Sunday, March 17, 2013, Las Vegas, NV

Another overcast day at San Clemente.  I had a head start on getting things ready to travel by doing some of the chores last night, so our coffee time wasn't hurried.  We checked mail and Facebook and then Gerri started putting things away inside.  All that had to be done outside was unhook the sewer, water and power.   I like to do those after the large slide is in, so I don't have to duck walk under the slide.  After the slides were in and the jacks up I moved the coach forward so there was room to hook up the Jeep in the site.  We pulled out about 11 and the sun made it's arrival.  Our route was north on I-5 to CA-55 to CA-91 to the I-15.  There was no wind and only a few places where traffic slowed.

We stopped for lunch at the In-N-Out in Victorville.  I didn't make the same mistake I made there last year.  This time I parked where there was plenty of room to get out without worrying about tight spots.

 I got really sleepy and stopped at the Valley Wells Rest Area and took a short nap.  Gerri gave me an apple when we started out again and I was good for the rest of the trip.

We filled up with diesel at the Sam's Club at Arroyo Crossing and got home and parked by 7.  The drive home was 296 miles.

At about 8 Todd called on Skype and we talked to Emma and Wyatt.  They serenaded us with piano playing and later with Emma on a recorder and Wyatt on a tin whistle.

The Post Office failed again.  Gerri had put a stop on the mail and then tried to get it delivered while Curtis was here.  It wasn't delivered then.  Gerri got an e-mail from the PO saying delivery would resume on the 16th.  It may have resumed but our held mail was not delivered.  I was looking for our statements from Chase Investments, that was the last thing we need to file our taxes.  I have an appointment at 11 in the morning and mail doesn't normally come until the afternoon, I will have to call and change the appointment.  We are a little pressed for time to file because we leave for Cabo San Lucas on April 1.

Saturday, March 16, 2013,. San Clemente, Ca

Overcast this morning, it was hard to be sure if it was fog or just clouds.  The sunshine came and went.  We had our coffee and caught up on e-mail and Facebook.

We were expecting a call from Tood to let us know when they would be getting here from Long Beach for a visit.  Todd called and let me know that they would be on the way after eating and that they wouldn't be staying overnight.

I loaded in the coordinates of a cache just up the coast from the San Clemente Pier. I stopped for gas at the nearby 76 Station, the price was $4.559 a gallon.  At the cache site I had to wait for a person with two dogs to vacate the bench where the container was hidden.  After he left it was a quick find.  While I was retrieving the cache Todd called and let me know they were leaving their house.

The Long Beach Barkers

I only did the one cache and headed back to the campground.  I did a little more work on getting my computer back in shape.  Todd and family arrived at about 1:30.  We had some toys to give Wyatt and Emma that we had won at BINGO at the Welk Resort last Thursday.  We visited  for awhile and then walked down to the beach.  The trail from the bluff to the beach is steep.  I didn't have too much trouble walking down.  We took some picture and the kids played on the beach for awhile.  When we walked back up to the bluff Todd, Emma, Wyatt and I walked up one path while Gerri and Jeannette walked up the way we had come down.  They got back to the coach before we did.  More visiting and then we headed for dinner.

Us with grandchildren

We went downtown to Avila's El Ranchito.  Parking was a problem, Gerri dropped me off and I got a table while she and Todd found parking spots.  We had a great meal.  After eating we said our goodbyes and Todd and family headed back home in Long Beach.  Gerri and I returned to our home at San Clemente State Beach.

Before going inside for the evening I took down the flags and put the flag pole away. I also emptied the holding tanks.  I decided not to roll up the sewer and water hoses, they are easier to do when the slides are in, no duck walking under the slide out.

Gerri took a nap while I watched TV and restored more files to my computer.

Tomorrow we head back to Las Vegas.  It has been a good month, visiting friends and family, and memorializing and interring my Mother.  I also did a few geocaches  including four that I had failed to find during past trips.

Friday, March 15, 2013, San Clemente, CA

Fog?  We had more this morning and along the coast it lasted all day.

Coffee started the morning. along with computer time.  Gerri had plans to meet a high school friend at Norte.  Norte is our favorite Mexican restaurant in Carlsbad.

My computer was still in the hospital at Fry's in San Marcos.  We decided that I would drop Gerri off at Norte's at 1 PM and then I would go to Fry's and pick up my computer.

