Claims among the wild

A week or so ago I got a call from an insurance agent about one of his insured’s. The agent wanted to go along on this claim as he goes to this location when he has an excuse and thought that he had one with this loss. So our appointment was this afternoon.

The claim was for damage from the weight of snow at a wild animal refuge center. The center is a non-profit center run by donations and volunteers. They take in wild animals that would not make it otherwise in the wild.

Bird fly ways that fell in included those for Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles. Other enclosures were damaged that housed otters and a bobcat.

The bobcat 9 months old weighs about 22 lbs and appears to be a buff cat. He was found as a baby next to his dead mother and taken home to be raised as a kitten. After a week his new family gave him to someone else who also raised him like a kitten. After that the bobcat was given to the refuge center as he was unwanted. He will never be able to return to the wild so he is being trained to be part of the center’s education program.

The bobcat is very curious and as Dale was measuring the length of the enclosure the cat tried to get the tape. When we would walk around he would run to see what we were doing. The icing for me was when the trainer held him up to me to pet. He purred so loud you could hear it several feet away. He is just so cute although his bite would hurt I’m sure if allowed.

The center consists of a visitor’s center in the front where one can see a snowy owl, great horned owl, a bald eagle, golden eagle and some kestrels. Here you can get within a few feet of the animals.

The horned owl is interesting as she had just made her nest. She will lay some eggs and then the staff trades the eggs with new hatchlings. She raises the babies teaching them how to hunt and be an owl then they are released into the wild. She got after me for looking too closely at her. She is very protective of her area and her status at the center.

Behind the visitors center is the rehabilitation center where they have more bald eagles, golden eagles, deer, fawn, a beaver, and of course the bobcat.

We had an incredible opportunity to get up and close with nearly all of these animals.

Mis-Adventure #2

I have a great new phone, the Blackberry “Storm”. It has GPS like my enV taken in Dec. but this one has a large screen making it easy to use and presumably easy to follow. I GPS everything now which is great when the phone understands what I’m trying to tell it. Otherwise it makes up its own plans.

A couple of days ago I’d finished up in a suburb of Seattle, Bellevue and had planned to stop at the new Whole Foods. I thought that I’d also quick pick up some ink for the printer at the closest computer store as I had claims waiting in the queue and needed to print them up in order to work them.

I was smartly driving down Avondale a main road in that area that goes by Whole Foods, REI and a huge shopping center. I thought that I’d take a little short cut as I was sure I knew the way.

Unfortunately my shortcut put me on a freeway and when I could get off the freeway was nowhere near the shopping center. I stopped and typed in Whole Foods into the GPS but alas there was no Whole Foods in the area. Now this was not the case at all but I couldn’t convince the GPS. So off I went to find the store.

After driving up and down Avondale the empty fuel gauge started dinging; oh I’d forgotten all about the fact that I needed fuel early in the day. I found a gas station with diesel and as I was filling I asked the guy using the other side of the pump where the Whole Foods was. He pointed down to the other side of the street where I had not driven. He also indicated where I could find Staples.

I finished filling up and started driving but could not find the Staples or any other computer store. I did find the Whole Foods so stopped and picked up what I needed.

I thought that I’d just try to go to Frys, my favorite computer store that I’d seen just off the freeway on the way to the RV. I put Frey’s into my trusty GPS and got a hit so off we went. All would work out well. But alas after driving over an hour into the middle of Seattle the GPS was telling me to “Turn Right”, Turn Right, and Turn Right. But I couldn’t turn right, it came up too quick. Finally I turned right; the streets were so narrow there was only room for my truck with traffic circles at each intersection. After starting to drive into the ghetto I decided that I really didn’t want to go where the GPS was taking me. I later found that I wanted Frys not Freys.

I found a parking lot and typed Staples into my GPS. Great there was a Staples right near me, well kind of. And after chasing around now going on 2 hours I found Staples. I went in after assuring Twinks that I would get the ink and we would go home for dinner. There was the printer ink right in front. I rushed over to the Epson section and started looking but couldn’t find any for my R800. Finally near tears I asked a salesperson where the R800 ink was. Alas, Staples does not carry that particular printer’s ink. ACK! I asked the sales guy to point me to I-5 so I could just get back to my RV.

