California: I Hardly Know Thee!

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

Today is Day 1 of a four-week truck camper trip.  My Lance 1121 camper has been in storage since October 2016 – following the 55-day trip I took to Gatineau, Ontario and the East Coast with my 11-year old cat, Navidad.  That was a memorable trip.  Navidad, however, wasn’t well.  What we thought was an Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) condition turned out to be cancer in the abdomen.  Navidad died five weeks after we returned home. 

Because I planned for and participated in a 9-day safari in Kenya in August 2017, I decided to suspend truck camper trips for that year.  For this trip, to get both camper and me out of the “mothballs,” I’m staying close to home (Palm Springs) this time.  I’ll be doing a sort of zig-zag loop drive around southern/central California, checking out the quieter and scenic parts of this beautiful state.  

So, to get started, I drove to Ontario [CA] yesterday (Feb. 28) to get a long-overdue hug from David Yavelak, owner of Galaxy Campers, and have him load my camper onto my truck.  I’ve known David since that day in October 2005 when I met him at the annual RV Show in Pomona.  He sold my camper to me in early 2006 and has, over these past 12 years, been a good friend and a wonderful advisor and repair/maintenance specialist for my camper. 

David Yavelak and me.

Before returning home to start loading my camper, I swung by my local America’s Tire Store to have them add air to my tires.  I had been to this facility a couple of weeks ago to have the tires on my Ford F-350 Dually checked and rotated, but as it now turned out, the fella assisting me with the air discovered that the valves of the [rear] inner and outer tires were not aligned properly.  Being that it was approaching mid-afternoon he said I would have to come back “...tomorrow morning…” so they could get the rear tires aligned correctly and then add the air.

I was back at America’s before 8:00 am THIS morning and, considering that I now had a very heavy camper sitting on top of my truck, I watched two guys use all their strength to manually jack up both sides of the truck’s rear, remove and adjust the four tires the way it should have been done when I was there two weeks ago.  Jeez!

Finally, I’m here – 4:00 pm – at the Lake Perris State Recreation Area, in Perris.  My site (#253), which I reserved online for two nights a few weeks ago, offers a very nice unobstructed view of scrub vegetation, rocky hills, and, in the distance, the San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Santa Rosa Mountains.  There are paths to the lake and I can see just a hint of the water from my spot.

First order of business – put the sheets on the cabover bed.  No easy task, lemme tell ya!  By the time I put away food and clothes and organized things a bit, the sun had set and so I finally sat down at the dining table.  Looking out the slide-out window, I was pleasantly surprised to see this huge cream-colored moon peek out from behind one of the nearby hills and, ever so slowly, rise skyward.  Sitting there with my usual cocktail in hand, I watched the moon rise until it became smaller and whiter -- a bright full moon my first night in the camper!

Rising moon, Lake Perris SRA.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

It was cold during the night inside the camper but I was warm enough under flannel sheets, two blankets, and an unzipped sleeping bag…until I had to climb down from the bed now and then to shiver my way to the toilet.  It is early March, after all, and I do have plenty of propane for the heater.  Keep that in mind, Ms. Mapita!

Around 11:00 am, I secured the camper and left my [reserved, mind you!] site to visit a very dear friend who lives at the nearby Renaissance Village – Bummy Burstein.  Since moving to California from Arizona in fall 2008, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to visit Bummy very frequently and I wanted to get in a visit with him before starting this trip.  When I arrived I was delighted to see that Joyce Linden, a long-time friend of Bummy’s and someone I’ve known since my NLTP days, was there and would be joining us for lunch in the dining room.  Since rain was coming our way, Joyce soon left to return to her home in L.A. and I visited with Bummy in his room until about 4:00 pm.

Bummy Burstein and me.

Dark clouds had formed and I looked forward to getting my camper set up for the night on Site #253 (two-five-three) before any rain should fall.  As I approached my site, first I let out a groan, and then a pissed off “Oh, shit!”  There was a big trailer smack dab on MY reserved site!

