Campfire

Saturday January 30, 1993

Slept very well in our trailer. At 10:00 I call Mom but she's gone for tests. We visit with our friends, then take a drive around to see all the many campgrounds around the lake. It's a pretty day but breezy.

I call Mom around noon. They have found 2 ulcers in her stomach. That's probably where her bleeding came from. They also checked her bone marrow and her rectum.

I'm tired and lay down for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Karen comes in to visit with me. I like her a lot. She really cares about me.

We have a nice potluck at 5 and spend the night around the campfire. I rest in the trailer from 8-9. We go to bed at 11:15.

Having 2 bleeding ulcers is not funny at all, but I had to chuckle when I heard that Grandma Helen had this problem, because as far back as I remember, she put lots of hot sauce on absolutely everything! It was like her tastebuds were numb, so the spicier the better. No wonder after years of spicy food, she developed ulcers.

That was sweet of Mom's friend to come in to visit her while she was resting. I'll bet that lifted her spirits.

That sounds like so much fun to circle around the campfire on a cool January night with 12 other couples. What a party! Makes me want to find an RV club. We hardly ever use ours. Frank and his new wife Carol still go RVing with their square dancing friends a couple times every year.

Monterey Jazz Festival

Friday March 6, 1992

Up and finally ready to leave for Monterey about 9:30 a.m. pulling our 5th wheel trailer. It's a great trip of 6 hours except for the last 2 hours when we do hit rain.. It's raining lightly when we pull into the Laguna Seca Campground which is 20 minutes from the Jazz Festival in Monterey. It takes about an hour to get all set up. We have dinner from the microwave oven, then clean up and head for the Jazz Festival. In the dark (6:30 p.m.) we accidentally find our way to exctly where we want to be at the wharf parking lot. We buy our $40 tickets and head into the first show, Black Dog Band. We see several groups and really enjoy them. We leave for home about 10:30. We're in bed about midnight. I continue to feel real good.

Wow, that was a long tiring day, but Mom was going strong until midnight. I'm so impressed by her energy. After a 6 hour drive I would have just chilled for the night.

The Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest-running annual jazz event in the world. It premiered on October 3, 1958 with San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons as its founder. Over 43,000 fans attended the 54th edition of the two-day and three-night festival September 16-18, 2011. The festival featured over 500 artists performing on eight stages spread over the 20-acre Monterey Fairgrounds in Monterey, California.

El Capitan State Park

Friday January 17, 1992

We arise early. I'm in the shower at 6:30. We go out to breakfast and start packing the trailer when we return. By 12:15 we're on our way to El Capitan campground above Santa Barbara. We arrive at 2:15. One RV is there already: Joan and Payton. Frank parks the trailer without too much trouble.

This is a nice campground. Others begin to arrive about 6 p.m. until there are 8 of us. We have a big fire and lots of good conversation. We go to bed with our electric blanket and the forced air heat set at 60 degrees about 11 p.m.

Mom doesn't say so in this post, but I believe this group of campers is from their square dance club. They had lots of social outings with that group, including camping trips. El Capitan Campground is on the ocean side of Highway 101 and has lots of palm trees. It is easily seen from the Pacific Coast Highway. An underpass goes to the inland side of the freeway, where there is another section of campsites. They certainly took a chance planning a camping trip in January! At least they had a nice trailer to retreat to if it started to rain!

First Trip in the New Fifth Wheel

Thursday January 16, 1992

Up and at 'em. Frank goes to the valley on business and I go to market and shopping. He spends the afternoon in the garage and I get ready for our weekend trip in the trailer. We are excited about finally going somewhere in it. We have a great dinner and relax at home.

I talk to Marc Ray. He says Shirley (his mom) is about to go in for detox. That's really good news!

I'm so glad that Mom was able to retire early from her job as a purchasing agent for a medical supply company. Shortly after she retired, she and Frank bought a fifth wheel so they could travel more. When I retired in 2007 my husband and I bought a fifth wheel within a month as well. That was when we had a line of credit and before the real estate bubble burst. Now I understand why Mom's entry for January 14 talks about refinancing one of her rental houses. They were using the money to pay off the trailer. They probably had a very high interest rate to finance the purchase of the trailer, so they were pulling money out of the house to pay off the trailer and another mortgage. It sounds like this weekend would be their maiden voyage with the trailer.