Back in Jamul!

On Tuesday, despite over 100 degree temperatures, we came down from Hemet area, stopped off at South Coast RV for a pre-check appointment before we bring the RV in on the 10th and got set up in Jamul! 

We've had a busy week going to doctor appointments and visiting with friends.  

I got my hair cut and colored and I am now a redhead!  It's actually and auburn color.  It's a little harsh to me and I think I'm going to have her put in some highlights.  It's definitely a stranger in the mirror!  Ted asked who was coming in the RV, it sure didn't look like his wife!

Yesterday we went to Bates Nut Farm with our friends Jeri and Stach.  They have a couple of craft fairs out there for Christmas shopping!  It will be here before you know it!  I bought a pair of earrings and Jeri bought a picture made out of dried flowers for $10.00 that was very pretty.  We didn't break the bank so we headed out to Harrah's for dinner.  Stach watched college football while the three of us gambled.  Ted and I each lost $10 and Jeri won a bunch!  It was fun and we had a good dinner except for the fact that I ate too much!

This afternoon we are going to Trent's baseball game.  We always enjoy watching the kids play.  They are 11 and 12 now and it's gotten very interesting!

Seeing our San Diego friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Leaving Wilderness!

Tomorrow we are going down to Jamul and will be at Pio Pico.  I apologize for being very negligent with my blog and when we go down there, its really difficult to do anything on the internet.  Depends on the space we get some times!

We've kept busy here at Wilderness.  On Tuesday we took the truck in for a 45,000 mile oil change and to check a couple of other things including the Turbo.  It would never register above 20 lbs and would drop down in low gears instead of powering up the hill with the turbo.  This ended up being no easy thing in that they had to take out the intake manifold and do some testing, put it all back together and then drive it and then they had to take it all apart again and retest!  The found a problem with an EBT tube and fixed that as well.  This time at least, Ford paid for a rental car.  With all the problems of our last truck, they never offered to do that.  We got the truck back at 5:00 on Thursday and it seems to be doing better.  Real test will be when we load on the RV and actually travel up hills!

On Friday we took the RV to Camping World and hung out there for a few hours while they checked the air conditioning.  The new one that was put in when we were in Indiana would stop pumping air and just hum very loud and then would start blowing out air again, but of course this happened sporadically and we could never find a pattern.  So we packed up, drove there, it didn't fail, drove back to the campground and set everything back up!

Saturday we went down to San Diego to watch Jeri and Stach's grandson, Trent, play baseball.  Their team started off very slow but made a comeback and both games ended in a tie.  We then went out to dinner with Jeri and Stach, a fun day!

Yesterday we watched the Chargers win!  They certainly give me a heart attack every game but they pulled it off!  I also defrosted the freezer.  They haven't figured out how to make an RV refrigeraters frost free so I used the hair dryer and did it the good old fashioned way!

Today was lunch with Rusty Coole, one of Ted's high school classmates.  We took a ride in his new car and caught up with what had been going on with he and his family.  We had a good lunch and then we came home.  He helps out a lady by working part time in her fruit stand.  She's been a farmer in Escondido for a very long time.  He brought us a cantelope and some golden delicious apples.  I cut up the cantelope so it would be cold for breakfast and tried it!  Oh my gosh, it is the sweetest cantelope ever!

Poor Ted, tomorrow he has to pack us up outside with over 100 degree temps.  It was 107 when we got home at 4:00 today.  We are going to try to leave early tomorrow and hopefully we will be down at Pio Pico before it gets too hot.  We'll be happy when it cools down!

Sweetest cantelope ever..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visit to Pechanga!

We met our good friends Jeri and Stach at Pechanga Casino yesterday!  We had at least a two hour lunch catching up.  Jeri and I talk or text all the time but we always have a lot to talk about when we see each other!  We did a little gambling but it was really crowded and not a lot of great machines available, and then we all had a snack together and talked some more!  It was really good to see them.

Today we washed the truck!  It was really dirty and had lots of bugs on the front.  It looks a lot nicer now!  Tomorrow we take it in for a regular service and for them to check a few things.  We still really love the truck!

Seeing good friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Wilderness Lakes in Menifee, California

On Wednesday we had a great dinner with our nephew Chip.  He is a math teacher at the High School he graduated from.  This is his first year as a full time teacher and at this school.  Last year he was a substitute at a High School in Madera and worked most of the year as a sub but now he has his own regular classes.  He teaches Algebra 1 and II.  We had a good visit with him.

We left Fresno early Thursday morning so we could get through San Bernardino and Los Angeles area before traffic gets too bad.  At Tehachapi we fueled up and changed drivers.  As we got down in the Mojave Desert area Ted was having a good time watching all of the aircraft.  He saw a C130 and a B-1.  You don't see the B-1's very often any more.  The next thing we saw was Space Shuttle Endeavor!  We knew it was coming to California but had not paid attention as to when it would be coming here.   As we got closer to Edwards AFB we could see it really well and there were throngs of people pulled over everywhere along the road and the off ramps!  I usually take the pictures so we got none since I was driving!   I did take a couple of pictures off the tv yesterday when she took her farewell tour flying around Sacramento and San Francisco before landing in Los Angeles. Her final stop is the California Science Museum in Los Angeles.

We continued on and made it to our campground without trouble and we will be here for a little over a week.  We will get truck serviced and we have an appointment at Camping World to get the air conditioner looked at that was repaired in Indiana in July. 

Tonight we had the steak dinner at the campground.  It was a huge steak, very tender and cooked perfectly!  We had a good dinner.  It's hotter down here than it was in Las Vegas or Fresno but we are managing to keep the RV fairly cool!

Closer to San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying get togethers with the kids!

