Mundane Tasks but some fun stuff too!

I didn’t travel far when I left the small community of Shelter Valley out near Anza Boreggo desert. Just under a couple of  hours of driving landed me in another small community named Winchester, CA at another of Riverside County’s fine parks – Lake Skinner. I was up early the first morning to head into Temecula for groceries, etc. and to visit the Ford dealership to schedule my truck for routine

service and to address a couple of issues that I had been noticing. It’s a fairly long drive from the actual rv park and the gated entry road and when I looked ahead, what a delightful early morning surprise there were little hot air balloon shapes off in the distance – about 8 to 10 of them.  I immediately wished that I had been up and out even earlier to enjoy seeing them up closer.  

As I continued my drive toward the town, I wached as many of these balloons out of sight as they made their way back down to their landing spots. Then, I noticed this one just about to settle down further up the road I was driving on so I pulled into the winery to grab a quick photo.

  

My truck was scheduled for the next day (a Friday). They did most of the work I wanted done – I opted to wait on the tapping noise (my exhaust manifold) until I am set up close to where my other daughter lives north of Napa. After leaving the dealership, I went straight to a car wash to have a good wash after being out in the desert area for over two weeks – especially since there had been a few very windy days out there! As I started to drive away from the car wash, I immediately felt there was something wrong with the steering. I pulled into a Walmart parking lot across the road from the car wash and, after breathing deeply a few times, I realized that the cleaning crew had inadvertently moved the dial on the dashboard to 4 wheel drive!! Hmnnn. . . what are the steps to put it back into 2 wheel drive again??! Dig around in the glove box and find the manual, follow the instructions and all is well once again. It wasn’t until the following Tuesday that I was able to move along because of a hesitation/stalling issue with the truck (fixed) but I missed my scheduled appointment up in San Bernardino to have the 5th wheel ‘spiffied up’!! We rescheduled for Wednesday but, wouldn’t you know it. . . . the weather turned nasty for the rest of the week so. . . . more pushing out and staying over longer at the regional parks.

Looking north to the hills outside Glendale CA

When the rig went in for it’s ‘spa treatment’ on Monday, I packed a bag and moved into my daughter’s hotel room with her (in Glendale). That part was an extra nice treat ‘cause we knew that I would be moving along after I picked up the rv. We enjoyed an early evening on the ‘roof’ of a neighboring hotel hoping for a grand sunset. The weather was warm and the view into the hillside and mountains beyond was very enjoyable. Looking west at the LA skyline though -- not the evening for a sunset worth remembering – the skyline was thick with a smog haze!! No clouds that evening to give off a nice afterglow either. We did enjoy our drinks, food and conversation though. When we first arrived to the roof deck, Diane introduced me to a co-worker.  He highly recommended a visit to Griffith Park so that’s where I drove to Tuesday morning.

I had previously heard and/or read about this park but, had no burning desire to drive in from the Riverside or Chino areas to check it out. Too bad!!  I really had a very enjoyable late morning/ early afternoon there hiking up one of the trails there - The Mt. Hollywood trail!  Once I saw what the Observatory offered for evening programs, I wished I had come earlier my stay in this area.

There are a nice variety of activities located in Griffith Park, including 
the Gene Autry Museum
-- I would have liked visiting that and to have taken a ride on the big Merry-go-round!

The next afternoon, I drove my daughter over to Burbank for her weekly allergy shot. It’s in a very congested area with a multi-level garage for 
parking. I don’t ‘DO’ parking garages with my truck – always feel like I’m going to scrape on the concrete beams inside those places. I drop her off at the front door pull thru area and then go off to a neighboring street to wait for her text letting me know that she’s done and is on her way out. 

Over the weeks that I’ve been doing this with her,

I’ve waited in a few different neighborhoods. I came

upon this sight on our most recent excursion. . . .

How’d you like to have bought a house on this street way back when only to learn that the major electrical lines would be built right in your backyard (literally). And this wasn’t the only street these lines ran through – yikes!  Click on the photo to enlarge it to get the full effect of these side and front yard giants! 

I picked up my rv on Wednesday afternoon. A bit too late to consider starting my drive north so I went back to the regional park in Riverside. Along the way, I noticed that the braking system was not functioning correctly. Looked down to find my controller completely blank – yikes! Fortunately it was an easy drive to the rv park so I wasn’t overly concerned right then. Thinking forward to the next morning, however, I realized that there was no way I could start out without resolving this new issue. I went out to ‘fiddle’ around with the controller and the electric connection to the 5th wheel and thought I could detect a dim background light on the tiny screen but it was such a bright day, it was difficult to tell. Then I did some research online to see if I could find any discussions about issues with brake controllers in general and my brand in particular (Tekonsha P3). I ended up calling a couple of the smaller rv repair facilities in the general area – ended up driving over for them to test it. The controller was working fine – they put me on their Monday morning schedule to have a look at the connection and the 5th wheel.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. . . . not much else I could do!!

Monday morning as I was finishing the hitching process, after plugging the connector to the back of my truck, I decided I would try re-connecting the brake controller in the cab.  Wahhhh-laaaah, it’s working – I’m smiling cautiously.    A quick call to the rv repair facility and a confirmation that there’s nothing more they would do at this point and I was off heading north.   This wasn’t without a large chunk of apprehension though as I was going to be driving up/down the dreaded ‘Grapevine’ section of I-5 and it was my first time ever on that section of I-5 to boot!!  I don’t think that driving up I-15 would have offered anything less trying (climbing/descending) though.  When I was driving out in the fall of 2009, I had a lovely stay in Desert Hot Springs prior to heading north to visit with my daughter up in the Napa area.   I had a great deal of ‘angst’ about driving on I-5 back then and actually did a ‘dry run’ one day about mid-way through my stay in the area.   The road surface was atrocious and just shook my whole truck around so I got off at some point and started looking over my map for alternative routes.  Finding none in the area I had dropped off in (Burbank?), I did a bit of sightseeing in the area and went back to the rv park.  

