Weaverville and Monterey Photos

Redding, CA

Here's a photo I took this morning in Weaverville at the home of cousin Doug Colberg. This is in the kitchen next to his small wood-burning stove; his wife Janet Ales "Tess" Colberg is standing next to him just before she went to work at the Trinity County Courthouse.

Here's the view from the front door of my motel room at the 49er Gold Country Inn one Main Street in Weaverville yesterday morning. As you can see there's still some snow on the ground from the front which went through on Saturday as well as the storms during the previous week.
....
Both Doug and Tess say it's the best motel in town even though it's not the newest; they stayed there when they moved from Clearlake to Weaverville.

Monterey. The image to the right was forwarded to me by my sister Jane Lemmon DiGirolamo; it was taken at her sister-in-law Tina DiGirolamo England's home.
....
Here's Jane's caption: Thanksgiving at Tina's. Back row [L-R]: Blaise, Marco (6), Michelle, Sara (22), Lori, Greg, Nick (almost 20) [sporting a sling after injuring his shoulder in a morning's football game] Front row: Sara (12) Adam (20) Tyler (16) & Madison (10).

--
Am currently at the Redding Library, the HQ of the Shasta County Library System. It's a rather new 2-story building at 1100 Parkview just south of South City Park.
....
Once I post this I'll look for a local obituary on C.E. "Doc" Fehilman, who died here at age 95 while visiting a nephew during a trip back to his hometown in Nebraska; he was buried next to his wife in a Santa Cruz Cemetery.

Fort Bragg Photos

My hosts from Wed 25 Nov to Sun 28 Nov were cousin Arlene Lemmon Colombi and husband Steve Colombi. They are pictured at the right along with their daughter Kristene. The dog on the right is Kristene's and is named Sissy. The light-colored dog on the left is Steve's mother's dog Polly. And barely visible nearest to the stove is the real live-wire: Cleetus.

Eleanor Lemmon Dahl Holberg, who will be 96 next March, is pictured with her new watch-dog whose feet rarely stop moving. Believe her name is CiCi -- though a relative will likely correct that name as well as its spelling.

[Click any photo once or twice to enlarge.]

Standing near to the front of my rig holding onto the jack is Loyal A. Lemmon Jr, also known as "Jasper" or "Junior." He will be 90 on 21 Apr 2011. He was named after his father because he was born on the same day of the year as Loyal Sr.

Mendocino Coast Surf South of Rockport

 

North Mendocino Coast

North Mendocino Coast

 

Short-Term Route

Sun 28 Nov: Fort Bragg - Eureka - Willow Creek
--
Mon 29 Nov: Willow Creek - Weaverville
--
Tue 30 Nov: Weaverville - Redding

Thanksgiving Dinner

Arlene Lemmon Colombi, her daughter Kristene, and her husband Steve prepared a tastey Thanksgiving dinner -- though Steve complained that the two women pilfered the gravy he had prepared. But, as it turned out, there was not only enough gravy but also turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing (which Kristene made and which was particularly good), apple pie, and, of course, pumpkin pie. And Loyal "Jasper" Lemmon brought over some bread which he had just baked that afternoon. [Not sure whether Jasper learned to make bread on his own or was taught by his late mother, Mary Jane Sallinen Lemmon.] I was apparently the only one who went back for seconds since I'm one of the few people in the universe who is trying to gain weight.

After I indicated that the favorite veggie of both me and my late mother, Mary Wilcoxson Lemmon, was corn on the cob with butter [though I've recently switched to I Can't Believe It's Not Butter margarine], I told the story my father told often of his father and wife eating 20 ears of corn between them. Jasper added that the incident took place during the summer of 1939 at Caspar Lumber Company Camp 19 and Mary was pregnant with me. Someone remarked that perhaps that corn-on-the-cob chowdown was the reason I liked that particular vegetable so much.

Other participants at the Thanksgiving Dinner included Steve's mother Winifred "Jean" Berkovitz Colombi, Arlene's brother Willie Lemmon, and Steve & Arlene's renter Ray.

[Now that HTML tags make these blog posts somewhat more readable, will work on using those tags to make the earlier posts equally as readable. And I shall investigate Google's photo service, Picassa, since it appears one must use it in order to post photos to a blog using Blogger.]