That is what we did. I dropped Gerri off a little late.  I stopped and had a chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A.  This was the first one I have had.  The sandwich was good, but not outstanding. I will try it again when we are near one of the restaurants, we don't have one in Las Vegas.

When I got to Fry's my computer wasn't ready.  I browsed the store and bought a new keyboard and mouse.  My old keyboard had a couple of keys missing. I also bought a USB hub.  I shopped around until my computer was ready.

I went back to Norte's and the Carlsbad Inn to met Gerri and her friend.  Gerri is going to write about her visit:

Base Kids and Classmates Gerri Barker and Diane Bowen

Yes, I recently found out that one of my best girlfriends, Diane Bowen, from Columbus AFB lived in San Diego and I hadn't seen her since I graduated from high school in 1965..now that is a long time.  Facebook brought us together and the visit today was very enjoyable.  We talked about the fun we had back then and also some troubles we got into..haha, caused our mothers some extra grey hairs. We enjoyed our lunch and then went outside and sat on the chaise lounges in the common area of the Carlsbad Inn.  Frank later joined us, took some pictures of us and visited a little longer.  We plan on getting together again on our next visit to So. California in July.



Back at the coach I started setting up my newly repaired computer.  I tried to organize the wires better and connected the new USB hub so that I didn't have to access the back of the computer anymore.  I didn't have the disks for Microsoft office, so that will have to wait until we get back to Las Vegas.  I downloaded Google Chrome and Norton 360.  The downloads took a long time but I was able to do other things while downloading.  With Chrome I now have to set my book marks back up.  The Norton program was easy to set up once it downloaded, very little to do.  I have my Quicken and Topo North America disks with me but will probably wait until I have more time to install the programs.  I got my documents and pictures back in to files on the computer.  Of course I can't use most of the documents until I install Office

Thursday, March 14, 2013, San Clemente, CA

The fog rolls in, the fog rolls out, the fog keeps us from looking about.  Right, the fog was here again this morning.  The sun would show enough to make shadows and then be obscured again.

While Gerri did her computer thing, I walked down through the day use area and around the park.  

A couple of year ago Gerri's mother stayed at a time share at Newport Coast.  While visiting, Gerri went to the Crystal Cove State Park.  There are cottages there on the beach for rent and a campground on the inland side of the highway.  Gerri was told that the length limit for RV was 38 feet, but there were probably spaces that would accommodate our 42 footer.

Crystal Cove State park is 40,000 acres that was sold to California in the '90's.  It includes the historic village, a trail system, back-country camping, beaches and the campground suitable for RVs.

In the afternoon we drove up the coast to check out Crystal Cove State park.  We took I-5 to Dana Point and then up the Coast Highway to Newport Coast.  We went through all the small towns on the way.  When we were away from the ocean the sky was clear but fog prevailed over the water.  After going to a couple of wrong areas we found the campground, it is called the Moro Canyon Campground.  We went to the kiosk and the woman there told us the length limit was 38' but some times a foot or so over would be allowed.  She said we couldn't drive through the campground unless   we were registered there. We asked about handicapped when we showed her the placard she let us drive though.  There would have been great views of the ocean if it hadn't been so foggy. There are three loops of camping sites about half of them had power and water, only the camp host sites had sewer.  All but one of the handicapped sites would have been large enough for our coach.  Instead of asking the abrupt woman at the kiosk about the length limit we went to the park headquarters. The man at the counter there was even more adamant about the 38' limit.  We let it drop, deciding that without sewer we wouldn't be likely to camp there.

Fish and Chips at the Beachcomber

We decided to have lunch at the Beachcomber restaurant at the village on the coast.  We had to park at a lot across the highway and take a shuttle down to the old historic village.  It cost a dollar each, both ways.  After we took the bus we saw that we could have driven down and either parked in a handicapped spot or dropped me off with a shorter walk.  We had Fish and Chips at the Beachcomber.  It was still foggy and cool near the water, but had plastic screens to cut down the breeze and kept it pleasant.



We returned to San Clemente via the CA-73, a toll road, and I-5.  Add another $5.25 to the cost of lunch.

