December 1, 2001
Are we having fun yet? Is this all there is? Well, since you asked, I'll try to explain. We arrived here at Pio Pico, a Thousand Trails preserve east of Chula Vista which is south of San Diego, on Thursday the 29th. And while Yucaipa will not be on our "gotta do again" list, it was pleasant enough as small towns go. There wasn't a lot to do or see, and since the weather for the most part wasn't any fun, that was just fine with us. We got all kinds of "homework/ paperwork" stuff taken care of.
After being cooped up in the Road Abode for 3 straight days, when Barb suggested we might check out the Mousley Museum and look at the sea shell collection, I jumped at the chance. We'd already found out it was open only from 1-5 PM on certain days. Barb is standing by a cactus that we don't know the name of, and there are three others in the picture that we don't know, and then I'm standing by some more that we don't know. You can bet that if our plans to spend the winter in AZ pan out, we'll know who these guys are.
The museum turned out to be delightful. Seems that it's mostly the collection of one guy. Who lived next door. Both minerals and seashells. Well, shells. There were plenty of freshwater shells too. Incredible things that neither of us had ever seen before. Row upon row of both shells and minerals - much donated or loaned by others, but mostly from Mr. Mousley himself. The young lady who was behind the counter was new, but let us look at her script for the tours of school kids. Seems this Mr. Mousley was an avid traveler just so he could gather and add to his collections.
OK. Thursday is moving day. Wednesday night was clear for the most part, some clouds but high ones, and the view of the valley with its shimmering lights was stunning, as was the nearly full moon. What a beautiful send off. And when I saw that it was only about 34 or so in the morning when I got up, I was encouraged. Patty, the woman in the office had said that another storm was coming in and that we'd be getting some rain, but as I opened the shades, I didn't see any rain. I saw snow coming down. That's right. The white ugly cold miserable stuff was falling along with some rain. YUK!! I really don't like to be cold, I like the snow even less, and to be wet and cold is just about the worst physical sensation (besides the pain of illness or injury) in the world to me. And I've got to pull the utilities, raise the jacks, hook up, remove the wheel chocks, and somehow get the truck engine heater plugged in so the engine will start. And it's snowing, for crying out loud! Why can't we get this fulltiming thing figured out? We're supposed to be doing it so we can stay where the weather is nice, dang it!!!
And this is the picture I took from "my" chair, and while there's a little glare on the window I'm shooting through, the snowflakes are visible. At least they are to me!
Well, with a T-shirt, flannel shirt, quilted overshirt, sweatshirt with hood and a down vest, I got my outside stuff done while Barby did her inside stuff, and then we parked by the office for 1/2 hour waiting for the mailman to bring our water filter. Only he didn't. We'd ordered the filter while we were in Black Diamond, WA, to have it delivered to my mom's address in Orangevale, CA. Only it didn't arrive until after we'd left, and then they couldn't find it to forward it to us until we were at Yucaipa, so we had the nice people at FountainWood, the assisted living facility my mom's living in, forward it to us at Yucaipa, but then the postal service didn't make it on time, so now it's being forwarded to us here at Pio Pico. Who knows when I'm finally going to get to replace that rascal. Oh well, then we headed for Pio Pico, about 17 miles east of Chula Vista. Closer to Jamul than Chula Vista, but while most people don't know where Chula Vista is, nobody knows where Jamul is. With any luck the post office does, because that's where our mail and water filter are heading.
Today being Sunday, we went to the chapel services here on the preserve. Good basic bible preaching Christian service, topped off with a gray-haired cowboy singing Southern gospel while his wife made the piano fairly jump. Great fun. 1:00 PM root-beer float time at the activity center, and some good football on TV while the wind blows outside accompanied by clouds and 63 degrees, and Barby builds a phone pocket (holder) for our new cell phone--which works perfectly by the way. A great way to spend a Sunday, getting ready to go play tourist the rest of the week.
Oh, lest I forget (how can I ever forget!). We needed fuel as we were leaving, so we pulled into an Arco station where it was selling for $1.24. Cheapest we'd seen in a long time. Only it wasn't a truck stop. Or a big-rig RV stop. And I had to back out to get back on the roadway. And while I was concentrating on not hitting the lady in the black truck who was oblivious to what I was trying to do, and miss the posts that my left front bumper was wanting to kiss, the generator ate a bite out of the nose of the Road Abode (right corner). Yep, I was backing and turning so sharply, and not watching the angle carefully enough, and punched a hole in our home. After I got over being really (I mean really) "ticked" about it, I felt sad. Fortunately, Barby wasn't too upset with me (I was plenty enough upset for the two of us) and the hole isn't all that terrible (fiberglass you know, it just kinda splinters), and we can call around on Monday to find someplace to repair it I'm sure. But that's one of the things most everybody who RV's long enough does. Either back into something and buy a new ladder, or get a bumper repaired, or something. And I've managed to put some dings on Moby Dick as well. Hit some rocks with the running boards while parking, and skinned paint off the leading edge of both sides. sigh......
So, as you can see, that nose cap is pretty strong, all told. Looking at the canvas cover on the generator, you can see the torn spot, about a foot from the corner, and the little hole near the corner. No wonder I could hear and feel something wasn't right as I was peering out my driver's side window at the posts I was trying to miss. Oh, well. Stuff happens.
And don't we have a pleasant view! We feel kind of nestled in, and just enough isolation from the rest of the campground to make it kind of private. The overhanging tree made washing the roof kind of tough, but the satellite dish cleared nicely. There are several game trails leading up the hill from about where that no trespassing sign is hanging on the fence, and someday I'm going to get out there early enough to find out who uses them.