"Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl." - Stephen Leacock

I have more vacation pics but no time right now to download them from my camera, edit, and post. So these two beauties on the beach (could be in OR) will have to do.

I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Gilroy, CA with an hour to spare before driving 20 minutes to Hollister and attending a fledgling church started just a couple of months ago with a group that includes our VIF Bob & Marla Davies. I'll spend the rest of today and tomorrow hanging out with them before heading to the McGowan's in Solvang. More about both of those stops (with pics) later.

We left our campsite just south of Port Orford, OR at about 7 a.m. yesterday and did the difficult, twisting drive south on 101 to a Motel 6 in Rohnert Park. Got there about 4:00 (leisurely gas stops and two meals) totally wasted. Walked across the parking lot for dinner at a Black Bear Restaurant and then back for bed. Except I could NOT sleep. Grrr.

Up at 4:30 this morning and on the road by 5:30, to drop Pam at SFO about 6:45 for her 8:30 flight to Phoenix. Yeah, if it sounds like we've been living by the clock we have, the due recompense for two weeks of "who cares what time it is!"

Again, I'll have what I think are some pics of our last few forays while camping, but for now some more misc. observations and thoughts:

• At dusk the night before we left a family pulled in with a HUGE Dodge diesel pickup truck pulling the longest and widest 5th wheel I've ever seen. He spent the next hour clanging chains (??), banging on something metal, and generally making a racket until well after dark. I got up the next morning to see the campground equivalent of an obscenity, complete with two (!) outside stoves/grills to go with whatever he had inside that thing. Chairs, tables, bikes, and even a 20' flag pole. What??? And with a Canadian flag. (Canuck)
• If you want to be engaged by others in a campground pull in with a woodie teardrop. Gas stations - same thing. 
• Driving through S.F. is not a lot of fun towing even a small teardrop, even in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Yikes! Sure wouldn't want to live there. And why couldn't they find a better route from 101 to SFO than five miles on surface streets? 
• The more I look at what IdeaBox offers the more I like them, especially the Confluence. They're (too) pricey, but the quality inside and out is impressive. Stainless appliances, granite countertops, Maple cabinets....
• If I were to get a tattoo (I'm not) I would get the letters D.V. on the inside of my right forearm, with the bottoms of the letters toward my elbow. I'm not going to because I'm pain averse and my forearm is so skinny it would have to be in lower case, 10 point. But that's definitely something I could/should live with the rest of my life. 

I have an essay in my head titled, "Why kids should eat broccoli." Maybe a sketch of it here sometime in the next week, after I've run out of vacation thoughts and/or....

For now, a couple of quick tasks online and then over the hill into Hollister. Eager to attend this brand new church and see Bob & Marla!