Cathedral City Sand Lot (Nov 20th - Dec 23rd), 2010

Since we cannot make it home for the holidays, Mike ran across an ad looking for a couple with an RV to sell Christmas trees.  It was free camping and we would receive 15% of the sales.  We decided two reasons that we would do this:  1) Give Jason some work and earnings; and 2) with our portion of the earnings we would purchase airline tickets for Kelsey and Shaun to fly out and spend Christmas with us.   Plus since it was a happy season of the year, the people would be in a good mood to deal with.  Our inventory would be around 400 trees, plus stands, wreaths etc.  So we arrived on Nov 20th to our designated sand lot.  We received water and electric from a neighboring house; and a large tent would be set up with a giant snowman and a pay booth.  However, the trailer of goods got broken into while being stored elsewhere so the set up could not be completed this date.  However, the actual trees would not be arriving until Thanksgiving Day so we had a few days yet.  Woody (our boss) didn't seem too upset about the setback so hopefully this isn't a bad note to start on our new adventure.
We concluded our season with some very nice balmy weather and all 410 trees were sold and a couple donated by December 23rd.  It was much more work then we thought it would be.   The lot had to be set up, the trees unloaded and inventoried when they were delivered (2 separate deliveries); Mike had to do all the electricity for lighting, drill, saw, snowman, etc.  We were open 9 to 9 seven days per week.  Doesn't mean we were busy all day waiting on customers, but someone had to be there all during the open hours -- better to have 2 people there all the time.  Each tree sold had to be netted (at customers wish); and every tree had to have a fresh cut and then loaded or tied to the customer's vehicle.  Trees ranged from 5 ft to 15 foot and at times were very heavy to put up in stands, tie down from the wind and prepare them for the customer.  But we survived and Kelsey flew in on the tail end of this adventure (20th) while we would down.  Still couldn't beat the sunny, warm days in the desert!!!
On to Palm Desert for Christmas.

1000 Trails Palm Springs, CA (Nov. 16th - 20th)

This was another 1000 Trails campground under our membership.  This was a great campground.  The weather was pretty nice too.  80's during the day; 50's in the evenings.  Well kept, many activities and many palm trees.  Darlene took part in the water aerobics classes that were offered and Mike attended a maintaining brake seminar.  It was a good place to clean the motorhome once again after the ocean salts covered it when we stayed on the beach.  The only drawback was that highway 10 ran adjacent to it, but we parked way in the back corner and it was not as noisy as the front of the park was.   So many dogs.  I would bet that 75% of campers owned dogs -- mainly smaller ones but Buddy liked them too.  The hot tub was enjoyed in the evening hours as the air cooled down into the 60's.  We would say this was the best park over the other member parks we had stayed at.  We would be back.  Could of stayed longer, but we have to head to our Christmas Tree lot in Cathedral City, CA.  That is our next adventure -- selling Christmas trees!!!!  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!

Wilderness Lake, Menifee, CA (Nov 15th - 16), 2010

Wilderness Lake Campground.  We arrived in the evening so we chose the first empty available campsite.  The next morning we toured around the park and what did we discover?  Very nice park.  Clean, well-maintained, nice pool etc.  However, on one side of this campground there were 1,000 cattle.  The wind was not blowing our way so at least we did not smell anything too harsh.  By 3:00 p.m. we were being invaded by flies -- hundreds of thousands of them.  All over our camper, our awning, inside our car.  We never saw so many.  We were supposed to stay another 4 days, but we packed up and were out of there in 1/2 hour.  We went to another sister park in Palm Desert, CA.    After arriving to Palm Desert we were still killing flies -- there were probably another 100 in our camper.  Jason came up with the great idea of sucking them up in our vacuum cleaner -- and that worked great!!!!  We would not be returning to Wilderness Lakes again.

Soledad Canyon, Acton, CA (Nov 11th - 15th, 2010)

Since we are 1000 Trail Members and we can camp free at their member parks, we returned to Soledad Canyon to give Jason more opportunity to take the train to LA for job hunting since this was the closest we could get to LA in a campground.  We decided to ride the train to LA and we visited Mexican town, China town and the Union Station which was where you boarded the metrolink and/or the amtrak trains.  The train ride was very smooth and we enjoyed our journey through the canyons and the small towns enroute to LA.  We met up with the friends we made from our previous visit and our stay was nice and short.  Onward to another one of the 1000 Trail parks in Menifee, CA called Wilderness Lakes.

