Friends for days - a week in Clear Lake
We had the distinct privilege of spending a week with some of our favorite people in our former home town in Northern California’s Lake County, a region that grows some fantastic wines. This was part of a week of work and play that just felt like going home.
RV Basic Training in Clear Lake Campground
The work - RV Basic Training
A number of organizations help us spread the word about our RV Basic Training camps. In this case Lisa Wilson from Clear Lake Campground and Manya and Perry at Redwood Empire RVs were complicit in telling the story.
We spent several days sharing how RVers can be more successful and camp StressLess in these multi-day workshops where people bring their RVs to learn how to use them better. We had a variety of students and RVs as usual with people who are very new to RVing and those with a lot of experience.
In fact, in my opinion, our friend Diane could teach this class but she attended anyway and claimed to have learned a thing or two. Plus it’s always great to have her in camp and she has a lot of value to contribute.
Catching up with friends
After the class was completed, we were on the loose and sought out some of the events and friends that we’ve been missing.
During our stay we got to attend some of the public dances at a local park and in front of Kelsey Creek Brewing Company right on the street.
We also knew that our friend Linda would be staying in camp the entire time we were there but were also surprised by Dee and Kelly who joined us in camp. We got to catch up with so many of the wonderful people who we have shared life events with - what an incredible few days.
I know I’ll forget some of the wonderful interactions so I’ll only mention a few group events. We did have people come visit us in camp but we also headed to Lakeport and visited Fixin’ It Up With Sandra which is the vision of Sandra Campos, a lady who was part of our team at the Featherbed Railroad and who now has a very nicely stocked store of gifts, candles and more.
Peggy went to the farmers’ market and met-up with others who were part of our lives when we lived here including photographer Michael Boyle.
We also caught-up with my wonderful friend Larry Richardson and his wife Zoe a couple of times - Larry just brings me joy.
So does my former colleague Manya Tenney who is the finance wiz at Redwood Empire RVs. That dealership really taught me a lot and I still think they are a prime example of how to run a dealership that treats customers with respect.
Dee’s dad Rex took me to a car show in his ’59 Thunderbird which was the first time I’ve ever been in a 1950s-era Ford. Imagine that!?
We also had a barbecue where our friend Tim manned the grill and I managed to get more than a few people to help me drink all the beer I had bought at Kelsey Creek. Some of our attendees were moving slowly the next day. Ha!
We really should have spent another week in Lake County - so many people just bring joy to our lives and we regret that we didn’t get to see more of them. Plus there are some absolutely world-class bands that had performances that we didn’t get to attend - we were either a week late or a week early.
They say you can never go back but I am absolutely thrilled that we did.
