Back in the U.S.A. (backtracking to April...)

Maybe we ARE trailer park people...
We spent a few weeks in Southern California after the Baja portion of our trip, doctor and dentist appointments (Devin got a root canal - fun, fun, fun!) visiting family and friends, and getting lots of little things taken care of. We spent a week longer than planned because Devin got a kidney infection and his doctor told him to just rest in bed - and stay there! So we watched a lot of movies and did little projects around the Moho. We stayed again at East Shore RV Park in the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas, and this time we stayed in the upper level in the "preferred" sites - wow. They are really nice! On clear days, that is. Smog ruins everything. But on clear days, or stormy days, both of which we had, the view was fantastic! San Gabriel Mountains looming up and sometimes cloud covered or snow dusted, and Puddingstone Reservoir just below. City lights off to the west and fantastic sunsets. We saw tons of birds there - to name a few:

• Ash-throated Flycatchers,
• Roadrunner (with a lizard!),
• Western Bluebirds,
• Western Tanager,
• Osprey,
• Goshawk (!),
• House Finches trying to nest in everyone's RV vents,
• Lesser Goldfinches,
• Cormorants,
• Mallards,
• California Towhees,
• Black-shouldered Kite,
• Turkey Vultures,
• Red-tail Hawks,
• Cliff Swallows,
• Bank Swallows,
• Rough-winged Swallows - lots of swallows!

There were more, but I can't think of them now. It's actually a great place - we found out there is a four year waiting list for a permanent space in the "C" Loop where we were. I can see why - you can live in the city and save lots of money on rent (I think the monthly rate there was $600-$700, plus utilities) and live right across the lake from million dollar mansions. If we liked San Dimas more, we'd consider it. So, a change of tune from the last RV Park story - I guess we could live in an RV Park if the conditions are right. The spaces were far apart from each other so each one had a "yard" and space around it for privacy, there were trees and grass, plus the wildlife from the regional park, which the sites bordered. There were trails just behind us down into the California Sage Scrub, with large patches of yellow-blooming Prickly Pear, Laurel Sumac, California Sagebrush, and other native plants. Every night, bunnies would leave little "presents" on our step, too (it's green astro-turf - I think they came up to try out the different grass and were disappointed and pooped on it - ha).

This park is really set up well with many services - they deliver propane right to your site on Fridays, they have various vendors that come in and offer services such as detailing and repair work - we had David Madrid from "Higher Power" Detailing come and wash and detail the RV - he spent almost 5 hours doing a very thorough pressure wash, wax and polish, including the roof, tires/wheels, and awning! The Moho looks really nice. We also had Bob Lodahl (RV service) come out and wire up our house batteries so they will do auxiliary charging of the engine battery, since our LP gas and CO/CO2 alarms are wired to the engine battery, when it gets low, they go off - usually in the middle of the night, which isn't very pleasant. Now, the engine battery will stay charged and that won't happen - yay! But in spite of the convenience, nice environment, wildlife, and views on good days, this is not why we bought our RV, so we were quite glad when we finally got out of there and got back on the road again.

Joshua Tree

We took one break from trailer park life when they were full one weekend and we had to move out - so we went to Joshua Tree. We stayed at Cottonwood and did a little exploring - the Geology Tour Road and Cholla Gardens, and relaxed and remembered why we are really doing this trip!

Family and Friends

San Diego: People we visited while in the area were, first Devin's brother Darby, in San Diego, who took us out to brunch (Mexican Food) our first day back from Mexico - thanks, Darby! Then my niece and her husband, Sam and Paul. We got to see their "new" house (which interestingly is only about a mile from Darby and Jean's house in San Diego!) and they took us out to a delicious Mediterranean/Italian restaurant and we got all caught up - it's been quite a while since we visited with them, and we missed them! Sam loves her job at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore as the Young Adult Program Coordinator, and Paul recently left the Navy for an ideal job, converting his old plane, the S-3, into a fire-fighting plane. He is an aeronautical engineer, pilot, and flew THAT plane in Afghanistan off of the Aircraft Carrier Stennis (he is even mentioned in a "This American Life" Episode, "Somewhere in the Arabian Sea," by his call sign, "Rainman.") So he is perfect for the job, and he loves it! He gets to work from home, or fly the company plane to work when needed, he gets to be the test pilot and they are sending him to test pilot school, which is what he wanted to do in the Navy but they were jacking him around. So he is excited, and it's so great to see them both following their dreams!

Norco/Whittier: We of course visited Devin's Dad, Kent, and his wonderful "girlfriend" Marge - we are glad we got to see her one more time before she went back to Wisconsin. She's a lovely and fun person! We stayed with them while getting new tires to replace the flat tire from Mexico and the older spare we had, and also to fix a small differential leak. We went down to Norco to visit Devin's sister, Janet and her husband, Art, and we helped them all celebrate April Birthdays - Darby, Jean and Janet - we helped by making a Baja style taco stand - sort of! It rained, so our plan to have it outside fell through, but it all tasted just as good and was a hit. We invited my sister Gloria to the party and she got to meet Devin's family and they got to meet her, which was great! Both sides said they really enjoyed meeting one another and had a great time.

Pasadena: After getting the Moho back and visiting family, we headed for East Shore RV Park, as mentioned previously, and Devin did a couple of weeks of contract/consulting work for the City of Pasadena, helping them with some migration of servers back to City Hall, which has been closed for earthquake retrofit for about a year now. We went to lunch with what was left of his old crew, Nathan, Serjik, and Charles. That was funny, because we were planning to go to a health food cafe and Roundtable Pizza - both so that Serjik, who eats only healthy food, and Charles, who eats only unhealthy foods, could eat together. Ha. But the power was out because of high winds and Roundtable was closed, so we ended up going to IHOP.

Redlands/Yucaipa: After finishing up our stay at San Dimas, we headed out to Camping World in San Bernardino to get a new toilet - big fun! The foot pedal on ours broke. So we ordered one to replace it - but with a hand flush to be easier for Devin, in "parchment" to match our tub and sink. They had one for us, put it in, and when we looked at it, it was a white foot pedal model! They were surprised, because they had marked the correct model, marked the correct box, but the toilet had been boxed/labeled incorrectly and the installer didn't check it against the invoice. They didn't have the correct model in stock, so we went at the last minute to Yucaipa Regional Park and got their last site before they closed - whew!

The next day we visited my sister Gloria for lunch at a nice little Mexican food place near her house, and then had a nice visit with my mom at Somerford Place, the Alzheimer's assisted living facility where she lives in Redlands. They are wonderful there! Gloria lives right across the street and visits almost daily, too, so that is very special. After a day of visits, we drove back to San Bernardino to get our second new toilet installed (they had sent it UPS from another store) and they did it quickly in the parking lot for free. Then we met up with my niece Jenny and her daughter Jessica at Chipotle in Redlands for lunch before heading out, and we hit the road!