Sunday ; SKP Park Of The Sierras
Sunny and mild. A lazy day.
We slept late. I did a fun Bo-gility session. I puttered around with truck preventive maintenance. I did a glue repair on my shoes. DARN ... got two drips of MAX 1 glue on my pant leg. Another pair of pants ruined ! Oh, well ... I guess that's why they're called work pants. HA HA HA !
In mid-afternoon we headed to the clubhouse for the regular weekly Sunday afternoon ice cream social. We chatted with old friends and new until it was time to get Bo and head for the daily dog party in the dog park, where we spent the remainder of the afternoon.
In the evening I worked online and we watched TV. The last few days we've been watching some American reality shows that are new to us like Airplane Repo and Sex Sent Me To The ER. HA HA HA ! ! !
Monday ; Sunny and mild again. Another lazy day.
I puttered around with camper maintenance chores. We unhooked the utilities from the camper and drove over to the propane refill station to pick up our refilled tank, then over to the pole barn to dump out a six month old tank of generator fuel.
After lunch I napped briefly with Sully. We took Bo to the dog park for the daily dog party. I did some online research, planning our travel from here to Yuma. We spent the evening watching episode after episode of "90 Day Fiancé".
Tuesday ; Cloudy and mild. A lazier than lazy day !
This afternoon I used a headlight restoration kit on the truck. It's chemicals and abrasive pads to remove oxidation and whatever else makes headlights dull and obscured. It made an improvement in the clarity of the headlights, but not as much as I had hoped for. We went to the dog park earlier today, and spent longer there than usual.
Wednesday ; Oakhurst, California
We had a slow start this morning then headed to Oakhurst. We refilled with diesel then headed over to the rehabilitation hospital where our friend Diane is. She already had a visitor so we left to go run some errands. We did some shopping at Dollar Tree then returned to the hospital.
When we visited Diane last Saturday we promised her that we would return for another visit before leaving the area. She asked us to bring Bo to see her. So today ... we all visited with Diane for an hour ; me, Joanne, Bo ... and Sully ! Bo was thrilled. Sully less so. HA HA HA ... he's so anti-social.
After visiting Diane we ran errands in Oakhurst. We had a very late lunch at Subway, refilled a water jug, went into Vons to get the three items lost / left behind last Saturday, and bought some groceries at Raley's. By the time we got back to SKP Park Of The Sierras it was after 4 PM, and there was nobody left in the dog park, but we went in anyway and goofed around with Bo for awhile.
At 5:30 PM we went into the clubhouse for the weekly movie night. Tonight's movie was Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Very interesting. After the movie we returned to our site, hooked everything up again ( electricity, sewer, cable TV ), had a late, light supper, and watched Survivor.
Thursday ; Cloudy and mild. While Joanne did laundry I worked online in the clubhouse. We visited with friends in the clubhouse and in the dog park.
Friday ; SKP Park Of The Sierras, Coarsegold to Interstate 5 Rest Area near Lebec, California
Sunny and mild this morning at SKP Park Of The Sierras, but becoming cloudy even before we reached Fresno.
This morning we prepared for departure after a week at SKP Park Of The Sierras and headed south on Hwy. 41 to Fresno where we got onto Hwy. 99 heading south towards Bakersfield and Los Angeles. At Tulare we exited for what is for me one of the highlights of our year. < insert drum roll here > Our annual lunch and grocery shopping at Vallarta Supermarket. It is the best Mexican supermarket we have been to, including the ones we've been to in Mexico, and ranks as one of the best two supermarkets we've been to in any of the three countries in which we regularly shop for groceries.
We entered the store and I headed for the panaderia ( bakery ) where I selected eight pan dulce ( Mexican pastries ) for breakfasts and bedtime snacks. GAWD ... I love pan dulce ! I'm still looking for a bumper sticker that says "I brake for panaderias". HA HA HA ! We browsed the dry food aisles, picking a lot of Mexican products that just aren't available elsewhere before heading to the in store "lunch bar". Joanne had a couple of freshly made tamales. I had a chicken platter with rice and beans / platilla de pollo con arroz y frijoles. GEEEZZZ ... how do Mexicans make chicken so tasty ? ? ?
