Drag Racing

We have just about wrapped up the weekend here at Pomona. We have been here since Thursday for the NHRA Winternationals Drag Races.

For a while it was looking a little iffy with the threat of rain but it held off until Saturday night and cleared enough Sunday to get the finals in.

This is a picture of 24 year old Ashley Force’s car with Father John Force on the far left and Mom in the pink top.


We are here with a group of 6 rigs and we just had a ball of course with good racing, good food, and good friends.

It is just unbelievable how fast these cars are getting. Covering a ¼ mile track at speeds of 330+mph in the low 4-second range is just incredible. We are fortunately to be camping with an ex funny car racer that gave us all the low down on what it’s like to be in the drivers seat. He drove until he crashed his jet-powered car at over 300 mph breaking both legs and an arm. That is when he decided to call it quits. He still gets the bug though.

Tomorrow we are heading north for the second part of our 3 week journey before heading back to Havasu. More fun ahead.

Ready for the Drag Race

We made it to Pomona today. On the way we stopped by the shop to get the U joints lubed. While they were under there they found a grease cup that was torn and replaced it for free. Now that’s good business. At first I thought they may have damaged it with too much pressure/grease but Keith showed it to me and the rubber is just plane shot. This coach is only 4 years old and has a bit over 20000 miles on it. I was surprised to see these things in that bad of shape. I am sure the others are ready to go at anytime too. If you are in the area of Redlands California and find you need service go see the guys at Redlands Truck and RV. These guys know their stuff and will take care of you.

Today we will just sit and relax. Tomorrow the others in our group will start to arrive. We are in a KOA right across the street from the Drag Strip and you can sure hear those Top Fuel cars run.

Made it to Indio

We left Lake Havasu this morning and made it over to Indio California. What a boring drive. I think the California desert has got to be the worst. I tried a different course this time which shaved only about 15 minutes off our time but had about 1 hour and 45 minutes more boring desert. I think I will go back to the old route. At least with the old route we pass through farmland along the Colorado River. We are only going to be here for 1 night then down the hill to Pomona California. We will make a quick pit stop to get the Universal joints lubed that they forgot to do when I had it in the shop Jan 2.

I had to order a new AC power adaptor for my notebook computer since the one I have has a broken wire in it. I have to hold it just right to make connection. On the way over here it disconnected and I had to fiddle with it while going down the road. Susan finally made me pull into a rest stop to fix it before we ended up in the ditch, or worse. So if you don’t hear from us for a while it is because the cord broke beyond repair. I have a new one on it’s way to Lake Havasu right now, so it should be there when we get back on Feb 27.

Getting ready to travel

When they installed my turf, they tried to cut corners by piecing together some pieced. It didn’t come out to good so today they came out and replaced the whole thing. It looks real nice now.

Well tomorrow we are on the road again. We are heading for the NHRA Winternationals Drag Race in Pomona California. I packed up our patio furniture and covered it for the time we will be gone. Our lot looks pretty bare right now but the turf sure looks good. I was looking at the covers and they look like they will only handle one more summer out here. It gets around 120 here in the summer and that will take a toll on everything. I guess it’s cheaper to replace the covers every 2 years rather than the furniture.

Poll Results

Here are the results of the poll question “What region of the country do you live in?”. This surprised me somewhat. I thought most would be from the Southwest because the weather is always good for Rving so I just assumed most readers would be from this region. I'm not surprised to see we have readers from “Another Country” but not only are they from Canada but also we have readers from New Zealand, Australia, England, and also Italy.

I started a new poll. Let's see how much time we all spend in our RVs. See left column.

What a fun day

Today Susan and I went over to some friend’s house here in Lake Havasu. They used to own the lot 2 lots down from ours in the resort but decided to buy a house in town and sell the lot. They have a nice house in an exclusive gated country club community where Arnold Palmer designed the golf course. The girls headed into town and us guys headed for the hills in his Polaris Ranger. Man am I impressed with this machine. We headed into the backcountry of Lake Havasu and eventually cam across some dirt bikers. I think they were impressed that we could keep right up with them. We climbed up and down the same hills they were on. I was also impresses at how well the Ranger handled the woop-tee-doos. That thing has a nice suspension on it.

I was able to add a few photos to the “Problems uploading photos again” post. I got 2 uploaded and it quit uploading again. I will try again another time.

What a nice day

It was looking a little iffy this morning. After laying in bed, listening to the rain falling on the roof of the motorhome (which I really like) we thought today was going to be one of those “stay inside and relax” days. Shortly after waking, the rain went away, the sun poked out, the wind stopped and it warmed up real nice. The day was GREAT! I did nothing but sit out on the patio and enjoy the day. It doesn’t take long before someone will come by and sit for a while and chat. Especially since our site is right on the walking path. One of my neighbors came by and said I had the life of a palm tree. I never heard it put that way before. When evening rolled around we saw some pretty nasty clouds off in the distance and it wasn’t long before we were hearing thunder but it past right around us. The weather report says it’s only going to get better from here on out.

