Today we went to the Pio Pico entrance station to prep for the crossover of our trailer from the not-so-good side of the park and into the better side. Unfortunately, it appeared that nobody was vacating a spot on the south side and the always-shaky Thousand Trails computer system was even less functional than normal. Since we didn’t have to move today, we were cut loose from any chores so we went to the kids’ house (actually, our house) to celebrate Halloween with the kids and to check out the tiny ones doing the Trick or Treat thing this evening. As a bonus, Sam’s spouse, Kate, is a wonderful chef so we also got to tubby up over there. We went home once the candy ran low.

Today I lost some weight by visiting our neighbor and delightful barber, Tracy. I prefer Tracy for several reasons: I get a terrific haircut, I can burn a fatty while losing weight and cocktail service is available. We also get a pretty good rundown of stuff that occurred in the ‘hood during our year-long absence because Tracy keeps up on those events.

We have already posted our name to the “crossover” list at Pio Pico which will allow us to move from the “Pio Pico North” section with partial hookups to the “Pio Pico South” section for tomorrow. We shot across the 35 miles from Pio Pico North to our neighborhood where our real house is located today for the haircut, which turned out very well, before hopping right back into the truck for the return trip. Afternoon traffic is terrible after about 2:30 PM weekdays downtown San Diego but we were lucky and got through right before it turned to shit.

Today we moved about 10 or 15 miles from Sweetwater Summit County Park to Thousand Trails Pio Pico Campground near Jamul. In our zeal to escape cold weather a few weeks ago up in Oregon, our schedule became a bit weird. Normally when we go to Sweetwater Summit County Park, we stay a week because it is very nice. However, at Pio Pico we don’t have to pay the $30/day at Sweetwater because we are TT members and can stay at Pio Pico for free. I like free. We also like the park although getting one of the upscale, full hookup spots in the “South Side” frequently requires an initial stay on the water and power only “North Side” until a full hookup space opens. We are on the crossover list for the day after tomorrow. We probably could have made the crossover tomorrow but I have a haircut appointment with our cute and superb neighborhood barber, Tracy, who was the last one to cut my hair back in April. I can’t miss the appointment because, in my eyes, I look like either George Washington or Albert Einstein, depending on the wind or time of day. To the myopic, I probably resemble a big, grimy Q-tip approaching. Tomorrow I will go back to looking a bit more lifelike.

Today we returned to our house in San Diego which is currently occupied by our daughter, our son, his spouse and their happy dog, Lili.

It was very nice to see our kids for the first time in seven months and to hear about what has been happening with our beloved offspring and spouses and dogs. Equally rewarding was noting the kids had not burned the house to the ground.

It is quite nice to not be required to contemplate moving for a while although we sure ain’t done yet. We will lay low here for a while for truck and RV maintenance, a couple weeks in Cabo San Lucas, doctor visits, inheritance and trust issues, Halloween, Xmas and New Year’s. Peggy is already hinting at a winter stay in Arizona. Sounds good to me, as long as there are birds and cactus.

Hooking up this morning, our initial concern was whether the trailer brakes were still working and, based on the display of the controller, they were. We happily departed Not Wilderness Nor Lakes TT in Menifee and continued south on I-15 toward San Diego County and our actual residence.

Traffic was pretty good all the way to our destination at Sweetwater Summit County Park in the Bonita/Chula Vista area but, during a particularly hard braking episode to avoid a veering driver, I noted the trailer brake controller was still acting fishy and I will need to fiddle with it further before we can count on it.

Sweetwater Summit is a very well-maintained facility with spacious RV spaces, full hookups, lots of birds, bunnies and coyotes plus gorgeous daytime and nighttime views to the west. We pulled into space 124, completing our big tour for 2019. This year we didn’t put in as many miles as some other years. We only went 10,000 miles since April, a record low. The trip was still fantastic.

