.
It's an interesting place. We were there until after 4:30 examining it. It is about 80 percent propaganda but interesting all the same. The gifts are quite interesting. Among them, Reagan received a lot of belt buckles.
Can you see the sign, we didn't. The sign under the stop sign basically says "No RV's". We traveled into the parking lot. It was a little tight and there was only one other RV there. Before we left, a little scooter stopped by to say we couldn't park there.
We had to park down on the street about a 1/4 mile back.
After a nice dinner of leftovers at the RV, we then headed toward Bakersfield stopping for the night at Camping World. We need LPG so will get it tomorrow morning before heading over to my Uncle Doug's place.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Hollywood, Ca
Thursday:
We moseyed down to Hollywood for the day.
On our way, there were some more deer.
The Rodeo Drive shopping area was one of our stops.
We found these two interesting trees on Rodeo Drive at Santa Monica in Beverly Hills. Don't know what they are but the bark and fruit are interesting. There are two on each side of the street here and at the adjacent streets on Santa Monica, gateways to the district.
We then went to the Farmers Market and Grove Shopping Center. We had a late lunch at the New York Cheesecake Factory. They happen to be next door to our real destination for the day. We came here to attend the taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at the CBS Television Studios. Guests were Chevy Chase and Hannah Storm.
I finally got some pictures up for the past few days.
Friday:
We went back toward Hollywood, stopping on Melrose Avenue at a few Antique and other shops.
Our visit to Hollywood Blvd included a stop at Grauman's Chinese Theater. Lots of concrete imperfections here. I wish they'd control the vandals writing their names and placing hand prints in the concrete. .
Some unusual looking people were to be seen out front of the theater. I did find my star on the sidewalk on Hollywood Blvd. I wish they'd quit including the "s". There's only one real Don Wood!
With a little other shopping on the route, that pretty much filled the day. We got home about 8pm.
There are a few more people in our campground now.
We moseyed down to Hollywood for the day.
On our way, there were some more deer.
The Rodeo Drive shopping area was one of our stops.
We found these two interesting trees on Rodeo Drive at Santa Monica in Beverly Hills. Don't know what they are but the bark and fruit are interesting. There are two on each side of the street here and at the adjacent streets on Santa Monica, gateways to the district.
We then went to the Farmers Market and Grove Shopping Center. We had a late lunch at the New York Cheesecake Factory. They happen to be next door to our real destination for the day. We came here to attend the taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at the CBS Television Studios. Guests were Chevy Chase and Hannah Storm.
I finally got some pictures up for the past few days.
Friday:
We went back toward Hollywood, stopping on Melrose Avenue at a few Antique and other shops.
Our visit to Hollywood Blvd included a stop at Grauman's Chinese Theater. Lots of concrete imperfections here. I wish they'd control the vandals writing their names and placing hand prints in the concrete. .
Some unusual looking people were to be seen out front of the theater. I did find my star on the sidewalk on Hollywood Blvd. I wish they'd quit including the "s". There's only one real Don Wood!
With a little other shopping on the route, that pretty much filled the day. We got home about 8pm.
There are a few more people in our campground now.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Malibu Creek State Park, Ca
While Lou and Dawn did some final shopping in SLO and visited the Post Office, I hung around our campsite. I got the rig ready to go and puttered on the Internet.
I did take a walk over to the monarch butterfly grove next door. It's hard to believe many would survive with this cold spell but they appear to be OK. They congregate like leaves on the trees and look rather pale until they open their wings.
Then, they look as they should. A few brave soles were out and about on this cold morning.
When they returned, we took a quick walk on the beach and then hooked up the toad and rolled out.
First stop, just a short distance, was at the Pismo Fish and Chips Restaurant. They were open today and it was lunch time. On the left is a three piece, lightly battered plate of fish. I opted to the coleslaw rather than chips. It's the best coleslaw made! The fish is normally made with a thicker batter but we find the lightly battered better.
After lunch, we were on highway 101 southbound toward Malibu. After getting some fuel, we exited at Las Virgines Road heading West about 4 miles off Highway 101 to the park. Lots of room for us even without reservations. We were one of about five campers here. This looks like a very nice park. They do lock you in at nigh so you have to be home by 10:00 pm.
We took off for an emergency purchase of paper plates and looked around the area returning a little after 9pm. There was already frost on the ground. It's about 30 degrees here.
We were greeted to our campsite by this big bird. When we left for the day, the deer met us on the way out.
We'll be headed in to Hollywood for a visit tomorrow.
I did take a walk over to the monarch butterfly grove next door. It's hard to believe many would survive with this cold spell but they appear to be OK. They congregate like leaves on the trees and look rather pale until they open their wings.
Then, they look as they should. A few brave soles were out and about on this cold morning.
When they returned, we took a quick walk on the beach and then hooked up the toad and rolled out.
First stop, just a short distance, was at the Pismo Fish and Chips Restaurant. They were open today and it was lunch time. On the left is a three piece, lightly battered plate of fish. I opted to the coleslaw rather than chips. It's the best coleslaw made! The fish is normally made with a thicker batter but we find the lightly battered better.
After lunch, we were on highway 101 southbound toward Malibu. After getting some fuel, we exited at Las Virgines Road heading West about 4 miles off Highway 101 to the park. Lots of room for us even without reservations. We were one of about five campers here. This looks like a very nice park. They do lock you in at nigh so you have to be home by 10:00 pm.
We took off for an emergency purchase of paper plates and looked around the area returning a little after 9pm. There was already frost on the ground. It's about 30 degrees here.
We were greeted to our campsite by this big bird. When we left for the day, the deer met us on the way out.
We'll be headed in to Hollywood for a visit tomorrow.
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