Saturday & Sunday, January 7th & 8th - Slow Days

 The weather has been beautiful the past couple of days. I think that is the norm for the winter out here. Daytimes are sunny to partly cloudy, high 60's with nighttime lows in the 50's.

Saturday we stayed home and did some reading 😀

Kathy found a church for us to try out, NorthGate Community Church. The music was contemporary, and endurable 😀 but the message was good. (Kathy didn't care for the music because she said it wasn't technically good. I just didn't care for the lyrics. They weren't bad, but most contemporary music does not stir my redneck, country spirit.)

It isn't a large church, maybe around 100 at the 10:30 service, they  also have a 9:00 service and a 1:00 Spanish service. MANY people made a point to introduce themselves and shake our hands. 

They had been having projector problems for a couple of days and parts were on order but it wasn't usable as an aid for the Pastor's message. The Pastor had planned on starting a series of messages based on the book of John. When the problems with the projector arose he began wondering if he was supposed to preach about something else. He said he threw together the message we heard. If he threw together what we heard I can't imagine how good his normal messages must be.

Their goal is to: "Love God, love people, teach others to do the same." The message fit it with  that, it was on humility: don't compare ourselves to anyone but Jesus, understand that we are all sinners and even the best of us are far, far from the perfection demanded by God. Also, understand that we are not to live in the past, we became new people when we accepted Christ, new people whose goal it is to be more Christlike. At the close of the service they had a couple come up and commissioned them for service in Mexico. 

After the service it was back home for lunch and more enjoying the weather. With the brilliant sun temps in the high 60's makes for shorts and tee weather. 

In the evening we went back to the pizza place, just down the block, that we went to when Drew was here. They were busy but service was good as was the salad and pizza we shared. It was interesting seeing the manager stop by our table twice to make sure everything was OK. We also watched him bus tables and even get a broom and dust pan to clean up under a table.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Friday, January 6th - Oceanside, CA

This morning we headed over the mountains to Oceanside, CA, so that we could dip our toes in the Pacific. On the way over we took the route in blue. On the way back we took the blue then gray route that says 2 hrs 9 min (what a laugh, more on that later).

Our trip started off with somewhat of a glitch. The westbound Interstate ramp was closed so we had to go east to the next exit and basically make a U-turn to go west. One of the first things we noticed was that the trash along the Interstate is terrible. It looks like it never gets cleaned up.

Leaving the Cathedral City area. Note the lack of vegetation on the mountains in the distance.

Next week we may get to see some snow first hand. We plan on riding the Palm Springs Tram. The Valley Station, where it starts is at elevation 2,600', the Mountain Station, at the top, is at elevation 8,500'. The temperature drops by as much as 40 degrees during the ride up. There are a bunch of windmills on the right of the photo below. Not one of them was generating electricity. Later we saw a lot more of them and almost all to the 2nd bunch had blades that were rotating.

About 30 miles into our drive and things started getting green.

And greener.

We wondered if this pilot of the jet leaving this contrail forgot something at the airport.

We passed through Hemet, CA on the way and saw hundreds, if not a thousand, cows at a huge dairy farm.

We made it to the Pacific. Waves were impressive. Off in the distance, on the left, is the fishing pier. There were a lot of surfers out on the other side of the pier.

Getting our toes, and pants wet.

The kids in the photo below were in some pretty deep water when the wave crashed over them. About the time I took this picture a lady (their Mom?) angrily waved them back onto the beach.

Rental(?) units along the beach.

Walking out  on the fishing pier, its 1,942' long.

And must be pretty stout.

Later we drove down to the harbor and had lunch. Both my fish and Kathy's fish taco were good, and reasonably priced.

We came across a coffee shop on our way back to the car and stopped to have a cup while we enjoyed the view.

After coffee we headed for home. We made a wrong turn and ended up at the main gate of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Kathy explained to the young marine at the gate that we made a wrong turn. He asked for her drivers license, kept it and instructed us to drive through the gate, make a U-turn, all within 150' of the gate. On the way back out through the gate he returned her drivers license. He was polite.

The trip back was scenic, and chaotic. I was using my phone and Google maps for directions. Google maps totally screwed up as we went through Temecula. The first thing it did was direct us down a city street that ended in a cul-de-sac. It showed a non-existent street leaving the cul-de-sac. A half mile later it directed us to turn down Bike Path. We ended up driving through a huge shopping center parking lot before we found our way back to the highway.

It was a little surprising to see pine trees on our way back. Some of them were quite large.

Below is a blow up of an interesting stretch of road. Note the road at the top right.

I took a bunch of photos of the great scenery on the way back but the camera in my phone just isn't good enough to convey the beauty. Below is a photo of the section of road noted above. I hope you can make out some of the levels of road far down the mountain from our location. In many places you can look down over the edge of the road, see the road far below and wonder how am I possibly going to go down that far, that fast.