I followed the sale guy’s verbal direction to I-5 and finally got home about 3 hours after starting my search. I pulled up at the RV and told Twinks that she would get dinner right away. I opened the back door of the truck and walla; the Whole Foods bag fell out, upside down on the pavement. Wine bottle was chipped but not broken. That’s the important thing because I needed that wine.

Mis-Adventure #1

Adventures that you don’t want to experience

“Twinks The Claims Dog” and I were out inspecting claims. Of course this means that I’m inspecting while Twinks is watching me from the safety of the truck. The day was cold as ice, low 30’s and I’d finally brought my down ski parka along, the big one I made myself back in the late 70’s. , I’d been back and forth from the truck to the house having to get the ladder, then putting it back into the truck bed.

I got into the truck and smelled something bad. When I’m on the road and Twinks is along I put the back seat down so that Twinks can go from the front to the rear easily. Plus I can reach whatever I need more easily as well.

Now Twinks climbed from the back to the front and then stepped to the floorboard with her behind against my right leg. Not quite understanding the situation I tried to get her to move but she wouldn’t. The bad smell wasn’t going away so I was driving, trying to concentrate on the GPS that didn’t want to work and getting Twinks off my leg. I looked and realized that dog doo was on the console, then saw that it was on my coffee cup lid. When I could look I saw that it was on the towel in the back , all over my parka and really all over the truck.

Now I was getting concerned. I was minutes away from being late for my claim, my dog had her butt against my leg and dog doo was all over inside the truck, it was cold outside and I had no parka to wear. I had visions of the doo on the leg of my pants as well wondering how that would work with my next claim. Additionally I was driving on a road I’d never been before so had no idea when or where I could stop so got into the right hand land and started looking for something, anything.

I finally saw a sign for a mobile home sales site that was in the middle of nowhere land. I pulled off and in an empty field dumped the doo and started cleaning up what I could using the baby wipes that I carry and paper towels.

I then drove over to the sales office and told them that I had a sick dog and asked if they could please give me a couple of plastic trash bags. They gave me the trash bags, I filled them and went on to my claim.

Now we stop at rest stops more frequently and I encourage Twinkle to go at the stop.

What this election means to me

This morning, like most of you, I watched the inauguration. As I watched our new President take the oath of office and then his speech I was also taken back to my earlier years.

I grew up in a mixed racial home, my mom white and my dad Hispanic. Both also have American Indian in their background. I have darker skin and the more Hispanic facial structure.

As a child I didn’t know whether my parents were rich or poor, or anything of color or gender. As I grew up my parents appeared to be middle class, they owned their own home and had a car; we took vacations every summer.

When I was in high school I started realizing that I was not the same as most kids, the majority was white, a handful or Hispanic and a handful of Black. Then it hit home when a good friend, her name was Susan, asked me to come over on a weekend day. We’d planned that I’d walk to her house but then she called me and told me that I couldn’t come. When I asked why she told me that her parents had told her I couldn’t come into their house because of my skin color. Even now, just writing this brings back the hurt and shame. I’d always thought myself ugly because I didn’t look like everyone else but this reinforced it.

Later, as I was ready to graduate from college, I went to a career day at Cal State L.A. Being the first of my extended family to go to college I was very proud of myself so I was excited about finding a job. I went to the Pacific Bell booth and saw that they were looking for management. I asked about getting into management only to be told that they were looking for men while I could be a telephone operator. I was so upset; I was not going to be a telephone operator.

I really wanted for Hillary Clinton to win, but when Obama won the nomination I was proud of this country. Someone with color had a chance to be President.

Today watching President Obama speak about our history I cried. I cried for happiness and for all who fought so hard for this moment. While we have much to do, we have come so far in this country. And now someone is in office that, while he is darker than I am, has some color in his skin. Now that is a beautiful thing.

Adjusting Claims in the Snow

We never know when we receive a claim just what will be involved.

