Back in Havasu again

We arrived in Lake Havasu City Arizona today just after noon. The Las Vegas NASCAR was a blast. All races and activities went off without any weather delays such as California. We did have a heck of a wind Saturday night. I got up about midnight and closed the slides because the awnings were flapping and keeping us awake. The motorhome was shaking and rocking quite a bit even with the jacks down. Susan finally got to meet her favorite driver Jimmie Johnson and get her race jacket signed. She spent most of the time in the garages and pits watching all the race action. She really likes the Las Vegas race. I will post some pictures as soon as I can.

We got on the road this morning and had a good drive. The traffic was rather heavy getting out of the track but once we got a couple of miles away it thinned out pretty good. We hit a bad bump in the road on the way to Havasu that felt like the back end of the motorhome came off the ground. A lot of Susan’s knick-knacks suffered some damage. I will have to dig out the glue tomorrow and do some repairs. I am also going to dig out my creeper and take a look under the motorhome for anything loose or damaged.

LVMS

That’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That’s where we are at right now. Today we moved from Sam’s Town RV Park to the racetrack. We are on the outskirts of the track in one of their many RV parking lots. It is dry camping but we are right here at the track. This has got to be the most I have ever paid for boon docking at $50 a night. Our daughter has an infield spot and we have a car pass that will allow us to drive right in to their RV everyday. We have a pretty good spot that is on the end so we aren’t boxed in by other rigs. The only problem was, there is a generator powered light near us that is bright and loud. I asked the guy working this area if it was going to be running 24 hours and he said not if you don’t want it to. I told him during the evening isn’t a problem and he said he would shut it down at 10:00p. I guess it never hurts to ask.

Las Vegas

Well, We picked up the car from the NASCAR track this morning and hightailed it over to Las Vegas. We had all these visions of running into LA traffic heading over to the track and having a hassle getting the motorhome into the parking lot to hook up the car but it was a piece of cake. The drive to Las Vegas was a good one also. The traffic was light all the way and the weather was perfect. Since they didn’t get to finish the race yesterday (they tried until 11:00p) they finished it today.

We were on the road during the race but with modern technology and our Verizon Aircard Susan was able to follow every lap on the NASCAR website.

I posted a few photos of our weekend. Click on the Cal NASCAR 2008 thumbnail in the left column.

It didn't look like they were going to race today but finally the race got started...late, then someone slipped on the water seeping out of the seams in the track and hit the wall. After that caution they started the race again. Then another car slipped on the water and hit the wall, slid down the track taking out another car, slid back up the track and was rear ended causing it to flip and catch on fire. All this happened right in front of us.

This time they got out the concrete saws and cut slots in the track to try to drain off the water. They finally got the race started again and it started to rain again. We gave up and left. Last I checked they are still trying to dry off the track and start the race again. Good news…Jimmie is in the lead.

OH and to top it all off. Our daughter thought they could drop us off at our car on the way out but once we got out of the infield we found that all roads in were blocked and the only way we could go was out. So we had them drop us off at our motorhome at the Elks Lodge. The car is still at the track. We hope we can get in tomorrow with the motorhome to pick up the car on our way to Las Vegas.

There’s snow in them thar hills

The rains last night put a nice dusting of snow on the mountains here. They managed to get one race in today before the rains came again. The truck race went off without a problem but when it came time for the Nationwide (Bush) race the rains were playing games with them. It would stop raining and as soon as they got the jet dryers out on the track it would start raining again. They would stop and the rain would stop. They would start drying again and the rain would start again. This went on for a couple of hours until they finally called it a day. There is another race tomorrow and if they get that one done with no rain, they will try to run the one that got rained out today. The weather out look for tomorrow looks worse than today however. We will just have to wait and see.

A day at the track

No NASCAR race activity today. Got rained out. Today was supposed to be practice and qualifying. We still had a great day at the track today though. Got to spend some time with old friends and the day with our daughter. Tomorrow is supposed to be a good day. They will be running a truck race and the Bush…Ops…Nationwide Race tomorrow.

I hate LA

Did I ever say I hate Las Angeles? I think I have. Well Not really LA but the LA traffic. We didn’t even get into the heart of it and still it’s a mess. As we were traveling down an LA freeway a piece of something went whizzing across the front of the motorhome, hit the side of the truck next to us and bounced back and made a few marks on the side of the motorhome. We made it to Ontario where we will be staying at the Elks Lodge. We will be driving the car to the California Motor Speedway for NASCAR from here. It’s a good thing we got here when we did because it filled up shortly after we setup. There are a few that will probably be pulling out as soon as they start letting them into the infield of the speedway.

Rain Rain Rain Rain

That’s the weather forecast for the next 4 days. This is not good for NASCAR. We will just have to see what happens.

Another successful Rally

We have been going to a rally at Lake San Antonio near Paso Robles California for (I think) 4 years now. This started as a small get together that Susan and I found on the RV.Net message board and join in one year. From the start we had such a great time that we now try to make it to the twice per year rallies if we are in the general part of the country. It has become so popular that they try to limit it to 20 rigs. Once it is posted that they are accepting reservations the 20 spots are filled within 24 hours. We had a great time and look forward to the next one.

We are now at the Santa Barbara Elks lodge on our way to Fontana for the NASCAR race. Tomorrow we will be moving on down to settle in for the weekend’s race. Susan is so excited.

