Hi kids –
I am now in Calistoga, CA after sadly leaving Boise (I LOVE IT THERE). Had a great time hanging with the guys. Surprised at how well we all got along after all these years. Here we are, photo complete with a ‘Lodi Ave’ sign that one of them ‘borrowed’ from the city of San Mateo. We all autographed it for posterity. And who looks the youngest 😉 ?
Sitting in my Motor Lodge lobby since the wifi in my room is a bit spotty:
It’s a cool little motel – it was an old motor lodge back in the day but they redid everything and made it ‘mid-century modern’ complete with Jiffy Pop popcorn and S’Mores at the firepit. Free snacks in the room. And geothermal hot springs. They also have a hula hoop and jump rope in each room.
Anyway. So. The past few days.
I got a rental vehicle in Boise. I specifically asked to have Sirius since I was crossing mountain ranges and I wanted to have music. Couldn’t get the Sirius to work in the car. After a fair amount of time (still in Boise), I noticed that the antenna on the car was broken off. Would have been nice for the rental company to notice this. Anyhow, my very handy friend Jay got the broken off piece out of the antenna, called the local Dodge dealer (it is a Dodge Journey) and ordered a new antenna, which we installed ourselves. For that, I got a $50 discount on my rental rate, and got Sirius for free. Oh, and of course reimbursement for the $24 antenna. I sent an email to the rental company to tell them what happened. Not sure I will get anything else out of it, but at least I got that, and I got my Sirius! Nothing better than driving thru the mountains listening to the Grateful Dead channel!
The broken antenna part
Here are some photos from my drive. I stopped at the Donner Museum. According to them the cannibalism thing was kind of a myth. I don’t know about that …
Somewhere between Boise and Reno
Bathroom break in McDermitt
Kenn happy to make it to Boomtown
View from the KOA where I did my laundry (about time!)
Tribute to the Donner Party
More Donner Party stuff
And here is my ‘camper suite’ at the Motor Lodge. This area converts to a bed, just like a camper! (I didn’t need the space though). I got a free upgrade!!!
Kenn wanted to take selfies
OK, so here’s a “oo-ee-oo” moment. I designed the T-shirt below, for work, years ago. I mean, a LOT of years ago. And remember, my job was in Pennsylvania! This morning I walked into a coffee shop in downtown Calistoga, and there was this guy in line. Freaked me out! I had to read it three times! And then of course I had to ask him if he worked for my company. Turns out his dad did, starting in the 50’s. He was a pipefitter! This guy (whose name I did forget to ask about) is retired, still living in Pennsylvania, but out here doing work for a winery doing harvesting. He apparently has been their ‘pruner’ for years. What a coincidence. Still freaks me out thinking about it. What are the odds? And, I must say, that T-shirt is in pretty frickin’ great shape considering how old it is. Whoa!
After coffee I walked around town for a bit, to check it out.
I took this photo and a guy walking by said “so, you’re taking a picture of Jeff Sessions?” Ha!
And, of course I had to do a wine tasting. Bought three bottles. Good stuff.
Dan served the wine and Kayla (now I’m not sure of the dog’s name) kept me company. Olabisi wines. I normally don’t like chardonnay but I bought a couple bottles of their 2011 (it’s not like normal buttery chards) and a petite syrah.
Later in the day I got a facial at Moon Acre Spa, which is on-prem at the motel. It was awesome. My face is glowing. Literally. No nuclear jokes!
And then Kenn and I went for a hike on the Oat Hill Mine Road trail. I didn’t go all the way up (should have) but I started freaking out thinking about mountain lions. So, we went pretty far up but turned around before we got to the top. Maybe tomorrow …
Anyhow. I am enjoying a cocktail here and I think I have exhausted my thoughts for the day.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to play with some mud (apparently you brush it on your body – ‘free’ perk at the motel) and then I’m going to drive over the Golden Gate bridge (been a long time since I did that) and show up at my first AirBnB experience.
Talk soon!
EPILOGUE:
I realized I forgot a few things from Boise. We walked around downtown Boise, including a stop in the Capital building. Here are some shots from that:
The capital building
The interior of the dome
This is the senate chamber
I ended up at Sushi Mambo for dinner tonight. Sat at the sushi bar. The only two other people sitting at the sushi bar were musicians, and they knew a LOT of big famous people (James Brown among others). It was cool talking shop.
I also bought a couple S’mores for the fire pit. Sadly, Kenn and I were the only ones there. There were people in the hot springs but nobody else burning their stale marshmallows. Oh well. Kenn and I had fun anyway!
Kenn is in this shot – see him?
I don’t know the guy here, but I thought his head in one window, and his shadow in the other, made a cool pic!
OK. Refilling my cocktail and signing out. And I got the wifi in my room fixed! Yee haw!!
OK one more postscript. I just read my horoscope for Tuesday 9/26. Here it is:
Wander off on your own for a while — you need to do your own thing, without anyone else to bring you down. Things should even out in a few days, so don’t worry about losing friends.
Alrighty then. Thanks again to all of you for following me. Hope you’re enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying doing it!