Windy day

Went out last night to see Down Time and have a beer at Crazy Earls.  Only stayed for two sets then home to bed.  Joe was hoping to get some hiking in today, unfortunately we woke up to high winds and cloudy skies.   Instead of hiking we are just hanging out at home.  Going to see Transcendence soon, previews looked good.  Still haven't made up our minds if we want to brave the wind and go to the races or not.  I am for staying home or going to Jimmie Dee's to see Knuckle Bone and Quick Hitch.  Hope you all are having a great day!!!!!!

To all are friends in the Mesa area we will be in town all next week.  Coming in on Monday and leaving on Sunday morning.  Would like to see everyone one last time.  We are staying at Val Vista Village RV resort on Val Vista just past Main.  Give us a call if anyone wants to do dinner,

we are free every night but Tuesday.  Tuesday is Paxton's MYS concert, the last one for this year.

Yuma

We are back in Yuma until Monday Morning.  It is nice to be here for a few hectic days.  Yesterday and today we have been making sure everything is in working order getting address changes made, oil changed on the truck and today two Dr apt taken care of.  It is a lot hotter here than it was in CA, but feels good.

Tomorrow is Joe's play day, hiking in the morning and races at Cocopah race way at night.  I will be joining him for the races.  Unfortunately for me I will be cleaning house on Sat morning.:0(  It has to get done sometime.  Sunday we will be getting ready to leave Monday morning for Mesa.  We are looking forward to seeing the grand kids and Kristy and Pat of course.  We also need to take care of insurance and such things while we are there.  Then it is on to nothing but fun!!!!!!!!!

I will be updating our Itinerary today to May and June, at the end June I will add July and August and so on. If anyone is near where we are going to be let us know and we will try to get together with you.

Daily updates

Things have been crazy busy and I am behind on my daily blog so go to Joe's Trip log for daily updates.

On the move again

Today we are headed back to Yuma for a few days then on to Mesa for a week.

Our stay in California has been everything we wished for it to be.  It was so great to hike some of the PCT with Alan an Nicole.  We were able to bring them into our home several times and give them hot showers, meals and a nice warm bed to sleep in.  It is fun to share our travels with each other, them on foot and us in the truck and fifth wheel.  I wish we were going to be closer to them down the road but unfortunately our schedules do not cross again.  So Happy Trails Alan and Nicole (Nomad and Butterfly) see you in the fall.

Our spot at Pinezanita

Last night was pretty cold here at Pinezanita, it got down to 43 degrees.  The heater has been going all morning.  Yesterday was a little warmer when we got up but still chilly.  We all had breakfast and then jumped into the truck for the drive back to Barrel Springs where we dropped Alan and Nicole off to continue their hike.  We drove to the little town of Warner Springs where we parked the truck and started on the PCT to meet up with them.  That stretch of trail is so picturesque, it brought back memories of the hike we did through here last April with Yuma Outdoor Adventure.  We hike about 4 miles to Eagle Rock where we meet Alan and Nicole.

Eagle rock

 Had a break then headed back to Warner Springs.  What a great way to spend the day.  We leave them at the community center and drive back to Julian where we stop of pizza at Wynola Pizza Express.  We don't usually like thin crust pizza but this was so good.  We had a sausage and onion pizza and a spring salad.  The flavors of the wood cooked pizza were so good I was ready to order a second one, but I couldn't eat another bite.

Spent the rest of the day just relaxing and ended with watchnig a movie called The Big Year.  It is about birding.  Who would of thought that a movie about birding would be so good.  It is more about relationships and finding ones place in life as it is about birding.  We highly recommend this movie.

