We Are At Home in Sparks - Temporarily

A lot can happen in a day - enough to warrant a road trip home!  

Our neighbor, who watches our house while we are gone, called on Friday morning and told us that the gale force winds that were blowing through the Truckee Meadows, (preceding a predicted severe winter storm) had blown over our back fence!    As I was finishing the conversation with her, my brother-in-law called and told me my sister was in the hospital again.  So, we packed Maggie, her stuff, and some of our stuff  into the backseat of the truck and headed north on Saturday morning, leaving the RV in Santee under the watchful eyes of several neighbors.    

It took us two and a half hours to get from Santee and sunshine through the LA basin into clouds and rain.  Once we got onto I-5 and headed north it was just a matter of weather to contend with as we had left all the crazy traffic behind us.  We drove through several areas of very heavy rain, but also had some areas with the sun peeking through.   That drive up the western side of the San Joaquin Valley has views of the coastal mountains on west side and agriculture to the east with the Sierras in the distance.  We couldn't see the Sierras for the rain and clouds but were amazed at how green the hills were leading up to the coastal range.  They are normally a golden brown when we go through there.  It looked strange.  We saw several pastures with sheep and cute little lambs and there were several orchards in bloom with lovely purple flowers - ah, Spring.  At least there, but not too many other places.

We stopped for dinner in Lodi where we then turned west to Fairfield on a road through the Sacramento River delta.  It was dusk as we started on the two lane road across the sloughs and islands that dot that area.  The fog was rising from the watery fields and it was a very surreal scene.  It was hard driving - Rog doesn't like driving at night any more as the headlights from on coming cards are brutal and after being on the road all day in weather, he was exhausted when we arrived in Fairfield at my sister's house around 7pm - it had been a very long day.    

My brother-in-law got out of the hospital and subsequent medical rehab facility on Thursday after lumbar fusion surgery.  My sister, who was still recovering from her aneurysm surgery in December, had gotten totally exhausted trying to take care of him and caught the flu (despite having the shot this year).  She apparently was so weak/dehydrated she collapsed Thursday night and, of course, he couldn't help get her up so he called 911.  She's still in the hospital getting care for a very bad case of the flu but hopes to go home mid-week.  In the meantime their son is helping out his dad on the home front.   Hopefully, everyone will be back in good health soon and neither Roger nor I caught the flu bug.

Today, after a brief stop to see my sister,  we journeyed over "the hill," as we call Donner Pass.  The rain was so hard all the way through the Sacramento Valley that, between it coming down and the water coming up off the road from vehicles, it was very difficult driving.  Once we started climbing up into the mountains the rain and traffic tapered off so it wasn't quite so horrific.  We did see three accidents - one major one - but fortunately they were on the west bound side of the interstate and we were going east!  It took a bit longer than usual for the trek from their place to ours.  We got home without incident by mid afternoon.  Maggie was a trooper and very well behaved despite all the confusion and hurry.  

Our son had come over earlier and turned on the heat for us so the house was cozy warm when we got here.  (Now, if he had just filled the fridge, too, we would be all set!)   We had pizza tonight and will have to make groceries (as they say in Louisiana)  tomorrow!  We had the internet turned back on so we could function while here - how nice it is to have internet that is working and fast!!  Such a treat.   It's nice being home and seeing our stuff and we are looking forward to a week of real showers and our sleep number bed!

Now we get to deal with the fence.  My neighbor was correct.  As you can see from the photos below - the fence fell down, alright!    I contacted the contractor who did our yard work this summer and he will be here tomorrow to assess the damage and give us an estimate for the insurance company.  If we are living right he will be able to do the repairs this week so we can head back to Santee and sunshine next weekend - weather permitting, of course.  

You aren't supposed to be able to see any of the
nursing home behind us but the roof!

We do feel a bit exposed.