Strange coincidences can be frightening, confusing and annoying. Back when we were heading north from San Diego in the spring of this year, we developed trouble with our electronic brake controller for the trailer when we arrived in Acton. The controller then would flash alternating codes indicating either an overload condition was occurring or there was a short in the system. Regardless of the code flashed, the brakes on our 12,000 pound trailer being towed by an 8,000 pound truck would not work, a condition that can thrilling when descending a long, curvy grade.

Today, when we left the Soledad TT park in Acton some seven months later, the same codes started coming up on the controller’s display. We thought we had fixed the problem last April because the controller worked perfectly for the 9,500 miles we have driven this spring, summer and autumn. We were wrong.

The drive for today started out as about a 2,000 foot climb before cresting the pass and making a 3,500 drop into the Riverside, CA, area. It was our preference that the brakes be functioning on the downgrade. We found some wide spots next to the road (there were lots of them, none shady) and tried cleaning and securing all the controller’s wiring connections and, initially, we got good results and would continue. Eventually, however, the codes and lack of braking would return and we would try more fooling around before continuing.

We crested the pass and the trailer brakes seemed to work although I applied the brakes very rarely, instead relying on careful driving, considerable butthole puckering and heightened attention to traffic issues happening in the distance in front of us. We were beginning to wonder if there was something about Acton that caused the screwy controller issues because as we descended they were absent.

About four hours later, we covered the two hours worth of distance and pulled into the Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes facility in Menifee, CA, our scheduled destination. As noted before, there is no wilderness nor any lakes in this campground although there are some man-made ditches filled with fetid, green water. Some campers here actually fish for the mutant fish that live in the liquid-filled ditches even paying $12/day for a funny fishing license. We won’t be in Wilderness Lakes for long because we are too close to home and the place is completely without redeeming features other than full hookups. We didn’t hook up to anything other than power so we could make a quick escape in the morning. Fortunately, since this is a TT facility, we don’t have to pay to stay.

We anticipate more driving again tomorrow so the plan today was to hang out near the trailer and rest. Tomorrow’s drive will take us up another pass and then crossing the metropolitan hell of the Riverside area initially on poorly-constructed desert pothole demonstration lanes transitioning onto freeways that have been under construction since before I started shaving and overpopulated with lunatics, talentless unlicensed operators and uninsured motorists.

The Tick Fire, west of us and mentioned in yesterday’s post, only gained another 900 acres overnight. The Santa Ana winds have been fierce and I imagine the firefighters over in the 95 degree temperatures are becoming fatigued. The local TV stations have helicopters over the fire and it looks a lot better today than it did yesterday. This afternoon the winds dropped down below about 25 mph which should make the folks hunkered down west of us happy.

We were back on the road again today for another fairly long drive of about 200 miles. We departed from Lemon Cove Village RV Park and headed southwest on CA-198, originally destined for CA-99. Long before we got to the freeway, we were directed to turn south on CA-65 to go through Exeter, Lindsey, Porterville and Terra Bella. The GPS indicated equal times but less mileage on 65 so we gave it a whirl. It is a good road through farmland and small towns and it is quite pleasant until south of Porterville where it runs through some lumpy grass prairie before entering an area called Oildale. I don’t think anybody actually lives in Oildale but there are rocking oil pumps covering the landscape on about 150 foot centers. There are many shiny pipes running in all directions and mysterious devices filling up the areas between the pumps and the multiple current oil derrick drilling operations, some right in warehouse parking lots.

Just a short time after leaving Oildale, we joined up with CA-99 south for a few miles before turning east up CA-58 into Tehachapi Pass. It is a solid pull from right near Bakersfield with a slight incline gradually transitioning into a slope that had all the big trucks plodding along in the right lane with their hazard lights flashing. Our Charlotte was a powerful friend and, although passenger cars shot right by us, we passed all the trucks without fouling up traffic behind us. We finally passed over Tehachapi Summit at a bit over 4000′ before starting a slow decline into the desert town of Mojave where we had to fill up on diesel. Charlotte may have loads of power but hard pulls up long inclines suck diesel. After filling up and thankfully being able to use their restroom, we turned due south on CA-14 headed for the Angeles Crest. About an hour later, we turned off in the foothills and pulled into Soledad Thousand Trails in Acton. We stopped by and registered and then went looking for a campsite. Due to the interesting funding method Thousand Trails uses to maintain their parks, the electrical system is very shaky which eliminates better than 50% of their available campsites. We eventually found a space with electrical power and sewer but no water. We are happily sharing the one available water tap with our neighbor, unscrewing his hose and filling our on-board water tank before re-attaching his hose.

