Santa Nella

If you find yourself cruising along I-5 between Sacramento and Los Angeles, you'll pass by the booming metropolis of Santa Nella. (Yes, we're kidding about the booming metropolis part.) We made our way there Thursday afternoon to park Bullwinkle in the company of other Winnebagos. (Look at all of them!) This Winnie party at the San Luis RV Park was the site of the Chardonnay Travelers Thanksgiving Rally. The Chardonnay Travelers are a Bay Area chapter of the Winnebago-Itasca Travelers Clubs. We first met the Chardonnays on our shakedown cruise to Oroville. We liked them so much we decided to catch up with them. And, they liked us enough to welcome us a new members.

The weekend was filled with seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones. RV people are generally fun. But, we have to say Winnie owners -- and this group in particular -- are GREAT! We enjoyed good weather, great stories, lots of laughter and gobs of good food. Friday afternoon we discovered the world famous Pea Soup Andersen's. (If you're hungry when you pass by this part of I-5, it's definitely worth a stop.) On Saturday night we gathered for a Thanksgiving feast with turkey and everyone's favorite fixin's. It was wonderful.


Before Friday night's dinner of delicious tri-tip, we hosted an impromptu open house to introduce our new friends to our new motorhome. We sipped sparkling wine in the setting sunshine. Lots of fun!


After the party, we learned a valuable lesson. When you have the door to your motorhome open in a comfortable campground on a warm November afternoon in California's central valley, you not only attract a lot of great RV folks. You also attract flies. Gobs of them! Much of our Saturday was spent with swatter in hand as we cleared our rolling home of these unwanted guests. (Our ceiling is "fuzzy", so swatting them up there is off limits.)

It was a small price to pay for a fun gathering with new friends and a delightful kickoff to the holiday season.