One Year Ago...

Above, The Beast at the Los Banos/I-5 KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One year ago today, I departed from the Los Banos/I-5 KOA that is located in Santa Nella, California after spending the night following the talks and book signing by former Secret Service Agent Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin at Book Passage in Corte Madera on their book, Five Presidents. I stayed nearby at the Marin RV Park. I was on my return trip home.

Above, Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin at Book Passage the day before. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I arose early, as I recall, due to high winds that were buffeting the sides of The Beast. It was amusing that I was assigned the same campsite that I stayed at two nights prior, during the trip to the book signing. The KOA was a good midway stop between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Above, the front of the Los Banos/I-5 KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A few hours later, while stopped for breakfast at a Denny's Restaurant in Coalinga, the television monitor in the dining room had a news report on the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was reported that Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, killed 49 people and wounded 58 others in a terrorist attack/hate crime inside Pulse, a gay nightclub. He was shot and killed by the Orlando Police.

It was a good trip and it was a good trial run for the Owens Valley trip the following month.