San Antonio Lake

We moved on to San Antonio Lake near Paso Robles this morning. We left a bit earlier than usual because we needed to get here and set up the satellite dish so Susan could watch her NASCAR race. When we got to Paso Robles the wind was blowing pretty well. It wasn’t too much of a problem until we turned off the highway and started heading up the hill. Now we had a good crosswind. I am real pleased with the handling of our motorhome in the wind, however as we were heading down the road a gust took us into the oncoming lane. Good thing there was no traffic. We arrived at San Antonio Lake safe and in time to catch the race.

Beullton California

We left Temecula yesterday morning and spent the night at the Simi Valley Elks Lodge. We were going to wait until 12:00p to leave since it was only a 2 hour drive to the next stop and they don’t let you pull into your site until 2:00p. We decided to head on out at 9:00a because I needed to fuel up and Susan needed to do some laundry. They do allow you to park in overflow before 2:00p so we sat in overflow while Susan did laundry here at the campground. We are all settled in at our site now.

I really screwed up. I almost never make reservations. Why? Well take today for an example. I called last night and made reservations for tonight and tomorrow night. After making the reservations I started thinking…the 2 nights will cost me $80. I could have stayed at the Lompoc Elks Lodge 2 nights for $30. Susan needs to go to the DMV to get her drivers license renewed. The DMV is 1 block away from the Lompoc Elks Lodge, it is 17 miles from where we are now. If I canceled our reservations here it would cost me $20. I could have canceled and still been $30 ahead. I really screwed up!

Another great weekend

We just had another great weekend. We got to Pechanga RV Resort in Temecula California on Thursday and the rest of our friends arrived on Friday. Saturday we took off to the NHRA drags in Pomona for a day trip.


You can see some photos of the drag races I shot by clicking on the photo link in the left column. We had pass to the NAPA hospitality tent, which was right next to the NAPA car pit. What a blast! Later that night we went to dinner at the casino then to the Improv for some comedy. We sat and relaxed for today then our friends had to head home. As I was writing this post we were treated to a really cool fireworks show over the casino. I don’t know what it was all about but it was a good show. We will be staying one more night before we head on up north to an RV Rally for next weekend.

A change of scenery

We have a change of scenery today. We left Havasu this morning at around 9:30a Arizona time and arrived in Temecula at 4:00p California time. That’s about 7.5 hours. No, I didn’t drive 7.5 hours! We stopped in Havasu to fuel up the motorhome and car, and then stopped again in Hemet to do our shopping. I would say I drove about 5 hours, which is still over my limit, but it was a good drive. The weather was ideal for driving. It was in the low 70s and pretty much no wind, even the windmills in Palms Springs were still. I don’t think I have ever gone through there without seeing at least a few windmills turning. I am serious, there was not one windmill turning! As we were traveling through Palms Springs we ran into a traffic jam. I heard a trucker on the CB ask what the hold up was and another responded by saying it was a motorhome that (what I thought he said) broke down. As we approached the scene, the motorhome wasn’t broke down, it was burnt down. What a sad sight to see. I hope everyone got out OK.

Cleaning and Cleaning

I spent hours cleaning today. We had a rain last night and after the rain the wind started to blow…Real hard. I guess the wind kicked up a lot of dust because when I went out this morning everything was covered in a light coat of mud. I tried to ignore it but just couldn’t. Finally I got out the hose. I started on top of the motorhome and worked my way down to the cement slab. Everything on the lot got hosed down. Of course since the water quality isn’t the best around here I needed to towel dry the motorhome and car or the water spots would be impossible to remove. The wind blew all day but at least everything was dry so mud wasn’t an issue. There is a 3 day rule in Havasu when it comes to the wind. It usually blows 3 days straight and then it is calm. I hope this holds true this week because on the 4th day we are traveling. I would rather not travel with a strong wind blowing unless it’s at my back.

I added something new to our website today. I sat down and compiled a list of campgrounds by state, city, and campground name. You can view the list by clicking on the link “Campgrounds Visited” in the left column. Email us if you would like any more info on any of the campgrounds.

Less than a week

We are down to less than a week before we are back on the road again. Seeing others come and go around here is making me anxious to hit the road again. We are heading on over to Temecula California for a birthday party. While there a friend and I are planning to head up to Pomona on Saturday for the NHRA Winter Nationals. This is the start of the NHRA drag racing season for the year.

Awsome

I can’t take credit for this photo but thought it was so awesome I just had to share it with you. This is a recent photo of the Grand Canyon taken at sunrise by Alan W from Longmont Colorado. It was about 15º and 10” of snow on the ground. You can see more of his photos on his website.

Ah..Finally a bit of relief

The stock market has really taken a hit so far this year. We are down quite a bit of money. I get a kick out of people that say aren’t you going to get out of the stock market because stocks are going down? I feel like replying, aren’t you going to sell your house because the value has gone down? Well the last two days have been good for our stocks. We have recouped some of the value. I just wish they would admit we are in a recession so we can start the recovery. It’s like an alcoholic, you are not going to recover until you admit you are one. Our property value here at Havasu RV Resort has not dropped, it has leveled out right now because people are just not buying like they have but the values haven’t dropped. Let’s face it, people who can afford several hundred thousand dollars for an RV are not hurting in the financial area.

This weekend they are having an open house here at the resort to celebrate the opening of phase 3. Paul Everet has brought in some $700,000 RVs from Laughlin Nevada and set them up on some lots for sale. I bet one could get a really good package deal. There is going to be food and other goodies. We won’t have far to go to partake.

Susan has just added another race to our NASCAR schedule. Looks like we will be heading up to Wine Country in California for the road course at Infineon Raceway near Napa. We haven’t been to this one yet so it should be a fun new experience.

