FEBRUARY 2, 2014.
Exactly three months ago, we started the “shakedown leg” of our Adventure…a loop from San Diego across the desert, through Arizona and back again. We’ve confirmed that this way of life is a blast. We’ve learned a lot about our rig and living on the road. So, we’re ready to attend to a few final details in San Diego and then really take off…perhaps not to return for years. We’ll travel as long as we’re having fun. When it’s not exciting every day anymore, we’ll know that the Adventure is complete. We’ll buy another home and return to a more normal lifestyle…with bucket-loads of memories about our Great American Adventure.
We’re back at Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, horse country just a tad south of San Diego off the 805 Freeway. Of all the camping parks in San parks in San Diego County, this is one of our favorites. We’ve been here many times with our Third Weekender’s group and have lots of great memories from those stays. The location in Bonita is rural yet freeway-close to downtown San Diego, our friend Earl’s house in El Cajon and the Nissan Dealership in Pacific Beach where Brad runs the show. The park has lots of trees and green areas, the reservoir is full of water.. a beautiful dark blue color… and the sites are spacious, each with a fire ring, table, a large, level concrete pad and sweeping views across the Valley to the coast. There”s lots of space between sites as well and at this time of year there aren’t too many campers. We arrived on a wet, drizzly Sunday afternoon…in fact Superbowl Sunday, 2014: Broncos vs. Seahawks. Each team 15-3. Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Temperature should be in the low-40’s. It promises to be a good game. We’ll see… Update: Boring!
One of our favorite camping parks in San Diego
We’ll be here three weeks and then we’re off to some new-to-us and exciting locations. No more fooling around with Southern California, Arizona and Nevada! Again, the only reason we’re back in San Diego right now, after having left just three months ago is that a few lingering medical issues still need attention before we depart for a very long time. Getting older is a bitch…I’m sure glad we’ve decided to take this Journey now. I have several very good doctors here in San Diego and I don’t want to change physicians in some little hayseed town while we’re away. So, it’s taken some persuasion, but I think I’ve convinced each of my docs to stick with me and “treat me from afar” as much as possible. If necessary, I’ll just catch a flight back to San Diego and then re-join Florence wherever she and the RV happen to be at the time. Or we’ll both come back for a while and then go pick up our journey where we left it.
The reservoir at Sweetwater Summit. We have a few very large kites…the kind that require two gloved hands and a fishing real-type gismo to fly. This park is an ideal place to fly them, way out over the water. There is some risk, however. Once when flying here one of the kites got away from me. It was last seen going down by the water. I figured we’d lost it. Florence said no and took off to get it. She scaled the fence surrounding the lake, retrieved the kite and brought it back with a smile on her face.
Another reason we’re again at Sweetwater is that our friends Stan and Therese are still camp-hosting here. We’re going to make plans with them to get together soon in Oregon at their next camp-host destination. It sounds good: Right on a river full of fish! In my experience, fish is best when it was living in the water just an hour or two before dinnertime. We should be able to make it happen! And, I don’t think Florence and I have ever been RV’ing in Oregon where we didn’t find that each campsite was almost always prettier than the last. Love California, but remember it’s desert. Oregon’s climate is much different…it’s green and beautiful all year long. And if a guy doesn’t own some kind of a fishing skiff to use on all the rivers, he’s almost suspect!
Setting sun at Sweetwater Summit.
More for me than for anyone reading this, we are in Space 138, right across the way from our friends. If we return here in the future we will reserve this space again. Why? As with all the other spaces, there is lots of room and not that “crowded” feeling we get in lots of parks. In addition, the view in the evening and at night is very, very nice. Our coach is positioned so that from the window above Florence’s desk we have a perfect view of the setting sun every evening. Last night there was a picture-perfect sunset and I’m sure there will be more. I’ll post the next one that is special. Also, after the sun sets and it’s dark, we have a commanding and unobstructed view across the valley toward the coast. There are lots of houses and other buildings that cast off twinkling lights all night long. Really nice. Also, the planes arriving at Lindbergh Field make their decent right above us…they’re high enough that there’s not any noise but close enough that you can almost see the pilot through the window. If the weather warms a bit, it will be great to sit outside after dinner. The way this park is graded the sites are terraced, so even if we get “RV neighbors” I don’t think our view would be affected. Nice.
