Friday, April 5

Last night the rain poured down and the wind shook the R.V. It was great sleeping weather. By mid-morning the sun was out and warming and drying everything. I went for a short walk down to the ocean edge. While I was gathering mini-shells, a wave almost got me. In my haste to get away, I fell. But I was far enough away that I didn’t get wet!!

Later, Lois took us to a marvelous CEF bookstore in Bellflower. I never can have too much Bible story material, since I teach over 100 clubs in a year. The normal CEF material covers about 30 max/per year. So, I really enjoyed shopping! And now I am armed with lots of great new stories. I also had a very old story, Yung-An, that I still use. It was falling apart. This bookstore prides themselves on having a great selection of “antiquated” materials – and sure enough, they had a “in good shape” copy of that very story!

We drove on to Covina to Paul’s house. He’s a faithful Zoom student and was excited to have us come visit. With several friends, we had a Good News Club. It wasn’t very warm, so we decided to host it in the R.V. (or, as some called it, the house-car!) 6 kids and 2 parents fit easily enough. The kids were engaged and participated eagerly. Several had very little Bible knowledge, and may not come from Christian families. It was great to be there.

Then we were taken to a Chinese buffet – so many choices! There were about 16 of us. The kids had a fun time together. The day ended happily.

Seal Beach, CA

We stopped for lunch and shopping at a Walmart – our first since leaving home!! It felt good!! But they didn’t have a full food section, so we’ll be looking somewhere else.

Traffic was not too bad coming into L.A. – there was only one short slow-down. We got to Lois’ place with over an hour to spare – which was a good thing, since it took a lot of time and phone calls to get us hooked up into her internet so I could teach on Zoom. Roger and the Lord came through and it went well. There was a good showing of kids and adults (including 2 from China). We started the book of Nehemiah, discussing the prayer he prayed; then we took turns praying, too.

Lois gave us a tour of Leisure World – a senior retirement gated place – we almost didn’t get in!! Lois left a pass for us, but the guard didn’t seem to remember she had it. After that we gave her a tour of our R.V. Then she took us to a lovely R.V. park right on the ocean! It was wonderful – and we watched the sun set behind the clouds. Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day of winter here! The wind is definitely cold, but we expect it to rock us to sleep.

Mountains

We knew we would have to cross mountain passes leaving OR into CA, but it's not something we look forward to! However, the skies were clear and it was great to see Mt. Rainier.

From there we passed Mt. St. Helen with it's flat, snow-covered top.

Then it was Mt. Hood - snow covered. No pictures of these majestic mountains, but the two in CA are not to be outdone.

Next, Mt. Loughlin - the shape I draw mountains - straight up one side and down the other, with a nice sharp point at the top!

And, finally, Mt. Shasta - totally loaded with snow and some clouds. You see closer views as you drive I-5. 

Driving in CA

CA has a 55 mph speed limit on trucks. The rest of us can go 70. This reminds me of driving in Germany on the autobahn. The far right lane is for max 90 kph (we call them klicks); there is no speed limit on the rest of the highway. So, if you get in the right lane and want to pass a truck you need to very quickly accelerate to not get run over in the next lane over. Then, hit the brakes and move back into the 90 kph lane.

That's what it's like driving I-5 south in CA; if you get behind a truck and want to pass, you need to quickly accelerate and move over. Then, hit the brakes to go back to the right lane.

The roads are not in the greatest, either. However, the rest areas are good - we had lunch in a vista point.

We've enjoyed the birds and flowers with spring in the air. This morning we watched a duck with her 6 little ducklings enjoying the pond (or swamp) next to where we parked.

The Bible study/prayer time in a tiny church in Lebec was very encouraging and inspiring. They are reading the Bible through together as a congregation. "We" started Judges tonight. & they let us stay in their parking lot for the night. 

Turns out 2 of the ladies know Janis Simpson, who we are planning on visiting in TX! & the pastor attended Black Forest Academy (my alma mater). There were several other connections - from WA to CA to TX to Switzerland...God is great!!

OR to CA - Tuesday, April 2, 2024

We really enjoyed the nice rest areas in OR. Besides a quiet night, we also strolled around the circular paved walkway over a bridge through a wooded area at one of them. I walked extra careful when I saw the "watch for rattlesnakes" sign! The weather has been amazingly warm, with only a little wind issue coming into CA.

Another thing we always manage to add to our trips is a “wild goose chase” to somewhere. Today it was through about 30 miles of curvy, hilly country roads (south of Eugene, OR) with no shoulder. All we were looking for was I-5, but our GPS takes us on “creative” routes. We did manage to do some tax-free shopping!

Now we’ve made it about 200 miles into CA so far. We forgot that the first 100 or so miles of I-5 in northern CA is mountainous. Happily we got through it in daylight.

It’s dark now, so tomorrow we’ll see how CA's rest areas compare to OR’s!

Spring 2024 - April 1st

We left home shortly before noon. By the time we were 200 miles down the road we remembered about 4 things we forgot…however, we decided we could do without them!

We always have something open or fall when we start out, no matter how diligent we try to be. This time it was the gallon of milk that we purchased before leaving town. We are EXTEMELY grateful it didn’t break open!

We had a hot dog and chips lunch – one I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while (I don’t serve hot dogs too often!) The weather could not be nicer – sunny, warm, welcoming. So far I’ve kept my determination to do some walking every day (1 day so far…)!

Driving through Vancouver, WA, we stopped at the CEF office. But we were too late – no one was in!

The rush hour traffic in Portland was very do-able. However, there was a major accident which closed all southbound traffic on I-5. We decided to take a side road, which, of course, was also backed up but moving. As a result we didn’t get as far south as we planned, but far enough to enjoy a quiet evening in a rest area (one we have spent time in before) in Santiam, OR.