March 26, 2005

March 26, 2005

Aguanga to Tehachapi, California

DAY 281

 

Today was sunny and hot ... and somewhat frustrating.

We left Jojoba Hills SKP Park this morning, and backtracked about a half a mile on Hwy. 79 to the Aguanga Post Office to buy a stamp. I wrangled the rig into the Post Office parking lot, only to discover that they didn't open for another 15 minutes. I was too impatient to wait ! We headed west on Hwy. 79 to the next city, Temecula. The landscape was very lush "high desert". At Temecula, we filled up with diesel, bought Bo a larger choker at PetsMart, and replenished supplies at Wal-Mart. We found the Post Office in Temecula and bought the stamp I needed, then headed northwest on Interstate 15 towards Los Angeles. About 50 miles out of Los Angeles, the traffic got thick, and so did the smog. For the next couple of hours, as we made our way through the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles, I encountered the worst drivers I've ever shared a road with. Rude, and self-centred to the extreme, with really poor driving skills and habits. I had a car change lanes so quickly, without a signal, at my left front corner that I had to swerve onto the shoulder on the right to avoid clipping his right rear end. Later, as I passed a tractor trailer, on a 4 lane divided highway, an impatient driver behind us passed both of us by passing on the right hand side of the truck, on the shoulder, then try to move left back into the lane in front of the truck, as I finished passing the truck and began to move back into the right lane ! We just about side swiped at 70 MPH in front of the tractor trailer. I'm really glad we took the advice of many, many people who told us to go around Los Angeles, before we head for Hwy. 101 along the Pacific coast. Even going around Los Angles puts you through the eastern suburbs for a couple of hours. We stopped at a mall in one of the eastern suburbs, Rancho Cucamonga (HUH ?) for lunch. Shortly after lunch, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed, over the San Bernardino Mountains. We were just about up at the snow line. Once we were over the San Bernardino Mountains, we were in the Mojave Desert. We started to see the very unusual looking Joshua Trees. As I-15 curved off to the northeast, we took Hwy. 395 to the northwest. At the town called Four Corners, we turned west onto Hwy. 58, and filled up with diesel for the second time today. We drove past the Edwards Air Force Base, where the Space Shuttles land, to the town of Boron. It was already mid-afternoon, and we were planning to spend the night at Boron. When I saw the "trailer trash" RV Park at Boron, I decided to keep going.

We stopped for the night at the town of Tehachapi. We are at the Tehachapi Mountain Valley Airport and RV Park. Somewhat of an odd combination ! On one side of the RV Park, is the airport. A mile or so beyond the single runway is the world's largest windmill farm, climbing up the side of the Tehachapi Mountains. Once again ... welcome to California ! On the other side of the park is an apple orchard. This is a really lovely area.

I started to work on the hot water heater as Joanne prepared supper, and it didn't go very well. Worse of all, I dropped a screw on the gravel and could not find it ! I'll look for the screw again tomorrow, and hope that I can be more successful at trouble shooting the problem. After supper, I attempted to sign on to AOL through the cell phone, to check if we received an e-mail response from Joanne's cousin. It should have taken a couple of minutes. The computer wouldn't communicate with the cell phone. I spent two futile hours trying to make it work ! I'm ready to hit something with a baseball bat !

DSK

March 25, 2005

March 25, 2005

Imperial to Aguanga, California

DAY 280

 

Today was sunny and warm, although this evening is quite cool, because we're up in the mountains again.

We took our time getting ready to depart this morning. We didn't want to get caught up in the Escapade departure traffic jam. Most Escapees seem to be early morning people, and favour being on the road early. On the way to the shower building this morning, I bumped into Lee and Marsha Squires, who were WorkCampers at C.A.R.E. at the same time as we were. Lee had the hood of their truck up, and the two of them were standing beside the truck looking worried and annoyed. They were having truck troubles. And it's Good Friday today, so it's unlikely they'll be able to get repair service today. I can certainly sympathize with that kind of problem. We spent the Labour Day weekend dry camped at the back of the GM dealer in South Beloit, Illinois, from Friday evening until Tuesday morning, waiting for the service department to open. After showering and returning to the trailer, Joanne, Bo, and I walked over to the media building for one last Wi-Fi session, then went looking for Marsha and Lee to see if there was any assistance we could offer them.