Fifteen minutes to go

Back at our own campground we caught up on e-mail and Facebook action.  At a little after 5, I walked down to the bluff to check out the fog situation and the possibility for viewing for the sunset.  I walked around the park and back to the coach.  At sunset I went back to the bluff area and took pictures.  The sunset was beautiful but not spectacular.

Going behind the last layer of fog

Gerri watched TV and went to bed early and watched TV.  I called it a day after Leno's monologue.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013, San Clemente, CA

View from my window

The fog hung around longer this morning.  The sun was high in the sky before even dim shadows were cast.  A little before noon I still couldn't see across the campground.

The Cavagnaro's left about 10, they had gone out to breakfast before hooking up to leave.

I walked down along the bluff and a turn around the park.  Not many people were out in the fog.  In the afternoon I went out looking for some geocaches. I found two, didn't find two and didn't look for another one because of five previous DNFs.  The first cache I did was down some stairs to the beach, only part of the container was there, I claimed the find anyway.  I walked the rest of the way down to the beach trail and then south to try to find a cache I had looked for last week.  I didn't find it this time either.  Back up the hill and stairs.  My next search took me to the San Clemente Pier.  The cache was about .3 miles from where I had to park.  The fog was still thick, I couldn't see the end of the pier from the other end.  I found the cache and couldn't see the land from where I was on the pier.  The next cache was by San Clemente City Hall and hadn't been found since December, I didn't find it now either.  I drove to the park where the next cache was supposed to be, the last five cachers hadn't found it so I didn't even look.

That is the sun through the fog

Back at the coach I tried to get sundown pictures.  It was still foggy and the sun was only visible as a disk, no color and it was hidden from view as it dropped toward the horizon.  On the way back to the coach I talked to some neighbors, we spotted one of the campground skunks but it went away from us.

Back at the coach I logged my cache finds and watched some TV before eating the left overs from yesterday at Sonny's.














I called Fry's and found out my computer still isn't fixed.

After eating it was more TV and computer time and then bed.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013, San Clemente, CA

I got up about seven.  It was so foggy that none of the trees at the east side of the park were visible.  The sun came up but was about 30 degrees above our horizon before the fog started burning off.  The fog would clear a little and then roll back in.  It was like May Grey or June Gloom.  After coffee and my exercises I went for a walk around the park.

Later I went out to try a few caches and get our water container filled.  I went to the area of the nearest cache by using the GPS in the Jeep.  I tried to call it up on my handheld but couldn't find the file.  I went for the water and found a dispenser by a Rite Aid store and filled the 2.5 gallon container.  I paged through the files on my GPS and found the right one.  I tried a cache near the Rite Aid, but it was in front of three businesses and I felt very conspicuous.  I did go back to the cache closest to the RV Park and found it. I also spoke to the cache owner and went back to the coach.

Gerri and Elaine played some cards before time to go meet Bill and Arlene at Sonny's.  We met them a little after 5 and had a great dinner, we have never had a bad meal at Sonny's in San Clemente.

After dinner I drove back to the cache in front of the businesses.  Elaine found it quickly.  I also drove Bill and Elaine by the cache I had found earlier.  This cache was in plain sight but very cleverly disguised, it was even labeled as a geocache.

After the two caches we went back to the park and I visited with Bill and John while Gerri and Elaine played cards.  We went back to our coach and did a little TV and computer time before bed.

Monday, March 11, 2013, San Clemente, CA

Gerri slept in later than I did.  After fixing the coffee, I tried once again to enlarge the text in the blog for yesterday so that I could read it.  I am used to using a mouse with a scroll button and am not use to a super sensitivities touch pad.  In the light of a new day, and a refreshing night's sleep the text problem was quickly solved.  Now to figure out how to find pictures on the computer.  I really look forward to getting mine back tomorrow.  I hope I never have to buy a computer with Windows 8.  C:/DOS was a lot simple, but in those days the computer wasn't as universal and the internet was all text and the closest thing to e-mail was bulletin boards.  I remember when a friend showed me his computer with the first version of Windows installed   My question to him was; if you wanted a PC to look like a Mac, why didn't you just buy a Mac?  I don't know if the computer savvy kid of today, using smart phones and iPad or computers, know or understand what we have gone through during the last 25 years to get them where they are today.  But, I digress.

