We got back from our last camping trip a week ago Monday - and then by Wednesday, wanted to hit the road again. But - I had jury duty starting on Monday, so we decided as soon as I was done we'd head out again - I was hoping we'd be done by Wednesday and leave Thursday. When I checked over the weekend, I didn't have to report Monday AM, but my number was in the group that was supposed to call in at 11 AM. But at 11, the Superior Court's internet system was down, including their phones! It wasn't fixed until Tuesday afternoon - at which time I found out that I had to report at 8:30 AM on Wednesday - ohhhnooes! I don't DO mornings.
So I dragged myself up at 5 AM to finish the morning rituals, and got into court, and then a while after 9 our group got herded over to the courthouse - to - oohhhnoooes! - the courtroom of the judge who heard my case against my stalker 3 years ago!
For those who don't know, my stalker was a batshit crazy DSer who I invited to stay in my home for a few weeks while she moved to San Jose back in 2008, and then she wouldn't leave or pay rent. We finally evicted her after she was in our house for a year, and she proceeded to harass and defame me on the internet, and then actually STALKED me to my doctor's office (she had apparently called the medical group where I go, claiming to be me, to find out when my next appointment was, and lurked in the waiting room until I came out from my appointment (during which I had some dermatological surgery) and then "surreptitiously" took photos of me, and then photoshopped them to make it look like I'd gained back all my weight, which pix her buddy in Alabama posted on her FB page, and then tagged dozens of people who knew me.
I'm sure she thought she had gotten away with it. However, the stalker didn't notice that my husband was in the waiting room (he had shaved his beard and mustache and she didn't recognize him, I guess, nor was she expecting him to be there), and he heard her talk on her phone and identify herself while she was waiting for me to come out - he saw her, and when I came out of the waiting room, he quickly came over and warned me so I saw her too.
She was a NUTCASE who said she always carried a gun, and she was claiming (my sources were sending things to me she probably thought I wouldn't see) that I was trying to get her killed by contacting people she was hiding from, who supposedly wanted to kill her and so she had changed her identity - needless to say, this stalking incident unsettled me and Charles, and when I posted about it on OH, people told me to call the police - so I did, and they told me to file for a restraining order - which I did.
And rather than accept the consequences of what she did, and agree to the terms of the TRO, she decided to fight it. And thus it turned into a full trial, including depositions (of her and her co-conspirator in Alabama - a cunt I had helped get insurance approval for her DS, no less!), subpoenas, motions to quash and tens of thousands of $$ in lawyer fees. She must have sucked her new boyfriend dry (in more ways than one) to get that money for this - and HE must have known that the entire basis of her defense was going to be perjured, but - that's what she did.
The thing was, she wasn't careful about her perjury - and didn't seem to understand the power of the subpoena. She presented fabricated evidence at her deposition trying to establish that she was 400 miles away at the time of the stalking incident, but we were able to prove they were forgeries - which she had presented to the court. When that Perry Mason moment happened, the judge was PISSED! He awarded me a permanent CRIMINAL restraining order, and then ordered a sanctions hearing in which (after a whole nother set of her sociopathic machinations that took several more months, including leaving the state and filing for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid the sanctions hearing from happening), he awarded me all my attorneys' fees (a whole THIRD nother story not relevant here).
During the trial, not only was there forgeries uncovered dramatically, and perjuries related to that, she lied about her medical "condition" trying to continually get continuances and got caught, and faked a seizure in court. A simple civil harassment case had close to 10 pretrial hearings for continuances and motions to quash, 4 days of trial spread out over 5 weeks, and the multiply-postponed sanctions hearing which occurred 8 months later. Even at the sanctions hearing, the stalker's utterly obvious purpose was on display, which was to embarrass and harass me - and the judge was fully aware of it. In defense of the motion for sanctions, she filed a 29 page screed with the court claiming my house was filthy with cat shit and vomit, and a detailed description of the smell of my DS poop that wafted out of my house, across the yard, into the pool house where she was squatting, fouling her air and making her hair and clothes stink all day. It was loathsome (and ridiculous - did I mention SHE was a DSer who ate carbs with abandon, such that she blew up like she was 9 months preggo all the time?). The judge would not let her discuss it at the hearing and ruled against her. He made specific mention that the case was one of the most "memorable" ones he'd ever presided over.
