Where We Are
Being the devout wimps that we are, we shy away from the extremes of hot or cold. In the Winter time, you will find us soaking up the sun (hopefully) in the sunny climes of Arizona and vicinity. In the Summer time, you are likely to find us "chilling out" along the Pacific coast of Oregon and Washington.
Since we are only "Extended Timers"—always returning home after a few months on the road—our journeys do not always encompass new territory. Over the past few years we have become creatures of habit (not always to our liking), and tend to spend the Winter months in the same places.
We usually try to get on the road for shorter periods of time in early Summer and late Fall, but we always take several "weekly" trips to a close-by TTN park in Yuba Gap (along I-80 on the way to Reno). This park is only 42 miles from home, but gives us the feeling of being hundreds of miles away in the boonies. We have learned to take our short trips during the week (arriving on Monday and always leaving before Friday afternoon)—to avoid the hordes of week-enders that descend on the park and change the peace and tranquility into noise and bedlam.
Where are we now?
On The Road Again
Acton, California
We left behind the infernal noise of big jets taking off from LAX, and we are now once again back at the Soledad Canyon TTN park in Acton, CA. We are now enjoying the peace andf quiet of the rural area around us, and listening to the many different birds, as well as the wind whispering through the tree branches all around us.
After the hustle and bustle of the Los Angeles megalopolis, we are slowly getting our nerves back in check and finally slowing back down to where we can appreciate the slower pace of life here in the high desert of southern California.
We had a most enjoyable time with our RV friends in Century City, and we enjoyed some unusually good weather around Santa Monica Bay and the beaches along Vista Del Rey.
Although we had a rather short drive today, driving the motorhome and toad through heavy traffic, through construction zones with very narrow lanes, and the usually impatient LA drivers zigging and zagging to gain a single car length, the trip left both of us in a very exhausted physical and emotional state. Whew! Sure glad that we don't have to do that on a regular basis.
While we are here in Acton, we will be the recipients of visits from both Linda's and Mike's families who live in the Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park area, only about an hour or so to the West of us. It is also hoped that we can all surprise Linda for a very special birthday celebration with most of the family in attendance. (Oh, we can be so sneaky now and then—it is a good thing that Linda doesn't read this part of our web site!)
The weather is projected to be fairly warm during the day, but quite cool in the evenings. We might even get one day of a few showers, but we should be experiencing some nice warmish weather while we are here.
We have had a most enjoyable Winter trip this year, but we are also anxious to get back home and to tackle all the projects that have stacked up in our absence. We are quite concerned that the severe lack of rain in our area will have caused a most unwelcome effect on our yards and gardens.
Pullin' Weeds (at Home)
We are once again back home—finally! After a longer-than-normal Winter trip for us, and some less-than-lovely health issues, we are finally back at home. Looks like we brought some badly needed rain to our area too!
We left on our journey even before Christmas was behind us. This allowed us to spend some Christmas time with three of our four kids, who all live in southern California. It seemed more sensible to drag the beast with us, rather than drive down in the car for three or four days, then drive all the way back up to the Sacramento area— and then finally get in the beast and head for the warmer climes of Arizona.
We were expecting a rather rainy Winter, so we had arranged to have our drip systems turned off when the first rains of the season appeared. What a mistake that was! Our area experienced a very dry Winter (no rain from late October until almost February). Upon our arrival back at home, we were a bit dismayed to see many of our plants looking very punk and in dire need of some liquid refreshment! So much for trying to plan ahead.
We had a good time in Palm Desert, before we headed over to Quartzsite. Mike was a bit disappointed in that the nice flea market at College of the Desert did not have nearly as many good vendors as has been the case in the past.
We had a good time in Yuma, but the time seemed to slip by way too fast for us. We spent an extra day or two at the Pilot Knob LTVA, when Linda discovered that we had messed up on our date of arrival at Yuma Lakes RV resort. We survived and actually had a nice peaceful day of just sitting back and relaxing.
After Yuma, we spent a week at the Pio Pico TTN park near Jamul, CA, (southeast of San Diego).
Then we spent two days at Dockweiler Beach campground—almost directly under the take-off flight path for all the air traffic at LAX! Oh well, we did enjoy meeting with some dear RV friends from Century City before we headed off once again to our favorite southern California camping spot at the Soledad Canyon TTN park in Acton, CA.
After resting up and fighting some rather nasty winds for several days, we finally headed for home—but not really ready to face all the chores that were awiting us after being gone for three months. We were certainly not ready for the substantial rise in gasoline prices that had occurred while we were on the road. It seems like we spent a fortune on fuel just to get back home!
Once back at home, we managed to get the beast safely parked in its special spot—affectionately referred to as The RV Barn (or the Dirigible Hanger) at Mike's home. Since then, the rain has fallen steadily and is going to continue for the better part of a week! Too bad this set of storms didn't occur during January while we were gone.
Once the rains stop, it will be time to get back out in the yard and catch up on tons of yard work that has awaited our return.
