May 14, 2007 - Huntington Beach to Riverside, CA ~ 50 miles

I got up at 7:30 AM to get the coach ready to move so that the street sweeper could clean my side of the street. So, while waiting for his arrival, I lowered the coach off the leveling blocks and got it ready for the drive to Riverside later this morning. There is a whole checklist I go through to make sure everything inside and out is ready. I also went inside Russ & Marcia's home, had a cup of hot tea and visited with everyone. The street sweeper came about 9 AM. So I got into the coach, fired it up and drove around the block several...

Apr 8, 2007 - LA Sightseeing and more new friends

We wrapped up our stay at Dockweiler Beach with a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits and its Page Museum, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The La Brea Tar Pits is a fascinating place. Up until about 100,000 years ago, the area that is now Los Angeles was under the water of the Pacific Ocean. While underwater, marine sedimentary layers formed and some areas became rich with fossil fuels produced from ancient sea life. One such area was a place known as Rancho La Brea. When the ocean waters receded, the Los Angeles basin became land. And...

Apr 2, 2007 - Los Angeles, CA - Preparing for cruise!

We arrived at our next stop near Los Angeles on Friday, March 23. We are about 75 miles from LA in a small town called Aguanga. We have a really neat site in an Escapees Park called Jojoba Hills. There are mountains all around and lots of horse farms in the area. While here we have been working on finding a place to store the RV and pets while we are gone on our cruise. Luckily we found a place for both close to where we are staying. On Friday, March 30 we drove down to San Diego (about 50 miles) to see the world famous zoo. We had such a...

Mar 12, 2007 - Back on the main land.

The trip back to the main land, was a adventure in it's self. We had not taken a flight since 9-11, and don't want to do it again. Our flight back to san deigo was by way of Las Vegas? Once we got to our home, did a quick hook up and headed off to a free camp site (to hear a sales pitch). While there both of us were tired, and basiclly run down. Karen however was running a temp of 103!!! I packed her up and of to the nearest VA hosp. She went and got pneumonia. Two days in the hosp and some good drugs took care of that. In the mean time I...

Dec 20, 2006 - Back with Family and Friends for the Holidays

We were disappointed to miss out on seeing the South East states for the winter months but we couldn't be happier spending the Christmas Holiday with our Family and friends here in California. Charlene was excited to visit the old neighborhood and spend time with her friends she missed so much! It was great to see everyone again! We hope that all of you had a great Holiday season too and wish all the best throughout the New Year!

Dec 4, 2006 - LAGUNA BEACH - OC California US

Nach dem ganzen Bierkonsum vom Tag zuvor, war der 6 Uhr Wecker ein Greuel. Aber raus aus den Federn, musste den 9Uhr Flug kriegen, um um 14.20Uhr in Los Angeles zu landen. Und hier war ich nun im typischen Fernsehamerika, aber ueber die angenehmen 20 Grad hab ich mich natuerlich nicht beschwert. Hier hat mich Scott der Schotte in Empfang genommen, den ich hier zum 3. Mal wiedertreffe und somit langsam bekannt sein sollte. Er hat sich waehrend des letzten Monats seit wir uns in Guanajuato verabschiedet haben, zusammen mit "Trucky" von...

Nov 16, 2006 - Dreamweaver has a set back

Upon arriving at Cabrillo Isle marina in San Diego, we smelled diesel fumes, and thought it was just from the exhaust. We had powered all the way and didn't really want to think it was anything but that. The following morning confirmed that there was fuel in the bilge. Those of you that know me well, can only imagine how I respnded. Now here's poor old Don having to deal with a boat that has a major problem, and a crazy person. Thank you God for making him a patient person. It turned out to be the starboard fuel tank leaking. Those of you...

Nov 10, 2006 - California Part II - The End / Kalifornien Teil 2 - Das Ende

Since we wanted to mail another parcel to Germany, we thought Thursday might be good for the errands, so Wednesday was Disneyland day. First there's a queue to get into the car park, then there's a queue to get onto the little train to Disneyland, and finally you're in the queue to get in! Many things had changed in the past 17 years; for starters, the car park back then is now California Adventure, a second Disney theme park, new attractions have been added and old ones retired. But Disneyland is still an overall experience, unlike any...

Nov 5, 2006 - Back in California / Wieder in Kalifornien

Thursday we were up early to head to O'Hare for our flight to Orange County. We dragged our stuffed bags down the stairs as the airport shuttle arrived, and realized that our 4 pieces of luggage, plus carry-on bags, was a little more than most in the bus. But soon we were off to the airport, and thankful that we had left early, because it was bumper-to-bumper along the freeway, and by the time we arrived, we were very glad we had not decided to drive ourselves, because we would have been really nervous about arriving in time. After we were...

Oct 25, 2006 - Laguna Beach, California

We went to Laguna Beach three years ago on a trip back to the states from Ireland to visit some MBNA friends and we could not resist returning on this adventure. You may have heard of or seen the TV show of the same name (which I believe is the 90210 of the new generation). I have not seen the show myself, but I can understand why they would create a series based on this paradise! As you can see from the photos, the community is carved into a hillside overlooking the Pacific. Almost every home in the area has a panoramic view of the ocean...

Sep 5, 2006 - Grand Terrace, CA

We made it to the Terrace Village RV Park in Grand Terrace, CA. This is the closest we could get to either Santa Monica or Malibu for the wedding. We are 72 miles from there. We only traveled 61 miles on this leg of the journey, but it couldn't be helped. On the other side of the mountain from Palm Springs, the valley is just filled with wind mills on Wind Energy Farms. It's really impressive. We will drive into Santa Monica on Friday morning and spend Friday and Saturday night at the Santa Monica Travel Lodge. You really appreciate the RV...

Jul 1, 2006 - Home Schooling! "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" - W.B. Yeats

I figured one of my earlier posts would have to be about home schooling our daughter, so lets get the ever-present question of "how about school for your daughter?" out of the way. We gave this A LOT of thought, but we believe that ultimately the benefit she will reap from seeing the country will by far outweigh any educational deficiency she may suffer (which I doubt will be the case) by not being enrolled in a public school system (which has so far served us well) so we are no longer stressing about this. Home schooling "K" is a means to...