Ready for NASCAR

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

We went from this

To this


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

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

Just relaxing

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


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

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

Mobile again

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

Back in the high rent district

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

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

Porta-Power

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

We’ve been eighty sixed

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

Returned calls a thing of the past

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

Back in Vista

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

Simi Valley

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

Paula’s Pancake House

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

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

Short drive today

We moved over to Buellton today. Our plan was to hang out in Lompoc until after the NASCAR race however, Susan’s favorite driver crashed out early and she wasn’t interested in seeing the rest of the race. I felt like a NASCAR hauler, packing up and hitting the road as soon as our team is out. We see this at all the races. They don’t stay until the race is over. As soon as they are out of the race they pack it up and pull out.

It was a short 30 minute driver here today but we had to wait until 2:00p to check in so we took our time leaving Lompoc. This is one of the few campgrounds that strictly adhere to their check in times. We got here 5 minutes before 2:00p and I heard the girl tell the guy in front of me, ”Check in is at 2:00p. We have a place where you can park until then”. I was going to tell her to just slow down a little and when she is done it will be 2:00p, until she realized how close it was. Most places will let you check in if your site is vacant. It’s not like they had to do anything to the site because our site is littered with cigarette butts and trash. I have a hankering to collect all the trash and wait for one of their guys to drives by then dump it in the middle of the road in hopes he will say something. I will simply ask,” What’s the difference if it is in my site or in the street?”

Lompoc

Today we moved on down to Lompoc. I decided to come to Lompoc because it is close to our next stop on Sunday, which we can’t get into until Sunday. Since our next stop is on race day, we are close enough to stay here for the race and cruise on over to the next stop after.

I am SO frustrated. Our Internet connection through my Verizon Air Card has been so very slow. It is so bad I even called Verizon. Now in order for me to call tech support and go through all the BS they put you through and talk to all the idiots you have to talk to takes me a lot. Of course after all the “try this” and “try that” nothing was resolved. I guess I am going to have to wait until I get back into a Broadband area to see if things improve. I have been in Lompoc before and don’t remember it being this slow.

SLO

I’m glad I decided to stop in San Luis Obispo. There is a lot to do here. Today we took a drive over to Morro Bay and cruised the shops. We were taking out time waiting for the line to go down at the Fish Market so we can get some lunch. We still had to stand in line for a little over ½ hour, but it’s worth it. I had the baked halibut sandwich and Susan had the Dungeness crab salad, yum.

It was nice sitting on their patio overlooking the bay with the Morro Bay Rock in the background.

Tonight we went downtown to the Farmers Market here in SLO.

This happens every Thursday night and still draws a Big crowd. It is close to impossible to find a place to park. They have everything from fruits and vegetables to BBQ meats and entertainment. If we had more time here we would head over to Pismo Beach but we are back on the road tomorrow. It’s a good thing too because they informed us that they are grading and surfacing the RV parking here and we have to move anyway.

Heading south

Today we mad our way down to San Luis Obispo. It’s a good thing we only drive a few hours and get off the road early because this place filled up shortly after noon. Tomorrow we will take a short drive in the car over to Morro Bay just for something to do. In the evening we will head into town for San Luis Obispo’s farmer’s market. This is a regular event here every Thursday. It is just as much entertaining as is a good place to pick up some produce.

Time with friends

Yesterday we spent the day with some friends near here in Santa Cruz. Ray and Judy spent their Sunday driving us around Santa Cruz showing us the sights. It was so nice to not have to drive around aimlessly. After a day of touring the town Judy cooked up some scrumptious baby back ribs. What a nice day!
Today While waiting for the windshield repair guy, I cleaned up the motorhome, which was badly needed. It is sure nice to have it all cleaned up again. What’s even nicer is when the neighboring RVer came over after it was all done and said it sure looked nice. Makes it even more worth the work.
We had a motorhome just like ours pull in next to us today. After swapping a few stories we found out they were from our hometown. It’s true what they say about it being a small world.

Another busted windshield

In 3 years we have replaced the windshield in the Saturn once and had the windshield repaired in the motorhome twice, and we haven’t even been to Alaska yet. Yesterday after we got here in Salinas I was cleaning the usual bugs off the front of the motorhome and noticed another crack in the windshield. I thought I heard something hit the windshield while we were traveling here. I looked around and there was no big truck in front of me so I thought it was my imagination. Well there is was, a crack about ½ inch long. At first I thought it was a bug but it wouldn’t wash off. Well this will add an extra day to our stay here as I wait for the repairman to show up. It’s not like we are in any hurry.

I called ahead to a popular campground to make reservations. I never usually make reservations but since it is a popular campground in California, it’s a good idea to sometimes. Well we made the reservations and later decided to make an adjustment. This is another reason I don’t like to make reservations. It screws up my spontaneity. Well it’s a good thing I did because they didn’t have any reservations for me. I swear I made them. I made new reservations and got a name and confirmation number this time. They will probably find my original one and try to charge me for them too. I will deal with that when the time comes.

We spent the day in Monterey today. My GPS gave me the grand tour. It seems when I ask my GPS for the shortest route, it tries to B-line me there. Even if it has to zig zag me through the streets to get there. My next GPS will have a “Least amount of turns” option.

2 stops 1 day

Our intent today was to leave Paso Robles and travel to Watsonville California. After arriving at the Watsonville Elks Lodge I noticed signs at the entrance to the parking lot that read, No Overnight Parking. I was puzzled since there were RV hookups. Also very noticeable was the absence of any RVs at those hookups. So we decided to head over to the Salinas Elks Lodge where we knew we could stay because we have been here before. This is a good example why we like to get done traveling early. If the place doesn’t work out we still have plenty of time to move on. This added an extra 40 minutes to my drive but still got me here in less than 3 hours. We made arrangements for a BBQ at some friend’s house in Santa Cruz and the Watsonville Lodge would have been a lot more convenient than Salinas but it’s not a big deal.

This Lodge is where most people drive straight in instead of backing in as the sites were intended. The reason is, it overlooks a nice green golf course.

Wine Country

We are stopping over in Paso Robles for tonight. Tomorrow we will head up to the Monterey area. Our Internet access really sucks here. Our Verizon phone has a full strong signal but my Verizon Air Card is struggling. Good thing they have free wireless.

Bakersfield

We are in Bakersfield. Ever wonder how Bakersfield got it’s name. No, me neither. Well I’m going to tell you anyway. The story goes, there was this guy with the last name of Baker that owned much of the land around here. He used to let travelers stay in his fields when passing through. So people would say they were going to Baker’s Field. True Story! Well here we are in Baker’s Field. Actually we are in an orange grove. The park we are in used to be an orange grove and they cleared enough trees to make roads and RV sites. When the oranges on the remaining trees are ripe, they encourage you to pick as much as you want. Unfortunately it’s all green right now. This is mostly a stopover park so it fills up before dark and empties out the next morning.

Stopover

We are back in Yermo/Barstow California. This is our usual stopover, to and from Las Vegas or Havasu on I-15. Although this is not a bad RV park we only do one night here because there is nothing to do here and we just use it as a stopover. We left Las Vegas this morning at about 8:15a and the temp was already over 100. It has been about 109 here in Yermo so we are not out of the heat yet. I am impressed how well the motorhome is handling this punishment. With over 100 degree heat and many hills to climb today we traveled effortless and trouble free. Next stop, Bakersfield.