Oakland, California

I went to this temple for the first time when I was 6 months old, but I don’t remember. The next time I was 12 years old. It was the first temple I ever entered, so it has a special place in my heart. I remember clearly feeling the peace of God there and wanting to be very reverent.

A few weeks before Tiffany and I were married, we went together to this temple. We had our engagement pictures taken by the water fountain. In fact, here’s one of the pictures. Remember this was 1987, don’t be too judgmental! Actually I think we looked pretty good 🙂

Tiffany’s dad, John Scott, volunteers at this temple every Thursday. Her mom Susan, sister Shelby, and Shelby’s husband Jeff and their son Brian all came to the temple with me.

My visit to this temple brought back many happy memories and feelings. I felt sadness too of missing Tiffany. For anyone who has had someone close to them die, you will understand what I mean.

The sadness is tempered by the fact that in our temples we are married forever, not just for this life, and that brings me so much comfort.

My parents came to this temple often as I was growing up in Los Altos and Morgan Hill, across the bay. One of my mom’s best friends, Elaine Moore, developed Multiple Sclerosis when she was a young mother. She was wheelchair bound and unable to move or take care of herself.

Early memories I have are my mom taking Elaine to this temple and helping her do the volunteer work there. I observed my mom doing this for 20 years until she moved out of state. When I think of giving loving service, I think of my mom helping Elaine. And this temple reminds me of that.

So about the motorhome problem I mentioned in my last post when I was in Sacramento…

Turns out one of the airbags on the air suspension sprang a leak. The motorhome is still at the repair shop, they are waiting for a new airbag to come in and then it will get installed. They don’t have an estimate yet when that will be.

Since meeting Ellen in Sacramento and seeing how simply she is traveling, and being frustrated with a 3rd motorhome breakdown requiring repairs in the last 4 weeks, I’ve been thinking perhaps I should change things up.

Yesterday I moved all my essential stuff into my Jeep. The drone, my suit, and my everyday clothes. With the intention of continuing on my trip for a bit without the motorhome and see how that goes.

Here a picture of my car after moving into it. So far so good.

My daughter’s cat by the way, is at Tiffany’s parents house in Modesto since traveling with her in the car isn’t practical.

The grounds at this temple are beautiful, as at all the temples I’ve visited. This is the only picture I took, so I hope you enjoy it 🙂 When you look at the aerial video you’ll see the extent of the grounds, the water falls, and the river between them.

This temple sits at the top of a hill across the San Francisco Bay. In the video you’ll see San Francisco in the background, across the water. It’s a wonderful view.

Here’s the impactful aerial video, taken just as the sun was starting to go down: