About Me

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I am retired and like to travel by motor home across the United States and Canada. In the winter I hope to spend more time with my WIN (Wandering Individual Network) friends in the California and Arizona desert. I know my trip reports are having too many details, but I am writing them for myself, if anybody else enjoys them, that is fine too.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Chicago Trip 2010

9-9-10
We are on the road again. Today we will travel only about sixty miles.
We are happy on this picture, I hope we stay that way after nine weeks on the road.










Claudia’s family made already bets on how long Doreen will stay with me this time.
I think she prepared herself pretty well for this trip and hang in all the way.
We left Carlsbad at9:00AM and arrived in Corona at 11:00 AM.
After lunch we went to the Corona Heritage Park and Museum. The city started out as
South Riverside, this was to take advantage of the citrus boom Riverside enjoyed.
Corona was known for its lemons and lemon products. Houses replaced the lemon groves.
The city layout was a circle, Grand Boulevard, the streets were inside the circle.
Up to 1916 Grand Boulevard was used for automobile races.













9-10-10
I picked up Sona at her hotel this morning.Sona lives in the Czech Republic, she is here on vacation.I worked with her husband at McDonnel Douglas.
She used to live in Corona, but had to move back to the Czech Republic because she could not get a green card.
She was not married long enough, when Dennis died, to qualify.
Her condominium has not been rented for almost a year. Her Real Estate lady gives her the runaround when Sona calls from overseas. I hope she accomplishes more while she is in Corona.
Her wish was to visit the Getty Center in Los Angeles.That is the reason why we are in Corona.
Doreen stayed at the motorhome because she still has a problem walking. Her ankle is almost healed.
Sona and I had a good time at the Getty.The drive home was terrible on freeway 91. I can see what Frank Muzzy has to endure every day.
The three of us had dinner at the Elks.They charged us only $5.00 for parking and electricity, not bad.



















9-11-10
This was driving day. We left Corona at 5:15 AM and arrived in North Las Vegas at 11:00 AM. It is hot here, and we took it easy, actually we try to get rid of the ants we brought from home.
We must have a nest in the motorhome.I bought ant hotels and hope they will take the bait. Right now we are killing them one by one.
After dinner I went to the lodge to check whether they have WIFI.
There I met Mark, a friend from my camping days at the Oceanside, California,Elks camping days in 2004.It was wonderful to see him again.
He helped me hooking up my lap top to the lodge computer.
I have a hard time bringing text I wrote on Microsoft Word in my blog. It was easy with Windows XP. Windows 7 gives me a hard time.

9-12-10
This was another driving day. We left Las Vegas at 6:15 AM and arrived in Richfield, Utah at 1:30 PM.
The RV Park is rundown place, but the view through the front window is fantastic.
The mountains, horses, cattle and old barns could be on a postcard.











9-13-10
We arrived at Grand Junction, Colorado, at 11:45 AM .
Doreen drove the new motorhome for the first time. We were both excited.
We had stopped at the Spotted Wolf Canyon outlook.











After lunch and a short nap we went to the Colorado National Monument.
The weather was just right and the view in the canyons perfect.
















On the way home we stopped at the Fairgrounds, where the WINs have a gathering.

9-14-10
At 8:15 AM we arrived at the Fairgrounds with the motorhome and car to join the WINs for hugs and mugs. Unfortunately Bob and Donna were not there,they had left early to get their motorhome fixed.













After hugs and mugs we headed for the Montrose Elks Lodge,where we arrived at 10:45 AM.
By noon we were at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
The Gunnison River has cut a canyon 2,700 feet deep at some places. It is very impressive.


















9-15-10
We visited Telluride today. Telluride is one of many old mining towns which went from ghost towns to tourist towns.It is also a famous ski area.
There are many buildings from the 1800's.
















On the way home we stopped at Ouray, which compares itself with Switzerland.
This is a bit exaggerated, the mountains are there, and the town has its charm, but can not compare with a Swiss village.













