Providence

There's always a God out there taking care of us. Or maybe St. Christoper? or perhaps St. Francis. Daisy's got an eye infection, but as luck would have it, we are so close to brother Nate Lincoln that we got an appointment with his vet. She's got pinkeye. Drops twice a day, which is harder to do than bathing a cat, but she'll be fine soon.

Then as we pulled the last hill before turning off the highway toward Nate's house, the RV ran out of power. Again. We knew what it was. This happened on our first road trip, and the mechanic had given us a spare part. It's a resonator for the turbo booster. Nate said there would be a park and ride 1/4 mile ahead, which afforded a smooth surface for Carl to become a shade tree mechanic. The part where God stepped in is that I was not alone or with a girlfriend who was not a mechanic. Once Carl got started after finding the right tools, he was done in about 30 minutes.

We followed Nate under full power to his home in the sierra foothills, a lovely spot with trees and hills and two goats named Smokey and Bandit and a horse named Frisco and a dog named Sierra who doesn't like other dogs. Daisy is familiar with dogs named Sierra that are Alpha, and she knows to lay low.

We took a driving tour of the area, Bass Lake, before being treated by Nate and Candy to a fine Italian dinner in Oakhurst. Back home, we introduced them to Farkel, and I lost badly.

Nate is so much like his dad that I felt I was in Fred's presence. I do miss that man, Fred, Carl's dad, who became my adopted father and was a real soul mate. Fred went out of his way to have a relationship with each person in his life separate and different from any other. He never required that people be all alike, he just came to you on your terms. I felt like Fred was there with us, approving that we were together, accepting each other as we were.