Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all have enjoyed your Christmas. We left hell, uh, I mean Vallejo, on Thursday morning. Did a little more driving that we had wanted, but made it here before dark. We took highway 12 down from Fairfield. It was a beautiful drive but a bit bumpy, and there were a couple of bridges that made me feel a little more than uneasy until we got past them. They looked WAY too low. We drove past an arae of hundreds of windmills that were truly gi-hugic! It was quite a sight. We have had a quiet [View Full Entry]

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We spent Thursday night at Dos Reis County Park in San Joaquin County, CA. Ok, I didn’t get to see the Civil War on television, but I look forward to seeing the Ducks play in the Rose Bowl. Since there are no longer any college or pro football teams worth watching in Washington State, we must look southward to Oregon for caliber football. But I did get some nice photos at Dos Reis and the San Joaquin River. No, I’m not going to post a photo of the new dent I put in the right hip of The Beast, trying to [View Full Entry]

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After driving all morning we arrived back home this afternoon. Got to talk to the neighbors about the local happenings. The lawn is looking sad, overgrown and brown, I’m sure our local watchdog is not very happy with us. Oh well I clean up next week. For now I’ve got to finish up the work I brought home and we leave for Santa Barbara tomorrow for a couple of days. [View Full Entry]

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Finally the claims are completed and now it is”sit back and wait for the money” time. In the meantime before China I’d signed Justin and I up for a claims conference with Crawford which takes place in Dallas TX this week. We have signed up for workshops to get our earthquake and flood certification. Justin also will have the opportunity to meet with HR and have the estimating program installed in his computer. I’d wanted to fly but it saves money to drive and pull the RV with both of going. Then on Friday Crawford called and said bring work supplies, [View Full Entry]

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For those of you following our trip, Nate just sent a new itinerary. Yongzhou is out, too difficult to get to quickly. x Arrive in PRC/ tiananmen Beijing Jade Market Forbidden City Beijing Great Wall Great Wall Great Wall bus Great Wall Evening Train to XinXiang Xinxiang Xinxiang-village Xinxiang- village Xinxiang Xinxiang- Evening bus to Luyang Luoyang Longmen Grottos Hekeda University Luoyang AM train to XiAn terra cota warriors + Muslim qtr Xi'an Xi'an plane to 3 gorges 3 gorges Tour 3 Gorges Dam Tour 3 Gorges Dam 3 gorges plane to Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou plane t [View Full Entry]

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Last night Nate let me know that we will only have a guide for 1 day, in Xinxiang, otherwise I am the guide. He will get me names of hotels in Chinese and places to go, but it is up to me to get my brother and I around. This makes me just a little nervous. I’ve been on my own in China but to places I know how to get to. I really want my brother to have a good trip so don’t want to mess up. But on the other hand we will be able to make changes that [View Full Entry]

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Got our itinerary today: May 15- Leave LAX May 16- Arrive in PEK. Check in to , visit Tiananmen Square and go out to dinner. May 17- Forbidden City, Jade Market, Old Summer Palace (if time allows) May 18- car to Great Wall, night at hotel at the Wall. May 19- car to Beijing, train trip to Xinxiang, night at hotel in Xinxiang May 20- Yellow River, Chinese Opera, visit villages, night at hotel in Xinxiang May 21- bus to Luoyang, Dragon's Gate Grottos, night at hotel in Luoyang May 22- train to Xi'an, dinner in Muslim Quarter, night at Bell [View Full Entry]

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Early this morning I left and drove to Lancaster to pick up my mom, then off to L.A. again. This time we didn’t need the GPS, we knew the way. We were at the Chinese Embassy by 11:30 and found a parking place in the shade. A good sign! Once in the embassy we went to the 3rd floor where ones apply for the visas. The room is a large room with one wall of windows at which embassy people help those of us needing visas or passports or whatever else one needs there. The room was full of Chinese old [View Full Entry]

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Since my son Nate has another tour going to China we decided that I’d get the visas for the people in the other tour as I was getting ours. I checked the site Monday night to check the address as it has been some time since I’ve been there. What a surprise to see that they were not issuing any 1 day visas, and had extended the time to process visas from 4 days to now 6 days. Today, Tuesday, I planned to pick up my mom then drive to near Nate’s to pick up the visa apps from his tour [View Full Entry]

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Just when it is getting down to the wire for any trip it seems that hell breaks loose and whatever can happen will happen. So it goes at our house. Last week I thought that my retina was starting to detach, a surgery would put me out for 3 weeks, right when I’d be leaving for China. The eye Doctor found that the vitreous gel sac has started to detach, not as dangerous as the retina. I stopped working out for the time being as my eye starts bothering me when I get too busy. Then the swine flu hit, China [View Full Entry]

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