Problems uploading photos again

Looks like I am having problems uploading photos again. If they get it fixed I will go back and add photos. I will let you know when that happens.


There has been a lot going on around here. There is construction on the lot next to ours, which I am not too happy about. Their new patio cover is now blocking my view of the mountains from the coach window. There are two remedies though. One is to sit out on our patio in front of the motorhome and the other is to pull the motorhome all the way up past their patio. I would rather leave the motorhome where it is and sit on our patio and enjoy the view since the weather lately has been great.


Over the weekend Susan’s parents came out from Vista California to visit. They were impressed with the resort and what I have done with the lot. Susan’s Dad was looking at some available lots. Not sure if he was serious or just curious.

The resort has been party central. Seems there is always something going on at someone’s place. We have been hopping from lot to lot every evening for cookouts, cocktails, and munchies. Susan is enjoying not having to prepare full on meals and delighting all with her side dishes. We had a cookout the other evening and got to give the new grill a good workout with 10 steaks.

I have got a lot of comments on my cactus garden that I threw up in little time with little money. Since I added grass, palms, and such, I decided I needed to do a little desertscape to keep in theme with the area. I even installed a post for my Satellite dish. I am thinking of adding a big rock or plant to camouflage it a bit without blocking the signal. I am just not sure what it will be yet.

They are selling lots fast around here. This is probably the best time of the year for them since the park is full and the weather is great.

I hate wind

I see no good reason for wind. At least for my benefit. I know it is useful for a lot of things but I have no use for it. That being said, sometimes I wonder why I bought an RV lot in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It is more windy than not around here. And I am not talking about a nice gentle summer breeze, I am talking 10-30 mph a lot of the time with gusts to 40 at times. We still enjoy our place in Havasu though. I have found a spot in front of the motorhome that is blocked from the wind and have set up a sitting area. It is quite comfortable there and it overlooks the “Green Belt” and pool area.

Funny thing, the other day, a neighbor planned a get together for some dogs and burgers. He had arranged to use the clubhouse because of the cool and windy weather we have been having.


Turns out it was the best day since we have been here this time.


It was sunny with breezes below 5 mph. Needless to say, we didn’t use the clubhouse.

The park is really full this time of the year. We are leaving for about 3 weeks soon and I was not going to put our lot back in the rental pool for that time but since I have not seen a lot sit empty for more than a couple of hours I might as well make a little money. I know someone will be on it the whole time we are gone. It will help offset our 3 week travel costs.

I have pretty much finished my lot upgrade project for now. Now if the wind would just slow down so we can enjoy it. As I stated in the previous post, I planted a few plants. I am afraid, with this wind, they are going to grow sideways instead of up. As you can see in the photos, they are quite young right now and have a lot of growing to do.

I think I’m done for a while

I’ve just been working my butt off here. I dug ditches, put in irrigation, planted 3 Lantana, 4 Bottlebrush, 5 Oleander, 3 Palms, and a cactus garden. I also had some artificial turf installed. There is no way to keep real turf alive around here so artificial is the only way to go. Man, they have come a long way with this stuff. It looks so real. Today it is raining, and what a relief. I did absolutely nothing today. I think I am about done… Yeah Right!
I have given up trying to keep the motorhome clean since they are doing construction on the lot next door. They are extending their patio area and building a Casita. Just about every other day they are throwing dirt around and creating a bunch of dust. It doesn’t take much since the wind it always blowing around here. Hopefully today’s rain will clean most of it off.
I used our new grill for the first time the other day. I grilled two burgers. I was thinking something was wrong because it took 30+ minutes to cook two thin burger patties and they were still slightly pink inside. My neighbor says that’s normal when the outside temperature is in the 40s with a good wind blowing. The patties were also frozen when I started.
We were disappointed to find that our friends two lots down had sold their lot. Turns out they bought a house only about 2 miles from the resort and are planning to live here year round so we will most likely be seeing more of them. Also the couple they sold their lot to are real nice people. All worked out good.
In two weeks we are back on the road again. Hopefully I can relax and enjoy my handy work in the mean time.

What the heck

I thought when I sold the house that I was done with moving and yard work. Today I went out in the 34 degree weather and built a cactus garden on my lot. Then later Susan and I went out and picked up a few plants and I did some planting. This afternoon a good friend called and asked if I would help him move some stuff out of his storage into his new house. At least I don’t have to spend all weekend working on the yard like I used to when I owned a house. It’s supposed to be about 27 degrees tonight with wind chills of 22. It is not supposed to be above freezing until 10:00a tomorrow morning. Good thing my new plants are guaranteed.

WOW

What can I say besides WOW. The weather changed day to day around here at this time of year. Today was a bit windy but warm and nice, however this evening the clouds came in and tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. Sure makes a nice sunset though.

What a surprise

I went out this evening to take a little walk and found that 3 lots down were some good friends of ours. They have attended a couple of rallies with us at San Antonio Lake near Paso Robles, California. They were just passing through from Quartzite and will stay for a couple of days. The funny thing is, our neighbors purchased the lot they are on as a rental lot and they were a bit disappointed it hasn’t rented yet. Our friends are their first renters. Also when our friends came in they were assigned a lot at the other end of the resort but had problems with the water and were moved to 3 lots down from us. This is so cool.

