If you enjoy the camaraderie of making friends with other campers and welcome pleasantries and casual questions, you may learn some interesting stories from unexpected sources.
A couple riding Harleys passed by next door; the guy looked a little badass and his pretty young passenger had a lovely smile. I told Barbara that these guys on the big Harleys attract unusual women to ride with them. We said, “Hi, how are you?” He returned the greeting in a gruff voice and set up their tent and camping chairs. How do they get their camping gear in those compartments?
The next day we chatted a bit and I asked, “So how did you meet?” They laughed and said it was quite a story. She is 36 and he is 60; he “met” her mother 36 years ago, but then he moved on with his life elsewhere. He got married and started a blended family with another woman.
About a year ago, he learned that he had a daughter from that time with her mother. He lives in New Mexico, near Farmington in the high country; she lives and works in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. He rode his motorcycle to visit his daughter; they traveled together and made up for lost time. From Waldport, Oregon, they drove to the redwoods of California before she had to go back to work. What a father-daughter reunion.
It felt kind enough to ask for a favor. Our RV had gotten water from the front air conditioner in the rain. Maybe I had damaged the cover when I took the RV cover off in May. Or maybe the loud crashing noises I heard in the tall trees of Honeyman State Park were pine cones falling at high speed onto the plastic air conditioner cover.
“Larry” was about 13 years younger; my personal health was not good enough to climb on the roof. I asked him for help, if he would be comfortable climbing on the roof to tell me about the cracks. He surprised me by saying, “Why don’t I just take some photos and send them to your wife?”
He took pictures of the rear air conditioning cover and I said it was the front one. He said, “Just let me do my job.” And sure enough, the pine cones had punched holes in the rear cover and cracked the front one. That night we shared some of our wood and drank good cheer with them around their fire ring. The next day they were on their way.
An elderly couple now owns this space; casual small talk turned to where they are from and why they are here. They are from Forest Grove, Oregon and were here to watch their grandson swim in Newport. I said “God bless the parents”; it is quite a sacrifice to take their son to the pool to swim so he can do the laps he needs. He came in second in his race; congratulations.
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No comments on local events in Tehama County other than a prayer of relief that Manton, Mill Creek and Camp Tehama were spared from the Park Fire. I just hope the current 34 percent containment (as of Saturday) gets closer to 100 percent. Kudos to Liz Merry for keeping readers updated.
Since state issues and events are part of my column’s “turf,” there is, shall we say, a “target-rich environment” that includes current candidate Kamala Harris’ time in California. Let’s leave that aside for now and start with Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil’s party switch from Democrat to Republican. A news story reported on that on Saturday, but it’s worth examining in more detail how far left the Democratic Party has moved in California.
Democrats are of course upset about her party switch, but voters in her district gave more votes to Republicans. They were split among several candidates, so Alvarado-Gil emerged victorious in the “jungle primary” against a very left-leaning Democrat. She reportedly had conflicts with her party; it’s not unlike when Ronald Reagan said he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, but the Democratic Party left him – or in this case her. Our parliamentary friend Jim Nielsen retired after serving as state senator for this district, KCRA.com reported.
Among the issues over which Ms. Alvarado-Gil has serious differences with her former party are the “lenient” Proposition 47 and attempts to reinstate traditional incarceration through its reform this fall. In typical title manipulation, Democrats gave the “Get Out of Jail, Don’t Go to Prison for Crimes” measure the misleading title “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Or the “Shoplifting Under $950 Is Not Grand Theft” law.
Democrats in Sacramento are so obsessed with keeping the anti-incarceration aspects of Prop 47 that they have pushed through some half-measures to dissuade voters from overturning Prop 47 and reinstating harsh penalties for serious crimes. Californians are fed up with drug and theft crime, whether in Tehama County or in cities further south; we hope the reform is well received.
