A Pilgrimage

Kathleen and I went on the pilgrimage to Fort Ross last Saturday. We rented a Chevy Silverado 2500 Heavy Duty 4x4 to pull our Yakima tent trailer. WOW! What a truck! It is the only vehicle I want to drive ever. The only complaint I have is that it has too many electronics. I prefer round analog dials, like an airplane or a old Mercedes-Benz, but this is 2025 and all vehicles come with lots of unnecessary electronics. But the truck drove like a dream. And it was great on the winding roads on the way to Fort Ross and back.

We spent Friday night at Stillwater Cove Regional Park and were at the Fort Ross for the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning.

There were at least 6, maybe more, bishops present, including the metropolitans of ROCOR and the OCA. I got to see my old friend Fr. David Lowell and Kathleen and I had a chance to speak with our much loved retired Archbishop Benjamin (he baptised my youngest son). And I managed to get a picture of my Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vasily of San Francisco and the West. I have never met him but I have been told he is very strict and full of love, exactly what a bishop should be.

After the Divine Liturgy (WOW! WOW! WOW! The two choirs were amazing!!! Someone told me that one came from an OCA parish in Sacramento and the other came from the ROCOR cathedral in San Francisco.) and lunch Kathleen and I went back to the campground at Stillwater Cove and took a nap. We woke up just before sunset and made dinner, and after dinner we made s'mores. That was fun. I hadn't made them since I was a Cub Scout leader more than a decade ago.

We came home Sunday afternoon and were at work this morning.