Getting set up, a caravan arrives and now…a Fish Fry!

It’s Saturday and tonight we will have a fish fry over at John and Geri’s.  Yesterday we spent the day getting everything in order in the rig.  When the motorcycle and bicycle are out of the garage it becomes another room where I can set up my table, put out the electric cooler and the rest of the things I use over the winter.  As we are beach people we also have a place to  hang wet towels and bathing suits and not worry about sand in the main part of the RV. 

On Friday afternoon about 4:30 a smallish French Canadian Caravan pulled in.  There was a lot of yelling in french as the wagon master got them all parked but it only took about 1/2 hour before they were all done.  Very quick and painless.  I didn’t count the rigs but there was probably a dozen.  First they had a quick happy hour and by 6:30 the pulmonias showed up and they were off out of the park.  That would be the last thing we would be doing after a full days drive. 

Saturday afternoon about 1pm and the pulmonias were back and they were off again.  They are leaving early tomorrow morning and I guess they want to cram as much in as possible in the day they are here. 

So at about 4pm the invited all showed up over at John and Geri’s for happy hour.  Everyone had brought something to add to the fish provided by our hosts.  I made a huge crockpot of Mexican rice and a small fruit salad.  Above you see Carol, Sandi and Geri who posed for a picture.

Robin, Pat, Helene, Rita and Sam…Dennis in the back.

Some of us have only been here a few days and some have been here a couple of weeks or more so everyone is getting reaquainted.

Eric and Hal having a chat. 

Roger and Dennis having an intent chat. 

That’s Millie and Marilyn chatting to Carol, Sandi and Geri.

So the whole group of 20ish all in a circle. 

Millie and Geri have been friends for a long time and Millie is Geri’s right hand man at the fish frys. 

As the fish started to pile up the rest of us set out whatever we’d brought.

Dennis and Roger are still chatting!  Marilyn and Dennis used to RV but are now renting a condo not far from the park.

The food is out and it looks lovely.  Lots of salads, rice and beans along with tortillas and Geri’s secret fish sauce. 

Fresh deep fried dorado…what could be more delicious.

Lots of food for everyone.   At this point John had welcomed everyone and said grace.  As they had provided the fish he asked that we made a charitable donation to Rosie (from Gaby’s Beauty shop) to help her provide gifts for the poor over Christmas.  Happy to do so. 

As soon as everyone was seated eating and it was quiet I made a short speech thanking John and Geri for their friendship and all the parties they had hosted over the years such as fish frys, potatoe bakes and even one for breakfast.   I mentioned the chili cook-off that we did to raise money for the orphanage, cards, lunch and bingo with Geri and that we will all miss them.  This is their last year RVing and they are taking their south to Bucerious as it has been sold and will stay there.   

We are finished eating and now it’s time for Geri and Millie to eat. 

It’s getting dark and the sunset is quite lovely. 

You can see Escondido tower in the middle.

Just about dark and….the bugs have come out.  Some people like Marilyn don’t get bitten but most of us do to some degree.  I spray but it doesn’t help that much.  Eric wears pants, shoes and socks and when the bugs start biting he is gone as he gets an allergic reaction to the Mexican bugs.  No problem at home but here….no bueno!  A small group stayed for a while and some of us headed home. 

A delicious dinner with friends and lots of catch up chat….what more can you ask for.