Quartzsite Arizona

Yesterday we visited Quartzsite with some friends. For those who do not know about Quartzsite, this is a small town in the middle of Arizona along interstate 10. This town usually has a population of about 1900, however this time of year it swells to several hundred thousand. Where do they all stay, you might ask? Anywhere they want. The RV parks in town fill up fast and the rest just find a spot in the desert land surrounding Quartzsite and setup camp.

There are literally RVs as far as the eye can see from I-10. Why do they all head for Quartzsite? This time of year Quartzsite hosts probably the biggest flee market and RV show in the US. They also host a gem & mineral show, antique show, and car show. If you can’t find it in Quartzsite, it probably doesn’t exist. This is the second time we visited Quartzsite and it appears the population and vendors are a bit low, most likely due to the economy and price of fuel. Still, we spent the whole day there and didn’t even scratch the surface.

This is a photo of a guy that does wood burning with a magnifying glass. I guess he doesn’t work on cloudy days. It was a great day though.

Brrrrrr

What do you thing of when you hear Arizona Desert…HOT?
Well the snowbirds have arrived here in Arizona and apparently they brought their weather with them. The last couple of days it has been blustery and cold. It has been getting into the 30s at night and we are lucky if we see 50 during the day. I thought about moving on to a warmer place but where. It is cold everywhere. It should be warming up soon and before we know it, it will be downright HOT. That is the nature of the Desert.

We have been so busy lately that I have forgotten to update the website. We have lots of friends here in Havasu and have been visiting and doing a lot with them. I have hardly found time to do my chores on the motorhome. Today I did get all the wheels polished. Thank goodness for the Power Ball I got as a Christmas present a while back. It is still a chore but saved me hours of rubbing on the wheels.
Although the weather is still cool here in Lake Havasu, we have had some nice days. It’s only going to get better from here on out.
We are planning on heading to Quartzite in a couple of weeks. We won’t be taking the motorhome though. We are riding out with some friends for the day. A couple of years ago Susan and I spent a week in Quartzite. It takes a couple of days to see everything there.

Susan spotted this golf cart here in the Resort right away. She just had to take a picture of it. Good thing they want too much for it or she would be hounding me to buy it to add to her ever growing NASCAR collection.

Cruisin’ the lake

We had a great day. Our friends took us out to lunch on their new pontoon boat today. Even though it never even got to 60º today and the wind chill was much lower out on the lake we were bundled up and had a nice time.

We took a cruise through the channel and under the London Bridge. As you may know, this is the real original London Bridge brought over here from London England. It was shipped through the Panama cannel and trucked from Long Beach California then assembled brick by brick on a peninsula. After assembley, the channel was dug under the bridge allowing the water from Lake Havasu to flow underneath. This turned the peninsula into an island.

The weather changes day to day this time of year in Lake Havasu City. One day it will be warm with no wind and the next day it will be cold and very windy. We should be getting rain this weekend.

We have been busy. We have not spent one whole day at home since we got here. We’re always going somewhere and doing something.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. We had another great year last year. Our intention was to head up through Utah, Wyoming, and Montana and visit the National Parks along the way. We started out with spending the 4th of July in Las Vegas and when we got to Zion it was 110º. Way too hot to enjoy hiking through the National Parks. Also there was the worst wildfire in Utah’s history blocking our way by closing off 150 miles if I-15. So the decision was made to head for the coast.
The year closed with us back in Lake Havasu Arizona. We spent New Years Eve at a party at a friend’s house. The weather was absolutely great the day we arrived and the day after, however it has got cool and real windy for the last 2 days. This is typical for this area this time of year though. Soon it will warm up and keep on going into downright hot. We will enjoy the transition in the next couple of months.

I broke the rules

Yes, I broke one of my fulltimer rules today. The rule is, 2X2X2. What this is, is drive no more than 200 miles a day, get off the road by 2:00p, and stay for at least 2 days. Our usual trip from San Diego to Lake Havasu City includes a stopover in Indio. When I reached Indio today, the wind was at my back, the motorhome was running great, and I was comfortable so I kept on going. 5 ½ hour later, 325 miles later we were in Lake Havasu City. I was going to stop in Ehrenburg for propane, a sandwich, and a short break but the Flying J was so packed I stopped long enough for a potty break and got the heck out of there. I then remember once before saying I would never stop there again. Well here we are, back in Lake Havasu City. We had a big meeting on our patio this evening as all our friends came to welcome us back.

I hate to burst their bubble

We meet all kinds of interesting people here at the campground. It kind of reminds me of my old bartending days. Some are real nice genuine people and some are just plane weirdoes. The ones that continue to crack me up are the ones that are living in their own fantasy world. Last year, for instance, we had a guy living in the campground in a little pink Barbie tent. I don’t even know how he fit inside. He would tell me how he owns a few racehorses over at the Del Mar Race Track. One day I saw him across the street pushing a shopping cart full of aluminum cans he had collected. Just the other day I had to shut down a fellow that was playing an electric guitar. He was telling me he has over 60 rare guitars and gets $60 an hour setting up Rolling Stone concerts. He lives in an old motorhome with a busted window. He also rides around the campground on his bike in a UPS uniform. These people are living in their own fantasy world and I don’t want to be the one to tell them otherwise. If they want to be a millionaire in their own mind, who am I to tell them otherwise. I just listen and smile.

Getting ready for the move

Tomorrow is packing day and Saturday we are out of here. I am excited to get back on the road again, even if it is just to Lake Havasu where we will sit for a month. One month I can handle, three months was just too long. Who knows, we may not sit for a month. You never know when something may come up. We will be free to travel. It has been getting pretty cold here at the beach. I went out to temperatures in the 30s this morning. It never got over 55º today. It is a good thing we are moving because I just checked the propane the other day and we are close to having no hot water.

