Week 673-676 - Grid Grief Charlie Brown - 07-28-2019

"Grid Grief Charlie Brown"

Our previous travelogue shared part of our 2,000 mile loop through Nevada, Idaho and Oregon.

The final leg of the trip brought us here to Richardson Springs in Chico, California.

The Richardson brothers Lee and J.H., founded these spas in 1898 just northeast of Chico. A hotel was built on the ranch in 1903. That wooden frame structure burned down in 1921 and this brick and stone hotel was opened in 1924.

Well-to-do guests came to the property for rest and for the "healing" waters of the springs. Business was good until World War II when gas rationing curtailed the enterprise.

In 1956 the resort was modernized. However, business was not profitable and in 1968 the 500 acre property was sold to the Coopers who founded Springs of Living Water, a non-profit Christian ministry. The mural illustrates some of the rich and famous who frequented the resort.

In the 1980's YWAMer John Dawson was searching for a new YWAM (Youth with a Mission) location. After meeting with Cecil Cooper, the two realized they had the same Christian vision. In 1988 YWAM "merged" with Springs of Living Water to become the ministry it is today. YWAM has three goals: train Christian disciples, send them out to evangelize and send them out to build projects.
YWAM at Richardson Springs.

1) The tennis court and 2) the 38 x 100 foot long pool, both part of the original resort.

We came here as part of the SOWERs ministry. Servants on Wheels Ever Ready coordinates with Christ-centered organizations. We get free hookups for a month and we give 72 hours of labor. Here we met our Group Leaders and great friends, John and Rosie, to help paint, maintain and repair the 60 plus structures.

Besides the free stay we could always enjoy the facilities. Our motorhomes were right next to the pool, a blessing in the high 90 to 100+ temperatures. Especially since our front air conditioner faulted just days before arrival.

Our RV sites had 50 amp service capable of running both our A/C's (if they both worked). "Mud Creek" (not muddy during our stay) flows right by our RV sites and has a fresh water spring running 24/7. We enjoyed free and refreshing drinking water at $0.00 per gallon! The property has it own 50 foot waterfall within a short hike. On the flip side we were almost Off the Grid; we had no cellular phone service and only erratic WiFi.

The hike to the waterfall has you climbing up to higher ground. 1) Ellen opens her phone hoping to find a signal. 2) "Hello, hello, anyone?". "Grid Grief!".

Before arriving at YWAM we did not know we couldn't make calls. From the campus Pete spent hours trying to find an RV dealer in Chico to fix our A/C. After finally reaching Ron's, we amazingly got an appointment in just a few days. So often RV service centers are booked months ahead. But Ron said A/C repairs get priority in this heat. Thank you Lord.

With both A/Cs churning out cool air, we were able to get back to our maintenance ministry. Look at this beautiful Richardson Springs Road. It is 4 miles from Cohasset Rd and 4 more miles to Chico businesses. You can only travel at 25 to 30 mph on this road, so every trip to town is a long trip. But, it is "beautiful" because just 2 years ago it was not paved! Even so, it would be a anxious road trip if you needed to get to town quickly, like if you needed to rush to the hospital.

Most of our project assignments were repairs and painting. While SOWER ladies are only asked to work 3 hours per day, Rosie and Ellen gave much more than that. They spent most of their three weeks prepping and painting the Cooper House. Our apologies to the ladies but we did not get photos of their projects. 1) John and Pete remounted this sink in a hotel room. They put down the base coat of plaster and Rosie came back did a nice plaster finish. 2) Here John replaced some rotted out siding on a cabin. We could have spent full time on rotted siding on all cabins and not finish in three weeks (ever?).

1) Fiolisa, a YWAM volunteer from Germany, asked us to install a new screen door. 2) John puts the finishing touches on a new cabin toilet.

Pete and John's major project was completing this deck, adding all new railings. Maybe the 100 plus heat made this job seem to last forever.

Everyday we had break and lunch with YWAM volunteers. 1) One of our favorites was Nicole from the Philippines. 2) Mandy and Ellen both agree this place was hot!

During our three weeks we are able to be with Emily, Chad and the kids many times. Visits to their house, a couple mornings of pickleball and several afternoons swimming in the YWAM pool.

We bid goodbye to John and Rosie and head out. Our first stop was in Auburn to visit Gordon and Karen, long time RV and pickleball and great friends. The Freeway 680 traffic from Auburn to Hollister was jammed due to traffic accidents. 1) Our GPS took us off the 680 and onto Foothill Road near Plesanton, California. Bad idea! The trees hit us a dozen times and the traffic was as bad as the freeway. 2) We found a school park, planted the MotherShip, ate dinner and watched TV waiting for hundreds of cars to pass.

We stayed one night at the Hollister Elks Lodge. The next day the GPS took us down Hwy 25 to King City. The first section is great: smooth, wide and fast.

Then Hwy 25 gets narrow, rough and a special treat of one-lane traffic due to construction.

Reaching home, we parked the MotherShip next to our house. We will be in Atascadero until further notice. After 14 years of travel and not staying one night in the house, we have decided it is time to sell. We will be working on the house for month of August preparing it for sale. Our SOWER friends John and Rosie left YWAM the same day we did. They stayed at a nice RV resort in Chowchilla on their way to yet another SOWER project in Cherry Valley, near Palm Springs. However, as servants on wheels they detoured to Paso Robles for three days. Each day they drove down to our house by 8am to work on our projects! To John and Rosie, you exemplify Christ who commands us to "love our neighbors as ourselves. Amen"

Mark 12:29-31 Jesus replied, “This is the most important (commandment): ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these."

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from July 2019