LEAVING OCEANSIDE, June 2012

Once Paul had the interior of our new motorhome done he was ready to tackle the outside painting...with a handy supply (50+ cans) of spray paint. He'd be up bright and early every morning trying to spray before  winds came up and while everything was quiet and still in the camp park. We went from teal blues to a silver, gray and burgundy color scheme. 

That same week we spent a morning in a Med Stop for a crazy infection in his foot. Seems that wearing sandals in a weedy area had allowed an inch and a half long fox tail to work its way deep into the side of his foot. It took a little convincing to get the Dr. to lance the swollen dark spot on his foot but once she did, the foxtail found its way out...she was totally amazed to see it, as were we! But for Paul the relief was immediate, and of course, he was back at his project later that afternoon.

 With his foot 100% better the next day we took in another baseball game: Giants vs The Padres. Marcy and Bob Owens were also there in the park, such a fun experience. Yes...the Giants won!!!!

Since our days were winding down in San Diego we took advantage of a few last events; an evening at the Oceanside Museum of Art for a wonderful Jazz quartet, wine and appetizers. Warm evening with the doors wide open, such fun.

I spent an afternoon at the San Diego Botanical Gardens once more. This time I toured the palm and bamboo gardens.

 And found these wonderful topiaries nearby

 Our last outing before leaving the San Diego area was a walking tour of the neighborhoods around Balboa Park.  As we walked the streets in the quiet, long established neighborhood of Bankers Hill we came to  this suspension bridge built in 1911. From there we walked along the Maple Canyon Bridge and nearby hiking trail and learned about Kate Sessions, the "Mother of Balboa Park". In exchange for space for a nursery she agreed to plant 100 trees a year which have now become the lovely mature trees of Balboa Park.

Sunday, I left Paul to finish the details he was still working frantically to complete and grabbed a ride back to San Luis with Marcy and Bob as they were headed back home. I didn't want to miss saying Good Bye to my LAST class of second graders who were now leaving 6th grade. At our annual end of the year assembly we always end with our "Hugs and Handshakes". Teachers and staff form a line and every graduating 6th Grader walks along and says good bye, hard to realize it had been 4 years since I had left Los Ranchos for retirement. Saying good bye this time brought back so many memories of my career of 35 years at the school.

While staying the couple of days with Marcy, we took walks along the bay and the Elfin Forest, such beautiful days.

That last morning at Los Ranchos, Marcy and I had fun visiting our old friends and colleagues, congratulating two dear friends who were retiring; Kindergarten teachers Debbie Farmer and

 Ruby Klatt.

 I took the train back to Oceanside and helped PK pack up and start on our first move north. Before pulling out we hosted a Happy Hour to say good bye to the friends we had made during our 6 week stay at the Elks Lodge. We knew summer had arrived: our sunny skies were gone and the fog had moved in! Time to head inland.

The next morning we headed to the fun Graduation celebration of our nephew, Wesley Tanner, graduating summa cum laude in physics from UC Irvine. Wes surprised us with some fun mementos from UCI, a wonderful straw hat for Uncle Paul 

A late afternoon nap for Paul between ceremonies

Mandy Mae and Wes

Friday evening we had fun at their cousin Becky's house in Laguna Beach starting off the weekend celebration.

Proud Mama Peg and sister Mandy!

  Wes and Alena at the Awards Ceremony

Sunday morning after the Graduation we had everyone over to our campsite for a brunch and get together. Then Peg, Paul and I went to a fun local play house for a matinee performance of The Great American Trailer Park   while the "youngins" went to the beach

Wes and Alena were excited about their future life in Baltimore where Wes will attend Johns Hopkins for his PHD, Alena continuing in her nursing career nearby.

Monday morning was our last coffee time as everyone was headed out to the new changes the summer would bring. Peggy moving from Page, AZ to the Grand Canyon in her new position as Counselor, Mandy changing climates from Phoenix to Portland, OR and Wes and Alena off to Baltimore. 

And Paul and I off to new surprises and travels! 

OCEANSIDE RENOVATION TIME!!! April 24-June 13, 201

 I know, I know...it's been FOREVER since I"ve updated this blog, but hopefully Ill get back in the groove. We'll pick up with our drive from Las Vegas and its 108 degree heat to Oceanside and the fog! We met up with the owner of our new Flair Motorhome, finished our deal and had our first real look it.  It has 2 slides to give us more interior space and it's 4 feet longer. That may not seem like a lot of difference, but it truly is!

