Diane’s Retirement and onward to TaterTOT

 Wednesday we took another ride to Mission Coffee: a favorite Fremont destination. Not a huge number of miles, but it was fun to travel down memory lane and traverse the Alameda Creek Trail again.

Then Thursday we attended Diane’s retirement party. It was held in an outside patio of Chevy’s in Union City. It was lovely to see so many of Paula’s work colleagues and congratulate them on another year in education. The speakers, singers, and family of Diane’s all had lovely things to say naturally. What an amazing legacy Diane leaves in Fremont. Here’s a photo of Diane and her two children who flew in from Pittsburg and Denver to attend the festivities.

Friday morning we were up early to start our three day trek to TaterTOT in Kellogg, Idaho. Friday we traveled from Fremont to Weed, California where we stayed overnight at Trailer Lane Campground. Check out their view of Mount Shasta:

They also had a wonderful walking trail up to the top of their hill which afforded lovely views 360 degrees. However Paula & I decided it is much too dry here. Forest fire was on our mind. The campground owner chatted with us as we lounged in their Adirondack chairs around a fire pit. He said they’d owned it since Thanksgiving of last year, and were doing extensive renovations — septic included. (We shared our experiences at DBR on this topic.) He said he got so tired of speculators calling him asking if he wanted to sell that he set the price at $2.5 million and stopped talking with people until he had a letter of intent and proof of funding. That slowed them down, but hasn’t stopped the inquires. Should be interesting to see if he finishes his campground improvements before being bought out.

Today we traveled from Weed to Lexington, Oregon. While 389 miles doesn’t sound like a lot, it was! We traveled on all secondary roads with lots of twists, turns, mountains, and valleys. Took us 9 1/2 hours and there was rain on again and off all day long! But we arrived at the Tin Willows Sheep Dairy & Ranch, which is our Harvest Host for tonight. We got to see kittens, sheep, ducks, ducklings, chickens, guinea hens, and dogs, and we were able to walk around quite a bit. It was great to meet Sammy and Wayne who are working the farm. The farm’s owner, Terry, was taking her first summertime vacation away from the farm in years to attend a wedding.

Harvest Host sites allow members to stay overnight for free, with the understanding that the member purchase wares from the host site. We will enjoy the sheep’s milk yogurt sweetened with local honey tomorrow, and some lovely cheese that is made from the sheep milk in Centralia, Washington. And we purchased some lamb sausage that I can’t wait to try. Interesting thing about the milk for the cheese. They freeze it in large tubs to make a large brick, and then the bricks are sent to Centralia. Very cool! 🤪

Check out our photos of the farm:

Tomorrow we drive the last 300 miles into Kellogg for TaterTOT. Can’t wait to see everyone. We have friends we only see at TOT, so it’s great to be able to do this event again. Everything has been put on hold for two years as we’ve all been dealing with Covid. While Paula & I will still be careful, it’s nice to know that we’re all vaccinated and boosted. Fingers crossed that’s enough.

Bike Rides and Visits with Friends…

We continue to enjoy our stay in Fremont, as we trike around our old haunts and see good friends. We’re still at the Elks Lodge which is centrally located and economical. 

Sunday we triked over to Palo Alto to see our friend, Judie. Weather was supposed to be pleasant, but we triked through a heavy mist that turned into rain drops. But the temperatures were warm, so by the time the drops stopped and we got over the Dumbarton Bridge, we were dry again. We had a lovely time sharing lunch with Judie and catching up with all her news.

On our way back across the bay we were treated to some amazing scenery. The clouds are unusual for this time of year.

This is looking across at Moffett Field. The dome is what is left of the huge hanger.

These are photos of the old railroad bridge across the bay.

Yesterday we got the chance to see our friend Carol. Paula had a morning dentist appointment, so we arranged to meet at Mission Coffee to begin our ride. Carol rides a Lightning P38 (a two wheeled recumbent) that I used to own. Both of us were on our trikes. We made quite an impression on traffic as we traversed Fremont to get to the Lazy Dog restaurant in Newark. We chose this site for their outdoor seating.