After lunch we headed for the butcher counter, stretching about 100 feet across the rear of the store. No meat on styrofoam trays covered in plastic wrap here. We bought marinated chicken legs, beef liver, marinated and seasoned beef taco meat / carne asada de res para tacos, smoked pork chops ( for Joanne ), fresh Oaxaca cheese ( a "stringy" cheese from Oaxaca, Mexico, of course ... pronounced "wha haca" ), fresh ceviche de jaiba ( crab "salad" / ceviche ), crema de Salvadoreña, a thick El Salvadoran style of cream for cooking ( I hope my doctor isn't reading this ), and queso fresco ( fresh cheese ). We spent $66 on groceries, none of it on our grocery shopping list. All impulse purchases, like shopping at Trader Joe's, but Mexican foods. Vallarta Supermarket should be renamed Trader José's. HA HA HA !
We got back onto Hwy. 99 continuing south. At Bakersfield we exited and headed for Camping World where I bought the correct replacement switch for the water pump in the camper. I bought the last one they had in stock, so wasn't able to buy a spare. It was almost dark by the time I got out of Camping World, and by the time we drove to Wal-Mart it was dark. While Joanne went into Wal-Mart to buy a couple of items I went into the camper and replaced the water pump switch in the range hood monitor and switch panel, removing the temporary one I bought at Radio Shack in Oakhurst and installing the correct one I just got at Camping World. We drove back across Bakersfield in the dark, still rush hour traffic, heading for the freeway again. I refilled with diesel just before returning to the freeway, continuing south on Hwy. 99 for twenty miles until it merged with Interstate 5 heading into Los Angeles.
We stopped for the night at a rest area near Lebec, at a high elevation ( read that "cold" ) at the summit of the Tejon Pass, in the area known as "The Grapevine".
Saturday ; Tejon Pass Rest Area to Palm Springs / Cabazon, California
Sunny and warm, temperature finally reaching up into the 70's once we reached the Mojave Desert.
This morning as we were getting our day started, there was a very loud, very hard pounding on our camper door. HEY ... ASSHOLE ... NO NEED TO BREAK THE DOOR DOWN ! Of course, it was a cop ! Do these jerks not know how to knock on a door in a civilized fashion ? ! ? He ordered us to leave the rest area immediately. It was being evacuated. A tanker truck parked nearby that had spent the night at the rest area was leaking some manner of HAZMAT ... hazardous material. Great ! Now we've probably been exposed to some carcinogenic toxin and are going to start growing third limbs !
We drove about a mile south, took the exit, turned around, and returned on the freeway northbound, stopping at the rest area across the road from where we had been. We finished our morning routines then used the sani-dump station to dump our grey tank and refill our freshwater. We drove about a mile northbound then took another exit to get turned around and back onto Interstate 5 southbound. When we passed the southbound rest area where we had spent the night the entrance was closed, there were two HAZMAT fire trucks and seven police cruisers at the entrance with many policemen and firemen standing around in a cluster**** looking like they were awaiting some manner of guidance. Or a sign from the great beyond ?
I suppose you can tell that that pounding on my door really pissed me off, eh ?
We drove south on Interstate 5 for awhile then turned east to avoid getting too close to Los Angeles. We spent the day on a series of secondary roads, driving east and south around Los Angeles until finally reaching Palm Springs at 4:30 PM. We turned west ... the "wrong" direction ... on Interstate 10 and headed 20 km. / 13 miles to the Morongo Casino at Cabazon where we boondocked overnight, arriving just as it got dark. Good timing !
While Joanne prepared supper I went into the casino and found a quiet place to sit ( in an elevator lobby ), plug in my computer to recharge the battery, and use Wi-Fi.
DSK
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