Here in Seattle we are handling mostly losses resulting from the weight of ice and snow. The claims range from collapsed anything that can collapse: canopies, barns, carports, gutter, and so forth. Unfortunately, here snow is still on the ground and roofs in the foothills so inspecting can be a challenge

Recently Justin and I inspected a claim in the mountains outside of Seattle. The barn had collapsed. We didn’t think much about it until we got to the home and then saw the barn down the hill from the home. A road ran from the insured’s house down the hill and then up another hill to a neighbor’s home. The barn was off the road a couple hundred feet to our right in the valley between the homes.

There was about 2’ of snow on the ground and when we stepped on the snow we sank into it. Fortunately the neighbor had plowed a path in order for us to get closer to the barn for a short way.

Sure enough the barn had completely collapsed. As we started walking out Justin and I thought about how we were going to trudge through the snow in order to measure this barn. He then remembered that Dale had left some boards in the back of the truck for leveling the RV which we didn’t use. Justin walked back to the truck and picked up the 3 boards.

Justin put the boards down in the snow in a row, stepped on one then the other, then picked up the rear board and threw it out in the front and stepped on it. He did that all the way to the barn and was able to measure the barn. We coined the technique “the poor man’s snow shoes”. If only he’d had a bungee cord he could have strapped on those boards.

We measured the barn, took our photos and went on our way, freezing cold but glad to have completed that task.

Driving after the Storms

Usually I’m on site within a day or two after a storm hits and receive claims in short order. Here in Washington my territory is consists of about the west 1/3 of the state and nearly all claims consist of damage due to the weight of snow.

About Christmas time the state had unusual amounts of snow, insured’s usually tell us about the 5’, or even more, of snow on the roof of their house. Then they had warmer weather and heavy rains which melted the snow adding to the rain water, hence the flooding that was all over the TV and news. Over 60 highways were closed due to flooding at the time we got stranded just south of Seattle.

Roads are now open for the most part but the damage from flooding is evident.

Justin and I were headed for claims 2 hours northeast of Seattle and after turning off of I-5 were on a two-lane road. We lost count of the times we had to stop because the road was down to one lane due to landslides or because part of the road had fallen down the hill. Once we counted 4 large landslides on one part of a hill, fortunately the hill wasn’t next to the road but was set back.

One section we were stopped at I complained to Justin that the closed section of road looked fine yet both ends were forced to wait while dump trucks dumped their gravel then the grader flattened the path, then the roller compacted it. All the while everyone waited, and then each side took a turn on the one lane being built.

Finally it was out turn to drive over the detour. On this stretch the hill on my left followed a sheer rock wall that ran along the road. We drove out over the new lane and as we turned to look we saw that the rock face was about 200’ high. On the top of the rock face the hill had fallen and was sitting on the edge of that face just waiting to come down. Well now, the detour really wasn’t so bad after all. I stepped on the gas and got out of there.

We passed by houses that we realized we’d seen on TV, the ones where the landsides ran across the road and on into the house. It is always amazing to see how powerful earth movement can be.

We stopped at a vista point where we could see Mt. St. Helens. If it isn’t volcanoes here then it is flooding from too much rain.

Fun Stops between claims

Like I said in yesterday’s post we sometimes manage to have a little fun along the way.

Today we had 2 claims to the south of Seattle and 2 to the southeast. We knew that we would have some time between the first 2 and the second 2 because of insured schedules. It was cold, about 31 degrees F. and overcast.

As we drove down in the morning we were driving south on the highway and passed a sign that said Flaming Geyser State Park ahead. We decided that we’d stop there between the 2 sets of claims if we had time.

We finished our 1st set of claims up quickly and headed for the state park wondering what in the world a Flaming Geyser was. Of course roads were closed on the way so after detour after detour we finally got there.

The Flaming Geyser State Park is an oblong shaped park with one 2-lane road which has a turnaround in the parking area at the north end. The Green River runs along to the left and the park follows the river. This is the same river that runs by the KOA we are staying at. To the right are forested hills.

After parking we first walked straight out to see the river. Straight across to our left was a path which led to picnic tables and then out to the river. This isn’t very far, maybe a couple of hundred feet or so. As we walked out on the path we realized that the path was muddy. The river was running so full it was actually running into the park in front of us. On our way out we drove about 10 mph and it appeared that the river was flowing at 10-15 mph.

