I thought I'd share how we've adapted our camper in order for me to function while on the road.

Normally this space is our dinette but since I can't climb up into the overcab bed, I'm sleeping solo in this converted bed. And since we have no table to sit at, the breakfast-in-bed tray works awesome as my desk.
Our morning coffees are enjoyed on the step in front of the fridge. Nothing like being flexible. I am so happy to have new vistas to appreciate.

In 1979, I fell in love with stickers. Not just any stickers... Mrs. Grossman's stickers. Can it really be four decades ago her simple rolled adhesive treasures came on the scene?

It's one of the last remaining sticker factories in the United States. Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory in Petaluma had been printing stickers shipped around the world.
Ten years ago, I had the delightful opportunity to tour and learn about this much loved company. When Andrea Grossman designed her first decorative sticker, she had no idea her name would become legendary for launching an industry based on such a simple product. Synonymous with the highest quality, cutting-edge design, vibrant, clean colors, and extraordinary, almost legendary, variety, Mrs. Grossman’s stickers are recognized everywhere.
The company is housed in an elegant contemporary 50,000 square ft. building that is perched on the edge of a wildlife preserve. The factory houses its own massive printing plant and the tour shared all that went into creating these wonderful treats.
I've been planning on returning to Petaluma to share this magical place with my daughter-in-law. When I went online to book a tour, I was dismayed. After all those years of offering tours and running a retail store, the beloved sticker factory has shut down those parts of the operation. It goes to show, never put off something you have wanted to do because one day it will be too late. Darn it.
Mrs. Grossman's stickers are still available everywhere and I will continue to adorn my letters with these whimsical images, though I will mourning the loss of a really amazing place to spend an afternoon.

Looking for something unique to do in Santa Rosa, we headed downtown to visit the Old Post Office (AKA US Government Post Office and Federal Building).

Built 1910, this Roman Renaissance Revival building was designed by James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect for the Treasury Department. It was considered one of the finest buildings north of San Francisco.
Following the devastating 1906 earthquake that hit Santa Rosa, the post office became part of the town's rebuilding effort and was the city's first federal building.

Steve is standing before the Internal Revenue Service's vault.
This 'door to nowhere' intrigued. This lead to the boardwalk and secret viewing corridors in the attic. A series of shafts and ladders allowed the Postmaster or Postal Inspector to perform routine inspections without being seen. Interesting. I love post offices of all ages.
But this noble building's story almost ended. In 1969, it survived a powerful earthquake, only to be slated for demolition to make way for the mall. In 1979, a team took on the impossible task of rolling the 1,700-ton building two blocks, from Fifth to Seventh Street, successfully completing the project in 75 days. The team adopted the slogan, “They said it couldn’t be done!” and after a remodel and expansion, the Sonoma County Museum officially opened its doors on January 12, 1985. And that is why we came today, to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of this unique place in Santa Rosa's history.
After learning the history of the building, we headed up to the mezzanine, which tells stories of Santa Rosa's rich history through objects from the permanent collection. Exhibits included objects from Fountaingrove, Santa Rosa's Chinatown, images following the 1906 earthquake, and more.
A part of the Chinatown exhibit revolves around one remarkable woman, Song Wong Bourbeau. Song, born here in 1909, was the last resident of Chinatown. Her decision, in the 1990s, near the end of her life, to give the museum the surviving artifacts of her early home has provided a clear look back at a time and place that can seem too remote to understand.
Interesting history was discovered at the exhibit about Fountaingrove. This area of town was settled in the 1800s by Thomas Lake Harris, the first of a wave of Utopians to come to Sonoma County. Harris established a commune on the site in 1875 called New Eden of the West, part of his Brotherhood of New Life project. The colony included 1,400 acres of land, upon which he constructed a number of buildings, including a book press and a winery that produced some 70,000 gallons of wine in 1886.
After almost 20 years on the site, Harris was run off the land in 1892 by local Christian groups who opposed his mysticism and arcane ways.
The Fountaingrove charter allowed that the last member of the New Eden group to remain on the land would inherit the property. This person was Kanaye Nagasawa, who lived on the land until his death. Nagasawa, among other things, built the famous round barn and traded viticultural information with Luther Burbank. The Exclusion Act, however, prevented Nagasawa from leaving the land to his heirs when he died. The land fell into county hands and has since been divided and sold to various individuals and businesses.



The final component of our visit was Artistry in Wood, an annual exhibition presented by the Sonoma County Woodworkers Association in partnership with the Museum of Sonoma County. Staged every year since 1982, it is recognized as one of the premier fine woodworking shows in North America and has become a favorite among museum visitors.
I loved the details of Charlie Saul's Octopus.
I appreciated the raw message of The Calculated and Systematic Dismantling and Sinking of Blue Collar Workers.
Paul Marini's A Mouse's Life mesmerized. Wood, as an artform, is pretty impressive.