So - with that background - my juror group was sent to HIS courtroom!!!
I was writhing. I really REALLY did not want to be in there - not just because my husband and I had eye doctor's appointments at 2:30 that we had had for 3 months, and because I wanted to go camping, but - the judge is quite the jocular and chatty guy, and I really REALLY didn't want him to make comments about me or the case in open court!
And then, after the bailiff took roll call, the judge came out (whew - he didn't hear my name at that point!), and said that it was a breach of contract case estimated to take TEN DAYS!! What??? I couldn't stay for 10 days!! He then asked if there were any juror for whom this would be a hardship, and HALF THE JURY POOL LINED UP! OMG - I KNEW I couldn't ask for a deferral - first of all, I just didn't have a good excuse; second, as an attorney and officer of the court, I am supposed to set a good example; and third, because he would have recognized me and reamed me a new asshole if I had tried to get out of it. (In fact, he was pretty hardassed about not letting people go - he made one older guy who had had a PACEMAKER implanted last week stay, and told him to reschedule his doctor's appointment!) That process took until well after 11 AM.
So I sat in fear and loathing while the bailiff slowly called up 18 prospective jurors for voir dire - and breathed a sigh of relief when my name wasn't called. The judge then began the lengthy process of interrogating each of the 18 prospective jurors about details of their life - married, how many kids, where did they live, what do your family members do or what did they do for a living, ever been involved in a trial, did they know any of the parties or attorneys, a few questions about their knowledge of the industry that the case was about, all sorts of stuff, discussing some personal stuff right in open court. Then just before noon, the judge gave the plaintiff's counsel the go-ahead to ask specific questions of certain jurors - and then there was a 90 min break for lunch.
When we got back, the judge let the defense ask more questions - and their attorney went on for QUITE a while, and then the judge announced that there would be a few peremptory challenges and releasing some of the potential jurors - I held my breath - one by one, four potential jurors were sent on their way - and - IT WAS OVER! They had their jury, two alternates, and the rest of us were sent home! I swear the judge kept looking to the back of the courtroom at me - my hair is different, and I wear glasses instead of contacts now - but if he recognized me, he didn't say. WHEW!!!
And I got out JUST in time to race to our doctor's appointments. (I will be having minor laser eye surgery in three weeks to blast my damned ginormous floater; Charles' is a different kind of diffuse floater, and would need to actually invade his eye, so they decided to wait until Charles needs cataract surgery in a few years, and get a twofer out of it (actually three, because he has another thing that should be fixed eventually).
OK, now back to our trip. (I'm hoping I can put in Jackie's gif here:
Yes!! It really does look like our RV (except the door opens on the other side, of course)!
So, while not being sure of what our plans would be, we tried to figure out where to go that is compatible with the weather, not TOO far, preferably somewhere new, with something to do besides sitting in the RV watching TV (not that there's anything wrong with that!), and that we could safely take the cats. So what we came up with is Paso Robles, in Central CA, not too far from Morrow Bay/Pismo. We have stayed at Pismo twice already, once "with" our kids (they were boondock camping on the beach itself, which we were not willing to do - it was our first long trip - we stayed in a kind of crummy RV park a few blocks from the beach) and once in a fancier and more expensive campground on our way up from LA on our big trip in October. But we hadn't explored much of the surrounding area.
There are three campgrounds in Paso Robles, two of them are fancy-pants resorts at about $75/night, with spas and such, and one that is supposed to be nice (good Yelp reviews) but about $50/night. We decided to go to the cheaper one. Fortunately, this time of year, they are not that busy, so we were able to wait until we know exactly when we could go to make reservations. I am (unfortunately) not that busy with work, but I will have internet and phone anyway, so I can work while we're away if something comes up.
We're going to take a side trip to Cambria and Hearst castle, and go on a guided tour of the Castle focused on its construction. We're taking our bikes. And I MIGHT go to a couple of the many wineries that have sprung up around Paso Robles - I'm becoming less and less interested in drinking alcohol recently, since every time I do, I get "hot flashes" and feel a bit uncomfortable. I wasn't much of a drinker anyway, so it doesn't bother me to cut back even more - but I like tasting wines and having them for when company comes over.