We then walked up to a path and found the Flaming Geyser. There is a small pit with a concrete stand pipe about1’ in diameter sticking out of the ground with a hole in the center; the flame is coming out of the concrete pipe’s hole.

We read the posted information and in the 1920’s someone (I forget his name) bore a hole into the ground hitting dirty coal. He then hit methane gas. They lit the gas and it has been burning since. The flame burned about 8’ high at one time but with dynamiting in the area the flame is now down to several inches.

There is a Bubbling Geyser up the trail however the trail is closed due to the recent storms.

We’d just bought coffee before driving to the geyser and were glad for the warmth created when carrying the coffee. I’d left my gloves in the truck because I was carrying two of my cameras and didn’t want the gloves to be in my way. I’d forgotten my down ski parka back at the RV in the morning so only had my jacket, warm but not for freezing weather. We were glad for the truck. After viewing the geyser and hiking around we were hopped back into the truck and turned the heat on full blast. We sat there for awhile just warming up.

Working in Seattle

Well this storm is no different than any other, a bunch of claims which everyone wants for us to inspect immediately and the carriers want reports on right away. Justin is only here for a few days so we are inspecting everything as quickly as possible and then I’ll write the claims remaining after he leaves.

I did get 22 more; 20 of them on Monday late afternoon so Justin has helped call those. I’ll inspect and complete them myself.

In the meantime we have managed to have just a little fun. We finished several claims early and had an hour near downtown Seattle so we went to Pike’s Market as I wanted to see the fish market where the workers throw the fish being sold from one person to another. I was a little disappointed when I saw that the stall in person, it seemed rather put on and it wasn’t like anything that has been built up in the imagination. But I was glad to see it in person and the fish looked good.

We then walked down a block to the original Starbucks and had a cup of latte. Justin took a photo of me holding the monument. The store has old wood floors and uses the original logos. Apparently the fish market techniques have extended to Starbucks; when one orders coffee the order taker throws the cup to the person who makes the coffee.

Back to work.

Adventures on the way to Seattle: Part 3

Today we heard traffic on the I-5 so by 7 am I was online checking road conditions. I found that roads were starting to open over the mountain passes and side roads were opening.

We went back to the rest stop and found the old guy who man’s the coffee booth and he remembered us from yesterday. We spoke to him for a little bit about driving over the passes and as were leaving he called us back and told us about a side road to I-5. The road had just opened and he knew the way to the on-ramps that were open north of the flooding.

After filling up with diesel we went back to the RV, hooked up and started off for the side roads. We traveled through the country side, little towns and flooded areas. We could see Mt. Rainier and St. Helens from one stretch. The streams and rivers were over their banks and in some cases, houses flooded. Unfortunately there was no place to stop for photos.

We got lost at one point and found an on-ramp that was still closed. We spoke with the cop who told us to wait for ½ hour that the DOT officials would be giving a press conference. He anticipated that I-5 would be reopened at that ramp. We pulled off to some side parking when the TV helicopters started buzzing and circling. I opened the truck door and waved to some of them. When we heard that the highway wouldn’t open for another two hours to big rigs and passenger vehicles in 4 hours we took off back to the side roads and within ½ hour we stumbled onto an open on-ramp. We were on our way.

After arriving in Seattle we went to an RV park that looked good on paper. Well we have actually seen worse, but this one isn’t great. It is a parking lot with hookups. The guy is sullen. The woman always points out the rules and there are lots of them of which I’ve started breaking; staying on the internet all evening and some of it includes work related materials. Of course we couldn’t get into the space that they insisted on with our big truck. And after the guy went thru making stupid faces they gave us a pull thru site.

We had one claim this afternoon with a guy who was bordering hysteria and after leaving his place we went to the south end of Seattle to see a KOA. Wow, it has grass and trees! And the internet actually is fast, as compared to here and I can actually do business related work there. We will move there tomorrow morning.

I’ll try to start posting some photos in my next blogs.

Adventures on the way to Seattle: Part 2

And so the adventure continues.

I’d written yesterday’s blog as Dale was driving. I’d finished up everything I could of the old and new work so wrote a little then put the computer away.

