Weekend

The storm that hit Washington last week made it's way all the way to California.  Heavy rains and lower temps (mid 40's) hit early Saturday and stayed throughout the day.  The little creek through the campsite became a raging torrent but stayed within its banks.  In three places here we drive through that creek (one is the major road) but it did not get high enough to deter traffic.

road in front of RV park

Sunday found it clear and cold (still mid 40's).  We drove the 20 miles into Coronado Island to attend church at Resurrection Lutheran, the congregation that let us sleep in their parish hall the nights before and after our foray into Mexico in 1997.  The congregation still opens its hall for Mexico mission groups but they are few now due to the unrest in the border towns. 

By the way, we have heard in several occasions how the media has overplayed the violence in Mexico.  There is a war on with the drug cartels but the locals here contend that the violence is pretty much directed toward that influence.  Thousands of tourists and locals cross the border each day, some to get dental, medical and optical service.  Tourism is down but still thriving in Mexico. We talked to one couple whose friends had just completed a 50 day RV caravan (several RV's traveling together) that traveled over 1000 miles through northern and central Mexico.  Their summation, "We were treated like royals."  The couple we talked to leave next week for a similar trip.

After church Barb, Loki and I had lunch on dog beach.  The sun shone brightly but the wind was cool.  Barb and I biked around the housing areas on Coronado.  We are always fascinated by the established communities in destination areas.  The varied housing, many of which are occupied by active and retired Navy, are beautifully maintained.  We saw few for sale.  The homes, on each street, varied from small cottages to larger homes.   One, which was on the "upper end" was offered for $3.2 mil.

lesson learned - never eat a lunch in a no leash area

San Diego skyline from community park on Coronado

Today, Monday, we awoke to a heavy frost, very unusual for this area.  Snow is visible on the higher hills but the sun shines brightly.  We will be back in the mid 60's today, near 70 by mid week.

SD skyline with snow on the far hills

Pio Pico

This Thousand Trail park, Pio Pico, is situated in the middle of a large BLM area.  ATV, four wheel and motorcycle roads crisscross the hills but so far the only vehicles we have seen on the hills is the Border Patrol.   This morning 3 Border Patrol officers were having a coffee break in the clubhouse here.  They had been on early morning patrol on ATV's near our site.   They shared that the arrests have gone "down to a trickle" whatever that means.  Seven years ago, they were arresting an average of 1500 illegals a month in this area alone.  Now with the increased manpower over the last two years, they have been able to stem the flow.  The economy, they readily shared, has something to do with the number decline as well.  However, they reiterated,  strengthening the vigilance at the border and following through on those who are arrested, has had a significant impact in slowing the human migration north.  The park personnel here share stories of bands of Mexicans walking through this campground, using the showers, and sleeping in some of the buildings.  However, there has been no such cases in the last two years.

Barb and I drove 10 miles east and north to El Cajon, a fairly large city.  Again, we were awed by the sprawling mansions that dotted the hillsides.  After getting groceries we headed 20 miles south to the border crossing of Tecate.  It was here, 13 years ago, that Nathan, I and 15 other members of our church, crossed the border on our way south to do some mission work.  As we left El Cajon, the road again turned narrow and curvy but fairly heavily traveled.  Border Patrol vehicles were frequently sited.  We did not attempt to cross the border but did a U turn.  On our way back, about 10 miles from the border, we went through a Border Patrol inspection.  Loki, who was riding in the back, was quite interested in the dog who sniffed our car.  The Patrol dog, however, the professionals that they are, showed no interest in Loki.

Border Patrol Vehicle on dirt road above our site.

The road to Tecate

Unique rock formations, looking like they could roll down on us.

Border Patrol stop about 10 mi north of the border.

Settled in the RV - feels like home, almost

We picked up the RV on Wednesday morning.  It was 40 miles to the Thousand Trails Pio Pico. Our trip started on a 6 lane freeway south into urban San Diego.  Then we exited to a four lane highway east through the suburbs.  We drove through heavy traffic, with shopping centers and newer housing developments on both sides as we progressed.  Just 10 miles before our destination the four lane morphed into a narrow two lane country road.  I was on this road in 1997 with the church youth group, with Nathan, on the way to a Mexico mission.  In the July heat, it looked so different.  Now the verdant hills reminded me of the Snake River reaches in May, sans the basalt cliffs.  The road was curvy, hilly, and narrow.  I pulled off to let three vehicles by.  Two were Border Patrol vehicles. 