Between the time change and her busy day at Disneyland, Gerri slept in late even by our standards.  I did my exercise routine and went for a walk around the park.  Of course a walk around the park was interrupted by stopping and talking with other campers.  In this park there are a variety of camping units from tents to large 5th wheels and Class a motorhomes.  I have noticed in my walking around there are at least three Class C motorhomes that are in the day use area everyday..  My understanding is the day use area closed at 10 PM and everyone has to be out.  Day use is $15 a day and I think there is some type of annual pass available.  I plan to ask one of the volunteers I have met where these people go at night.

When I got back to the coach, Elaine was over  and among other things talking about dinner plans.  The decision was we would have dinner together.  We pooled left overs and had a fine feast.
After returning to our coach, I got in TV time of old westerns.  Even though Gunsmoke was aired for twenty years, when you see a couple of episodes daily pretty sooe the repeats start repeating.  Oh well, there are still Have Gun Will Travel, The Lawman, Cheyenne, The Rifleman and of course Judge Judy and Pawn Stars.

My computer is still in the hospital so I checked my e-mail and Facebook on the iPod.  Using the iPod sure cuts down on my reply to both e-mail and responses to items posted on Facebook.  The keys are too small for my big clumsy fingers and I can very seldom find my stylus.

I went to bed early and Gerri wasn't far behind.  A good day with a lot of down time.

Saturday, March 9, 2013, Escondido, CA

It was very cloudy when I got up and fixed the coffee.  The weather prediction is for improving weather in the days to come, but I don't see that out there this morning.  Gerri slept in late this morning.  I guess she was drained from the activities yesterday.  I know that I feel a great relief having finished the tasks necessary leading up to and including yesterday's ceremony.  My Mother is finally laid to rest with her husband of nearly 50 years, Ted passed in 2005.

Yesterday while at the cemetery I looked up Ted's grave site and information.  It showed that his service in the Marine Corps was from 1959 to 1962.  I know he retired with 20 years service.  The gentleman in the office told me that was on the most recent DD-214 and that if I sent in the others the information would be corrected.

Since my computer quit on me, I took it by Fry;s in San Marcos.  They said it would probably be ready on Tuesday.   In the meantime I am using my iPod to check e-mail and Facebook.  For the blog and other things that need a lot of typing, I use Gerri's laptop.

At 2 we went to Neva's timeshare at the Welk Resort.  I dropped Gerri off and went out to find a few caches.  The first one was a multi cache that I had DNFed twice before.  I also found five others in the area.
Back at the timeshare we exchanged some pictures and then played a game of Mexican Train.  Montyne won the game.

Our supper took care of most of the leftovers.

National Cemetery Geese

We got back to the coach at about 10:30.  Gerri went straight to bed and I watched some TV and finshed the blog.

Friday, March 8, 2013, Escondido, CA

The sky was really grey this morning and never cleared up.  During coffee I tried several things to get my computer going, no go.  I'll try  Frys tomorrow and see if it can be fixed while we are still in the area.  After failing to get the computer going I used Gerri's to post yesterday's blog.

I got cleaned up and ready to go to Riverside for my Mom's memorial. We left the RV park about noon. After dropping Gerri off at her Mother's timeshare I headed for Riverside.  I wanted to get there early. My anxiety kicking in again.  On the way there I encountered a lot of rain and some hail. and arrived at the cemetery at about 1:25 during a heavy rain.  Since my arrival was early I went by Creola's restaurant to make sure I knew the location.

I went back to the cemetery and checked in, the party before us was still in the staging area and I went to the office area.  Kathleen and family and Curtis were already there.  Before I got back to the staging area several others of our party were already there.  At 2:15 a representative of the cemetery escorted us to the shelter area for our memorial.  We lucked out with a break in the rain.  I opened the ceremony with a prayer, a scripture reading and a eulogy.  After I finished Todd, Curtis, Kathleen, Travis and Tony spoke of remembrances of Glenna.

After the ceremony we all went to Creola's Restaurant for a late lunch and visiting with each other.  Creola greeted us and made us feel welcome,  the meal was very good and the fellowship was great.  I think all the guests had a chance to talk, and remember Glenna. 

Today was also our grand daughter Milana's 17th birthday.  She got some special attention with a candle in the cake served for desert.
After some picture taking the group started breaking up.  We think we got pictures of everyone  but the pictures posted here are pretty much the entire group.  Other cameras were in action too, so I may have pictures of everyone later.  

