Awake: 6:25am Temp 31 sleep 6+10 sunny overnight @ Santa Nella, CA.
After a small breakfast, I climbed up the ladder again & rid the slides of dew turned to ice.
We left the tiny town of Santa Nella by going south on State road-33, then west on State road-152, then southwest on State road-156 & south on U.S. route-101 to Paso Rubles.
Kathy asked all kinds of questions when selecting a new campground, but we didn't expect this when we turned into the driveway of Paso Robles RV Ranch: a very steep hill with a very large dip. I stopped the bus, got out & surveyed the situation, already the rear steel safety roller was about to hit the asphalt.
We were blocking a 5th wheel that came shortly behind us + a few other cars using the service road. One of the guys exited his truck, came over & suggested that I take a slanted approach from the opposite direction. He told me he has experience doing it that way & it works.
So we detached our Suzuki to let the traffic pass by, then maneuvered the coach to approach the hill from the opposite direction without getting near the wide & long dip. It worked very well & I think Kathy thanked the guy for his advice. I suppose sometime we will be adding that inquiry to our list of questions when selecting a campground.
After paying our camping fee & parking the bus, we hustled downtown to Paso Rubles in our Suzuki; we've heard so many nice things about this town & were excited to see why.
First, a short auto tour of the main downtown area which was nicely planned: wide streets & quite active. Kathy then programmed the GPS for "We Olive," a retail shop & tasting spot, she had read about in the "San Luis Obispo County Visitors Guide."
We had heard of tasting wine but never thought of "tasting" olive oil; after all, olive oil is olive oil! Not so!! Kathy was so curious & excited about the prospect of learning about the oil she uses almost everyday. Olive oil tasting involves smelling the aroma of an oil & then sipping it to taste its positive attributes. Official tasters drink the oil from dark blue glasses, to ensure they can't see the color of the oil (& be influenced by an oil's green or gold color).
There are (3) qualities testers look for: fruitiness (any positive organic smell or taste); bitterness (a sign of freshness, usually tasted on the sides of the tongue); & pungency (a peppery, burning sensation in the throat). We tried many different olive oils, ranging from buttery to various degrees of pungency (from "one cough to two coughs"). We want to share what we learned.
Try it yourself: grab that bottle of oil you've got in the cabinet & taste it. Pour some into a wine glass -about an inch or two. Cover the glass with one hand, while warming the base of the glass with the other. Place your nose in the glass after a minute & breathe in. Does it smell fruity, like green apples or cut grass or tomato leaf? Great! Or does it smell like paint thinner or bacon or a musty cellar? In that case, it's probably defective & should be thrown out. Next, slurp in about a quarter of a teaspoon & let it sit on your tongue while you breathe in. Finally swallow a bit & look for any signs of pepper in the throat. (Did you cough?) If an oil has a greasy feeling on your tongue, it's probably past its prime.
Just across the street we checked out a cheese store, DiRaimondo's Italian Market & Cheese Shop. Not as exciting as we've tasted cheese before, but we did taste & we did buy. The olive oil....we "almost" bought.
Darkness was soon upon us as we strolled around the huge downtown park admiring the main library centered within & a number of classic old buildings that line the streets. We liked this town a lot; there were a lot of nice & cozy stores that we enjoyed seeing.
Earlier we were tipped off that quite a few homes were decorated with outside lights & other Christmas displays on Vine Street, so we took that all in en-route to Wal-Mart for a few groceries.
Dinner: leftover chili & Tostitos.
Evening movie: "Pal Joey." We watched ½.
Lights out: 11:42pm.
After a small breakfast, I climbed up the ladder again & rid the slides of dew turned to ice.
We left the tiny town of Santa Nella by going south on State road-33, then west on State road-152, then southwest on State road-156 & south on U.S. route-101 to Paso Rubles.
Kathy asked all kinds of questions when selecting a new campground, but we didn't expect this when we turned into the driveway of Paso Robles RV Ranch: a very steep hill with a very large dip. I stopped the bus, got out & surveyed the situation, already the rear steel safety roller was about to hit the asphalt.
We were blocking a 5th wheel that came shortly behind us + a few other cars using the service road. One of the guys exited his truck, came over & suggested that I take a slanted approach from the opposite direction. He told me he has experience doing it that way & it works.
So we detached our Suzuki to let the traffic pass by, then maneuvered the coach to approach the hill from the opposite direction without getting near the wide & long dip. It worked very well & I think Kathy thanked the guy for his advice. I suppose sometime we will be adding that inquiry to our list of questions when selecting a campground.
After paying our camping fee & parking the bus, we hustled downtown to Paso Rubles in our Suzuki; we've heard so many nice things about this town & were excited to see why.
First, a short auto tour of the main downtown area which was nicely planned: wide streets & quite active. Kathy then programmed the GPS for "We Olive," a retail shop & tasting spot, she had read about in the "San Luis Obispo County Visitors Guide."
We had heard of tasting wine but never thought of "tasting" olive oil; after all, olive oil is olive oil! Not so!! Kathy was so curious & excited about the prospect of learning about the oil she uses almost everyday. Olive oil tasting involves smelling the aroma of an oil & then sipping it to taste its positive attributes. Official tasters drink the oil from dark blue glasses, to ensure they can't see the color of the oil (& be influenced by an oil's green or gold color).
There are (3) qualities testers look for: fruitiness (any positive organic smell or taste); bitterness (a sign of freshness, usually tasted on the sides of the tongue); & pungency (a peppery, burning sensation in the throat). We tried many different olive oils, ranging from buttery to various degrees of pungency (from "one cough to two coughs"). We want to share what we learned.
Try it yourself: grab that bottle of oil you've got in the cabinet & taste it. Pour some into a wine glass -about an inch or two. Cover the glass with one hand, while warming the base of the glass with the other. Place your nose in the glass after a minute & breathe in. Does it smell fruity, like green apples or cut grass or tomato leaf? Great! Or does it smell like paint thinner or bacon or a musty cellar? In that case, it's probably defective & should be thrown out. Next, slurp in about a quarter of a teaspoon & let it sit on your tongue while you breathe in. Finally swallow a bit & look for any signs of pepper in the throat. (Did you cough?) If an oil has a greasy feeling on your tongue, it's probably past its prime.
Just across the street we checked out a cheese store, DiRaimondo's Italian Market & Cheese Shop. Not as exciting as we've tasted cheese before, but we did taste & we did buy. The olive oil....we "almost" bought. Darkness was soon upon us as we strolled around the huge downtown park admiring the main library centered within & a number of classic old buildings that line the streets. We liked this town a lot; there were a lot of nice & cozy stores that we enjoyed seeing.
Earlier we were tipped off that quite a few homes were decorated with outside lights & other Christmas displays on Vine Street, so we took that all in en-route to Wal-Mart for a few groceries.
Dinner: leftover chili & Tostitos.
Evening movie: "Pal Joey." We watched ½.
Lights out: 11:42pm.
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