After supper we both went over and enjoyed one of the heated pools. Kathy often goes and sits in the hot tub. I'm not a hot tub person. The heater was not on for the hot tub so she relaxed in the pool. This was only the 2nd time I've been in one of the heated pools here. Both are heated to above body temperature. It is a little brisk getting out when there is a slight breeze and the temperature is in the high 50's.

It was a great day!

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Thursday, January 5th - Light Rain On and Off

 It sprinkled numerous times during the day, but it was barely  enough to get the pavement wet. Several times the sun shined the entire time it sprinkled. Last nights low was 52. Today's high was a cloudy damp 59. It was still nice enough to spend time sitting outside some of the time.

Tiffin emailed me the part number I need to order to replace the motor and controller on our steps. I took the information over to High Tech Automotive so that they could order it.

I still need to paint the epoxy putty black but I've done all I know to do to strengthen the electrical connector on the Flex. It may be ugly but hopefully it will last longer than the original.

This afternoon I walked a 1.5 mile loop around the "resort" community next door to  the campground. We have access to all the amenities that are at the "resort"; lighted tennis courts, a heated pool (there are 2 at the campground), a hot tub (there is 1 at the campground) and a clubhouse. It also has a golf course but I'm not sure about access to it. 

Below is a Google map of the area. Palm Springs Oasis campground, where we are staying, is at the top left. Drew's friend Doug lives in the subdivision on the right. The "resort" is the triangular plot that ends at T's on the Green.

Below is a blow up of the top left corner of the above map. We are parked near the red #1. The white roofs are houses in the adjacent "resort".

Below is a blow up of the bottom right of the larger map above. The red 2 is Drew's friend Doug's house. 

The photos below were taken while standing near T's on the Green.

Overall

Walking across the street and looking southeast. The light colored area on the right is the "wash", it is a huge storm water drainage ditch that runs through the city.

Looking WSW. The wash is on the left. The light area with shrubs on it is the 8-10' tall sloped bank of the wash.

Tomorrow's plan is to go to Oceanside, CA and dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Wednesday, January 4th - Another Boring Day in Paradise

 We got around late and went to In N Out Burger for a late lunch. We went to the same one but I assume all of them are equally busy. We hit a lull and there were only 3 people in front of us. By the time we got our food the line waiting to order stretched to the door. There were two, sometimes three, ladies taking orders and they weren't slouches. We were #55. Before we finished eating they were calling numbers in the 90's for people to come pick up  their orders.

After a quick stop at Aldi's it was back home. We both did some reading. Kathy did cleaning stuff and I dumped and flushed our gray & black water tanks. I also put more some epoxy putty on the tow bar electrical bracket.

The screws used to attach the "ears" on the connector to the posts. Both ears broke off. This photo is after the liquid epoxy I applied yesterday. The putty I used today grabbed more of the ears.

The weather is not quite as nice. The overnight low was 53 and today's high was a mostly cloudy 63. We couldn't even see the sunrise this morning because of all the clouds. In the afternoon it was only partly cloudy and we got to see some interesting cloud shapes.

I've mentioned before that the campground is almost directly under the flight path into the Palm Springs airport. There are supposedly only an average of 160 "aircraft operations" a day, and only 37% of them are airlines. That number must be WAY low unless there are no flights for 6 months of the year. We only see the inbound flights. Often they are only 5 minutes apart. 90% of them are larger commercial airlines. It appears to me that there are 125 commercial arrivals a day. 100 of them arrive between noon and midnight, none from midnight to 6AM. It isn't really that annoying. We hardly notice them when we are in the coach but they are quite noisy when we are sitting outside. Some of them make a lot more noise than others. A couple of days ago two military jets landed, they made a LOT of noise. 

My current Old Testament reading is in Proverbs. I found the verses below to be particularly thought provoking as I read them today. All of the text is from the New Living Translation.

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for punishment.

Proverbs 16:26 It is good for workers to have an appetite; an empty stomach drives them on.

Proverbs 16:33 We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.

Proverbs 17:16 It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool who has no heart for wisdom.

Proverbs 17:18 It is poor judgment to co-sign a friend's note, to become responsible for a neighbor's debts. (Similar Prov 11:15, 22:26)

Proverbs 18:2 Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions. (To often me)

Proverbs 19:21 You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail.

Some other translations almost seem to say something different, or at least add a different slant to the verse.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Tuesday, January 3rd - Just the Two of Us

 Happy Birthday Nolan! Our great-grandson turned 7 today.

Drew headed home this morning. He had his motorcycle packed and left a little after 7AM. 500 miles later he arrived home in Oakland. He did have to ride in some rain, but not a lot. After arriving home and looking around he thinks the flooding caused by all the rain in the San Francisco Oakland area flooded his lower level about 3" deep. The water had all drained back out by the time he got home.

