Then and Now

It's time to leave the Lake. We arrived in winter and now it's early spring. The trees have already blossomed. The live oak trees are getting new leaves. The price of gas has increased. Life in the slow lane.

The Maiden Voyage of the Dennis Lowery

It started off by my staring at a very odd, very shiny, trailer. It was also very narrow--maybe less than 18 inches wide, about 18 inches high, and 35+ feet long. Since I'm living in an RV right now, and I'm pretty familiar with trailers, this was one trailer-type I'd never seen before. It was too narrow to hold a glider...and it certainly was not a camping unit! What was stored in such an odd trailer? Needless to say I followed it to the marina.

Two young fellows stepped out of the SUV pulling the trailer, and proceeded to unload 2 canvas "director chairs" only these chairs did not have a back, just a sling. Then 2 wedge like things were unloaded from the SUV. Then 4 oars were unloaded and placed on the ground. Finally, they opened the trailer and ever so carefully lifted a 2-man white racing shell. It's was not the usual 8 man shell I see on the Lake everyday, but a very very sleek racing shell. They placed it on the 2 canvas "slings" and bolted the two wedge shaped apparati to the shell...these became the oarlocks. The final product was a 33.5 foot racing shell made of carbon fiber. Total weight of shell, oarlocks and oars--under 60 pounds. I was watching the initial assembly of the "Dennis Lowery," a 2-man racing scull, that was being sailed for the first time today.

The two guys putting it together, Taylor and Daniel, were just a bit excited. When I asked where the champagne was, I was told that "she" was christened yesterday! After an inspection of working parts (including their custom Nike rowing shoes firmly attached in the "boat") they picked up their pride and joy and headed for the launch ramp.

I'm happy to report the "Dennis Lowery" floated on top of the water like a feather. First Taylor got in, then Daniel, and after a few more adjustments they were rowing away from the ramp. Their sleek carbon fiber "yacht" was on the way.

Greyhound Daze

Every year, Solvang has a greyhound extravaganza called--The Solvang Greyhound Fest. People bring their hounds to show them off, brag, race, eat and have a good time. There are a variety of events for the hounds, their people and visitors. At the "Streak" you can watch these retired racers as they run or walk or lope down the track. The dogs get blessed at the old Mission. There are Grethound Goodies to buy and friends to see. Or, if you are not a greyhound owner, you can do what I did...just talk to any one of the people being pulled by a hound and ask them about their wonderful critter.

I discovered they are a very easy to group to talk to. All I did was ask them about their beautiful dog. A smile crept on their faces and soon I was learning a lot about this ancient breed. According to the folks I talked to, the greyhound is mentioned in the Bible. Depictions of greyhound-type-dogs grace history from the Egyptians to the 16th century Celts. The hound has amazing eyesight, and belongs to a group called "sight hounds" so it has been used for hunting...but nowadays it's a racer.

I also learned that most of the dogs in Solvang are "retired" racers. Greyhounds can be raced from the time they are 18 months old until they are five...when they are retired. That's when they are put up for adoption. The folks I talked to were happy to tell me their hound's racing history. I even talked to two folks who had dogs that "failed" racing. I asked what that meant--both dogs just were not interested. Needless to say, these were put up for adoption as 18 month old pups.

I asked one owner if there were any Grey greyhounds and said "good luck in finding one...the name is not derived from the color grey but from being a light color." Then he told me that greyhounds come in about 30 different colors.

I had a grand time looking at the hounds. They have amazingly soft fur and even though the dog might not look friendly, the ones I was around were gentle and really liked to be petted and praised. It was fun to see so many similar dogs with their people having a good time. When was the last time you saw 200 or more greyhounds.

Blankets

I crochet blankets for Project Linus. I have no idea how many blankets I've made over the years as I stopped counting at 150--and that was a few years ago.

Crocheting is a great thing to do when looking at TV. So this "wintercamp" I've been cranking out blanket after blanket. I'm "hooked" on one pattern right now--the Ripple. I call it my zig-zag blanket. Here are the 5 I've made this year. I know the kids who will receive the blankets from Project Linus will love them.

Indian Visas

Guess what? I filled out the visa form correctly. The visas arrived. The 3-4 weeks turned out to be 18 days. Looks like we can land in India now.

The Modern Campground

The typical RV campground is filled with large vehicles. The 40 foot Class-A motor home is not uncommon. Nor are large 5th-wheel trailers or large conventional trailers. Once in a while a camper is brave enough to plant a tent amidst these behemoths.