We prepared to leave, hitched up, and departed about 10:30. We headed north on Hwy. 86 . We were planning to turn west when we got to Hwy. 78, but a couple of factors caused us to miss our turn. First of all, there was ( another ! ) Border Patrol checkpoint, almost right at the intersection of Hwy. 86 and Hwy. 78. We were concentrating on manouevering the rig through the checkpoint. As we passed through the checkpoint, there was a motorhome parked on the side of the road, blocking the signage for the turn to Hwy. 78. Drivers of big rigs should have enough common sense to know better than to block road signs ! ! ! Sure enough, a few hundred feet later, we zoomed right on by the turn to Hwy. 78 ! Hwy. 78 would have taken us around the Vallecito Mountains. We drove another 13 miles north, then turned west onto Hwy. S-22. I think the "S" stands for "secondary road". Hwy. S-22 took us over the Vallecito Mountains. The down side to this was a very steep, winding road. The up side was astounding views. Dee-Dee performed better than I anticipated pulling Harvey a long way up a very steep winding mountain pass road. We climbed from slightly below sea level to something like 5000 or6000 feet ASL in 11 miles. When we left Imperial, we were at an elevation of 58 feet below sea level. When we turned off Hwy. 86 at the western edge of the Salton Sea, we were 235 feet below sea level. The Salton Sea, an inland large lake, has a higher salinity level than the ocean.

When we passed over the top of the Vallecito Mountains, and started to come back down the other side, two things were noticeable. First, while were still about 180 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the mountains on the horizon were hazy with smog. Second, the land became fertile again. Even though we were still in "high desert", we started to see irrigated produce farms, and even some vineyards. At Hwy. 79 we turned north again, to Aguanga, where we stopped for the night at Jojoba Hills SKP Co-op Park. This is the most upscale of the Escapee Parks, and that's certainly reflected in both their daily rates for travellers like us, and their "buy in" fees for their co-op members / residents. It's elaborately landscaped, with waterfalls and ponds. Their swimming pool is huge. There is a large hot tub beside the pool. The shower buildings have saunas in them. Once again ... welcome to Southern California ! But, despite its opulence, this park doesn't have the same kind of friendly, "welcome to the family" feel to it like North Ranch in Lakewood, New Mexico, or Lone Star Corral in Hondo, Texas.

When we got here, we dumped the holding tanks, refilled the water tank, and had a very late lunch. I napped with Bo, while Joanne went to shower. After a short nap, I walked around a bit, taking pictures of wild flowers in bloom. Then I took Bo for some obedience work, while Joanne started laundry. We discussed our travel plans for the next few days, then went for a walk around the park, mostly to see the main club house and adjacent recreational facilities. WOW ... steep hills ! Back to the trailer, then while Joanne prepared supper, I did some bill paying.

DSK

March 24, 2005

March 24, 2005

Imperial, California

DAY 279

 

Today was partially cloudy, very windy, with a few minutes of light rain in the afternoon.

This morning I went to a seminar on diesel engine air filters and their maintenance. It was more comprehensive than it sounds, covering not only the air induction systems of diesel engines, but the turbo-chargers and exhaust systems as well. I came back to the trailer at noon for lunch, then while Joanne went to a seminar on RV maintenance for women ( dummies ? ) I puttered around the trailer. Despite showering in the fairground's shower facilities for most of the week, I managed to fill the bathroom grey water holding tank this afternoon. And our fresh water supply must be getting quite low, because the electric water pump is starting to gurgle. We'll have to wash our hands in the kitchen sink, and use water sparingly. We'll be leaving tomorrow about noon, and will have a full bathroom grey tank, and probably no fresh water, until we get to wherever we're going to spend tomorrow night. There's no dumping station, or water refill station here on the fairgrounds.

Mid-afternoon, I took Bo for his daily obedience training session, and he did great again. Good dog ! I met up with Joanne after her seminar, and we headed over to the main building for the Escapade closing ceremonies. Afterwards, I went over to the media building to use Wi-Fi. I thought the Wi-Fi service was going to end at 6:00 P.M. tonight, but they've extended it until noon tomorrow, so I'll be able to get e-mail and update my blog one more time before we leave. We wanted to send an e-mail today to a cousin of Joanne's who lives in California, to see if perhaps she and her family are interested in having us come over for a short visit. They are just south of San José, so they're in the general vicinity of the route that we plan to take heading north. Joanne and her cousin Susan don't really know one another, so I don't know if Susan and her family are really interested in having a pair of total strangers come by for a visit. Some families ( not mine ! ) subscribe to the theory that "blood is thicker than water".

