Dining in Point Reyes Station

Now that I'm a volunteer camp host at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, I am six miles from Olema Ranch RV Resort and Campground where I began my workamping experience. My friend who lives in Inverness and whose husband, my former co-worker and supervisor, is now the manager at the campground, picked me up and took me to Point Reyes Station. The small community is two miles north of Olema and has many fun places to visit: Toby's Feed Barn, the Cowgirl Creamery, the Pine Cone Diner, the Station House Cafe and now, Stellina.

What a lovely and delicious surprise! We were greeted at the door by the owner, a former chef, and our waiter recognized the Good Samantha on my windbreaker. The restaurant is on the edge of upscale without making you feel you should dress up to dine there. We had lunch so I can't vouch for breakfast nor dinner. It was terrific.

We started with a potato soup with pesto and nettles accompanied by bread from the local bakery. Most of the menu consisted of local and organic food. My friend was happy with a bite from my entree: penne pasta with cannellini beans and sun-dried tomatoes with asiago cheese. For dessert, my friend had a Meyer lemon ice cream sandwich while I enjoyed a coffee pot de creme with chopped walnuts and Straus Dairy whipped cream. I can duplicate the soup and entree at home, but I would be hard-pressed to create the desserts.

If you decide to drive the California coast and camp at either Olema RV Resort and Campground or Bodega Dunes (another state park), you'll find Stellina on your way in Point Reyes Station.

No, I received nothing for this review but I love locally-grown organic food used well in creative dishes. Try it and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

From my window March 24

I arrived yesterday at Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Lagunitas, CA. Since I was feeling adventurous, I drove north on Highway 1. There are three ways to drive on Highway 1, none of them involving an RV: motorcycle, sports car or bicycle. Do yourself and any passengers a huge favor and don't drive your RV on that road unless you feel as adventurous as I did.

These are some views from my window at my new camp host site.

More tech stuff and a warning

I read this and decided to pass it along as written.

How to tell, what to do if computer is infected
By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer

(03-15) 14:19 PDT (AP) --

Computer-virus infections don't cause your machine to crash anymore
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Nowadays, the criminals behind the infections usually want your computer operating in top form so you don't know something's wrong. That way, they can log your keystrokes and steal any passwords or credit-card numbers you enter at Web sites, or they can link your infected computer with others to send out spam.

Here are some signs your computer is infected, tapped to serve as part of "botnet" armies run by criminals:

* You experience new, prolonged slowdowns. This can be a sign that a malicious program is running in the background.

* You continually get pop-up ads that you can't make go away. This is a sure sign you have "adware," and possibly more, on your machine.

* You're being directed to sites you didn't intend to visit, or your search results are coming back funky. This is another sign that hackers have gotten to your machine.

So what do you do?

* Having anti-virus software here is hugely helpful. For one, it can identify known malicious programs and disable them. If the virus that has infected your machine isn't detected, many anti-virus vendors offer a service in which they can remotely take over your computer and delete the malware for a fee.

* Some anti-virus vendors also offer free, online virus-scanning services.

* You may have to reinstall your operating system if your computer is still experiencing problems. It's a good idea even if you believe you've cleaned up the mess because malware can still be hidden on your machine. You will need to back up your files before you do this.

How do I know what information has been taken?

* It's very hard to tell what's been taken. Not every infection steals your data. Some just serve unwanted ads. Others poison your search result or steer you to Web sites you don't want to see. Others log your every keystroke. The anti-virus vendors have extensive databases about what the known infections do and don't do. Comparing the results from your virus scans to those entries will give you a good idea about what criminals may have snatched up.

Believe me, you don't want to find out you've been hacked. Please run a virus and spyware scan now and frequently thereafter.

Menace to public safety?

So I went to San Francisco and parked the RV at Ocean Beach like I usually do when I visit the city. I took the Muni and my friend and I met at the old Balboa Theater. We saw a terrific double feature: Frost/Nixon and The Wrestler. I recommend them both. After we had coffee, I returned to the RV and worked on the computer. I watched the sun set over the Pacific and looked at Seal Rock graying in the dusk. Then I realized it was getting too dark for me to drive comfortably. I looked through the kitchen window and saw a class C about 50 feet away. The couple seemed to be settled in for the night and I decided to spend the night, planning to leave early in the morning. I didn't pay attention to the signs since I had parked there many times.

At 5 am, the street cleaner went by in both directions. I rolled over and went back to sleep until 7:30. I turned on the computer to check emails and the overnight attempts by spammers to register on the forums, dressed and was making a cup of coffee.

Suddenly, there were three rapid knocks on the back of the RV. Then three more on the left side (the shade was still down), and a couple of knocks on the front (the curtains were closed across the windshield). I opened the door and saw a San Francisco police officer rounding the passenger side. "Oh. You're here."
"Yes. I'm making coffee."
She said, "The people across the street in the condos reported your license plate and said you were parked here overnight."
"Yes, I was. I don't like driving at night and there was another RV parked by me."
She looked through the kitchen window as I did and the class C was gone. There were several cars parked on the other side with surfers donning wetsuits.
She seemed surprised that I would admit spending the night. "You spent the night?"
I nodded. "Ocean Beach is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area so it's federal land. I thought it would be safe to park here."
While she stood there, I looked to my right and saw three black-and-whites with a total of five officers inside, her partner being the solo occupant in one of the cars.
"I'm having a cup of coffee and I'll be leaving within an hour, OK?"
She said that was fine. "If you do spend the night again, move down the beach to the other lot."
I knew about the other lot. There is a class C with a generator on the ground next to it plugged into the RV. The man has lived there for months.
I agreed, she walked back to her vehicle and I closed the door.

I was shaking my head at the commotion caused by complaints about an RV spending the night in the parking lot at Ocean Beach and six officers in three cars investigating before 8 am. Must not be much crime in the city at that hour. There was a knock at the door. I opened it and she said, "You have a ticket. I just wanted to let you know it's there and I didn't issue it. Must have been parking." I thanked her, she left and I finished my coffee.

The ticket was indeed from parking for being in the way of the street cleaner. My penalty for not reading the signs? $50. Expensive trip to San Francisco.

Can you imagine who would have arrived if the neighbors thought my RV and I were a threat to national security? Thank goodness my driver's license, registration and insurance have an actual street address listed and not a post office box. We all know Homeland Security suspects full-time RVers without a sticks-and-bricks address could be potential terrorists.

So for those of you who are planning to visit San Francisco and park as I advised in this blog a few months ago, you'll be fine as long as you don't boondock. If you do, park away from the condos and near the RV with the generator on the ground.

From my window March 3

While I was reflecting on what would have been my grandmother's 98th birthday (she died much too soon in 1990 at 79), I thought I would show you what I see from my window at Brannan Island State Recreation Area during our latest rainstorm. I have a fresh pot of coffee, a PB&J sandwich and a crisp Granny Smith apple for dessert. Not a bad way to spend a day off.