Fort Bragg, CA. As I was disconnecting the extension cord Carl Ortner had attached to an outside socket near his garage door, he told me that he thinks George Thomas Lemmon, our great-grandfather, worked on the Winchester Mystery House. [In fact, that's what Carl's mother, Ruth Lemmon Ortner, had told him several times.] And since his son, George Calvin Lemmon was born in San Jose, that may explain why George T. remained in the Santa Clara Valley until eventually working north to Santa Rosa and then to the Noyo River south of Fort Bragg.

Took the advice of both of my cousins, Burt Colberg and Carl Ortner, and followed SR29 instead of SR20 to US101. And there was a bit of freeway around Kelsyville. Also, there was a paved Vista Point where I took a photo not only of the snow on the mountains to the NW of Clear Lake but also of the lake itself. Further down the road Lake Mendocino at first seemed to be a long, narrow lake with steep banks, but eventually it broaded out into a more typical-looking lake or reservoir near its dam. [One bridge along the way had a sign which said "No Fishing, Diving, or Jumping" from the bridge overpass; judging by the tops of the trees near the bridge, it must have been 50 or more feet to the water; only a damn fool would have jumped -- but then there are always a few risk-takers who think they're invincible.]

Arrived in Ukiah about 3p, taking the 2d of the 4 exits off 101 which lead to the Mendocino County Seat. While driving south on State Street I came upon the Savings Bank of Mendocino County main office or branch. Rather than wait til Friday to change my mailing address (from Santa Cruz to Fort Bragg) I stopped and made the change. And since the teller was about my age, I asked her if she had lived in Ukiah long. The reply was, "Most of my life."

But when I asked her if she knew where the Held-Poague House was, she didn't; but one of her co-workers overheard my question and gave me explicit directions to it: it's on Dora Street about 5 or 6 blocks south and directly across the street from the Presbyterian Church. Since the Held House (as it's more commonly called) closes at 4p, I was happy to have precise directions.

As she had stated in a reply to my e-mail, Barbara Webster greeted me after I walked in the front door of the HH, which is home to the Mendocino County Historical Society. The building is an old Victorian once owned by a lawyer/judge named William Held; I believe his daughter donated the house and property to the Historical Society. [Since I'm writing this off-line, will insert a link to their website later.]

Barbara showed me their collections, which included many books on California Indians, some corn- and acorn-grinding pestals developed from rocks, many Indian baskets of various sizes as well as books the Ukiah Library had given them when the library removed its California section. But the collection which has most benefited me is the collection of obituaries for Mendocino County residents -- and that includes papers such as the Fort Bragg Adcocate News and Mendocino Beacon

There was a cane in the front display case with ornate carving and a silver handle. I asked who formerly owned it was and another lady opened up the case and read the name inscribed in the handle. It hadn't belonged to Judge Held, but another early-day Mendocino County resident.
--
Thanked Barbara for showing me through the HH and asked her where the Ukiah Library was. Turned out it was 4 blocks down the street next to the HH on Perkins Street.

Located the library on Perkins and Main(?) Streets but couldn't find a parking lot. However, there was some permit parking with a few public parking slots a block down Main St. Since there was a cold north wind blowing I put on my Gore-Tex windbreaker over my Polar-Fleece jacket (which was over a T-shirt and 2 flannel shirts). I was warm while walking to the library, but the bench outside the locked door had a seat of tile -- which was ice. Why was I sitting outside? Like most businesses, the library had closed early on Thanksgiving eve.

Found their unsecured WiFi site but was transferred to a 3d party site to register a free account. Jumped through all of the hoops, but couldn't get on-line. Did it a 2d time and still had no free access. Finally, I concluded that the whole point of the supposedly free access is to get one to pay for access. The Ukiah Library is the only library which I've used which does not have free WiFi.

Returned to the warm cab of my pickup and headed for Willits. Just over Ridgewood, the high-point on US101 between Ukiah and Willits traffic was backed up. If memory serves, the drive is 14 miles; but with the backup from an accident, perhaps in Willits, of c5 miles; and it took over an hour to get to Willits.