The weather is going to be quite nice this weekend and early next week http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USCA0842:1:US, and we don't have to be back for any reason until Wednesday late afternoon. So I made the reservation through Monday night, and made sure to get a spot we can stay in another day if the weather holds - we do NOT want to drive home in the rain.
We spent the day shopping and doing laundry and planning and such, and preparing for a 160 mile drive in the morning. The kitties know something is up
The whole RV thing just keeps growing on us. There is definitely a learning curve in RVing - there are a zillion little adaptations to life on the road, most of which are not that hard, but you have to THINK about them - you DON'T leave the water heater running all the time - it eats up the propane, so you have to plan ahead when you are going to want to use it; the whole special TP thing (I HATE that thin septic-safe stuff!) vs. using regular TP and a Litter Geni to hold the regular paper; figuring what kind of cooking you're going to do based on how much propane it takes vs. using free electricity; calculating how much of stuff you're going to take vs. the fact that you are NOT away from civilization and can go shopping any time you want. We had to establish new habits and routines, which are different from our usual at home routines, and different from our regular travel regimens - and instead of being stressful, it is FUN.
Charles takes care of the mornings, as usual - he makes my coffee, and heads to the campground bathroom, while I answer emails and do the morning routine in the computer, handling work. He makes me breakfast for both of us, and then I shower (not in the RV - tried it once, it has very weak water pressure and makes a bit of a mess - and now that's where the litter box is kept). Then we go out and do things, or watch TV if the weather is bad or we just feel like hanging out. I clean the litterbox, wash most of the dishes - I don't do either at home, but I love doing it in the RV. I cook lunches and dinners - at home, I usually only do special meals. At home, Charles does most of the housekeeping (or arranges for it) - with the RV, I'm the one who sweeps and scrubs the floors, by my choice, and I help set it up and take down the connections (except the waste tanks - that's his bailiwick!). It's not like role-play reversal or anything - it's just an alternate way of interacting.
I'm going to learn to drive the RV on the freeway on this trip - after we get out of San Jose. I want to drive where it is just light traffic at speed.
I know we really DON'T want to do it, but there is a great temptation to start thinking about buying a much nicer RV, a much more expensive one, and dump the house and live in the RV. I just can't bear the idea of putting that much money into a depreciating asset - it is what stops me from doing it. But there is a temptation to at least downsize, I can say that for sure!
So I dragged myself up at 5 AM to finish the morning rituals, and got into court, and then a while after 9 our group got herded over to the courthouse - to - oohhhnoooes! - the courtroom of the judge who heard my case against my stalker 3 years ago!
For those who don't know, my stalker was a batshit crazy DSer who I invited to stay in my home for a few weeks while she moved to San Jose back in 2008, and then she wouldn't leave or pay rent. We finally evicted her after she was in our house for a year, and she proceeded to harass and defame me on the internet, and then actually STALKED me to my doctor's office (she had apparently called the medical group where I go, claiming to be me, to find out when my next appointment was, and lurked in the waiting room until I came out from my appointment (during which I had some dermatological surgery) and then "surreptitiously" took photos of me, and then photoshopped them to make it look like I'd gained back all my weight, which pix her buddy in Alabama posted on her FB page, and then tagged dozens of people who knew me.
I'm sure she thought she had gotten away with it. However, the stalker didn't notice that my husband was in the waiting room (he had shaved his beard and mustache and she didn't recognize him, I guess, nor was she expecting him to be there), and he heard her talk on her phone and identify herself while she was waiting for me to come out - he saw her, and when I came out of the waiting room, he quickly came over and warned me so I saw her too.
She was a NUTCASE who said she always carried a gun, and she was claiming (my sources were sending things to me she probably thought I wouldn't see) that I was trying to get her killed by contacting people she was hiding from, who supposedly wanted to kill her and so she had changed her identity - needless to say, this stalking incident unsettled me and Charles, and when I posted about it on OH, people told me to call the police - so I did, and they told me to file for a restraining order - which I did.
