Wednesday, February 28th - Back to Work

We left Pala Casino before 8:00am for the drive to Chino, CA. We are parked in Prado Regional Park in Chino. I will be here for two weeks and then I have to move over to Rancho Jurupa in Riverside, CA. I will be there for 14 days and then return to Prado for the final two weeks of this work engagement.

I will be working 6 days/week for the next six weeks. The Montclair Furniture Outlet is going out of business.

I will be extremely busy and very tired at the end of the day and exciting news and adventures will be virtually non-existent during this work assignment. Therefore, I will suspend the BLOG until after the sale. I will resume in mid April when we hit the road to Yosemite National Park.

Tuesday, February 27th - Leaving San Diego

After breakfast at the Broken Yoke Cafe in Pacific Beach, we finished packing up (in the rain). We drove about 50 miles north and inland, to the Pala Indian reservation, near Temecula. We are parked in the Pala Casino parking lot for the night.

Happy 1st Birthday, Ceci!!!

Monday, February 26th

We had originally planned to go to the San Diego Zoo today. However, neither MA nor I were ready to jump up and get these old bodies moving. So, we slept in and stayed around the RV Park most of the day. MA did laundry and I prepared the coach for tomorrow's departure.

We did get out to meet Cynthia Stevenson and her husband Topper, for drinks at the very old and very exclusive La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Cynthia and MA go back to their college days at LSU. We last saw them when we lived in Denver in 1999. It was great to see them both!

Updates to BLOG

I have added links on the right side. If interested, you can

• check on our 2007 plans and 2008 thoughts
• click on the link to our 2004 Alaska trip BLOG
• click to go to our family website (out of date)

Sunday, February 25th - Sailing the Californian

After a late breakfast at the coach, we drove down to the Maritime Museum near downtown San Diego. I had already purchased tickets online to sail on the Californian, a topsail schooner. These tickets also allowed for entry to the rest of the Museum. We had 50 minutes to kill so we visited B-39, a Russian diesel electric submarine, and the Star of India, a full-rigged ship, built in 1863.

After a 15 minute safety indoctrination, we got under way, motoring away from the pier. After we got several hundred yards out, we all pitched in to haul the sails. We sailed around San Diego Bay for over three hours. The wind was initially strong from the west and then moved to a northerly (and colder) wind. MA and I really enjoyed the experience of sailing in this tall ship! These are pix of the Californian, taken from the air, a panorama of downtown San Diego (notice the aircraft carrier, Midway, on the right), and a pic of six of the crew furling the sails as we neared the end of our voyage.

Later, we ate dinner at the Old Town Mexican Cafe where, two nights before, we saw chickens being rotisseried over a wood fire. The dinner was quite good and the restaurant quite crowded.

Saturday, February 24th - Living on the Edge...

the edge of the US - Mexico border, that is.

After a breakfast at Coco's, we drove across the border to Tijuana and I finished up with my dental work. It took only a few minutes and we headed SOUTH, not immediately back to the USA, as we usually did.

This is a pic of a "Mexican Zebra". It costs $5 to get your pic taken with "Barney". I took this from the Jeep while I waited at a stop light. Barney closely resembles a donkey. The street vendors were out is great numbers, this being a week-end day. The tourists also flooded into Tijuana today.

We drove west from Tijuana, thru a military checkpoint (complete with soldiers with assault rifles), and onto the toll road heading south, toward Ensenada, Baja, Mexico. We exited at "Rosarito Norte" and drove thru the VERY crowded town of Rosarito. About half way thru, the road (a boulevard with two lanes in each direction) closed one side of the boulevard with a carnival, extending about two miles. People were crossing the street ANYWHERE!

We drove the coastal scenic road further south, thru another military checkpoint, to the village of Puerto Nuevo, known for langosta, (lobster). We had learned that there are over 20 restaurants serving freshly caught lobster. Many of the restaurants have street hawkers trying to get you to eat at their place. "Park here, senor! Eat lobster for $10". It WAS very difficult to find a parking place but, we persisted and found one. We had also learned that one particular place, Puerto Nuevo #1, was thet best. They said you could spot it by the line of people waiting to get in. We found it and did wait for about 45 minutes to get in.

It was worth the wait for the experience and good food. We each had two half lobster tails with sides of spanish rice, refried beans, hot tortillas, melted butter, limes and several sauces. Washed down by a couple Tecate cervezas, and it was a very good meal!

