A short post from the iPhone. No pictures. We met George and family at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. We got to go on the tour, eat lunch and get some groceries (not all in the same place) and spent about 3 hours doing so! The drive to Casini was beautiful and taking back roads added to the fun. We got here about 5:30 and there are about 15 Airstreams here. We had a nice shared dinner with George, Marsha, Bob, Phyllis and the kids! We chatted for a bit but colder weather chased us all inside. More to come…

I am interrupting the blog backlog yet again for a current trip.  I will finish up our Yosemite trip (from September) soon (hopefully before THIS September).  The Casini Ranch get together is an annual event for the AirForums group.  We first went about 5 or 6 years ago so we thought it was due.  We made the reservations about 6-8 months prior, that is one of the best ways for me to commit, is to make a reservation.  We will be meeting some old friends there and some new friends.  Bob and Phyllis will be there, they were our trip buddies to Albuquerque.  George and Marsha with their family will be there.  You haven’t heard about our connection to them, yet.  That is in the backlog.

As is the norm, I have been researching and thinking about this trip for weeks and months.  I will figure out what path we are taking, where to stop, etc.  Casini is about 300 miles from Visalia.  This is a bit more than I am real comfortable driving in one day (really Roxie can’t sit much longer than that in the passenger seat although I offer her the drivers seat).  I was looking for places to stop around Tracy or somewhere BEFORE we enter the bay area conglomeration.  All the WalMart’s in the bay area do not allow overnight parking.  I thought about a truck stop but Roxie isn’t ready for that just yet.  I remembered we investigated the Brannan Island State Recreation Area near Rio Vista at one time and that looked like the best bet.  That was the plan.

It changed a bit.  I am trying to be more flexible in our travels.  Not make binding reservations when I don’t need to, etc.  Trying to get used to our retirement travels (less than 5 years!).  I researched the Rio Vista area (200 miles from Viisalia) and there were many RV parks, etc. that we could use if we needed to.  The place that I tried first was the Sandy Beach campground in a Solano County Park.  This just a mile or so south of Rio Vista and about 20% full.  No reservation needed.  It is right on the main slough here in the Sacramento Delta.  It has a launching ramp and a day use area.  Here is a shot of our spot and a view of the slough.

We left home about 1pm as we took it easy doing the packing and got here about 5pm.  We had about 6 raindrops around Modesto on the way.  A nice uneventful trip.  We ate at Lucy’s Cafe for dinner as Yelp showed good reviews.  It was not bad or offensive but we have had better Italian food.  Everyone has their own opinions.

We are pretty tired and getting good TV channels (21 in digital) on our $40 flatscreen.  So I will be able to watch as Roxie snores away.

Tomorrow we meet up with George and Marsha, then off to Casini for 4 nights!