On (and Off) the Road Again

Getting back on the road in mid September - heading out to the coast of California

    It's been over a month since I wrote an update to this blog. Since last writing we spent a few more days in San Bruno doing some yard work, walking around the neighborhood, watching son Shawn fly, hiking up on Sweeney Ridge and going to a Giants game. On Tuesday, September 14, we headed back to Colfax and then on Thursday, September 16, we headed west to leave our car in the garage in San Bruno before heading to Half Moon Bay State Park to begin our "tour" of California.

Shawn with his Hang Glider at Fort Funston in San Francisco with Rob looking on.

Right after taking off from the cliff above the beach.

Shawn flying high above us - this was the first time we've watched him fly.

A new memorial at a new park not far from our San Bruno house.

    It's hard to believe the gas pipeline explosion was 11 years ago, but I remember it well. Our daughter Erin, who was living in the house at the time was at work when the explosion happened. The first we knew about it was when she called to say she and the house, were all right. We had not yet heard about it on the news. Reports were that the explosion was at Sneath Lane and I 280 - only a block and a half from the house. It was actually several blocks away and on the other side of Sneath Lane from our house, but less than a mile away as the "crow flies." The pipeline that exploded runs directly behind the house, and 11 years later they were still working on upgrades to it while we were there a few weeks ago.

The beginning of the trail to Sweeney Ridge about 2 miles up the hill from the San Bruno house.

This is a favorite hike of mine when we are in San Bruno - about an 8 mile round trip from the house.

Looking toward the Pacific Ocean from the top of Sweeney Ridge - fog covered.

Looking east to Mount Diablo over the fog covered bay from the top of sunny Sweeney Ridge.

A spider web along the trail on the way back down.

Rob and I went to a Giants game while we were in San Bruno - they won.

    On Monday, September 13, we drove to the train station a couple of miles from the house to head into San Francisco for the game. The train sure beats parking near the ball park and the senior rate for the train is only a few dollars. As I write this the Giants are in between game 4 and 5 of a playoff with the Dodgers. Game 5 determines who goes on to play off for the National League Pennant - Go Giants!

    I wrote the last paragraph several days ago - sadly the Giants lost game 5 to the Dodgers. It was a great season for the Giants, but now it is over. So now, Go Braves! The Atlanta Braves won the first game of the playoff for the National League Pennant against the Dodgers last night - and as I conclude my writing tonight the Dodgers and Braves are tied in game two 2-2. Go Braves!

A blackberry root I dug up in the back yard in San Bruno.

Rob was on the steep bank cutting back black berry vines while I dug roots up down below.

No black berry vines in site - for the time being - just ivy.

Saint George, a chalk drawing by Ruth in Colfax.

    Wednesday, September 15,  while in Colfax I took granddaughter Avi to play miniature golf in Grass Valley. After the golf game she talked me into riding the go carts. She refused to let me take her picture, but she was very serious, and a bit scared to begin with, but she did real well and was eager to go again.

    Thursday, September 16, we headed to Half Moon Bay State Park where we had a reservation for one night. It wasn't possible to get a reservation for more than one night with such short notice, but we were hopeful that Friday morning we might snag an open site for that night. Our experience volunteering in the state parks has let us know that the "Campground Full" signs at state park campgrounds don't reflect the cancelations that frequently occur so often there are actually sites available, but for only one night at a time. Friday morning I was outside writing in my journal when the camp host was walking by doing camp checks. I greeted her and introduced myself as a camp host between hosting assignments and told her we were hoping to get the one site we'd heard was open for that night. She continued with her rounds and came back a few minutes later and told us we could have the site next to her for as long as we wanted it! It was what Half Moon Bay calls a Buffer site, but what we call Administrative sites at Samuel P Taylor and Emerald Bay State Parks. These sites are not reservable except by park employees and sometimes volunteers. They are also kept for emergency needs to move a camper out of a site they are in that may have a problem. We stayed at Half Moon Bay through the weekend and enjoyed the beach and bike trails.

Half Moon Bay has several beaches - Francis Beach is where the campground is.

Our campsite for the third weekend in September at Half Moon Bay.

A trail out of the campground above the beach

A pond of water next to the beach

A couple of Whimbrels

Notice how their long beaks curve down? 

These birds look a lot like Godwits, but the Godwits' beaks curve up.

Birds flying high in the sky

One seagull

Lots of seagulls - two different kinds together.

A jellyfish on the beach - there were lots of them.

The beach at Half Moon Bay is between the surf and these picturesque bluffs.

From a distance I wasn't quite sure what this structure was on the side of the bluff.

A close up of the bench someone worked very hard to place on the bluff.

No, I didn't climb up to it, but I considered it.

A stair way leading up to the top of the bluff.

A Raven with his "treasure."

I watched this Raven being chased by other Ravens trying to steal his treasure. Finally this one landed with what turned out to be just a pice of trash.

Some purple flowers along a bluff trail.

At first I thought the trails above the bluffs were not very interesting, 

but then I noticed a great variety of flowers.