Busy Busy

Check out our new addition to our lot here in Lake Havasu. Now we are going to have to have all our friends over to check it out. Since arriving here we have been going and going. It wasn’t more than 2 hours after arrival that we went out for $1 tacos. Last nights cocktail hour lasted so long that no one had time to prepare dinner so we went out to the local steak house for dinner. Finally tonight we had a good home cooked meal. Susan hosted a taco fest for some friends at our place. Tomorrow we are up bright and early to head on over to the swap meet in town. Today I had the landscaper out to discuss installing some artificial turf on the lot. He will start the install later this week. This means I will have to go to work installing irrigation and putting in some plants. I am going to have to plan another trip back here soon to just sit and relax.

All is OK

Well I got to drive the motorhome today with no wind. I was able to drive with one hand at the bottom of the wheel as I did before the alignment. It handles well. I think I do have a slight bit more wander than before the alignment but I can get used to it.

We are now at our RV Lot at Lake Havasu RV Resort. It’s good to see our friends here again. We all went out for $1 tacos at one of the local restaurants and had a great time. We are looking forward to spending more time with our friends.

Almost there

First off, I did find a mistake in the mileage calculations I mentioned in the last post. I must have reset the trip odometer since the last fill up because I was off a little over 100 miles. Actual mileage is more around 8.1 mpg. I feel better about that.

We have moved down the road to Indio for a 1 night stop over. We are now at the Indio Elks Lodge. They have quiet a few sites here, however with the upcoming FMCA rally, almost all sites were taken. It was only about an hour drive, but being we had the motorhome in the shop for half the day we didn’t arrive here until around 2:00p. They made some major adjustments to the front end of the motorhome. It seems the alignment was way off. That explained the tire ware I was getting. I was reluctant to have anything adjusted because the coach handled so well, however I didn’t want to replace front tires every 20,000 miles. I don’t know if it was the high winds coming here, but I noticed a little more wander than I remember. Tomorrow we are back on the road again heading into Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Our work is over

I hope everyone had a good New Years Eve and We wish you all a good New Year.

We left San Elijo State Beach this afternoon. Our Camp Host jobs are over for another year. It was sad saying goodbye to all our new friends. When we return later this year, they will probably have a whole new set of Park Aids. We are now in Redlands, California. It was a fairly easy 2 hour drive north. I say fairly easy because we were bucking some pretty good winds during the last hour. I calculated my mileage and it came to only 5 mpg. I am hoping I didn’t fill it all the way the last time (I don’t remember) and it threw my calculations off. I usually am in the high 8s. We will spend one night here then up early to take the motorhome into the shop for some routine maintenance. They say it will be done tomorrow and we can be on our way. Hopefully it won’t be too late. Susan is happy because it’s dinner out tonight and breakfast out tomorrow morning. It’s been so long since I used the GPS for the car that I had to relearn it all over again so we can find our way to dinner and back. I managed to find a pretty nice park right around the corner from the service center. We made reservations about a month ago and it’s a good thing we did because we got the last spot. This place is clean and neat although a bit tight. Everyone is super friendly. While hooking up, two couples came by and chatted. It just feels comfortable.

What a blustery day

Early this morning we had a pretty good rainstorm come through. I heard about the rain coming but didn’t expect the wind. It has been blowing all day with no relief.

Take a look at the flag in this photo.

The waves are even coming in sideways due to the extreme wind. I think the wind is rubbing on the nerves of some of the campers here because we have had a rash of really strangest complaints. I am glad we don’t have to drive the motorhome in this wind. Today is the first time since we have been here that I haven’t seen someone on the water. There are usually surfers and when the surf is blown out the kite surfers come out. Today there is NO ONE. In spite of the rain and wind, the campground is full. People have come up with some pretty ingenious ways to keep their tents in place.

Merry Christmas Everyone

A few days off.

We are off until after Christmas. We have had the morning duty for 3 mornings in a row and are tired of getting up before the sunrise. It has been cold and yesterday we got rained on. I know, Wah! Wah! Wah! But when you are retired, it just goes against the grain.

I saw the coolest thing the other day. I saw a camper actually raking up his site before leaving. And another was sweeping his before leaving. The sites looked better after they left than they did before they came. Now if I could just get maintenance to do the same…

There is always something interesting to see around here.

These guys were just taking a leisurely cruise over the beach this afternoon. There were about 4 of them.

It’s gotten cold

It’s gotten pretty cold around here. Well, for southern California that is. The cold sure hasn’t dampened the camping spirit though. There are people in tents and tent trailers that are just having a ball. I vaguely remember those days, am glad they are in the past. Sure we have to go out in the cold to do our camp checks but at least we have the warm comfort of our motorhome to retreat to. It was 80 degrees this time last year.