As we slowly inched our way into Willits I pulled into a Burger King to see if they had WiFi. As I walked toward the front door a couple was struggling to get an elderly woman to her feet. She was grunting and not able to speak. I asked them if they needed help. We attempted to get her to her feet, but her lower legs were doubled back at the knees under her. We freed her legs and laid her on the pavement while a worker at Burger King called 911. Some wanted to get the woman up again, but a younger woman who may have had some experience with sports medicine said, "Leave her on her side and don't move her neck."

After I went inside and used the plumbing, the ambulance arrived and took her away. My guess is that she had an epileptic fit, seizure, or convulsion. (In fact, it reminded me of my late younger brother Warren the first few times he had a convulsion while sleeping and my mother dragged him to the bathroom.) Once the woman was on the ground and the woman who first helped her began to talk with her, she was able to respond somewhat more rationally by giving her name. She had apparently stopped by Burger King to get a Coke or soft drink and then had collapsed right next to her car as she left. Hopefully she'll regain full health; she appeared to be in her 70s.

It would appear the lesson here when you help someone who has collapsed, especially if you didn't see it happen, are to make sure they can still breath (initally the woman appeared to have liquids in throat and mouth) and make them as comfortable as possible on the ground or pavement; any neck injuries will be worsened by moving the person who has collapsed.

Sent my cousins in Fort Bragg an e-mail saying I had been delayed a bit, ate a Whopper Jr and some Value Fries, and then drove SR20 to Fort Bragg; pulled over several times to let vehicles which had overtaken me pass. [In former years when I had a smaller vehicle and was usually the overtaker, I chafed at the bit when RVs or overloaded pickups would not use the turn-outs; in fact, a couple of citations came from losing patience and passing over a double-line -- just as a CHP or deputy sheriff's vehicle appeared going the opposite direction.]

Stopped at the Boatyard Shopping Center, which is at the intersection of SR20 & SR1 and best accessed from SR20, buying some liquid dish-washing soap and sponges. Made it to my cousin Arlene & her husband Steve's place on Huckleberry Ln at about 8:30p.
....
This morning I phoned another cousin whose address I'm using just as he and his wife were leaving for Hyampom; he agree to put my mail on the front-porch wood bin.

Likely won't leave Ft Bragg til Sunday -- after a small cold front swings through on Friday afternoon and Saturday.
--
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!
--
Planned Route (starting Sunday): Eureka, Willow Creek, Weaverville, & Redding.

A Couple of Cousins

Clearlake. Am writing this post as I sit in my camper in front of Carl and Bette Ortner's house at the eastern end of Clear Lake. Will also try to make these posts more readable by including breaks using something call HTML tags.

After I left the Napa County Fairgrounds yesterday morning I retraced the route I had followed when I arrived in Calistoga, hoping to find 1108 Myrtle Street, where its branch of the Lake County Library is located. Found the street, but drove by the library twice -- deciding I should follow SR29 to Middletown and lunch with cousin Burt Colberg.

Cut up one of the cross streets from Mytle to what I thought was SR29, but soon discovered it was SR128. It was in back-tracking through Calistoga that I finally saw the library on the corner of SR29 and Myrtle Street. As I left town a sign said 16 miles to Middletown, and I felt I could make it to Middletown in 16 min.

As the road climbed the number and sharpness of the turns increased. Everyone I talked to about my "16-minute assumption" smiled because they had driven that mountain road many times; there are many hairpin turns with "Slow to 20" signs. But once over the hill or ridge which is part of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park and down on less mountainous terrain SR29 became straighter.

Arrived at Beuhlah's, a small cafe in the middle of Middletown, parked my rig at a closed business next door, went inside and waited for Cousin Burt arrive. The cafe is run by a Latina named Esther, but it features mainly American-stype breakfastes and lunches. Read a local buy/sell newspaper called The Penny Pincher. While rentals are cheaper here in Lake County than in Santa Cruz, they were higher than I expected.

In fact, when Burt arrived he indicated that he was paying $850/month for a modular home with some property in the hills to the SW of Middletown. He looked good, but has been hobbled by by the loss of 3 toes on his right foot due to diabetes. He had just returned from taking an elderly woman to a doctor in Santa Rosa; the woman paid him for the transportation to and from Cloverdale.