 Paul was up at daylight the next morning tearing apart the interior to begin the huge job of renovating it into a Paul and Julie style home.

 I tried out the mini version of a bathtub. Tight but might be nice instead of just  shower.

 By the end of that first day there was a large pile headed to the dumpster. Out went the bench seat and table, the carpeting, the counters and fixtures. Left with a shell of the interior PK started gathering supplies and began his magic! We drove down to San Diego on a somewhat rainy day and picked up 2 pieces of granite for countertops. The guys there were a little skeptical about loading it all into the back seat of our SAAB. I just prayed that the cloudy day wouldn't turn to rain as we couldn't put up the top.  It didn't, and we got it all home just fine.

 By the third day we were hunting down some furniture at our favorite Scandinavian Furniture store in near by San Marcos. The store was closing so we got amazing deals and once again the SAAB was our truck. so...Paul packed the following: small leather chair and ottoman, tall bar table and 2 bar chairs, one large mirror, a floor lamp, small coffee table and table lamp. Tied together and wrapped in cellophane we drove the 50 miles back to Oceanside.

 That was Friday the 27th of April and my 65th birthday was the next day...so all remodeling was put on hold and we took a 4 day cruise from San Diego to Vancouver, BC to celebrate.  Fun!!!!

 Once we got back to O'side the weather had cleared and I had plenty of time on my hands so Foster and I would spend a lot of time walking along the beautiful beach.

 Loved these cool bike racks down near the train station. Never had seen anything like this before.

 Back at "Remodel Central", Paul was having fun, yes...he loves doing this work!

 We were so fortunate that the Elks Lodge at Oceanside had allowed us to park the Flair in the side area of their storage area. It gave Paul an area away from the other campers where he could run his tools and spread his stuff.

 He devised a very unique way to paint all the cabinet doors. He hung them any which way and went to work painting..and it worked!!!

 While we spent the 6 weeks there at the Elks Lodge RV Park we met some wonderful new friends. Our neighbor, Hal, would stop every day to see what Paul was up to.  He reminded me so much of my oldest brother, Harry...an avid bicyclist, tall and thin, so many similarities.  We spent a lot of time together and always enjoyed our Thursday night prime rib dinners at the Casino a block away.  Our Camp Host, Keith, became a wonderful friend and always so enthusiastic about Paul's transformation.

 Well, a week after we'd been at the park we thought we better put our "old" motorhome on Craiglist to give us plenty of time to sell it. Little did we know we would find the absolutely perfect couple to buy it the very next day. A darling couple, Robyn and Aaron with their little 2 year old came to check it out. They were searching for a motorhome to provide office space for Aaron to do his computer work. They had a small one bedroom house and the Motorhome could be his Man Cave and Office all in one. They were our first lookers and they bought it that day! We did have to ask a BIG FAVOR...our new house wasn't ready yet so we needed 2 more weeks before they could take it home. They were happy to oblige. Such a relief for us!

 Of course all work and no play is not the way to live life, so I made sure we had plenty of time to break away from the remodeling.  We went to 2 baseball games at Petco Park, always taking the Coaster train into SD.  What a blast!

 Using my favorite website, Goldstar, once again, I found us an evening performance of a Cirque de Soleil, "Totem".  Such an amazing show! Loved the tent atmosphere.

 Another chance to get away from all the work was a day trip to visit my brother, Kurt and his family, while they were in Santa Barbara for a couple of days. They were staying at a friend's classic beach home in Montecito. Warm sunshine and lots of laughs.

 Kurt, our niece Neeve (just finishing her second year in the nursing program at USF) and my sister in law, Laura.

The afternoon fog cleared and we had a beautiful stop at the beach.

 The next day two wonderful friends from San Luis came for a couple days of fun in Oceanside. By the time Diane and Marcy arrived, Paul had our place 95% finished so we set back motorhomes side by side in the RV park. M&D stayed in the new one and we had our last stay in our yellow one. Fun days!

 So...here's the finished transformation along with the original photos of our 1999 Fleetwood Flair.  The photos are a little dark but I think you'll get the idea.

Different??? Yes...and just the way we like it! The couch in this photo was reupholstered along with the 2 front chairs. New window coverings, new colors and a new life.  We both have agreed we won't be doing a remodel like this again for a long time, so our new home is now ready to hit the road. We LOVE this life and now we have more space to relax and enjoy the new adventures ahead. 

Thank you, Paul the Amazing Remodeler and My Traveling Partner!!!!