We settled into the campsite and noticed no cell phone signal.  Helicopters regularly flew overhead.  We saw the white Jeep Border Patrol vehicles on the road, in the hills above us, and even in the RV park.

This large campground site is a rural get away for the San Diego city dwellers.  It is 30 miles from San Diego, 10 miles north of the Mexican border.  It feels remote.  It feels monitored.

Today we spent the day in the park.  A short bike ride was followed by a swim (even though it is an unusually cool 55).  We worked on the RV, went to a 4 p.m. potluck (early dining  is the norm in this demographic) and enjoyed a day lounging at "home".

hills above us facing Mexico 10 miles away

Our site.

Last Day of OB (outta bounds?)

Ocean Beach (locals call it OB) has been good to us.  Our original plans, before break down,  called for us to just drive through OB on the way to Point Loma and the beaches/Torrey Pines to the north.  This community, at first impression, did not look that attractive to us.  The draw, sans RV, is that the hotels are cheaper here (because they are 1950 ish style), the dog beach (dogs are forbidden on most Cal beaches but some are set aside for dog access), and the bike trails that would take us to several points of interest.  The tour books refer to this area having "the informal so Cal lifestyle" and that certainly fits.  However, people are incredibly friendly and there is a real community feel.  Our first night here, as I took Loki out for his 10 p.m. walk, a person on a skateboard passed me.  Nothing unique, it happens all the time, except this time the person on the board looked as old as me, if not older.  Informal so Cal.

Two of the most famous tourist sites are close to us and we will skip them.  The San Diego Zoo and the nearby Sea World are big draws here.  However, I am not a fan of seeing animals perform unnatural acts in unnatural settings.  I think if I really wanted to go, Barb would have gone with me.  I would go only if the grandkids were with us.

So tomorrow, we head back up to Escondido, pack up the RV, and head to a Thousand Trail park near Jamul, about 20 miles east of San Diego.  It won't be a day on the beach and it won't be magnificient bike trails on the water, but it will be home, for now.

Today,  we drove 4 miles to Mission Bay Park and biked the area.  Sunny but a cool mid 50's.




Off the paved trail to stop for  a picnic lunch.



Bike Path toward Ocean from our Hotel toward Dog Beach







Our Ocean View Motel from bike path



Bike Path leading inland toward Mission Bay and beyond.





Sea World from across Mission Bay



Old Town

The day was bright and sunny, however a cool mid 50's.  I took an hour long bike around the local bays, inlets, and marinas.   This area has a web of bike paths that are frequented by locals and visitiors.  The afternoon found us just 3 miles away at Old Town.  It is the site of the first Spanish settlement, the Presidio (1769), and later, the town.  A replica of the town circa 1830 stands today with some original buildings.  It is well done, not too commercial and very educational with displays by Wells Fargo, etc.  For dinner we sat in the open air plaza.

It looks like we will move back into the RV on Wednesday.

The Presidio



Old Town

Old Town

Juxtaposition

Sunday morning found us at the local Lutheran church, St. Peter's by the Sea.  It was like being home, walking into a Lutheran church wherever they are.  Everyone looks like us, we are warmly greeted and welcomed, and, sadly, typically we are some of the youngest in attendance.  The pastor gave a stellar sermon, wiping the cobwebs from my mind, and putting my mindframe back into relevance. Luke 6 speaks volumes of moving on and in the military venacular that the pastor quoted so well, "Be all you can be." 

We gave Loki a break at a local dog park then Barb and I headed to historic downtown San Diego, the area now called Gaslamp Quarter.  The area has roots in the 1850's when the settlement was founded in this beautiful harbor.  Today that area has evolved into robust bars, hotels, and eateries.  Petco Park, the Padre field looms large nearby, and the state of the art convention area dominates the waterfront.  