There were lots of these yellow flowers.

A cluster of white blooms.

Some different white flowers.

Another yellow flower.

A bush of Coastal Yellow Bush Lupine almost done blooming.

Another purple flower.

Tight clusters of pine cones.

Riding along the trail on the bluffs.

    The campground was about midway on this part of the Coastal Trail.We rode its full length to the south where it went right in front of the Ritz Carlton Hotel and through the Half Moon Bay Golf Course. We also rode it all the way north to the harbor. And we rode on city streets to find a number of books at several Little Free Libraries.

    On Saturday when we were at Half Moon Bay, daughter Erin picked us up to take us to Richmond to watch 8 year old granddaughter Sophia play soccer. Her team lost, but it was fun to see her in action. After the game we went hiking with daughter-in-law Lindsey and granddaughters Sophia and Naomi in Wildcat Canyon near their home in Richmond.

No pictures of the soccer game, but here I am with Naomi and Sophia at their "secret" tree.

    Monday, September 20, we headed south, hoping to snag an open site at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz. There were two open spots we got to choose from for Monday night, and then we asked about the possibility of a "Buffer" site for the next two nights and were graciously offered several to choose from - one of the perks of being a California State Park host between assignments.

On the way south from Half Moon Bay we stopped for a short walk at Wilder Ranch State Park - a place I had brought my students on a field trip when I was a teacher.

The entrance sign at Henry Cowell's Campground

    I think this was the fourth time I've camped at Henry Cowell. The first time was 33 years ago with all our children, then a few years later Erin and I camped there with her Girl Scout troop. In 2017 our oldest daughter Sheila and her family joined us to camp at Henry Cowell when they had a few days lay over before heading to Costa Rica to visit Sheila's high school summer exchange program family. Henry Cowell is a beautiful park with lots of wonderful trails which we enjoyed several of while there this time.

A dead tree near the Observation Deck we hiked to the first morning. Remember, I love dead trees!

The view from the Observation Deck was obscured by coastal fog, which I think it has been every time I've been up there.

A woodpecker on the dead tree about to store a nut.

Sunrise from our campsite

Back in the redwoods!

Wednesday morning, September 22, I headed out early on the Eagle Creek Trail down to the San Lorenzo River and eventually to the Visitor Center and a nature trail through an old growth Redwood Grove.

Trail past some redwoods - all growing out of the same stump.

A ring of Redwood trees.

Creek going into the San Lorenzo River at Cable Car Beach.

We had hiked here with Sheila's family in 2017.

Lots of Mallards in the river, but only one of them a female.

A gnarly tree in the old growth grove.

A buck in the old growth grove.

The base of a very large Redwood tree. There are steps leading down into this one through that hole.

    After getting back from my 4 mile hike down and up, I had breakfast and then Rob and I headed out on our bicycles to get onto the Rincon Fire Road that would lead us to the visitor center. Sometime along the way I noticed discomfort in my chest and paid attention to it, but exercise didn't seem to affect it. We rode past the closed visitor center into town to go to Safeway for some oranges and then rode up Graham Hill Road back to the campground. It was about a 10 mile round trip bike ride. Even though we have pedal assist Electric bikes, we still have to put out some effort going uphill, and the discomfort in my chest didn't get any worse, but it didn't go away. We got back to camp about 11:30 and I was feeling pretty lousy, but figured I must have indigestion (something I never really have trouble with) from my large bowl of oatmeal and fruit. By the afternoon I thought I'd just lay down to sleep it off and that's when the discomfort turned to pain and I knew I needed to talk to an advice nurse at Kaiser. I didn't want to call because I knew the minute this 70 year old woman said "chest" they'd be sending me to the Emergency Room. A very compassionate Advice Doctor apologized but said I needed to go to the ER so off we went after packing up LesThora in case we might not get back to Henry Cowell that night. After fully checking me out at Watsonville Community Hospital, complete with EKG, blood tests, chest x-ray, ECHO Cardiogram, and CT scan any problem with my heart was ruled out, but it was discovered that my sodium levels were low so I had to be admitted. After 4 nights in the hospital, in a wonderful facility with wonderful staff, including a kidney specialist it was determined that I had been over medicated for the hypertension I have been treated for over the course of many years and I was sent "home" with no blood pressure medication, no physical restrictions, but orders to go back near my primary care doctor in the Roseville area for follow up in a few days. Wednesday night in Watsonville Rob spent in the hospital parking lot in LesThora, but Thursday he headed to Sunset Beach State Park just 7 miles away where we had made a reservation for Thursday night. When he told his "sad" story to the campground host on Friday morning he was given a "Buffer" site for as long as necessary. We didn't tell our children, or anyone else what was going on until Saturday morning when daughter Erin called just to find our where we were now. After being scolded for not keeping our children informed Erin got the weekend off from her state park job at Angel Island and came down to Watsonville to camp with Rob on Saturday night and both of us on Sunday night. Rob and I stayed one more night because I wanted some time to walk on the beach and get some good ocean "therapy." I kept monitoring my blood pressure, which was exceedingly good, and on Tuesday we headed north, hoping to get an open site at Half Moon Bay State Park before heading east to Colfax.

