Hollister to Fresno, California

Yesterday afternoon we arrived at Thousand Trails just outside of Hollister, CA.  What a trip to get there.  First the fuse blew that controls the radio and the cigarette lighter.  We don't smoke but use the cigarette lighter to plug in Maggie (our GPS).  Thank goodness we have VZ Navigator on our cell phones.  At least we could get the directions to the preserve right?  Wrong!  It didn't recognize the street address.  So I used our wireless card and got online to the Thousand Trails website and got the directions.

Well the directions need to be updated!!!  There is no dead end road.  It is not 29 miles from Hollister to the preserve. And you don't turn before the store and Post Office in Paicines.  But we found it.  And we got there before the Super Bowl started.  We quickly got the motor home hooked up and went over to the Family Lodge.  There were about 12 people there and I think I was the youngest one of them all.  And we were all Packer fans!  Lots of cheering for most of the game though things got quiet for a little while and then loud again.  Everyone brought goodies to share.  It was a fun evening.

And then we went back to the motor home and settled in for the night.  It was a very long night...first I had a headache, then Ron's computer kept shutting down (so hate thermal shut downs) and then we both went to sleep.  Then I hear all this banging around.  And it is pitch dark inside and out.  Ron is opening and closing the electrical control box and fumbling around.  I got up asked if he had looked outside to see if anyone else was without power.  NO he hadn't even thought of that.  I looked ~ the park was totally dark.  So back to bed we went.  Thank goodness it was warm and not 18' like it was in Bend.  

We were up a couple of times in the night and it was still dark.  We were up about 8:00 this morning and still had no power.  No power means no coffee :( so we got the motor home ready to go.  Ron changed the two fuses that he saw were blown.  Nope didn't fix the cigarette lighter.  As we made our way out of the park we saw the power company's truck parked by the gate.  Sure hope they get it fixed for the other campers.


We then headed towards Fresno with a planned stop in Santa Nella at the San Jouquin Valley Veterans Memorial Cemetery where my dad is buried.  First stop was for gas.  We paid $3.51 a gallon for regular!!!  Can't believe these prices but we don't really have a choice do we.  Got gas and back on the road.  Found a truck stop about 5 miles from the cemetery where we were able to park the motor home and unhook the Jeep.  We then went to the cemetery.  It is so serene there.  We took lots of pictures.  I will post them later.  After spending about an hour there we went back and tried to start the motor home ~ nope it wouldn't start.  So we hooked the Jeep up and jumped the motor home.  


Remember we are having problems with the battery starting the motor home in the mornings.  And usually use the house batteries to start ~ well remember we had no power for the night thus the motor home would not start.  So we jumped it with the Jeep.  And we were back on the road.  And promptly got on the freeway going the wrong direction.  Got turned around and then started climbing a steep hill.  We slowly made our way up the hill but we made it up the hill.


Then onto Fresno.  Had to take a detour into a neighborhood to get turned in the right direction.  There is no way our motor home towing the Jeep can make a U-turn on a four lane road.  Whew we finally got pulled into the Blackstone RV Park.  At first glance we both wondered where we would park our 37' motor home ~ the sights looked pretty small.  But going around the corner it opened up and we were in a pull through spot.  Yippee!!  We got set up, unhooked the Jeep and then Ron called his cousin Belva.  Made dinner plans and then I started balancing our checking accounts (2) and of course mine would not balance.  Left it till we got back from dinner.


Had a great dinner at Marie Callendar's and then Belva drove us over to see Fresno Pacific University (the Mennonite brethren College) and then to her home.  She has a lovely home with cathedral ceilings and the prettiest stained glass windows in her master bath.  And then we headed back to the motor home to settle in for the night.


Tomorrow we will be up early as we are having breakfast with three of Ron's cousins and two of their spouses.  It will be fun to see them all again.


On another note - Ron's sister Judy had her surgery today to repair what the doctors thought was three hernias - nope, turns out she had six!  She came through the surgery just fine and will be in the hospital till Wednesday or Thursday and then recuperating at her Aunt Vern's for a few days.  


Thank you for praying for her these last two weeks and we ask that you keep her in your prayers as she recovers.  She will be off work for two to three weeks.


And we continue to seek your prayers for safe travel as we continue our journey to Texas.  We will be leaving Fresno Wednesday morning and heading to Tehachapi and then Lancaster and then onto Las Vegas then Phoenix.  We will be in Phoenix Saturday and Sunday.  Then Monday to Tucson and then onto McNeal, AZ and then taking three days to Kerrville, TX on Saturday and then to D'Hanis and the Lone Star Corral Escapee Co-op park on Sunday February 20th.  And then begin our new adventure as Office & Property Manager for the campground.


Will work on pictures tomorrow so I can do a couple of posts of pictures.  Hope everyone is having a good week.