Boots’ New Bike – Santee, CA

Seeking to provide Boots with a much more pleasurable bike ride during our morning exercise, we did some research, measurements, trying bikes at the stores, and thinking. Then we went to our bike guy here in Santee. He has done our annual check-ups and flat repairs for the last 5 or 6 years.

We told him our dilemma – Boots doesn’t feel secure on her bike. She’s a bit wobbly and can’t easily reach the ground if she’s seated with her feet off the pedals. Bumps and curves add tension to her ride and take away the fun of biking. So, he made a suggestion and let her take the bike out to his large quiet parking lot for some test rides. After about 20 minutes on the bike, up/down the attached roadway, over bumps and multiple circles/curves, Boots felt much better about biking.

The key here was moving her from her 26-inch bike to this 24-inch bike. That 2 inches really made the difference for her! While there is no expectations that she will ride 30-40 minutes each day like Ruthi does. If Boots just gets more enjoyment out of whatever time she rides, it will be considered to be a success!

Buzz LightYear – Santee, CA

While out on their morning walks, Ruthi and Karma see a number of interesting things – coyote poop, murder of crows, a dole of doves, etc. (yep, those are right we looked them up), but one day they saw the following on the back of an obvious grandparent’s car!

Here We Are Back for the Winter - Santee, CA

Snow in the East Sierras – US 395, CA

Just before we left Quincy, the weather report predicted snow in the higher elevations. The picture below shows some of the mountain caps that got new snow from that prediction.

Just the way we like to see snow nowadays – high and far away!

Fall Colors – Quincy, CA

While the colors don’t compete with the East Coast, they are none the less very beautiful. This picture shows our site at the RV park in Quincy.

Ants Redux – Quincy, CA

Before we left the ant capital of the world in San Diego area, we sprayed the jacks and stabilizers to stop anymore ants from entering our rig. We thought the speeds of 55-65mpg would blow out any remaining ants over the 600 miles from San Diego to Quincy. So, when we got here and still have an ant here and an ant there we managed. After a couple of days, we were ant free.

Then 2 days later, they came back strong. We talked with the local RV Park residents and they said, “yes” they had ants too. The ants we saw on the grounds were much larger than the ants in our rig. We thought the ones in the rig were still San Diego’s versions. So, we put out an “old” Ant Stake. We have had mixed results using this approach to our ant problems. But this time, it worked and within 24 hours we were entirely ant-free and it has continued the remainder of our stay.

Squirrels – Quincy, CA

With winter and its associated snow coming to Quincy, the local squirrels are busy gathering/storing their provisions for the coming cold. To that end, they are all over the park. Karma can see 1 to 6 squirrels at a time outside her window. Needless to say, she is very upset by their busy busy activities and the fact that they like to come as close to our rig as possible in search of pine nuts and acorns. One even climbed up the outside ladder and peered into the large window by the desk. He had an acorn in his mouth.

The only time they seem to be elsewhere is on Sunday mornings. We are thinking maybe they are religious and attend mass/services then. By noon, they are back with a vengeance gathering sustenance for winter.

Squirrels Everywhere - Quincy, CA

Poor poor Karma, the park is filled with squirrels working very hard to get all the acorns and pine nuts they can stored in their nests for the long cold winter here in Quincy. They are everywhere and not very bothered by the dogs in the park or those walking on the bike path just past the fence. They are early risers and work work work throughout the day right up to sundown. Karma can see them through her window. We think they do taunt her a bit. She barks and barks in the rig or when we see them on our walks. I don’t know what she’d do if one ever let itself get caught but she wants to try.

When we are over at John’s house and Karma is off-leash, she is chasing squirrels here and there. Sonny, John’s dog, is not at all interested in the squirrels. So, they might be a bit surprised that this dog, Karma, seems so intent on the chase. The squirrels immediately head for one of the many trees on the property and scurry up the trunk. Karma sees that it would be impossible for her to follow so she just reverses course and looks for another one to chase. Karma returns to the rig ready to snore away the rest of the day and into the night. That’s the good news to her squirrel obsession.

