I am in Goleta at the home of Marge and Bill Livingstone. Marge is my step mom, for those who don't know, and Bill is her wonderful husband. They live in a great retirement community centered around a golf course and club house with swimming pool. I arrived in the early afternoon on Thursday, and got permission to park Myrtle on the community's street for the night.
Goleta is a little town on the western edge of Santa Barbara--remember that the coast goes east-west in this part of southern California. I always have to remind myself that we're not north of Santa Barbara.
Marge is recovering from pneumonia slowly but surely. She spent a couple of days in the hospital earlier this week and had a checkup with her doctor this morning. She still doesn't feel great and tires easily, but is on the mend.
I took a couple of pictures this morning. This first is Bill and Marge's patio overlooking the golf course. They have a couple of new chairs that are very comfy. But it is 85 degrees out there in the sun right now, so we're all indoors admiring the view.
Bill and Marge's condo looks across the golf course to the clubhouse. The blur is my fingertip--sorry! My connection here is so weak that it takes 6 minutes to upload each picture. I'm not doing another shot!
I have a picture from yesterday of the RV park on the south end of King City (Cuidad del Rey, I think). I stayed there Wednesday night and enjoyed the neighbors I met. The town is south of Salinas in the Salinas Valley. The valley is very green, so the small amounts of rain have done some good. That's Myrtle's new bike rack on the right of the picture. The morning had a high fog, so you can't get a glimpse of the surrounding mountains.
Finally, a picture of the park in Corning--Heritage Park--where I stayed Tuesday night. We were having a light misty rain, so you are not seeing sunny California here either!
I will move Myrtle up into the hills above Santa Barbara this afternoon to spend 6 days camping at Rancho Oso. I stayed there last year in April and it is a lovely spot with great views. I think I may see wildflowers blooming, although I noticed that all of the azaleas down here in Goleta are done blooming so I might be too late!
Oh! I told Gina last night about the unscheduled experiment on gas economy that I ran as I drove south. I've been filling Myrtle's gas tank each morning. Wednesday as I drove down I-5 from Corning I was averaging right around 67 mph. I turned off I-5 at Santa Nella and stopped for lunch (great In n Out burger joint there!). I checked to see what kind of gas milage I was getting--8.3 MPG! So I slowed down for the rest of the day as I drove over Pacheco Pass and south down highway 101. By the end of the day my MPG was up to 9.2. So Thursday, as I continued down 101 I kept my speed at 57 or 58 mph. When I arrived in Goleta my MPG was 11.3. So increasing Myrtle's speed 10 miles per hour cost me 2 miles per gallon. When I'm burning more than 30 gallons of gas a day that means I cover 60 miles less on that tank of gas! No more hurry-up-and-get-there driving for me.
That's most of the news for today. I'll catch up with all of you later.
My name is Renee. My grandfather has asked me to locate a phone number for Bill Levingstone. They were high school students together and he recently read his book. I cannot locate a phone number but did see mention of him on your blog. I cannot figure out how to email you with my grandfather's name etc. Do you mind sharing an email address?
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