Our schedule gives us the last 2 days of this year off. We were going to just hang out here before heading on however, we just got an invite to spend new years eve camping with some friends not to far from here. We may be heading out a couple of days early.

And I thought WE had courage

Becoming a fulltimer takes a lot of courage. To give up the security of knowing what to expect day by day can be disheartening. I however, have come to realize that our life style is not as frightening as it could be. Our time in the campgrounds have given us the opportunity to see many different lifestyles and one that really has come to light lately is the lifestyle of the homeless living in campgrounds. Weather it be by choice or due to unfortunate circumstances these folks are braver than us Fulltime RVers. I have talked with a number of these people and have found them to be, for the most part, real nice folks. I have come to realize that I’ve had more problems with regulator camping folks than I have with the homeless. Last night we had a very cold, windy, and rainy storm come through. As I walked through the campground this morning I talked with several of our homeless guests and found their spirits to be very high. Sure they talked about the cold, wind, and rain. But I did not hear one complaint amongst any of them. These people, no doubt, have a lot of trouble and turmoil in their lives but somehow, I admire them.

Batten down the hatches

We have another big storm coming in tonight. I have gone around and warned quite a few campers to secure everything because of wind and potential flooding of campsites. A lot of the reserved sites sit empty right now. I suspect most are staying home. We have the afternoon duty today and are off until Tuesday afternoon so we should miss having to be out in the worst of it. This should be fun. I will probably be out sitting under the awning enjoying the weather.


The Kite Surfers are certainty taking advantage of the situation though.

Quiet times

Well it’s been pretty darn quiet around here lately. So much so that I have just about made friends with everyone in the campground from the guy in the big Allegro Bus to the transients in the beat up truck and tents. To be honest I have spent more time talking with the guys in the tents than the bus. Maybe because they are always out and about whilst the others keep held up in their motorhomes. I think it might be a good thing to get aquatinted with these folks because they might be less likely to cause trouble. I got to hand it to these guys though, even the big storm that blew through here on Saturday night didn’t bother them much. Fortunately we were off duty during the storm so we didn’t have to be out in the cart in the rain. I hear we got another, even bigger, storm coming this Sunday. We faired well. Our site drains well. Can’t say much for some of the other sites though.

Some have tuned into big mud puddles. Good thing we are slow this time of the year.

The storms have brought big surf with them. There must have been over 200 surfers out Saturday morning. The surf was big and well formed. It has still been big since then but not as well formed. Fortunately no one has got hurt this year. Last year we had a death when the surf got big.

We finally got a chance to talk to the Camp Host Coordinator. We confirmed our assignment for next year. We signed up for 3 months next year, Oct-Dec. I hope this was not a mistake. Since I have a job to do, I haven’t been plagued with the travel bug as much as I do when we sit in one place for a while.

Another new feature

I have added a poll in the sidebar to the left. Here you can see what region of the country our visitors are from. Please take a minute to enter your region. If you are not sure what region you live in click on the word region in the question and view the map. You can also select the View option to just view the results without voting.

New feature

I just added another feature to the web site. I made it easier to see the Comments left by others. It’s called Peek A Boo Comments. Now, when you click on the comments link at the bottom of each post it will show all the comments right below the post. Clicking again will hide them. Also when comments are showed you will see the “Post a Comment” link where you can post your own comment. Your comment will not show until approved by me, however. Have fun with it.

Another busy weekend

We had another busy weekend. Susan and I had the morning shift this Saturday and were stunned when we headed out for the office. The park was PACKED! There was a youth group that came in down at our end of the campground and they just didn’t get the “Park in your assigned site” concept. I spent all morning trying to figure out who was supposed to be here and in what site they were supposed to be in. Fortunately that was the only problem they gave us. As quick as they came, they left this morning. Everyone else was also well behaved. There were also no reports of theft this weekend. I think the thieves stay away when there are a lot of people around.

The weather was absolutely fabulous this weekend. The winds shifted to off shore winds which mean they were preheated by the land rather than cooled by the ocean. The temps were in the high 70s.

Well, all is quiet now and should remain this way through out the week.

Wind

What do you do when the surf it too blow out… Breakout the kites and go Kite Surfing! The last couple of days the wind has been blowing pretty good down here. The surf has suffered because of it. There are a few diehard surfers out but they aren’t having much luck. Nothing slows these guys down though. It was fun just sitting and watching. It’s amazing how nothing slows down here in Southern California. Even the wind, rain, and cold haven’t slowed the troublemakers here. We have had a rash of thievery in the campground lately. They aren’t even going for anything of value. A $6 rug, a couple of folding chairs, ect. Enough to piss people off but not enough to make a big fuss about. Everyone has been real cool about it. I just hope it stays with the small stuff.

We got our new work schedule for December today. Crud, we got 3 mornings in a row! Well, we also have the last 2 days of the year off so we can relax before we head out of here on the first.

