Some family time with Pat’s brother and on to Hemet

Friday the 12^th, after spending the previous night at Seven Feathers Casino and RV Park located at exit 99 of I-5 in Southeast Oregon, we again got going south on I-5 heading into California on our way to have some family time by a visit to Pat’s brother Bob and his wife Cherie at their home in Modesto, CA.  The trip was just straight driving on the Interstate, not much fun but essential to cover the distance in a reasonable time frame. 

We arrived at Bob and Cherie’s and were able to park the RV on the street directly in front of their home.  It was great to see them both.  Bob, who uses a wheelchair since his polio returned with a vengeance a few years ago,  was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and while he is still being treated regularly we were anxious to see him in person and found him in good spirits and looking great.  Cherie on the other hand was experiencing a lot of pain and is anxiously awaiting her appointment with another doctor.  She had not been out of the house in quite a while.  We just enjoyed being with and visiting them and seeing their daughter Jennifer and her children.  What sharp kids they are and with great manners!

We did go out to eat a couple of times and one afternoon Bob drove all of us, including Cherie, up to visit a nice casino in Jackson, California.  It was about an hour and a half’s drive to get there and we enjoyed a nice crab leg and prime rib buffet as well as partook of some gambling.  Only Bob had any luck but it was an enjoyable trip and Cherie through enjoyed getting out and about for the first time in a long time.

  

Pat & Bob at Costco

We stayed at Bob & Cherie’s for four nights and really enjoyed every minute.  We bid them farewell on Wednesday October 17^th after Pat had taken Bob to get a chemo treatment in the morning and after we all went out to lunch.  Dick even got the RV refueled while they were at the doctors so we were ready to hit the road and we did.  We stopped that night at the military FAMCAMP RV park at Naval Air Station, Lemoore, California.  Thursday we then got back onto I-5 and drove over the Grapevine as it is called and through the area northwest of Los Angles in a LOT OF TAFFIC!!!  It is rather amazing how easily Dick make driving in all that traffic look while pulling our car behind the RV!  Sometimes we were VERY close to some of that traffic and we did not see any other RV’s on those stretches of freeway.  Our RV easily handled the Grapevine which is a very winding and steep portion of I-5 going over the mountains just north of LA.  The trip uphill was a bit slow but we were in no hurry and the trip back down was a continual use of the exhaust brake often supplemented by the regular coach brakes.  We reached Hemet and the Golden Palms RV Resort late in the afternoon and quickly settled into our location.  Since we had hit all the traffic just about lunchtime we never stopped for lunch and we were really hungry by the time we finished setting up so we quickly had dinner at a Marie Calendar’s Restaurant.