Wash/Wax Rig – Oceano, CA

One of the advantages to being in this particular park (Pacific Dunes RV Park), is that there is a guy (JJ) here who details RVs. This is the 3rd year he has worked on our rig. While JJ was beginning the process to make our ’98 AlpenLite rig look about 10 years younger, the neighbors (on our door/awning side) came in. JJ was washing the roof when the neighbor was working on his utility connections next door. The neighbor got drenched from water running off the awning. The other neighbor arrived just as he finished for the day. Good thing too, as JJ had his work truck parked in their site. The sites here are a bit narrow so it helps if the neighbors are the easy-going types while this process is going on.

JJ puts 3-4 days into the job. He keeps us informed of all of the steps he takes. But what we really know for sure is that when he’s done all the surfaces are shining and impressive. In the past we have experienced parks that say they won't accept RVs older than 10 years. They will allow a challenge, if we send pictures.

Since JJs been doing his “magic” we have never been denied a space. He and Ruthi were talking today about the fact that if the decals could be replaced, no one would be able to tell how old we were (the rig, not us personally.

NB Traffic - Castaic to Oceano, CA

We thought great! This is a short hop (less than 200 miles) should be easy and relatively stress free. California 126 West to California 101 along the coast heading north – cooler temperatures for the last 2/3rds of the trip. For some reason (again no construction or accidents), the traffic funneled from 3 lanes north of Ventura to 2 lanes all the way to Santa Barbara where we went back to 3 lanes. While there was a lot of traffic, we thought that after the merging we should have been able to get to an acceptable speed 40-50 but no; we went from 25-30 to 40-50 and then back to 25-30. Weird!! This Southern California traffic.

Once we hit Santa Barbara and returned to 3 lanes it was easy sailing North!!!
This is a busy park especially for the Labor Day week-end. I don’t think there is an open space in the entire park. Lucky for us we got here first (with respect to each of our neighbors). We got comfortably situated, arranged and unhooked before dinner. So nice to be back where it's sunny, breezy and 70 degrees - heaven!!!! Especially for Boots, for whom this years above normal temps in Santee have been extremely - - - uncomfortable, shall we say.

NB Traffic - Santee to Castiac, CA

We knew we’d be slowed down through the center of LA on Interstate 5 North but decided it was worth it to have a short day. Getting onto Interstate 805 in San Diego was a bit “crawly” but we made good time up to the center of LA. Being relative novices to the millions of LA cars/drivers, we really were surprised to slow down to a 30mph crawl for miles and miles. Though there has been a lot of road construction indications (signs, cones, retaining walls, equipment), no one seemed to be at work today. So, we thought there must have been an accident in our lanes going North. We did see one in the South bound lanes earlier. We saw no troopers/cops or debris from an accident.
We were sure there had to be a better reason than “just LA”. But NO it was “just LA” and we slowed and slowed and slowed to a bare crawl.

We stopped at the La Mirada Camping World for a pee break. Because most of our route is through the city has no Rest Areas. We knew the Camping World layout would allow for us to temporarily stop and use the bathroom before we headed back on I-5.

The new Google Mapping app showed I-5 as a very dark red. That means there was a negative impact to the traffic heading North (accident, construction, or something) from the Camping World stop. So, it advised us to take some interior La Mirada roads to I 605 and eventually back to I 5 North. We figured it couldn’t be worse than what we had already experienced. The app was right. We made good time back to I-5 and went North to Castaic.

Then all of a sudden there were signs saying the right 2 lanes were closed ahead. So, we moved our 44’ rig over to the left and crawled with everyone else northward mile after mile. Boots was navigating and we finally were in territory we were familiar with after so many trips North and South. So, it looked like we could get off I-5 and use a surface road (Old Road) to get to the campground with more speed and less traffic.

So, Ruthi slowly moved the rig (44’ remember) to the right positioning us for the next exit. As soon as we were comfortably in the far right lane, we saw the signs “Exit Ahead Closed” and again “Right Lanes Closed Ahead”. So, back we go to the left and crawl up I-5 to Castaic.

