Chapter 1

May 14th 

Julie

Phillip and I left the homestead today, taking off a day early just to make sure we had time if we forgot something or something needs to be adjusted with the trailer. 

After our goodbyes to the family we drove about 45 minutes to a Harvest Host at Belle Marie Winery in Escondido where we we did a wine flight and ended up purchasing a bottle of Pinot Noir that we liked. 

After a light dinner and walk around the property we are now sitting quietly in the trailer while the dogs chew their bones. (That was after he got stung by a bee that somehow got into the back of his shirt!)

My laptop was almost depleted of charge and I needed to do some updating to the Kane’s K9’s Animal Rescue site. Phillip was going to pull out a battery pack so I could charge as we don’t have any access to power this evening. He then spent about 30 minutes trying to locate the keys to the passthrough which he finally found exactly where they are meant to go in the trailer. We had a good laugh about it. 

Tonight we are hoping for a solid night sleep as last night was not so much! Our drive tomorrow to our second Harvest Host Dark Star Cellars in Paso Robles is about 318 miles where we will meet up with Ron and Jon!

May 15th 

Julie

Today we left at 8 am and drove over to Common Grounds Cafe. We followed Apple Maps which brought us to a campus, of what we didn’t know right away. It almost seemed like it was a religious campus, but it was not! It is called TERi Campus of Life https://www.tericampusoflife.org/  and their flyer says

"Building a Campus, Creating a Community, Inspiring Hope."

“Meet TERI. Training, Education and Resource Institute. Since 1980, TERI has supported individuals with developmental disabilities throughout their lifespan through education, wellness, and social programs. Cited as a State of California model program, TERI is known for its compassionate approach that empowers families and builds more inclusive communities.”

“The TERI Campus of Life unlocks our founding vision to create an open, inclusive community that inspires new ways to learn, create, and thrive together, celebrating the unique and special gifts in every individual.” Says the CEO and founder, Cheryl Kilmer.

They have specialized education, 24/7 Residential Housing, Arts and Enrichment Programs, Family Training and Special Services, Integrated Employment Services and Therapeutic Equestrian. We even saw a large community garden. 

The cafe was delicious and has many amazing looking options along with some very tasty looking cookies, pastries and scones. There was even a wall that sold artwork done by people in the community. What a fantastic idea to have a cafe open to the public to help make money for the community! Donate here if you are feeling generous. https://www.tericampusoflife.org/donate#anchors-mhaq6nn3

Phillip had a breakfast burrito that was on the specials of the day, which had cheese, white beans, sweet potatoes and chicken. I ordered the stuffed sweet potato that had almond butter, vanilla yogurt, local honey, hemp hearts, cocoa nibs, blueberries, strawberries and bananas. Holy moly, it was delicious!

Musing of the day.

Phillip and I chatted about what goes through our heads when someone honks at us while we are towing our home.  Our minds immediately go to  “oh crap, now what?!” We have had wheels fly off of our trailers, just the tires fly off and stopped to find butterflied rims, and our camper door open, several times. And then there were the honks accompanied by a thumbs up when we used to tow our first camper that we rebuilt. So if you want to freak out a person towing a camper, give them a honk!

We drove to our next Harvest Host, Dark Star Cellars after picking up breakfast. At first we didn’t know what to expect. At the first paragraph of their description, it sounded like they might be a snobby place but upon further reading into their lengthy blurb for visiting Harvest Hosters we were in tears. Apparently the place has had many a snobby and whiney visitor. People who were obviously just weekend warriors and not full timers. The owners and employees that were there that day, reminded me of my dad and an older Tony from “Who’s the boss” They seemed like a couple of old relaxed dudes who have experienced life. They were nice to us and we had a great time. We even sat and laughed with them about the stupidity of some people. 

When we arrived it was the tail end of a Porsche Club meetup so we had to wait to park our trailers but we didn’t mind as there was wine! Once the porches left there were just four other people there. It just happened to be karaoke night so I bravely got up on that stage and sang Dreams by Fleetwood Mac and got compliments from everyone there. 

When reading up on the details of this Harvest Host before we arrived, we read their very long description and had a good laugh. I know this is a long exert from the description but I had to share the hilarity.

“Someone gave us a bad review on account of no one warned him not to hit the barn on the way out. So here is your warning. Don't hit the barn on the way out. To avoid that you want to line yourself up straight using the 60 feet of space you have, and drive out straight. Don't drive up close to the barn from the side and then try to turn into the driveway. What will happen is that your front wheels, those are the ones you steer with, will describe a certain arc. Your back wheels, those are the other ones, will describe an arc inside the first arc. This will cause the side of your rig to move closer and closer to the barn until you hit it. If you make a mistake, you will hear a loud noise and feel a thump. That means that you hit the barn. At this point, it is important to stop, back up, and try again. Don't just keep going, because you will just hear more noise and feel more thumping and tear off your awning. Also, don't hit the irrigation pump or the 500 gallon propane tank. Refrain from running over any children or pets until you are well off of the property.