I decided to stick with secondary roads for my trek north of LA and mapped out a route which I know started on SR 62 heading NE then I think I took 247 N to 58 which brought me to the 99.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find the road surface on the 99 much better than the section of the I-5 I had driven. As I was moving along on the 247 I found myself driving a slow steady grade over the 247.  It was slow going and I, along with a b’jillion tractor trailers, were in a line chugging along up, up, up.  Looking off to the side back down at where we had started the grade, it was abit unsettling.  As we were about to ‘crest’ the climb and start the descent, all traffic came to an abrupt halt. I was still on the incline and, boy oh boy, that was another first for me. Those deep breathing exercises helped me remain calm.  Here’s a shot of I took while sitting there waiting for the road to clear up ahead -- looking back at where I started the climb up -- wish I knew the elevation and grade of that road.   I think they should add that feature to our car/truck dashboards!!

Back to the trek from Riverside to Bakersfield last Monday. I couldn’t remember where I read the infamous ‘Grapevine’ started/ended. There was a time or two as I drove that I thought I was approaching it but when I finally did get there, I knew it for sure. My biggest concern was cresting and starting down the other side. The brake controller did a great job. I did pull off shortly after leveling off on the other side to take a break and fill the gas tank for the remaining journey. I could smell the brakes on the 5th wheel so decided to pull over to an out of the way section for a bit of a longer break – not knowing what might lay ahead. And that gave me the opportunity to call the rv park that was to be my destination for this trip as they hadn’t yet gotten back to me to verify whether they had a site available for me (unfortunately, I’m a last minute or fly by the seat of my pants traveler these days!!)

When I got back on the highway, I realized that I was very close to Bakersfield so I just pulled nto my second choice destination park - Bear Mountain RV Park.  They offered me a special, 3 for 2, and I couldn’t pass that up! Tuesday I made the drive over to the coast without the rv to check out a few parks over that way – thinking I might spend some time between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. . . . if I could find an  rv site that would accommodate the size of my 5th wheel and the price wasn't beyond my pocketbook.  That little ‘trek’ cost me around $100 in gas so I decided I’d take another 3 for 2 to help offset that cost. 
 

The drive to the coast, over SR 166 toward Santa
Maria, was delightfully relaxing and enjoyable
once I passed through the small town of Maricopa. There were a couple of fairly steep grades to drive over but everything was so lush and green and the view of the cattle and horses grazing so peaceful!  I was so wishing I’d happen on an rv park or campground that I could haul the 5th wheel over to and stay for awhile! None to be found along the way though.

When I arrived at Santa Maria, I drove to the first rv park I wanted to stay at over that way only to find that, it backs up to a highway (the 101) and the site fees are more than I would want to spend so I rejected that idea and moved along to a second one located south in Buellton – same scenario! 
 
A drive along the coast highway was next on the list of things to do and that was neat. As I drove south from Buellton, I noticed three state beach facilities with camping. I pulled into the third one -- El Capitan. The guy on duty gave me a map and brochure and said I could drive through to have a look. I liked it a lot – especially the 6 or 8 sites in the uppermost section of the park; they  
have a wide open view of the ocean.

Unfortunately (for me), those sites are limited to self-contained rigs and this section is located in a parking lot setting actually. As I drove through the rest of the park, I found a few sites that I felt would accommodate my 34’ rig but I’d have little to no room left over and the access road into the park was too thick with low hanging tree braches for me to consider. If or when I find a smaller unit, I’d definitely go back to this or one of the other parks I passed on the way down -- Refugio or Gaviota (which have a
30’ length limit).

Not a whole of sightseeing or attractions in the Bakersfield area.  A visit to The Park at Riverwalk was a wonderful respite while staying in that area. I’ve enjoyed a couple of energetic walks and an extended bike ride on the Kern River Pathway bike path.

Since I started to write this post, I've decided to skip trying to stay over toward the coast and I moved along up the 99.  I stopped in a little town named Lemon Cove – just a few miles east of the entrance  to Sequoia NP and then up the road a few more paces in Chowchilla - about a 45 minute drive to the entrance of Kings Canyon NP.  I'm closing in on Sacramento and the Napa area! 

A welcome visit

I was out in the Anza Borrego Desert area about one week when my youngest daughter called to say that since she had some time available before starting her new job, she and Havana (her black lab mix dog) would come down for a visit. It was a 10 hour drive for her (coming from the Napa area) and she arrived at about 1:00 am on a Friday.  After sleeping in a little that morning, we got ready and set out to find a place to go for a hike where we would be able to bring Havana with us. Nancy had done some research and found that, while the state park system doesn’t allow dogs on their trails, the county park systems do. With that in mind, drove down the road to Agua Caliente County Park.  I was delighted about that because there is an rv park there also and I wanted to have a look at it.  We were stopped short when the ranger at the gatehouse told us that dogs were not allowed on the trails in/around their park because it was part of the Anza Borrego Desert.  We were sorely disappointed but did take a few minutes to walk around the rv park and read some of the info on the kiosk near the little amphitheater they have there. I like the park and would definitely stop there for a stay if I’m in that area again.  The ranger was nice enough to call over to a regional park in Julian and verified that we could take Havana with us on a hike over there.  We decided to do that hike but on the way back up the road, we diverted off onto one of the many pull offs because we noticed that there were dirt/sand roadways leading into various hiking trails. The ranger back at Agua Caliente did say that Havana could be walked (on leash) on those roads. It wasn’t as exciting as hiking into the hills but we got a good 4.5 to 5 mile walk in doing that.

The next day, my other daughter (the east coast gal working on an assignment in Glendale, CA), picked up a rental car and drove down to spend an overnight with us.   She arrived around 10:30 – 11:00 Sat. and we readied ourselves to head over to do a hike on the Oasis Loop in the Anza-Borrego Desert S.P.  Apparently, we parked the car in the back end of the lot – near the section of the hiking path that is more difficult?  It was labeled alternative path or loop.   I started back down the parking lot to ask the ranger at the booth where the start to the Oasis loop was but the girls kept calling me back saying we could just go the alternative path.  So-o-o-o off we went!! 


