fossilfreak | A Visit to San Jose

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 558

176.5 miles

cold in the mornings, sunny, 71 degrees

364 recordings of 29 types, 55 old SVU. 21% clear.

Wednesday the 18th I left the house with Pharaoh, got money, took him in to the vet. They were getting someone with two dogs out so we waited outside for about TEN minutes. Then they couldn't get the dog and the paperwork finished. I thought I would NEVER get out of there. On down to the gas station where I filled the car. And off I went.

A little outside of Davis a warning light went on. I had to pull off to be sure it said what I thought it said, and indeed it did. "Check gas cap." (I don't HAVE a gas cap.) So I opened the cover to be sure the valve was closed, and it was, so I figured it was OK and kept going. Argh.

Outside of Milpitas I had marked 5 caches, but unfortunately went past three of them. I did find the 4th but by that time I was just eager to get to San Jose. And there, I took the wrong exit to get to Helena's. I couldn't get turned on the Lawrence expressway south and ended up driving all around before I finally got to her street. Turns out that I should have turned off on Saratoga. I can go back on the Lawrence, but to get to Helena's must turn on Saratoga. OK then.

Boy that woman can TALK. Of course, that's why I went down, so she could. She tends to repeat herself and just keep talking when one tries to comment.

She'd recently gone to Prague and had a lot to say about that. I'd never considered it as a destination, but now I'm really interested. Monica and family plan to go in 2019 and to Peru (with Helena) next year, which sounds wonderful.

Helena talks to herself, too, and repeats herself. She's louder than I am talking to myself, but I, too, repeat myself (maybe I think I didn't hear me the first time.)

We went for a short walk before dinner, which was meat loaf and trimmings. I tried to keep the carbs down, with mediocre success.

Thursday I woke before Helena (surprise surprise) and took a shower. She woke talking to herself.

After breakfast we took a longer walk, and I hoped to be able to find a geocache to show her what it is I do, but without luck.

Then we went to Santana Row. At first I thought I would be REALLY bored because we went to a nice clothing store, and she kept pointing out such pretty clothes. This sort of thing would be more interesting to Monica. But then on the way to lunch we stopped at Sur La Table. I wish we had this store where I could go more often. All the kitchen supplies! So many things I would like to have but have no need for them.

From there we went to the Village California Bistro. We had chicken waldorf wraps. Huge, but YUM! Thence to more tchotske stores. I really liked the velociraptor but thought it wouldn't fit on the plastic window ledge where I would have liked to put it. (When I got home I realized the ledge was wider than I remembered, and I decided to order the dinosaur after all. (Perhaps if I'd realized the car was going to cost so much to fix, I wouldn't have, but it's done now.))

Back at Helena's house she found out that Mark wouldn't be able to come due to trouble with the product launch on the day before. This was good for a lot of sad talk. "But I should be glad he has a job."

Finally Monica and the girls arrived, and cousin Olga, and Helena ordered the chinese food and went with the girls to get it. We ate, and were just finishing when Mark was able to come and Helena perked up. Monica liked her presents (some nice clothing, nice jewelry, and from me tapioca beads and dutch chocolate from Koreana. Her real present is going to be given to her on Thanksgiving.) Charlotte went to dance class and then the rest of us chatted for an hour, and then everyone left. I was getting tired and went to bed soon afterwards. I thought I would read in bed, but woke at 11:45 long enough to turn the light off.

Friday I got up, stripped the bed, packed, had a quick breakfast with Helena and drove home. My "check engine" light came on right away so I had a pretty tense time for 158 miles and cancelled the trip with Bernadette to Apple Hill for the next day. I figured it was probably OK to drive home if this was the same thing I had before, but since that was only 3 months ago (and I'd spent $130 on it) I was NOT a Happy Camper. At the vet, they'd lost my leash, so I got a better one for Pharaoh's vet visits. I hoped that filling the car again would fix the problem, but nooooo.