Our beautiful campsite above the beach at Sunset Beach State Park near Watsonville.

Beautiful vegetation above Sunset Beach.

An upside down Jellyfish

Lots of seagulls with a Pelican in the mix.

Two of the many, many Pelicans I saw.

More Pelicans in flight

A very tall Whimbrel

A Whimbrel up close

Another Whimbrel up close

A Whimbrel in flight

There were lots and lots of birds!

More birds in the air

Some Plovers running from the surf

Rob after a haircut and beard trim.

Some of the beautiful poppies near the beach

I usually don't walk bare foot on the beach, but after getting tired of knocking the sand out of my shoes I just took them off and walked barefoot at Sunset Beach and later at Half Moon Bay.

Lots and lots of two different kinds of seagulls.

A close up of the two kinds of gulls - which I can't remember what each is called.

The tan looking one in the center that looks like a third kind of gull is actually a juvenile of the grey and white ones.

The cliffs at Wilder Ranch where we stopped for lunch and a longer walk than before as we headed north.

Another view looking over the beautiful cliffs.

The beach was protected from people, but there really wasn't any way down.

Back at Half Moon Bay where we did get the only site available for Wednesday, September 29.

Sunrise, September 30, 2021, from Francis Beach at Half Moon Bay.

A pretty wild surf!

    Though in Watsonville they did discover I had low sodium levels, a potentially dangerous situation that had to be corrected before I was discharged, there was no real explanation for the chest discomfort and pain. I became convinced, though doctors weren't, that it was caused by indigestion, so when it returned I started taking Tums which temporarily calmed the symptoms, but by the time we got to Colfax on Wednesday evening, September 29, I was feeling terrible and realized my heart was beating very erratically. After another call to Kaiser I was back on my way to the Emergency Room, this time in Roseville. This time our children were involved from the start with Ruth driving me to the ER. It turned out I was in Atrial Fibrillation! A-Fib! Good Grief! More tests - nothing wrong with my heart except it was beating erratically. Once more I was admitted to the hospital with more tests, some of the same ones I'd had in Watsonville. My sodium level was good, as were all my electrolytes. I was put on a blood thinner to prevent stroke because A-Fib can cause blood clots leading to a stroke, and given medication to slow my heart rate. On Friday, October 1, I did a stress test on the tread mill and passed with flying colors. Fortunately the A-Fib had corrected itself by Thursday afternoon, but I had to leave the hospital on a blood thinner and medication to keep my heart rate lower. The only explanation given for the A-Fib was "age." Needless to say I am hoping for more answers about what caused all the chest discomfort when there appears to be nothing wrong with my heart. A-Fib can cause chest pain, but I didn't have any A-Fib in Watsonville. I have to believe both ER visits were related and probably to the low sodium, but no one has confirmed that. Yes, I have more follow-ups with doctors in Roseville and hopefully will get some answers. It has taken me awhile, but finally I am up to walking my 5 miles or more a day, and we are enjoying the break from travels on our property with family. 

The turkeys were there to greet me on my walk down our road on Sunday, October 3.

    Rob and I have taken advantage of the time back on our property to do a variety of things including repairing a fence. This fence is to help confine Maru, the Great Pyrenees Livestock protection dog who is very zealous about barking at every possible intruder to the property. In fairness to Maru there are some real night time intruders, including coyotes who make themselves known virtually every night, and a mountain lion that Ruth has seen on the property twice in the past couple of weeks. A neighbor called recently to report a sighting of a bear on an adjoining property.

And here is the top of the hot water heater that son Shawn came to 

switch out with a new one under the house last week.

Avi holding Straus

    Of course one of the good things about spending time at our home base in Colfax is getting to see granddaughter Avi who is a cat lover extraordinaire! She has developed quite the relationship with the normally shy Straus. We've also gotten to watch her play in one of her soccer games. She is very particular about when I can and cannot take her picture, so I don't get to capture many of the moments with her, but we enjoy the time we have with her.

    I guess we are old when our son is about to retire! Scott retires from the Air Force after a 30 year career next month. His retirement ceremony is Monday, November 1, at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington DC so we we will be flying back there to attend it. We'll return in time to get to Samuel P Taylor State Park near San Rafael on November 3, to be camp hosts there for the duration of fall, the whole winter and the beginning of spring. 

Elsie sunning herself on the dashboard at Sunset State Beach.

See Straus's ears and eyes above the cabinets above the dinette?

This is where he rides while we're travelling.

One of Straus's favorite places to be when we're not traveling.

Where Elsie spends most of her time while LesThora is parked - right above the driver's seat.

Close-up of Straus on the bed

Close-up of Elsie on the dinette seat

    Oh no! As I was editing this one last time the Dodgers pulled ahead 4-2 in the top of the 7th inning. Come on Braves!