Who knew a 110 year old building, set to be destroyed, could hold so many treasures. What history. What art. What discoveries. What fun.

We strolled to the local library where we saw this darling sculpture in Santa Rosa.

United for Libraries, in partnership with the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, designated the Sonoma County Library a Literary Landmark in honor of Charles M. Schulz.
As a resident of Sonoma County for more than 40 years, Schulz (1922-2000) is remembered for bringing to life stories of the Peanuts gang, including Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy, who are seen through comic strips, books, television and the big screen.

Interestingly, there are more than 160 Literary Landmarks across the United States. I think seeking these sights out would be a great catalyst for a road trip. Hmmm.

My heart goes out to our friends who just can't seem to get a break. First Hurricane Maria and then a huge Earthquake.

This was Margarita's response when I wrote her today, "We are all well. I got electricity back. But it was a terrible and frightening experience (and there are still many less intense and length movements). The yesterday earthquake (at 4:32 am and a big repeat at 7am) were awfully scary. There has been a lot of damage to some towns at the southwest  part of the island (our town of Ponce is also southern). There are some damaged houses at Ponce but there is not general devastation. My house is made of reinforced concrete and even that it shaked a lot, I have not found cracks on the walls. Many picture frames fell down, doors were opened, paintings slided a little on the walls, my only lost was a small Cuba souvenir doll that fell and broke! But at Guánica (a small town where USA entered when we were invaded in 1898) many people lost their houses (the epicenter of the earthquake was there).

We had been experiencing small movements since December 28 so I had prepared a space between my bed and the wall where I put battery radio, fan, and lantern, water bottles, a whistle, a backpack with documents, etc, and a few pillows. So when I woke up with the earthquake I jumped in the space and covered myself with pillows. I stayed there for 5 hours until the movements were more sparse and faint. (I did not know at that time if my house would resist the magnitude). It is shaking at this very moment while I’m writing, I'm getting used to it... Well, now you know! I’m okay. Thank you for caring!"

Every now and then you stumble upon the most appropriate greeting card. This one is painfully perfect.

We found this description so intriguing, we just had to stop. "Go behind the scenes in the high-tech world of California’s famed Silicon Valley. See what it’s like inside an ultra-clean, highly automated silicon chip factory, and connect with technologies that give us new ways to work, learn, play, and communicate. The Intel Museum is 10,000 square feet of fun, interactive learning for children and adults."

Intel was founded in 1968, by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. Originally called “NM Electronics” — for Noyce and Moore — the company purchased the rights to use the name “Intel,” short for Integrated Electronics, from a company called Intelco. The rest, they say. is history.
For over five decades, Intel’s research and development, advanced silicon chips, and manufacturing have brought together the best of computing, communications, and consumer electronics to enable valuable benefits from technology.

I can't even begin to comprehend all of this but it was fun trying. I was amazed by chips- complex devices that form the brains of every computing device. While chips look flat, they are three-dimensional structures and may include as many as 30 layers of complex circuitry. The Intel® 4004 Chip is kind of the daddy of them all.

We also learned about the Altair 8800, a microcomputer designed in 1974 based on the Intel 8080 CPU. Interest grew quickly after it was sold by mail order through magazine advertisements. The designers hoped to sell a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were surprised when they sold thousands in the first month. The Altair also appealed to individuals and businesses that just wanted a computer and purchased the assembled version. The Altair is widely recognized as the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution as the first commercially successful personal computer


Silicon, the principal ingredient in beach sand, is a natural semiconductor and the most abundant element on Earth except for oxygen. Remember me saying that I can't even begin to comprehend it all? Sand? Wow.

Chips are fabricated in batches of wafers in clean rooms that are thousands of times cleaner than hospital operating rooms.Technicians wear special suits, nicknamed bunny suits, designed to keep contaminants such as lint and hair off the wafers during chip manufacturing. Now, that I can totally understand.
While we barely scratched the surface of Intel and all its amazements, we did thorough enjoy learning its history and we were so impressed by all the company has accomplished. This museum demands more time and thought than we had to give it today. Super fun though.

The New Year was greeted while boondocking at the Paso Robles Airport.

What a spectacular welcoming the new decade's first sunrise gave us. It was then on to Gilroy and some of its world famous garlic, "The spice that put Gilroy on the map."
Commercial cultivation of garlic in Gilroy began in 1929, with the arrival of Kiyoshi Hirasaki from Japan, who raised and marketed garlic alongside other vegetables. Within a decade Hirasaki converted all his land to garlic production, and by the 1940s ran the largest commercial garlic farm in the United States. Gilroy was on its way to earning its title as “The Garlic Capital of the World.”
Shopping for garlic fun was a must before continuing north.