Bill and Arlene Leedy with Neva Barnhart

Anthony Pauza; Travis and Annie Edwards; Todd, Curtis, Emma and Wyatt Barker

Glenn'a's Santa Ann neighbors Jean Legacy and her son Craig

Kayla Hauck with Kathleen and Shannon Eagan; Gerri Barker; Milana and Maddy Eagan and Neva Barnhart

Friends John Hulsey and Bill and Elaine Cavagnaro

Kathleen Eagan with Jeannette, Todd, Emma, Wyatt, Gerri, Frank and Curtis Barker

I'm not sure what time we left the restaurant  it must have been about 5.  The restaurant opens at 5 and I noticed customers starting to arrive.  Curtis was returning to Las Vegas to take care of some business there before flying back to Kyle, TX on Sunday.  Most of the rest of us had shorter distances to drive to get home or to where we were all staying.

Gerri and I returned to our coach for the evening.  Traffic was heavy going back to Escondido.  We got to the RV park around 7.  For Gerri it was the normal routine of TV and computer, for me it was TV and iPod.  Gerri went to bed early and I took over her computer to do this blog and clean up the old e-mail on the Cox server.  Before I went to bed it was raining again.  Gerri got up, saying she was going to get a snack.  I don't know how long she stayed up between the snack and computer time.

Thursday, March 7, 2013, Escondido, CA

The weather is holding, bad.  Today the clouds didn't start breaking up until after 10.  Coffee and computer started our day.

I got a call from a representative of the Riverside National Cemetery verifying our time and clearing up a few questions I had about the process.  I think that everything I have control of for my Mothers Memorial is set.

We went to see Neva at the Welk Resort a little afternoon.  Today Neva fixed roast beef as a mini family reunion was planned.   We got there after Jack Barnhart and Marilyn Faircloth had arrived.  Jack is is part of our extended Barnhart family and Marilyn is Neva's 1st cousin.  John and Montyne arrived shortly after we did.

John Connolly, Jack Barnhart and Frank Barker

We visited for awhile and had a great meal; we started with shrimp cocktails followed by roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and salad. 

Marilyn Faircloth, Frank Barker, Gerri Barker, Jack Barnhart and Neva Barnhart

Before Jack and Marilyn headed home we had the customary picture taking session. We did discover during this years reunion that one of Marilyn's younger sister and John graduated the same year and the same high school in San Diego. 

Montyne Connolly, Neva Barnhart and Gerri Barker

After Jack and Marilyn left, Montyne and John took naps and I went out caching. The nearby multi cache eluded me again, I found one and DNFed another before it got too dark to search.

When I got back, naps were over.  We went to the club house to play BINGO at 7.  Neva won two games, John and Gerri won one game each,  Montyne and I won none.  It was a fun time, there were even some of the same people there that played last year.

Back at the timeshare, turkey sandwiches were proposed.  It quickly turned into a complete meal with turkey, cranberry sauce, a selection of raw vegetables including jimaca, tomatoes, avocados, sliced onions, lettuce, plus chips, salsa and some sliced cheese.
We went home about 9:30.

Our usual closing of the day with TV and computer was started.  I tried to start the blog on my computer and couldn't get to the page to start a new post.  I did have another go at setting up the printer, again, again.  After a few more tries at the blog page I decided to try rebooting.  I got a message that Windows Explorer wouldn't start and that was as far as I got after several tries.  I finally gave up and went to bed.

Rain came before sleep and I heard it every time I woke up during the night.

Wednesday March 6, 2013, Escondido, CA

When I got up this morning it was sunny with high puffy clouds.  By 9 AM the bottoms of the clouds were turning grey and we were pretty much in shadows.  Toward late afternoon the sky had cleared and it was a little breezy.

I had woke up at 6am and started worrying about the Friday memorial for my Mother; do I understand the interaction with the cemetery, should I have hired a mortuary to guide the process,  is the restaurant really set up for the luncheon to follow, what will the weather be?  I am trying to keep in mind; Matthew 6:34, "Be not therefore anxious for the the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself..."  I will make some calls anyway, since I believe in being prepared.  I set up the printer in the motor home, again.  I don't know why it looses connection with the computer.  I also set it up to work with Gerri's computer. 

