Author: sandcastle

Catching Up

It’s been a week since I posted here. Yes, we are fine. I’ve just been too busy reading and doing other things to write. I have lots of new websites and blogs I am following and they take more time than I had anticipated. Plus, we are now in La Posa LTVA near Quartzsite, Arizona, where the Escapee Class of ’08 will have our graduation gathering so we keep having visitors. It’s fun meeting other class members. But, yesterday I didn’t finish my “morning” computer stuff until 5:20 p.m. Part of that is we don’t have the high speed connection we got used to having so every download takes longer.

Here’s some of what we’ve been doing for the last week.

We finally made a departure checklist and started using it. It helps. We don’t always do everything in the order listed but at least we get everything done. I print them from my computer. The first day we make a check mark by items as we complete them. The next day we turn that check into an X. The third time we use them we circle the X. The fourth time we cross the item off. Then I print new ones and we start again. I need to print some today.

WalMart has their online prescription refills system relating to my prescriptions as messed up as I had feared and we were not able to get the pharmacist to straighten it out. We couldn’t make her understand that what we see on our computer is not what she sees on hers. She insisted they are all there on hers so I should be able to see them all on mine. Maybe next time I’ll bring my computer into the store to show them what I see.

In places, I-8 runs so close to the border with Mexico we could see the fence. It’s pretty ugly.

There’s a rest area in the Imperial Dunes Recreation Area.  Here’s the dunes and some dune buggy riders.  The border fence is just on the other side of those dunes.

 

Nearby is the BLM LTVA field office with lots of people boondocking near it. That would be a safe place in spite of being this close to the border because it is so well patrolled.

Going up S24 toward the Imperial Dam LTVA area we passed lots of farm fields. If I tell you the products without adding proper punctuation we get, “Lettuce date lemons.”

   

Imperial Dam is one of those places where you can met friendly people. One guy told us there would be a parade of decorated vehicles about 6:15 and another told us there would be Christmas Carol singing at 6:30. We didn’t realize this place in California is on Arizona time so we nearly missed the parade and did miss the caroling because we were eating supper then. The parade went by too quickly to get decent photos but here’s the best one we got.

And here’s what camping at the North Mesa area of the Imperial Dam LTVA looks like in December.

   

Lots of elbow room but lousy Internet. We checked out the Coyote Ridge area but it was much the same. So when we went into town to buy groceries, I talked Dave into going north on Hwy 95 to La Posa LTVA instead of S24 back to Imperial Dam LTVA. S24 is lousy driving; we actually saw them plowing the mud off that road. And La Posa is closer to a town so the odds of getting good Internet reception are better there.

We went through our first Boarder Patrol road block check. The guy looked in our window, asked if we were both U.S. citizens, and waved us on. It wasn’t nearly as interesting as I thought it might be.

We are now at the class graduation site, protecting it from non-class members until someone else from the class comes to relieve us. That’s probably going to happen Sunday. Our whole class writes our plans in chalk so we can erase them easily. Apparently, we’re all commitment phobic. I think it’s mostly that there so much new stuff for us that we don’t yet know how to plan where we’ll be when. We make lots of plans, we just don’t follow them very well.

We had Christmas dinner here, just the two of us. We had turkey, potatoes & gravy, and cranberry sauce. The pumpkin pie was not edible. We need to learn how to use our convection oven.

Other than the pie, life is good.

TTYL,

Linda

Anniversary

 

We’ve been six months on the road today.  Here’s where we’ve been so far.

Our major trips have been:

Wyoming for Escapade 

Idaho for family reunion

Minnesota for annual physicals

Ohio for Gypsy Gathering

Route 66 Chicago to Santa Monica for fun

Oregon for RV upgrades

Pacific Coast south to get warm

and now Southern States to evaluate potential wintering sites.

We’ve covered 14,358 miles in 20 states. Some of those miles have been fast ones and some have been slow ones but most of them have been fun ones.

TTYL,

Linda

Turning the Corner

Those from up north need to be careful what they wish for.  Several people have mentioned missing having a white Christmas.  Yesterday it snowed in Malibu, California.  Malibu!

We spent the morning doing chores.  Dave installed the cable cover things he bought at Home Depot to cover the black cable runs up the wall behinds his side of the dinette.  And I did a bunch more research since we about to head in a new direction.  And I learned how to order prescription refills online to be picked up a a WalMart down the road.

Which is likely to be a problem in the future.  I have four prescriptions I take daily.  The WalMart website only listed one of them.  Fortunately it is the one I need now.  But I need them to figure out where the others are before I need to refill them as well.

Looking out my window here at San Elijo State Beach I see the camp host and rangers shoveling sand off the roads and parking pads.  The rain moved things around a bit.  I’m so glad we aren’t workcamping someplace where we are expected to shovel wet sand!

This park has recycling bins, which I approve of, and the money they get from that supports their Junior Ranger program, which I also approve of.  The more kids we get turned on to nature, the better off our earth will be.  I remember when our daughter was a Junior Ranger and she still cares more for the earth than most people her age.

We drove by a beach parking lot with an interesting problem.  The dunes that keep the ocean off the pavement are also keeping the rain on the pavement.  There are still plenty of parking spaces for the people who go to this beach on a December weekday, though.

The bus stop at the corner had a sign on it saying, “Bike Stop.”  Dave’s guess is that is where buses with bike racks stop so you can load your bike on board to move you further along your route.

So what do you think of “Dexter’s Deli: Health Food for Dogs and Cats”?  In my time as a pet owner that was known as Purina.