And the fun begins

It’s that time of year and strange things are happening around here. The other night I had a knock on the door at 8:00p. The woman at the door said while she was out someone came into her site and stole her firewood. The very next night Camp Host #2 (off duty) knocked on my door at 9:00p and says a woman came to his door and said 2 guys were snooping around her site. The next morning Camp Host #3 said a woman came to his door at 10:00p and said a homeless person was at the fence behind her site. Well you guessed it; all 3 cases were the same woman. This is just the beginning. I am sure there is more to come.
Although the weekends are still busy, there are probably only about 20 campers here during the week. Strange people do not like to be around a lot of people so this is the time of year they start to show up.

And now it’s raining

What a great Thanksgiving. We had friends and family down here at the campground for Thanksgiving. Some camped for the week and some just came to enjoy the feast, friends, and family.

I grilled a big ol’ turkey on the Webber while everyone else pitched in with various dishes.

I went a little hi-tech this time with my digital thermometers and timers and it turned out great.

The whole meal was a big success. The weather couldn’t be better. We had sunny days, cool evenings, and killer sunsets.

At sunset everyone pauses to enjoy, even the surfers.

Our end of the campground opened the beginning of the week and filled up fast. Susan and I had to work through the holiday but the campers were much more behaved than expected. We had our usual regulars that know every trick in the book to stay without paying but I was on top of them this year and kept them in line.

The last evening before everyone went home we all gathered to watch the movie RV. We sure enjoyed everyone’s company.

All is quiet now. Most have gone back to their homes and jobs and we are pretty much alone here again.

Today we woke to rain. It is good timing since it held out until after the holiday. I am glad to see some rain because it will give me an opportunity to wash everything down. We are off duty until Tuesday afternoon so we may dodge the rain. I see the other hosts drive by in the golf cart, which is open to the rain. If it were me, I would be driving our Saturn.

I like sunsets

I must have a million sunset photos but everyone is different. The weather was actually pretty good today.

And this sunset was really nice too. We were real busy today. They are starting to roll in for the Thanksgiving holiday. It should be interesting in the next couple of days.

What a nice day

Things you’ll only see in Southern California… I saw a Hummer with a surfboard on top today.

The weather for the last couple of days has been just great. Yesterday we had a fog bank come through about 3:00p and left about 3:15p but the rest of the day was nice. Today it was sunny all day. We are enjoying it while it lasts. I understand it is going to go down hill from here for a few days. Just in time for the Thanksgiving crowd.

Here are a couple of photos of the day.

Looking toward La Jolla with the morning haze

A shot from the back of our campsite

How dumb are these people

People that have something to hide should not draw attention to them selves.
A few days ago we had a brand new class A motorhome and brand new Mercedes that came in late without paying and after talking to them they couldn’t come up with the money. It seemed a little fishy to me that they had ½ million dollars worth of equipment and couldn’t come up with $35. I turned this one over to the Rangers and my hunch was right. These guys were drug dealers and preparing to do some dealing out of the campground.

Then just yesterday we had a woman that just drove past the kiosk with her window rolled up and on the cell phone. She failed to stop and check in so I set out after her. I followed her for a while as she drover around the campground while on the phone. I figured I would wait until she either left or landed in a campsite before I confronted her. At this point a Ranger came through and I informed him of the situation. They checked out the vehicle, it came back stolen, and she was in possession of a gun. They took the gun, she went to jail, and the car left on the back of a flatbed.

The calm before the storm

It has been real quiet down here at this end of the campground since they closed the south end on Nov 1 for maintenance. This will all end on Tuesday when they open our end of the campground. We will go from no one to full since it will be Thanksgiving weekend.
We seemed to have more issues with the camper last year then we are having this year. Most are being well behaved. We have found a few that come in after the Kiosk closes without paying but after informing them in the morning all have gone up and paid. Last year we had a number of non pays that have slipped out in the morning without paying. Maybe it’s the fact that we got their plate number and they got a BIG ticket in the mail that has curtailed this activity this year.

Not much going on

Boy, there just hasn’t been much to write about lately. We have just been doing our Campground Host duties and all has been fairly quiet. We both went for our physicals and are both in very good health. I think this lifestyle agrees with us. I do think a little more exercise wouldn’t hurt though. All I do is sit around and polish the motorhome and sit around again. The weather has been a little damper than it was last year, but I think last year was unusually dry. Not necessarily rain but just the usually morning beach weather. I do believe there are a lot more freight trains that come through all night then there were last year. Those freight train engineers love those horns. I think they figure if they have to be up all night than everyone should be too.

I have been doing some maintenance like changing water filters, fixing a few things and sending a few things in for repair. I took the Saturn in for an oil change and of course they tried to talk me into another couple hundred dollars worth of repairs that I feel are unnecessary. I told then “Just change the oil”.

Thanksgiving is coming and we are excited about having friends and family down here for the weekend. They have a couple of sites reserved and will be spending the weekend with us. I will be grilling a turkey in the Weber kettle again this year. That always turns out yummy.