And rather than accept the consequences of what she did, and agree to the terms of the TRO, she decided to fight it. And thus it turned into a full trial, including depositions (of her and her co-conspirator in Alabama - a cunt I had helped get insurance approval for her DS, no less!), subpoenas, motions to quash and tens of thousands of $$ in lawyer fees. She must have sucked her new boyfriend dry (in more ways than one) to get that money for this - and HE must have known that the entire basis of her defense was going to be perjured, but - that's what she did.
The thing was, she wasn't careful about her perjury - and didn't seem to understand the power of the subpoena. She presented fabricated evidence at her deposition trying to establish that she was 400 miles away at the time of the stalking incident, but we were able to prove they were forgeries - which she had presented to the court. When that Perry Mason moment happened, the judge was PISSED! He awarded me a permanent CRIMINAL restraining order, and then ordered a sanctions hearing in which (after a whole nother set of her sociopathic machinations that took several more months, including leaving the state and filing for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid the sanctions hearing from happening), he awarded me all my attorneys' fees (a whole THIRD nother story not relevant here).
During the trial, not only was there forgeries uncovered dramatically, and perjuries related to that, she lied about her medical "condition" trying to continually get continuances and got caught, and faked a seizure in court. A simple civil harassment case had close to 10 pretrial hearings for continuances and motions to quash, 4 days of trial spread out over 5 weeks, and the multiply-postponed sanctions hearing which occurred 8 months later. Even at the sanctions hearing, the stalker's utterly obvious purpose was on display, which was to embarrass and harass me - and the judge was fully aware of it. In defense of the motion for sanctions, she filed a 29 page screed with the court claiming my house was filthy with cat shit and vomit, and a detailed description of the smell of my DS poop that wafted out of my house, across the yard, into the pool house where she was squatting, fouling her air and making her hair and clothes stink all day. It was loathsome (and ridiculous - did I mention SHE was a DSer who ate carbs with abandon, such that she blew up like she was 9 months preggo all the time?). The judge would not let her discuss it at the hearing and ruled against her. He made specific mention that the case was one of the most "memorable" ones he'd ever presided over.
So - with that background - my juror group was sent to HIS courtroom!!!
I was writhing. I really REALLY did not want to be in there - not just because my husband and I had eye doctor's appointments at 2:30 that we had had for 3 months, and because I wanted to go camping, but - the judge is quite the jocular and chatty guy, and I really REALLY didn't want him to make comments about me or the case in open court!
And then, after the bailiff took roll call, the judge came out (whew - he didn't hear my name at that point!), and said that it was a breach of contract case estimated to take TEN DAYS!! What??? I couldn't stay for 10 days!! He then asked if there were any juror for whom this would be a hardship, and HALF THE JURY POOL LINED UP! OMG - I KNEW I couldn't ask for a deferral - first of all, I just didn't have a good excuse; second, as an attorney and officer of the court, I am supposed to set a good example; and third, because he would have recognized me and reamed me a new asshole if I had tried to get out of it. (In fact, he was pretty hardassed about not letting people go - he made one older guy who had had a PACEMAKER implanted last week stay, and told him to reschedule his doctor's appointment!) That process took until well after 11 AM.
So I sat in fear and loathing while the bailiff slowly called up 18 prospective jurors for voir dire - and breathed a sigh of relief when my name wasn't called. The judge then began the lengthy process of interrogating each of the 18 prospective jurors about details of their life - married, how many kids, where did they live, what do your family members do or what did they do for a living, ever been involved in a trial, did they know any of the parties or attorneys, a few questions about their knowledge of the industry that the case was about, all sorts of stuff, discussing some personal stuff right in open court. Then just before noon, the judge gave the plaintiff's counsel the go-ahead to ask specific questions of certain jurors - and then there was a 90 min break for lunch.
When we got back, the judge let the defense ask more questions - and their attorney went on for QUITE a while, and then the judge announced that there would be a few peremptory challenges and releasing some of the potential jurors - I held my breath - one by one, four potential jurors were sent on their way - and - IT WAS OVER! They had their jury, two alternates, and the rest of us were sent home! I swear the judge kept looking to the back of the courtroom at me - my hair is different, and I wear glasses instead of contacts now - but if he recognized me, he didn't say. WHEW!!!