Rincon Parkway County Park, Ventura, CA (Nov 8th - 10th, 2010)

Ventura Ranch (KOA) Santa Paula, CA (Nov 1 - 8th, 2010)

Ventura Ranch is located between Santa Paula, CA and Ojai, CA.  It sits above a valley and the sites are quite nice -- with trees and peacocks walking around the campground.  Buddy chased them a couple of times but of course they flew up in the trees and really made a squawking sound from above.  The weather was very warm -- their Indian summer as some claimed.   Ninety's during the day and it would cool down to the 50's at night.  KOA had just acquired this campground late in 2009 and were slowly redoing the bathrooms, the clubhouse and a planned pool that did not get put in this year due to permit delays.  They had a great area for kids/teens with a rope climbing wall, Bigfoot's path to the babbling stream and actual Tepee's that you can camp overnight in.  Jason ventured to LA a couple of days and we ventured out to Santa Barbara where we tested the Pacific Ocean waters to find out they were very cold.  Most surfers had wet suits on so you know it was pretty cold even though the air was in the 90's.  Didn't bother Buddy a bit though.  We went to Ojai's film festival where we sat in on an actor's panel with Craig Nelson, Brett Cullen, Nick Thurston, Emily Hahn & Paul Weber.  They told us how they got into their careers and what they thought of the new green screening and technology of today.  The consensus was that the new technology took away the fun part of their jobs.  We did a little wine tasting as well in the quaint little town.  Another day we went to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.  Beautiful church and surroundings.  Mass was partly in Latin and communion was given the old way where you kneeled along the alter and the priest delivered your holy bread.  We then proceeded back to Ojai and rode our bikes 16 miles to the Pacific Ocean in Ventura, CA.  We convinced Jason to ride back to Ojai to pick up the car and drive down to pick us up while we rode our bikes along the Ocean and waited for him.  Riding to the ocean was mostly downhill; returning was uphill but Jason is always a good sport.  Santa Paula was a very nice town and had a great train depot which always entices Mike.

Soledad Canyon in Acton, CA (Oct 18 - Nov 1st) 2010

Campsite View of Soledad Canyon

 

View of LA. from Mt. Wilson

Angles National Forest

We became 1000 Trail Members in April, 2010 for the western states campgrounds of which included California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Colorado.  We paid a membership fee in April which entitles us to 14 free days maximum at one of their parks.  This was our first one.  This park put us 53 miles outside of Los Angeles where Jason chose to look for a job.  We drove him there the first day and he managed to get back to Acton by Metrolink train.  Thus we purchased a multi-purpose pass for him so he could do the employment thing each day we were there.  Our sole purpose of getting anywhere near Los Angeles.   After we dropped him off we drove through Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pasadena and Beverly Hills.  That was enough for us.  We were going to keep close to camp while Jason did his thing. The campground wasn't bad, but all the sites weren't in good working order. Some nice sites had no power or leaky water hook-up. I found a good site but a broken picnic table. I repaired it along with two other tables. I also trimmed the trees and cleaned up the site which it had a great view. This RV Park lacks a good maintenance supervisor for the size of it. But the park offers plenty of things to do. The Hot-Tub was great as well as the Halloween Pot-Luck Dinner. Plus the fact Darlene Won too many times at Bingo Night. All in good Fun!! Met some good people who are also full-time RVers as well. Who filled us in on the campground as well as the area. All of them were very helpful!! Me and my Bud took an drive up to Mount Wilson over looking LA. to view the charred remains of Angeles National Forest. What a shame. We participated in the campground's annual craft and rummage sale with an booth for our business with Send Out Cards. Cleaned up our camper and did some preventive maintenance here before  heading out to discover the area northwest of LA.

Camp Site View

   For More Information Please Go To: www.mycompanypicnic.com

The Ranch at Elizabeth Lake, CA (Oct 15 - 18th) 2010

Since we are Camp USA members, we receive 50% off the camping fees of their campgrounds so we decided to try this one.  There was a full 18 hole golf course, a swimming pool, a whirlpool, laundry facilities, a game room, mini putting greens and tennis and basketball courts.  We had full hook-ups and cable TV which has been a rarity through our camping adventures.  The only thing it was lacking was TREES.  It was located about 19 miles from Lancaster and Palmdale, California.  Riding through the canyons to get there, we noticed quite a bit of fire damage on the hills.  A large fire had blackened quite a distance alongside the hillsides this past summer.  Had a lot of people worried about their homes.  While it was a nice campground, I don't think it was worth the full price of $45 per night. Another campground we'll pass on next time.We had to keep tabs on Buddy because they said there were coyotes out in the hills.  We made a visit to Camper's World for returns, supplies and while we were at this campground we did enjoyed the cable TV in the evenings due to the cooler weather.  We were just biding our time there so that the next 14 days at our 1000 Trails Campground in Acton, Ca. would take us through Halloween.