Up, up, up over rocks and in between boulders. I was very thankful for the many hikers coming down this path  

(he-e-ey.... wait a minute here; how
come everyone else is coming down this path?!?)   Never mind. . . . at least it’s giving me time to catch my breath and gulp down some water!  Of course, I had to stop to check out the few (very few) wildflowers that we found along the way.  It was disappointing that the

floral display was so dismal – I had hoped to see the desert in full bloom but that was not to be this year.  We made the climb up to the Oasis and while Dianne and I stayed on the east side of the running brook, Nancy took my camera and made her way up into the Oasis itself. It does look like a

 refreshing place to be and I could imagine that the folks living in this area all those years ago made good use of this respite from the summer heat. 

It was an  easier walk down --following a brook and the grade   was more of a slight slope. We were stopping along the way to enjoy the setting and still searching for any signs of spring wildflowers.

After snapping a few more photos (that's me peeking throught the palm leaves in the photo on the right), I was looking up into the hillside surrounding  this area to see if I could spot any  Borrego (Sheep) up on the rocks/cliffs.   Next thing I knew, my left foot tripped on a rock in the pathway and smash I’m flat out on the ground – took the wind right out of me!!   We took a minute to assess what if any damage I had done.  Bad scraping with a little bit of bleeding on the left leg/knee area; both elbows scraped; left wrist/hand bruised where I tried to break my fall.  The most uncomfortable area, however, was my left side breastbone/rib area.  I must have hit the heaviest on that area – it’s taking the longest to heal.   No visible signs of bruising in that area – it’s all inside!!

We finished off the walk with me repeating the mantra – keep your eyes on the pathway; don’t be looking up and around!! 
Back at the rv the girls got a campfire going while I made dinner for us to share out around fire. It was a mild evening and we stayed out there chatting until the fire died down and then went in to cleanup the kitchen, etc. 

                   

We had a nice morning together and before we knew it, it was time for Dianne (on the right in this photo) to head back up to Glendale.   



Good thing I have a long snout!



Nancy, Havana and I decided to head back over to do one of the hikes that we noticed when we were on the dirt/sand roadways a couple of days ago up to some Pictographs. It was a relatively easy trek and we continued on past the Pictograph rock where we found  a lovely narrow little canyon-like setting. At the end of this, the walk ended with a very steep cliff and lovely panoramic view of the valley below.

After resting here for awhile and taking a few photos, we started our walk back to check out the Pictographs – pondered what story these drawings were telling and then followed the path back out to the truck. 

On our walk out, Nancy mentioned that she had the feeling she might be getting sick. She had noticed that, since arriving down in the area, she thought her mild allergies were starting up – thinking that it was something blooming down there. But, now she thought it was more than that. Sure enough, she woke up Monday with whatever it is that is going around – a bad cold or some sort of flu with a cough that just won’t go away. She was down for the count that day and Havana and I only stepped outside long enough to let her do her business because there was a really nasty windstorm blowing through. 
Thankfully, the wind blew itself out of the area at some pont durng the night. We spent a good part of the next day sitting out in the sun and throwing ball for Havana so that at least she’d get her exercise for the day! And, yes, Dianne came down with whatever it was that Nancy had within a few days. For each of them, the nagging cough has lingered on.  I escaped with just a mildly scratchy throat and feeling extra tired for a day or two!!


Nancy drove back up to her place toward the end of the day on Wednesday. She left here around 5:00 pm and stopped in Temecula at a couple of stores before getting on I 15 around 7:30. By that time of night, most of the commuter traffic was gone so she got through the LA area without any delays. The rest of the way she said she pretty much had the road to herself. The best part though, was that when darkness falls, Havana finally settles down and will be content to gnaw away on a big rawhide type bone before falling asleep. Much as we love Havae, she’s a terrible traveler – whining and howling and spinning around in the way-back of the SUV.

 When I arrived out in that more remote off the grid area, I had discovered that I could send a text message via my Yahoo email account – through the chat and im tool.  I had tested it the week before Nancy came down and she was able to reply with a text and it came right through to the im window on my email account!!   So, that was the communication tool we were using on her drive down and back. I woke up around 3:30 am Thurs. and checked to see if she had sent a text message. I didn’t find one so I sent one to her. While I was waiting for her to reply, I clicked the refresh button and found an email from her saying that she had gotten home around 2:30 and she was sending the email before heading to bed. She cut a few hours off her drive by leaving late in the day and driving at night. I was happy that she was at home and in her own bed, etc. It’s so hard to be sick and away from home!

 

All in all, I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere out in the Anza Borrego Desert area and it was a wonderful treat to have both of my daughters and my ‘gran-puppy’ come for a visit! After almost three weeks out in the Anza Borrego Desert area, it was time for me to move along . The truck needs a service visit and the rv is going in to V.I.P. in San Bernardino for a good exterior cleaning/waxing, etc.  (found thanks to Laurie and Odel's very positive recomendation last December). 



More relaxing out near the Anza Borrego Desert

When I left off from my previous post, I had just recouped from a minor mishap but had no idea where I would find an rv park to settle in for some tourist/sightseeing in the greater San Diego area.  Before actually heading down to that general area, I had done some research on rv parks that I felt fit the parameters of my criteria.  I found only two or three that met the site fee limit I have. The one I had pulled into the night before was rejected after I could not get onto the site.  Of the other two, one was located deep within a valley with impossible access roads for the size of my rig and the other had no site availability at that time. As I left Sonrise RV Repair, I knew I had two choices -- head back up to the Chino / Riverside area where I had been moving between two regional parks every two weeks (14 day limit stay) for the previous two months or head out toward the Anza Borrgo Desert area.  


View along the road to Shelter Valley

Fortunately for me, when I placed a call to the Stagecoach Trails RV Park in Julian (actually it’s in the little unincorporated town of Shelter Valley), they had a site available for me. I asked for some guidance from Mike, the current manager at this park, regarding which route to take - explaining that I had pulled into a turn off area along I 15 just south of Temecula. Originally, I thought maybe I should double back to take the 78 which has a section known as the Banner Grade.  I told him my concerns about that section of the road and he told me I was right to not drive up that  road hauling my 5th wheel.  In essence he said I should definitely avoid going up that way as it’s narrow, steep and curvy.  He directed me to the 79.  Interestingly, as I drove out of Temecula on the 79 there were a couple of signs warning about tractor trailers/rvs over a certain length (I think it’s 40’ from the kingpin?) not being recommended on that road!! After the two days I had just experienced, I felt a little smidgin of trepidation but Mike had assured me that truckers and rv’ers use the 79 all the time. I was further reassured when, after pulling into a turn off section along this road to grab a bite to eat, etc., I saw a couple of tractor trailers coming down from the opposite direction. It was a longer route (mileage and drive time) to take out to the rv park but, it was the definitely the easier approach.