Joanne decided that since we were low on water, we shouldn't dirty any more dishes than necessary, so we should go out for supper. HUH ? Did you follow the logic of that ? She seems to be quickly becoming a candidate to join the Escapees women's group called the LEO Club. That's the "Let's Eat Out" Club, a very popular group amongst Escapees women. HA HA HA ! We went to a local Mexican take out restaurant. The menu board above the counter was in Spanish, and might as well have been in Greek. We bought a couple of combination plates, not having a clue what we were getting. While we waited for our food to be prepared, we became mesmerized by their pastry display case, and ended up buying a half dozen assorted Mexican pastries. Gee ... Mexicans sure can cook great Mexican food. HA HA HA HA HA ! Supper was great ! So was dessert ! The population of Imperial and neighbouring El Centro are 78 % Mexican. And that's just the legal ones ! HA HA HA HA HA < SNORT SNORT >.

We watched the second half of The Apprentice as we ate supper, then headed out for Oso’s Cantina, the Escapade’s final evening wrap up party. Recorded music by a DJ, dancing, visiting, and saying farewell to old friends and new. We stayed late, because Joanne was on the clean up crew, her final volunteer assignment. Marcel and Louise from Montreal won the award as the Escapade attendees from furthest away. I was somewhat surprised by the lady from Tampa, Florida, who was certain that she was from further away than Montreal. Get a map, lady ! Even the woman from Alaska immediately conceded that Montreal was further from Southern California than Alaska.

DSK

March 23, 2005

March 23, 2005

Imperial, California

DAY 278

 

Today was sunny and warm, but with a very strong wind, which made the evening feel quite cool.

Early this morning Joanne went off to another line dancing session, while I took care of morning chores, then went to shower. Mid-morning, I went to a seminar on battery maintenance. It was awful. I left after 15 minutes, and I spent 10 of those minutes wondering how to exit discreetly. By about the 15 minute mark, half the audience had left, so I no longer was concerned with making my exit discreetly. This seminar speaker was extremely poorly prepared for his topic, and very inarticulate. I went to the hospitality centre, got a cup of coffee, and sat down to read the newspaper. Around noon I returned to the trailer for lunch. After lunch, I went to a seminar on RV electrical trouble shooting. It was very good, and I'm certain that what I learned today about RV 12 volt electrical systems, and problems, will come in very useful some day. Hopefully not too soon. Joanne met me after the electrical seminar, and we went to both the indoor and the outdoor market areas to buy a few things. We returned to the trailer, I napped, then did some maintenance work. I took Bo out for an afternoon obedience training session, and he did great ! He finally gets it ! Way to go, Bo. Good dog ! I gave him a lengthy brushing session. Geez, he looks ratty most of the time. A dog with long, silky hair looks terrible after a few days of romping around the desert without a brushing. We call him a rat shit terrier because of how he looks most of the time. Which reminds me, while I was walking him early this morning, he came across a rat which had just died over night. It wasn't there yesterday. Welcome to California. Bo was puzzled. I pulled him away before he got more than just a quick sniff.

We had supper, then went to the regular evening door prize awarding. For each door prize, there are 4 small supplementary / consolation prizes given to the people surrounding the main prize winner. The man in front of us won a "camp fire in a can" thingy. Welcome to California ! ! ! As a consolation prize, since we were seated behind him, we got a huge bag of unshelled peanuts. Later, while I was gone to sit in the Ham-O-Rama performers' section, Joanne traded our bag of peanuts with some other consolation prize winner for a huge bag of flavoured popcorn.

Finally, after the door prizes, it was time for Ham-O-Rama, the amateur talent show that is an Escapade highlight. Prior to 2 weeks ago, I had never performed magic for a group larger than about a dozen people. About 2 weeks ago, I performed for the Alberta Roamers Chapter Rally, an audience of about 140. Well, tonight at Ham-O-Rama, I performed for an audience of around 2200 people. And a flawless performance it was, thank you very much. Ham-O-Rama went quite well, lasting about 2 hours, with about 20 acts. Most of the performers were singing guitar players. Apparently that is usually the case. So the organizers were really thrilled to have Marcel and Louise from Montreal do a juggling routine, and me do a magic trick. My magic trick was actually a magic trick / stand up comedy routine, which worked out very well since the woman that I picked to assist me was a good sport, and played along very well. I was less nervous tonight in front of 2200 people than I was in front of 140 a couple of weeks ago. On a stage with bright lights, you can't see more than the first few rows of the audience, so it's less intimidating than 140 people sitting on lawn chairs in the bright desert sun.

DSK

March 22, 2005

March 22, 2005

Imperial, California

DAY 277

 

Today was sunny and hot.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, and wasn't able to fall back asleep. So I got up and walked over to the showers, and took a shower before the morning rush. When I got back to the trailer about 6:30 I was sleepy again, so I walked Bo, then went back to sleep for another hour. These fairgrounds are huge, and everything is so far away from where we're parked. We're certainly getting a lot of exercise walking around here.

