Being Without Internet or Cell Phone Service

We have spent the last four days without internet or cell phone service.  We were at my aunt & uncle's place on 1500 acres just north of Middletown, CA on Highway 29.  It was so quiet and relaxin there.  We wish we could go there for two or three weeks to relax and also help around the place.  Maybe next year.

When we first arrived I tried to access their wireless internet service but alas it was not to be ~ no one could remember the password.  But that was okay.  I did use their computer to send out a couple of emails just to let people know we were going to be out of contact via the normal ways: email, Facebook, cell phones, reading & writing blogs.  If I had thought about it I should have been writing my blogs in Word so I could have just done a copy & paste once we were back on line.  But I didn't think of that.

Instead we talked and visited with my Aunt Joan & Uncle Don for hours in the evenings.  We went to bed at a decent time, like 9:30 p.m. instead of midnight or 1:00 a.m.  We got up early, at least for us, between 7:30 & 8:00 a.m.  They are pretty scheduled oriented.  Breakfast was at 8;30 a.m. with lunch at 1:00 p.m. and cocktails & hor d'ouvrs at 6:00 p.m. with dinner at 7:00 p.m.  And of course after each meal we had sharing to do.

Thursday afternoon my aunt & uncle went down to Napa for the night as they had some appointments on Friday morning.  We did laundry, gave Ron a hair cut and he shaved off his beard (will put up some pictures in the next couple of days) and then we watched a little television before calling it a night at 9:00 p.m.

Friday we went into town.  Now you have to realize that it is 7.1 miles on dirt road from their house to the paved road and then another 4 miles to the main road.  We cross over three cattle guards, go through four gates before getting back to civilization.  It was an interesting ride into their place with the motor home and a fun ride with the Jeep.  Anyway, we went into Clearlake on Friday morning to the parts store.  We went to one, had lousy service and then went to Napa Auto Parts Store ~ should have gone there in the first place.  Ron had to buy another solenoid for the motor home.  Yeah the motor home starts now like its supposed to!!

We then did some site seeing...we saw the little jail for Lower Lake which was built in the mid 1800's and then went to the old school house museum.  Both of them were quite interesting.  And then we went through the little Tuscan Village and Winery.  I will be posting pictures in the next couple of days.  I had over 450 pictures to load onto my computer.  To end our time out and about we went to the Butts Canyon Cemetery.  The earliest recorded death was in late 1860's.  So many babies and toddlers were buried there.  It was interesting to see how the markers have changed over the years.

Friday night Aunt Joan came back to the house.  Uncle Don stayed in Napa to work on their rental house and take a class at Verizon Wireless to learn how to work his Droid.  Saturday we just read and visited throughout the day.  The weather was so nice while we were there...warm during the day but kinda cool in the night.  It is so nice to be able to go around without jackets.

We left my aunt's this morning about 9;30.  We were barely on the road when we blew another fuse in the motor home.  This time to the cigarette lighter and stereo.  This meant no Maggie (our trusted GPS).  Thank goodness our phones have VZ Navigator on them.  Once we were on the 780 freeway I pulled out the computer and MiFi card and got on line to get the directions to San Benito Thousand Trails.  Need to write them a note on our comment card that they need to update their directions as roads have opened and new ones go every which way.

Once we arrived here at the Thousand Trails Preserve we got hooked up and settled in and then went to the family lodge to join others to watch the Super Bowl.  It was so fun as we were all rooting for the Green Bay Packers.  Lots of cheering was happening for much of the time.  

Now back to the motor home for the night.  We will be leaving here around 10:00 a.m. and heading to Fresno to spend a couple of nights to see some of Ron's cousins.  I hope to have some down time to do some writing.  

Hope you all have had a great weekend and that you have a good week!