Merry Christmas

Winding down

We are on the down hill slope now. We have one more week to go here at the Campground. I am defiantly ready. This is the longest period we have stayed put in all the time we have been full timing. You learn from experiences and we have learned that 3 months is too long. We are signed up for our usual 2 months next year.

Susan has just finished her Christmas baking and the motorhome is filled with cookies and fudge. She has made up plates of goodies for all our friends. Yesterday we delivered some to the Park Aids, Rangers, and other Camp Hosts here at the park. She also made a batch for my homeless friends I make here every year. They sure appreciate that.

Not on my watch

Not much happens on the weekdays this time of year. We are less than ¼ full and everyone is well behaved. Today would have been another ho hum day here at the campground. Well not quite. I was on my rounds and noticed a pool company truck parked in one of the sites. I though this was a bit unusual since no one seemed to be around and there was no tent or camping gear. I just figured it was a visitor to another site and let it go for now. After an hour I got a little more suspicious so I walked into the site to look for a campsite tag or visitors pass on the truck. I spotted the campsite tag and noticed a person lying on the front seat of the truck. Still a little unusual I thought but nonetheless he was registered so I went to the entrance station to see if they needed anything. While at the entrance a Sheriff car came speeding into the campground, lights flashing and siren blasting. I followed the Sheriff car through the campground and they headed right for the pool company truck. Both deputies got out, guns drawn and moved to the front of the truck. Not much I could do at this point so I went back to block the entrance to that part of the campground. Soon 5 or 6 more patrol cars showed up along with a fire truck and an ambulance. Seems the guy checked in to the campsite to check out. In other words he attempted suicide with drugs and alcohol. I still am not sure how the Sheriffs knew he was there. The only thing I can figure is he made a 911 call. I guess he’s all right but he is now on our BOL (be on the lookout) list.

Much better

My back is much better and I am back to my normal antics again. I still have a little pinching in the back but that should go away soon. Man, I was hurting for a while.

Well we are ready for Christmas. Susan has got the shopping done, notice I say Susan, and the tree and decorations are up.

We get quite a few looks from the camper that pass by the motorhome since we have displays on the dash and a small lighted tree on the steering wheel table. All that’s left is the goodies. Susan always bakes up a storm with all kinds of Christmas goodies. Most are given away to friends and family.

It’s been getting pretty cold around here, relatively speaking. I know it is miserably cold in other parts of the country but when I have to go out to do my morning check at 7:00a and it’s 41°, that’s cold to me. It might get up into the high 50s to low 60s for a while during the day but by 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon it starts to chill out again. At least we are cozy with our fireplace in the evenings.

Laid up

Well the storm came and went. Not much of a storm this time. The weather has taken a turn for the better. Although it is still chilly, the sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky. This is very aggravating for me because my back is giving my fits. I have had degenerative arthritis of the spine for quite some time and for the most part it is fine. Heck sometimes I don’t even notice it at all, or maybe I just got used to always having a little back pain. Well since the weather was bad all three weekend days, I did nothing but sit inside and cruise the internet. This is the worst thing I could do for my back. Activity seems to keep it limber. Well I woke Sunday morning with a pretty sore back and just happened to flinch just right to send it into spasms. I could barely move all day yesterday. Today is better but I still am moving kind of slow and not making any sudden moves. It should be back to normal, for me, in a couple of days. Fortunately I have been off duty from Saturday and don’t go back on until Tuesday afternoon. I will still be moving a little slow but at least I should be able to make my rounds.

New storm

They (the national weather service) say that we are in for a good storm this weekend. I have gone around and warned some of the tent campers. We also had some early checkouts today. Some campers were due out tomorrow but decided to pack it up today rather than in the rain tomorrow. Also according to our reservation service there are 43 cancellations for tomorrow. I have read two different forecasts for the weekend. One says very bad storm and the other is a lot more less threatening. I have put things away and rolled up the awnings and am prepared for the worst. I just hope it isn’t too bad tomorrow morning since I have the AM shift. After that it can do what it wants because we have the next 3 days off. Here are a few photos from last weeks storms.

Our beach disappeared because of high tide. This poor girl was trying to walk her dog on what used to be a beach.

Note the water line on the cliffs as the tide goes out.

Here is a photo of some of the erosion in the park. These trees have given way to the sea.

And of course storms always mean killer sunsets.

No not Hawaii

This is a photo of the surf off the coast just north of the campground this morning. As you can see, many surfers braved the challenging waves to get that big ride. We had big surf last year also and there were many rescues and one death but this year it hasn’t been bad. There were plenty of lifeguards on duty including many in the surf on Jet Skis. By noon most of the surfers were gone and the Skis were on their trailers. Tomorrow will be some of the same but the waves are going to be diminishing in the next few days. This weekend we are expecting more rain though. We just got cleaned up from the rain last weekend.