Since this is a four day holiday a bunch of unusual campers are enjoying the park. The campground is just about full. (There are 120 sites and during the winter only a dozen or so are filled during the week.) There are people cooking outdoors, kids playing, dogs and cats too. Lots of activity and laughter. I like looking at the community that forms for a few days then disappears like Brigadoon into the mist of memories.

The newcomers have their toys too. One campsite has a toy hauler RV with 4 quads and 2 off road motorcycles. Another looks like a small bicycle shop. Others have small outdoor kitchens set up or outdoor "living rooms" with fire pit and marshmallows.

The one I like the best is a very shiny 15 foot 1950s trailer complete with flamingo. This little guy was the epitome of a weekend getaway. I'm guessing this 60 year old veteran RV has been on many such getaway weekends. It's proof that you don't need "big" to have fun.

Not Quite Spring

While "NEMO" is snowing away on the right coast, the left coast is starting to begin to get ready for warmer days. The Lake needs more water, yet we seem to be getting a lot of sun. I guess that's the reason we are here.

The Tech-Savvy Driver

We took a 3 day drive up the Coast of California ending in San Francisco. Needless to say, I took my iPhone and some handy travel apps. To plan the route I used the Apple Maps app. It has earned a bad reputation for being inaccurate, but I think the nice folks at Apple have fixed it. The app gave me a choice of 3 routes, I chose the best route for us, and "Gretel” (that's my name for the voice) told us when and where to turn. "She" told us a few unusual directions but in the end, she was right! At one point, "she" told us a better way to enter the freeway (and we've been driving that part of the road for way too many years). I also used the Google Maps app as a back up, and I like the display on the Apple Map app better!

When it was time to stop for lunch or take a break, I used iExit to get a heads up on what was located at the next several exits. IExit is a cute app but it only works on "freeways" or interstate highways. iExit locates you, and then displays the next 30 to 50 exits. Each exit is clearly marked with the exit number and street or city name. When you click on the next exit a list of services from restaurants to gas stations, as well as hotels, campgrounds, points of interest, and rest stops appears. It's a great app. It comes in two versions, the free version is "iExit lite" only displays the next 30 exits, whereas the full version of iExit (about $2) displays the next 50 exits and gives a bit more detail. Start out with the lite version and if you like it, then you can spring for the deluxe version.

Once we were at our location, I used Yelp! to find restaurants and shopping. Yelp! is a free app. It locates where you are and all you have to is tell Yelp! what you want to do next. I like the directions button as well as the call button. Both come in handy when you are a stranger in a strange land.

There is a downside to using an iPhone for navigation and roadside directions and that's power usage. These apps use a lot of juice, so it's best to have your iPhone plugged to a power source.

Three Days Away

We went for a brief sojourn up the coast. In that short time spring started at the Lake. We have a couple of fields of purply-pink where it was brown. But the real treat are the blossoms. The trees in the Park bloom early so it's not unexpected -- but 3 days ago there was not a sign that they would be blooming today! Mother Nature always has a few surprises up her sleeve.

Getting Ready For The Next Adventure

Right now we are doing preliminary work for the next adventure. In about 2 months we will sail from Singapore to Rome, by way of India (and several other countries). Part of the process is getting visas. The ship will "take care" of visas for 6 stops along the way, but the ship will not "take care" of India. For India we need to procure a visa before we enter the country. So far getting that visa has been a nightmare.

A normal visa application asks for your name and address, maybe 1 passport photo and some money. Not India! There were 21 questions that needed to be answered on the visa information form. I've attached them. Then we had to get 2 passport photos, proof of address, addresses in India where we will be, and maybe even a partridge and a pear tree were needed too. The application had to be completed online and guess what--the website was picky. I tried to get on the website from 3 different computers using Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer...none would work! Finally, in desperation I called the visa service and the nice people were able to fill the form for me! I don't think they do that often.

After completing the form, we had to complete a "cover letter" (which was provided) where a few more questions were asked. I hope we were able to parse it all out. The folks know it's very complicated as they have developed a step by step YouTube video to walk people thru the process. Even with that "help" it was difficult.

Yesterday, we mailed in the applications along with a hefty check and our passports to the Visa service in Santa Monica. If we followed the directions and the check is the right amount, we should have the visas in 3-4 weeks.

I have no idea why this is such a complicated visa procedure. They want to know where your parents were born as well as a list of all the countries you have visited in the last 10 years. BTW--that last question was really hard to answer because we've been to a lot of countries in the last 10 years. When I told the visa person that we had been to 104 countries but I had narrowed the list down to 65 in the last 10 years she squeaked "the space is not that long!" She said just give me 10 countries and that will be good.

Watch this space ... If we write about India the process was successful.

I hope we did it right!