Our Journey Across the Country
The Holidays with Family and Friends | 12/17/21 - 1/2/22
Because the leveling system needed repair, we cancelled our planned stay at the Thousand Trails park near Modesto, and went straight to Biggs to moochdock at (Mary’s nephew) Dennis and Shelley Slusser’s for the last half of December. We figured it would be a good place to work on repairs if things got complicated, and they were kind enough to lend us their driveway, power, water and even sewer! Turns out the leveling system repair was as simple as plugging in the new control panel Mike ordered (whew!), but it was nice to have the extended time around “home” to spend with family and friends before really heading out. Mike took some time to record some more music - it’s rather an event to set up and break down the studio set up so he only does it when we’re staying put for a week or more. If you’re interested, you can listen to his newest recordings on his YouTube channel “Mike Howard Fraser”
The Slussers were very busy and were away in Fresno much of the time we were there, but we did have some nice chats with Dennis, Gregg and Kirsten in the RV, and Mary had fun helping Shelley finish the last few dozen tamales for their fundraiser (the easy part!!), and hanging with their dogs and cats while the family was out of town. Thanks Shelley for the use of your mixer (mixed up a batch of sour cream sugar twists) and for giving us the brownie pan :-) It was here that we discovered that we can bake small batches in the toaster oven we brought from the house. It’s all good!!
Mary was especially grateful to have a few nice visits with Mom, playing games (she still wins and still has her great sense of humor!). On Christmas Eve we asked if she’d like to play some Christmas carols on the piano and we sang along with her (she’s still got it!) Mike snatched a little video we’ll try to add to this site, such as it is. It reminded me (Mary) how thankful I am for the gift of music she raised us with.
We had some more big rain while in Biggs, all-day persistent rain. The morning after the rain had stopped we discovered that the tarp over the kitchen slide-out is a little saggy and it had filled up with rain and overflowed onto the slide roof, then leak into the kitchen via the microwave hood. We had water on the counter and in all the drawers under the stove. Mike found a board to stick in between the slide roof and the tarp to prevent the sag, but it required getting out the ladder to install it. Since then we have learned to pull in the kitchen slide whenever serious rain is forecast, to prevent the water build-up. It cramps our living space a little bit but not bad at all, so for just one day of rain it is much easier than hauling out the ladder!
Our family spent Christmas Day together at Andy’s house in Sutter and we got to break in his brand new stove which he got from Lowes just the day before (!). His home was very cozy and comforting, including all our christmas decorations :-) It turned out to be one of the nicest Christmases we have shared in a while, enjoying food, games, and cherishing our time together. We even had a zoom visit with Nate, Emily and Theo - so the whole family was together! We gathered one last time at the year’s end, with rousing games of darts (turns out Mike spent a lot of time in bars during his band days…), and everyone enjoyed a game of “Dictionary” that Mary had found while packing up the house. From my handwriting, I think I looked up the words and wrote out the definition cards sometime in high school, and have moved than little envelope with me from place to place all these years! I always knew it would be fun to play some day!
Mary caught up with her old boss and friend Gary Underhill in YC while Mike helped Andy with some fix-it tasks in his new house, putting to use those tools Mike gave him, LOL. We enjoyed an evening visit with (Mary’s sister) Carrie, Grey and Hannah Ruth at Mom’s, as well as a great dinner with our friends Carolyn & Rob and their son Ian before the year ended. We so appreciate these visits and are grateful for the good friends we have!! Unfortunately we did not think to take any photos together, and now we really wish we had - need to make sure there’s a next time!
Mike found a great spot to pack his music studio under the bunk bed.
Christmas lights go with everything :-)
I think Vinnie is a lush...
It was 7:00 am when we left for Pismo Beach, the earliest we have ever started a travel day.