Tree and Feller – Quincy, CA

They hired a professional tree feller (or faller, both locals and internet have varying opinions on which is the correct term for someone who chops down trees and ensures that they fall in a particular direction) to drop some trees on the property that were endangering the house.

In the picture below, you can see the feller at his truck and the tree he is felling aligned with him. If you look closely, you can see that the 100+ foot trunk is curving as the tree tries to compensate for the chopping and sawing that the feller is using the drop the tree UP HILL away from the structures and people watching the activity.

It was really amazing to watch as the feller continued to work slowly and steady to ensure the tree did as he planned. When the trunk finally gave up its connection with the stump, the tree just slowly bent up hill and crashed to the ground. Though “crashed” might be an overstatement ‘cause it really just laid itself down rather quietly. All of that is the result of a great feller! The picture below shows Boots’ son counting the rings of the tree – estimates are that it was over 100 years old.

Sonny and Karma – Quincy, CA

When we visit with John, Boots’ son, and family (and dog Sonny) at their new house with an acre of property, Karma and Sonny run and run here there and then repeat. Sonny is used to being off leash, stays closer to home, eventually gets bored and lays down for a rest. While Karma keeps checking every nook and cranny out. She doesn’t rest until we drag her to the truck and come back to the rig.

Part of Boots’ Son’s New Yard – Quincy, CA

Boots’ son and wife are buying a “new” house (lots of renovations needed first) and this is a shot of the new spacious yard for their 2 kids, 6 chickens, 3 cats and a dog.

Sisyphus' Rock - Quincy, CA

There are a lot of Oak and Pine trees in and around this RV park. Like Sisyphus, the camp staff spend each morning with a bucket and grabber picking up the pine cones that have fallen in the past 24 hours. Likewise, the squirrels do the same with the flood of acorns on the ground. From the number of trees in the neighborhood, they will need to do this tomorrow, the day after and the day after that, forever.

Karma's Freedom - Quincy, CA

There is a big field right outside the RV Park filled with pine trees, and squirrels of course. Karma gets to be “off leash” sort of. She drags the leash so that when she tears off after said squirrels, Ruthi doesn’t need to get as close to capture her. At least once a day, Karma goes nuts chasing her ball and comes home to sleep and sleep and sleep.

Bike Riding - Quincy, CA

We got the bikes off the back of the rig, ready for our daily rides. When we were in San Diego, we had to get up early (6:30, 7:00) to be sure to get our bike rides in before it got too hot. Here in the high Sierras, we can sleep in to probably about noon. So far, it’s 10am and still only 50 degrees.

We finally got on the bikes and searched out a relatively flat course that would keep us on side streets and make our goals of time riding (Boots 10-15 and Ruthi 30-45 minutes). There is a newspaper kiosk and then a breakfast café that fit the criteria.

Travelling - Santee, CA to Quincy, CA

It has been a year since we really did hauling. Last time we only went across the county for our break. So, we weren’t really ready for the long long drives. We had busy rush hour traffic on CA 52 and Interstate 15 for the first 150 miles; then US 395 the rest of the way North. That road varies from 4 to 2 lanes and winds its way to the top of the Eastern side of the Sierras. Traffic is reasonable and only gets “crowded” near the larger of the small towns on the route.
We eventually crossed into Nevada for a few miles and then back into California about 80 miles from Quincy, which is in the high Sierras about midway between the Eastern and Western sides of the mountains.

Mushroom Attack - Santee, CA

On her morning walk with Ruthi, Karma freaked out and jumped sideways when she was attacked by a mushroom. The mushroom must have been dropping spores and Karma unexpectedly got a whiff and was surprised. She literally jumped up and away from the mushroom seen below.

Army Rangers / Navy Seals / Marine Ground Troops - Santee, CA

This isn’t about the 2 young women that have recently qualified for military combat forces. Though that is a great story in and of it self. As a pacifist / feminist I am torn. But that’s another story.

What this is about is the invasion of ANTS that we are experiencing. April we were in a different site and had no ANTS. We have been on this site since May 1st and experienced an ANTS -free existence until early August. Then they decided that we were fair game and things really got interesting.