After a late lunch we headed back to Mission Coffee via the Alameda Creek Trail so Carol could get her car. Of course we still needed to traverse Fremont, but the trail was much more pleasant than riding on the streets.

Then we rode back to the Elks Lodge to show Carol our trailer and lend her some cleat parts for her Bebop pedals. 

Next it was a fast shower so we could have dinner with Diane and Steve. It’s always great to see them. Diane is a bit ambivalent about retiring because she has so enjoyed her 39 years of service to the district. We keep telling her how much she’ll enjoy retirement, but she has to get into the swing of retirement to believe it.

Today we decided to be grownups and do some of the grocery shopping we’ve been wanting to do to get the trailer ready to head to TaterTOT later this week. And we got to see Lynette and Larry. Paula & Lynette organized the Fremont Freewheelers Cinderella Classic Training Rides over 30 years ago! It was great to see them both and catch up.

We appreciated taking a day off from triking. In the last week we’ve covered over 126 miles. We know we have to be ready to ride with Sylvia — now there is a woman with stamina! We meet up with her a TaterTOT and begin our trek towards the east coast together.

More news as we make it…

Alameda Creek Trail Wanderings, lunch with Trish, and Baking

 We did a thirty mile trike ride around Fremont on Wednesday that encompassed much of the Alameda Creek Trail. This is our old stomping grounds from living in Fremont for nearly thirty years. It was fun traveling down memory lane.

One of our stops was Devout Coffee. We were able to sit on their outdoor patio and enjoy our lattes. Check out the wonderful presentation:

Next we were off to our trike riding. Check out the photos of the Alameda Creek Trail:

We also appreciated the birds we saw along the way. While the owl we saw when triking with Sylvia last time we were here was not in evidence, we think these birds more than met the display challenge:

And of course there were the obligatory views of the Dumbarton Bridge and the San Mateo Bridge:

 

After our ride was over, we arrived at the Lazy Dog restaurant to enjoy lunch with our friend, Trish. It was great to catch up on all the news from her, and remind her that she and Chris are always welcome to come see us up in Washington.

Then yesterday we got a chance to see Diane! Yes, her retirement party is next week after 39 years of service to Fremont Unified. What an achievement and what a legacy to leave. We’re looking forward to celebrating with her.

Diane and Steve were gracious enough to lend me their kitchen where I baked scones. The cost was to leave scones for them (which we did), and deliver scones to Glankler Elementary where Diane is assigned, and to the Special Ed office at the District Office where Paula and Diane worked together. I enjoyed baking, and everyone appeared to enjoy the scones. This time they were Apricot Almond and Cranberry Walnut.

The adventures continue as we went to see Sarah yesterday. How wonderful to see her, and help her out a bit since she just had some medical stuff done. Having people around to assist is always helpful, and we got to do our laundry as well. And of course more baking was called for. We stayed overnight so I could make flakey biscuits this morning, that we paired with delicious bacon. After a much needed hike, Sarah and I made ‘crack cookies’ which are a ginger molasses cookie that Paula forbids me to make, because they are so addictive. Luckily Anjanette came over to help us eat them, so we didn’t get too carried away.

Tomorrow we plan to trike over to Palo Alto to see our friend Judie. More news as we make it…

Back to the San Francisco Bay Area

 Yesterday we traveled from Paula’s sister Barbara’s home to the Elks Lodge here in Fremont. 

We had a lovely stay out in front of Barbara’s home. By staying in our trailer, the rest of the family could inhabit the guest rooms. We all had a fabulous time celebrating Barbara, Sally, Chris, and Grace’s birthdays. Barbara treated us all to a wonderful dinner at the Sea Chest restaurant in Cambria, and we all enjoyed seeing how the youngest, Grace, has grown since we saw her at Christmas.