We drove back to Tijuana and decided to try the border crossing at Otay, about 10 miles east of the usual San Ysidro crossing. San Ysidro is the busiest border crossing in the world! And, with this being a week-end day, we thought that Otay would be somewhat better. We spend about two hours in line to cross at Otay. Street vendors were selling everything imagineable, including "Corn Cups", a concoction of hot corn kernels, white cheese, a slab of butter and lime. We did not try it but it did sound intriguing. MA did get a blue cotton candy. This pic is the line of cars at Otay. At this point, we had about 40 minutes left to go. If you look closely, between the columns of cars, you can see the vendors and their carts.

Friday, February 23rd

We started off with some Krispy Kreme HOT donuts so you know the day is off to a great start!

We shopped for routine supplies at Wal-Mart and then had a Tommy's Cheeseburger. MA REALLY did not like all the chili that Tommy routinely puts on the burgers and, to top that off, she bit into a yellow pepper that came to San Diego straight from hell! Our one 44 oz Pepsi was quickly consumed to put out the fire.

We drove Balboa Park (home of the San Diego Zoo) and then walked around Old Town San Diego, self-proclaimed "birthplace of California". We vowed to return for some rotisserie chicken, cooked by burning wood.

Around 5:30 we left the RV park to go back to Old Town for the chicken dinner. However, a tree had fallen across the road near Sea World and the traffic was being diverted into the Mission Bay area, right where we were. After much jigging and jogging, we decided that we would eat at home tonight. We just ate some BBQ chichen at the RV park cafe - very good!

Thursday, February 22 - U.S.S. Midway

This morning we drove over to the Navy Pier and took a tour thru the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier. Midway was in active duty for 47 years, serving in three wars. She was the command center for Operation Desert Storm. We picked up digital players that we used to listen to specific information about 51 locations around the ship. There were male docents relating the process of launching and recovering (trapping) aircraft. We were there four hours and for MA, that is a REALLY long attention span.

Later we ate a late lunch in the village of Pacific Beach at Sinbad's Cafe, a hookah and cigar bar. We ate outside in the glorious sun of Southern California. We had lengthy visits with several of the staff, a waiter and a bouncer. They told us we needed to make a trip up to Mt. Soledad, about 5 miles north.

After lunch, we took their advice and drove to the top of Mt. Soledad. It was a spectacular 360 degree view! Looking north, we see the coastline, all the way up to and past Oceanside; to the east are mountains and the Imperial Valley; south is San Diego, Mission Bay, Coronado Island and Mexico; west are homes on the hillside and the mighty Pacific Ocean!

At the very top of the mountain is this cross that is a tribute to US servicemen and servicewomen who served in wartime.

Tuesday, February 20th - Back to Tijuana

This morning we drove back down to San Ysidro and crossed the border on foot. We walked the 1.5 miles to Dr, Bartell's office. It was a pleasant walk because most of the street vendors were not yet set-up. The donkeys painted with stripes (aka Mexican Zebras) were, mercifully, not yet on the streets.

The dental work took about 1:45 (grinding down the tooth and taking impressions) and we took a taxi back to the border. It took about 30-40 minutes to get thru immigration and back to the USA. It is always a great feeling to be back home!

On our way home, we drove up Coronado Island and then out to Point Loma to the lighthouse.

Monday, February 19th - Rainy Days and Mondays

We drove into downtown Oceanside and ate breakfast at the Longboarders Cafe, find of a surfer motif. We drove down to our campsite for the next week, Campland by the Bay, right on Mission Bay in San Diego. We stayed at this park back in 1989 when we rented a small motorhome in Dallas and spent 3 1/2 weeks driving throughout the west with Ashley & Berri.

It has been raining most of the day.

Sunday, February 18th - To the Ocean!

We packed up and left the creature comforts at Rancho California after eight day there.

MA drove ahead and picked up some McMuffins. We drove separately for the 50 miles over to Oceanside and Carlsbad, California.

We parked on Carlsbad Avenue, right on the Pacific Ocean. We stayed there, walking the beach, enjoying the surf and napping.

We left the coach there while we went to eat at Chili's in Oceanside and to scope out prospective night camps at Wal-Mart. We checked out two of the three Wal-Marts in Oceanside. They had signs saying no overnight parking. At the second one, I went in to the store to ask the manager, a trick that worked once in Savannah. The manager said that there is a city ordinance prohibiting overnight parking because of a lot of really bad gang activity in Oceanside.

That was all I needed to hear! We returned to the coach and researched private camping in the area. No luck there...President's Day Week-end meant full campgrounds. I remembered conversations I had with Ken Tilton regarding Elks Club camping and with a neighbor at Rancho California who said he was heading to the Elks Club in Oceanside. I looked up the address of the Oceanside Elks Club. It was about five miles north. So, MA drove the Jeep and I drove the coach. We are now comfortably situated for the night.