Corral area at Stagecoach

Stagecoach RV Park is a pretty good sized park set on a very slight grade with nice, wide access roads and good sized sites. The sites themselves are gravel/dirt and most of them have trees, though they were barely budding for the spring season while I was there. This park has minimal lighting at night and which makes it a great spot for stargazing!! It’s a an especially great park if you’re a horseman (or woman). There are several corrals for horses and a large ring area where I saw a couple exercising each of their horses before they climbed up on them and rode off into the hills.

I spent a very quiet 2½ weeks out there!!  Literally, it was exceptionally quiet – no cell service at the park, no tv signal on my lame converter box receiver, not even a decent radio station!! I could use the park’s wi-fi network but it was agonizingly slow.  Also, and on a few occasions, I was blocked from accessing websites

Imposing storm clouds close in on Shelter Valley

that I frequently use by software that they had loaded into their network – ex. I couldn’t get NPR on the radio so I tried accessing it on my laptop – nope!! Thankfully, I have subscribed to a podcast service that automatically monitors specific segments on NPR that I like to listen to - ex. ‘This American Life’, ‘Fresh Air’, ‘Wait, wait. . . don’t tell me’so I was able to listen to the ones that I had already downloaded.  Then, too, I had loaded all my cds and also downloaded other music onto my laptop so I had something to listen to when I was just hanging around for the day/evening. I’d say the little town/village is appropriately named Shelter Valley. It is surrounded by hills/mountain ranges. I don’t think there was one little opening for any tv/radio/cell phone signals to squeak through. If you don’t have a satellite dish out there, you’re outta luck!!


Approaching Borrego Springs



When I first arrived at this rv park, I just booked 4 or 5 nights. The plan was to drive over to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park and check out the state rv park there – hoping that the website information was not correct and that there actually was a few days available for me to have a site. No luck there. It was just about totally booked for the timeframe that  

I could consider. They only had scattered one nighters available  for the dates I asked about.



After taking the walking path from the Visitor Center to the campground, I doubled back and spent time on the pathways surrounding the center, where a limited few desert flowers were blooming and there was a nice display of labeled cactus. Then I went inside the Center to look at the informative displays there, and to watch the 20 minute movie about the four seasons in the desert.  Once I left the state park, I drove back to the little 'downtown' section of Borrego Springs, passing a few private rv parks along the way. I decided that if I couldn’t set up right in the state park, I would just stay at the park I was already set up in as it would serve me just as well as any of the parks in the town – especially since I was able to use my Passport America for the entire stay at Stagecoach! I did do as Al (of The Bayfield Bunch) suggested and stopped by Jilberto’s for a bite to eat. I didn’t have a burger though -- I was hankering a chimichanga.

I arrived out here in Shelter Valley on Wednesday, the 23rd of February. On Friday, while down at the office/store, I was talking with the gal working the desk/counter and someone mentioned that they were calling for snow that night and Saturday. The gal at the counter said, assuredly ‘. . oh we don't get snow out this way'!! That night, I was reading and listening to a lovely classical music piece on one of the few stations that I found I could access. I kept hearing this odd noise that didn’t seem to belong to the music. I finally got up and walked around the inside of the rig, stopping and listening here and there. When I stopped under one of the vent openings, I suddenly recognized the sound – frozen rain on the roof. I turned on the outside lights and stuck my head out the door. The mixture was turning to large snowflakes and I just stood there dumbfounded. It was around 9:00 pm. My mind was thinking … if this keeps up all night, there’s going to be a lot of this white stuff on the ground tomorrow morning – yikes!! I was awake early that next morning and, of course, the first thing I did at daybreak was raise the shade to see how much was accumulated. A little more than a dusting is all that accumulate -- I was so thankful for that!

On another day, I drove over the Banner Grade  to have a look at it and to reach the town of Ramona, the closest town, to re-stock some grocery items. I thought I might find a Starbucks there and use their wi-fi connection for an hour or so. The only Starbucks was in the supermarket and they didn’t offer wi-fi access in their section. I did stop at the Blockbuster there - thinking I’d get a few videos but, the thought of driving 45 – 50 minutes to return them made no sense to me. The Banner Grade section of the 78 sure is intimidating to drive. It was a gray/gloomy day weather-wise the day I


Living along the Banner Grade outside Julian CA

 drove it and it gave me the feeling of being closed in as I drove through it. I had hoped to drive back over it on a sunny day but never did get back to do that. The setting and scenery was impressive – I couldn’t believe that folks actually built houses and live in the hills and valleys along this section.

Though there was no cell servce within the rv park, a short drive (about 4 miles) up the road there was a perfectly good signal and a pull out spot.  I found myself making that drive at least every other day; though often I would make calls while I was out 'n about sightseeing.  In another life, when I was working as a fee appraiser I would often travel into towns/cities that I wasn't familiar with.  I think that's when I became an avid street sign reader and have taken to

grabbing a photo of ones that I find amusing or unusual. On the drive up and back from the cell phone pull off area, I chuckled when I saw the street sign to the right.  I was amazed at the length of the name of the road that the Stagecoach RV Park is located on.  I was even more amazed when I saw that the entire name actually fit on the street sign (photo on the left ).   

Just as the off the grid location was beginning to get to me, I got some good news:  both of my daughters were coming out for a visit!!   More about that in another post.   

 

A little R ‘n R – then more exploring

That was the plan after returning from the ten days in southeastern CA at the end of January/first of February. The rest and regrouping went well. After leaving Winterhaven I had returned to the Riverside, CA

area and booked a site at the

Rancho Jurupa Regional Park

in Rubidoux (just outside of

Riverside).

