Trying to Stay Warm in the Midwest, Current Temp: 30

Mea Culpa to all you loyal blog followers who have been emailing us wanting an update.  We have been incredibly lazy when it comes to posting over the past couple of months.  Heinz and I left the middle of California back in early October and pointed the truck and trailer east yet again.

After pulling out of Fairfield we drove all the way to Sacramento in one day...a whole 45 miles for those unfamiliar with the area.  We spent a wonderful weekend catching up with friends in the Sacramento area.  Bert and Kathy treated us royally with a meal fit for a king, lots of laughs, and some fine wines.  Scott and Linda offered up their front yard for the Airstream and once again a ton of laughter mixed with political junkie ramblings and gossip about old friends.  They also fit in a great little side trip over to Apple Hill and a fun ramble through the apple stands and wineries.

Apple Hill Vineyard

L-R: Scott, Heinz, Linda checking out local offerings

Trying to remember what we learned in the wine club:)

Following that we found yet another squirrel to chase and headed down to Mammoth Lakes to meet up with a couple of old friends from our Edwards AFB days.  Heinz, Jesse, and Keith spent a couple of days out on the water trying to outsmart the fish while I poked around the town, read books and was generally lazy.  I'll leave it to you to figure out who won, the fish or the guys.  Heinz did come home bragging about the fish that he caught but having nothing to show for it.  He claimed that he had caught it, gutted it, and bagged it, but must have inadvertently left it behind when they packed their gear.  Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before...then lo and behold, Keith showed up the next morning with one bagged fish, slightly the worse for wear.  He says he accidentally picked it up, tucked it in his bag, then promptly forgot about it until he was going through his stuff to prep for the day.  Heinz thinks he was simply jealous and petty because he couldn't catch anything... but refuses to talk about who caught what the next day.  Personally I think my catch was the best of the bunch...Golden Trout Pilsner, brewed in Mammoth Lakes...delicious!

Summer's over

Wishful thinking...Heinz, Keith, and Jesse mourn the end of summer

Wow, he really did catch a fish!

After leaving Mammoth Lakes we drove about two hours and pulled into Minden, NV for a few days of sightseeing and a little casino play.  We found a couple of great bakeries, one German and one Dutch, enjoyed the leaves turning, and broke even at the casino.  All in all, a nice little side trip.  We REALLY liked the Minden/Carson City/Gardnervill area and can see it as a potential retirement spot!!!!

Salt water aquarium inside Sheels Sporting Goods in Sparks, NV

Then it was time to head for Kansas City yet once again.  This trip we took our time and finally made it into Heinz's sister's 5 days later.  The scenery along the way was beautiful with the trees turning colors, the nights crisp and the days filled with sunshine.  The route passed right by the Bonneville Salt Flats, so of course we pulled off to see what it looked like.  Heinz had plans to break the combined Ford/Airstream land speed record, but his plans were foiled - it had rained a few days before, so the flats were one huge, shallow ocean of water.

Vistas around Salt Lake City

Now that's a dump truck!

Bonneville Salt Flats after the rain

It ain't easy getting some pictures!

How many land speed records do you think we could've set?

We made it to KC without incident and kicked back while waiting for our household goods to be delivered.  Ah yes, 12,000 lbs. of our "stuff" the Air Force had been holding in storage for a year.  But that year was almost up and they wanted to offload it back on us.  Heinz and I had been talking for a while about how much we are enjoying this lifestyle and so we made the decision...we're staying on the road for the foreseeable future.  This meant that we had 12K of stuff to either store or get rid of.  We had everything shipped to a storage unit in Kansas and are in the process of going through everything and separating it into give away, donate, sell, and save piles.  I think every charity in town has been the recipient of something, family and friends have absorbed some, there is a long list on Craigslist and the garage sale pile continues to grow while the save pile is shrinking as we sort and re-sort boxes.  It is amazing how freeing it is to see truckload after truckload drive away.  At the same time... it's REALLY weird watching your stuff walk out the door forever (sniff, sniff).  When you're down to 290 square feet you really get a sense of what is vital for psychic satisfaction.  As far as the "save" pile goes, our goal is to start with a 5' x 5' shed and work our way down, although Heinz's LP collection may take most of that space!  The hardest parting was between me and my books... that was wrenching, but I found that sorting through them quickly and making instant decisions was MUCH easier on the emotions - we donated 16 boxes of books.  Later Heinz gave me a hug and told me how proud he was of me... think he'll notice the 3 boxes still in storage and the two in the truck?

Another load heads for Goodwill, or Salvation Army, or the Boy Scouts, or somebody.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving with family and friends and hope you had the same.  I promise to be a little more regular with our postings in the future.  Oops, think I've made that promise before so maybe I'll make it an early New Year's resolution!