Tomorrow, we head to Campland at Mission Bay in San Diego.

Saturday, February 17th - A Lazy Day

MA went to Temecula today to look for a People magazine and do a little grocery shopping. After my morning "soak" in the hot tub, I have been opening two weeks of mail and sitting outside reading and watching the golfers (and wannbe golfers) play the par 3 hole behind our coach. This is a lovely place, surrounded by mountains on four sides, high 70's temp and dry humidity and few bugs. THIS is the style to which I'd like to become accustomed!

We are driving down to San Diego this evening for dinner with cousin Rick Heinz and his son, Brian.

Friday, February 16th - Tijuana Dental Visit

This morning, we left our camp at 8:00am and drove south to Tijuana, Baja, Mexico, just across the border from San Ysidro and San Diego. I had made an 11:00am appointment with Dr. Willian Bartell, a dentist recommended by friends, Todd and Carole Mitchell who had been treated by Dr. Bartell last year.

We chose to drive across the border, rather than walk and taxi, and we found Dr. Bartell's office after just one wrong turn. His offices are very clean with modern equipment and two specialists. I went for a cleaning, examination and to have a filling replaced. However, the tooth that lost the filling needed a root canal, a procedure I had avoided for 63 years. We had to come back in 90 minutes so we walked around and were hustled by hundreds of street hawkers and store personnel. "One of a kind, only $1.00, mister": "my turn, you can't miss seeing this"; "mister, let me introduce you to my sister".

We did stop for "2 for 1 margaritas". The waiter brought SIX margaritas (not good, very weak). Plus, a strange man in a red hat patted me on the back and began pouring "tequila" down my throat. I stopped him after a second or so but then he tried to do the same to MA. I stopped him and said that she had to drive. Then he wanted $2. I told him I was not going to pay for something I did not order and did not want. He persisted and so I paid him 1$ to leave. Then the waiter tried to charge me $17 for the drinks (plus tip). I gave him $12 and we left.

Back to the dentist, one of the specialists did the root canal. It was not bad, at all. Then the regular dentist finished up. I need to return twice, for impressions and for fittings. We will get that done next Tuesday and Saturday.

Thursday, February 15th

I was recently offered the opportunity to work a furniture sale in Montclair, CA, east of Los Angeles. It was in the right place at the right time. Plus, the LA-area sales are usually very good. So I accepted and will be there from March 1st thru April 9th. I was able to arrange for parking at two different area parks. Both have a 14 day maximum stay. So I have to move twice between the two parks.

Today, MA & I drove up to the Ontario - Montclair area to check out the accommodations. They are fine and I will move into Prado Regional Park on Feb. 27th for 14 days.

Wednesday - Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.

We celebrated by seeing a "chick flick" movie this afternoon..."Because I Said So"...cute and somewhat funny. We ate lunch at the Macaroni Grill in Temecula.

Earlier, we moved around the corner here in the Rancho California Outdoor Resorts. We decided that this staying free at a terrific resort was a great deal. So we used our 2nd of three free coupons. This site is on the edge of a small pond.

Tuesday, February 13th - Julian & Palomar

This morning we drove about 40 miles south to the town of Julian, CA, elevation 4,500 feet. The terrain changed drastically from rolling hills to much steeper hills. We ate lunch at the Julian Cafe and Bakery. The sign says that the building was built in 1872, burned in 1957 and restored in 1978. The food (and apple - boysenberry pie) was great!

Later, we drove up Mt. Palomar to see the Mt. Palomar Observatory. Since I was a kid, I have known about this observatory and wanted to see it up close. We drove up the east side of the mountain, about 16 miles, mostly in clouds and SLEET! When we got to the observatory, it was also mostly shrouded in clouds. It gave kind of a surreal feeling...this massive 200 inch telescope investigating the far reaches of outer space, barely visible in the fog.

Monday, February 12th

Today we drove some back roads up to Hemet, CA and then back to Temecula for wine tasting. We returned to the Wilson Creek Winery and tasted their estate wines. We bought three bottles (big spenders!) and returned to the coach and the hot tub here at the RV resort.

This is a VERY nice park. Lots are individually owned and many have outdoor kitchens, cabanas, fire pits, etc. The resales on these lots range from $75,000 to $289,000! There are quite a few on the market.

