Getting Ready to hitch-up and head out

Putah Creek

Our four month stint here at Canyon Creek near Winters, California is wrapping up. This is the longest we have ever stayed in one place. Plenty long for me even though I have really enjoyed this area. John and I were discussing yesterday what we would miss when we left this area and what we won’t miss.

What we will miss:

John, Steve, Larry, and Chuck

First and foremost, as with most places we stay, it will be the people we have met while here. John has had a great group of guys to work with.  Larry is the operations manager and John’s boss. He is a bit of a renaissance man, he has experience in lots of areas and there is almost nothing he is afraid to try and he makes working around here fun most of the time. Adolofo and John (another John) are full time staff and have been fun to get to know. Then there are the other work campers that John has worked with. The one he has spent the most time with is Steve. Sometimes I joke that they are like “Laurel and Hardy do construction”. We also had Ed and Jan, and Mary Ann and Bernie for awhile and it was great to get to know them. For me, it has been the women in my kitting group which I’ve written about before. Last Thursday instead of the usual class they had a get together at Steady Eddy’s for me. What a nice way to say good-bye. My instructor Naomi gave me a fun book of designs for babies and toddlers which was a big surprise and a fun one. I will miss them all, Mary Ann, Annie, Sannie, and Betty were the regulars that I had the pleasure of getting to know. I thank them all for making my time here special.

Sannie, Annie, Mary Ann,
Naomi, Janie, Betty

Second, we will miss the beautiful countryside and Putah Creek. We are tucked into the hills in a truly wonderful place. The creek runs through the park and I will miss walking along it and watching for all the different birds along the way. On our way here from Winters there is one view that I just love. When the light is just right (I wasn’t able to catch that on the camera) it actually looks like the hills have been painted on the sky. We also have come to enjoy the valley with its abundance of fields filled with produce and groves and groves of different fruit and nut trees as well as plenty of grape vines.

Third, the fresh produce. The Davis farmers’ market is amazing. We did our last shopping trip last Saturday and I will really miss this shopping experience. We came to rely on it for part of our groceries. It has spoiled us for fresh produce. I also bought some Alpaca yarn at it last week. Its not often you get to buy yarn and see the animal it came from but she brought her lamas along, cool!

The llama "Gianna" my yarn is from

Next we will miss the little town of Winters. It is a pretty little town that has most of what you need and sometimes more. Preserves became our favorite little spot for a drink and dinner. Our favorite bartender Kelsey (I think she may be the manager) has always made us feel welcome. We were able to get her to stop and let us take her photo with another of the servers. We will miss her and this delightful little bar-restaurant. We also enjoyed Steady Eddy’s, Putah Creek Cafe, and the Buckhorn. John also appreciated the Ace Hardware store and I had the Spin a Yarn shop. We also were able to use the Winters library on a regular basis. Yes a gem of a small town in Northern California.

Not the best photo from mt phone but it is Kelsey and another server at Preserves

My favorite view driving from Winters to Canyon Creek

What we won’t miss:

This list is pretty small. We have been confused about how this park is run. It seems like they do cosmetic things while letting important infrastructure go. Like painting walls and restoring floors in buildings that are in serious need of new roofs. When that roof leaks all that cosmetic work will need to be redone. Also some of the drama that seems to occur. We also will be glad to be back to areas where we have cell phone service. It really hasn’t been as bad as we thought it would be, we learned to plan better to keep in touch with family. Getting to places we have better internet will be good too. Though it has improved and I can get on to read email and do some surfing,I really can’t upload any photos or down load any videos (like youtube) etc. We usually have our own air-card but we cancelled the one we have knowing that we will be going to a different carrier with more data. We are holding off on that for a couple months as we may not have a signal at Heceta Lighthouse in March so will put off until we know we will have a signal, that means a couple months of finding wifi and using my phone but that’s ok, we’ll make it work. 

The other thing I won’t miss is being on my own so much. If I were working too that wouldn’t be an issue but with John being the one putting in all the hours ( believe me we will ask a few more questions on our next job to make sure that doesn’t happen again) that leaves me on my own for a lot of the week. Thank goodness for learning to knit or I would have been incredibly bored. John and I are use to being together and being free to go out and do things together and that is how we like it so I will be happy to have my guy back with me. 

Now it is just getting everything put away, review our hitch up procedures (time to pull out the check lists). We’ve decided to leave on Friday just because we are ready to go and the weather looks like it will be good. I think our first stop will be either Fortuna or Trinidad  on the California coast. I’m still planning but that’s the fun part. After California we will continue up the coast and try to stay at many of the wonderful Oregon State Parks along the coast. On the road again, just sounds wonderful, we’ll have to pull out that Willie Nelson song.

Happy Trails..........................