18 March, 2000

Spent the day on a trail-run with the Northwest Cruisers of Idaho club. There're so many pictures for this day, we made a whole different page for it. Click here to read about our day on Humpty Hump. A million thanks to Eric and David for organizing things. We had a great time.

The drive was a long one- in all, it took us about 13 hours and a little over 40 gallons of gas to get to Jocelyn's father's house in Tuolumne. Whew!

Highlights of the 600+ mile drive included:

Waiting for some cowboys to herd their cattle off of highway 95 in Oregon

Stopping at a little gas station in Nevada where we realized that it is really quiet out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. It was eerie, but very serene, sunny, and beautiful.

The Reno/Tahoe area is absolutely beautiful in early spring. Snow is still on all of the mountains and most of the hills, but the roads are clean and there are little waterfalls and rivers just starting to get going.

Driving along the American River on Hwy 49 we got some breathtaking views and really wanted to stop and play… but we also wanted to get to our destination by dark

After miles of beautiful scenery we stopped briefly at Sutter's mill, where gold was first discovered in California.

Outside of Placerville we saw some cherry or plum orchards that were in full bloom. Went back for another look because they were so pretty.

In a little shop outside of Angel's Camp, CA we got some really yummy strawberry malteds. We had been looking forward to that shop for about two hours and the wait was worth it.

Sunset over the Stanislaus River was really great- we drove over that same river just a few months ago and saw the sunset then, too. The river was much higher now and we enjoyed seeing the difference.

We finally pulled in to J's father's house just a bit after dark set in, happy to be done driving for the day.

The downside to the day is that Steve has developed quite a little rash on his lower back and ankles. Hives? Doesn't look like poison oak… but it sure itches! We slapped some aloe on it and he went to bed early while Beebee stayed up and chatted with her dad and Greta.

It turns out that Steve's little rash is definately poison ivy. Fortunately we have some Alegra (anti-allergy medicine) which has really helped with the itching. Despite that, Steve has been pretty miserable- the insides of both ankles and feet are covered with a weeping mess of sores and his lower back is driving him nuts. The best relief he has found came from when Bonnie convinced him to try spreading a paste made from ground oatmeal, water, and honey onto his ankles. Aaaaaahhh… of course, when it dries, Steve leaves a little trail of oatmeal all over the house.

After eating (huge servings of eggs benedict) we walked up into the hillside gardens and enjoyed the landscaping and the views of the water. Definately a worthwhile stop if you happen to be driving past Big Sur.

After brunch we convinced Dad to take the long way home. There is a graded dirt road that goes into the hills and roughly parallels hwy 1 for a little while. Excited to be off-road, Dad put the Explorer in 4-wheel drive. The 2-inch ruts and the loose dirt where the grader had passed were no match for this marvel of Ford off-road engineering. On an almost-steep portion of the road we convinced him to try out 4-low, intending to show him how a truck can just idle up when in first… unfortunately Ford failed us- instead of creeping ahead slowly we slowly rolled backward. Hmmm. Well… at least the leather seats are comfy.

Winding in and out of redwood groves and over babbling brooks we caught occasional glimpses of some beautiful homes and enjoyed the blooming California Poppies. As we headed back towards Hwy 1 we were all delighted to see the Bixby Creek Bridge from the backside. Though under seismic renovation at the moment (hence the hanging scaffolding) this local landmark, a product of the WPA, is still beautiful and none of us had ever seen it from this perspective before.

31 March, 2000

Spent the day relaxing at the beach in Carmel. While Beebee and the parents snacked on wine, cheese, sushi and other delectibles Steve suffered quietly with socks and a shirt on to cover his still-present poison oak. Ok, he also enjoyed the food and wine, but the socks at the beach… terrible.

Poor guy finally managed to enjoy a little nap- with his shirt still covering the rash on his back. At least the weather was perfect.

First order of business was getting our alarm installed- our pal Todd had given us an alarm that he isn't using back in San Diego several weeks ago. Steve was feeling like he should really just do the install himself, but conceded that he hadn't done it in the month that we've had Sandy back and that it is one of those items that was worth getting done professionally since we didn't have the instructions nor did we even know for sure that the alarm worked. So we dropped her off at Kar-tunes in Seaside.

Spent the afternoon re-supplying in Monterey, enjoying the 80-degree weather. Then back to pick Sandy up. The alarm was in, and worked! Unfortunately one of the remotes is dead, so we'll have to replace that, but at least Sandy is now marginally protected against theft. Steve has a few minor issues about where some of the alarm stuff sits- the horn is right where the auxillary battery is going to go, but since he hadn't said anything to the installer ahead of time, he really shouldn't complain now.

Finished the day off by watching a spectacular sunset from the back deck and enjoying a nice dinner. All in all this isn't such a bad place to be "stuck" working on Sandy- good food, our own room, and a great view- it could be a whole lot worse.

No surprise that the tranny was overfull and the tcase low- common problem apparently with the seal between the two. The unpleasant surprise was more sludge and filings on the tranny drainplug than we had hoped would be there. Since we don't know how long it has been since it was last changed, we are going to fill it back up and run it for a week then re-check it. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Of course, nobody local has any copper gaskets so we ordered some and they should be in tomorrow.

Had a wonderful meal with Steve's parents. Steve made Mahi Mahi ceviche, cracked crab and steamed clams and mussels. Mom made spinach salad, beebee made garlic bread, Dad chilled the wine. We barely missed the sunset on the deck, but a fun time was had by all.

Meanwhile, poor worker-bee Steve stayed home and fixed Homesite (don't you just love "upgrades") and otherwise fought with the computer. Finally managed to burn a CD with with the CD burner we bought a month ago… between installing it wrong, software bugs, and not taking time to play with it, it was starting to look like a waste of money. Now at least we know it can work (not that we've gotten it to work consistently… noooo, not yet).

We spent the rest of the day buying oil filters, dropping of the used oil, trying to find illuminated hitch covers for a birthday gift and picking up the makings for fondue.

Steve and Jocelyn's first attempt at fondue turned out just alright. The taste was fabulous; the texture lacking. But we ate it all, so it couldn't have been too bad. Beebee thinks from now on, she'll leave the fondue making to Steve's sister Karyn.

After meeting Jon and enjoying some conversation, we realized that we didn't have all the right materials with us to do the welding that we wanted done. A quick trip to OSH didn't fix the problem so we just chatted some more, then headed off to Karyn and Randy's where we caught the tail-end of dinner with their friend Chris.