Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

12/07/09 - Happy Birthday, John!
Click to add your comment

The year of 1967 saw the Paul Smith family living in UC Berkeley "student housing" situated in Albany, California. It was to this small enclave of Berkeley neighbors that we brought home our beautiful sixth child - John Francis. He was named after Pope John XXIII who opened the windows of the Roman Catholic Church, and after St. Francis of Assisi (among others titles, has been revered as the friend of animals).

Today John lives in Nashville, TN and celebrates his 42nd birthday ... how did our "baby" grow so fast?

At any rate, Happy Birthday, Dear John! We're so glad you're part of our family!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We've had a few sad posts of late, and while our hearts are still hurting over the loss of John and Ginny, life goes on, and in this post I want to hit on a few of the more positive and fun activities that have been going on in this El Centro RV park.

A day after our return to El Centro, Kathleen went looking for our esteemed park manager. The only answer she received from everyone was "Oh, Phyllis is in jail". No other explanation was forthcoming, even though trying to find her was no joke! Phyllis WAS in jail!!!

Why and how of her arrest was eventually revealed, and the story is a gem!

Seems the Muscular Dystrophy Association Director of Business Development in the city of El Centro invited an elite group of "most wanted" leaders to participate in the 2009 El Centro Lock-Up (hosted by our local Carino's Italian Grill) to benefit the local San Diego & Imperial Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This is how it worked:

Local business and community leaders agreed to be "arrested" for having a "big heart" in the fun, MDA Lock-Up. Each organization that participated was handed down a bail of $800. Support of the MDA Lock-Up helps provide wheelchairs, clinic visits, support groups and summer camp for the families served by the MDA.

So early in the morning of November 18th, the police arrived at Sunbeam Lake RV Resort, handcuffed our manager, put her in the police car and carted her off to jail where she was booked and incarcerated.

Happily for all of us, Phyllis had already raised more than the required $800 and was the first "prisoner" to face the black robed judge. She paid her money and was released - to the joy of us all!

We are all proud of Phyllis for participating in this most worthy cause, and for all the residents who gave so generously toward this cause.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A 50th wedding anniversary was celebrated last Saturday. The children of Ingrid and Raynor hosted a "gold star" celebration that was enjoyed by many Sunbeam residents. In addition to hosting their parent's anniversary party, their girls presented the happy couple with the gift of a week in Hawaii! Some time in January the two lovebirds will be taking leave of Sunbeam and fly off to Hawaii! We all offer warm congratulations on their memorable celebration!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We finally put our 2nd storage shed together and are now working toward completing as much of the "deck" along the side of our Park Model as we can.

Son Paul and family have plans to come down here on Christmas day for a few days. Paul Junior's thought was to build the deck for us. However, during all our building this summer (on the apartment) Paul got the "building bug" and we hope to have most of the deck constructed before Paul and family arrive. We'd very much enjoy Paul's help in the last minute tasks, but also want him and the family to relax and enjoy themselves during their visit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Recently we visited the Pioneers Museum & Cultural Center in El Centro. This imposing building and contents was entirely paid for by Valley citizen's pockets to keep history alive for future generations. It is one of its kind in the country. The museum houses galleries honoring the different ethnic communities and their history of settlement in the Imperial Valley - to name a few. This place held a Christmas program ($7.00 admission) that included food from the many ethnic areas that are represented in the El Centro/Imperial Valley area. Each ethnic group offered a food of their particular homeland. Lots of food was served! Nearly all groups offered a main meal sample and a traditional dessert!! Again, there was a lot of delicious food to be had! We ate our way through several displays (sampling as we went along) and in no time flat, we were "stuffed"!

The evening's entertainment opened with songs by Swiss members.

A number of "dragons" danced and pranced around the audience and on the stage. Chinese drummers kept the pace exciting. The Irish were represented with renditions of favorite Irish ballads. We appreciated the beautiful voices of two ladies who sang traditional Black hymns. Children performed what we think were some techniques of Kuk Sool. Some ladies representing the Philippine Islands performed several Philippine dances that were followed with the rendition of some favorite Philippine songs.

There are so many exhibits, things to read and learn about, that we've decided that the Pioneers Museum & Cultural Center is next on our list of places we must visit!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We have three main Christmas activities going on here at the Park. One is what's called "The Angel Tree". One of the residents here happens to be the manager of the local Sizzler Restaurant. Don has been so incredibly generous to all the residents, providing us with many staples that are used at our holiday dinners. In addition to his generosity to us, he is responsible to get as many "gifts" as possible for the many El Centro children who will have a very "empty" holiday unless we step up to the plate and purchase some little $10 gift. The "angels" have not been disappearing off the tree this year as quickly as they did last year. We're all hoping that every "angel" gets something nice for Christmas. In addition to our "Angel Tree" there's an orphanage of 27 children in Mexicali for whom we are trying to get gifts and/or clothing. We did a little shopping yesterday, and will do a little more to try to make what might otherwise be a toy less Christmas for these children.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally (for this posting) - we had a delightful visit from cousin Chris Prunesti. Chris works as a civilian for the Navy and was in San Diego on business.

We've tried several times to "get together" with him on one of his visits, but we keep missing him. We were particularly happy he was able to drive here on Sunday and have dinner with us. Chris was our very first dinner guest in the park model and we were so happy to have him! We hope to see more of him (and possibly his wife Jean) on future business trips!

Next Earlier Item

Next Later Item

Life on the Road with Paul & Kathleen: "Not bad for two dumb kids from Ohio" - Proving once again that it's never too late to have a happy childhood

Our Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp on CA Hwy 1 40 mi N of Hearst's Castle 11/24/03: Shortly after full-timing began.	Foretravel & Toad at Rio Grand Village Full Hookup Camp, Big Bend NP 5/24/06 - Note the Turkey Buzzard at left with wings outstretched