Heading Back to California From Washington to Oregon

Aloha Everyone,

Beautiful day for being on the road. Pat and Laura at U-Haul assisted us get Honu ready with the trailer. By the time our boxes were loaded it was 10 o'clock.

New experience in driving Honu pulling a trailer, new road was all exciting but also added tension. Having Jeff with us for the next 8 days will be wonderful. All of us need to make some adjustment of being physically close to each other in a small space. But life is great and J.J. and I are loving this special road trip with Jeff.

First big event was crossing the Tacoma Narrow Bridge that spans Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. We paid $9 for Honu and the trailer.   

A picnic lunch in Honu before crossing the Columbia River, admiring beautiful Portland. Peaceful pastoral scenes where produce farms dotted the landscape interspersed with Christmas tree farms.

We found Honu's accommodation in Lincoln City, Oregon.  

Aloha -- Cathi

Bell Peppers

Aloha Everyone,

I have been enjoying wonderful, colorful, crunchy and tasty bell peppers. They come in green, red, yellow, orange, purple, brown and black. Their size varies from round and short about a size of a quarter to thin and long finger length.

Bell peppers, especially the red variety, is full of vitamin C. Beta-carotene in bell peppers has many health benefits including:

1). Low in calories -- for example one cup equals about 45 calories and you will get more than your daily requirements of Vitamin A and C.

2). Boosts your immune system.

3). Vitamin E in bell pepper helps keep your skin youthful.

4).  Protects you with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

5).  Reduced bad cholesterol.

6).  Helps controls diabetes.

To read more about the amazing health benefits of bell peppers, go to:  http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=50&tname=foodspice

Aloha -- Cathi

Getting Ready for Our Drive Back to California

Aloha Everyone,

Two weeks prior to our day of departure to California, J.J. and I had made reservations for a small size trailer. So when a staff from U-Haul Moving & Storage in Bremerton phoned to inform us that they cannot fulfill our reservation, it was a little unnerving. Excuse given was that they have rented all the trailers in the size we reserved. They would be happy to rent us a larger one at an additional cost.

J.J. and I learned not to react emotionally to such news and decided to communicate with the head office regarding this unexpected hiccup later. The two of us moved to option "B" that is to rent from another U-Haul dealer.

Pat (left) and Jeremy's U-Haul Dealership is located on Viking Avenue in Poulsbo. Their attitude on customer service is, "we will satisfy your requirements if that means literally going extra miles to look for what you want." With handshakes and feeling happy, we went to Napa Auto & Truck Parts store just on the next block to purchase a connector.

Back at the RV park, while doing normal inspection, J.J. discovered a small nail embedded in Honu's driver side front wheel. Back to Les Schwab for check up. They remove the nail, placed a patch, and we returned to the RV park all within an hour. Just like our tire rotation, it was free.

Even though our AT&T server was down for several hours, this was a relaxing, wonderful day! The sun was out and I was able to get my one hour walk!

Our dinner in Honu of grilled swordfish, spring-mix salad and fresh peppers for me, heirloom tomatoes for J.J., was superb :-)

Aloha -- Cathi

Muriel Iverson Williams Waterfront Park in Poulsbo

Aloha Everyone,

This small waterfront park has the serene view of the Liberty Bay and the beautiful Olympic mountains at a distance. The main challenge is parking especially for Honu. J.J. dropped me off and drove around the parking lot once. In the meantime, I photographed the park's main features.

There are band concerts and festivals scheduled during the summer months. But as with many business establishments in the area, "Weather permitting" signs were posted.

Jeff and Jenny came to pick us up to have a dinner at the Olive Garden located in Silverdale, very close to their current residence. Jenny mentioned that one of the good things about living here is proximity to everything. For example, there is KITSAP Mall where you can go shopping, Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Office Max are all within a short driving distance. There is hardly any traffic and most of the time the weather is mild. Even on rainy days, there is a break in the weather. Jenny added that is when she tries to get in her 6 miles run, 3X a week. Since I am a walker and not a runner, it would take me 6 hours to accomplish what Jenny achieves in half of the time :-)

J.J. and I are pleased with our accomplishments for the day. We did our weekly laundry in the morning and finished unpacking and packing making additional reduction to the items which would still require a storage locker. From 33 boxes, we are down to 19 boxes!

Aloha -- Cathi

Great Day for Walking and Working on Our Boxes

Aloha Everyone,

I am very satisfied what we were able to accomplish today. J.J. and I, with help from Jeff, were able to finish going through all the boxes. J.J. and I each had a couple of boxes of our personal correspondences to discard. What I am saving are my numerous sketch books, photos and diaries. I plan to take photographs of these before finally discarding majority of them.

Jeff invited us to Mod Pizza located at the Trail at Silverdale, a small shopping center. One can choose your own toppings for pizza. I chose a side salad with no meat but with about 10 varieties of veggies. The food was delicious, service was fast and excellent. The cost for two pizza was $8.25 each and my large side salad was $5.27. Truly an unforgettable meal!

As to my walking, I did an hour before breakfast and another hour before dinner. A woman who saw me in the morning as well as in the evening asked me if I have been walking all day! :-)

Aloha -- Cathi