Gerri hadn't felt well during the night and took it wasy most of the day.  We didn't plan to go to visit Neva at the Welk Resort until late afternoon.  I went to a nearby water store and filled out 2.5 gallon container.  I also found seven nearby geocaches.  After caching I went and checked the gas station that had the cheapest diesel in the area.  I didn't like the way I had to get in and out of the station.  I may just opt to pay a little more per gallon and go to the nearby Shell station with easier access. 

After 4 PM I called the restaurant in Riverside, Creola's, where we are going after my mother's memorial service.  I confirmed that we were all set for Friday afternoon.  We were.

Homes on the hill east of the Welk Resort

We went to the Welk Resort at about five.  I went to the start point of a multi-cache and tried to get the information needed for the second and final leg.  I don't think I got it right.  The cache information says the end cache is in walking distance and my calculations showed it over six miles away.  That may be considered walking distance by some but not me.

Welk Rabbit

We had turkey, sweet potatoes, asparagus and coleslaw for supper followed by strawberries.  Gerri still wasn't feeling well and didn't eat much and no dessert.  We did play a game of dominoes.  Gerri won, with Neva second and me bringing up the rear.

We got home about 9:30 and as usual TV and computer finished the day.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, Escondido, CA

The day started overcast like yesterday and didn't clear up until about 9:30.  We started our day with coffee and computer time.
I decided to gas up the Jeep before we left to go to the Welk Resort.  The Shell station is just across the road from the entrance to the park.  I had noticed a nearby cache named Captain J.  I had to go find it in honor of our own dear neighbor, Capt. Janet.  I found the cache, but the unabbreviated name was Captain  James T. Kirk.

We picked up Neva and headed to Temecula.  We drove past Nessy Burgers' new location but decided to look for a restaurant in Temecula.  
We headed on toward Temecula by the scenic route through Fallbrook.  

We drove around the Temecula wine country and then around Old Town Temecula.  We didn't see anything more appealing than Nessy's.  

We headed back, hoping to get to Nessy's before they closed.  We did.We bought three hamburgers and two orders of fries.  We were hungry and ate a lot of the fries on the way back to the Welk Resort.  They were so hot we had to be careful not to get burned.

We ate the burgers and the rest of the fries back at Neva's timeshare.  They were as good as we all recalled.
After dinner we played a game of Mexican Train.  Gerri and I tied but didn't take time to play a playoff round because it was getting late.
We had a little rain on the way back to the coach, well a heavy mist in spots.

We had a very nice day.

Monday, March 4,2013, Escondido, CA

We woke up to an overcast day.  The sky began to clear and show some blue by 8:30.
I downloaded a pocket query of caches near the RV Park.  There were two on the list within 0.1 miles.  There is a city park adjoining the RV Park and there is a path with a gate to go into the public park.  The gate has a key to get back into the RV Park, a key is included in the parks welcome package.
After checking things on the computer and having my coffee I walked to the city park and found three caches, all the names started with "A walk in the park."  The caches were all located near the minimum distance apart so my walk was a little over a half mile with up and down hill segments.  During that kind of walk I realize two things.  My left leg hurts and that my right leg isn't fully recovered.

Quack

In the early afternoon we drove up to visit Neva at the Lawrence Welk Resort.  It's only about 7 miles away.  When we got there Gerri's Mom was sitting in the sun on the back patio and watching the ducks move around.

Quack, quack

Gerri took her computer along but forgot her phone.  I left them there visiting and headed back to the coach to get the cellphone.  I took old US-395 back to Escondido and did five caches along the way.  My pocket query didn't extend as far as the Welk Resort, so I plan to do another one and do some of the caches closer to there.
When I returned the ladies had already eaten lunch.  Neva made me a delicious BLT with raw vegetables on the side.  Neva had renewed her anti virus program on her computer but hadn't installed the updates.  I spent a little time doing that for her.

No butter, mo better

Every Monday there is a Farmers market at the Resort.  Gerri and I went just before dark to check it out.  Most of the booths were arts and craft with some food vendors mixed in.  There were only three large booths with produce.  We didn't see any art work like John and Montyne make and sell.  We will tell them about the market and they can check it out to see if the want to set up a booth there in the future.  Escondido is fairly close to where they live in San Diego.  We should have taken jackets as it was quite cool by the time we walked around the market place.  They had both propane heaters and fireplaces lit for the shoppers comfort.