Sunday, February 11th - Hot Air Balloon Ride

We set the alarm for 5:00am and headed over to the Wilson Creek Winery, the meeting place for The Grape Escape hot air balloon adventure. There were about 25 passengers, flying in six balloons. We met our fellow passengers, James and Deborah (from Los Angeles) and our pilot, Matt, who teaches 6th grade math in the Temecula, CA area.

We drove the pick-up truck about five miles away where we unloaded tarps (spread on the ground to protect the balloon), the gondola (basket) and the balloon itself. WE were the last of the six balloons to lift off. It was very smoothe and quiet, except when the burner is creating the hot air needed for lift). We traveled about one hour at various altitudes, from several feet off the ground to over 2,000 feet. The countryside was full of vineyards, large estates and farmland. It was never scary, only smoothe and quiet and exhilerating!

After the flight, there was a champagne continental breakfast back at the winery. It was a terrific experience!

Saturday, February 10th - Move to Rancho California

This morning we enjoyed a good-bye breakfast with Madra and Rod at Maxcy's in LaQuinta. We have thoroughly enjoyed our visits with them and we resolve not to let much time go by before we visit again!

MA drove the Jeep and I drove the coach over the Santa Rosa mountains to Aguanga, California, about 65 miles. We are parked at Rancho California Outdoor Resorts. We have several coupons for free and 50% discounts for selected Outdoor Resorts facilities. This is our first time to use one of these coupons. It works! We got four nights of free camping at a VERY nice resort. Immediately behind our coach is part of the resort's golf course.

Saturday, February 10th - Move to Rancho California

This morning we enjoyed a good-bye breakfast with Madra and Rod at Maxcy's in LaQuinta. We have thoroughly enjoyed our visits with them and we resolve not to let much time go by before we visit again!

MA drove the Jeep and I drove the coach over the Santa Rosa mountains to Aguanga, California, about 65 miles. We are parked at Rancho California Outdoor Resorts. We have several coupons for free and 50% discounts for selected Outdoor Resorts facilities. This is our first time to use one of these coupons. It works! We got four nights of free camping at a VERY nice resort. Immediately behind our coach is part of the resort's golf course.

Friday, February 9th - Tram Ride & Dine

This is our last full day in the Coachella Valley which includes Palm Springs, LaQuinta, Indio, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and several other cities. It has been delightful to experience this oasis in the desert..."the Playground of the Stars".

Our final adventure was the Aerial Tram Ride up San Jacinto Mountain. We started the trip up (from 2500' to 8500') around 4:30. It takes only about 11 minutes to travel the 2+ miles up the mountain. Also, the gondola car (largest in the world - holding 81 people) makes two revolutions enroute. So you get a complete panorama during the trip.

Once at the top, we had a grand view of the Coachella Valley, the Windmill Farms of the Gorgonio Pass and the Salton Sea. Part of the Ride & Dine Package was dinner, cafeteria style, at the mountain top. It was a Chinese-y dinner with peanut chicken, noodles-ly vegetables, rice and a mandarin salad with cranberries. Pretty good but definitely NOT worth the $16.95 price tag. Our package deal made it cost an additional $15 (more than the tram ride alone)...still not a good deal.

One really nice aspect of this was that we took the return tram ride down the mountain at night, with the interior lights of the gondola off for better viewing. These two pix are pretty much the same scene, shot around 5pm and then at 7pm.

Wednesday, February 7th

I took the opportunity to play golf with Rod Knaak today at the Indian Springs Golf & Country Club here in Indio. The greens were the very best green I have ever putted! They were perfect. The course is very pretty and fairly wide open. The golf was great and I enjoyed Rod's company.

This evening, Rod and Madra came to our coach for dinner. I cooked a pork loin on the grill outside. The roast had been marinated in asiago cheese and pear. It was wonderful. MA concocted a rice dish with pecans, mushrooms, apricot and onion. This is not your normal camp fare.

Monday, February 5th

MA fixed scrambled eggs for breakfast and then we went riding in the top-down Jeep. Jasper Jeep has had a bath and is feeling spiffy, once again. We drove up to the Bighorn area of Indio and took this pic of a purple cactus. Then we shopped at Sam's Club for meat which we kept cool by purchasing ice and using old cardboard boxes from Sam's.


We drove up to Desert Hot Springs, north of Palm Springs and
then thru the Thousand Palms area. MA explored an oasis while I guarded the precious meat.