After my 14 day limited stay at that park, I moved over to another Regional park (San Bernardino county this time) in Chino, CA (Prado Regional Park). My ‘wishy/washy’ schedule was shaping up to look like I’d move to an area about two hours south of Chino, estimating that would happen after about a five day stay at Prado.

I prepped the rig after on the evening of the fifth day and decided to take a leisurely approach the next morning, as I didn’t want to join the commuter rush-hour traffic on the highways. So, after running a couple of errands in the morning, it was time to ‘hitch up’. As I backed the bed of my truck up to align the receiver with the king pin I realized that I was approaching lopsided. It was then that I remembered that I had twinge of concern when I was unhitching at that site five days prior. I had wanted to get a certain alignment on the pad when setting up and, in order to get that setup, I found that the truck's driver side wheels (front and back) were off the pavement on the dirt/grass and it was set lower than the passenger side wheels. I had disengaged with minimal affect to the hitch but I do remember giving a passing thought to…. 'hmnnn, is that going to give me a problem when it’s time to leave?'

You’re already ahead of me, aren’t you? Of course, it gave me a problem. I tried coming at that hitch ‘six ways to Sunday’ (I have to look up the origin of that saying someday)! I finally had to admit that I was stumped and stuck. 1-800-AAA - - hello? Yes, I do need help today. Wow, within 30 minutes a really big tow truck pulled up alongside my rig and a knowledgeable guy came over to take a look at the situation. After looking at it from a couple different angles and listening to my explanation of how I got into this predicament, he came over to ‘console’ me with a ‘there, there, it’s going to be fine, dear’ and a pat on my shoulder. While awaiting the arrival of AAA, I had gotten out my can of WD-40 and sprayed the ‘arm’ and the clamp that wraps around the king pin. As the AAA guy climbed into the driver’s seat of my truck, I told him, ‘of course, it’s going to release and clamp now because I sprayed it’. Gosh darn if it didn’t do just that!! I just stood there with my mouth ‘gaping’. I’m not totally convinced that it was the WD-40 – I’m sure it had more to do with his being able to align the hitch/bed at a better angle and keep all the wheels on the asphalt!! We had a little discussion about my using the slider part of the hitch when I get into this kind of situation again. This time I looked at him and said ‘oh, please tell me I’m NOT going to let this happen again’. Hmnnnn. . . . .Cindy, are you reading this?? What’s my record for ‘repeat offending’ (sorry, folks . . just a little sisterly private joke – sort of ahem!)

Now that the easy part of the predicament was taken care of we turned our attention to the next problem. Ya see, when I moved the truck to approach the hitch at an angle I could not complete the approach to connect the hitch with the tailgate in the lowered position so. . . . I had to put it in it’s upright/closed position. I just kept repeating the mantra to move very slowly each time I had to pull away from the hitch to try again. I was doing very well with that but after a few attempts taking this approach, I had to move away again and when I put my foot down on the brake this time, I must have pushed the brake a little too hard because it didn’t ‘grab’ right away and, of course, the hitch hit my tailgate just a ‘smidge’. I couldn’t believe it but, then. . . . I could!! I got out of the truck and just kept saying oh please, tell me that little 'smidge' didn’t bend the tailgate. Alas contact was dead-on the latching mechanism and it totally ‘froze’ the grab 'handle' -- I couldn’t budge it. I was hoping that it was just because my hands/wrists don't have the strength they once did. Unfortunately, the AAA wasn't able to get it to release the latch either. He did give me a couple of suggestions before getting my signature on his forms and off he went.

I had a reservation at an rv park in Valley Center. When I was in the throes of my angsting, I had called to say I probably wouldn’t be able to make it down that day. However, now that I was securely hitched I thought I could make the two hour drive and get set up before dark so why not just head down? It was around 2:45 when I started the short drive down SR71 toward another short hop on the 91 to I-15. From there it was a straight drive to the exit for Valley Center. No sooner did I get onto the 91 and traffic just stopped. We literally crawled for half an hour or more. I turned on the radio and before long there was a traffic update saying that the 91 was closed between such and such streets. Not being familiar with the names of the exits along this roadway, I just kept hoping, first/foremost that the people involved were going to be alright and then that the closure was beyond the turnoff for I-15. I arrived at the rv park a little after 5:00 and the gal was just leaving the office. I offered to come down in the morning to register / pay and she said that would be fine. She gave me a map with my site circled, told me the directions to the site and off she went in her car – out of the park to her home. So-o-o-o no onsite management?!? I proceeded to head toward my site which was up a nasty road full of holes and then up a hill to a dead end of sorts. My site was the last on the left and there was a drainage pipe sticking out of the side of the approach to the ‘pad’. My truck stalled at the top of the hill and I didn’t like that – my truck never stalls!! I tried pulling forward down a narrow dead end roadway to get set myself up to back onto the site. There was no one around to ask for assistance ‘spotting’ my rear. I gave it three good tries and then just pulled straight down the narrow access road, straightened out and backed up far enough to turn to the right, head back down the hill and out the front entrance. Problem was. . . . I had no idea where I would go from there. As I would reach a stop light, I was madly typing into my new iPhone trying to find a Walmart and issuing forth a little ‘prayer’ that it was a Walmart that hadn’t banned overnight rv’ers. I finally found one in San Marcos. As darkness fell, I’m driving on unfamiliar parkways and streets in unfamiliar towns following the google map directions on my new phone (as I hadn’t been able to download VZ Navigator on the iPhone??). The last straw was when I took the right hand turn as directed on the phone and found myself facing big orange ‘road closed’ and traffic detour signs. I pulled forward with the rest of the traffic to a stop light and, though I wasn’t in the correct lane, I put my signal on to turn into the parking lot of the shopping center there on my left. Eventually the cars in the left-most lane cleared out and I made the left turn taking me into this lot. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was looking at a Walmart sign ahead of me!!! What a huge sigh of relief I let out. It was around 6:30 – 7:00 by then. I could see another 5th wheel at the other end of the parking lot so I circled around to that end and found a long stretch of parking spots empty and pulled into/lined up along them. I walked around the parking lot to check for signage about overnight parking – there was none. I noticed a security van roaming throughout the parking lot and waited abit to see if he would come over to my rv or the other 5th wheel to say anything but he didn’t. More sighing with relief. I did abit more walking around the large shopping center parking lot for awhile to try to unwind and then went into a restaurant to eat. After climbing through the rv to find my phone charger and my laptop, I went over to the Starbuck’s to charge my phone and use the laptop. I knew it would be a chilly night in the rv so I had a nice hot tea while doing that. They closed at 8:30 so I went to the rv, changed into warm ‘jammies’, a sweatshirt and some socks, read for awhile – then went sound asleep.

