A Family Lunch Date in Woodland

A Family Get Together in Woodland

January 11, 2017

Several family members live in Northern California and it seemed like a good time to get some of us older ones, mostly retired, together. I dreamed up a coach trip to Woodland where it would be convenient to meet. Gale and John live only 50 miles north of Woodland, Harris and Barbara live in Sacramento. Murle Jean lives near us, so she joined us at our place for the 80 mile drive to Woodland aboard the coach. Everyone agreed to meet at In-N-Out Burgers just off I-5 in Woodland. And we did!During the drive along I-5 the farmlands were flooded from all the recent rain! Those white thingys sticking out of the water in the foreground are barbed wire fence posts! I suspect the cattle in the background have to swim to each meal.

En route to Woodland we crossed the Yolo Bypass, a flood bypass used to catch excess water and protect Sacramento from flooding. Normally dry and used as rice paddies in the summer, it was a huge lake! It has been several years since it has flooded like this but we’ll gladly take every drop to help put the drought behind us.

The purpose of the coach was that we could eat aboard and wouldn’t have to put up with the noise of a public eatery. And we would all be seated close together. Everyone agreed. We enjoyed peace and quiet, no loud music and no squalling kids. What a grand idea to eat in the coach!Cecil the Diesel parked near (but not near as we’d have liked!) the Woodland In-N-Out for our family lunch.

We agreed to meet at 1300 hours so as to be a bit behind the lunch rush. Three of us walked over and ordered all our meals. When we got back to the coach we all dug into our delicious hamburgers and fries. Except me; I had forgotten to get Lavonne’s cheeseburger. Back I went to get it! We had a grand time visiting as it had been years since we’d all been together.There was adequate room for us all aboard the coach for a grand visit and a tasty junk food lunch. L-R: Barb, Murle Jean, Lavonne, Gale, John, a Tom Selleck look-alike, and Harris.

Harris, Murle Jean, Gale and Lavonne at the table.

Dale, John and Barb on (and near) the couch.

Our visit lasted ’til around 1500 hours when I announced we’d like to beat the commute through Sacramento, Stockton and on home. I think we all agreed it had been a nice lunch together. We bid our goodbyes, collected our hugs, then again headed our separate ways.

Our visit was an eye-opener of sorts; if we all choose to make the effort to get together, we can make it happen. And we agreed that we should do so more often. Perhaps again in the springtime – I hope so!The drive home was not too bad. We dealt with lots of traffic but no delays. And I trust we all get together again soon!

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