Super Bowl Sunday

This morning we ate breakfast at Maxcy's Grille in LaQuinta, next town east of us here in Indio. Great breakfast with a chipotle hollandaise sauce over eggs, something new to me. After breakfast we drove up into the nearby mountains on hwy 74. I wanted to scout out the nature of the road we will drive next Saturday when we leave the Palm Springs area and move over to Aguanga, CA. One person told me that it would be best to drive WITHOUT the Jeep attached. But, I think we will be OK towing.

There was a Super Bowl party here at the RV resort. It was pretty crowded and noisy so & we just went for the chicken dinner at halftime. It was not very good...kind dry fried chicken with beans and cole slaw.

For the game, I had an over/under wager. I bet that the total score would be less than 48 points. I had promised MA that if I won the bet I would take her on a hot air balloon trip here in the Coachella Valley. After the opening kickoff (touchdown) and the high scoring first half, it did not look good for the balloon ride. But the 2nd half settled down and the final score totaled 46 points. So...we're gonna take a balloon ride this week!

Saturday, February 3rd - Dinner with Madra & Rod

This morning we moved over to Indian Wells RV Resort, also in Indio. We will stay here for seven days. It is a pretty park with views of the mountains. It is a mixture of permanent residents, seasonal residents and transients, like us.

After getting set-up, we were invited to a Hamburger & Martini lunch at the clubhouse. I enjoyed my cheeseburger but gave my vodka martini to MA.

We had a wonderful afternoon and evening with Madra and Rod Knaak at their beautiful home. After several hours of drinking Corona's with lime in the hot tub, Rod grilled NY strip steaks and Madra fixed a great oriental salad and a very creamy corn dish.

Friday, February 2nd - The Salton Sea

Our three nights of free camping ends this morning so we packed up and drove several miles to the parking lot of the Spotlight 29 Casino. They welcome overnight RV'ers and have a special area set aside for us.

For years I have been fascinated by the Salton Sea in far southern California. Never been there but have seen it from the air several times when flying to San Diego. Some time, in the last 2-3 years, I read an article, probably in one of the National Geographic mags, about the growing ecological problems of the Salton Sea. So, MA and I took a look today and drove around the entire "sea".

It is about 200 miles round trip from Indio/Palm Springs. It is in the Imperial Valley and over 200' below sea level. The sea was created by nature in 1905 when the lower Colorado River diverted from its main channel along the California / Arizona border. It took 18 months for the diversion to be corrected and meanwhile, this inland sea was formed. There is no outlet (only evaporation) and the water coming into the sea is mostly agriculture runoff and, therefore, the sea is VERY salty (and getting worse) and full of agricultural nutrients, causing unwanted growth of vegetation in the sea.

Hundreds of species of birds feed on the large fish population in the sea. But the increasing salinity will cause the fish population to die off, leaving the birds with no real alternatives in the area.

On the eastern shore is the small town of Niland. Just east of Niland is "Slab City", formerly Camp Dunlap (World War II Marine Artillery training base) that was abandoned after the war. Concrete slabs remain and the entire area has become a desert emcampment for snowbirds, desert rats and just about anyone looking for a free place to live. We drove thru Slab City. There is a church, a open air night club (The Range" where they celebrate sunset each Saturday. There is a free 24/7 tarp covered library. In general, a small society has sprung up in the desert. There a nice motorhomes and completely falling apart trailers. There is a "Loners Club" for single people. Really, very interesting. http://www.slabcity.org/

We visited the "trough" at the casino for supper. It was actually better than most buffets with prime rib and roasted turkey as the main attractions.

Thursday, February 1st - The Sales Pitch

When we stopped for diesel fuel in Eloy, Arizona and again in Ehrenburg, Arizona, men came up to the coach offering free camping for 4 days/3 nights at any Western Horizon RV Resort, scattered around Arizona and California. Well, we took them up on that offer here in Indio, CA at the Indian Waters RV Resort. For the privilege of three nights of free camping, with water & electric hook-ups, we had to agree to attend a 90 minute presentation on why we should buy into the WHR network. Today was the day for our presentation.

We began promptly at 10:00am with "Steve". Steve was VERY assertive and constantly interrupting us. Whenever he asked us a question, he only allowed us a few seconds to respond before interrupting us with his own comments or interpretations of what we were saying. I got rather tired of that treatment and told him that I would like to be able to speak in complete sentences. After 20 minutes, he asked us point blank...did we see anything of value in what WHR had to offer. When I replied "No so far", he curtly terminated the presentation with a comment that he was wasting his time working with us. He was correct, of course. We travel in a VERY freelance manner, not traveling so that we can stay in a certain campground to save money. Rather, we look for the best camping deals once WE determine WHERE and WHEN we want to visit. We refuse to be "guided" to only specific places.