As Barb and I walked the area it appeared that the center of activity revolved around the Hard Rock Hotel.  Scantily clad females in high heel shoes, BMW's driven by 20 something males, and a long line of tatooed laced adults, waited to enter the hotel.  "Wintervention" they called it.  A gathering on the roof of the hotel, live music, by the pool, what we would call in the 60's, a happening. We observed from afar the hedonism displayed in far contrast to our morning's sermon.

This generation is going to hell.  What is wrong with society today?  Then down the street, at a historic building, we read the placard out front, " At the turn of the century, this area of San Diego was home to 140 brothels and over 3000 prostitutes."

Time has not changed who we are, only the manner of how we display who we are.

Participants, getting out of a Cadillac Esculade, at the Hard Rock Hotel

Rolls and Lamborghini Country

The weather prognosticators were correct.  As we headed out to a local seafood joint last night we drove in heavy rain.  Our country handles that well.  Here, where they get an average of 10 inches of precip a year, they do not so well.  Huge puddles blocked our path and traffic was miserable.  During the night we were awakened twice by garbage cans being blown down the parking lot in front of our room.  And if you have ever been in the woods during a wind storm, you know the sound that can be generated.  Well, palm trees are the worst.  Their noise puts all other trees to shame yet somehow, even though they appear to be wind vulnerable, they shed their dead palm fronds and survive the onslaught.  As I walked Loki at about 10 p.m. last night, we had to duck and weave to avoid the large branches that fell in abundance.  We awoke to the area littered with debris this a.m.

We headed north today through some of the richest real estate on the west coast (didn't know that until we got home and did some research to find that La Jolla is one of the richest zip codes in the US).  Our goals were to see the area around Mission Bay, the Pacific coast north of here, and Torrey Pines, the famous golf course.  Torrey Pines was beautiful spreading out on the plateau overlooking the Pacific.  The course is a public course and even though it has been the site of many famous golf tournaments, the cars parked at the course's parking lot stood in stark contrast to the cars we saw in towns we traveled through on our drive there. What surprised us was the wealth that we observed on the way to the course.  What we saw outdid our experience in the NY Hamptons in 2007.   LaJolla was one of those towns. The homes were ostentatious, we met several Lamborghinis and one Rolls.  LaJolla and the other villages that we passed through were dominated by art gallerys,, Gucci type stores and huge mansions, carved into the hills, with panoramic views of the Pacific.  We tried to concentrate on the natural, the impressive cliffs, the seashore, and the wildlife on the beach.  However, the $130,000 cars and the cliffside mansions kept drawing our interest.  How can this state be in trouble with the the wealth that we observed in our 30 mile drive today?

Our lunch at a park on Mission Bay

Torrey Pines

Oceanside homes with rainstorms on the way.

Oceanside to Point Loma

The weather was predicted to be nice till noon so we hit the road early.  The 1/2 mile pier is only a few blocks away.  We walked out past the surfers and enjoyed the fabulous sites from the water.  Some of the surfers were my age or older.

Then we slowly drove down the Sunset Cliff area all the way to Point Loma.

On the point, the Cabrillo National Monument has a lighthouse and incredible views of Coronado Island, the Bay, and downtown San Diego across the bay.  The view also revealed the incredible number of military installations in the San Diego area.

Facing west, the open ocean sometimes can display pods of whales this time of year but none were sighted today.



By noon the wind had increased and a light rain began to fall around 2 p.m.

Coronado Island

Thursday broke with bright blue skies.  We packed out of our second hotel (miss the RV soooo much) and drove south, then west around San Diego Bay.  We stopped twice as we drove up the strand toward Coronado. 

Neighborhood on Coronado

Hotel, set up for corporate function








Beaches on our left, the bay on our right, the narrow spit was not much wider than the road.  As we approached Coronado, past a few military installations, we emerged into an upscale city defined by the famous Hotel Coronado.  I biked the beach, Barb visited the hotel and the local shops.