It was getting late, a little rainy and quite cold so I checked weather.com on my pda to see how quickly we could start inspecting claims. I was quite surprised when I found a list of weather alerts and found that many rivers were forecast to overflow. I got into CNN and the top story was that I-5 and all major roads into Seattle were closed. We then went to the roads site and found road closures all over the state of Washington. We stopped at the next rest stop and didn’t know what to think so drank some wine and went to sleep.

We woke up this morning and started for Portland while checking on the road conditions. Claims were still coming in and I was becoming more concerned as we needed to start setting appointments yet couldn’t even get into the Seattle area.

When we found that I-5 would be closed indefinitely we turned onto Highway 30 heading for the coast. We thought that we’d take the 101 up the coast and then turn inland on Highway 12 to Seattle. As we were driving we checked the roads again and found that 101 had closed due to landslide. We found a place to turn around and headed to the east thinking that we’d get to a road that would cut over the mountain pass and down into Seattle. As we traveled east we still were checking roads and found that the mountain passes had closed down.

We’d turned around and driven up I-5 to a rest stop close to the road closure where we were wondering what to do next. It was raining and cold as we sat in the truck when a man walked up. He told us that he owned an RV park that was not opened to the public yet but that they were opening it up to people stranded with RV’s. They would not charge any money and we would have full hookups. It didn’t take long for the offer to sink in and we drove to the RV park. Apparently, they have had some delays with permits so haven’t been able to open but beautiful roomy sites were all completed. We broke in the new bathrooms and showers.

Not many took advantage of the generous offer but we did park next to one RV and got to know the young man. Eli is in the military from Alabama and trying to get Ft. Meyers. He and his wife had just hiked the Ancient Inca trail and travel the world when they have time together. We talked cars and travel over wine.

As this would have been a birthday if I was having them still we thought that it would be fun to go out to dinner. We were advised to go to the Forty-Niner Café and that seemed like a good place to go since it was in the theme of my birth.

The Forty Niner was a fun little place; some fresh seafood, steaks and regular American food. With my desert they’d put a candle in the pudding and Dale and Justin sang “Happy Birthday”. This was certainly a birthday I’ll never forget.

Adventures along the way to Seattle

Last night we left Bakersfield a little later than we’d wanted to. It just took so long to get everything loaded into the RV that I might need for 4 to 6 weeks.

I’d checked Map Quest and it said that the drive would be 16 hours so that would work well, we’d arrive today in Seattle and we could start inspections tomorrow morning. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to check further to see how much longer, if any, it would take to actually go via Arcata.

We stopped at a rest stop just before the bay area (San Francisco) as it is the last rest stop until an hour or so north. It was 2 a.m. and we knew that we couldn’t drive another 2 hours. We thought that we’d get up at 5am and miss the morning commute traffic into the city which we did.

We just flew right along but then we were in Clayton’s neck of the woods by 6:30 a.m. I first sent him a text message asking if he was awake but when I didn’t hear from him I called. Poor guy I woke him up but hey, he’s my son and I wanted him to meet us. He dutifully got up and met us at a local coffee shop for a little visit. And he was able to get into his work on time.

We then drove onto Arcata. Justin had decided to help for a week or so as his significant other is large with child and due to pop in about 3 weeks. We figured that Justin could get home fairly quickly from Seattle and at least could make enough to keep afloat for a month by working a week or so. As he and his family live on a very narrow street we thought that it would be more expedient to just meet for lunch. We met, ate lunch then threw his stuff in the RV and took off.

We were driving along minding our own business, claims were coming in and we were picking them up using the e-mail on the BlackBerry, Justin was getting the info, setting stuff up in the computer, I was still calling insured’s when we had phone service and finishing up the claims from home when there was no service when traffic stopped. We were on a two-lane road driving along the northern California from the coast to I-5 which runs up the center of the western states. We were driving border to cross into Oregon.