Joanne went to another line dancing session early this morning. I stayed back at the trailer and took care of morning chores, then went to a seminar on Wi-Fi. It was very interesting, mostly about what to expect in Wi-Fi development over the next year or two. Joanne and I met back at the trailer for lunch. After lunch, we both went to a seminar and demonstration conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol K-9 unit stationed a few miles south of here at El Centro. It was interesting, although Joanne and I agree that most Canadians would think that the U.S. Border Patrol's efforts along the southwest border with Mexico are somewhat misguided. After that, I had to go to the Ham-O-Rama dress rehearsal, and Joanne went to see what was happening at the Crafts Building. After dress rehearsal, I met Joanne back at the trailer again. We fed the animals, then left to drive into town to buy some groceries. This was the first time we shopped at a grocery store other than Wal-Mart in quite a while. That, and the fact that we are now in California, left us very surprised at the cost of our grocery bill. We have been told, and are now finding out for ourselves, how expensive everything in California is. Diesel fuel is 50 cents a gallon more than anywhere else. We returned to the trailer just in time to watch Amazing Race, and eat the not so great fried chicken we bought at the grocery store.

Joanne walked Bo in the evening, and made a surprising discovery. Bo was absolutely ecstatic, jumping waist high, when he met some black people a few motorhomes down from us. We realized he hasn’t seen any black people in the 3 months we’ve had him. There are very few blacks in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, plus ... RV’ing seems to be very much a white boys’ gig. We wonder if his previous owners in Alabama were blacks ?

DSK

March 21, 2005

March 21, 2005

Imperial, California

DAY 276

 

Today was sunny and very warm, although as I sit and type this outside the women's showers late in the evening, waiting for Joanne, it's quite cool.

I started this morning by attending a seminar on trailer brake and suspension systems while Joanne went to a line dancing instruction course. Afterwards, we spent the rest of the morning wandering around the indoor market area, the outdoor market area, and "The Row". The Row is an area where the different Escapee chapters, and the different BOF ( Birds Of A Feather ) special interest groups have tables and displays set up, each outside the rig of someone representing their chapter or BOF. While we were in Livingston in January, we were asked to represent the Maple Leaf Chapter 18 on The Row at this Escapade. We declined. This is only our second Escapade and we're still too new at this, and want to see so much, that we didn't want to be tied down representing our chapter on The Row. Maybe some other time. We seem to be one of only two couples from our chapter here. Most of the Chapter 18 members are from southwest Ontario, and the spring Escapade in California is further than most Chapter 18 members want to go. Many of them attend the fall Escapade, always in the northeast somewhere, like Goshen, Indiana.

We lost track of time a bit, so by the time we went back to the trailer and had lunch, it was too late to attend any of the early afternoon sessions or seminars. We rested a bit after lunch, then returned to the main area around 3:00 P.M.. I went to the Ham-O-Rama auditions, and Joanne went to one of the jobs she has volunteered for this week. She spent the ret of the afternoon being a "gate guard". After my audition, I went over to the Alberta Roamers Chapter 44 area on The Row. I had been invited to their late afternoon "Happy Hour". Around 6:00 P.M., when it was time to feed the boys, I returned to the trailer. I thought Joanne would be getting back to the trailer about the same time, or maybe even earlier, but she didn't come in until quite a bit later. She got a bit disoriented and lost finding her way back to the trailer from her gate guard assignment. Poor Joanne. After awhile, 1250 or so fifth wheels and motorhomes all parked in rows somewhat helter skelter all around a large, complicated layout fairgrounds all look pretty much the same.

We had a light, late supper, then rushed off to the evening's door prize drawings and entertainment. Tonight's entertainment was Mariachi Mixteco, a small Mexican orchestra comprised of about a dozen young people ranging in age from 12 to 19, and Tlaxcalteca, a Mexican dance troupe also comprised of teenagers. They were very good. The Mariachi band, in particular, had amazing stage presence for such a young group. We walked back to the trailer, then I took Joanne over to the showers. I walked her part way back to the trailer, until she was certain of where it was, then I went over to the media building where Wi-Fi had been set up for use during the Escapade. The building was closed already, but I sat outside with a whole bunch of other people with laptops, sent and retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog. I love Wi-Fi. But not enough to spend about U.S.$3000 to buy an RV rooftop Wi-Fi satellite dish. Well ... here at the Escapade, the vendors are selling them at a discount. They're only about U.S.$2500. I guess that's peanuts to the Escapees here who have the half million dollar Wanderlodge motorhomes.

