Another great day

It was another great day at the track. Today was practice and qualifying. The new track is so slick that there were a BUNCH of crashes in just the practice and qualifying. The races should be real exciting. Today Susan spent some time in the new “Neon Garage” here at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This is where you can get up and close with the happenings in the garages. They don’t actually let you in the garage but you are only separated from the garage by a window. You get to see the whole process from car prep, through inspection, to the pits.

This is a good shot that Susan got of her favorite drivers garage, Jimmie Johnson. That's Jimmie standing in the middle.

Here is another, as Jimmie is getting ready to head out for practice.

And here is another of his hauler in line with the rest.

Race Prep

Today we went into the infield to meet up with some friends.

Above is a photo of the Bush cars lined up to go through inspection.

Here is all the NASCAR haulers coming through the tunnel into the infield.

It was amazing to watch as over 50 haulers came in and lined up side by side.

Tomorrow the activities on the track begin. There will be practicing and qualifying going on. There are no races until Saturday. The weather has been just great. Sunny skies with temps in the high 70s. Perfect!

We are here in Las Vegas

It was an easy drive today, except for the 5th wheel in front of me on a 2 lane 65 mph road that would only go about 50 mph. I finally got around him and all was well. We arrived shortly before 12:00p and there was already a line of RV a mile long waiting to get in. It all went fairly well and fast though.

We got a good spot on the end of a row so there is no one on one side of us.

I sat today and watched as the jets circled and approached their landing at Nellis Air force Base. They come so close, you can almost wave at the pilot. There is nothing going on at the track today so we will just sit and relax until tomorrow. The weather was a mix of sun, rain, cool and warm today.

The sunset was killer. Tomorrow it is supposed to be clear and sunny.

Packed and ready to go

Our stuff is all packed up and we are ready to hit the road again. Tomorrow we are heading out again. We have been here in Lake Havasu for 1 week and already we are back on the road. We are heading on over the Lass Vegas for the NASCAR race this weekend. It should be an easy 3 hour drive over to Vegas. Susan can’t wait because she has a Neon Pass, which gets her in to the garages and pits. She will get a chance to get up close to all the action. Since I am not as big as a NASCAR fan as she, I decided to save my money for something I will enjoy just as much. I just haven’t figured out what that is yet. I am sure we will have Internet access but we will most likely be so busy that you might not hear from us for a while.

Check out our new addition to our faux lawn. Yes it’s a faux dog. We though the lawn needed a little something so we found this guy at the local Swap Meet. I still walk by and do a double take thinking someone’s dog got loose and is enjoying the shade on our lawn.

Weather

Having wheels under our home gives us the opportunity to go where the weather is nice and stay away from the areas where the weather is bad. The problem is, when the weather is bad where we want to go. I am getting anxious to head east. We want to go to Branson, Nashville, The Natchez Trace Parkway, Daytona, The race shops in North Carolina, Massachusetts, and who knows what else. The weather is looking pretty bad right now with the tornados and blizzards. We will have to see what it looks like in a few weeks or so.

Back in Havasu

Yesterday we got back to Lake Havasu City Arizona. It was a good drive although a bit windy. I am real impressed the way the motorhome handles in the wind. I went down the road nice and straight and steady with little effort. Not so for the guy in front of me. I watched as he used all of the 2 lanes plus shoulders of the road. People were passing with extreme caution as he swayed right they passed on the left. I kept my position behind and did not try to pass. It took us a little over 3 hours, time wise, but since Arizona is an hour ahead of California it was 4 hours according to the clock. The weather is cool and windy, but I hear that the weather in California turned real bad as soon as we got out of town. There is no threat of rain here and in fact it is supposed to get warmer and the wind should die down. It looks good for Las Vegas (NASCAR) next week. This week will give us a chance to get things cleaned up and a little R and R.

Wrapping it up

Well, we pretty much wrapped up our 3 week California Race and Rally Tour tonight. To night was the last race of this NASCAR weekend at the California Speedway.

It turned out to be pretty good since Susan’s driver lead a few laps and finally came in 3rd at the end. It was much better than last weekend when he crashed out.

Our good friends bought us Garage passes for our birthdays, which occurred 2 days apart over the weekend. We were able to go into the garages this morning and see all the hustle and bustle, as they were getting ready for the big race. Man, were they busy!

The infield parties were real interesting, talk about your freak shows. Tomorrow we are back on the road heading back to Lake Havasu for 1 week, and then it’s off to Las Vegas for the NASCAR race there.

