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.
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