Function on the beach



San Diego view for Coronado

 For lunch we drove to the east side of the island, facing the Bay and downtown San Diego area across the water.  A beautiful day, a cool low 60's, but blue sky and sunshine. Tonight we are located near Point Loma at a downscale hotel near the beach.  The area is more suitable for the dog and also gives us a better access to areas to the north.

A Tacoma Morn in the Park

We woke to the gloom of home.  Gray skies hung like a blanket and a light mist fell until mid morning.  By the time we arrived at Balboa Park, it had stopped raining and warmed to the mid 60's, allowing us to board our bikes to tour the 1200 acre cultural park.  The site was set aside by civic leaders for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.  It now houses 14 museums.  Barb and I toured the Museum of Man, an anthropological study of the evolution of human kind over the last 4 million years.  We also toured the Museum of Modern Art.  Both were good but not spectacular.  The most impressive aspect of the park to me was the architecture.  Most were of Spanish-Moorish style, somewhat gaudy but stunningly beautiful.

Botanical Gardens

Bird of Paradise

We left in time to avoid rush hour traffic and stopped on the way home to visit the Chula Vista RV park in which we had intended to stay.  Very nice.  Located near the beach,  the marina is next door.  A 24.5 mi bike path that extends all the way around San Diego Bay (one stretch includes boarding a ferry) borders the RV park.  It would have been fun.  Opportunity lost. 

Unpack and Head for a Hotel after Semper Fi

We went to the pier in Oceanside for a Valentine's dinner.  I wasn't at my best.  There was the lingering news of the engine replacement which will take a week plus, the cost of such, the interruption of the lifestyle that we enjoy so much, and the Marines.  Oceanside is at the southern boundary of Camp Pendleton.  Over our two day stay here, helicopters are frequent,  giant hovercraft landing craft were sighted as they stormed a beach, and the everpresence of America's finest.  As we sat at the oceanfront restaurant last night we were surrounded by young men (like 19 year olds) and their wives, sometimes their children, as they celebrated the holiday.  So young they are, making huge sacrifices for all of us, it put our set back in obtuse perspective.  The soldiers have little, their families less.  A couple set their infant, 9 mos old, at my elbow as they ate.  They longed for the private moment, a meal, looking into the sunset on the water, hoping to enjoy the ambiance.  The grandparent I am, I noticed that the infant dropped her bottle.  The parents didn't notice.  I reached over and reinserted the nipple into the baby's mouth and held it there.  The parents thanked me but it is me who should give thanks.  I travel the world safe and relatively unencumbered.  Safe because some are the "proud and the few".  I pay few taxes so I can afford the big rig.  Our troops are off protecting the oil fields that provide a situation that I can afford 8 MPG.  Somehow it doesn't appear fair, my comfort and their sacrifice.  Imbalance.

On Tuesday morning we checked out of our Oceanside hotel and headed to the RV.  We spent 3 hours packing out.  We couldn't throw away the 3/4 empty mayonaise jar or the last slice of cheddar cheese.  Everything was loaded into the Jeep.  As we left the Ford dealership, we may have resembled those vehicles depicted in the Grapes of Wrath.  We motored into the Chula Vista area to a Comfort Inn that is "animal friendly."   So now we are settled.  And unlike the Grapes of Wrath immigrants, we are blessed with the resources of survival, but still trying to figure out this "life with a dog in a hotel, thing."

Saints and set backs

courtyard

1700's church

ruins of old church destroyed by earthquake

Mid morning we drove the few miles north to the mission of San Juan Capistrano.  The structures, dating back to the 1700's are historical examples of the Hispanic roots of this area.  Some stone walls have fallen due to earthquakes but the beautiful courtyard and surviving wooden church speak volumes of the sacrifices of many who worked to provide education and salvation to residents of this area.  A beautiful spot, rich in history, but no swallows until midMarch. 









By mid afternoon we received the phone call of which I had feared.  Apparently a RV radiator hose had blown, I did not catch the warnings in time, and the engine had seized from the high heat.  It will take over a week to replace the engine at considerable cost. Barb and I, now homeless, have the challenge to find housing over the next 10 or so days until the RV is repaired.  Another challenge has come our way but we are thankful to have the resources to deal with it.  Freedom on the road can be costly and we have now had our first experience with that. 

