We’ve still got it

Yes we still have the ability to make it rain wherever we go. This is our last day at San Elijo State Beach and up until today, the weather has been fabulous. Well, it’s not so bad today either except it IS raining. At least we waited until the last day before we made it rain. I just feel sorry for all the nice folks that came down to spend New Years here and got rained on. Tomorrow we will be moving of back to Temecula for a few days until we head for the Southwestern FMCA rally. If you are heading for the rally, we will be your tram drivers. We volunteered to drive trams last year and are doing it again this year.

Below is another list of interesting characters we have come across as Camp Hosts.

See you next Year!

More interesting characters

Here is another list of interesting characters we have come across as Camp Hosts.

We had a woman that insisted on a hookup site to run her heater because she came from Florida and didn’t bring enough blankets to keep her warm at night.

There was the woman that insisted our sister park has hookups even though we say they don’t. She must know something we don’t know.

When reminding him of our generator hours, a guy said he had to run his generator all night because he has a medical device that needs power. He reserved a non-hookup site.

A woman told me she was running her generator in the early morning because she left her lights on all night and the battery was dead. She must know some exceptions to the rules that I don’t know.

A gentleman asked if I would let him run his generator at 6:00 am because his coach only has 1 battery and his heater ran the battery dead over night.

When asked why he hasn’t left his site after checkout time, this guy went down a list of personal problems that had nothing to do with leaving but would have made a great country western song.

The reason one guy wouldn’t put his dog on a leash is because he says his dog is a country dog.

One guy said after checking in, his wife won’t stay because they are from the country and his wife refuses to listen to the road noise all night. He wanted a refund.

There are the numerous people that say they couldn’t register last night because the office was closed when they pulled in, even though there are instructions for self-registration. A lot of them leave without paying the $20 registration. Since we have their license plate number the Rangers send them a $65 ticket.

One person was upset at us because he couldn’t register his vehicle until he paid the $600 fines for not paying the $65 ticket he got for not paying the $20 campground fee. They just can’t figure it out…

We get a few that claim they reserved one of the hookup sites, but their site doesn’t have hookups. Even after pointing out that their reservation conformation says non-hookup they insist they reserved a hookup site. Same thing with the oceanfront sites.

There were the young adults that pulled into a reserved site later one evening. When the person with the reservation showed up that evening the young adults made up their own rules that reservations are forfeited after 9:00 pm.

One guy insisted that they should have been warned about the train noise when they made reservations.

When told we were full, one woman asked, Are you sure you are full.

Some people try to hide an extra car in the back of their site because they don’t want to pay the extra vehicle fee.

Work Done

Our work is done here. We did our last shift yesterday morning. We will be hanging out until the first of the year and be available to assist campers.




Although the weather report keeps threatening rain, there is none in site. As you can see in these photos, the sun was shining bright. Our grandson came to spend a few nights with us. He just loved walking around the tide pools. He even helped a few sea creatures back into the water that got left behind with the tide.


The tide pools were teaming with life today, human life that is.

Santa Claus came

I don’t get it. Even though our fireplace has no chimney, somehow Santa Clause still got in to bring us all these presents.

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas Everyone

Morning Sunrise

I have taken plenty of sunset photos but until now I have never caught a sunrise. The last couple of mornings have been spectacular with the sunrise breaking through the morning clouds and mist.

Lots happening

There has been a lot going on around here lately. I told you about all the wackos in the park, well we have had a few more since then. Also the other Camp Hosts had things come up where they have had to leave the park to take care off. This has left Susan and I pulling double (all day) shifts. It’s no big deal since you could hardly call this work. Our granddaughter had her 1st birthday and we headed on out to attend her party. Also the Camp Hosts at South Carlsbad State Beach (our sister park) had a host party that we attended. We had a great time meeting all the hosts from Carlsbad and swapping interesting stories. But the big event has been the storm surge along the coast. The northwest has been hit with a big storm that brought us humongous waves and higher than normal tides. We were afraid some of the lower campsites would get flooded out but they survived.