          For More Information Go To:www.legrc.com

Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, CA (Oct 14th) 2010

We were looking for something just for overnight on our way further into California and we stumbled by these fairgrounds.  They were very neat and located near Lancaster, CA.  For only $20/night we had electric and water and very nice restrooms with showers.  They also had full hook-ups (sewers) for $25.  Of course we were on a cement pad but it was good for one night.  They had casino horse racing (Turf Club) on the fairgrounds and a motorcross area  and they are open year round except for the month of August.  During August is the actual fair and the 4H'ers take up the campground during that time frame.  Went into Lancaster to check out the town and do our laundry.  The next morning we headed westward.
If you need a place to stay as you are passing westward on US 14 through the Antelope Valley of California, their website is: www.avfair.com

Fort Independence, CA (Oct 6 - 14th) 2010

Fort Independence Campground is located between Big Pine and Lone Pine, California.  Lone Pine is where the Alabama Hills are located, home of the good ole western moviies.  Lone Ranger, Maverick, Rawhide and even the Tremors movie filmed in these parts of the Alabama Hills.  Actually there were over 400 movies and TV shows that have been filmed here.  The Alabama Hills is one earth's oldest (85 million years) geological formations made of granite and was quite a site to see.  We rode into the hills and found the arch which was where we took the picture that was on our address change postcard.  We stopped in for the annual Lone Pine Film Festival held over the weeekend.  Crowds were way down according to the locals -- again another sign of the poor economic times and maybe even because the western era is disappearing.  The backdrop to the Alabama Hills is Mt. Whitney (14,497 elevation).  After driving to the Mt. Whitney Portal which was 8,360 ft. up the mountain, there was a trail that is hiked by many to the mountain top.  So as a challenging birthday (October 12th) adventure, Mike and Jason decided to conquer the hike up the mountain.  2:00 a.m. they were up and getting ready for their climb.  After getting their gear ready and driving to the portal, they started their journey at 3:30 a.m. in the dark thin air.  They switched back and forth up the mountain and saw some beautiful scenery with lakes, meadows, streams and waterfalls.  They continued through the canyons on a trail that has been built and maintained by numerous volunteers for over 100 years.

Heading towards the snow covered mountaintop, they hiked with heavy backpacks.  By two p.m. they were at about 12,000 ft. but decided to turn back because my flashlight quit working for some reason just at day break and he did not want to not have light coming down the mountain at night time.  Plus the fact we were not really prepared for an overnight camp trip on top of the mountain.  We thought they could do the 22 mile trek in one day and realized it was not going to happen due to their not having the proper equipment for the conditions.  Jason continued another couple of miles as I turned around to continue back down the mountain.   We both decided they would be back to conquer the whole trip someday.    Maybe backpack to the top, camp overnight and then come down the next day.  WE'LL WILL BE BACK!!!!!  The next adventure took them to the gold mines in the Paramint Mountains.  They thought they were going to be panning for gold but realized they needed flashlights to see into the mines that went in  100 yards or more and then split into more tunnels.  With pick and shovel in hand they did discover that the mines were still open and you could enter them.  No luck there.  But they will be back with more tools and of course those flashlights!  The day after the hike we decided to soak in the  Keough Hot Spring pools and enjoy the Hot sun south of the town of Bishop, CA.  Just south of our campground was a national historic site called Manzanar.  This was the location where during World War II,  all the Japanese descendants were brought to this site due to our government's fear of the enemy living amongst us.  More then 10,000 Japanese/Americans were brought to these 504 barracks to be housed.  It was called a relocation center and here there were schools built, a hospital, a post office, gardens etc. -- like a mini city.  They lived here until after the war was over in 1945.

On our way out of the area, we stopped at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery in Independence.  It was a very sturdy stone  building on 40 acres of land with a fish filled pond and is run by volunteers.  It continues to be a  California state treasure as committed by the California Fish and Game Commission. 

Enough for one week; time to move on towards Los Angeles to seek employment for Jason.

              For More Information Go To: www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/
                                                            www.nps.gov/manz

Nevada Drive-thru (October 5th-6th)

We left Salt Lake City, Utah heading to California -- westward.  We stopped along the way at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah just to drive our motorhome/car over the salt covered desert and check out what was going on there.  Not too much activity but there were a few brave souls willing to test out their vehicles for the Grand Nationals.

As we passed through Nevada without many campgrounds,  we chose to camp overnight in the Pony Express Rest Area along the freeway surrounded by mountains -- another night of free boondocking.  Made it thru Nevada in a day and a half.  Way to go Mike!!!!