Barb has never been to San Diego so we will stay in this area.  We will enjoy this part of creation, Loki in tow, and we may move from one hotel room to another.  There is room and we will make it work.  It has been a unique Valentines Day but love still fills the air.

Tow Truck Driver Philosopher

In Coelho's book, The Alchemist, the main character goes on a long journey only to find that his illusive goal is found back home where he started.  Along the way though, he meets several characters that enlighten and inform.  Today, unfortunately, we found one such resourceful being in the form of a tow truck driver.

The drive was going to be a short 200 miles and we timed it for a Sunday as typically the traffic in densely populated areas is lighter on that day.  We dropped out of the high desert into the urban valleys east and south of LA.  We were only 60 miles from our destination when the motor began to run rough and the heat gauge gave no reading.  Several lights came on and I quickly guided the rig toward a, thankfully, wide shoulder.  The four lanes of traffic sped by as we got out to examine the vehicle.  I found nothing wrong, no steam, no leaks, no oil.  I tried to restart the vehicle but it failed to respond.  After checking the manual and further examination, I called the insurance company.  Given that it is a Sunday, no mobile service was available.  They called a tow truck.

The "super heavy" tow truck arrived within the hour.  Barb and I had unhooked the Jeep and we followed the rig into a Ford Dealership just 11 miles down the road at Escondido.   Given that it was Sunday, the service center was closed.  We had hoped to spend the night in the rig on the dealership site but the dealership would not allow to do so.  I sought the advice of the tow truck driver regarding a hotel near by.  Ramiro, a kind and attentive man, responded, "There are several hotels near by. The mechanics won't get to your vehicle until late tomorrow (Monday) or maybe even Tuesday.  Take your wife and head just 15 miles to the ocean.  Find a hotel there, near the beach.  Enjoy the beauty of the area."  Wise advice.  Tonight we are two blocks from the ocean at Oceanside.  There is the beach, plenty of bike paths, and the sun shines brightly.  Hopefully, just a minor pit stop.

Sunny Sacramento to Boron

On Friday we did spend the midday with Marie (niece) in beautiful downtown Sacramento.  It was just a short drive to a restaurant and the sunny weather allowed us to dine outside.   We then walked one of the beautiful
downtown parks where Loki enjoyed the variety of distractions.  The evening found us at Gary and Diane's home.  Plans were discussed for a future RV rendezvous at a lake or park.

We left early Saturday morning driving the easy roads south to the high Mohave desert.  We stayed the night at a rest stop near Boron.  Barb calls this "one of my favorite places to camp."  It is a large rest stop in the middle of nowhere.  The site allows RV's and trucks to pull to the side of the parking area to spend the night.  This was our third visit there, sleeping under the bright stars with the distant din of interstate traffic and a few trains.  At dawn we found that there were only six other rigs parked with us on the desert.

Sunny Sacramento

Our three nights here have been brisk with a coating of frost greeting us in the mornings.  The days are glorious with blue skies, bright sunshine, and temps in the 60's.  On Wednesday we spent most of the day with my cousin Kathy.  It has been less than a year since her 20 year old Erin died from a long battle with cancer.  It was a day of heartfelt conversation, memories, tears, and laughter.  Thursday found us with Jeff and June.  Jeff was my freshman college roommate.  Today we meet niece Marie and another former roommate Gary and his wife Diane. The retired lifestyle and the RV have enabled us to rekindle so many important relationships. Fun.

Tomorrow we head south, traveling about half way to San Diego.  Sunday should find us driving through the LA area to finally arriving at an RV park on the water in Chula Vista.

On the Road Again

We reluctantly said goodbye to the grand-kids (and kids) and left in the RV Monday morning.  The primary goals of this trip are to visit friends and relatives, see the San Diego area, visit spring training in Phoenix, AZ, and enjoy the warm weather.   The first night stop was in Medford where we had dinner with Dennis and Diane (cousin).  Tues morn found the road over the pass clear and dry and we arrived near Sacramento by mid afternoon.  We will be here 4 nights visiting college friends and relatives.  We again feel so blessed to have this opportunity.