Fun in Lemon Grove

Saturday we decide to do some more exploring of the Lakeside and Santee area.  Both are nice places to stay.  Lake Jennings is actually in Lakeside.  We take a back road to the lake (reservoir) we can see from one of  the view points at Lake Jennings. The lake looks pretty low, but there are still boats out there with fishermen on them.  Once we get back on the freeway we go to Santee Lake RV resort.  We did not know they were having a big Spring Eggstravaganza.  Boy was it crowded.  We did manage to drive through the camping loops and found some sites that looked really nice, but I thing I like Lake Jennings better, Joe agrees with me for once!!!!!!
Then it is on the Walmart for groceries and a few other things.  We get back to the fifth wheel about 3:30 and I try to take a nap.  Didn't happen, it seems between us leaving this morning and coming back every noisy person in CA decided to camp around us.  Dogs barking, people yelling, kids playing and screaming. Surprisingly the sounds of life around us is so bad.  It is nice to hear so many people enjoying themselves.
Saturday night we drove into Lemon Grove, about 25 mins. away, to Dirks night club to see FX5.  They are one of our favorite bands in San Diego area.  They were great as usual. It was a great people watching night as a swingers club was there.  It was pretty interesting trying to figure who belonged to who as they switched partners about every 5 min.  This was our first experience of actually seeing that life style in action, it was very entertaining and educational.  We enjoy a few beers and lots of dancing (with each other no swapping here, lol).  Before we know it it is after 1 am and time to go home.  We will miss seeing FX5 for the next 10 months or so.  We were really glad that they were playing this weekend close to us.

Thursday 4/17-18/2014

4/17
Today we planned to take some back roads into Mt Laguna.  The drive in to Kitchen Creek area is very scenic.  We stop at the Cibbets campground to see where Alan and Nicole spent Wed. night.  They actually stayed about 3 miles above the campground at Kitchen Creek.  We went on up the road hoping to get to the Sunrise Hwy only to find out that the Kitchen Creek rd and Fred canyon rd has been closed by the boarder patrol as they have been deemed high smuggling routes.  We were disappointed and had to turn around and go back the same way we came in.  We then took the Sunrise Hwy into Mt Laguna area and then the Thing road in hopes of catching up with Alan and Nicole at the PCT junction.  When we get to the junction we find out from other thru hikers that Alan and Nicole are a head of us.  Again we turn around and drive back to the Sunrise Hwy and go to the Desert View Picnic area where we pick up the PCT and hike down it hoping to meet Alan and Nicole.  It is a very nice day for a leisurely hike.  Plenty of clouds and some sun, nice and cool.  We stopped at one of the trails that goes through the Burnt Rancheria campground and have lunch. Just as we were starting to hike again, here comes Alan and Nicole.  It was great to see them.  We hiked with them back to the picnic area and took them to the Pine house for some food and beer.  We were able to talk them into coming back to Lake Jennings with us for the night.We had a nice barbecue with plenty of wine and good hiking stories.  I opened my bottle of Paulina sparkling wine and we toasted each others journey. They enjoyed nice hot showers and a comfy warm bed to sleep in.  What a great night.

4/18
Up early Friday morning to take them back to the Desert view picnic area to make up the miles they missed on Thurs.  Joe goes with them and I drive over to the El Prado campground hiking in is beautiful even though it was recently burned.  Many flowers and bushes are coming back to life which is great to see.  I was surprised to see one lone house that some how managed to avoid the fire. The area around the house was completely burned, it was like a little oases in the middle of the burn.  I meet up the Joe, Alan and Nicole about half way through the burn area and hike back to the truck with them.  We were almost there when we hear someone calling, it is Bryon Green, the first to arrive from the Yuma group coming to camp with Alan and Nicole on Friday night.  We go back to the El Prado campground and pick out two sites for everyone to camp.  Shortly after we arrive Steven and Kaysha arrive.  Tents get set up and we go to the Pine House to eat lunch.  We start out as a group of 7 but before long we are a group of 12 as other thru hikers that Alan and Nicole have met join us.  Once we finish lunch we go back to the campground and just hang out.  Alan invited every thru hiker he saw to join our camp.  It was great fun hanging out with everyone and hearing their stories.  It was getting late and time for Joe and I to head back to Lake Jennings, so we say our goodbyes and wish Alan and Nicole a safe journey.  We will not see them again until we return to Yuma at the end of Nov.




Joe, Alan and Nicole