I'm actually here, watching the sun rise over the bay, beautiful. The temp is 60 degrees with a breeze which makes it feel cooler. It's also very dry, no humidity. Even at the hottest part of the day, 70 something degrees, it feel cooler because of the constant breeze and no humidity.

I had a wonderful visit with Jon. He's a great guy and even shared a delicious breba with me. Thanks Jon, it sure was good. He gave me a tour of his spread that I really enjoyed. His landscape is so covered with trees that it almost takes a road map to find your way thru his jungle. Along the way he pointed out all sorts of other fruit trees many of which I have never heard of before. I wished I would have had more time to spend there to get my fingers in the dirt and give him a hand at his chores. That would have really made my day. I must say although the visit was short I did learn a lot from just talking to Jon. THANKS JON! It was great.

Yesterday, I took a trip north of LA to visit with Richard Watts. What a great couple he and his wife are. They welcomed us into their home just like we were old friends and make us feel right at home. I could have spent the whole day just talking with Richard. Together we covered endless subjects and viewed his hillside estate. He showed me all sorted of rare fruit besides his figs. The visit was the greatest. Again time was too short. I made arrangements to get a couple of trees from him after they go dormant.

Now I have to visit Sue. Linda and I are looking forward to the drive and the visit. I'll be in touch.

Got to run and take the grands kids to Sea World. Until later,

From CA
"gene"

Gene, glad you guys made it---sounds like you are having a great time. Keep us posted and you guys have a blast! 

Wow Gene you got to meet Jon thats nice. Sounds like our weather here is still warmer than in Paradise.
I talked with Richard Watts a few weeks back one thing we both experienced other than figs was the darn dentist, i just got back a little while ago from another dentist visit and cant feel the right side of face....LOL

Dieseler,

This is our cool part of the year known as "May Gray" and "June Gloom". We get late night and early morning clouds, which pushes us down to the low 60s, and at the coast it stays that way. Inland, where I am we get about as cool at night, but then are in the mid and high 70s during the day. It isn't the best fig weather (hence, brebas don't ripen well here), but it is really delightful to live in, esp. when many other places have been 90-100 for weeks already. In some years, Phoenix would have already had nearly 100 days over 100 already.

The brebas were White King (OK) and Danny's, which was pretty good tasting, and very large, The Vista breba was spoiled.

We'll see if Gene sees the light and moves to Paradise.

Fellas, we're having a grand time, and the best part is it's on someone else's dime. Jon, my wife Linda has already said it about a thousand times no way could I move her here. Too many hills, too many cars, too many people, too cold (she's warm blooded), and too darn expensive. We'll stay happily in South Louiaiana where Cajuns belong.

Martin I'm sorry about your dental problems but save them while you can. Richard is the nicest guy, aging gracefully, and doing what he like best. I just wish we would have had more time to visit.

Sue if you read this I also sent you a PM. We're having a bad time with cells here.

From the left coast,
"gene"

Gene,
Glad we finally made contact tonight. Looking forward to a nice visit with you and Linda tomorrow...who knows she may just fall in love with my quiet town where one block off of Main St you are in the country...not to many people or cars. Peace and quiet and great fig weather! Even better than Jon's. I've been in the 80's where Jon is in the 70s. ;-)

Sue

Sue, we will certainly be looking to the warmer weather and the visit. Thanks for the invite.
"gene"

Yes, I visited both RW and John! 

Made it to Sue's yesterday afternoon. Great trip into the mountains up and down a winding road through some beautiful hills and valleys. Found Sue house without a hitch thanks to my trusty laptop and Delorme mapping and GPS as I also found Jon's and Richard's Watts'. Linda was white knuckling it a bit on those curves and climbs and when I asked her to take a couple of pictures she told me she couldn't because she was hanging on with both hands, ha.

Sue's house is lovely and spacious. It sits way out in the country on top of a hill with a view of the valley below while overlooking her own beautiful hill side. I can't wait to see pictures of it when she's finished the landscaping and plant all of her trees.

Thanks Sue for the hospitality and the great food. She actually grilled up some steaks and veggies for us and poured up a great glass of wine. After eating we sat on the patio watching the bunnies play in the yard while waiting for the sunset over the mountains while we chatted. Way too soon the sun dipped behind the mountain giving us a spectacular show.  What a beautiful way to end the day. I only wish it could have been longer but time ran out and we had to drive back down that curvy, hilly road in the dark. We made the trip without incident thankfully.

Some pictures of the drive up to Sue's.







Pictures from Sue's patio.









No fig pictures, although I did view a lot trees. This trip was about friendship across the country. I've met some great people and enjoyed the visits. I only wish I could do more of this.

That road looks like Hwy 67 going over the pass into Ramona.

paulandirene you've nailed it. We took it from I-8 up to Ramona. It was a wonderful sight seeing trip. What made it special was Sue was at the end of the trail.
"gene"