Back in Sonoma County, California

We're Baaack! And we've been busy ever since we arrived at the Herrick Vineyard Ranch in Healdsburg, CA on Monday, September 23 hanging out, visiting family and friends plus doing our RVICS volunteer work at Mount Gilead Christian Camp.

We got all set up at the Herrick's HipCamp venue. They have three beautiful RV sites with full hook ups. They've made a number of improvements and they're getting a number of return RV's. On Tuesday we went to dinner and a movie with Lorri and Greg (Mexican food and the Reagan movie). Our immediate plan for the next ten days here in Healdsburg was for Karen to work a few days at Total Concepts while I help out at the Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma (Two Rock) with the Operations Specialist "A" School.

We really enjoyed two dinner get togethers at Mike and Jean Chirhart's home with old Santa Rosa East Rotary Club friends. We talked about our Alaska trip and caught up on their adventures. We also got together with our old church small group community and Karen has been reconnecting with dear friends in the area when she's not working.

The weather here is HOT! High 90's to low 100's every day, so our RV's air conditioning is getting a real workout. Tuesday, October 1 was my first day working out at USCG Training Center Petaluma in Two Rock. Wearing the Operational Duty Uniform (ODU) in the heat is not confortable even with our sleeves rolled up, so we're glad to work inside a building with A/C.

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Operations Specialist (OS) School is a 13-week program at the Training Center Petaluma in California. The OS rating is responsible for tactical command, control, and communications. OS's are the voice, eyes, and ears of the Coast Guard in the maritime community. The Training Center Petaluma is the Coast Guard's largest West Coast training center. It also hosts the Chief Petty Officer Academy, which is part of the Coast Guard Leadership Development Center.

I was part of an USCG Auxiliary team to help conduct training exercises that week roll playing different communication scenarios with the OS students utilizing the USCG Rescue 21 System. My first situation revolved around a MAYDAY call from a fishing vessel taking on water. I got to role play the vessel's captain, a USCG coxswain on a responding 29' surface asset and a USCG helicopter responding to the same call. I had a blast improvising the search and recovery (SAR) scenario from the basic script provided.

In between my duty out at the Coast Guard Training Center and Karen working in Santa Rosa with Total Concepts we moved our RV on Wednesday, October 2nd from Healdsburg to Mt. Gilead Christian Conference Center west of Graton, California. This is where we will be for three weeks doing our fifth Roving Volunteers in Christ's Service (RVICS) project. The project officially starts on Monday, October 7, but we wanted to get to the site early and settle in. Over the weekend we met our co-workers from SOWERS: Craig and Jane Lucas, Roy and Donna Olson all from Salem, Oregon. They are lovely people that we are enjoying working with and hanging out at Mt. Gilead for the next three weeks.

The men are de-constructing two of the girl's camp cabins for renovation and building new wooden containment structures for the electrical service panels providing power to the cabin complex. The ladies have helped doing housekeeping, office work, cleaning and applying silicone to water proof exterior lightbulbs.

While in Sonoma County both Karen and I have had some wonderful visits with old friends, fellow workers and our church family at Living Roots. Catching up with everyone is a full time job but worth every minute! We feel loved and thankful for all the great fellowship we've enjoyed.

A week ago on Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12 I headed to Emeryville for boat crew duty with the CG Auxilary during Fleet Week in San Francisco. It was great to be on the water again.

At the time of this posting we just finished our second week of the project at Mt. Gilead and are in the home stretch. Only four more working days are left before we leave Sonoma County yet again. The time is flying by even though it feels like we just got here! The busy schedule makes the time go by quickly. The balance of visiting and working is a good way to spend time in the area.