What a mess

What a weekend. I woke Friday morning to the sound of rain on the roof of the motorhome. It was still a while before I needed to do my morning rounds so I laid there listening to the rain. By luck, the rain slowed by the time I went to do my rounds. We were expecting over 100 campers to arrive Friday afternoon but the steady rain all day kept most away. Some called and canceled and some called saying they would show if the rain let up but most didn’t call at all. The ones that did show found some sites flooded and some impossible to get into due to the washed out transition from the road to campsite. One even had to call a tow truck after driving into a deep rut. By night fall the rain really started to fall. The 10 X 20 canopy in our site filled with water and came down with a crash, bending a few poles. The wind blew over some of the rain soaked bamboo fencing in our site. By morning the rain had stopped but the damage was done. The roads were filled with mud and campsites were a mess. Since the rain stopped the campers started to show up. We filled up pretty good with all the late arrivals wanting to at least get their 1 night out of 2 in. Even though the sites were a mess and some still filled with mud, the campers seemed to have a good time. Well it is now Sunday evening and most have gone home now. Monday should be a slow day as it usually is this time of year. I have mended fences and will pick up a few parts to repair the canopy. At least the rain did a good job washing the dirt and ocean off the motorhome. Now all I need to do is apply a coat of wax. The weather report is saying we will get more rain next weekend. Hopefully it will be a bit lighter than the last.

National RV closes operations

I just read that National RV in Perris California has shut down its operations today. 600 Employees were handed a letter this morning stating they were all laid off and the plant will be closing. It went on to say that this is a permanent closer and layoff. National RV is a manufacturer of Class A gas and diesel motorhomes. You may recognize their models as Dolphin, Sea Breeze, Tradewinds, and Tropi-cal. I guess they have been struggling for a few years now. We were within 30 minutes of buying a Dolphin just before we bought our Rexhall. I was cautioned about buying my Rexhall. A few people said they were going out of business soon. So far, it looks like I made the right choice. See the new 2008 Rexhalls here.

650-horsepower diesel

If I were to buy a Diesel powered motorhome, this is what I would want in it. The problem is, this engine probably cost as much as my present motorhome and can only be found in a million dollar plus coach. I can dream can’t I?

Cummins Introduces 650-HP Diesel Engine
RV Business
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Cummins Inc. introduced a new 650-horsepower diesel engine for luxury motorhomes, the ISX 650, at the National RV Show in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday (Nov. 26).

The ISX 650, with 1950 lb-ft of torque, represents a new level of performance in the premium motorhome market, the company said in a news release.

“The Cummins ISX delivers superior performance through the use of its in-house core technologies, including Cummins’ advanced electronic controls, patented VG Turbo, high-pressure fuel system, combustion technology and exhaust aftertreatment,” the company stated. “The new ISX 650 is fully integrated with the Allison 4000 MH model automatic transmission. The Allison 4000 MH model is rated up to 650 HP and 1950 lb-ft of torque. This rating and transmission integration demonstrates the ongoing collaborative efforts between Cummins and Allison Transmission.”

According to Mark Conover, Cummins’ director-RV Business, “We’ve listened to motorhome customers and understand that horsepower and performance are top of mind. The ISX 650 will provide exceptional acceleration, improved ability to climb steep grades, better downhill speed restraint with superior braking horsepower and all-around first-rate performance.”

This one got away

I survived!

Well it’s over and they have all gone home. The campground has pretty much emptied out. We have been full since Monday and now they are gone. We can relax now. For the most part everyone was well behaved but we did get our share of idiots.

I did had a little help from Security however.

He had to poke his nose in everyone’s business, especially if there was food involved.

Our daughter and her husband brought their motorhome to spend a few days with us along with some good friends. We had the greatest time.

And of course there was Thanksgiving with the family and friends. I did my usual turkey on the grill and it came out great. With the engineering background in me I can’t just toss the bird on the grill.

I hooked it up with remote temperature sensors to monitor the inside turkey temp and kettle temp. No guess work here. We are Hi Tech. We also had ham and all the thanksgiving dinner fixings. Oh and don’t forget the pies.

The weather was good and now that everyone has gone it has turned to cloudy and cool.

Full again

The campground is full again. We had 110 campers come in today. Funny thing though, I thought most would stay through Thanksgiving day but that is not true. I think I counted only 2 that are staying. According to the reservation system the campground will be full but they will be coming and going all week. I guess not everyone can get a whole week off for Thanksgiving. I am glad the guy right next to me is only staying for 2 nights. One of the first things he did when he pulled in was fire up his generator and it hasn’t been off since. Last year we had a group that took up pretty much the whole area down where we are. They were the type that didn’t think the rules pertained to them at all. I heard they might not be here this year.

I was in the right place at the right time again today. I was checking out a beehive in one of the sites when a surfer came up from the beach bleeding from the face. He told me he got hit by his board and needed help. I got on my campground radio and had the lifeguards there within minutes. Turns out the guy was OK, just a good blow to the nose. While waiting for the lifeguards I took a look at his nose, and a look at his surfboard and said, “If it’s any consolation, your board looks worse than your nose.” His board had a pretty good ding in it.

Susan and I passed our test! We both had our physicals and passed with flying colors. I think it has a lot to do with our lifestyle and the fact that we are a bit health conscious and Susan prepares healthy meals.

After sunset

Well I got plenty of sunset pictures but here is an after sunset picture.

It’s kind of like a bonus. Last night after the sun had completely gone down and it was dark the moon was shinning over the water. The ocean was so calm that the reflection was killer.

It’s a damn good thing I am not driving the motorhome in California for these 3 months. California gas prices are the highest in the country. I paid $3.50 a gallon to fill the car the other day. The car is bad enough. I wouldn’t want to fill the motorhome right now.

Finally a nice day

The weather was just great today. It’s back to shorts and flip-flops for me. What a nice change from the last couple of days where we had rain and the temperatures didn’t get any higher than the low 60s. The day started out early for Susan and I. It was our day to start our medical checkups. We went to the clinic this morning to have blood drawn. Our grandson got a kick out of watching them pull blood from his Papa’s arm. After that we all went out for a big breakfast since we had to fast before the blood draw.