I don’t have a generator (onboard or otherwise) and I had recently noticed that my battery wasn’t charging correctly (when I unhook the electric at a site, the interior lights wouldn’t come on and that had not happened in well over a year). I also have never cleaned out my water holding tank – so, I’ve never filled it either!! Dry camping for the night was going to be a little tricky but not impossible. Fortunately, I had plenty of bottled water and moist wipes to wash up and make myself ‘presentable’ and tame my (these days) ‘wild and wooly’ hair! I woke early but figured Starbucks would be opening shortly and I could head back over there. While having one of their wonderful yogurt parfaits and a couple of hot cups of coffee, I looked up rv service places in the area that I could call with my tailgate/unhitching predicament. Then, though I knew that I had already ‘scoured’ the gamut of rv park offerings in the El Cajon, Escondido, San Diego, Oceanside areas, I checked again – because I still had no idea where I would head for my stay in the area. To be frank, most of the rv parks are much too expensive for my budget or they are dumpy places that I don’t want to stay in.

Boy, did I hit the jackpot when I called Sonrise RV Repair in Escondido. I chose them because they were almost right around the corner from the shopping plaza I was in. The guy who answered, JR, listened attentively as I described what had happened and as I explained what the AAA guy had suggested which was.. . .park on a level surface, lower the first section of jack legs all the way out, even setting them on blocks, then raise the electric jacks up to their highest position. That should get the kingpin up high enough to ‘clear’ the tailgate ithat wasstuck in the up position. Once free of the fifth wheel, I could then get the truck over to the Ford dealer to see about fixing the tailgate. JR thought that was certainly a feasible approach and cautioned that I should make sure to properly ‘block’ all the wheels both in front of and behind the tires before starting the process. I realized that I didn’t have enough blocks to accomplish that AND, I was still very nervous about raising up the front end of the fifth wheel that high – it just didn’t seem a safe thing to be doing on my own. JR asked where I was located and when I explained my location, he said to come over there and they would be able to take a look at the situation and the tailgate problem and help get me back on track. The guys in this facility are exactly what you’d ‘conjure’ up in a 'perfect service visit' scenario to be the type of people who truly do want to be helpful and find a way to repair whatever problem you’re having and not empty your checkbook. These folks did that and more -- making the effort to find ways to quiet/ease the angst going on within you. JR kept me informed about what they were finding and doing. The guy who worked on the tailgate came in to tell me how he resolved the problem. That ended up being much simpler than the ‘worse case’ scenario JR had laid out as a possibility -- cut the tailgate apart to get it off the truck!! They tested my battery and while doing that, found that the cable connector nuts were very loose – which explains the lack of charge. He noted that a rig my size could really use two batteries, especially if I was dry camping or in a situation like having or choosing to overnight in Walmarts, Flying J’s, rest areas, etc. He had another guy working on my antennae issue and they found that LaMesa in Mesa, AZ had not fixed the problem correctly back in the fall when I had my rig in there for some work. Then he told me that I should know how to use the ‘rolling’ function on my hitch so, he had one of the guys search on the internet for the instructions so that he could give me a copy to have with me. It took the guy quite awhile to fnd the model that I have but he stuck with it and finally found it. JR then took me out to the rv ad proceeded to show me how to release the handle on the hitch, get into the truck cab and maneuver the brake control and move the truck slowly forward. Then he demonstrated getting the hitch back to it’s towing position. After that he asked if I wanted to give it a try – which I did and I couldn’t thank him enough. I have tried, on several occasions to get an rv repair guy or facility to go through that scenario with me but always just get a verbal descriptive and assurances that it’s ‘a piece of cake’ – you do this and then that and then just do it in reverse – what’s the big deal??!’. Well, they’re right . . it’s not a big deal after all but, also, it really didn’t take all that much time to just do a little demo and then let me do it so I would see that I was doing it the right way.

BIG, HUGE KUDOS to Sonrise RV Repair in Escondido. BIG SMILES all over my face!!  In the end of the matter, I was back to my old self when I drove away from their facility. The bill was more than reasonable for the time and effort they put into my service needs.

After stopping to fill up the gas tank, I got myself back onto I-15 still not knowing where I would head. In the back of my mind I recalled that the original ‘wishy/washy’ plan included heading out toward the Anza Borrego Desert area after 10 to 14 days exploring the greater San Diego area. I decided to ‘fast forward’ to that part of the plan and will write about that in a following post.

A slightly different ‘take’ on the refrain ‘Flash, bam, alackazam’ !!

I may be way off base here drawing an analogy between my new friend's recent mishap and a favorite song of mine from my childhood.  But, if anyone out there remembers the quoted refrain that I used in my blog post title today, you may be able to 'get' where I’m coming from. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this song and its words, I’ll take a minute to try to describe it. The refrain is from a song titled ‘Orange Colored Sky’ (Nat King Cole)  and the words describe a person who is just walking along, minding his business when out of an orange colored sky. . . flash, bam, alackazam – a wonderful someone comes by.  The song goes on to relate what happens to this guy using descriptive words  like ‘I yelled timber’  ‘look out for flying glass’  ‘the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out’  ‘ I went into a spin and I started to shout’  ‘I’ve been hit, this is it, this is it….’  I’ve always found the tune ‘catchy’ also and I guess, as a kid hearing this song, I must have been able to vividly picture in my mind all of these things happening to this guy.  I find the whole song to be cleverly written and very engaging and I suppose that’s why it has remained a favorite of mine over the years.  How I came to associate it with what happened to Lew is a bit hazy to me.   It may be that I was watching a lovely orange colored sunset in the Arizona desert a day or two after his mishap and my mind’s eye shaped the vision of what this incident might have looked and felt like for him.