Glad we aren’t in Seattle

Man, am I glad we are in Southern California. I was just reading about the weather in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle got hammered with over 10 inches of rain since the first of this month and now they suffered a big snowstorm. The Oregon coast got whipped by 100 MPH winds that uprooted hundreds of trees whose roots were rain soaked. We got a surprise rain the other night. The weather report called for sprinkles but we got a good rain. It was all gone by morning and the sun came out the next day. I like those kind of storms.

It is still pretty quiet here at the beach. I just jump in my golf cart and cruise the park talking to the campers. Everyone is just having a good time. The days have been nice, the sunsets have been awesome, and the people have been well behaved.

Slow times

It sure has been slow around here. We usually get a bunch of strange visitors this time of year here at San Elijo State Beach but it has been very quiet and peaceful. We did have an issue with what really looked to be a couple of drug dealers but was promptly taken care of as soon as I notified the Ranger. I suspect all will change as soon as Thanksgiving week arrives. It should get interesting.

We have been spending some quality time with our grand son while we have the chance. He sure likes to help us with our rounds. We made him up a Junior Ranger badge and Susan lets him where her Host Visor. He really thinks he’s hot stuff. Between baseball, bike riding, scooter riding, kite flying, and walks on the beach he is giving me a workout.

Weather change

Wow, it went from absolutely beautiful to overcast and cool in about 15 minute today. Looks like we are in for some gloomy weather for a while. The weather report is even calling for a little rain. Hopefully it won’t last long.
It sure has been quiet down at our end of the campground since they have this half closed off for maintenance. Heck the whole campground has been well behaved. That will all change though when they open this section on Nov 20. Thanksgiving week is going to be busy as usual so we are enjoying the quiet while we have it. I am slowly whittling down my “To Do List” that I compiled for the last couple of months. I have been saving it all up to keep me busy while we sit for 2 months. Also we are getting our doctors appointments done since our long time family doctor is here in Southern California. We will be glad when that’s over.
Well tomorrow we will get up before the sun to do the morning shift. We are scheduled for 3 morning shifts in a row this time. We alternate Saturday morning shifts with the other Camp Hosts and this is our turn. I’m not really looking forward to that but it’s a small price to pay.
Last Saturday we had a whole day of guests come visit. What a fun day.

This is one of the major reasons we come back to Southern California each year. We have to get our Grandkid fix. This year I decided it was time to take the training wheels off my grandson’s bike. He took off like a natural. He really doesn’t have a place to ride at home so he never had a chance to learn to ride without training wheels until now. He just loved it and wanted to ride every chance he got.


Tide pools, surfing, and just walking the beach at sunset are some of the things that people enjoy along the Southern California beaches.


I can never get enough sunset pictures


It’s no wonder why this campground is always full. The skies look so awesome just after sunset.

The job has started

We started our duty here at the beach as Camp Hosts yesterday and this morning was our first morning. 6:00am! I haven’t seen 6:00am for quite a while now. We are in the same site as last year, however they closed our side of the campground. We are down here all by our self. We have this whole half of the campground all to our selves.

So last night while on patrol a woman came up to me, all irate, and said I have to do something about the yapping dog across from her. She wanted me to call 911. I said I don’t believe it is an emergency but she insisted. I told her if she thinks a barking dog is an emergency then she can call 911 herself. As I passed her this morning she wouldn’t even look my way. I think she is a little embarrassed.

This time of the year brings our all the crazies.

Cardiff By The Sea

We had a long drive today. It was actually only 165 miles but the traffic was outrageous. We were buzzing along until we got to the Cajon Summit. The traffic was backed up all the way to the I-15/I-215 split. That was 15 miles of 20 mph bumper to bumper traffic. Actually it was still backed up on I-15 but I peeled off onto the I-215 to avoid it all. Later when we hit the turnoff to Oceanside it was backed up again. Another 10 miles of 15 mph traffic. Even though we had no schedule, it still made for a long day. Well, we are now at Cardiff By The Sea where we will be for 2 months as Camp Hosts. Everyone was excited to see us back. We will spend a couple of days relearning the system then we are on our own again.

Back in Barstow

We arrived in Barstow just before noon today. This is good for Susan because the race started about 12:15. The first thing I did when we got here was to plug in the motorhome and setup the satellite dish. We will be here for 1 night then on to Cardiff By The Sea.

We really didn’t want to leave Havasu but we do have the commitment in San Diego. We are looking forward to hanging out on the beach for a while though, and there are always the Grandkids. So we will enjoy our stay.

Getting ready to travel

Well we are getting ready to travel today. We will be heading out in the morning tomorrow heading to California. We are going to Cardiff for our Camp Host jobs at San Elijo State Beach. Aahhh, 2 months on the beach. Life is good.

Them Shiners sure know how to have fun!

Today we checked out the London Bridge Days parade. This is something they have been doing since they brought the London Bridge over from England. Yes it is the actual London Bridge they sing about in the song “London Bridge is falling down”. That is why it is no longer in London. They had to replace it since it was sinking into the river. They put it up for auction and McCulloch well known for his chain saws won the bid and brought it to Lake Havasu City Arizona. They erected the bridge on a peninsula and dug a channel under it to create the island. At almost 200 years old, they say this is the oldest Antique ever sold.

