We are still above water!
5 January 2008On Thursday night, after Encounters, we went back to our trailer at the Westchester Elks Lodge, expecting it to start raining. We were surprised when it didn’t.
Encounters is an interesting experience. It is supposed to feel like you are dining in a flying saucer, floating above LAX. In fact, the food and service were quite good, and the kitchy atmosphere (lava lamps, blobs of color, curved walls, etc) make the experience a treat. The garlic fries are excellent.
On Friday morning, it still wasn’t raining, and I was considering that the whole thing might have been overblown, but decided to continue to take it seriously. After a quick fast-food breakfast, we hooked up and headed north on “the” 405 to “the” 101. (Southern California parlance is to refer to numbered highways as “the” whatever. We don’t do that in Northern California, leading one to take “the 5″ north, but when one gets there, one gets off “I-5.”) At about Calabazas we went over the first big hill and found the beginning of rain. The rain got heavier as we went west and it was coming down pretty good by the time we reached Oxnard.
We had identified that the coast was a better choice than the inland route - mainly because of wind warnings - and we had considered spending Shabbos at Oxnard or Santa Barbara. Both have Elks lodges with hookups, and both have access to a Chabad House for services. Since we were at Oxnard at about 10:30 AM, we kept going for Santa Barbara.
The rain got heavier, and we had to set up the trailer surrounded by some puddles, but we got safely set up, level, stable, hooked up and otherwise hunkered down for the big rain — and rain it did. All afternoon and all night. At one time, the news said we were getting an inch per hour.
This morning, it looks pretty wet out, but most of the puddles seem to have absorbed and we are expecting a 40 percent chance of showers. Meanwhile, in San Jose, they are expecting thunderstorms.
We’ll sojourn here, and consider moving on tomorrow. More as things develop.
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