I was out wandering around our end of the campground this afternoon since I am off duty. As I was heading back to the motorhome I spotted a girl in a wetsuit hobbling up from the beach. Huh…Stingray sting I bet. So I went over to see if my hunch was right. A soon as she spotted me she asked for hot water. Knowing that hot water is the best thing for a stingray sting I asked, Stingray and she answered, yes. Fortunately I was close to the motorhome so I told her to stay put and went for a bucket of hot water. I returned with a chair, a bucket of hot water, and our Camp Host radio. I called for the Host on duty who informed the Ranger on duty and soon the Lifeguards were on scene. A Stingray has never stung me but this is the second one I have seen. Although not life threatening, it sure looks painful.

Well this is how the day ended.

Even with clear skies, the sunset was great.

Surprise rain

We were woken last night to the sound of rain on the roof. Not just drizzle but down right rain. I climbed out of my nice warm bed to lower one side of the awning so the water would not pool up inside. This ruins many awnings. Then I crawled back into my warm bed, briefly thought about all the tent campers, and fell back to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof. When we woke this morning the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. It turned out to be a great day. This was totally unexpected. Even the weather forecasters didn’t have a clue.

Many spent the afternoon exploring the tide pools.

Later a surfer takes a brief time out to catch the sunset.

Back to normal

Ah, the sounds of pounding tent stakes, wood pallets being broken apart, kids playing, and the smell of campfires. It’s back to normal down at our end of the park. Sure our solitude is gone, but it’s kind of nice to see the families getting settled in for the weekend. We had over 130 campers check in today. This weekend is our Saturday off so we are free until Tuesday afternoon. I am sure I will have to remind a few campers of the rules and assist a few others but… that’s what I’m here for.

Loosing our solitude

Tomorrow the whole park will be open again. Our end of the park has been closed down for maintenance for about a month now and it sure has been nice and quiet down here. This is not to say that I had the month off since us Hosts cover the whole park. It’s been much easier with half the park closed down meaning half the people but not necessarily half the problems. I took the opportunity to do an oil change on the motorhome. Even though I have a few more privileges than the average camper since I live here fulltime for 3 months, I am not sure if oil changes are one of them and didn’t want other campers to think they can do the same.

If you ever want to experience how crazy some people can be, try Camp Hosting. The other night I thought it was rather strange that one of the bathrooms was locked every time I passes it. I finally informed the Rangers that we might have a “Bathroom Camper”. Sure enough, one of our local homeless took up residency in the bathroom. We have a “Crazy Lady” that every conversation with her becomes a confrontation. The other night she confronted the wrong person (Ranger) and almost went to jail. She was ejected from the park, but she will be back.

As with most State Park campgrounds along the California coast, a train runs very near the park. During the day it’s not too bad since only the local commuter trains run. These are modern, short and fast so the noise is minimal and it is over with quick. The problem is at night when the slow moving, long freight trains come through. They are pretty noisy. We have had campers check out early because they couldn’t handle the noise. They said they were heading home to get a vacation from their vacation.

The calm before the storm

Since the reservation system canceled everyone’s reservations until tomorrow, the park is real quiet and relatively empty today. Tomorrow will be a different story though. We have a bunch coming in tomorrow and the rest will be arriving Friday for the weekend. Out of 171 sites, 88 are closed for maintenance so that will keep the crowds down a bit but still we are going from about 25 campers to 83 in 2 days. Check in time should be fun. Hopefully they all don’t show up at once. We are supposed to have great weather this weekend so that will be a good thing.

San Diego Fires

Here is a link to some San Diego fire related videos.
http://www.youtube.com/signonsandiego

Message Board

I have just added a message board to our website. You can go there by clicking on the “QuickTopic” link in the left column. I don’t know if this will be something we will use or not, but I thought we would give it a try. If it catches on, I will add more topics as time goes on. This is a very simple Message Board to use. There is no need to register or sign in to read and post messages.

All clean

I finished the cleaning job today. We are all clean again. From the top of the motorhome to the mats on the ground around the motorhome. Even the car is all clean again. Mentally I fell much better. Physically I am a bit sore.

Rain

From hot, dry, windy, and fires to rain. Well more like drizzle. We had just enough rain today to really mess things up. With all the ash, things are a mess. I went out today and hosed things off just to keep the ash from really sticking to everything from the moisture. Tomorrow is supposed to be back to warm and sunny so it would have baked the wet ash right into everything. By tomorrow I should have everything cleaned up again.
We have only a couple of evacuees left since most are cleared to head home. Things should get back to normal at the park now. Well…if you want to call it normal.

Today for instance, we had a complaint from a gentleman that last night the campers next to him were dousing a football with gasoline, setting it on fire, and kicking it around the campsite. We talked to them this morning and informed them that they will probably get a visit from a Ranger. I took a drive by the site and since they are all minors, they were pouring all their beer out on the ground. It just so happened the Ranger was right behind me and spotted the same thing. They were immediately evicted.

Dirty

As I stated things are improving here. I spent the day yesterday cleaning up a bit but not too much. There is still a lot of fall out of ash from the fires left in the air. Soon after cleaning up, everything is covered in a lite coat of ash. I will just have to wait for a few days before I can really clean things up.

Landen, our Grandson, came to spend a few days since school has been canceled for the rest of the week. He got a chance to see the horses we have in camp this morning. The horses have left now since they were cleared to go back to their homes. The horse owners were so appreciative that we were able to accommodate them. It was the least we could do under the circumstances. Their vet even brought them donuts and coffee this morning and checked on the horses.

