Oh, it is good to go out! We sulked at home all last weekend, but at least we took care of Dory’s annual checkup with Dr. Randy, of Randy’s Mobile. When we dropped her off, Randy wasn’t there, so we were helped by one of his technicians. He questioned Richard extensively about the service and things to check, go over, etc. He did an excellent and thorough job taking patient history, but we kind of wanted to explain that, with us, Randy just does whatever he thinks is a good idea and we give him access to our bank accounts, so he can take whatever he needs. It’s that kind of relationship. (Ok, kidding on the bank accounts, but that sure would simplify things). As the technician was getting our paperwork ready, Randy called to say we didn’t need to fill out paperwork. 
Randy brought Dory back to us on Wednesday, all mani-pedi’ed and in tip top shape. Here’s some advice: if you ever meet Randy in person, do NOT ask him to tell you about how he broke his thumb. Thought I was going to pass out just listening to it.
Friday was raining, but Richard brought the bikes anyway, with a hopeful eye to a Saturday ride. Del Valle has no cell service, and this posed a very specific problem on Friday. My Altoistes Facebook group has been growing steadily and was just one person shy of hitting the 3,000th member mark. I wanted very much to be timely about making the announcement (prizes for guessing the date it would happen were on the line here!). By the time we drove down into the valley and lost service, we were still stuck at 2,999. It was bugging me, so after dinner, I got in the car, drove back out of the campground, and up the long climb until I hit service. Sadly, there was no change. I was in the middle of typing up an “Oh well, I’ll let you know Sunday who the winners were” message, when lucky 3,000th came in! Cheers all around. 🙂
Saturday it cleared up a little and Richard did go out for a short ride. Meanwhile, I put up our new toy: a Classic Awning. This was the first awning produced by Safari Condo, which was later replaced with the Pahaque front arc awning. That’s the one I’ve been modifying to make into a screen room, but our site had some inconveniently located boulders which would have interfered with that one. We had sent away for this one because Safari Condo started manufacturing them again, and we had some customer referral credits in our account.
So up went the classic! I must say, I do so like it, Sam-I-Am! It is super easy to put up and take down, and does not cut off the view too badly. It feels like a porch, and that was a nice spot to sit in my Nemo chair writing a report. And after the report was done, that was a divine spot to rock in my Nemo chair, wearing my sleeping bag jacket, with my feet up on a properly blue colored little table, while sipping a margarita.
Eventually, after indoor/outdoor his/hers nappy time, we went on a short walk over to the reservoir. California is gorgeously green right now and it’s a reassuring sight to see the water levels nice and full. Wildflowers and Western Bluebirds were out in full force. It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter. And it feels like years since it’s been clear. But, well, here comes the sun!
Sunday Richard rode all the way from the campsite to home. We met up in a couple of spots along the way, just in case he wanted to bail. But he powered all the way home, covering somewhere around forty miles.
It was a good weekend.
Total miles: 41.9, 16.1 mpg, 1 hour 42 min. Site 32, my favorite.
