Wilderness Lakes has been a pretty good “Home” base for our California adventures. It’s close to our old Orange County home, it’s free, full hook-ups at every site, and the amenities are good. It’s a nice place to bike, hang at the pool, allows campfires when burning is OK, and they let you wash your RV/car at your site. You can even do some work on the rig if needed, like my painting of some of the stickers.

Molly also went to Seaworld camp during the beginning of this visit. She had a GREAT time. I’m hoping she’ll put some blog posts together and tell everyone what all she learned and did while there. Fingers crossed! I took the day off from work in order to go pick her up on the last day. Diane’s back had been out for a couple days. Molly and I had a nice time touring many of the shows at the park and I enjoyed hearing all about her camp and what all she learned. The Clyde and Seymour show was awesome! We fed some Sea Lions too.

During this trip, Diane and Molly got to hang out with Diane’s Aunt who was visiting from Florida, as well as to attend the Home-school conference in Ontario. Lot’s of visiting with friends, Ed and Victoria, etc. I was also able to get some customer visits in, and plenty of work done. The red stickers are now 75% done. Most of the ugliness is gone. It also looks like the other stickers just need the old clear stuff off and they’ll be fine. The sun and some high pressure water seem to keep the peeling process moving along just fine.

Our next trip is up north for another Home-school conference in Sacramento, with some other stops on the way up and back.

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Molly and I enjoyed a fabulous hour-long scenic ride today!! The horses belong to Gentle Giant Drafts and Western Adventures, based in Anza and stabled at the Thousand Trails park each summer! Molly’s horse Snow and my horse Amber were very gentle .. and our guides, Megan and Lauren, were very kind and informative!! The ride began at the top of the RV Park and wound through the state park .. with stops at the remains of a 1800s Saw Mill and a small waterfall, creek bed crossings, and numerous views of fields/mountains/rocks. And we were fortunate enough to have a deer run across our path! I highly recommend going on a ride when in the park .. despite being quite sore afterwards, we thought it was well worth it!!

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It is so quiet, so peaceful, so beautiful up here at Thousand Trails-Idyllwild!! We are here for 2 weeks this time .. celebrating our 11th Anniversary with a Vow Renewal Ceremony and taking in some 4th of July festivities!! I’m hoping the small ceremony on Saturday, June 30 will go off without a hitch, but what kind of wedding doesn’t have its ups & downs?! I’m just excited to show David how much I love him with a celebration geared toward him .. with a few surprises and family/friends along for the ride! Photos to come!!

We lucked out a bit, and the Komfort Kruisers had two events in a row we were able to attend!  This one was nice, as it got us into a new RV park (Chula Vista RV Resort) that we’ve not stayed at yet.  It’s right on the water of the San Diego Bay in Chula Vista.  The weather was nice and cool, day and night.  A good break from the hot weather we’ve been seeing during May.

This was a good trip, and helped us get to know a few more of the Kruisers, some we’ve not met, and others we got to know a little better.  Molly, the official blog photographer, snapped a couple pictures, but was feeling awkward about taking pictures of the other Kruisers.  We’ll work on that whenever we get the chance to hang out with them again.  May not be till September.

For a “club house” we had some tents that were rigged up in one of the sites.  Walking distance was awesome, as it was about 40 feet from our RV.  These pictures were from one of the dinners we shared. We are getting a bit better at bringing good items for the pot luck. 🙂

After Chula Vista, we’re back to Menifee.

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It’s a HOT time in Menifee, CA.  Temps last week got into the 80’s, but we were at 95+ for most of the past few days.  Summer time here at Wilderness Lakes means hot, more hot, and some flies.  With all the “food” next door at the dairy, and the summer time heat, the flies just multiple like mad.  We’re fortunate on our timing for arrival, and are able to stay in areas that are furthest from the source of the flies.  Only a few stragglers make it over here.

We’ll be leaving here Friday afternoon, and staying at another park near hear called Elsinore Hills RV.  We’ve stayed there a couple months ago, and it will be a good spot for a week or so.  We have some scheduling issues with the rest of our summer plans and the Thousand Trails reservation limitations, so we need to be out of their system for Memorial Day weekend.  We’ve also got another Komfort Kruiser event the first weekend in June.  Busy summer.

As we were getting ready to head here, we found out via Facebook that another fulltime family was going to be here.  We’ve been able to meet them and enjoyed some conversations and an evening of snacks and drinks.  They had also met another family that was here, so it was a nice evening of sharing stories and getting to know everyone.

We’ve also got some things in works for some business ventures to make some extra bucks…hopefully.  I’ve been managing our website through several hosting companies and variations, as well as some sites for family.  I see a possible opportunity to also help out some other fulltime RV families, or others, who’d also like to have their own sites.  So, I’ve opened up a new frontend for people to come and get their website domains and hosting platforms.  I’ve got a few more tweeks I want to do on it over the next few weeks, and then it will be ready for prime time.  If you’re curious though, and are looking to create your own website, just let me know and I’ll make sure to get you the details.

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While here in Menifee, we got to witness the recent solar eclipse.  I remember using a couple index cards to view it many years ago in grade school, but we made a bigger viewer this time.  A recent antennae purchase provided us with a cardboard tube that was about 5 feet long.  We put aluminum foil on one end, and white tissue paper on the other, poked a small hole in the foil, and we had our viewer.  It is a little tough to aim and hold steady, but we made use of some of the tree’s to get it done.  Here’s a few pictures.

