Odyssey Concluded

Welcome back to what is part 3 or 4 (maybe 5?) of our four-week journey last month from Rapid City to St. Louis to Los Angeles to Los Osos and back to Rapid City. Whew! That took almost as long to type as it did to drive!

Los Angeles

As I related yesterday,, we arrived in L.A. on Wednesday the 18th, a bit later than originally planned. Nonetheless, we were not at all late for dinner; in fact, there was definitely time for a couple of Bill’s homebrews beforehand. One of the nice things about being “grownups” is that Bill and his sister (my wife) get along very well. Mrs. K and Bill’s wife Cookie are as much sisters as any blood relatives. And I manage to fit in pretty well too (convenient, no?).

One thing we all share is a love of good food and good drink. I believe I’ve mentioned before that not only does Bill brew his own beer, but he and his friend Jim make their own wines as well. They’ve won awards for reds and whites, and Bill’s Zinfandel is a particular favorite of mine. Every time I visit, I be sure to snag a few bottles to bring home.

On Thursday, we were all up early. Mrs K and Cookie went to Curves, and dropped off the van at the Toyota dealer. I watched what little coverage there was of the first round of the U.S. Open.

Later that morning, while Bill was at work, the other three of us took a large amount of investment coins (Mexican Libertads, a couple Krugerrands, some Canadian Maple Leafs, and some US Eagles) and a bit of jewelry (all of which had belonged to my mother-in-law) to the Torrance Women’s Club, where three numismatists/gemologists from a local shop were holding an appraisal clinic. 

While we were in California in March, I’d inventoried many of the coins and researched their values using current spot prices for silver, gold and platinum. Thus, we had a ballpark idea of their worth. When the appraisal of the 100 silver Libertads came in within $100 of my estimate, we were confident we were going to get a fair price for our coins and jewelry. To make a longer story shorter, we walked out about 90 minutes later with almost $10,000 in cash.

We celebrated with Mexican food at a nearby restaurant (not quite fast food, but very good nonetheless), then went shopping a bit. We needed some necessities of some sort at Target, and since we happened to be very near a Wild Birds Unlimited store, we stopped in and I selected my anniversary present: a Tilley LTM6 Airflow hat in natural with green underbrim. If you noticed the picture of me in the preceding article, I need considerable head protection from the sun. While baseball caps work, they don’t protect the ears, and they don’t travel well. The Tilley meets both requirements splendidly.(Thanks to @Llanionfor the recommendation!) (And no, that’s not me in the picture, although the hat does make me look almost as dashing! Courtesy, Tilley.com)

We then returned to the Toyota dealer to pick up the van. The oil was changed, and so were the wiper blades. Turns out the large black plastic piece we found outside Needles was in fact from the Previa: It’s an air vent filter; nothing critical. We once again tossed it in the van and headed back to Bill and Cookie’s.

Friday, we went to lunch with our friends Karen and Mike, as previously documented. Saturday was a pretty leisurely day, although Bill and I did spend an hour or so wandering around Fry’s Electronics. I tried not to drool over all the gear available, and to my credit (or shame; you be the judge) I didn’t buy anything.

Saturday evening, however, was a meal to remember. Bill smoked some pork ribs, and I promise they were every bit as good as those from the best Kansas City barbecue houses. Every. Bit. My birthday wish-list contains one item: A Weber Smoker. We also had the best macaroni and cheese ever, and that’s coming from someone who generally does not like baked mac’n’cheese.

Sunday was breakfast at the Lighthouse Deli in San Pedro, with Bill’s friend Jim. Sunday breakfast at the Lighthouse is a weekly tradition for Bill, Cookie and Jim, and we’ve joined them whenever we’re in town. For the first time since we’d been in L.A., the “June gloom” (morning overcast, or “marine layer” of fog) wasn’t present, so we sat outside. The food is great, good portions, and some unique dishes. Bill, for example, enjoyed the beef stroganoff omelet. I stuck with a somewhat more traditional buckwheat waffle. The coffee is excellent, and they’re quick to keep you topped up. All in all, a great Father’s Day breakfast!

Once we got back to Bill’s, we loaded the van, then the three of us (sans Bill) headed up the coast to Los Osos. After a quick food stop in Santa Maria (and to pick up a lug of fresh strawberries) we arrived at “the cabin” around 4 PM.

Los Osos

The cabin is Mom’s mobile home, a very nice double-wide she bought about five years ago. She had all the inside walls and ceilings plastered, as well as several other upgrades, so it looks much more like a real house than a mobile home.

The reason we call it “the cabin” is because when Bill and Janet were young, their folks build a bungalow in Morro Bay, which was always called the cabin. So the mobile home (located in a park for folks 55 and older) has become cabin #2, since we decided to keep it as a vacation home rather than sell it (at least for the time being). It’s within easy walking distance of grocery stores, banks, hardware store, bakery, cafes, and Los Osos is ideally situated in the heart of the Central Coast wine country.

The next few days were filled with sorting and pricing items for the estate sale, scheduled for Friday for the park residents, and Saturday morning for everyone else. I’ll not bore you with the details; suffice to say, my mother-in-law managed to accumulate a LOT of stuff over 81 years. Since we are keeping the house, there wasn’t a lot of furniture to move, but what there was, was plenty heavy and awkward. Bill came up Thursday morning, so he and I spent some of Thursday and then Friday morning moving stuff around.