I parked right in front of the trailer and when I got out of my truck this man came forward and then this woman, both with inquiring looks on their faces, and I told them #253 was my site, as of last night and again for tonight.  I showed them the check-in note taped to my windshield which said “253, out on 3/3” (which is tomorrow).  The woman showed me the campground map on which the office indicated which sites were available, including #253.  Somebody obviously neglected to mark my online-reserved site as “taken.”

To try and resolve this, the woman hopped in my truck and I drove us both over to the kiosk at the entrance where we explained the situation to the lady on duty.  She was apologetic, of course, and we all concurred that the only resolution was for one of us to move to a different site.  Those folks had arrived for the weekend at 2:00 pm, set up their big trailer with leveling blocks and hooked it up to shore power, water, and sewage.  They even had a pile of firewood stacked near the fire pit and their chairs arranged on the trailer’s “balcony.”  It was really a no-brainer.  All I needed to do was back-in, hook up to shore power, open the slide-out, and I would be all set for the night.  After making sure site #255 was available, I moved “next door.”  Well, I told myself, at least I got to see a glorious moonrise last night.  No such luck for anybody tonight, not with those heavy clouds blacking out the sky.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

By 10:00 am I was on I-215/15 N heading for Barstow.  It was still cloudy, a tad rainy, and the winds were especially strong as I went up and over several San Bernardino Mountain passes.  The dark clouds hovering at the top of the peaks were a sure sign it was probably snowing up there.  Snow isn’t on my itinerary…not on this trip…not ever, if I can help it!

I made good time and arrived at the Shady Lane RV Camp, located just off Old Hwy 58 in Barstow.  I paid for my site, told the young fellow I’d be back later, and then left to do the touristy thing – visit the nearby Calico Ghost Town.  I have a vague memory of visiting this place back in summer 1968.  I had just completed my freshman year at Gallaudet [College] and, since my family moved from Indiana to California a few months earlier, I found myself living in Riverside.  College friends were abundant in southern California and, at age 18, I was discovering how much more fun it was to tag along with them to places like Calico than with, ahem, Mom and Dad.

Calico, established in 1881, was a booming silver mining town until around 1907.  Prospectors, prompted by the drop in the value of silver, moved on to other more productive mining towns.  The Calico population dwindled, buildings were abandoned, and “…Calico became a ghost of its former self.”  Walter Knott (the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm) purchased the town and, in 1951, restored five original buildings and built replicas of other structures.  Hundreds of extremely hazardous mines still dot the region and, as a recently- arrived busload of Asian picture-taking tourists confirmed for me, people do like to visit Calico, walk around, and marvel at how the original inhabitants used to live.

Calico Ghost Town.

Schoolhouse and church.

Replica of a miner's shack.

After grabbing a late lunch at the Calico House Restaurant, I made my way back to my site at the RV Park.  I did my usual record-keeping stuff, jotted notes in my journal, and tried to get the TV going.  There’s cable here but the remote needs new batteries.  I used my internet access to catch up on emails, texts, and news articles instead.

Ah, the internet!  My planned destination tomorrow is the Mojave National Preserve, which is about 40 miles east of Barstow.  Campgrounds are first-come-first-serve and don’t have hookups.  It dawned on me, considering that it has been cold and windy these last couple of days, that I perhaps oughta check the weather forecast for that area.  That I did and made the decision to visit the Preserve another time.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

Two thoughts came to mind last night – I could use a driving break and I want to get on my laptop and start writing my blog.  It was a clear blue-sky morning when I left the RV Park in Barstow and drove west for about 20 miles on the 2-lane Old Hwy 58, eventually connecting to the 4-lane Hwy 58.  I soon arrived in Mojave (not the Preserve!), got the batteries I needed, and then got a site for today and tomorrow at the Sierra Trails RV Park.  It’s been much warmer today and this early driving break is already helping me feel rejuvenated!

After a PB&J sandwich for lunch, I got started on my blog (this one!).  With the new batteries now in the remote, the TV came on immediately!  What did I watch?  The Oscars!

MONDAY, MARCH 5

I woke up to another sunny morning, watched a little bit of CNN under the covers in bed, got up to take a walk, had cereal for breakfast, and then got back on the laptop.  Later, I will review my materials for where I want to go tomorrow.