This morning Kathy did some grocery shopping, hitting several different stores to check them out. I did some work gathering data that will be needed once I decide to start on our 2022 tax returns, something I won't be doing until near April 15th.

Dave, from High Tech Automotive, and two of his guys stopped by on their way to lunch, to work on our steps. I was quite impressed. For guys who don't advertise as RV repair people one of them knew which basement door to open to get to the latch that allows the generator to be pulled out. (It took me almost an hour to find the latch the first time I used it.) 

One of the guys crawled under the coach and then asked if someone had a knife so that he could cut some wires. I was the only one with a knife. Dave, with a huge grin, said, "Isn't this something, three Mexicans and a White guy and he is the only one with a knife." The steps now operate without me having to crawl back under the coach but they told me that it is a temporary fix. I need a new motor and controller. Rather than have them waste time trying to locate the correct motor and controller I'm going to get the part numbers for them so that they can order the part and then install it for me (under my Service Contract). They seem like a fun loving, knowledgeable bunch of guys. They impressed my neighbor enough that he wants them to check out one of his slides.

As part of the tow bar base plate installation on the Flex an electrical outlet was added that allows us to plug a cord into the 7 pin connection on the coach and into the receptacle on the Flex. It powers the Flex turn signals, tail & brake lights when it is being towed. It was obvious that the bracket holding the outlet was weak. During our travels here the bracket broke and I temporarily taped the outlet in place. Today I mixed up some epoxy and tried to "glue" it back in place, as well as strengthening the bracket. I think a different consistency epoxy might have worked better. I may try adding to what I've done in an attempt to strengthen it further.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Monday, January 2nd - Late Breakfast with Drew

 We picked Drew up this morning and had a late breakfast at Manhattan's.

Food was excellent, Neither Kathy nor I could finish our omelets.

The place has some great sweets.

Once again the combination of the snow, clouds and mountains made for great scenery. I wished I could take pictures that showed how great the views are.

Zoomed in.

Today I tracked down an RV repair place close to here. One of the guys is supposed to come here around noon tomorrow to see what they can do to fix our step problem.

This is a Thousand Trails campground, which means it is a "free" place to camp if you have a paid up Thousand Trails membership. A membership appears to be good deal if you like to camp in an area where they have campgrounds. They break the US into 5 zones. The annual base membership lists for $670 for the first zone and $90 per additional zone. There are 200 campgrounds spread over the 5 zones, virtually none in the midwest. The only 2 in Michigan are near the middle of the lower peninsula. The "enhanced package", which costs an additional $370, adds more than 100 additional campgrounds spread over the five zones, none in the midwest. The value for snowbirds, or full-timers, is lessened considerably because, as I understand it, you can only stay 14 consecutive nights at the same campground.

The enhanced package has a lot of campgrounds clustered in southern CA, southern AZ (both in the Southwest Zone)and southern TX & southern FL (both in the Southeast Zone). For snowbirds who didn't mind moving 20-30 miles every 2 weeks it might be an okay deal. You could find 2 or 3 campgrounds you like and just continually move from one to the other.

There is also some fine print, isn't there always, about certain resorts being "fee resorts" that charge $20/night to stay at them.

Palm Springs Oasis, where we are staying, is an Encore Resort, one of the enhanced package resorts. The heated pools, hot tub, etc. are nice but the sites are postage stamp size; no picnic tables, no fire rings and pay internet. This is an expensive area. The rates here are $83/night, $497/week, not including over 7% in additional taxes.. I think we paid $1,300 for a month.

One "bonus" of staying here is that we now are on their list of people who get "sales" offers. We are going to take advantage of one of the offers. We check out of here on the 18th, travel 1,500 miles to Donna, TX and check into Victoria Palms on the 25th, for a month. The rate is $399/month. 

The current plan is to leave there on Feb 25th and SLOWLY make our way the 1,100 miles back to Centertown, arriving around the end of March or early April.

There are a lot of snowbirds here. I need to check with some of them to find out what type of deals they got.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

PS. Lydia, I miss you to.

Sunday, January 1st - Happy New Years

 Not much in the way of New Years Eve celebrating in the campground last night, just a few fireworks.

It rained last night, about 0.4". The light rain yesterday, the fog yesterday and the rain last night sure doesn't seem normal for "desert" weather. It is also a little cooler than it had been. The overnight low was in the mid 50's and the high today was in the mid 60's.

The sun felt good this morning. Even though it was a little cool it was warm enough to sit outside and read while drinking coffee.

Drew came over for our traditional pork and sauerkraut meal. We pretty much veg'd the rest of the day. 

Clouds rolled in in the afternoon and it spit rain occasionally.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.