Bill and Mrs K also spent some time on Thursday dealing with their mother’s estate, transferring accounts under the trust she established. All I’ll say about that is, between my military retirement pay and my wife’s inheritance, it’s nice to be able to be retired in our mid-50s.

Friday evening, Cookie’s daughter Deana drove up from L.A. Deana’s one of my favorite people in the world: Her joie de vivre is contagious. Besides that, she enjoys beer as much as Bill and I do! On Saturday, while Mrs. K and Cookie collected cash, Deana, Bill and I put a serious dent in two pots of coffee and made sure things didn’t fall down (i.e., we leaned against them to keep them in place).

Shortly after noon, we started boxing up the remainder (which was a lot!). About half went to the mobile home park for their annual yard sale; the other half we donated to Hospice of the Central Coast. The money we earned from the sale is being reinvested into paying bills and upkeep on the cabin (less what we spent for dinner Saturday night).

At 6:30 we arrived at Giancarlo’s in Morro Bay for dinner. We had reservations, but our table wasn’t available yet, so the hostess offered us a glass of wine while we waited. This was our first indication that the evening would be a memorable one. This was, again, one of the five best dining experiences I’ve had. Certainly, the company had a lot to do with it. But the food, wine, and service were top-notch too.

I had a lamb shank osso bucco that was just perfect, full of flavor. Mrs. K had the Crab Cioppino, and the waiter offered to buy her dessert if she could finish it. We ordered four desserts and were charged for only three. Deana had a swordfish steak that was firm and flavorful; it almost made me regret my choice. And Cookie’s scallops…my favorite mollusk…mmmmmmm. Bill had a duck comfite that was the best duck I’ve ever tasted: Firm, flavorful, well-seasoned.

There was also a two-man combo playing “old standards” (well, not that old—they played some great Elvis ballads). They were good, played to the diners, and we were very appreciative. When we realized that this year marked the 60th wedding anniversary of Bill (Sr.) and Ginny, Bill and Cookie’s 25th, and our 35th, we requested a song in Bill and Ginny’s honor. To say it was quite an emotional moment would be stating it quite accurately.

We finished up with dessert, as I mentioned. As is my habit, I ordered the tiramisu. It was good, but not great. I am starting to get the feeling that truly outstanding tiramisu is a myth. Or perhaps I really don’t care for it as much as I used to think I did. It’s a truism that no two tiramisu are identical; given that, I should probably abandon my quest for the World’s Best Tiramisu, because if I ever find it, I’ll continue to be disappointed ever afterwards.

Sunday morning we went to breakfast at The Sculptured Egg in Baywood Park (it’s hard to tell where Los Osos ends and Baywood Park begins; essentially, they are twin cities). We’d eaten there in March, and it’s probably one of my favorite spots for breakfast. Mrs K and I split a stack of pancakes and a cinnamon roll. After we returned home, Deana headed back to L.A., while the wife and I started loading the van.

We had a cedar chest, a jewelry chest (48” high with base), a wine chiller, and two sets of china (among other things) to put into the van. By lunch time it was filled, and I could still see out the back window. But it pretty much precluded any shopping stops on the way back to South Dakota! I suppose I should have taken pictures; I guess I’m still very much not a photojournalist. I’ll try to do better in the future.

Sunday evening we went out for fish and chips at our favorite place on The Embarcadero in Morro Bay. Monday morning, Bill and I loaded up his truck with all the stuff he and Cookie were taking to Hospice House in San Luis Obispo. By 9:00 AM, Mrs K and I were on the road.

The Trek Home

Our journey home was optimized for time, and we wanted to make the trip in two days. The first day (Monday), we traveled to Bakersfield, then Barstow to Las Vegas, cutting through a corner of Arizona before heading north on I-15 in Utah. The desert was hot, the drive was generally boring. Thank heavens for the iPod. After eleven hours on the road, we spent Monday night in Cedar City, then headed out again about 8:oo AM Tuesday.

We had no trouble getting through Salt Lake City, although there was one slowdown for a rather nasty-looking accident shortly before we hit the Loop around the city to head up to Wyoming. While the climb through the mountains from Salt Lake to Evanston, Wyoming, is quite beautiful, our poor loaded 4-banger struggled with the climbs, dropping quickly from 75 to 65 to as low as 50 mph in spots.

In Rawlins, we turned north on US-287 toward Casper. We ran into a few showers, and saw considerable lightning, but managed to avoid the really serious thunderstorms. From Casper, we headed south on I-25 for a bit, then hit US-18 towards Lusk, north on US-85 to Mule Creek Junction (yes, it really is called that), where we hit US-18 east through Edgemont, SD, up through Hot Springs, and into Rapid City. We walked in the door, after 14 hours in the saddle, at almost precisely 11:oo PM. We were in bed by 11:30…although the cats were so happy to see us home again (especially Mom), they pretty much ruined any chance at a really good night’s sleep.

The End

The cedar chest was moved to the guest bedroom this morning, and the jewelry chest will head down to Eric and Diane’s, either in August, or more probably in October. And now, it’s time for me to find a place for that wine chiller in the basement.

Coming up in the next few days, I’ll be writing about some personal goals I’ve set for myself, and showcase a few websites I’ve added to Google Reader in the past few weeks. I may even squeeze in a WoW article or two!

Finally, thanks to all of you who have continued to subscribe to the Aerie’s RSS feed, including the 20 or 30 new subscribers in June who pushed me comfortably over the 800 subscriber mark, despite only three articles all of last month. I promise to do better!