Finding Our Car Key and Long-Lost Cousin

Friday, 9/8/2023

After breakfast at the motel in Del Mar, we packed up and were all ready to leave, but could not find the car key anywhere. We searched and searched, and we were about to give up and use our back-up key, but I open the cooler lid and, voilà! There it was! I had thrown a few empty Ziplocks in the cooler and the key had been hidden in between them.

We drove to a nearby pet store to buy dog food. (Porsche has definitely lost weight on this trip.) Then we stopped at a grocery store in Carlsbad, and I recalled that my cousin Gary lived somewhere nearby. I checked for his address and found that he and Pam lived only five blocks away! I had not seen or had contact with him since I was little. (He is 12 years older than I.) I tried to call him, but there was no answer, so I left a voicemail.

Since we were so close to their home, we decided to drive past to see where they live. A man was standing in the driveway, so I got out and asked, “Gary?“ It was him! I had to explain twice who I was, but then he graciously invited us in. He and Pam had just returned from a three day camping trip. We had a very lovely time with them for well over an hour. We had not seen each other for probably 55 years!

We drove along the ocean on I-5. There was lots of noisy, heavy traffic. We arrived at San Onofre State Beach around 2 PM and it was 86° - very hot for setting up the tent. I got stung by a bee in the process. Ouch!

We drove to San Clemente for lunch and bought gas for $5.13 a gallon. It cooled off nicely in the evening and we played Quiddler in the tent, walked Porsche, and enjoyed the beautiful stars.