The beach we used to walk is gone, covered by high surf that is licking the already eroding cliffs.
The surfers were going crazy with the 15 to 20 foot waves. The rangers and Lifeguards had their hands full rescuing surfers from the raging ocean. There were over 100 rescues in one day. They were hanging out just past the surf on Jet Skis ready to rush in and pluck a surfer in trouble out of the water. They also had ambulances and a helicopter standing by just in case. Although there were many rescues there was no deaths until today. Unfortunately a surfer floated ashore unconscious and was unable to be resuscitated. They still do not know his identity. They only know he appears to be in his 30s. Many surfers went home with broken boards and some bumps and bruises. Traffic was also a mess. Everyone came down to either ride the waves or just observe the waves. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper and stop-and-go. There was just no place for all of them to park. The local police were on foot going down the line of cars asking illegal parkers to move on. As soon as they chased one out another would pull in. Finally they started ticketing them and had to call for more ticket books. Tow trucks were also busy removing cars. The surf subsided a bit today but was still huge today. The problem today was the fog that came in. Surfers were going out not knowing what they were getting into. The lifeguards could not keep an eye out for them since visibility was very limited. Next week is supposed to be a repeat of yesterday and today.

These guys decided to pull out of this wave.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

This time of year brings out all the wackos, degenerates and misfits. The park is just about empty during the weekdays except for a collection of degenerates. There is an interesting collection of tents, campers and motorhomes.
There is the guy that asks for an ambulance because he thinks he is suffering from sleep deprivation.
There was the motley grew that looked like they just crawled out from under a bridge somewhere. They all took off one day, however they forgot the guy that was passed out in the bushes next to their site. I left that one for the Ranger to handle.
There is the POW that complains about everything even though he is getting his site for free. He figures since he doesn’t have to pay that he can come and go as he pleases, whenever he pleases.
There was the guy that took off in his truck the day he was supposed to check out, leaving his trailer and Harley behind. When he arrived at 11:30P the Ranger was there to meet him. Turns out his truck, trailer, and wife’s car had expired registrations and their driver’s licenses were expired. He was given an hour to leave.
There was the guy that claims he raises race horses and has lots of money even though he is sleeping in a 4’X4’ purple tent that looks like a little kids Barbie tent. He ended up missing for 2 nights even though all his stuff was still setup in the site. He came back and paid up then disappeared again for another 4 nights, then one night all his stuff disappeared.
There is the one that says he just bought a million dollar house, however he is staying in the park in his hundred dollar motorhome.
There are the ones that have a vivid imagination. One says he witnessed a rape in one of the showers. One wanted to file an assault with deadly weapon charge stating a man with a cane attacked him.
Then there are the leaches that think they can pull in when the office is closed and slip out before they open without paying. Little do they know that we get their plate numbers and send them a citation that costs A LOT more than the night’s fee.
There is the guy that chooses a non-hookup site, then plugged into the hookup site next to him. His excuse was he was charging a dead battery and didn’t want to disturb anyone with his generator. Yeah, he was also kicked back watching TV.
There was the woman that knocked on my door at 8:00pm looking for a warm place to sleep. When I sent her on her way, she was so wasted she couldn’t find her way out of my site. Called the ranger on that one.
There are also a number of oddballs that are quiet, keep to themselves and completely harmless.
So, how exciting is your job?

What's happening

Since we are presently right next to a major rail road track, the commuter train from LA and Oceanside to San Diego, we have become aware of the individual engineers by the way they blow the whistle. They all seem to have their own signature toot (or BLAST!) as they enter the crossroad near by. There is one however that recently stands out. This person has mastered “Jingle Bells” on the train’s whistle. Just cracks me up every time he passes by.

I made a major blunder. My computer was getting pretty slow lately so I decided to clear it out by formatting the Hard Drive and reinstalling just the programs I need. I thought by copying every file from my hard drive to my external drive, I wouldn’t have the problem of lost files or data. There were a few files that wouldn’t copy because they were “in use” at the time. Well, it turns out that all my Outlook data was in those files including all my contacts. Yes I lost all my contacts. If anyone reading this thinks they may have been in my contact list, I would appreciate it if you could email me with your info, Thanks.

It was looking like we weren’t going to be offered our Host jobs next year. They said they had already filled the months of November and December for next year. However, the other day we got a call letting us know they put us down for November and December of 2006 and asked us if we would do October and January also. We declined the extra months since we have Rallies we attend those months. Also, we have been here for a little over a month and I am ready itching to get back on the road again. 4 months would drive me crazy.

Waiting for that wave

Here in Southern California, the surfers are serious about their sport. Even when there are no waves. This morning was so nice. The air was still, the sea was calm, and there was not a cloud in the sky. The park is empty again. Things are real slow around here. We just drive around in our cart looking for something amiss but all is well.


Evenings are so nice. Everyone just lines up along the bluffs and watches the sun set. I just can’t get enough of the sunsets.