Raisin

Our week in San Diego is wrapping up and if I had to give the week a theme I’d say it was rest. I think we were all pretty tired from the preparations for selling our house and getting ready for this trip. Next week I will be working in Arizona, then we intend to spend some mostly family time in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Our real sightseeing starts then, it’s been tough to do much in the way of outings during the week due to work commitments.

Bonding with Raisin

Our sole surviving kitty Raisin really likes me. She’s a neat cat, she really cracks me up sometimes. Last night after I wrote the blog post about day 7 I was watching the Matrix in the “garage” of our RV. Raisin decided to join me:

Raising Watching the Matrix

I’ll tell you something really cool about this cat, she does tricks. Didn’t think that was possible? It’s true, her nick-name is “Bear” and I have a video to prove it. Only I don’t have a stable enough connection to prove it today, so I’ll have to save the cat videos for another time!

Pushing off tomorrow

So we’ll be saying adios to our amigos here in San Diego tomorrow. I love it here, we could have spent a month here. We’ll be back for sure. Due to our busy resting schedule, we didn’t get out to see much. Luckily we’ve all been here before and didn’t miss out too much.

Highlights and Take-Aways

You can fix almost anything with duct tape and hot glue.
RV Trips are better with pets
Our son gets along well with the laid back San Diego kids.
Ants CAN infiltrate your RV, it took them nearly a week to find us.

As I mentioned already we’re headed to Arizona tomorrow. Our plan is to try to make a reservation at a place fairly close to Phoenix, we’ll do that on the road. We’ll be driving out Highway 8 East, a highway I drove on many times with friends headed to the desert back when I lived down here. I spent a long holiday weekend at Buttercup, Glamis, etc. Good times! It will be fun to share the stories with my son as we drive by the old playground.

Next up: Adventure Day 9 – Road trip to Arizona and Hurray for 4G

When was the last time you moved? Do you remember that feeling when you started to dig into those boxes to find the things you needed? Stuff that got added to the “have to do” list so you could navigate your life. Today felt more like moving into a new home and office than anything else here in our RV. We had a lot of stuff in our “garage” that needed to be unpacked or setup. This was all precipitated by the persistent reminders to get a fishing license to take a young man fishing. Said fishing license requires a printer, so I unboxed an Officejet MFP that will be filling the role of office copier, scanner, and printer for the coming month (or perhaps longer?). I figure a good sign was when we took a bunch of cardboard to the recycle here at Santee Lakes. Here is some visual proof nestled between our combo washer/dryer and bikes:

Mobile Office MFP

Our Little Helper

You are probably expecting to hear more about our son, but actually, I realized today that I had not mentioned our cat – Raisin, traveling with us. She will be keeping the “rig” rodent-free (no freeloaders allowed) and providing entertainment along the way. This is not her first trip with us, but it is her first trip alone with us. She had a sister with her last time that we believe may have met with foul play in the open space behind our old house. This, of course, put a little more of a psychological burden on us all the last few days and the days leading up to our departure. We’ve always tried to balance our quality of life and safety for our cats. When the Coyotes are around, we try to keep them inside; the cats have other ideas. Raisin’s story is pretty extraordinary; the odds she overcame to live are huge. Her mother was hit by a car carrying her and her brothers and sisters. She was taken to the Contra Costa County Animal Shelter; Raisin was the only cat that survived the ordeal. Her mother and all her siblings didn’t make it. She has now outlived two other stepsisters to remain the sole survivor of our pride. Needless to say, Raisin is now a house (RV?) cat and taking really well to being our pet.

The Survivor “Raisin”

Proud of the US World Cup Team

Even though the satisfaction of a victory was torn from their hands, I am incredibly proud of this team’s performance today. They are exceeding the expectations of nearly everyone and becoming more confident with every minute of play. Today the team really seemed to have what it takes to be champions; we could believe it. Portugal’s equalizing goal with so little time left was heartbreaking, but I am hopeful the team will continue to build on this impressive early showing. USA! USA!

Be Grateful for Good, Thoughtful Neighbors

While walking down a trail today, I spotted a couple standing next to the trail a short distance behind our son. Our son cruised by them on his bicycle without event. When we caught up, they told us they had stayed in that spot to ensure our son didn’t get too close to a rattle-snake on the trail. I want to think most people would make an effort in a similar situation, but I am grateful to them for sparing us from a potentially dangerous situation.

Highlights and observations from today

1. Never use wifi for a printer.
2. Never give up.
3. There are unsung heroes all around you.
4. San Diego Weather is as good as you hear it is.

By the time you’re reading this, I am probably in full work mode. It’s going to be a busy week. I did manage to schedule some time with local friends that I am very much looking forward to. We will continue to enjoy what San Diego has to offer for work and play. Thanks for following our developing adventure!

Next up: Adventure Day 5 – Business as Unusual and Dinner with Old Friends

Adventure Day 8 – Final Day in San Diego and Bonding with the Cat