The Montrose Elks planted trees along the fence of the RV parking area. We had shade in the afternoon and did not have to run the air conditioner.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Labor Day 2010

9-4-10
We went for lunch to San Juan Capistrano. Going sightseeing was impossible.
The whole town was filled with tourists, so we stopped at Camp Pendleton and visited Red Beach.
Red Beach is open this long weekend, but we did not take the motorhome there.
We are leaving Thursday for our nine week trip and the motorhome is all set for it.
We met one couple we know, friends of Arlene and Howard from the Convair Camping Club.
At the South Beach we were looking for people from the Shanty Shakers Camping Club.
I did not cover the whole area and saw nobody I knew. On the drive out we saw a car coming in and
recognized a couple from the Shanty Shakers. I stopped and we talked for a while.
There are five rigs from the club. We were too tired to go back to the South Beach .
There was sun in Carlsbad and in San Juan Capistrano, but Red Beach had fog.
There were not many happy campers.

9-5-10
Today we saw the Imax movie: “Ultimate Wave Tahiti” at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, in Balboa Park.
We also walked around the park where street entertainers keep the visitors happy.



















After the movie we attended the organ concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.




Saturday, August 28, 2010

Block Party 2010

8-28-10
Another busy day is over. In the morning we went to El Cajon to a late breakfast with the Shanty Shakers Camping Club.
Then I fixed Jean’s sprinkler system pipe, and took her grocery shopping.
In the afternoon we had our annual block party at Carline and Mike’s house.
A lot of our neighbors were present and we had some good conversations and excellent food.










Leo Carrillo Film Festival 2010

8-27-10
The Leo Carrillo Film Festival began today at the former Leo Carrillo Ranch.
The City of Carlsbad owns part of the ranch, with the ranch house and all of the other buildings.
The park is open at 5:00 PM for ranch tours and for a picnic.
We arrived at 6:00 PM and right away had our dinner. While eating a visitor came and wanted some of my potato salad and probably the baby back pork ribs.
The peacocks are protected and are all over the ranch. Developers who bought part of the ranch had to
sign a contract that there would never be complaints about the noise those big, colorful birds make, and they sure produce ugly sounds.












The show started at 7:30 PM. An episode of “The Cisco Kid” precedes each movie. The featured film was “Moonlight and Cactus” The Andres Sister sang a lot of songs.
The movie may not be much, but the atmosphere at the park is fantastic, especially with a glorious sunset. The Film Festival is on the next five Fridays.















After the sun went down it got very cool. I wore shorts and we had to use the blanket
to cover our legs. I should have known better. Everybody was talking about the summer we did not have. Doreen and I will make up in two weeks when we go through Nevada and Utah.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Sandra's Birthday

8-21-10
Today we celebrated Sandra’s 50th birthday. We went to the Fish House Vera Cruz for fish dinners.
At home we had a super chocolate cake.
Nobody counted calories today, even Sandra. She lost 75 pounds in the last nine months.






Thursday, August 19, 2010

Back Yard

8-19-10
Before we leave on our big trip I have to get the back yard in order. Some of the flowers do not like the summer weather and do not produce blooms.
I removed some of the plants and reworked the soil. On the hill we have a lot of clay. I mix compost with the soil and next year we will have more flowers and colors.
Our big cactus has some blossoms. They open up in the night and close in the morning. One has to get up early to enjoy them.
Right now I would rather be traveling and can’t wait to get on the road.




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

August Outing with the Convair Camping Club

8-18-10
Summer has arrived at the coast. In Carlsbad the temperature went up to 84 degrees F.
We went down to San Diego and it was warmer there.
Today was our August outing with the Convair Camping Club. We had it at the Black Angus restaurant.
The restaurant is known for its steaks, but Doreen, Arlene and I had salmon dinners and the meal was very good.
Next month the club goes camping again. Today we only talked about our RVs and future outings.