Boots and Ruthi began with an ecologically safe indoor spray to attack them within the rig. This spray is not harmful for Karma and other living creatures you want to keep around: birds, squirrels, spiders (though Ruthi disagrees with keeping any spiders), etc. This seemed to work “ok”; in that the ANTS numbers were diminished and we seemed to be making a positive impact to the invasion.

Then the ANTS regrouped and began an amazing invasion. They began dropping from the ceiling. Parachuting down to anything they could grab. Really, Ruthi was attacking a battalion on the edge of the kitchen floor when she saw the teeny tiny shadows of falling ANTS and then the ANTS themselves. They would hit the floor similarly to army parachute jumpers (which they are of sorts) – sort of bouncing and running along with the parachute dragging behind except the ANTS didn’t have parachutes.

Then they sent in the seals – really we had ANTS crawling out of the toilet – you know where the water comes out to flush away the deposits. ANTS were streaming out of the shower head which was hanging by the hose down to the shower floor. They were coming out of the overflow opening on the bathroom sink by the hundreds. Yep, somehow they had held their breath or got oxygen from the water itself as they traversed from the hose connected to outside water source to the toilet and shower head and bathroom sinks (for some reason they did not use this approach in the kitchen). ANTS everywhere everywhere everywhere!

So, we went to the next step using a stronger more potent spray outside on all of the ANT trails around the site and rig. Ruthi took a couple of days to ensure that each and every possible track was sprayed into oblivion. This chemical is more dangerous to living beings. Supposedly, after it dries – really only a few seconds – it is safe for dogs, etc but will attack the ANTS for a month. Keeping with truth in advertising the spray was not as effective as we had hoped. Every couple of days Ruthi would again scan the site for telltale marks of ANTS grouping into companies for invasions.

Inside, we reverted to Windex with vinegar as a replacement for the seemingly ineffective but safe indoor spray. It was much cheaper and seemed to kill on contact and after wiping it off left a perfectly clean and safe surface.

Then a neighbor returned from their summer on the Oregon coast and picked up their chairs and fire pit that we had been watching for them. The neighbor, Larry, said he had already worked his magic on the ANTS in his space as soon as they had pulled in. He offered to help us get started using his approach.

At this point, we really had no other options because the ANTS continued to re-group and attack morning, noon, and night. You just never knew when one or 10 would singularly drop from the ceiling, climb up the wall of side of anything, or run across the surfaces. So, Larry placed pieces of paper (regular 8 ½ x 11 sheets) on the group near where we were sure there were nests (at the base of trees, under a edge of rocks). He put a half of a dozen drops of this potent magical poison on the paper.

Within minutes there were hundreds of ANTS on the paper sucking up the poison to take back to their nests and kill their entire families. It was like petals on a flower the way the ANTS crowded around each drop of poison “shoulder to shoulder” sort of. So, we went nuclear and put out paper at 3 or 4 spots and then at a 5th location when we saw ANTS coming out of another tree heading right towards our rig. Every day or so, Ruthi adds some more drops to the papers and later checks to see if any ANTS are gathered and they usually are.

So, can we say we are finally ANT free? No they are still dropping and magically popping up at the strangest places. In fact, while I have been typing this entry, 3-5 have dropped or suddenly appeared on the computer, desk or my hand. We think of them as scouts for the regiments waiting to attack. But there aren’t the hordes of ANTS coming out of crevices, faucets, and openings anywhere in the rig. We aren’t giving up and I am going out again as soon as I finish this to put some more drops out!!!!!

Self-Trimming Trees – Santee, CA

First let us say, that unlike last year when a neighboring tree's branches did major damage to the RV it hit, these branches, while scarping the rig, did not do major damage.

The pictures below are of a tree that is in the site immediately South of a site that we occupied for a number of winters. But luckily not when the following happened: First one of the branches slowly bent down and off the tree.

Then a few days later a second branch on the other side of the tree also broke off (picture 2).

Finally the grounds crew came by to recover as much of the tree as possible and this lollipop kinda of shape is what’s left behind.