At the end of my last post, I left off with a thought about not knowing what the next day mig ht have in store for us.  When I wrote those words, I was thinking that, typically we go along in life with the expectation that each day will unfold pretty much as planned (well. . . . more or less).  I’d say that was pretty much my thinking and approach to the days ahead as I travelled down to the Winterhaven, CA/Yuma, AZ area toward the end of January to spend some time sightseeing and getting acquainted with Lew. That may very well have been what Lew was thinking too as he finished up his visits with friends and family up in the Mesa/Apache Junction AZ area and started his drive down to spend a few weeks boondocking on the BLM land (Pilot Knob) in Winterhaven -- just as he’s done for several years now.  I had arrived in the area a couple of days ahead of him and had settled in at an rv park -- about a half hour drive northwest of where Lew would be setting up.  He gave me a quick call when he arrived mid afternoon on Sunday to say he’d been delayed by a flat tire along the drive over on I-8.  Because of his later than planned arrival time, he would be busy setting his trailer up before it was too dark so he said he would call in the morning to talk about when to meet up and where we’d start our sightseeing.  After we hung up I had this passing thought that I should drive down to the area he was camping in and give him a hand getting set up. But I readily dismissed that notion because I know how I am about setting up (and breaking down for that matter)! I have my own routine and find that if there’s someone else around chatting, etc. I can get distracted and overlook something -- that can be a problem. All too soon though, I regretted that I hadn’t acted and just gone over – even just for a quick stop to say hi.


The long and the short of this little story is, that as part of his setting up, Lew climbed onto the roof of his trailer to set up and angle his two solar panels which help with power while he’s ‘dry camping’.   Shortly after our phone conversation, he went up to do that task and when he started his climb back down – well. . . .  that’s where the ‘flash, bam, alackazam’ comes in.  ‘. . . .the ladder went one way and he went the other is how he described it to me as he lay on an ER gurney the next day.  His trailer doesn’t have an attached ladder so he carries a fold up ladder.  He landed on top of some items that he had taken out of a storage bay -- hard items, like a portable grill, etc.   He had ‘toughed it out’ through the night but in the wee hours, as day was breaking, he recognized that he really needed to visit the ER.  So, early Monday morning, he called to tell me of the mishap and to say that he was driving himself over to the hospital ER in Yuma and he’d call when he knew if anything was broken, etc.  The casual way he told me about this whole incident must have ‘thrown me off’ a bit because I simply said something like ‘oh, ok – I’ll wait to hear from you’!?!   That lasted for about two seconds after we hung up.  I jumped up, splashed some cold water on my face and got dressed all the while asking myself ‘what if he can’t even get out of his trailer or into his truck to drive?’  Good grief!!   I drove down to the BLM land to see if I could find his trailer/truck location.  His truck was gone so I knew he was enroute to the ER.  After stopping at a gas station to ask where the hospital was, I drove over there.   A methodical drive through the aisles of the parking lot and I found his truck.  As I was getting out of my truck, I noticed that a guy in a golf cart was pulling up behind it.  I looked at him warily and he gestured to me to hop into the cart and he’d take me to the door I wanted to the hospital entrance.  As we drove up the hill to the ER entrance and chatted, I noticed there were two other courtesy golf carts scurrying around the building/lot picking up hospital patients and visitors and taking them to their cars or the entrance doors -- what a neat service!!
 
The ER information gal pointed me to the room that Lew was in and told me that I could go ahead in.  He had an IV in his arm and was dozing but opened his eyes when he realized that someone was in the room.  The awful pain he had been experiencing all night had been somewhat alleviated by the meds in the IV and they had already taken xrays.  Shortly after I arrived they took him down for a scan of some sort.  Typical of hospital emergency facilities, it was a busy place that morning and we were there for quite some time.  In the end, the doctor said there were no visible signs of breaks/fractures but did admit to Lew that there could possibly be some fractures that just weren’t visible (he landed mostly on one side so it was his ribs and back that were causing him pain but, he had also hit his head).  A couple of prescriptions and a recommendation for a local doctor that he should make an appt with for follow-up and off we went.  He was told not to drive as he was heavily medicated at that point so we left his truck in the parking lot and went off to fill the scripts, have lunch and get him back to his trailer.
 
Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where things go from bad to worse before they finally improve and get better. He called me the next morning to say that the pain meds and resting had helped a lot and he was feeling much better. He said he wanted to get together to take a drive into Yuma to check out a couple of places he wanted to show me and then have lunch. I tried protesting that it was too much, too soon but he said he was feeling improved and that he wouldn’t overdo it -- so I agreed.  That was not a good idea. The poor guy ended up in such pain Tues. night that he actually had to call 911 to come find him in the darkness of the BLM desert setting to take him back to the ER (he felt that he couldn’t breathe and was fearing a heart attack).  I got a call from him Wed. morning explaining that he was back at the ER and I drove down to retrieve him.  He was seen by a different ER doctor this time and because his pain level had heightened so much overnight, the doctor prescribed stronger pain meds and a wrap-around support thing for his mid-section that came with a warning to remove it every hour or so and walk around and breathe deeply because shallow breathing for too long a period could cause pneumonia to set in.  While we waited for his latest prescriptions to be filled, we went nearby to have lunch and he was so heavily medicated that he could hardly keep his eyes open to eat.  I remember thinking that this would be good as it would keep him more or less immobilized and ‘out’ so that he wasn’t trying to do stuff around his trailer or fretting over not being able to do our sightseeing treks, or cook on the grill. 