And I got out JUST in time to race to our doctor's appointments. (I will be having minor laser eye surgery in three weeks to blast my damned ginormous floater; Charles' is a different kind of diffuse floater, and would need to actually invade his eye, so they decided to wait until Charles needs cataract surgery in a few years, and get a twofer out of it (actually three, because he has another thing that should be fixed eventually).
OK, now back to our trip. (I'm hoping I can put in Jackie's gif here:
So, while not being sure of what our plans would be, we tried to figure out where to go that is compatible with the weather, not TOO far, preferably somewhere new, with something to do besides sitting in the RV watching TV (not that there's anything wrong with that!), and that we could safely take the cats. So what we came up with is Paso Robles, in Central CA, not too far from Morrow Bay/Pismo. We have stayed at Pismo twice already, once "with" our kids (they were boondock camping on the beach itself, which we were not willing to do - it was our first long trip - we stayed in a kind of crummy RV park a few blocks from the beach) and once in a fancier and more expensive campground on our way up from LA on our big trip in October. But we hadn't explored much of the surrounding area.
There are three campgrounds in Paso Robles, two of them are fancy-pants resorts at about $75/night, with spas and such, and one that is supposed to be nice (good Yelp reviews) but about $50/night. We decided to go to the cheaper one. Fortunately, this time of year, they are not that busy, so we were able to wait until we know exactly when we could go to make reservations. I am (unfortunately) not that busy with work, but I will have internet and phone anyway, so I can work while we're away if something comes up.
We're going to take a side trip to Cambria and Hearst castle, and go on a guided tour of the Castle focused on its construction. We're taking our bikes. And I MIGHT go to a couple of the many wineries that have sprung up around Paso Robles - I'm becoming less and less interested in drinking alcohol recently, since every time I do, I get "hot flashes" and feel a bit uncomfortable. I wasn't much of a drinker anyway, so it doesn't bother me to cut back even more - but I like tasting wines and having them for when company comes over.
The weather is going to be quite nice this weekend and early next week http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USCA0842:1:US, and we don't have to be back for any reason until Wednesday late afternoon. So I made the reservation through Monday night, and made sure to get a spot we can stay in another day if the weather holds - we do NOT want to drive home in the rain.
We spent the day shopping and doing laundry and planning and such, and preparing for a 160 mile drive in the morning. The kitties know something is up
The whole RV thing just keeps growing on us. There is definitely a learning curve in RVing - there are a zillion little adaptations to life on the road, most of which are not that hard, but you have to THINK about them - you DON'T leave the water heater running all the time - it eats up the propane, so you have to plan ahead when you are going to want to use it; the whole special TP thing (I HATE that thin septic-safe stuff!) vs. using regular TP and a Litter Geni to hold the regular paper; figuring what kind of cooking you're going to do based on how much propane it takes vs. using free electricity; calculating how much of stuff you're going to take vs. the fact that you are NOT away from civilization and can go shopping any time you want. We had to establish new habits and routines, which are different from our usual at home routines, and different from our regular travel regimens - and instead of being stressful, it is FUN.
Charles takes care of the mornings, as usual - he makes my coffee, and heads to the campground bathroom, while I answer emails and do the morning routine in the computer, handling work. He makes me breakfast for both of us, and then I shower (not in the RV - tried it once, it has very weak water pressure and makes a bit of a mess - and now that's where the litter box is kept). Then we go out and do things, or watch TV if the weather is bad or we just feel like hanging out. I clean the litterbox, wash most of the dishes - I don't do either at home, but I love doing it in the RV. I cook lunches and dinners - at home, I usually only do special meals. At home, Charles does most of the housekeeping (or arranges for it) - with the RV, I'm the one who sweeps and scrubs the floors, by my choice, and I help set it up and take down the connections (except the waste tanks - that's his bailiwick!). It's not like role-play reversal or anything - it's just an alternate way of interacting.
I'm going to learn to drive the RV on the freeway on this trip - after we get out of San Jose. I want to drive where it is just light traffic at speed.
I know we really DON'T want to do it, but there is a great temptation to start thinking about buying a much nicer RV, a much more expensive one, and dump the house and live in the RV. I just can't bear the idea of putting that much money into a depreciating asset - it is what stops me from doing it. But there is a temptation to at least downsize, I can say that for sure!