Also there have been some expressions of concern about: "When I walked my dog through the vineyard, he got stickers," and "I had to park where I could see some farm equipment." The uninitiated may find this astonishing, but, a lot of times on a farm, there will be some farm equipment. In fact, someone may even start up the tractor at seven in the morning, because we periodically use that to mow down the grass that has the stickers in it. I also want to make everyone aware that the Japanese restaurant in town is prone to serve Japanese food.

Mostly, we have very nice ratings. If you are inclined to do a rating on Harvest Host, please consider copying it over to google or yelp, where other people can see it. Cheers.”

If you read through that, I hope you laughed as much as we did!

Jon

"I don't think it is supposed to do that..."

Not the first words that should be uttered 2 minutes before leaving for your months long journey. As Ron wiggled the stem on the tire, a sharp hissing of air could be heard.

"And this one is doing it too!". 

Yes, two of our tires stems appeared to have an air leak. But that should be impossible! They were new tires, not even 3 months old. 

"Well, if you don't touch them, they don't seem to leak, and there is really not much we can do in the driveway of our house". 

And so we began our journey. Hopefully not an omen of things to come. But we are going to be positive. 

Ron, being the ever prepared one, had installed a wireless tire pressure gauge several months ago, so we were able to keep an eye on the pressures. They didn't drop precipitously, but by several hours, they had dropped enough. Time for a pit stop. 

Luckily, the tire store we found diagnosed the issue as bad stem valves only, and offered to replace them for free, as long as we promised to write a good yelp review for them. Done!

And so, after an only one hour delay, we were off again. 

Our first stop, a harvest host - Dark Star vineyards. Not the fancy type that most vineyards seem to be, but more closely resembling a working farm. They did have a stage set up in front of a number of tables, and we had happened upon Karaoke night. Julie gifted us with a song, that got a couple slow dancing. 

And just before retiring for the night, it was discovered that yet another tire was making the same noise. And again just as luckily, there happened to be a tire store within a few miles, and on our way back to the freeway, and just as graciously the guys there offered to replace the remaining 2 stem valves for free.

And after a third day driving, we reached our first destination - Alfred Loeb State park in Brookings,Oregon. After only one day, we have had a great walk with the dogs on the beach, and Oscar went for a swim in the river. And now a few days to settle into our new routine.

May 16th

Julie

Today’s drive was pretty long but didn’t feel too taxing which isn’t always the case. We arrived at our third Harvest Host, Mascarin Family Wines around 3pm. I walked in to ask where we should park, we were given directions by Duncan and Deanna. They were a married couple who are employed there to do wine tastings and they were delightful souls. Greeted with smiles they told us they would have a tasting set up for us once we were set. While we were getting into position we were greeted again by Deanna who brought us glasses of their Rose while we continued to get set up. After Ron and Jon arrived and they too were parked we walked around the back of the building where a table was set up with multiple glasses under a pergola, surrounded by beautifully maintained plants. It felt like we were in Italy. Our wine tasting commenced with Duncan telling us all about the family that built the winery and their brilliant wine maker Matt Taylor. Matt makes wine in the old way, tossing in the stems as well as the grapes to use the yeast that is on the stems to help ferment. 

“Inspired by the old-world style of bio-dynamic farming and believes in allowing the fruit to express itself as naturally as possible, without additives, using minimal filtration, and restrained use of oak.”

This style of wine making really shined through. Unique and more down to earth (literally) flavors that we’d experienced. I myself am not normally a fan of white wine, I find it too sharp tasting but, my palette was delighted with the flavors of the chardonnay and even more with the Rose, we bought three bottles! The reds were also wonderful.

Read more about about the history and the people here. https://mascarin-wines.com/story/#team and if youre ever in Healdsburg, CA, you should definitely check out this wonderful winery.

After we went back to our trailers to eat dinner we took the dogs for a walk though the surrounding vineyards and fields. They had a grand old time running around.

May 17th 

Jon

Today we are heading to Alfred A Loeb State Park in Brookings, Oregon to stay for a whole week! We are all very excited to shower and relax before heading to our next spot along this adventure!

May 22nd

Julie

Tomorrow we head out and up to Forks, Washington. This week has been relaxing and fun. For two of the days I had a constant off and on stomach ache and therefore slept off and on for about 48 hours but besides that it was lovely here. We were walking distance to the river where we brought the dogs to play in the water. The shore line mostly rocks it was awkward stepping but very beautiful. We went into town a couple of times for shopping and for some fun. Earlier in the week we went over to Harris Beach State Park to go let the dogs run till their hearts content on the beach while we enjoyed the crashing waves, large rock masses and beautiful views. Last night we ate at a sushi restaurant and then had a drink at a local pub before going to Fred Meyers one more time. Today was mostly packing and the occasional walk around the campground and down along the river.