Ready for NASCAR

Today we made a short move from our friend’s house in Riverside to the Ontario Elks Lodge. This brings us a little closer to the track so we can drive in and back everyday.

We went from this

To this


I know…what were we thinking. Our friends offered to let us stay at their house for the race but we are about 10 minutes closer here at the elks. We have stayed here for the last 3 California races and it works out well.

Unfortunately it looks like it’s going to be another hot one this year. They are predicting as high as 104 degrees. I think last year it was 109 degrees.

Just relaxing

We have been just sitting back here and relaxing by the pool all weekend. Our friends always treat us great while here.


Saturday we had crab legs, lobster and Tri Tip by the pool as we watched NASCAR. Yesterday we went to another pool party where we enjoyed more good food and friends. We will be here for a few more days before we move on to the Elks Lodge near the California Speedway for the NASCAR race.

Note the motorhome behind ours in this photo. Our friends had a Flood in their house and are now living in their motorhome while their entire house gets new floors. Good thing they have a motorhome. The weather has been great here in Riverside so far. It has been in the 90s and we had a brief rain yesterday. It is suppose to get into the 100s for next weekend, which we are not looking forward to. Last year it got over 100 during the NASCAR race and it was a bit uncomfortable. We will make the best of it though.

Mobile again

Yes we are on the road again. Yesterday we moved up to our friend’s house in Riverside California. These are the friends that have the nice pool that we pull up next to. We are on our way to the California Speedway for the NASCAR race next weekend. Susan can’t wait but she will have a great time this weekend also.

Back in the high rent district

Yesterday we had the opportunity to move back up into the RV area here at the Elks lodge. The big party that moved in stayed until this morning but a couple left yesterday morning. Living on holding tanks and generator power was not bad at all though. We really didn’t lack anything.

Saturday they had a cleanup day here at the lodge so I jumped in to help out. One of the guys that knows I am a fulltimer asked how long it has been since I mowed a lawn. “Three years”, I told him and he replied with, “Ya think you remember how”. It wasn’t a lot but it was a workout for me. Some of them mentioned coming back Tuesday so I told them to come get me.

Porta-Power

And to think I almost got rid of this little guy. It’s not often that I use our Honda EU2000i, but it sure is coming in handy this weekend. We would rather run this guy than our monster 6.5kw Generac giant. The Honda ran for 7 hours on 1 gallon of fuel yesterday, the Generac monster gulps about 1 gal/hour. The Honda is so quiet you forget you are running on genny power. The Generac…well there is no mistake it is running. I guess I will keep my little Honda since it is quiet, light weight, and takes up very little space.

We’ve been eighty sixed

I am not sure where the term comes from but I remember it from my old bar days. Being eighty sixed from a bar means you were asked to leave, usually because you did something wrong. Well, we didn’t do anything wrong. We were told we had to vacate the RV Park here at the Elks Lodge because they have a group coming in and all spaces are needed. I checked with the Elks Lodge in the next town, the same thing. So here we are in their Dry Camp Area. I got plenty of fuel for the generator and the fresh water tank is full so we are good for the weekend. I talked with the Wagon Master of the group and asked him to let me know if someone doesn’t show and they end up with an empty space. So far it doesn’t look good for us since they are expecting more rigs than spaces anyway.

Returned calls a thing of the past

I have come to realize, if you make a call and they tell you they will get back to you, FORGET IT! You’d better call someone else. I guess there is so much business out there that customers are not important anymore. I recently made six inquiries and have not received one call back. Four were to the manufacturer of my motorhome. All I need to know is if I can get some matching upholstery material to reskin my couch. This is a simple inquiry that they can’t even respond to. How difficult can that be? I also called Camping World on the recommendation of Michelin to see if I can get an appointment to inspect my tires for a warranty claim. "Can’t find the guy you need to talk to, we’ll get back to you", RIGHT! Another was my Doctor’s billing department. I called to inform them that they are billing me for a bill already paid. Every time I call them I never get to talk to a real person, I always get voice mail, and of course they never called back. I guess they have this thing about talking to customers. I know I have all the time in the world to wait for a call back but I am considerate enough to put off anything I need/want to do to wait around for their call back. Too bad they aren’t considerate enough to make that call. Oh yeah, I remember a few weeks ago waiting for the windshield repairperson to show up for the 8:00a to 12:00a appointment. He showed up at 1:00p.

Back in Vista

We had a great time yesterday with some close friends in Thousand Oaks. They gave us the grand tour of the area including Lake Sherwood and Westlake where there are a lot of high end homes. After a moderate drive, we arrived in Vista today at around 11:30a. We will probably spend about 3 weeks here until it’s time to head for the NASCAR race in Fontana. Of course, the Grandson will be spending the night with us tonight.

Simi Valley

We arrived in Simi Valley today, just north of Los Angeles. We will be visiting some friends tonight and have dinner. Tomorrow we will make our way back down to Vista. Going through LA is not an option. I always go around via I-15. It is only about 15 minutes longer but a lot less traffic and stress.

Paula’s Pancake House

Every time we pass through here we have to stop at Paula’s Pancake House in Solvang for Breakfast.

I like their Danish Pancakes and Susan always get their Pecan Waffle. It’s amazing that after all these years they haven’t found a way to screw things up. Their food is still great, the proportions are still the same and everyone in there is still really friendly. Seems most places, when they have a good thing going, screw something up trying to make changes. Yesterday we had lunch at Pea Soup Andersons. I had a triple-decker sandwich along with a bowl of Split Pea Soup and ½ of Susan’s bowl. I was so stuffed that when dinnertime rolled around, I told Susan to forget what she was fixing and do something light. Anyway, after breakfast today we took a drive up to Cachuma Lake to check out their campsites for future reference. The place isn’t too bad. I think next time through here we will head up there instead of this high dollar so called “Resort”. This afternoon we went back into Solvang to check out the Farmer’s Market. Between all that running around we actually found time to sit by the pool and relax. Pretty nice day!