The long line started moving but stopped when we got to the front. According to the fire official a car had gone off the road into a ditch taking out a power pole at about 4:30 pm. Lines were on the ground and all kinds of emergency crews were on scene. This was about 6:30 pm. Traffic was being routed up a little hill on a narrow road and around the scene. We waited and waited then cars started coming down the hill, cars, cars and more cars. Finally the line ended and we thought we’d get to go, but then an official on the radio said nope, there were more cars coming, and sure enough there were lots more. Then another break, great. But no, a SUV had died in the middle of the whole thing and the official had to push it out of the way. Then there was a very long, long line of cars. Finally we got our turn. We got back on the main road and passed several miles of cars heading the way we just had come from and we felt smug.
It is late and we won’t make Seattle tonight but tomorrow is another day.

Getting on the Road

As happens sometimes, adjusting firms are loaded with storm claims fairly quickly. Insurance companies load up their adjusters with storm claims and pass the excess on to vendors like Crawford. The local Crawford branch will load up their staff adjusters and then call adjusters who are independent like myself for their excess. By the time I’m called everyone is pulling their hair out with too much work, too many phone calls and so forth.

I received the call yesterday from Crawford asking if I could go to Seattle to work snow claims and I said yes. The storm was verified by afternoon at which time I had to get into gear. I did have some work I was doing for some local vendors so notifications needed to be made immediately that I could not take any additional work and assurances made that I’d finish what I’d started. Then we had to access what needed to be done with the RV and truck in preparation for the long drive.

Today I had a bunch of apples that needed to be made into applesauce so I started making a pot of apples. Truck had to be taken in to change transmission fluid and then picked up. Crawford’s Seattle Branch called and said that they needed to start sending claims so that people could be contacted.

I’d changed our phone service so the internet was down and 1st thing I had to do was to call AT&T to get the new service up and running. Then later the old line finally went down so I had to change the plugs for the internet. Fortunately while I was dealing with ATT I was in my office here at home so packed up most of my office supplies. The printer will be the last to go out as I’m still using it to print incoming claims.

Finally it is 1:30 and I must start packing clothes. We wanted to leave as soon as Dale would return home from his workshop but it may be as late as 5pm by the time we can walk out the door.

We will drive as far as possible tonight but unfortunately will likely miss Clayton’s. We will start again early tomorrow a.m. and drive to Arcata, on the California/Oregon border where we will pick up Justin who will assist me again. Then onto Seattle, probably a 6- hour drive.

In the meantime while Dale takes his turn driving I’ll finish up the work that I have now, find us a place to stay in Seattle, relax a little and just gear up for the new adventures that wait in Seattle!

Off to Seattle

This morning I got the call out! Crawford (the vendor I do lots of catastrophe claims for) called and asked if I still wanted to work. I said of course. Nina, my contact, said that there had been a call from the branch in Seattle asking for someone to assist with storm claims. She said that she’d call back to verify and did so later in the afternoon.

Getting a call out is always such a charge. There is the anticipation of working in a new place and the travel, just going somewhere new. But then there is the flip side of leaving the family, home, everything one is involved for an unknown amount of time. Knowing that I will work my butt off for weeks is always a little daunting too.

Getting ready to leave is hectic. We usually try to leave within 2 days so we will leave tomorrow after Dale finishes his workshop that he must attend. In the meantime I will pack clothes for work, both for cold weather and not so cold, food for several days and everything needed to set up a portable office. Dale has made sure that the RV propane tanks are full and batteries are charged.

Tomorrow I’m packing everything into the RV and make the bed. I’ll get fuel before we hitch up the 5th wheel.

We are lucky again this time; Dale has off from tomorrow afternoon until Friday night. I was able to find a reasonable airplane ticket from Seattle to Bakersfield so he will drive with me and stay until Friday morning when he flies home. We will have a nice meal out on Thursday night somewhere we haven’t eaten before.

Dale has a cousin in Seattle that we have visited before. We stayed there on our way to Canada last summer; girls were with us. I will have someone to visit with on occasion or call if I have any problems.

Twinkle is easy; she just needs her food, some snacks and her bowl. She knows that something is up so stays close right now. Twinkle the claims dog is ready to go.

New Year's Eve on The Great Wall of China

As Dale and I drove to Lake Isabella for our New Year’s Eve celebration it was dark already and a little foggy. We had the idea to go away for next year’s celebration earlier and were discussing that idea. Dale pointed out that we should include our kids in next year’s celebration; we hadn’t had a celebration with them. I then reminded him of our New Year’s Eve in China, 2003 which he had forgotten about.

