Wind, Rain, a Thousand Trails and Gypsy!

We're back from our weekend in the Sacramento Valley, gearing up for a whole three days of work this week. Of course, one day we have a long lunch scheduled, and on another we're leaving early to hit the road. Tough week, huh?

We'll get trip details posted at Bullwinkle's Place as soon as we get a chance. But, here you get the future fulltimers' version of the story.

It was really windy. It was really rainy.

Yes, the weekend was pretty much a bust as far as the weather goes. The drought in this part of the state may be nearing an end after this weekend. Between the wind and the rain, we always had some kind of weather happening. Bullwinkle was rockin' and rollin', but he stayed dry. And, for that, we are thankful.

Our rally was held at a Thousand Trails campground just north of our state capital. We're not Thousand Trails members, and haven't planned to be. Yet, the TT folks continue to dial our house in hopes of selling a membership to a couple of newbie RV owners. This campground was fine, the security was questionable and the hospitality was lacking. The "hut" where our rally group gathered was burglarized last night. Heaters, tools, food and wine were missing this morning. All this in a "secure" campground. And, as we pulled out of the campground this noon, the man at the ever-so-secure front gate grunted and pointed at the guest sticker in our windshield. Boris handed it over.

No "How was your stay?" or "Thank you for joining us at Thousand Trails." or "We hope you'll join us again soon!" Huh-uh. Know what? Next time Thousand Trails calls our house, we might just answer. They'll get an earful.

We headed south to the Cal Expo RV Park in Sacramento and hooked up with Gypsy. We've been following her blog since she started her cross-country trip in her 5ver. She is the first member of this virtual community we would meet in person, so this was an extra special stop.

Gypsy met us outside the gate to the RV park and showed us where we could pull over. We sat and chatted awhile and then wandered into the park to see her "hood", meet her pups and check out her rolling home. We were so inspired by her stories and her aptly-named spirit. It was a pleasure to meet her. After hugs and good wishes we promised to see each other down the road. We look forward to making time this summer to see her in Mt. Lassen. Gypsy posted pictures of our visit here. As you can see, we were all smiles. It was great fun!

Rain in the valley means snow in the mountains, so we found ourselves wrestling for freeway space with zillions of skiers and snowboarders heading back to the bay after a long weekend in Tahoe. If their SUVs could talk, we're sure they would've said something like, "pokey RVs" everytime they passed us by on the wet and windy freeway. If Bullwinkle could talk, he would have replied: "Hey hotshots, slow your @## down and get there safely."

You tell 'em, moose.