Impact on Tree in California Drought - Santee, CA

Here is a picture of one of the branches that fell from a tree onto the rig in the space we were in last summer. Good for us it wasn’t our rig or truck. And, good for them they weren’t long enough to get any major damage to their stuff. The branch just fell off due to the lack of water in the tree.

And, a couple of days later, this happened . . .

Then the park decided to clean up what is left of the tree and hope for the best moving forward. Considering that a similar tree that was growing about 30-40 feet behind this tree totally fell over last summer smashing the rig in the adjoining space. So, we will see.

Moving to NEW Site – Santee, CA

We were busy with all of the preparations to “break down” at the old site and “set up” at the new site in preparations for our teeny tiny move today. That got very complicated very fast when our toilet broke Wednesday morning. We called our regular repair guy (Bill) and there was no way he could get to us until Thursday afternoon. UGH! Yeah, I know we are camping; but not really. We are RVers not campers. We have ALL the creature comforts of home because this is our home full-time.

Luckily, our current site was very close to the park facilities. But still a bother for those “middle of the night” visits. We became extremely focused on our body functions and not much on the move. Bill came by early afternoon on Thursday and after taking the toilet apart realized that the broken pieces strewed inside needed to be replaced. So, off he went looking for the parts. While Boots started the process of warranty issues (May 01, the 2 year warranty expires).

The results were no replacement parts were available even on order with rushed shipping. For warranty issues, the toilet (and associated rig) needed to go to the nearest Camping World (San Marcos – 40 miles north on I 15) for a certified repair person to ascertain the problem and solution. So, we took the simpler but more expense path and decided to just buy a new toilet for Bill to install. So Boots took a quick (sure, quick, during rush hour) drive up to San Marcos and back. While at the Camping World, it was ascertained that the warranty probably would not have covered this anyway.

Back with the toilet, we needed to schedule the installation. Bill could only promise a Monday slot (another 2 ½ days with not only a broken but now with pieces in the shower). He did say if his Friday job was quick, he might be able to come over and install then. In our new site the facilities are twice as far. So, we began hoping he’d be able to make it.

Today, we got up early (or early for us) and did the last few things before we made the short trip to our new site. We were done “setting up” the rig and had just finished lunch when Bill called to say he was in town and headed our way. YEA YEA YEA You can’t imagine the joy of knowing our toilet was about to be back in working order.

RV toilets aren’t like “stick” house facilities. They do not have holding tanks just waiting to flush away materials. The RV toilet has a foot pedal to open a lever for materials to pass to the “black” water holding tank. The lever also uses water to wash down the toilet bowl sides and assist the materials departure. Once the foot pedal is released the lever closes. With a soft touch on the pedal, water can be added to the bowl. I know more that you ever wanted to know about toilets let alone RV ones. Too bad, you chose to read this blog 

New Neighbors, Sort of – Lakeside, CA

When Ruthi got back from her niece’s son’s baseball game (SAM is 8yo), she noticed that we had neighbors in the front parallel spot. Thank goodness we were able to get in first.

Anyway, when Ruthi and Karma took their after-dinner walk, the woman commented that she recognized Karma. Sure enough, they had been only a few spaces from us at the Santee park. They were also doing their 2 weeks furlough here in Lakeside. Which, in a way, is good for us because they will be leaving the Sunday (29th) before us (we are in for a total of 3 weeks and leave on Wednesday, April Fool's Day) and most likely no one will be in the site when we have to reverse our course and get out of the site.

Karma’s Run and Knee - Lakeside, CA

There is a large natural park-like area on the West side of the park. It isn’t totally fenced and there have been coyote and snake sightings. Karma is not the best on recalls (coming when Ruthi calls her) but if Ruthi has a tennis ball the odds improve. So, once Karma got use to the noisy metal bridge that connects the RV park with the wild lands, she got a chance to chase her ball each morning.

The first morning, there was a young parent with a 2yo boy. Karma would drop her ball in front of the boy and wait for him to do his best to get the ball up and over Karma’s head so she could give chase. Oliver, the boy, was really quite capable for a 2yo and Karma kept returning the ball to him and occasionally the mother.

