Peg and I woke up at an almost normal time of 7:30 and drank some coffee mixed with our non-dairy creamer, Irish Cream, and ate a Peggy-created egg, pork and spud dish. We both got in quick showers and then departed for our second assault of the road to Idyllwild. It is a pretty steep and very twisty road and there was roadside snow but the surfaces were good. We arrived in Mountain Center and turned north on CA-242 and continued on to Idyllwild, elevation 5300′. We drove around on the back streets a bit before going further up 242 to Pine Cove, elevation 6200′, where we checked out the Thousand Trails Idyllwild campground, one of the member parks where we get to stay without cost.
The park is located in a gorgeous setting but very recent snows seemed to present problems because quite a few of the trailers or motor homes were snowed in on the roads that were open. A large segment of the campground was closed and the dump station access road had a couple feet of snow blocking any attempts to dump tanks in a campground with very few sewer hookups. Perhaps I will brave the serpentine, steep roads to get to this campground but I believe I will wait until any season but winter.
CA-242 becomes the Banning – Idyllwild Panoramic Highway north of Pine Cove and the steep, winding road down the mountain is pretty spectacular. Vistas of the San Jacinto Mountains area on one side of the road and the San Gorgonio Mountain wilderness ahead make for a delightful treat as long as you are not driving. I rode shotgun today so I got some great views of the surroundings but Peggy was driving and kept her eyes glued to the tricky highway conditions so we ultimately closed the loop west on I-10 and south on CA-79 back to Wilderness Lakes.
Unfortunately, although one of our dogs, Jezebel, gave us a health scare yesterday but turned out to be fine, our other dog, Jack, got to go to the vet today. We suspected Jack had some problems but we sort of rescued him from a crummy place 4 years ago and have been spoiling him since. Today the cancer in him presented itself in a horrible fashion by filling his stomach with blood. Jack was euthanized about 7:00 PM.
All of the family is bummed. Jack was our wonderful friend and protector, a great example of a big, shiny Dobie and he will be missed.
For a few pix, click here