ANTS EVERYWHERE – Santee, CA

After wintering here in Santee, the Spring brought a few ants to our rig. We seemed able to manage them with our eco-/dog-safe spray inside. As they seemed to continue to invade and multiply, we looked forward to our 2 weeks out of Santee. Sure enough the 2 weeks at the end of May in Temecula were ANT-FREE. That’s a good thing, too, as the ants we saw there were 3 times the size of our Santee visitors.

The California drought is really impacting the ants and they are looking for moisture anywhere they can find it (i.e., RVs, houses, offices, malls, etc etc etc). So, returning to a different site but still in Santee Lakes, we were quickly mobbed by the ants. Our Borax completely around the rig, indoor pet-safe chemical, and an official campground extermination effort (twice) did not make much of a dent in the infestation. They didn’t seem to be particularly interested in anything but they were just mobbing everywhere – floor, dog bowls, kitchen counters, Boots’ IKEA chair, bathroom counter/cabinets, kitchen table, computer desk, and finally our BED!

Well, only one side of the bed – Ruthi’s. She has always been a bug magnet – mosquitoes, spiders, flies, and now our ants. The final straw was ants on her pillow and therefore in her hair, ears, face, arms, legs, body, etc). Changing the linens and wiping the bug spray around the beds hard surfaces lessen the barrage but did not stop it entirely. Every night we inspected around the bed and ensured the pillow and bedding did not touch the headboard or back wall and that all visible ants were exterminated!

Finally, we broke down and bought the strongest bug poison we could get and began daily inspections outside and proceeded to annihilate every possible ant trail and home/nest within 50 feet of our rig. Directions said that it was safe for pets after the trail dried. (about 10-20 minutes) We waited a little longer than that and weren’t keeping Karma outside alone anyway. Even with turning our site into a “toxic dump” site, the ants continued the invasion.

Eight (8) weeks of constant vigil (and multiple bottles of bug spray) around the rig and associated vegetation (trees and rose planting) finally stopped the invasion. We kept up the daily inspections and sprayed indoors and outdoors as needed. Killing an occasional ant on the counter is bearable but seeing a “gang” of them running willy nilly everywhere is not. Just when we thought we had “won” the war, they showed up again. A trail of about 50 going from one point on the counter to another point at the other end OR circling the front door – some going up and over and others coming across and down. Weird pattern and nothing of interest (no water, Pepsi, sugar, or other food stuffs) in their pathways. The numbers were low but our response was “nuclear”! We have loss any possibility of being ZEN with the ants. We applied the bug sprays inside and out with speed and vigor - stopping the invasion at 50.

Therapy Dog Training - Mira Mesa San Diego, CA

The practice visits went well last week even though it was necessary for Karma to ride an elevator up to and down from the “meet and greet” sessions with some of the residents. She was gentle meeting the women (as it happens we only met one man and he just happened to be in the living room where we ended our visit with a debriefing). Karma positioned herself so that they could easily pet her. But after a few minutes Karma realized that there weren’t going to be any treats while we were in the resident’s rooms. So, she was ready to leave – no pulling or trying to leave but she was no longer interested in the residents. Since there were 2 of us human/dog trainees, sometimes just having the other team at the door distracted Karma. Ruthi on the other hand really enjoyed meeting and talking with the residents. Two of the women were very interesting and she is trying to see if these particular women don’t have friends or family nearby, she may arrange to visit without Karma.

Well, Ruthi and Karma finished the class. They learned a lot but are still unsure of whether or not this is an opportunity for them. One) there is the commitment, two) additional training and three) organizational certification.

The Perfect Place – Somewhere???

Here’s what we want in the place we finally put down roots (before we pass away, hopefully): diversity - ethnic, age, restaurant, movie theaters, etc. We like being near a major airport hub and would prefer good plentiful public transportation. The weather needs to be warm – between 60 and 80 is ideal!

So, where is that place??? Only in our dreams???