Friday, May 13, through Monday, May 23, 2016: The California Adventure:

Early Friday morning, the pack of deer that live in the nearby forest did their adorable walk through the vacant lot next door to our house---on their way to the golf course. 

We finished loading the rig and closing the house, and headed for El Mirage, a suburb of Phoenix, for the first leg (176 miles) of our California trip.  We arrived at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort without incident (other than nearly overheating on one of the several loooong uphill climbs between Williams and Phoenix),

and pulled into the assigned site---the same one we had used in previous visits to this park.  We had anticipated the heat (over 100 degrees) but it was still difficult on us and the dogs.  One of the reasons we like Williams is that it doesn’t get that hot.

I had previously contacted DirecTV to turn on the DVRs in the rig, so we settled into our normal routine right after a quick dinner that Becky prepared.  On travel days we and the dogs are usually tired, so we all faded earlier than usual.

Saturday morning, after topping off the engine coolant,

we packed up and headed for Ehrenberg, Arizona, and the Arizona Oasis RV Park, a trip of 140 easy miles. Ehrenberg is across the Colorado River from Blythe.  Again, we’ve been to this RV park before and got a nice site in our usual area.  It was even hotter there than in El Mirage, but we survived, and spent a casual evening there.

 

Sunday was the last leg of the journey to California.  Before leaving Ehrenberg, Becky took the dogs down to the river to cool them off and then crossed into California so Libby could “experience” California for what we assume was the first time in her life. 

But for the sandstorm going through the Palm Springs area, it was an easy 176 miles to the Pechanga RV Resort in Temecula.  Pechanga is one of those fancy Indian casino places, and the RV park was no exception.  Very nice. 

After setting up, we made specific plans for our time in Temecula.  The first order on Monday was running over to Aguanga (a nothing little town) and the Jojoba Hills Escapee RV park, where the Wheelers are now permanently residing.  We hadn’t seen them in more than a year---since they stayed at our home in Williams in April, 2015.  They have a nice site for their RV in a nice park, and they are very comfortable being essentially off the road after (I believe) 15 years.  We had a great time getting up to date with them. 

We followed up by meeting them at the Maurice Car'rie Winery in Temecula on Tuesday for a lunch consisting of one of the winery’s sourdough bread loaves stuffed with brie.  Terrible for anyone’s diet but as tasty as can be.  Again, being with the Wheelers is always fun.  

Wednesday, we had lunch with Beverly Newhouse at the Applebee’s in Menifee, after visiting with her for a while in her new apartment.  (We had initially chosen the Texas Roadhouse, but it’s only open for dinner. My taste buds were very unhappy---but only for a while.)  Bev has just downsized from a big house in Murietta, and is recovering from that major undertaking. 

It’s always great to see Bev and this was no exception.  Visiting Bev was after Becky took the dogs on a long walk through “old town” Temecula, after which Ramsey sat down in protest and I had to go pick them all up.  

Thursday was Becky’s 64^th birthday, which we celebrated at dinner (with the Wheelers, again) at the Claim Jumper restaurant in Temecula. We had last been there in November of 2002, when we joined the Wheelers there and announced to them that we were going to follow their example and take to the road and become full-time RVers.  We had a great time with the Wheelers and the wait staff at the Claim Jumper.  It was a nice ending to our little vacation. 

Now we just had to get back to Williams. 

We had planned to leave Temecula on Friday, but there were wind warnings relating to the areas we would go through to get to Barstow, our planned first stop.  Taking our rig through big winds is not recommended.  We decided to delay our departure for a day.  Pechanga had only one site available for our extra day, and it was not a pull-thru.  After 13 years of RVing, we still are not comfortable backing into sites, so we had to find an alternative to Pechanga.  We opted for the Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, only 27 miles away.  After Becky made a Costco run, we leisurely packed up and headed to Hemet, where we relaxed.  The Friday Netflix “movie” was three episodes from the first season of The Americans.  We had been told it was a good show, and we agreed.  I slept in Saturday morning.  The Golden Village Palms was a lovely place and it was hard to leave. 

But the change in plans turned out to be lucky for two reasons. 

First, we had none of the horrendous weekday traffic on I-15, and second, we were able to meet up with our daughter, Donna, and our granddaughter Emily in Barstow.  Emily had just finished her sophomore year at Chapman University in Orange and the two of them were driving back home to Park City, Utah.  Their timing and ours coincided and we spent a fun hour chatting at the In-N-Out Burger place. 

We hadn’t seen them since last July.  They then went North on I-15 and we headed East on I-40.  

After completing the 118-mile drive to Barstow, we ended up at the Barstow/Calico KOA Kampground.  It was not a good day for them:  Their computer system was down and their Wi-Fi did not work.  Neither problem affected us, and we had a nice, relaxing stay. 

The redbox movie was Adventureland, with Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.  I thought it was awful and Becky sort of liked it---though she fell asleep rather quickly.  She watched the rest of it Sunday morning and decided I was right.  

 

Sunday involved an easy 210-mile haul to the Fort Beale RV Park in Kingman, Arizona.  We got our usual site and basically just crashed. 

There’s nothing for us to do in Kingman but walk the dogs, which Becky did, of course.  Monday morning, she took them through the “historic” old town area before we headed for Williams---114 miles away. 

We arrived at our house in early afternoon and parked the rig in our driveway.  Becky then started moving stuff from the rig to the house.  She kept a log of what had been moved to the rig so it was easy to figure out what to take back to the house.  She’s so organized.  Our California adventure was over.