POD FITTING AND A TREATMENT START DATE

Check this place out! This is Morey Mansion, described as "one of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in the west", located a few miles from us in Redlands. It is now a B & B, and the three rooms rent for $250 and $300 per day.

It was built in 1890 with the profits of Sarah Morey's citrus tree nursery, and citrus orchards are still very much in evidence around here, including behind Mission RV Park (read our review and see photos here), where we are staying.

The RV park and the surrounding area are far nicer and more interesting than I had imagined (feared). Loma Linda, where the medical center is located, is very small and totally centered arount LLUMC and the big VA hospital. The good shopping and restaurants are located in Redlands, and Mission RV Park is between the two. Traveling in either direction, we pass orange groves (what a surprise!) and have beautiful views of the palm trees and mountains. Way less smog, traffic, noise and general congestion than I pictured.

I have been trying to get out to explore Redlands on foot, but the weather has been SO HOT since we arrived, in the upper 90's every day. The day I took this photo, we had planned to walk around one of the historic neighborhoods but didn't have the stamina to deal with the heat, so this was a "drive-by" - we stopped in front, I put the window down, snapped the shot, and put the window back up before we lost our conditioned air! A cooling trend is forecast to begin tomorrow, thankfully.

We'll have plenty of time to explore the area. Odel had his "pod fitting" yesterday, and was given the start date for his treatments: November 13th. He will have 45 treatments, one each weekday, but the 9 weeks will stretch out longer since there will be several days off for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. It looks like we will be here almost to the end of January, 2009 - lucky there is so much to explore!