Back from Vacation at Lake Almanor

Back from a fun and relaxing five days at the lake. I have slowly moved up from the weekend to three days to four days and now five days. Next year I will spend a full week at the lake. The resort that we stay at is in escrow and is selling to a development company. This is the second resort to sell in five years and we've had to move twice. Next year we have rented a small cabin (two bedrooms, two baths and a living room and kitchen). The resort has privately owned bungalows that are rented on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. The resort is about twenty-five years old, but was remodeled a year ago and we will stay put there. This resort is about an 1/8th of a mile by lake and about a half mile by car from Lake Almanor Resort. LAR has been for sale for three years and finally sold. The problem is the owners have done repairs as needed and cosmetic repairs only. The cabins are old and musty and the appliances and plumbing are falling apart. We were in a cabin last year where the bathroom sink fell off the wall.

The new resort is located in Big Cove, a cove area with about a 1/5th of a mile of 5 MPH water. The new resort, Lakeside Resort at Lake Almanor, is the first resort inside the 5 MPH zone and we will not have to go through the agony of 5 MPH for too long.

The trip was not without it's mishaps. This time the jet ski was put into the water with one of its drain plugs screwed in cross-threaded and it took on water overnight filling the hull to over the battery with water. We had to pull the ski out, drain it and blow out the cylinders. It is 1200 cc and there was about that much water in the cylinder block. We thought it was toast as water kept shooting out of the cylinders, but we put the plugs back in and it fired right up. One of the boys ran the ski out of fuel and the next morning David tried to start the ski to no avail. Unfortunately he realized it was out of gas too late and had run the battery dry. We had to have it on a batttery charger for four hours and missed a day of skiing.

I was able to get in on the golf this year as I was in town long enough. There is a group from Reno-Sparks who have camped the same week as us for four years and they invite me to golf every year and I'm gone by the time they play. This year we played a championship course, Bailey Creek, at Lake Almanor. It is a tough course, about 6800 yards from the championship tees. I played against a 6 handicap, a 15 and an 18. We played 6-6-6, alternating partners every six holes. I won $11 and shot a 39+42=81 to win the skins and the overall. Steve, the 6, shot an 83, Bob, the 15, shot a 95 and Chris, the 18, shot a 105. I had a ball.

I also played golf on Saturday at Turkey Creek and shot a 40+42=82. This is the course that we will play the NCGA two man qualifier, (second round) on August 3rd. Steve Matthews, my partner, shot a 94 and we shot 10-under as a team. We figure we'll need to be 12-under to qualify. Boyd Robertson played with us and shot a very nice 76.

The boys had their two cousins, Shea and Taylor, come up for the trip to Almanor. They stayed at Alicia's cabin. Shea just started a new job and had to work Sunday and tonight, so she arrived Monday at noon and left this morning at six A.M. Her Ford Taurus was overheating and Earl flushed the radiator and added more coolant. She left early to beat the heat and her car boiled over just as she arrived at home. The hand of God was on her as she drove the 4 1/2 hours home to Willits from Almanor. Taylor drove up on Sunday and arrived after Dan and I. Dan was in SoCal on a CIY retreat until Saturday morning and I took the opportunity to golf. We arrived in Almanor about 5:00 PM and Taylor got there about 6:00.

Steve, one of the guys I golfed with has a wakeboard boat, a Mastercraft X-9 and he came over Monday afternoon and picked up David and Daniel and I. We brought Shea with us and she handled the flag. David was really able to get some air with a boat that has a tow rack and Daniel looked really good wakeboarding and wake skating. Steve came back over this morning and took David, Taylor, Alicia and I back out. Daniel was sleeping and Darla was up at the cabin. Darla was a little unhappy that I didn't walk up to the cabin and get her as she would have liked to go on the boat. Steve was supposed to be back this afternoon to take Daniel out and hopefully she got to go then.

Dave and I got home a little after six and I have mowed the lawn, sprayed down the sidewalks, driveway and gutters, watered the lawn, spot sprayed some weed killer and washed my car. Vacation doesn't allow me much time to practice my OCD tendencies, so I got them out of the way this evening. I called my assistant Connie on the road home as she is out Thursday and Friday and I was gone Mon-Weds. It sounds like things were hectic, but the desk is busy and we were leading the office in premium and income as of last Friday, so all is good.

Darla will be home Saturday by noon. I've got an early golf game Saturday and then we have been invited to a tennis match in Sacramento where Nicole Valdisova will be playing. She is some gorgeous 16 year-old tennis player from Russia. We will eat Mexican food, drink margaritas and watch tennis. Sounds like fun.

Well, it's late. I need to rest my weary bones. I will try to add some vacation pix to the blog next week. I hope all are well and in Christ. Ciao.