In 2003 our oldest son, Nate and his family were teaching English in Luoyang, China. We had planned a family trip to China that summer and had tickets for our middle and youngest son, ourselves and granddaughter. That trip was canceled when SARS hit the area and the kids were closed off from the rest of the world. We decided to travel a couple of days before New Year’s Eve with hopes to be at “The Great Wall” on New Year’s Eve and morning. This new trip included our sons significant others as well.

Just before Christmas, Justin and Jenavieve left the U.S. in order to spend more time in China. Dale, Sunshine and I rendezvoused with Clayton and Jen in San Francisco then traveled to Beijing together.

Nate and Bekki had arranged a van with a driver and were waiting for us as we arrived in Beijing. It was New Year’s Eve by then and soon after we were on way to “The Great Wall” at the Simatai section. The weather was freezing cold.

The Simatai section of The Great Wall is a section north of Beijing. The wall is not repaired in that area like the section seen on the tourist videos but is well preserved in the area where visitors enter. The wall follows what Bekki refers to as “Dr. Seuss Mountains” and the wall’s path soon becomes steep and crumbly. Bricks are loose and in places missing.

We had reservations at a hotel at the base of the mountain where the wall is located but after a pipe froze we had to stay at the owner’s home just around the corner. We arrived at the Great Wall while it was still light, dropped the luggage and went onto the wall. We found a place where we could watch the sunset on the wall.

After sunset we returned to the owner’s home where a meal had been prepared for us. We fit around the table eating authentic food and drinking Chinese beer. The home actually consisted of a main home with various rooms on the property used for rentals. We were given a long room about 10’ x 12’ with one bed which stretched almost the length of the long side of the room.

The bed in our room is called a fire bed which consists of a brick box on which a thin mat and quilts are placed on top. A fire is built inside of the box early in the evening and by bedtime the fire has burned down to coals making the bed toasty warm.

Nate and Bekki decided to take the opportunity and sleep on The Great Wall. Bekki borrowed my heavy full length down coat and Nate used the Chinese Army coat that he’d picked up along the way and off they went to the wall. Justin, Jenavieve (who was sick), Elias, Christabel, Sunshine, Dale and I all piled on the bed and slept warmly. Clayton and Jen decided that they’d have their own room.

On New Year’s morning we put on as many clothes as possible as it was very, very cold and walked down to catch the gondola that would take us up to the wall. We were a little early so the gondola operator asked us to come into their house, a room next to the operations of the gondola. The couple had two beds and a small burner in their room; they insisted on our sitting on their beds and served us their tea.

As soon as the operator started the gondola we went up the mountain to the base of the path to the wall. We walked up the path and spent the morning of January 1, 2004 on “The Great Wall of China”.

New Year's Eve 2008

We usually spend New Year’s Eve with friends Ross and Janice. I met Ross in law school, he was my study partner. A year or so later he was hired on with Kern County and worked with Dale until just recently when he changed positions.

Ross and Janice live in the nearby mountains above Lake Isabella, about 1-1/2 hour drive from our house. We don’t plan it but every year it seems we switch houses for our celebration. We each contribute a couple bottles of champagne and whoever hosts prepares dinner. Sometimes whoever hosts will invite other friends as well.

This year Dale and I made an apple tart with a rich crust. The crust is made using ¾ lb of butter, some flour and a little sugar. We brushed the crust with warmed apricot jam; layered sliced apples on that then baked it. We also brought up a chocolate pudding made from dark chocolate and Mascarpone cream. Ross was to buy an angel food cake for the chocolate pudding but forgot so we sliced bananas and put the pudding on that.

Ross made dinner for us this time and made a completely vegetarian dinner as Janice has developed a problem digesting meat. After having various hors-D’oeuvres, dinner and desert we were ready for our last bottle of champagne at midnight. Fortunately we spent the night at our friends as we usually do when we go there.

This morning Ross made us a different breakfast called a Tortilla, an egg dish with red bell peppers and garbanzo beans. What a treat for us.

Next year we are talking about going somewhere different. We threw out some ideas including Sedona and Death Valley. It will be fun to plan a trip for next year.