Familiar surroundings

We are back in the bay area, and parked on a quiet dead end near the Elks lodge in Sunnyvale (map). We lived together less than a mile from here for a time, and each of us lived separately just a few blocks from here, long before we met. The neighborhood does not feel like "home" to either of us, but is as familiar to us as anyplace we know.

The memorial celebration Sunday was filled with pleasant memories, some moving moments, and lots of catching up with close friends we seldom see. It was close to 5 by the time we rolled out of Milpitas, loaded down with leftovers from the overabundance of comfort food that was served. We headed straight here, just about a fifteen minute drive, and settled in to a familiar spot. We are accustomed to having this street to ourselves, but there is a class-C across the street on this visit.

While we've been known to spend an entire bay area visit on the street like this, moving every couple of days to comply with the 72-hour rule, we have too much to do on this visit that will involve loading and unloading bays, spreading things out, and spending lots of time away from the bus. So shortly we will move to the Elks lodge in San Jose, another familiar stop, where we can stay for two weeks at a stretch, we can do some outside projects, and, most importantly, we are only a few minutes from our rental unit downtown, which we will need to be visiting several times during our stay.

Yesterday, though, we stayed right here while we made phone calls and got ourselves organized. I was able to get the Camping World in San Martin, a dozen miles south of San Jose, to order our much needed swivel bearings for our Flexsteel chairs, and made plans with local friend, bus enthusiast, and venture capitalist Basil to get together when he returns from Las Vegas next week. We put two or three other appointments on the calendar, and then made plans for dinner last night in Redwood City with our friend Eric, who has been kind enough to lend us a car on our last few visits here.

He has lent us the car on this visit as well. Since this spot is a shorter train ride from Redwood City, and would be a shorter drive back, we decided to stay right here last night, and walked the three quarters of a mile to the CalTrain station. We had a nice dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant -- downtown Redwood City has become a really vibrant place, with a surfeit of restaurants of all descriptions. It was nearly 11 by the time we returned.

In a few minutes we will avail ourselves of the dump station at the Elks lodge across the street, since there is no such facility in San Jose. Then we will proceed to our new digs caravan-style.

Photo of Sunnyvale CalTrain station by Royston Rascals, used under a creative commons license.