And then she made him an offer which seemed too good to be true: free rent for staying in the veterinary office her husband built so that he could take her to the doctor when necessary; her husband, who is 91, is in a nursing home with advanced dementia. As I told Burt, a decision on her offer seemed like a "no-brainer."

Burt paid for my lunch, for which I thank him, and as we talked outside he reminded my that the 23d was his sister Nadine Colberg Mottoros' birthday. I thought it was the 28th, but perhaps I didn't have my reading glasses on. In any case, she's 39. [What? Again?] Actually, I'm 70 and she's much older than I. ;-)

Drove to Clearlake over a fairly straight road, and stopped in a park not too far from the shore of Clear Lake. But in checking my genealogy program I couldn't find a phone number or address for cousin Carl Ortner. Then I noticed the City Hall/Police Station next to the park. The woman at the desk in city hall not only let me use her phone book but also dialed Carl's number for me. After a brief chat I told Carl I'd go the the library to get on-line to find the directions from the Clearlake Library to his place.

Somehow misinterpreted the directions of the desk-woman at city hall since the road virtually petered out near an orchard and a day-care center within that orchard. But in back-tracking I found a sign pointing to the library.[And that's true with many towns.] And, like the St Helena Library, the Clearlake Library is also rather new, though there were not as many people using it -- perhaps because of the strong north winds. And the parking was much easier to use since one can drive around the building as one leaves -- all of which is very helpful for someone driving a rig like mine which is difficult to back up with only the side-view mirrors to see what's behind the truck and camper.

[Just turned on the heater again; since propane is cheap, might as well use some of it; also there are two 20-gal tanks; I actually slept rather well last night even though I shut the heater off -- but, of course, I have a down sleeping back which I used during the latter part of my 53 years of backpacking.]

When I got to Carl and Better Ortner's place (after a brief detour on one of the 2 Lakeview Streets) we talked for quite a while. And since Lemmons are of Irish extraction, they tend to be quite loquacious. But Bette and Carl didn't seem to be nodding off. Eventually dinner time arrived and they suggested a Chinese Restaurant in Clear Lake Oaks. Told them I can't remember the last time I had Chinese food, but it was almost certainly over 40 years ago.

Not only was the food good at the Happy Garden Restaurant & Bar (Chinese & Thai food), but the service was outstanding. In fact, when our waitress sang "Happy Birthday" to one of the patrons at another table, Bette commended her for her singing. (As it turns out, she sings in a choir.)

Since it's nearly 0900 it's time to fix breakfast, wash a few dishes, pack everything away and return to the Clearlake Library, where I'll post this to the blog.

Route for W 24 Nov: Ukiah, Willits, and Ft Bragg, hopefully arriving on the coast before dark.
==

