2006, First Quarter

It’s the first week of April, time for tax payments, and the quarterly report. Oops, I forgot, we are not a corporation; we are retired. Whew, that was worrisome, for about a second.

We spent most of January and February at a Thousand Trails preserve in Menifee, California, a small, Inland Empire community about half way between Hemet and Temecula, and in the driveway of our friends, Ted and Joan, in Hemet. The weather was beautiful, the accommodations fine, although we wondered where the typical January rains were (although it appears they got postponed until the first week of April, as we found out and are becoming waterlogged outside Hollister). Les had a lot of time to work on his new RC planes and helicopter hobby and I had plenty of places to shop. A friend pointed me the direction of Dream Dinners, a new and fun concept where you assemble your meals at a Dream Dinners facility, take them home and freeze them, and someone else does all the prep work and cleanup. Check out their website – I was pleasantly surprised.

We spent late February and early March outside Chula Vista, California. This was an interesting area especially in light of all the talk regarding illegal immigration across the Mexican border. We were less than 6 miles from the border and in an area of high activity, the Otay Mesa having at least one of the infamous tunnels under the border. There were border patrol agents routinely driving through our campground, sometimes several times a day.

The second week of March we drove over to the Avi Resort on the Colorado River, just a little south of Laughlin. Our RV friends from Reno were gathered there for a Nevada Good Sams rally, so we got to visit and catch up with a lot of our NV camping buddies. I had forgotten the casino atmosphere – lights, bells, smoke, inexpensive buffets, and we got our share during the four days we were there.

Then we headed back west, through Palmdale and across to 101 up to Paso Robles, where we visited with friends there. Chuck and Gale provided a great spot to park beside their garage, Mimi had a swell pal, German Shepherd Nigel, to play with, and Les got to pal around with Chuck doing guy things, which included a hot air balloon chase and ground support. Unfortunately, Gale is far too good a cook, and I am sure we both gained several pounds.

We are currently south of Hollister. Today I realized we are sitting atop the San Andreas Fault! However, this is beautiful country in the spring. Bright green new growth is everywhere, cattle roam the hills, strawberries fill the fields, and wild life is all around. The first day here, a bobcat strolled through camp. When it stops raining, there may be a slight break on Thursday, we will drive over to Monterey, a place we have not visited in some 20 years. Ummm, looking forward to fried clams on the pier. Then we will be off to Reno to prepare for our trip to Alaska.