Down Memory Lane ~ Your Stories

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                                              We know you are wondering what's become of us.   what                                          at least we hope you are. We moved out of our home
                                                    and into our trailer the 29th of December. Escrow hadn't
                                                    yet closed on our house, so we had to remain in the area.
                                                           We parked alternately in our son’s and daughter’s
                                                    driveways, made a trip to San Diego to see Bill’s sisters and
    and his brother. We also took the trailer on a shakedown
                                                    cruise to see our long time friends, the Wilsons, and
                                                    to determine what did and did not work on the trailer. We
                                                    found out that very little did work.
                                                         After many frustrating delays and problems, we finally got away from Huntington Beach in Orange County on the 16th of January—but not very far away. The car quickly overheated, and we had to leave the freeway at Alondra Blvd in Long Beach. A hose had busted and spewed out all of our coolant. We were due in Downey at 8 o’clock for breakfast with friends. Needless to say we were late, but with the prompt help of the Auto Club, we were only two hours late. But that breakfast was well worth waiting for. Our friend Ted Felkner makes a yummy waffle. After partaking of iced grape juice, waffles topped with everything from boysenberries and whipped cream to plain old maple syrup, along with bacon, sausage, and lots of hot coffee, Bill and Ted took the car to a Pontiac dealer and had the radiator back-flushed, all hoses replaced, and coolant added. We had logged in twenty miles that day including going back and forth to the service center. We spent the night in the Felkner’s driveway and got underway at 5:30 Saturday morning.
       We arrived in Santa Cruz later that day without further mishap. Our first night there was the most traumatic of my life. Selling a lovely home and pulling away from family and friends and all that’s near and dear is a painful thing. But God’s will never takes us where His grace will not keep us.
       We spent the first few days in Scotts Valley not far from Santa Cruz, but it proved to be a little too noisy as we were quite close to a freeway. After spending two weeks in driveways along busy streets, we longed for a little peace and quiet. Besides that our reefer had gone out (that’s camper lingo for refrigerator), and we needed to take it to Watsonville to be fixed. As we were leaving Carbonero Park, Bill turned a little too sharply and the trailer got hung up on a boulder (no, it’s not funny). We had bashed in our steps and a butane line. Bill had to jack up the trailer to free it. On arriving in Watsonville, we learned that the cooling unit in the reefer was shot and they would have to send to L.A. for one which would take five days. This is adventure?
     The parents of a Huntington Beach friend lived in Aptos, and they were so gracious and kind to us. We have spent many evenings with them. We parked our trailer at New Brighton State Beach so we would be near them—besides they had all of our food in their refrigerator. New Brighton Beach is a heavily wooded bluff with a sweeping view of Monterey Bay. Five minutes after we arrived there, a freight train rumbled by. We were reassured, after the train had past, that it was only a twice a day train. The only noise was the surf breaking on the beach below.
       We have been in this area for two weeks and love it more all the time. There is an infinite variety of nature here—from dunes and beaches to wooded foothills thick with black oak, aspens, redwoods, maples and Manzanita and many more varieties.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we were looking for a lot in the Felton area and saw a fixer-upper house we decided to buy. So, after we get the house that we just bought fixed up and sold, we will buy a lot and build a home. Who says we are retired?
       So far the most travelling we’ve done, is dragging the trailer around to get it repaired. But things are looking up—nothing has broken down for a whole week.

                                                                          Written by Nancy Faulkner    (circa 1976)