D-Day Arrived on Monday 22 November

    While I'm writing this from my truck camper at the Napa County Fairgrounds RV Campground in Calistoga, yesterday was *D-Day* -- as in Departure (or Driving).
....
    Drove back to ham Jim Tripp's spread south of Castroville and had him measure the clearance needed to avoid hitting the air conditioning shroud on top of the camper: 11 feet. But, like the cat Mark Twain describes which, after sitting on a hot stove, would never sit a stove, hot or cold, again, I think I'll require a clearance of 11' 6" before I try to drive my rig under a gas station roof or awning, low-hanging limbs at an RV campground [CG], or RR under-crossing.
    Once burned, this cat has learned an expensive ($6000) lesson!
--
    The drive from Castroville north to the Martinez/Benicia Bridge on I-680 was non-eventful, though there was more traffic than I expected during the early afternoon; glad I missed the commute traffic later.
--
    But once I turned off of I-80W and headed for Napa, the country side became more interesting. Had never previously been there; the drive reminded me of the drive from Petaluma to Bodega, a route I take to get to SR1 when heading north to Fort Bragg. And like Bodega Road, SR29 to Napa is 2-lane with no places to pass [besides which I ain't gonna be passing many other vehicles on 2-lane roads -- except perhaps a horse-drawn hay wagon].
    Filled the gas tank at the first station I came to since the speedometer message board was nagging me with a "low fuel level" warning. Even though I don't think one can get the last 1.5 gallons out of my Ford F-250 35 gallon tank, I knew it would take a while to fill so I stepped inside the camper, re-adjusted my clothes, & put on my belt. (Yes, I know some of the young-uns like to have their pants hanging at half mast, but that's not my style.)
    Cost $101.07 fill my tank at $3.07/gal; had intended to fill at $3.15/gal at the Castroville Valero, but they had jacked up their prices 60 $3.19[to gouge Thanksgiving travelers according to Jim].
--
    The drive to St Helena was even more relaxing, though I had to keep my eyes on the road since many winery workers were getting off work and heading home. But it's clear what the big biz is here: vino!
    Couldn't find the library in Napa; everybody seemed to be at the Wal-Mart where I thought I might ask a greeter if he/she knew where the library was located. But as I stopped at a light on a 4 or 6-lane road, the fellow next to me tried to tell me something. Released my seat belt, leaned way over, & rolled down the window. He said my gas-cap was hanging out. Thanked him and as I rolled the window back up he shouted, "Bet you wish you had automatic windows." Just nodded and smiled, but if the truth were known, I prefer roll-up windows to the battery-operated type. The reason: I've been able to repair all window problems myself -- until I had a window problem with my previous vehicle, an 87 Mazda; it cost me $70 to have the window rolled up when lifting mechanism conked out.
    Made an illegal left turn across an empty left turn lane & put the gas cap back.
--
    Continued north to St Helena, which, like Napa, reminded me of Carmel: lots of shops and botiques selling merchandise in older buildings which had been renovated.
    Saw a sign to the Library and was pleasantly surprised to find a very new building next to a Robert Louis Stevenson memorial. If memory serves, author Stevenson, who did spend time in Monterey, had a home in or near St Helena. While the RLS portion was closed, suspect there may be something on-line about it.
    Used the library WiFi to contact my cousin Burt; we'll meet for lunch today at Beulah's in Middletown, which I'm guessing is so named because it's roughly half-way 'tween Calistoga and and Clear Lake.
--
    After arriving at the Napa County Fairgrounds CG, I read the info on the bulletin and chose a partial hook-up ($30) instead of a full hookup ($33); a partial hook-up includes water and a 30-amp plug-in for electricity; a full hook-up has a sewer connection.
    Chose this CG because the Trailer Life CG Directory said it had WiFi, but the WiFi was intermittent -- perhaps beause of the rain. So, if I'm unable to post this from here, will do so later at the Calistoga Library, which is at 1108 Myrtle Street.
    [Will see if I can change this using HTML tags to make it easier to read; for starters, the paragraphs should be indented or separated from each other with blank lines.]