DSK

March 20, 2005

March 20, 2005

Winterhaven to Imperial, California

DAY 275

 

Today was sunny and warm.

Well, here we are at the Escapees RV Club 2005 Spring Rally "Escapade" in Imperial, California. We left the Gold Rock Ranch RV Park this morning, driving east for a mile and half on the gravel Gold Rock Ranch Road, then 9 miles south on Hwy. S-234 to Interstate 8. West on I-8, we passed through the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area where we saw small mountains of sand, filled with ATV's, dune buggies, and dirt bikes. Driving up steep mountains of sand on dune buggies looks like fun. We passed from the Mountain time zone to the Pacific time zone. Teddy's stomach doesn't appreciate passing into new time zones. He gets "cheated" out of an hour on meal times. Poor hungry Teddy. At El Centro we turned off I-8, north onto Hwy. 86. A few miles down Hwy. 86 and we were at Imperial. We were bucking a head wind driving west on the Interstate, so Dee-Dee needed a fill by the time we got to Imperial. I thought it would make more sense to fill after we got to the Escapade fairgrounds, and unhitched Harvey. What I didn't realize was that it would take an hour and a half after we reached the fairgrounds to get in and parked. Getting over 1200 RV rigs into a fairground is an onerous task. By the time we had been crawling bumper to bumper for an hour, Dee-Dee was gasping for fuel. I had to jump out and pour the emergency 2 gallons of diesel in, and hope that we would be parked soon. It was touch and go ! We managed to get parked before running out of fuel. Late this afternoon I drove over to a station a few blocks away, and filled up, although I grabbed the wrong set of keys when I left. I didn't have the key to the Rubbermaid tote in the back of the truck where the empty emergency fuel container was, so I didn't refill the 2 gallon emergency fuel supply.

After arriving and unhitching, we went over to the registration building and got registered. While walking the long distance from the rig to the registration building, we started to bump into the many acquaintances we have made in the Escapees family. People that were working at C.A.R.E. at the same time as us. People that we've met at one or another of the Escapee parks that we've visited. The biggest surprise was meeting Linda Hayes and Don Mitchell. Linda and Don are from Ottawa, and are the first Escapees we met. After we had joined the Escapees RV Club, butbefore we had even bought Harvey and Dee-Dee, we got a phone call from Linda and Don. They were the only other Escapees in Ottawa. The club had phoned them to advise them that there were new members of the organization in their city, and encouraged them to invite us over to welcome us into the Escapees family. They did so. It was a pleasant surprise to meet them here. We found out awhile later they are parked across from us. In addition to Snowbird, their Bichon Frisé that we have met before, they have recently acquired a Bichon Maltais named, of course, Snowflake.

While registering, I was "strong armed" by one of the organizers of Thursday's "talent show", Ham-O-Rama, to perform a magic trick or two on Thursday evening. He was one of the attendees at the recent Alberta Roamers Chapter 44 Winter Rally at Mesa that we attended. He liked my magic performance there, and wouldn't take no for an answer, so I very reluctantly allowed myself to be "persuaded" into performing at Ham-O-Rama.on Thursday evening. The largest group I've ever performed magic in front of was the 140 or so a week ago. This audience will be about 2500 ! YIKES ! ! !

After registering we went over to another building for the orientation session, followed by opening ceremonies. Opening ceremonies concluded with an ice cream treat for every one, courtesy of one of the corporate sponsors. We munched on our ice cream as we walked the long distance back to the rig. I rushed out to fill up with diesel, then barbecued burgers for supper. At 7:00 P.M. we walked back to the main building for the evening's door prize awarding, and entertainment. Every Escapade includes an hour of door prize awarding every evening. By the end of the Escapade, almost every one will have won something. At the Escapade last fall in Goshen, Indiana, we didn't win anything, so maybe it's our turn this time ? The entertainment was a comedy / singing husband and wife duo from Canada. They were hilarious. Afterwards, we chatted with Lee and Marsha Squires, who were WorkCampers at C.A.R.E. at the same time as us. Lee had his knee replaced in Houston while we were all WorkCamping at C.A.R.E.. He was recovering very nicely until a week ago when he was filling the tank on his truck, and something in his knee went "pop". We got caught up on the C.A.R.E. gossip since we left at the end of January. Our friend Chuck's 17 year old dog Jack just died. Poor Chuck. Jack was all he had. We'll send him a card tomorrow.

DSK