Corning, California: Dear Sweet Reader, we had such a very long annoying day on our route to watch athletes run, jump, and throw. This is obviously why humans invented airplanes, right? We were up early and were able to hit the road by 9 o'clock (two hours earlier than our usual post-exercising departure time). The roads are just so awful in SoCal. Everything is rattling-away in our motorcoach. Annoying. We moved from Highway 99 (99 is closed this weekend near Sacramento) to I-5, but the road conditions did not improve. When we stopped for lunch (left-over lamb/eggplant lasagna), the entry steps would not retract. This problem has been on-going since Day One with this bus, and the wiring harness has been replaced several times. Usually the situation will right itself with a simple restarting of the engine. Sometimes, the steps will go in/out overnight, giving us a little happy surprise. Not today. After lunch, DT went into the fuse box, jiggled a few things, and the steps finally retracted.
Unwilling to stop again, DT kept driving until we reach Corning (400 long miles today) and booked a "Stay-and-Play" package at the Rolling Hills Casino/RV Park. This package gives us a round of golf and a night in the RV park. The Rolling Hills Casino campground started out (years ago now) as a self-pay kiosk situation. Much like paying for a space in a parking garage, you inserted cash or a credit card, then received a "ticket" to place in your dash. The sites were not numbered, you just pulled-in to any open campsite. Several years later, they built a nice RV park check-in structure, and the sites were numbered. Today, the RV check-in building houses showers and internet for truckers. RV guests now check-in at the gas station/convenience store. Not very classy, but you can grab a bag of ice and a roll of tape/clamps to repair your leaky RV water hose!
After we pulled into our campsite, the entry steps would not extend! We tried everything. Then Dave slashed his arm reaching into the teeny space holding the entry step fuse. Blood everywhere! A spew of expletives that have not been heard since they were not heard in the A Christmas Story movie flew from his mouth. DT rarely swears. I think he used an entire 365 days of cursing in one sentence today. On a positive note, he was able to repair our water hose so it should last until we see our tech, Brian, again in Eugene.
Two air conditioners, the oven, and the clothes dryer use were enough to pop the breaker just before dinner. Thank goodness, My Driver had a Negroni cocktail in hand or I would not want to learn the new expletives he would have released!
Fun times getting out of a bus with no steps. Hope someone video-tapes me falling climbing out tomorrow to make my tee time.)
Our meal tonight was supposed to be served at home Friday night... before we decided to leave Friday morning and the whole "lasagna on the first night of a trip" situation. I saw this recipe, Creamy Tuscan Chicken, a few weeks ago on-line and it looked good. After re-reading the recipe and seeing it was a copy of an Olive Garden recipe, I should have nixed it... but I didn't... even when it included enough cream to feed nearly every person in Ireland. TRUTH: I have been to an Olive Garden restaurant twice in my life. Once was in Portland, when I met an out-of-town friend for lunch. We sat in the smoking section (she was a smoker)… so how long ago could this have been? (Just Googled it: Oregon banned smoking in restaurants in 1996.) The other time was in Sacramento in 2000 at the Olympic Trials, only because it was the only restaurant still open near the track stadium as late as we were dining.
I made a half-recipe of the Creamy Tuscan Chicken and only cheated by substituting half of the cream with pinot gris (the dish was still really creamy). In the recipe, adding salt and pepper and requested THREE TIMES. That seemed like a wholelotta salt to me. I added salt and pepper to the flour in the first step, and the dish was just fine, especially with the addition of salty Parmesan cheese. Anyway, we ate.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the Four L's went the the California Science Center to see the Art of the Brick - the world's largest display of Lego art.
Leo and Lucy with Winged Victory of Samothrace (aka NIKE... aka Winged Goddess of Victory). The original (non-Lego-version) statue has an amazing presence in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Lucy, with a 20-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton made of Lego.
At least some people in this family were having a good day!
Hopefully tomorrow morning we will wake to find our entry steps have magically extended, and we will hit great drives and make all our putts... or maybe not. Until my next update, I remain, your ears-burning correspondent.
I-5 is so much worse than it was two years ago. I was in the back of our RV for part of the trip down to the desert last week and am surprised I didn’t get whiplash. Sorry to hear you’re having step issues. Our steps come out, but not completely, so we end up with the words tiniest steps. sigh.