A CHANGE OF PACE FOR OUR TRAVELS (NAPA, CALIFORNIA)

Odel and I just returned from a short walk along the riverside trail here in Napa – cut a bit shorter by pain in Odel’s knee.  When we saw the doctor on Tuesday morning, he cautioned Odel that it is better to continue to focus on flexion and extension exercises while his knee continues to heal, instead of walking – but the beautiful weather and the trail beckoned.  Before we reined in the impulse, we were back to our old habit of walking, our favorite means of relaxing and sightseeing.  The pain in his knee brought Odel back to the reality that the work of healing is not finished.  :(  Patience – not his strong suit!

So, what do walkers do when they can’t walk (much)?  Don’t ask me – it’s a puzzle!  Guess we’ll have to plan some driving trips with shorter walks upon arrival?  Pt. Reyes comes to mind, Petaluma, Sonoma.  Golfing and walking were Odel’s main activities pre-surgery, and both are out for another several weeks.  Though I can happily wander in and out of shops in any charming small town, that’s not Odel’s favorite pastime (or even in the top ten).  I suggested he take his cane and go sit at the bar in the Elks Lodge and drink with the guys… :)

When we left Sacramento yesterday morning (in rain), our fantasy was to land in one of the twelve sites behind the Napa Elks Lodge (click here to read our campground review from 8/2009) – better yet, one of the six sites that face south or, best of all, one of the even fewer that face south and have 50 amps.  Mission accomplished! 

We arrived around 11:30, under cloud cover but no rain, and were soon set up facing a bit of open space and the trail along the river.  I had to search around to find my camera, but snapped a shot of our site when the sun came out. 

This site is not quite as level as the one we had last time we visited, and our living room slide isn’t happy about that – the top back corner extended farther than it should.  We’re ignoring it for now since it didn’t fall out or knock the wall down, just made a slight crunching noise as the trim was redistributed.  After reading about Judy’s tribulations yesterday, I felt we were lucky.

Back in October of 2009, while we were staying at Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa (read our 2009 review here), we spent a wonderful day with new friends, Ellen and Alex.  They were on the cusp of fulltiming, and now are owners of a beautiful Monaco Dynasty.  We saw them in Phoenix last winter, and again at Catalina State Park near Tucson.  By lucky coincidence, they are here at the Elks Lodge and hosted us for dinner last night – delicious chili with homemade cornbread, strawberry margaritas, and fresh strawberries with Greek yogurt for dessert.  They are coming up on their 1 year anniversary of fulltiming this summer, and it was fun and relaxing to catch up with them again. 

If we were still in Sacramento, I would have gone to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning.  Since the last meeting, I ate dinner out more than in, with an abundance of good wine on hand.  I’ll admit – I’m glad I’m not going to a WW meeting today!  After all the socializing, I want to start watching those numbers decline again, so it’s back to WW recipes and portions for me.

One last comment, and a question:

Our good friend “Cool Judy”, an active Boomer well-known in the RV’ing community, has started a blog.  You can see it here.  She, her husband Luke, and a group of RV’ing friends will be leaving for Alaska shortly; I’m so glad she has given us a way to travel along with them.

And the question:  who in the blogging community uses that adorable photo of their dachshunds, staring soulfully at the camera, as their blog header?  I’ve lost the link to that blog so, if anyone can help me out, leave a comment, will you?  Thanks.