Part of the road was flooded.  We drove slowly though the water.  Some people never slowed at all. Apparently four-wheel drive makes you nuts.  It doesn’t waterproof your engines, people.

We stopped at REI in San Diego to buy some collapsible water jugs that have spigots so you can set them on your counter and use them instead of water from the fresh water tank. We also bought some other stuff while we were there. The checkout clerk asked me if I had used my 20% discount yet and she looked surprised when I said, “Yes.” She thanked me for being honest about it. What type of world have we become where honesty is a surprise.

We needed to turn onto Convoy Street. I kept calling it Caravan Street. That’s what a convoy is called in the RV world.

The leaves in San Diego are changing color. Looks like Minnesota in October. Does not look like Christmas. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t want snow.

In El Cajon, California, we stopped at Denny’s being careful not to run over the brown bag with the bottle in it standing in their parking lot. The staff there was amazing. One host/server, one cook, and one bus/dishwasher serving everyone cheerfully while joking with one another. The food was perfectly prepared. I would go there again. 

The staff was friendly at the Circle RV Resort in El Cajon, too. We stopped early enough to do some more chores. Dave caulked our leaky window and plugged in my Segway to charge it while I exchanged books. Then we both did more computer stuff. Alway, always more computer stuff.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 15 Pacific Coast

“It’s raining; it’s pouring. The old man is snoring.” Nope he’d have to BE asleep instead of just pretending to be since he can’t fake snoring to save his soul.

One nice thing about not having hookups is you don’t have to go out in the rain to get ready to leave camp. Unless someone put out the door mat the night before. Oops.

Routines are important when setting up and breaking up camp. Unfortunately we don’t seem to have any. So we kept thinking we were ready to go–except for… We finally left Doheny State Beach at 11:15 a.m. Hey! At least we made the noon checkout time.

We stopped at Ralph’s to get groceries. They didn’t have everything on our list.

Then we got on I-5. Strong crosswinds here. So strong there was a semi that had been pulling two trailers now in the ditch on the other side of the freeway. Cops and tow trucks were on the scene but traffic wasn’t yet backed up very far so that call must have gone out quickly.

Then I saw a firetruck headed into a campground.

Then a hearse passed us on the freeway.

These do NOT feel like good omens to me. Maybe Dave had the right idea. Maybe today would have been a good day to stay in bed.

We decided to get fuel in Oceanside. The Chevron wanted $2.69 for diesel but we didn’t see it in time to turn in. Which turned out to be a good thing since the Moshen station wanted $2.29 for diesel. It took a little maneuvering to get into and out of that station but we’ll do a lot to save forty cents a gallon.

The city bus here is called the Breeze with the slogan, “Catch the Breeze.”

We pulled up to the curb by a beach for lunch. it sure is nice having our kitchen with us.

Then we found an Albertson’s where we were able to buy the rest of our groceries.

We stopped for the night at San Elijo State Beach. The train tracks are near. So is a grade crossing. The trains blow their whistles for the crossing. I’m hoping they are mostly commuter trains so they won’t be doing that all night.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 14 Pacific Coast

At Will Rogers State Beach, just north of Santa Monica, Califronia, there are masses of volleyball nets on the beach. No one was playing today but I bet they get well used in the summertime.

We drove by the Santa Monica Pier which is where we had intended to end our Route 66 journey but we got there too late in the day to stop then. We didn’t stop now either. We seem to just be driving south without stopping at any tourist places on this trip. Part of that is wanting to avoid as much as we can of this winter storm.

We also drove by the Electronic Arts building. That won’t mean anything to most of you but they create most of my favorite computer games.

The road goes under part of LAX. It looked like one plane was going to land right on the road we were on but the road curved and the plane ended up on its runway. Then we drove under another runway. My those planes are huge when you get up that close.

I saw a restaurant called “Fatburger”. Truth in advertising?

You know those sports team flags people fly from their car windows? This car had antlers above its windows. And a red ball fastened to its hood ornament. Rudolph the red nosed Jaguar?

I saw an LA policeman who had stopped a vehicle. That in itself was not amazing but the policeman was wearing plaid shorts! Only in LA.

The Port of Los Angeles is lots of refineries, containers, and cranes. Very industrious looking.

In Long Beach, just past the port, we saw the first truck stop we have seen in a long time. Trucks don’t tend to drive the roads we’ve been driving.

By Long Beach City College, we saw electric hybrid buses. Cool!

I saw a very large, very old, water tower than had been converted to an apartment. It was “For Rent/Lease.” I bet you have a great view of the ocean from up there but I sure wouldn’t want to haul my groceries up those stairs.

We finally drove out of the city and stopped at Huntington State Beach to check out the camping there. Wow! $60 per night! OK that includes electricity but… We didn’t stay there.

In Minneapolis we have streets that are lined with one after another car dealer. Here in Newport Beach they have a row of yacht and ship dealers. We have lots of lakes in the Minneapolis area and several boat sales places but I don’t remember anything like this even along Lake Minnetonka.

A housing complex had fences made of sheets of glass between posts. Must not block the views, I guess.  I sure wouldn’t want to have to wash all those windows.

In Laguna Beach a shop called “Toes on the Nose” offers surf lessons.

After trying multiple entrances to multiple beaches we finally found the one that lead to Doheny State Beach Campground. My new pass got us a beach front site with no hookups for $15. We were close enough that even I could walk to the top of the small dune to see the beach.  

 

I sure got my Crocs full of sand, though. And the sand was very wet. I put out our door mat to wipe my feet on before going back inside.

TTYL,

Linda