Richard's Travels: Easter 2009 in Eureka

4-8-09
We were on the road at 4:30 AM. Leaving early makes it easier to get through Los Angeles.
When we left Carlsbad it started to rain, not much, just enough to be irritating.
It rained off and on, raining real hard for a while after Santa Barbara.
We stopped in Santa Maria, at Costco, for gasoline and had lunch at their parking lot.
Since the weather was not very good we kept on driving and stopped at the Elks Lodge in Salinas.
Normally we stop in Pismo Beach and spend the afternoon walking on the beach and in town.

4-9-09
Last night, while Doreen was reading, the camp host and somebody from the lodge were knocking at the motorhome door. I had fallen asleep already and woke up.
When I opened the door there they were standing with two big dogs on their side.
They asked me whether I was an Elk, when I said yes, they asked me why I did not pay for the camping site. Doreen picked up the receipt from the dashboard. This lodge has a "Pay yourself station". I had paid for our site and had put the envelope in the proper box. The camp host had not checked the box.
They finally found something wrong. Since I did not want water and electricity, I parked the motor home next to the storage area. I was told that the person who stores his rig there might come back. I told them, that as soon as somebody comes back I will move. I did not think that anybody would arrive at 10:00 PM.
We left Salinas at 7:00 AM and arrived in Sunnyvale at 9:00 AM.
When we arrived at the Elks Lodge I noticed a motorhome with the WIN decal on the back. The motorhome looked like June Genis’s. I mentioned that to Doreen.
After we had set up the motorhome June paid us a visit. She used to live in this area.
At 10:00 AM we left for Vera and George’s house. They are Doreen’s sister in law and brother in law.
We went to a restaurant for lunch.
It rained again off and on all day long.

4-10-09
We left Sunnyvale at 5:45 AM. Going through San Francisco was not much of a problem. Traffic was manageable. Normally we take I-280 to highway 1 to the Golden Gate Bridge. This time we stayed on 101. I will never do that again. On Van Ness Street are many traffic lights, and coming down the hills with a motorhome is no easy task. Stopping in time at a red light is hard on the brakes. One time I had to make a fast stop and the front wheels locked and the tires lost some rubber on the street.
I had planed to buy new tires after this trip, but now I have to buy them in Eureka.
When we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge there still was not complete daylight.

We stopped in Santa Rosa for gasoline. Instead of staying a day in Santa Rosa as planed we kept on driving.
Claudia had called me yesterday and told me that they will take Nicolette and Jacob to the Elks Lodge on Saturday for a Easter Egg Hunt. We thought this would be fun watching the kids looking for goodies.
So we drove today all the way to Eureka. We arrived there at 2:00 PM.
Our neighbor at the Elks Lodge is Tom McMorrow, he and his lady are WINs.

4-11-09
Claudia, Scott and the children came to the lodge at 11:00 AM.
The lodge had set up an inflated contraption where the children could go in and jump around.
In one room were tables with craft supplies. Children were drawing pictures and cutting and glueing all sorts of things.

A large Easter Bunny came around and gave chocolates to children and adults.
At 12:00 noon hamburgers and hot dogs were served.

Dessert was ice cream. Scott had noticed that a Santa Claus look alike was hiding Easter eggs outside in the bushes and grass. He informed Nicolette and Jacob, and they went to the window and observed what was going on.

After lunch children up to three years looked for eggs in one of the large rooms.
After that the older children lined up outside on the lawn. When the signal was given they ran and started collecting eggs.

Jacob did very well, Nicolette got four or five.
One child ran to her mother and told her: "They are hard boiled eggs". I suppose she thought they were chocolate eggs.
At the end of the Easter Egg Hunt each child received a basket with sweets and small toys.
The Eureka Elks Lodge did a super job, it was well organized and the children were happy.
In the afternoon we went to Gottchalks where Doreen looked around and I was bored. The store is going out of business. This is the second store to leave the mall. Mervin’s closed the doors a few months ago.
In the afternoon we went to Claudia’s house.
The weather held up, it looked like it would rain, but it did not spoil the fun.

4-12-09
At 2:00 PM we went to Claudia’s house for the Easter Dinner.
Besides us and Claudia and Scott, and Nicolette and Jacob, there was my ex wife Hanna, Scott’s mother and her boy friend Pete, and Scott’s father Rob.
When we arrived the children were in the hot tub, which actually was not hot.

Everybody loved Claudia’s ham, sweet potatoes and green beans.

After dinner friends of Scott came over. There was another Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard. Little Victoria enjoyed it very much.

Claudia was hiding all of Nicolette’s and Jacob’s candies. The male adults got some of them though and were eating them, yum, yum.

4-13-09
In the morning we got four new tires for the motorhome, Les Schwab had only four. Costco did not have any of the size we needed. In a few days Les Schwab will get some more.
First we will go on a little trip with Claudia and the kids.
In the afternoon we took Nicolette and Jacob to the playground and afterward to the mall for ice cream.