The mouse is history

Last night the mouse lost. We were sitting out on the patio with some friends when we heard the trap go SNAP. I would post a picture but it isn’t a pretty sight. We got him just as he was coming in for the night via the sewer hose. I have reset the traps just in case he told some friends about the place.

Today is a pretty nice day so they are finishing up my patio. Unfortunately we won’t have much time to use it since we are back on the road this weekend. At least it will be done. When we come back we will do a little artificial turf and some plants to finish it off.

This is what it looked like before they started.

This is after the framing.

Another during the laying of concrete.

The finished product.

This will give us more room to spread out. When we come back in January we are going to install some artificial turf, a few plants, palms, an outdoor grill and possible some lighting.

Upgrades

They started the upgrades to our lot on Monday as planned. This morning they were supposed to pour the concrete however, this morning we woke to rain. They came by to tell me they would try again tomorrow morning. I was hoping to get it done and get things cleaned up. The weather changes so quickly around here. I guess I can wait another day.

We are still battling the mouse. We thought since none of the traps were tripped and we haven’t seen any more droppings that he was gone. Well last night we were awakened to the sound of munching in the cabinets. I had to bang on the cabinet a few times before he got the hint. This morning we pulled a few things apart and found more evidence that he has been with us all along. I decide to try bacon instead of the peanut butter in the traps this time. When I went to bait the traps, they were cleaned of peanut butter however they were not tripped. That sneaky little… I had Susan pick up more traps when she went to the store today so now we have 6 traps set, some with bacon and some with peanut butter. THIS MEANS WAR!!

Busy day

I guess there is no noise ordinance here in Havasu. This morning at around 2:00a they started work for the day on the new storage units across the street from the resort. Lots of pounding and tossing things around. Fortunately after being awaken, it didn’t take me long to fall back to sleep. The wind has been blowing all day and is suppose to do the same tomorrow. Monday should be better.


Susan and I got an early start to beat the heat today and headed on down to the Relics and Rods car show at the London Bridge Resort here in town. There were over 1000 beautiful classics none newer than the 50s.
I got my Architectural plans approved today for the work I want to do on the property. It took two submissions because they lost the first set and I had to redo them. Thank god for computers. They are going to start the concrete work on Monday and will have that phase done on Tuesday. The rest will be done in January when we come back.
I saw an ad for a nice outdoor grill that went on sale. Just had to have it so I headed on down to pick us up one. Oh sure it’s on sale but they don’t have any. They will have a bunch in January, which sounds good since that’s when we come back. Bet they will be double in price by then though. Just as well because I have no idea how I was going to get that sucker in the Saturn.

Got mice

Well I knew it would happen eventually. We got a mouse somewhere in the motorhome. Last night he left his calling card. He didn’t get into anything, just did a bit of rummaging around. Not sure how long he has been in here but this is the first time we have seen evidence of the little guy. He may have been with us for a while because we found drops in the bedroom and under the couch in the living room. Now, we like nature, but outside. I am afraid we will have to remove him dead or alive, most likely dead since I went out today and picked up a couple of good old fashion mouse traps. I guess I need to pick up some steel wool and mothballs. I will wrap the mothballs in the wool and stuff it into all the holes where the little critters can get in.

Today I contacted the cement contractor that is doing all the slabs in the resort to see about doing an extension of our slab. I was going to setup a date in January to get the work done since we are only going to be here 1 more week. To my surprise they wanted to get started on Monday and will finish up Tuesday. I OKed the work and am now just waiting for the Owners Association to OK the work. They say it should be Oked tomorrow.

Wind and no water

There was lots of wind today. It seems to be coming from the coast. I understand they are having some lousy weather right now on the coast. Anyway, the wind has not let up all day. The lake looks like an ocean with all the whitecaps. There is no one on the water at all. The wind is supposed to let up later tonight and it should be calm tomorrow.

We woke to no water today. I am not sure what is going on but they gave an estimate of when the water will be back on and they keep extended it out. It really doesn’t affect us though since I always carry about 30 gallons in our fresh water tank. We simply switched on our water pump. It was funny watching one guy fishing water out of the pool this morning with 5 gallon water bottles. I assume he is in one of the park models and needs it for flushing.

Well the weekend is coming so the population in the resort should pick up. We are going to head on down to the Hot Rod show this weekend and gawk over the nice rides. We have been seeing some running around town all week, Really Nice.

Back to normal

Today was beautiful. The skies cleared and the temperatures were in the 80s. Everything was clean and fresh after the rain. I spent the day drying things out including my Boom Box Stereo that I left out in the rain yesterday. It took a while in the sun before it started working again. I will let it dry one more day just to be sure before putting it back into fulltime use. This coming week and weekend is the big Relics and Rods car show. There are a few cars showing up already. It should be fun. I will be bringing my camera.