A new meaning for comfort station

Back at Neva's timeshare we visited with the kids in Texas via Skype.  It was near their bedtime but we did get to see Brandon's teeth coming in to replace the seven he has lost.  Neva fixed supper.  We had BBQ ribs, corn on the cob and salad.  VERY good.

We went back to the coach at about nine.  I tried to finish this blog but had a lot of connection problems.  I gave it up and watched a recorded American Pickers followed by a Gunsmoke episode and called it a night. Gerri had gone in the bedroom earlier and was slumped over her computer asleep when I got there.

Sunday, March 3, 2013, Escondido, CA

Still Flowers booth

John and Montyne at work

Gerri got up very early.  The plan for the day is to o by the fair in downtown San Clemente and See Montyne and John in action at their booth..  They call their company "Still Flowers."  This is their third show and there goal is to have a day with a $1000 in sales.  Gerri, Elaine and Bill went to the fair, I stayed at the coach and started getting things ready to travel.  I took my time and by the time Gerri got home I had everything done but taking in the power cord and hooking up the Jeep.  We didn't have to vacate until noon and we only had 42 miles to drive.

While out Gerri bought Strawberries and tamales.
We pulled out of San Clemente at 11:45 and drove non-stop to Escondido.  We drove a total of 41.8 miles in an hour and 24 minutes.  That may include some non driving time.
At check in we got a bag with local information and some candy.  This park is nicely landscaped but the sites are not overly large.  All the sites are back in but the street was wide enough for easy maneuvering   Gerri got me positioned pretty quickly.

Sunset in Escondido

Gerri's Mom called while we were setting up, she was at Victorville getting gas.  We plan to visit with her for awhile when she gets settled at the Lawrence Welk Resort.  This park is about 8 mile away, but the two closer parks have 38' limits, and this is nicer.
After giving Neva time to unload and get settled we drove up the Lawrence Welk Resort and visited.  While there I hung up a hummingbird feeder on a tree limb near the rear patio.  Neva couldn't reach high enough to hang up the feeder.
We went back to the coach at about 9 PM.

Saturday, March 2, 2013, San Clemente, CA

This is our last full day at San Clemente State Beach this week. Another beautiful sunny southern California day. During the late afternoon and early evening the park pretty much filled up.  There are a lot of families with children riding bikes in the streets.  There are also a lot of people driving around that don't know what 10 mph means.  Hopefully they and the children won't meet.
I went down to the beach trail and found a cache that I looked for a couple of years ago.  So far this trip I have got 3 DNF's of my list.
Later in the afternoon I connected on Skype with a friend of mine who lives in Adelaide, South Australia.
After cleaning up we headed to Dana Point for dinner with cousins , Arlene and Bill Leedy.  

Arlene and Bill Leedy

Montyne and John Connolly joined us, we had roast beef, potatoes, carrots and salad.  For desert we had ice cream and strawberries.

Sunset at Dana Point

A little before 9pm we headed home to San Clemente.  Montyne and John have a booth at an arts and craft fair tomorrow in San Clemente and are spending the night with Bill and Arlene.

Cousins Montyne, Arlene and Gerri.

Back at the coach we called it a night after TV and computer time.

Friday , March 1, 2013, San Clemente, CA

Well February is gone and a new month starts.  Out my window it still looks pretty much the same.
After coffee and computer I started my exercise routine.  It takes quite awhile to get through it.  Of course getting started is the hardest part.  I'm not very disciplined when it comes to regular exercise.
Gerri started washing some of our clothes, so the coach is shaking on the spin cycles.
I went downtown to pick up some items from CVS.  While downtown I found four caches.
After returning to the coach we lounged in the sun for awhile and then went over to Bill and Elaine's for supper. Butch grilled shrimp on skewers, Marsha and Elaine prepared a couscous dish and salad and Gerri sauteed mushrooms.
We had a great supper and it wasn't nearly as cold as last night.  We didn't even need jackets after the sun went down.  After supper and some clean up, Marsha, Elaine and Gerri played a couple rounds of cards while the guys talked.  We then went back to our coach and called it a day after some TV and computer time.