Cleanup

Things are looking better here at the campground. Much of San Diego is still on fire and not contained. There are still evacuations going on but a lot of people have been allowed to go back to their homes. I spent much of the day cleaning the ash off everything but am reluctant to spend too much effort since there is still ash in the air. The wind has turned around and is now blowing the ash and smoke in that has blown out to sea. There has been some evacuees coming into the campground but not as many as I expected.

We even have a number of horses in the park that were evacuated. Although this is not a horse park, we are doing our best to accommodate them. For some reason the reservation system canceled all reservations until the end of the month. This is really causing problems for us as people come in expecting to have reservations.

Better air

The smoky skies mad a nice view over the ocean this evening. Things are getting better here in San Diego. The winds have dropped and the humidity is increasing. Things are still bad but where we are the air quality has increased considerably.

I guess Jack-o-lanterns get old and crotchety too.

This is a photo of the Pumpkin my Grandson carved just 3 days ago

Now this is what it turned into after the dry hot weather we have had in the last 3 days.

Getting better

The winds are subsiding, changing direction and the humidity is going up. That is good news. The bad news, it will still take some time to get everything under control. One of the fires is still threatening us, however we still have not received any evacuation notice and hopefully, if things continue to improve, we will not need to. The air has cleared considerably here and we are getting a slight ocean breeze. It is a shame we have had this nice warm weather with clear skies and haven’t been able to enjoy it because of the fire threat, smoke, and ash.
We are not even close to being out of the woods yet but it is looking better.

We are still here

CLICK HERE FOR FIRE UPDATES

We got a fairly good night sleep last night. We have not been evacuated as yet. There still is a possibility since the fire threatening us is 0% contained. They have evacuated the area 2 towns south of us and 2 towns north of us. The good side is, the winds have subsides and there is even a weak onshore wind which will blow the fire away from us. This allows the fire aircraft to get in the air to help fight the fires by air. They are predicting the winds and heat to continue thru tomorrow. The air quality is still bad and even though the wind changes direction it will bring the smoke over the ocean back in. Everything is covered in ash and I still wear my particle mask whenever I go outside.

Filtered sun

Here is a picture of the smoke filtered sun reflecting on the waves. You can see the smoke over the ocean as well. With all the evacuations in the area, I am surprised the campground has not filled up. They have done a really good job of providing lots of shelters all around San Diego County. Susan is not going to get any sleep tonight.

We are packed and ready to go

The yellow dot is where we are. The fire is burning in the direction of the smoke blown by the winds.

We have not been evacuated, however directly across the lagoon from us, they are under a voluntary evacuation. They are expecting one of the fires to burn down the canyon to the ocean. I doubt we will be in any danger but if it does jump the lagoon we are in big trouble. This park has a lot of vegetation and it is all dry and ready to burn. If anything, we will be getting a lot more smoke and ash than we are right now, and it is pretty bad now. Anyone that is outside is wearing particle masks and some sort of eye protection. To be honest with you, if we didn’t have a reason to be here, we would be out of here right now.

San Diego is on fire

View out the front window

We are experiencing major fires all over San Diego County today. They are saying these are the worst fires in San Diego’s history. These photos were taken at 10:00a. As you can see the sun is totally blocked out by smoke and ash. There is not a cloud in the sky, it is all smoke and ash. We have had the motorhome closed up and the air conditioner on since yesterday. The wind has died down for now and I don’t know what will happen when it comes back up. It may blow more smoke and ash into the area or it may help blow it out of the area. We have contacted the State Park campgrounds north of here to see if they can take some of our campers that are having trouble with the air quality. This will leave sites available to evacuees in our park. This is supposed to go on for a couple of days.

Bluster Day

Today was warm and windy. It was a perfect day for the Grandson to fly his kite. It is also a perfect day for fires. With the dry Southern California land, fires strike easy and it seems when it gets hot and windy, the fires begin. The fires are miles away but we got covered in smoke. I had to close up the motorhome and turn on the air conditioner to keep the smoke out. Landen also got to do a little pumpkin carving today.

He really didn’t want to pull the guts out of the pumpkin but I told him that’s part of the job and it needs to be done. He sure looks forward to coming down to the beach. There is always something fun to do.

Business as unusual

Not much out of the ordinary going on here lately. Now I don’t mean not much going on, I mean not much UNUSUAL. There is always some sort of excitement. Anyway, the weather has been great. We had a couple of days of drizzle, which cleaned the motorhome for me. This week is supposed to be in the 80s to 90s. Can’t beat that. Today is my Saturday off. Saturdays are on a rotation basis with the 3 camp hosts so we get every 3rd off. Since I “work” Friday mornings and Tuesday afternoons, this gives me about 4 days off. The State of California came through and got us another cart so we don’t have to share the 1 we had. Since the other 2 hosts are close to each other and I am the furthest they will share one and let me have the other full time.

Home from work

We don’t have the luxury to go home from work. We live at work.

With this sign in front of our motorhome, we must be available pretty much 24 hours a day. Fortunately most people respect us as ordinary people and not someone that is there for their every need 24 hours. I had one lady come up one morning and tell me that last night there were some noisy campers at 1:00a. She didn’t want to disturb us so she put up with it. I appreciate that.

