Nowhere to live....

Day 12

We started out this day at Sacramento Shade RV Park, on Auburn Drive, just miles from Auntie Sam.  Unable to decide where to stay for the rest of our time in Sacramento, I only paid for one day. 

The complex wasn't bad and it was relatively close, but it was more like a neighborhood than an RV park.  They supposedly had free wifi and I actually got set on their system, but the signal was so week that Firefox timed out before I could get a page to load.  There was no way I could post the pictures needed to make an adequate blog entry.

Our kids were playing in the street when Jenny saw Daniel throwing rocks.  An older male resident actually said something to him about it, so we ushered all our kids back in the RV to talk to them about it.  While we were talking, we heard a knock on the door.  "Uh, oh," I said.  And I rolled my eyes before opening the door.

"I'm sorry, ma'am.  I didn't mean for--"

"Your kids don't bother me.  I just wanted to let you know that the person living in the 5th wheel beside you in a registered sex offender."

That sealed the deal.  We pulled the slide in and unhooked all the plugs and hoses and we were on the road.

We unknowingly spent our first night in Sacramento next door to....

When we arrived at Auntie Sam's house, I dropped everyone off at her door, then pulled the coach around to find a parking spot.  Upon entering the house, I first noticed that our five screaming, fighting kids had been replaced by five polite, well-mannered children  from the Victorian Era.  Boy, we must have had her fooled.

In short, we had a very good visit with Auntie Sam.  Her friend, Verna, came up for the occasion of seeing us.  Ben fished a cutting board out from between the kitchen counter and the refrigerator while we were there.  We had to leave early because Auntie Sam needed her nap and we just sensed that our kids were about to go nuts.

Auntie Sam holds Jonathan at her home in Citrus Heights, CA.

Besides, we needed a place to stay for the night, so it gave us the opportunity to look for somewhere.  We were actually thinking a hotel might be a good break from the rigors of extended stay in the motor-home.  I had already called the Ranch Motel and I knew their rates.  We passed it on the road and noted the ample parking and the fact that it is walking distance from Auntie Sam

Driving farther down, we eventually came across a mall.  I figured that it might have wifi at the food court.  When we walked in, we saw an AT&T Store, which unfortunately, we needed to visit.  Jenny had to charge her phone and could not find the cord.  We came out of the mall with two new phones and the kids had watched about half of "Despicable Me."  But, while the food court supposedly had free wifi, I could not get a signal on the laptop, so we basically wasted a bunch of time there, besides getting the new phones.

We had a six o'clock appointment with Rob and it was slightly before four.  Stopping at the Ranch Motel, we were allowed to look in the rooms and Jenny and I were both frightened by what we saw.  However, we did leave the kids in the car while we did this and I left the keys in the seat.  Kimberly managed to start the engine and press the gas.  We were lucky she didn't pull it drive because she could have driven right out into the street.  Needless to say, we were quite upset with Kimberly after this.

We decided to drive around and look for a hotel, eventually stopping and looking on our new phones, and found that there isn't really a lot that is affordable in the area.  I finally decided just to stay at the KOA in Placerville, about 30 miles outside of town.  Making our way into Sacramento, where Rob lives, we eventually met up with him and his wife Erica in a Target parking lot, driving all of us off to a Mexican restaurant that had the best salsa I think I've ever had in my life.

We drove them back to Target, where we finally just got a new car seat for Daniel so we could use his old one for Kimberly, something she can't get out of once she's in it.

Finally driving into Placerville, we stopped at the KOA and hooked up the RV.  I started to post yesterday's blog, but fell asleep while I was writing it....