We came to Redlands, part of the Greater Los Angeles  metro area, for some repair to the coach. We have spent time in Redlands Truck and RV Performance campground waiting for work to begin and then we took some time to get to see Redlands.

Our search turned up a big surprise, a Lincoln Shrine, the only such west of the Mississippi. I thought maybe a statue in a park, but this is what we found:

Originally built in 1932, the center section contains a wonderful marble bust of Lincoln and some memorabilia. The two wings were built in 1998 and contain a timeline of Lincoln’s life a tremendous library and many more memorabilia from his life and from the Civil War. There is also a Norman Rockwell oil commemorating Lincoln. The center building is painted by Dean Cornwell who did a major interior at the Los Angeles Library. I could not do the dome and murals justice with my phone. For much more detail about the shrine here is a link  http://www.lincolnshrine.org/

The shrine is on the grounds of A. K. Smiley Public Library dating back to 1898.

We toured the interior and were very impressed with the collections in addition to the books. A local stained glass worker has been adding windows as recently as last year. For a VRtour http://www.akspl.org/about/#360vrtour will also provides links to history. The architectural detail is very attractive as well:

This is just one of the many columns.

We did a bit of shopping – food mostly – and returned to the coach for a bit. We found one of the doors restored and work proceeding on the rest. We elected to go out for dinner and returned to the center of the city to Eureka Burger. We enjoyed our meal, Carol found a veggie burger made of beets with more salad than she could contemplate eating. I had a specialty burger and enjoyed it a lot. We would go back . A warning, it is noisy.

Today, Wednesday, we have a museum and a mansion on the agenda after lunch. The rain has cleared and painting is proceeding.

http://RVillage.com

Catchy title isn’t it. After sitting in one place since November 25 we  have moved a short distance to Redland CA. Here we will have some minimal bodywork done on the coach, mostly a door that has delaminated and needs to be fixed. Maybe some scratch repair too. 

We spent last night in Oceanside just north of San Diego. We had Thai dinner at I Love Pho and went on to Miracosta College Performance Hall where Kronos Quartet were playing. We were excited to find the Walkers who were happy to share our love for the kind of music Kronos performs. It seems Kronos have moved well into what I would call hybrid forms mixing live performance with recorded material. The Mahalia Jackson number incorporated spoken and sung words drawn from air checks of her on the Studs Terkel show. It is very powerful. The trip entailed an hour drive in the rain each way. I was indeed tired when we got home, but too exhilerated from the evening to get right to sleep.

Staying focused on day to day activities and in park politics does a reasonable job of keeping me from dwelling on national and world politics. I read a bit in the NYTimes and listen to NPR in the morning just to assure myself that the world was not come to an end and it is worth moving on with my own daily actvities. Working with the tech crew to keep TV, Internet and phones working in the park. Now, paying attention to all of the infrastructure systems to be sure they too are mintained and working. When there is a spare moment I still play bridge in the card room, give tours and escort guests to their rental sites. 

Amidst all of this activity I am thinking about travel. We are blessed to be able to travel, just talked with a friend in the park whose wife is ill and they have not been able to travel for a year, they are in their 50’s. Others have come off the road and settled into Jojoba HIlls until their children have called them home. And yet others, like us keep traveling and hiking and learning new pastimes just because. These are the people we emulate. We have been drinking from the fountain of youth, and it isn’t the local wine, good as it may be.  It is the constant activity keeping our brains alert and our bodies in shape. 

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