It is hot here but the Santa Ana winds are blowing from the desert toward the coast so the humidity is around 7%. This type of weather frequently brings out the firebugs. Sure enough, by 4:00 PM, there was a huge plume of smoke visible west of us. We turned on the local news and found the initial plume of smoke was now a 3700 acre fire and the houses of many Republicans were in jeopardy. Since the wind is blowing from the east, we are currently safe but those downwind are in a fiery shit storm and we are glad we are not there. In accordance with the fauna in this part of the state, it is called the Tick Fire.

We rewarded ourselves with a dinner out this evening. We found a Mexican restaurant called La Cabana about 4 miles up the road and popped in for some Negra Modelos and terrific food. Prices were fair and the service was great. The last time we ate out, before tonight, was 700 miles ago in Redding. Thank God Peggy can cook.

Don’t click the link if you don’t want to see Oildale. https://photos.app.goo.gl/X1cH8bSQVfYAr2br5

This morning we found out that the park’s maintenance guy doesn’t merely drag the park’s clanking, screeching and scraping Gannon around (see yesterday’s post) on days when it might be necessary. He does it every day, including today. As far as I can tell, the park looks identical before and after. However, we did find out that the folks we suspected of making the loud bass thumping noises a couple nights ago and who had departed were not the culprits. The culprit was Mr. Gannon Dragger who dismounted and came over to apologize for making the obnoxious racket right before he blamed it on his “old lady” who was allegedly cleaning. He suggested he didn’t hear it until after dark. I did not ask for more information.

Today our sole venture from the trailer was a short spin into Lemon Cove to top up the diesel tank and ogle some very nice old wooden houses near the only store in town. That gave us ample time to sit in the shade outside and enjoy the surrounding scenery and to misidentify the numerous songbirds that live in the park’s trees. There are a lot of Western Bluebirds, we think.

Since we are on what we consider as the fast track through California, we like to lay low for a day or two between travel days to recuperate. Yesterday we were on the road for more than 5 hours, a long time for us elderly types to be doing combat with young drivers recklessly operating faster vehicles, wild-eyed careeners, thoughtless lane changers, urgent quests to find restrooms and cops.

And after last night’s bass and thump serenade lasting well past dark, we spotted what we thought were the noisy types leaving this morning and taking their obnoxious music with them. Unfortunately, a park employee arrived this morning with a tractor equipped with a Gannon drag-behind tool well known on construction sites as an ample noisemaker. The employee dragged this appliance around for quite a while, making sure nobody wanted to remain in what was previously a very quiet park.

So today we tried to avoid the obnoxious racket and did a bit of driving, over to the town of Woodlake where we filled up Charlotte’s ample fuel tank with $91 worth of diesel. We believe that is the most we have ever been required to pay since 2014, when we started this adventure. California’s fuel prices are truly frightening. Less than 14 days ago we were getting diesel for less than $3 in rural Oregon while here in the Golden State we have found only very few places with fuel costs less than $4/gallon and that’s for biodiesel, which is not recommended by Ford in their diesel engines. In Woodlake we turned up CA-245 (the northern ¾ being possibly the most serpentine road in America) for a ways before returning to Woodlake where we rewarded ourselves with some drive-in ice cream.

That’s about it. We went back to our trailer and turned on the air conditioning and poured out some cocktails. The irritant with the Gannon had quit by the time we returned but it was difficult to discern if he did any good. The place looks exactly the same as when we arrived yesterday although it is much quieter.

We took some pix of the Lemon Cove area highlights. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bSVWzfqiPSxe3mhq6