An Inauspicious Start

    In my haste to clear out of the Hitching Post Motel, attend a funeral mass in the Willow Glen area of San Jose, pick up my camper from the RV Service Center of Santa Cruz, get some things out of the storage lockers, load items from the motel stored in our former garage, and buy some groceries, I manged to miss one key item.
....
    Once I arrived at the large spread of a ham [not as in poor actor but rather as in radio amateur] near Castroville, I stored most of the things which had been in shopping bags in the many drawers of the camper.
    After trying the AM/FM radio/CD player which the previous owner had installed along with some of the lights and the toilet, I began to fix dinner. But, alas, I did not have my my former BP [backpack lunch food bag] -- which contained 2 sets of utensils, 2 can-openers, and excellent corkscrew, and a veggie brush.
    In rummaging through the 2 storage boxes I found a table knife and a butcher knife. I was able to whack off several pieces of the sourdough bread I bought at Save-Mart with the butcher knife and spread peanut butter on them. Then I repeated the process and used jam as the spread. (I prefer bread that is a couple of days old, especially if I have a bread knife.)
    Manage to spear 2 bread & butter pickles with the butcher knife and then cautiously nibble them off of the point of the big blade. [For some reason I think of early trappers sitting around a campfire on which they just cooked a buffalo, antelope, or deer using their Bowie knives to cut of hunks of meat and popping those morsels in their mouths without cutting their lips.]
    Ate some Reser's Potato Salad with the table knife, sliced up an apple with the large knife, and cut off half of the apple-bread the new owner of our former home had baked and given me earlier in the day. (It was almost as good as her pumpkin cheesecake!)
....
    Just after I finished eating the one light over the kitchen sink and sideboard seemed a bit dim; just then an alarm went off. Shut off the radio and and started using a portable battery-powered light.
    I did get out my Walkman clone to listen to in case I didn't feel sleepy, climbed up onto the mattress in the cab-over and gradually worked my way into my down sleeping bag. It started to rain a bit more heavily just as I was doing that.
    I was so tired I skipped both listening to the radio and setting the alarm clock. Even though the low-battery alarm was beeping loudly roughly every 30 seconds I slept for 2.5 hours before I had use the self-contained [within the camper] plumbing.
    When I got back in bed I was able to block out the beeping with my right ear in a pillow and my left ear covered with a watch cap inside of my sleeping back. For the first time in many weeks I was able to go back to sleep. (In motels I rarely could go back to sleep even if I had only had 2.5 hours sleep.)
....
    In the morning when the ham came outside, we isolated the sound to the power panel; when I had turned the light and radio off, I wasn't sure where the beep was coming from: the smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, or power panel.
    We discussed how long a charge should last while I tried unsuccessfully to get the mute switch to shut off the beeping. [Good thing I'm not parking next to a cemetery, for it's almost loud enough to....]
    The ham, whose name is Jim and who collects anything operating with vacuum tubes, brought out an extension cord from his shop, providing what RVers call "shore power."
    Will likely use it tonight before the beeping begins. (The 2 batteries, the one in the truck and another in the camper should have been charged while I drove back to Santa Cruz to fetch my blue nylon-net BP lunch bag and get a hooded sweatshirt and long-johns out of storage.)
--
    The lessons in the above are that if you skip making a shake-down trip as virtually everyone recommends and choose the "sink or swim" approach, be prepared to get wet. Secondly, if you have a Load List, use it -- even if you think you put everything in a stack in the middle of the garage floor. [I know from 53 years of backpacking that not using a Load List can lead to an uncomfortable weekend trip; and not having such things as a hand-warmer or a couple of ponchos for a long trip might be fatal -- especially if you have poor circulation as I do.]

Don't Try This at Home (or at a Motel)

Santa Cruz, CA.

    On Election Day I returned from Tempe, AZ, with my new camper and returned to the same motel where I had previously stayed most often. In turning into a diagonal parking spot I turned wide -- but then the eaves of the motel jumped in front of my camper.
    The resounding CRUNCH caused me to hit the brakes ASAP; however, by then the damage was done -- as you can see in the accompanying photo. In my high school days this was called "Kustom by Krunch."

    Here's the damage to the eaves of the Hitching Post Motel at 1717 Soquel Avenue. Once the owner saw the damage he said his handyman could repair it for $50. [He could have easily "held up" my insurance company by claiming the damage was severe; to his credit, he did not.]

Doing Genealogy Research While Full-Timing

    I first became interested in genealogy in 1999 when I needed some pedigree charts for a family reunion. While I had minimal interest at the time, I was bitten by the Genealogy Bug. Eventually I located a distant cousin who had already done a great deal of research on our family.
   Since I had some website-design experience, I created a website for our joint family; here's a link.
....
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughlemmon/
....
    While searching for obituaries of family members I discovered an organization called RAOGK [Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness]. After obtaining several obits from their volunteers I volunteered to do lookups in Santa Cruz County, CA; that stint lasted from Mar 03 to Sep 09 -- with some additional lookups of decedents' obituaries for Santa Clara and San Francisco Counties using the microfilm in the Santa Cruz Library.
--
    But now I'm going to travel in a 4x4 pickup with a slide-in camper not only to do my own lookups and see some of the things I whizzed by during the first 6 months of my 3-year tour in the army but also to do lookups for others. (More on that in a future post.)

Rig at Peaks View Parking Lot, Pinnacles NM

--
    Since this is my first post I'll give my short-term itinerary here; later both my short-term and long-term itinerary or routes will be on a separate page.
    The following [subject to change without notice] is my planned route in California for the next 2-3 weeks: Vallejo, Calistoga, Clearlake, Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg, Willow Creek, Weaverville, Redding, Chico, Orland, Yuba City, Auburn, Placerville, Sutter Creek, Stockton, Oakdale, Sonora, & Twain Harte.