Today was a little bit nicer weather than yesterday. Partially sunny and cool.
This morning we puttered around with Elsie a bit before leaving Jojoba Hills SKP RV Park in Aguanga. We have named the truck camper Elsie ... LC ... Lance Camper.
I disconnected, repositioned, and reattached the front tie down turnbuckles.
As we departed Jojoba Hills, we were subjected to the most dangerous, most life threatening, bone headed manoeuver by another driver we have experienced in almost ten years on the road ! It just adds to our prejudice that the only thing wrong with beautiful Southern California is that it is populated entirely by assholes ! And I really don't want to have my life ended by one them in an automobile accident !
We drove west on Hwy. 79 back to Temecula where we spent much of the day shopping. PetsMart, Sports Authority, Sprouts ( a green grocer ), Wal-Mart, PetsMart again, Wal-Mart again, Auto Zone. and Albertsons. Mid-afternoon we headed out of Temecula, southbound on Interstate 15 back towards San Diego. A bit north of San Diego we headed up into the hills on country back roads to find Valley View Casino where we planned to have dinner in the buffet restaurant, to celebrate the purchase of Elsie, then boondock overnight.
We found the casino, got parked in the bus parking lot where RV’s are allowed to boondock overnight, then I did my first minor repair / improvement to Elsie. And sustained my first Elsie related handyman injury ( rolling eyes ) ! I cuddled with Sully in bed for awhile before we went for dinner. Sully seems to really like the truck camper, especially the over cab bed. Go figure ! We thought he was going to be very resistant to change regarding the new camper.
This casino buffet's feature item is lobster. The good news is ... the meal was pretty good. The bad news is ... it costs $33 per person ! The best news is ... we got two freebies to the buffet when we joined their player's club. Thanks for the $66 meal !
Monday ; Valley Center, California to Yuma, Arizona
Sunny and cold !
This morning we left Valley View casino and headed back towards Interstate 15 on a succession of country roads, following a different route than the one we took from the freeway to the casino yesterday. We refilled with diesel. We stopped when we saw a large dog park, and we took Bo for an impromptu romp. He played nicely with Francois the Afghan and Charlie the Dandie Dinmont Terrier. Yes, indeed ... welcome to Southern California and the "high rent district" up in the hills around San Diego.
Once back on the freeway we headed south into San Diego. WOO-HOO ... Trader Joe's ! We bought quite a bit at Trader Joe's as we always do when we get an opportunity to shop there. We had lunch in the mall parking lot then continued south into San Diego until reaching Interstate 8 heading east to Arizona.
A bit east of San Diego there is a forty mile stretch of ascent to, and descent from, the Tecate Divide. It's always windy there. Today ... the winds were extremely severe. And hitting the highway at an angle, a crosswind. It was SCARY ! I thought the truck and camper might tip over ! It reassured us of the merits of a dually which is near impossible to tip over due to the stability of the width of the dual rear wheels. It didn't tip, although it did feel like it was going to a few times, but ... the winds were so severe they caused the camper to shift within the box of the truck.
When loaded into the truck there is only a couple of inches clearance on each side of the camper's body to the truck's wheel wells. Today's wind caused the camper to shift right over against the wheel well on the passenger side of the truck, then twist slightly so that the front of the camper was a bit over towards the passenger side of the truck and the rear of the camper was a bit over towards the driver's side of the truck. We stopped at the rest area near El Centro and spent about an hour removing the camper from the truck, and then reinstalling it again, properly centered within the box of the truck. We dumped the grey and black waste holding tanks at the rest area as well, our first time dumping Elsie's waste holding tanks. We pulled out of the rest area at dusk and we were soon driving back to Yuma in the dark.
It was Joanne's idea to stop at Holtville to buy a burrito at Holtville Taco Shop, to share for supper when we got home. Excellent idea !
Tuesday ; Sunny but cold. BRRRRR !
We puttered around with Elsie the truck camper today, doing a bit of cleaning and maintenance, and showing it to quite a few friends and neighbours who were interested. Joanne cooked supper in the Sun Oven, and baked our first loaf of bread in the bread maker I bought last Friday. I set up the bread maker in the Arizona room, so when the bread was baking, the pleasant fragrance was evident throughout our yard.
Wednesday ; Sunny, a bit warmer. Almost mild.
Another day spent puttering with Elsie, Joanne doing cleaning, me doing minor maintenance. Dog sat Spanky today, as Terry and Judy are gone for two days to Las Vegas. In the evening, we made a quick shopping trip to Albertsons and Walgreens in between having supper and watching Survivor.
Thursday ; Sunny and mild.
This morning I went with Carol Mae to the Humane Society of Yuma to present them with the funds we raised at our fund raising luncheon last week. We presented them with funds sufficient to sponsor ( pay the adoption fees for ) one dog and one cat ... monthly for the next year ! Well done ! Carol Mae deserves almost all the credit.
We made the presentation, took the obligatory PR photos, then met with the Humane Society's volunteer co-ordinator to discuss our participation in their volunteer program. Carol Mae and I toured the dog adoption wings, and then the cat adoption room where we informally participated in some "cat cuddling" with their senior "cat volunteer".
I made some maple syrup glazed candied salmon in the Sun Oven today, and served it as "amuse bouche" before dinner tonight with Carol Mae and Larry. We invited them to come over tonight for an authentic Ukrainian perogy dinner ... very competently prepared by my wonderful non-Ukrainian wifey. Well done, Joanne, thank you.
Friday ; Sunny and warm.
Joanne spent much of today cleaning inside the truck camper. I spent much of today puttering with minor maintenance on the truck camper. In the afternoon I went shopping to Yuma Nursery Supply and Fisher Dodge. Bought a little plastic piece I broke on the truck. TEN BUCKS ! ! ! In the evening we gave Bo a bath. Late in the evening I bought some Christmas gifts online. Gifts for ... me ! HEY ... it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven.
Today was another day mostly dedicated to cleaning and minor maintenance of the truck camper. After our daily dog pack walk we spent a few hours in the Arizona room chatting with neighbours who dropped by for a visit.
DSK
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