We enjoyed our lunch with Ernie and Linda (Claire's Mom and Dad) on Saturday.  The kids couldn't believe we didn't talk about them!  We had dinner with Craig and Claire.  It was a cute little place with a really nice wine list and interesting food choices.  I had a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich that was really delicious!  We had a good evening with them.

Sunday evening we all made it to dinner:  Craig and Claire, Chip, Stephen and Marissa and Ted and I.  Fortunately we were at a noisy place so our extra noise didn't seem to bother anyone!  LOL.   Here is a picture of the three nephews:  Stephen, Craig & Chip (on his birthday)!  It is a better picture of a picture I already posted.

We have really enjoyed spending time with the kids.  They get along so well together, it is just fun watching them interact with each other. 

Yesterday I had a Pedi, Mani and a Vanilla Latte...ahhhh so relaxing!  We also ran some errands.  The kids are all back to work and school so they keep pretty busy.  We are going to have dinner with Chip tomorrow night and maybe lunch with Stephen tomorrow!

Since we had a free day today, Ted and I drove out to Table Mountain Casino.  Since we had not been there before, they gave us each a free buffet and $20 of free play!  We brought a little of our money home and had a good time.

When we left we went around to the back of the casino.  Not sure if all of this halloween stuff belongs to the casino or someone who lives right behind it.  I have never seen so much halloween stuff.  Some of the "monsters" looked like real people under a mask and wig!  YIKES!  They made sounds and some of them moved.  It is very well done!

We will leave here on Thursday and will be down at our campground in Menifee.  It is called Wilderness Lakes.  We will be there for a few days more than a week!

Ghosts and goblins, oh my..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fresno, California!

We can definitely tell we are back in California!  The diesel prices were up 30 cents and higher, a lot more than every where else we have been recently!  But we are happy to be in HOT Fresno seeing the kids!  The temps have been over 100 every day so far. 

We got here on Thursday.  After we got set up and cleaned up we took off to do an errand for Craig (the oldest nephew).  He needed nine frames for a project he was surpising Claire with!  They had seen this done at an Ethan Allen Store.  Claire had a map of Paris that she loved.  Craig had it blown up by a company who does this kind of duplication for his law firm for trials.  They did a wonderful job with perfect detail.  They then cut it in 9 pieces of 11 x 14 inches each.  We got black frames for him and he put the pictures in and arranged it on the wall.  Claire was sooo surprised when she got home and loved it!  It looks great.

Yesterday we met Craig for lunch at Max's.  We had not been there before.  It is a bistro and was a bit expensive.  We did have a yummy lunch with Craig and then he took off to get things ready at the house for the birthday party for Chip (the middle nephew).  We took off to get a gift for him and run a few errands.

Chip turned 26 yesterday, really hard to believe!  Craig and Claire hosted an open house.  Their house is really great for entertaining.  The older folks, us and Claire's parents had the comfy living room while most of the younger folks were in the dining area and kitchen.  Westin had the run of the house and was a pretty good boy.  He is seven months old, is pretty well behaved and adorable (oh by the way, he's the dog)!  We left around 9:30 as the party was really just getting started with the younger crowd!

One of the couples brought him a "beer tree"!  The cans were full of beer and it was a really cute idea!

Today we are having lunch with Claire's Mom and Dad, Linda and Ernie.  They are a nice couple and we are looking forward to getting to know them better! 

Being with the Meredith family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fun in Las Vegas!

We left Valley Verde early Sunday morning.  It is quite a climb north to Flagstaff and we averaged less than 6 mpg!  Of course when we were headed west of Flagstaff we had a nice ride downhill and we were up to 13 mpg for awhile!  We averaged about 9.5 which is really pretty good for us. 

In the Flagstaff area the wildflowers were really blooming.  I took the first picture, then found a prettier area and then found a beautiful area of yellow flowers!  They just got prettier and prettier!

Since the bridge over Hoover Dam is complete we were able to go that way this time.  This was our first time over the bridge with the RV.  It sure cut off a long and boring part of the drive.  It is amazing to me that they didn't build this bridge a long time ago. 

The Lake Mead Recreational area is very pretty!

We got to our campsite pretty early, got set up, showered and headed over to Boulder Station for dinner and a little gambling.  We were up and down but I think Ted came out even and I donated about $15!

Yesterday we were invited to lunch at friends' David and Debbie Hawkins.  It was great seeing them.  We ended up going out to lunch and went to "Red Velvet".  I had a delicious shrimp and avocado salad.  We all ate half of our meal and shared a piece of Red Velvet cake!  It was warm and the frosting was soooo yummmy!  We ended up sitting around their house talking so long we all ate our leftovers for dinner!  It was an enjoyable afternoon.

Today we went to the Sunset Casino and neither of us was doing very well.  We were thinking about giving up rather than feeding the machine and I sat down at a machine I had not played before.  It was 50 cents to play all lines and it was only paying me 15 or 20 cents.  Just before I gave up I got the bonus.   It spun just the wheel that had the cat on it and it was loaded with dollar amounts.  The first wheel spun $4.00, the second $1.25 and then the third spun the "Minor" which ended up being a $179.00!  I came out with $215.00!  I even bought lunch today!  While we had lunch we noticed it was pouring so we played a little after lunch and I still had some good luck. 

Tomorrow we leave Las Vegas but before we get out of town, we are going to Camping World for a new tire and will have them move a couple of tires around.  When they are finished we will head to Bakersfield for one night and then on to Fresno to see the "kids" for a week! 

The weather has been hot, between 90 and 105 degrees until today, the rain cooled it down to a delightful 70 degrees and now that the rain has passed its 75.  Wish we could bring it to Fresno with us!  We will be there to celebrate the middle nephew's birthday on Friday!  It will be great to see them, Claire and Marissa!

Winning at the casino..."Ain't Life Grand!"