Another day of Thunder

We are having another day of thunderstorms here today. I thought it was done since this morning looked pretty good. Last night my weather alert radio went off about midnight with a tornado watch. That’s right, tornado. I guess the conditions were right even though none developed. I think today’s storm is the same one as yesterday since it seems to be going in the opposite direction as yesterdays. This time it picked up some hale with it. There doesn’t seem to be as much wind (yet), which is a good thing. I hope the wind doesn’t develop because I didn’t get a chance to tie down the patio furniture or bring in the awnings this time. I may be getting real wet later. Of course our satellite is blocked by the water in the clouds again and today is NASCAR so Susan is not a happy camper. Hopefully it will come back on before the race starts.

No it’s not a tornado

This is a photo of part of the storm that just blew through here. We could see it coming so I tied down all the patio furniture. There were two pretty good storms with LOTS of lightning so far and I am sure there will be more. I tried to get a photo of the lightning, which is very hard to do. Also I didn’t really want to stand out there trying to get it. I had to go out between storms and tie down the Satellite dish a little better because the wind almost took it over even though I have it tied down to my tow bar. We loose the signal when the sky gets REAL black. Of course this is all happening during Susan’s NASCAR race.

Rain

Wow, it went from Clear, Sunny, and calm winds to Cloudy, Rainy, and windy just overnight. It did lower the temperature a bit though so that’s a good thing. It is still in the 90 out here and in the high 60s in the evening. I am getting a chance to clean things up, fix a few things and just sit and relax. I have been neglecting a few things that need fixing because I knew we would have plenty of time for that in the next couple of months.

Back in Havasu

We are back at Lake Havasu. We arrived this afternoon about 1:00p after another 3 hour drive. The drive wasn’t bad however, just long. Again the truckers entertained us with their chatter.

We even got to travel a portion of the original Route 66 today.

There are a lot more coaches here than when we left in July. It could have something to do with the fact that today it was in the 80s and in July it was in the 120s. I uncovered our patio furniture, which hopped off the cement pad onto the gravel during one of the monsoons. The furniture survived OK except we lost one pillow. It’s probably floating down the river somewhere. Tomorrow will be cleanup day. I already washed the car this evening but I need to give the motorhome a good washing and clean the dust out of the patio furniture. We have neighbors now and their motorhome is partially blocking our view that we enjoyed last summer. At least it provided shade on our lot so that’s a good thing.

Calico Ghost Town

We are now in a KOA just outside of Calico Ghost Town in Yermo California. We won’t be going into the Ghost town this time though. We were there earlier this year. This is one of the nicer KOAs I have stayed at. It was another one of those long days (2.5 hour drive) but not a bad drive at all. We were entertained by the truckers on the CB the whole way. I sure like the way this motorhome goes. We climbed over the Tehachapi’s today with no strain on the motorhome what so ever. We passed by anything that was going slower than 55, of course they passed us again on the down grades going probably 75. I just kept it between 55 and 60. We will be here one night then it’s over to Lake Havasu. Susan is anxious to get there and just sit for a couple of weeks. I know I will get antsy.

SAL Rally

We left San Antonio Lake today and are now in Bakersfield heading for Lake Havasu City Arizona. We just had the best time at the lake. There were about 20 rigs at the rally this weekend. Most went home Sunday but a few of us stayed until today.

We had lots of good food, good conversation, and just good fun. Some brought their boats and pulled anyone that wanted to attempt to ski.

The wildlife here was glad to see us as the deer and rabbits showed up every night at happy hour and hung around until after dinner. After we all turned in for the night, the raccoons came out to clean up. We even had a tarantula take a cruise through camp one evening. The weather couldn’t be better.

We had cool mornings, sunny warm days and evenings were perfect campfire weather.

San Antonio Lake

We are now at San Antonio Lake which is in the hills just west of Paso Robles. It sure was nice here today but they are calling for a chance of thunderstorms tonight and rain tomorrow. We shall see. The drive here was just great. Coming up here we saw a tarantula crossing the road, Squirrels, Chipmunks, birds, deer, and cows. Here at the lake, the deer just come up to you looking for a handout. They are not too shy. It is soooo quiet up here that my ears are hurting. After staying at the Elks lodges that are mostly right in town and right next to the freeway, this is nice. We are actually here 2 days earley but were so close and couldn’t wait. Some of the Rally goers will be coming in tomorrow and the rest on Friday. This will be a fun weekend.

Nice day

What a nice day. Yesterday we had overcast skies all day and even a little bit of rain. I was getting concerned about the weather this weekend since we are heading for a rally that will be primarily outdoors. But today however, the skies were blue and clear all day and the sun shined bright. We took a run into Paso Robles to do some grocery shopping at the nearest Wal-Mart. After shopping we took a tour around Atascadero to see what’s here and scope out a good Laundromat for tomorrow.

Since we had a little rain I decided to check the condition of the motorhomes wiper blades. They are shot! What’s worst is I can’t seem to find 26” refills. I can find the whole blade assembly but I only need the refills and of course I have to do some modifications to the assembly to make it fit. I think I will go ahead and pick up the assembly because this will give me a chance to get some longer ones. I have always thought mine were a bit short.