Infant mortality

Infant mortality is a term used to describe a failure in the early stage of a products life. As I mentioned a few days ago, we upgraded our phone and aircard. Everything went well and worked right out of the box. Well until today, that is. Our aircard decided to roll over and die. I tried everything I knew to troubleshoot the problem and hopefully get it working again. No Go. So I called Verizon tech support. These guys are good and they aren’t even from India. Well Patrick ran me through some of the things I already did and a few I didn’t. We finally determined the card was bad. Fortunately the Verizon store is close by so I grabbed the card and headed on down the road. After explaining that Patrick and I determined the card was bad, the Verizon person said Patrick should have ordered me a new card and I would have to wait until it came in the mail. No, I replied. Patrick said to head on over to the store and get a new card. “We don’t have replacements”, she replied. I know you have cards, I just bought this one the other day. Finally she led me over to the service counter where she went back and brought me out a new card. She then asked me if I had the package it came in. I said I just brought the card in and after a few seconds of blank stairs I told her to just take the new card out of the box and exchange it with the old card. Then I asked her if she could test it for me and her answer was they don’t have any way to test it. I took one step back and looked up to make sure it said Service then said, never mind I’ll test it myself. After getting back and inserting the card it would not connect, said it wasn’t authorized. Another call to Verizon Tech. Seems the girl at the Verizon store didn’t remove the old card out of the system and add the new card. Again the Verizon Tech guy knew his stuff. Anyway we got the card working and as you can see we are back online again.

What happened here

I try to shake my fire extinguishers at least once every few months. Bouncing around in a motorhome tends to pack the powder down and it is advisable to loosen up the powder once in a while by shaking. I have 1 placed near all 3 exits, front door, side door and the bedroom emergency exit window. This is usually an uneventful chore. This time while attending to the one in the bedroom I noticed something amiss. It appears this extinguisher has been used. The first thing I noticed was the powder coming out of the nozzle while shaking it. This appears to be residual powder. I checked the gauge and noticed it was low (in the recharge range). How could this be, I wondered. Then I noticed the pin in the handle (to prevent accidental discharge) was missing. No it didn’t just fall out because it is normally held in with a plastic band to keep it in place. The really strange thing is I looked and looked and could not find the plastic band or the pin so it’s not like the band broke and the pin simply fell out. I asked Susan if she knew anything about this and she said no. We tried to remember the last time we left the motorhome unattended such as at a service center. I know I have shaken these extinguishers since the last time we left the motorhome anywhere. It’s a mystery.

Things have been quiet around here. We have had our usual minor incidences but nothing worth noting.


The thing I don’t understand is, even though our section is closed for maintenance and they have placed barricades across the road, we still see vehicles cruise through here occasionally. Either they are blind, can’t read or don’t think the signs and barricades pertain to them. It is amazing how full the campground has been this time of year. But after all, it is Southern California and the weather has been just great. I am sure it will slow down in a few weeks.

All alone

We are now all alone here at the Campground. They closed off our end for their annual maintenance. The other half of the campground is open but there is no one in site from our spot. Things have been pretty mellow around here lately. For the most part everyone has been behaving.
Susan and I went to the Verizon store and upgraded our Aircard and Phone. The new card is at least twice as fast with downloads and about 5 times faster with uploads. We got Susan a new Razor phone, which she is happy with. It had all the wiz bangs such as mp3 player and camera, which we will probably never use.

Blustery day

Looked like rain this morning but it never came. Finally about 10:00A the sun came out and it was sunny the rest of the day, however it was pretty windy, and a bit chilly.

Perfect weather for Sail Boarding.

Tomorrow is supposed to be better. This place cleared out about noon but soon filled up again when the 100+ weekend campers started to arrive. I sure hope they are all well behaved.

I got one more morning tomorrow and then I am off duty for a couple of days. Our Grandson came down to spend the night with us tonight so tomorrow I will be playing ball, scooter riding, kite flying, playing on the beach, and other kid stuff.

Been quiet

It has been relatively quiet for the last couple of days. After the first day on the job I was beginning to wonder. All might change starting tomorrow though since it is the start of the weekend. We have over 100 campers coming in tomorrow. I am glad I will be working the morning shift because come 2:00p (check in time) it is going to be a mad house, then again in the afternoon when the others get off work. I will most likely head on up to the Kiosk to see if they need any help though. That’s just the way I am. Maybe since the weather looks a little iffy some will stay home…I doubt it.

I bought the coolest thing today. Susan does not like my digital camera because I take lots of pictures and download them into the computer. She doesn’t know how to view them in the computer yet so she never gets to see them.

Well I bought a Digital Photo Frame. This is a display screen that is framed just like a photo and it will hold about 150 pictures that can be displayed in a slideshow fashion. I can rotate the pictures as I take them so Susan can view them whenever she likes. It just sits on top of the TV cabinet like a framed picture.

First day on the job

Well, today was the first day back on the job as Campground Hosts this year, And OH WHAT A DAY. If it were our first time at this, I would be packing and moving on out of here. We had someone race out of the campground about 80 mph and on the way out hit a vehicle and almost hit another and never stopped. We had 3 homeless drunks that got into a fight, 2 went to the hospital and the other tried to catch a bus but instead got into a fight with the bus driver. He went to jail. The Ranger evicted the whole lot then later this evening the 2 came back. Apparently they don’t understand eviction. We had items stolen out of sites in broad daylight, they usually wait until the cover of darkness. We had people occupying sites and refusing to pay. All this and it was just our first day on the job. This should be a fun year.

Settled in for 3 months

We are back in Southern California for our Camp Host jobs. We got settled in this morning and went around meeting the others and getting reacquainted with some we have worked with before. We will be here until the end of the year. This year should be as interesting as the last 2 have been.