We have traveled to Fremont to see various friends, and to help our friend Diane celebrate her retirement after approximately 35 years in public education. Staying here at the Elks Lodge is a great choice, as it’s centrally located, and rather empty at the moment. Since I became an Elk this spring, the cost of staying here is much cheaper than staying at the lovely Dumbarton Quarry Camping area.

We rolled in yesterday, and got all set up. On our drive up Highway 101, we passed a portion of the Coyote Creek Trail in the San Jose Area that we just adore. We figured since the weather here isn’t blistering yet, we would ride on this trail today. We made contact with our friend, John, and asked if he’d like to join us. Fortunately he was available, and joined us for a wonderful 25 mile ride. He even treated us to lunch at the “12 Mile Station” restaurant at the golf course. Thanks John!!

The riding along Coyote Creek was delightful. Temperatures ranged from low 70’s to low 80’s, with a gentle breeze. There were lots of other riders and walkers on the trail, reminding us that spring has turned to summer, and we all want to be outside.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s ride. Stay tuned…

Bike Ride: Pismo Beach to San Luis Obispo to Central Coast Brewing

 Lovely weather today — sunny with a light to stiff breeze, thankfully mostly a tailwind. We road from Pismo Beach to San Luis Obispo. The goal was to meet the family at Central Coast Brewing for lunch. Unfortunately they couldn’t join us because there was gridlock on 101 due to an accident.

Our ride was delightful. Perfect conditions.

On our way there we saw the Octagon Barn. On this event area they have a cow that is decorated for perfect photo shoots. How did we do?

The sign on the side said it was created for the SLO Breakawhey club by artist, Carol Paulsen. It is wearing a cycling jersey and cycling shorts, a helmet, and cycling glasses.

Then it was on to Central Coast Brewing. I had a peanut butter stout brew, and Paula had an IPA. We split a tri-tip sandwich and played a game of Qwirkle. Great fun.

We decided we should do the return bike before the wind picked up any further. Great fun checking out the whitecaps on the ocean.

Welcome to Memorial Day Weekend!

 Hurrah! We got our first trike ride in this morning, after a week’s hiatus. Sally and we biked from Pismo Beach to Avila Beach and back. While the three mile Bob Jones bike path was busy with people walking, strollers, scooters and bicycles, it was fun to get out in the lovely weather. Check out the photos:

Hopefully there will be more riding tomorrow… 🚲🚴‍♀️🚴🏻‍♂️

Onward to Pismo Beach

Yesterday we said goodbye to Jo Ann in Visalia, and traveled to Pismo Beach, a distance of 154 miles. Doesn’t seem very far, but when dragging the trailer, we only travel at 55 mph max, so it takes a while.

Jo Ann’s barn is about half painted with primer and top coat, and about half her new fence is stained. We also had a great visit. I’m sorry we couldn’t finish it with her, but our bodies have their limits, and the limits were showing.

Paula’s sister, Barbara, was happy to greet us in Pismo Beach. We got the truck and trailer parked out in front of her home, and got it hooked up to her electric. Then it was out to have lunch — Mexican, of course — and do errands.

Temperatures in Pismo Beach are in the 60’s during the day and 40’s at night. A lovely change from the high temperatures in Visalia. We’re so climatized to Washington, that Paula found she got a touch of heat stroke on one morning when she was working hard on the trailer. Glad it wasn’t any more serious.

The rest of the family arrives for Memorial Day weekend late tonight. Tomorrow we’ll see Sally, Paula’s other sister, Chris and Andrea along with their children Austin and Grace. Barbara will have quite the full house. We’ll all go out tomorrow to celebrate Barbara’s birthday. Paula & I are hoping we can get a trike/bike ride in with Sally before the dinner departure time. We’ve been told to arrive extra early because the restaurant does not take reservations, and we’ll be a party of 12! Wish us luck!