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Continuing my late updates…

On Sunday, May 6, we left the Komfort Kruisers and headed to the town of Acton, CA, to spend the week at a Thousand Trails park called Soledad Canyon.  We’d not been at this park yet, and had heard mixed reviews.  Some of the reviews pointed us to the right areas for the best Cell coverage, and that worked out.  It’s section “N” if you happen to need to know. 🙂  Also, we found the train noise really not an issue if you are in sections away from the road, which is right next to the tracks. We did find it to be hot, but dry, and with the constant breeze, we mostly left the windows open and didn’t use the AC.

On Tuesday, May 8th, we were just hanging out.  I was working, and Diane was busy on the Internet.  It was near the end of the work part of the day for me, and I kept hearing sirens.  I just thought it was an accident out on the road, or that the freeway was backed up, and they were using the canyon road to get around it.  Then, a helicopter went over.  Then another.  And the sirens continued.  I said something about there must be an accident, and then thought… OR A FIRE.  I looked out the door and saw this…

It was close.  Wind was blowing the smoke away, but the fire will sometimes move towards the wind at its base, and the winds could shift at anytime, and as they sometimes do at dusk.  Diane and I got to practice our “Rapid Relocation Drill” and get everything ready to roll out.  We had the inside set, and the car hooked up, and everything but the electricity disconnected while we waited.  It ended up that the Fire Departments hit the fire hard, and had it nearly completely knocked down in about 2 hours.  Whew!

The rest of our stay was boring by comparison, and smelt of campfire when the winds did shift.  On Thursday, Molly rejoined us, and on Friday afternoon, May 11, we headed back to the grand ole Menifee, CA.

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Well, I’ve obviously been a bit of a slacker with the blog updates. I’d been hoping to start making some short video blogs these last couple weeks, but just didn’t get to it.  So, here goes, a bit of an update on what we’ve been doing this month.

Our last updated had us in Idyllwild, and we had a nice time there.  I really enjoyed the quiet, and Molly and I began fishing together.  Great times.

After Idyllwild, we headed back down the hill to our general hang out of Wilderness Lakes in Menifee, CA.  We were there for a few days, then on Friday afternoon we headed to the city of Valencia, CA, and the Valencia Travel Village for a weekend out with our friends the Komfort Kruisers.  Molly was hanging out with here CA Grandparents for a few days, so it was just Diane and I hanging out with the RV club.  It was a nice quiet and relaxing weekend.

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I got back from a couple weeks in Atlanta last Friday, we left the Wilderness Lakes campground about mid-day on Sunday, and headed up the hill to Idyllwild.  The car and RV were separated for this trip that saw quite a bit of tight curves and hills.  I love it when there is an S curve sign, and it says “Next 22 Miles”.  The RV did pretty well, and the new official Blog Photographer enjoyed the ride.  Molly has taken up to using our Nikon D40, and just snapping pictures of everything.   You’ll see some examples below.

This makes the 5th time that Diane, Molly, and I have been to Idyllwild.  For Molly, the first time she was still in Mommy’s tummy, and she was just one year old for the second trip.  We then had two Christmas time trips, and had Megan, Ed, and Victoria with us for the most recent.  This time, no cabin or rental lodge, but our RV and a nice spot at the Thousand Trails campground.

There’s hardly anyone here, and most of them are the park rangers that have either spent the winter, or moved in to prep for the summer.  The office, pool, restrooms, laundry, and fishing pond are the only things open right now.  For me, the quiet is VERY nice.  The roads around most of the campsites are a bit tight for navigating the RV.  There are some that are even dirt, and with no activity yet this season, it’s sometimes hard to tell where they run.  Finding a spot with sewer seems tricky too, but I’m hoping to investigate more to make that easier in the future.

We’ve got some plans to be back here in late June, but we’ll write about that in a later post.

Since Sunday, we’ve purchased some fishing poles and tackle, and Molly and I have fished in the pond a couple times.  The ranger said there’s only small bluegill left in the pond, but we were able to pull out a tiny trout.  Hopefully it survived being tossed back in.  Based on the bites we were getting, I’m pretty sure there are quite a few small ones in there, and they’re mouths are only big enough to nibble the bait, and not take in the hook.  Molly picked up the casting really well, even with a bobber and bit of a leader on the line.  We found the fish really like sharp cheddar cheese too.

Last night, the forecast called for a significant amount of rain to come through.  The laundry got done about 30 minutes before the sprinkles started, and by about 11, it was raining pretty good on and off.  I got up this morning right after sunrise, and found that it had actually snowed.  We had a pretty good dusting, with about a half inch or so on most above ground surfaces, like the RV roof, the car, picnic tables, and on the ground where there was some fallen foliage.  I woke Diane so she could see, and then took a bunch of pictures for Molly.  You’ll see a couple of these shots below as well.  Unfortunately, the snow was gone by 10am.  It was a bit unexpected, since we’re at about 6200 feet, and the snow level was supposed to be at 8000.  I expect there’s a good amount up at the observation area above the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.  We’d talked about going up there, and may later.  The girls have been congested, and the trip down the hill and back up on Monday kinda did a number on their ears.

We’ll be here till Sunday, and then we’re back down to Wilderness Lakes for a few days, then an event with the Komfort Kruisers in Valencia.  Should be a fun Cinco de Mayo themed event with them, and we’re looking forward to catching up.

And now, some of Molly’s fine photography, and a couple shots of the snow from this morning.

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We had applied the Postcard theme from WooThemes (see link lower right part of page) a long time ago.  And, it’s had all kinds of crazy links and logo’s added to it along the way.  I finally got around to taking one of the photo’s of the RV, and getting it in suitable shape for a banner of sorts, and I took the time to organize all the other “stuff” that’s accumulated over time.  Much cleaner now.

We’re also getting ready to move from Menifee into Anaheim.  I’ll be traveling and in Atlanta 3 of the next 5 weeks, so the girls will be staying someplace a bit nicer, and close to friends and family.

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