We have just had a great 3 weeks. First NHRA Drag races then an RV Rally and wrapping it up at NASCAR. Who could ask for a better time?

Man did I dodge a bullet

We left Santa Barbara early this morning. We wanted to get to the Ontario Elks Lodge before all the spaces were filled up. I did call ahead and they said they would put a reserved sign out on a site for me but I just wanted to get there early just in case. As we were heading down the freeway I just happened to take a glance in my left side mirror. I don’t know what made me look just at that instance but what I saw was a car coming right at me from the left lane. I heard brakes, moved slightly to the right in an attempt to avoid a collision, and watched in my side mirror as this guy over corrected, turned to the left, slammed into the center divider, spun around, and came to a stop in the center medium. It sounded real nasty. I saw a pickup pull up behind it so I kept on going. I didn’t hear any thunk on the side of the motorhome so I figured I wasn’t hit. I checked the side mirror of the motorhome and saw no damage. But what about the car? I could see no harm in the rear view camera and was hoping the car didn’t get hit. We finally arrived safely at the Ontario Lodge and I immediately jumped out and did a walk around. Whew! No damage. Well, remember the reserved sign? As I was backing into a spot, out came the guy with the reserve sign. Thanks I said but I don’t need it now.

Back in Santa Barbara

We arrived back in Santa Barbara this morning. We parked the motorhome and without even setting up we headed out to the local Laundromat. After all was clean we went back to the motorhome and finished setting up. Tomorrow we will be getting another early start and head on down to Ontario to get setup for the NASCAR race this weekend. Susan is getting excited.

Heading back south

We left San Antonio Lake this morning and I decided to explore a different route for future reference. I will make sure NOT to ever take that route again. It is full of hills and slow turns. Although it is shorter mileage wise, it didn’t save us much time. I always wondered about that route, at least now I know.

Tonight’s stop is in Pismo, actually Oceano which is just south of Pismo. About a block from the Elks lodge, where we are, is the “Drive on Beach”. There has been a steady stream of toy haulers coming off the beach since we got here. The town is packed with RVs in every nook and cranny. By this evening, the area will most likely be cleared out. The wind is blowing strong and steady which it does most of the time here and it blows a lot of sand around. About a mile from here is one of the famous Monarch Butterfly Groves where the butterfly migration stops for a beak on their way to and from Mexico. We visited it last time here so we opted out for this time. We went into Pismo to look for the NASCAR shop that was their last time but it was gone. It was for sale last time we were here and we didn’t know if the new owners would keep the NASCAR theme or change it. It is now a beach clothing shop, like they don’t have enough of those around here already.

We are only going to be here for 1 night then it’s off to Santa Barbara. We want to get to Fontana early so we can get a spot for the Motorhome since it is on a first come basis at the Elks Lodge, and it IS NASCAR weekend.

More good times

We are about to wrap up another great weekend. We arrived here at San Antonio Lake in Paso Robles California on Thursday morning. We got here early so I could set up the Satellite dish for Susan’s NASCAR qualifying. I must have struggled for an hour trying to get the satellite signal. Susan was worried and I knew it wouldn’t be good if I couldn’t get ’r done. Finally, after an hour, I decided to check the motorhome input. Sure enough, the cable was screwed into the cable input instead of the satellite input. As soon as I moved it, the signal came right in.
We are having a great time, but when do we not?

Last night was the big dinner and “White elephant bingo” where everyone contributes to the prize table and each winner gets to pick from the table. There is a collection of junk, novelties, and some pretty good stuff. This is always a good time.

Today everyone is in the clubhouse watching NASCAR, thanks to one of the campers satellite system. Susan is in our motorhome watching Hot Pass.

Tomorrow we will be heading out for round 3 of our 3 week tour. We are heading back to Southern California for the NASCAR race in Fontana. We will take a couple of days to get there with stops in Pismo and Santa Barbara.

The weather has just been fabulous. Today is a bit cooler but still nice.

Round Two

We just had a ball at the Drag Race. Monday morning we pulled out and headed up the road. We made a stop over in Santa Barbara last night and are now in Atascadero. We will hang out here until Thursday to get some laundry and shopping done. On Thursday we are heading up to Lake San Antonio in the hills just west of Paso Robles. We are going to attend a Rally over the weekend with some friends from www.rv.net. This will be number 2 of our 3 week journey of weekends of good fun, good food, and good friends.

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.