As I left off from him at his trailer that afternoon, he expressed how much he appreciated my help, etc. and he gave me some recommendations for things to see and said he was sorry but I’d have to go on my own as he just wasn’t up to it.  So that’s what I did on Thurs. and Fri.  I phoned a couple times each day to see how he was doing.   His voice was a little weak and he didn’t talk for long but I still felt that was a good thing – tempering the pain I knew he must have been in and keeping him fairly still.  Late Sat. morning I stopped by to see how he was doing and to bring some fresh water by.  I was very unsettled when I saw how weak he was and then, while talking with him I felt he was disoriented and I recognized that it was from the heavy medication he was on for his pain.  I became very worried because I was due to head back up to the Chino or Riverside area (closer to my daughter’s location) on Sunday.  At this point, I had no idea if he was getting enough fluids and food, or if he was taking off the support wrap and moving about breathing deeply.  When I couldn’t coax him to calling one of his daughters, I felt I’d have to do an ‘end run’ around him and make the call myself. I just kept thinking ‘what if this was me?’ – I know that my daughters would definitely want to know that I’d been injured and needed help.   So, I called one of his daughters and she took charge immediately – even though she was quite some distance away (FL).   After spending the afternoon with Lew on Sat. and getting some food into him I went back to the rv park I was staying in.  Of course, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sad shape that he was in and that there was no one around to be of any help and support.   The camp hosts at the BLM were a terrific couple and had shown great concern for Lew – checking on him three or four times each day and doing whatever they could do.  Other campers in the vicinity of Lew’s trailer had noted that the EMTs, fire truck and sheriff’s vehicles had come to ‘fetch’ him on Wed. night and one or two of the guys would stop over to see if they could do anything.  The camp host couple explained that their hands were tied due to the liability issues that came into play because they were hosting there for the BLM.  So they could not really do things like take him to a doctor’s appointment or physically help him because of those liability issues.  They talked with someone at the Sheriff’s office about getting help for him and that was a little reassuring.
 
After a fitful night trying to sleep, I woke up Sunday realizing that I just could not leave the area until Lew’s situation had improved or, someone from his family was able to get down there to help him. I was able to book a couple additional days at the rv park I was in and then I got ready to head down to see how he was doing. On the drive down I called his daughter and she told me that her father was back in the ER and that this time the doctors were admitting him.  Boy, was I hugely relieved to hear that news.  I drove straight to the hospital and when I arrived up to his room, he said that he was in severe pain in his lower back and his right arm/wrist and that he had been asking for more pain medication.  Within a few minutes his nurse arrived to add pain medicine to his IV drip.  I talked to him briefly and he started to doze but very shortly after, he said he was still in bad pain so the nurse added more medication and said that he’d be ‘out’ for quite awhile.  Even though I felt he was drifting into a good, deep sleep, I took the time to assure him that being admitted was best thing for him as he would be monitored for pain and would be getting enough fluids and nutrition which, in the end would help him heal properly.   I wasn’t sure that he could even hear me but was hoping that he could on some level.  Later that day his daughter sent an email or text to tell me that her Dad’s cousin would be heading down to see him soon. That was a positive piece of news too because, I still felt that because he was so heavily medicated, he wasn’t fully lucid and couldn’t ‘advocate’ for himself.  I do know though, that his daughter was on the phone at least a few times each day to inquire how he was doing and what meds they had him on, etc.  She’s in a two year course to become EMT certified herself, so had knowledge of medications, dosages, etc. and how her father would handle medication.


Lew is from MT and, at one point I was thinking that it might be best if he could get back to his home, to his doctors, his other two daughters and his friends back there. But, even if I felt he could have been moved back to his home area, there was no way I could take care of doing that – he drives a standard shift – I’ve never driven anything but automatic and. . . . there was no way I was going up on his roof to lower/latch the solar panels, etc. Fortunately, he has a close relationship with his cousin who was coming down to Yuma to see him and she was able to make arrangements to have a friend come along with her.  They took his trailer back to Mesa and also made arrangements to come back to pick Lew up after his release from the hospital


A couple/few days into his hospital stay, an Orthopaedic (?) doctor was called in to look into Lew’s pain levels and injuries. This doctor was able to pinpoint new fractures and some bruising to old fractures that Lew had sustained in his wrist, ribs and back when he fell.  He was released from the hospital after about ten days to a Rehab facility in Yuma where he spent another 10 days getting physical therapy and back on his feet.  Just three days shy of a month from when his ordeal began, he was released from rehab and went back to the Mesa area to spend another few days with his cousin.  He wrote that he was anxious to finally get back on the road with his trailer.  His plans were to get back on track with the regular routine he’s had each year at this time, heading to  Quartzsite for a couple of nights -- hoping to find some of the ham radio guys still in the area.  From there moving along to spend time and do a little work with friends in Hesperia; then visit other family members in the Laguna Beach area. Finally, he'd be working in the Monterey County Park system for a month(?) before heading back to his home base in MT.
 
Lew’s ‘Flash, wam, alackazam’ was an excruciatingly painful and traumatic whallop to his physical body along with the emotional effects that must have accompanied the painful healing process.  I have a mental picture of his being up on the roof of his trailer as the Arizona sun was starting to turn the sky various shades of orange and then, as he climbed back onto the ladder, I think it must have been like the words to the song I wrote about earlier – ‘timber’ ‘the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out’ ‘I went into a spin and I started to shout’ ‘This is it, this is it’.  This accident not only took him by surprise but it also took him ‘down for the count’ – a whole month of not waking up each day and just going about his regular routine.


For myself, I have to say that I felt my own version of the ‘Flash, bam, alackazam’. I didn’t even realize it until I was driving back to the Riverside area after leaving Winterhaven.  Obviously it’s totally different in all aspects from what Lew’s experience was.  For one thing, I found myself with this vivid imagery in my mind of Lew up on his roof one minute and on the ground the next.  Then, the realization hit me that, as his pain level worsened and his medications became stronger, he really couldn’t take care of himself with any level of responsibility.  The ‘flash, bam’ moment happened on the Sat. before I was scheduled to leave when I found he couldn’t get up without assistance and he wasn’t truly able to comprehend the situation he was in. That was followd by the ‘alackazam’ as I found myself wondering if he was going to be alright on his own each day/night and how would I feel if he took a sudden heart attack or stroke and no one was there to call for help. It is unnerving thinking about how vulnerable we solo travelers are so. . . .   I’ve decided to take the Scarlett O’Hara approach to this dilemma and ‘think about that tomorrow’.


For now, I’m hoping that I just may be passing through the Monterey area next month on my way up to the Napa/ Calistoga area to visit with my other daughter and that will give me the opportunity to have the chance to see Lew back to his ole’ self and take him up on that steak dinner he claims he ‘owes’ me (wink, wink)!! A nice Swordfish steak will probably be my choice.