Then both the mother and I noticed that Karma was favoring her rear right leg. I thought, at first, that she might have gotten one of those awful stickers (common here in California) in her pad. But Ruthi couldn’t see any sticker – so they called it a day and went back to the RV.

Karma continued to favor her leg and needed help getting up stairs into the rig and onto the bed while at the same time not wanting to be picked up. When Ruthi touched the hip area, Karma let out a whimper. So, we made an appointment with our vet (PetSmart’s Banfield in Santee – and across the country, too).

Karma turned 9yo in December ’14, so it is expected that she would begin to show her age and slow down a bit. She had already began to ask to leave the park after 15 or so throws instead of having to be dragged home after 50 throws. We do give her a human version of fish oil and a dog version of glucosamine with her meals. We had a Rimadyl RX from prior strains she has experienced. So, we gave her a dose of that so that we all could get a good night’s sleep.

When we met with the vet in the morning, he commented on her strong rear muscles, called them “jumping” muscles, which fits for Karma. And, he did notice that she was favoring her right knee but there didn’t seem to be any major damage or muscle tears in either rear legs. PHEW!!!! He recommended we continue her usual meds but hold off on Rimadyl on a regular basis until absolutely necessary.

Backing In – Lakeside, CA

Well, it took us only 20 minutes to drive over here from Santee but another hour plus to position the rig in our space. It is sort of like a parallel parking spot. Luckily, the space directly in front of ours was empty. But it wasn’t lucky enough for the light fixture on the pole separating the two sites; we knocked the fixture loose with our high-profile 5th wheel - the light does still work. We informed the office and will pay for the repair out of our site deposit when we leave.

As happens sometimes in older parks the width of the space isn’t enough to accommodate the added slide-outs. So, we needed to park on the concrete pad on the door side. That isn’t allowed by park regulations so we needed to put down something (we chose to cut up an old entry rug) under the tires. It can be as tricky as getting the rig into the space with at least enough space for the slide outs and parking the truck after un-hooking.

Where To Now - Santee, CA

We visited 5 RV parks South of Santee as far as Imperial Beach (25 miles). We eliminated 1 (KOA -too expensive, too many restrictions and no pull-throughs - means we need a certain spacing to be able to back the rig in).

Of the remaining 4, we liked all of them. But we were too late for choice spots or they cost much more than we wanted to pay. Even though we decided to call this a "vacation" and raise our space rent limit, some were in the $1,200 - $1,500 and up for 3 weeks, with no monthly pricing break.

We had visited 3 parks North of Santee (70 miles) in the Temecula area (county, SKP (Escape Club) and casino RV parks). And, 4 other RV parks (20ish miles) East of Santee (2 associated with a casino and 2 private parks).

Decisions decisions . . . after these 12 adventures across the spectrum of cost, distance and ambience, we selected one of the private parks East of Santee. It was one of the 12, in our price range and the available site looked like it would be fairly easy to back into. So, we will see what we will we see on March 11th when we go there with the rig.

We think in the future, with enough planning and reservations we would try some of the South parks nearer the beach and cooler for Summer stays.

UDATED Snowbirds - Santee, CA UPDATED

If the license plates can be trusted we have snowbirds from Canada-British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the US-Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Virginia, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, Alaska (other than us), Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona (though not sure why they are here), Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, New York, VERMONT, KENTUCKY, NORTH CAROLINA, ALABAMA, GEORGIA, MISSOURI, and UTAH (25 states). We surely would have won all those license place games we used to play as kids!

Snow - San Diego, CA

These are the mountains just south of here between the USA and Mexico. Looks just like August in Alaska – the straight line across the Chugach Mountains on the East side of Anchorage. When this happens, they call the snow “termination dust” because it is the end of Summer! Maybe in Southern California it must mean the end of Winter.

It got below freezing last night and we were without water – until the sun heated up our hoses. Really it was only 30-40 minutes that we noticed. At 1am when Ruthi got up to pee it was already down to 32. She turned on the faucet to let a little water run but we guess that we didn’t wake up enough times – weird because we usually are up multiple times to pee.

This only the second time we have awaken to frozen water – pretty good for 6 ½ years.