jUNE 4, 2010

From Fillmore, CA N34º 22.370 W118º55.715




After three days of preparation, cleaning up and cleaning out the coach we started our 2010 adventures this morning at about 9:10 AM. I didn’t realize that getting ready meant to clean out the coach closets and the house closets, then trading clothing from the house with what was in the motor home. I told Gerri why bother, we aren’t likely to run into the same people we met last year and they wouldn’t remember what we wore. She answered with one word; “PICTURES!” When getting ready I discovered another problem. Some days ago there was an inquiry about how to locate the switch that activates the air horns. I answered that on our coach I depressed the horn for electric and depressed it more for the air horns. Since I hadn’t driven the coach since November, I started to wonder if I had answered correctly. I finally tried that Thursday afternoon, nothing, nada, zip, no horns. I tried to open the genset slide to check the wiring. It wouldn’t budge. It is hydraulic and I could hear the pump running. I decide to wait until we were on the road to try it again, hoping some would jar back in place. After we were out of town I tried the horns, no electric but the air ones were loud and clear. It then occurred to me that since the coach had been setting at the house for several days the air was drained from the tanks. I’ll try the genset slide in the AM.



The first leg of our trip was an uneventful drive from Las Vegas to Fillmore, CA. Well uneventful for us. There was a big fire with lots of fire equipment near the highway i Little Rock, CA. Then another big fire in the north bound lanes of the Pearblossom Highway, CA 14, before we got to Santa Clarita. It was still smoking when we went by. Looked like a roll back tow truck with at least two cars had burned. Gerri’s cousin Lois is celebrating her wedding anniversary on Sunday. She and Phil Wall have been married 50 years. A lot of family will be there. Gerri’s mother, Neva, and her brother, Hollis , drove to Fillmore too, they were a little behind us.



We are parked in a friend of Lois and Phil’s. We are in the orange groves about 3 miles from their house. We cancelled our reservations at an RV Park in Castaic, about 18 miles away. The Allreds have a large driveway with plenty of room and welcomed us warmly. There is water available and a sewer dump on the property but only 20 amp power. It was pretty warm in the coach by the time we hooked up and took a long time to cool off since we can only run one air conditioning unit. We’ll get by even if it means running the genset. I did mention we are out in the orange groves didn’t I? It also beats driving about 40 miles round trip for visits.



We met Gerri’s mom and brother at a nearby Mexican restaurant for supper. They are staying at a motel in town, the only one. They brought Gerri’s aunt Wanda Barnhart and her daughter, Carrie Boyd, with them. We met Carrie and her family in Kansas City a couple of years ago at a Barnhart reunion. The El Pescador in Fillmore had excellent food. It wasn’t to busy when we got there, but by the time we finished eating it felt like we were swimming up stream to get out.



We hope to sleep in tomorrow morning since we have been up early every day this week and busy all day. I don’t have high hopes of sleeping late. Even though it cooled off after dark the sun may heat us up pretty quick in the morning. We will see. Good night all. End of day one of a planned 108 day trip. All in all a very good day. On the road and visiting with family and new friends.

Psalm 118:24;This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.