February 23-28 Casita Verde (Casa Grande, AZ)

February 27 - The week has been really busy for us thus far while we are parked at Casita Verde in Casa Grande, AZ.  We were aware of a buyers' housing market here so began looking at houses with a real estate agent on Monday. By Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised that we had found a house that literally had our (MY) name on it.  Located at 1337 Judi Drive, there just wasn't anything not to like.  Not the house, the location or the price.  We made an offer on Wednesday, had the offer accepted on Thursday and signed the papers on Friday.  Pictures of the house are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/MollerPix/CasaGrandeHouse02?feat=directlink

Besides all the fun of house hunting, we enjoyed time with our friends Jack & Darlene and Gordon & Judy. We have been enjoying the weather here and walking most every day.  Life is good.

February 15-22 Cactus Gardens RV Park (Yuma, AZ)

N32°40.498

W114°28.638

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February 19

I thought Yuma was supposed to be warm in February.  Apparently that is not true. We have  needed jackets since arriving 5 days ago.  But at least we aren't roasting while waiting to cross the border each day from Tuesday through Thursday.  Takes about 3 hours in line (on foot) so there is a price to pay for good, cheap dental work.  I'd still rather spend time instead of money, though.  This is a picture of me in line an hour and a half in to what turned out to be 3 hours. The Border is off in the distance where you might be able to see the tiny US flag flying a little to the left of 12 o'clock position at the farthest point visible in this picture. It's a speck between the far two trees..  .

February 14, 2009 Salton Sea Rec Area, CA

N33°28.786'

W115°53.580'

A quick overnight stop at a very beautiful spot.  We arrived early afternoon and enjoyed the approximately 70 degree weather.  This picture was taken right outside the door of the trailer.  We enjoyed watching the many pelicans who were feeding and interacting.  It was a very cold night and since we have a malfunctioning furnace, we were happy to get in the truck Sunday morning  and move on to Yuma to  a location that has hook-ups that means we can run the electric heaters when necessary.  

February 1 - February 14 Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails (Sun City, CA)

N33°40.623'  W117°08.495'

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We were briefly lulled with three sunny days before things got cold and rainy. We haven't had many activities while here except for a few trips to the store, the repair shop and a movie to see Grand Turino. Anyone who has stayed at Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails will remember the frequent smells from the dairy farm that borders the preserve.  Also, the numerous geese and ducks who are unmerciful beggers, like these guys. 

January 18 - January 31 Soledad Canyon TTN (Acton, CA)

N34° 26.763'

W118° 12.178'

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January 31 - Have come to the end of 2 weeks that I'll never have back again.  All in all, fairly unsatisfactory time.  Partial dissatisfaction had to do with some trailer malfunction errors that are still unresolved.  The preserve seems to be in a state of decline since the last time we were here 3 years ago.  The high point of the past several weeks was our visit today to the Exotic Feline Breeding and Conservation Center outside Lancaster..  A very clean facility dedicated to the breeding and conservation of endangered felines.  I'll put a few pictures in the Current Photos section.  Off tomorrow to Wilderness Lakes (near Hemet, CA)  for a week.

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January 18 - Beautiful day to relocate from Santa Barbara County to LA County.  The orange trees and lemon trees are full with fruit; the sun is shining; and we have un-assisted cell phone service for the first time in a month.  I am writing this as a sort of place-holder and will add to the entry once we have some trips and/or adventures.

January 4 - January 17 Rancho Oso TTN (Santa Barbara, CA)

N34°32.187'W119°45.975

January 17, 2009 -  This is the last day of our 2 weeks at Rancho Oso.  It's been the best overall stay this season.  We enjoyed having guests, sightseeing in Santa Barbara and Solvang.  Only thing to mar the stay was a transmission problem that had the truck in the shop for a long weekend.  But a rental car was the solution to transportation and we enjoyed a couple of trips to the Chumash Casino.  This last week has been our get-serious and get-in-shape kick-off and we've been hiking the horse trails for about 2 miles every day.  Finally, we enjoyed a demonstrtion of stock dogs by a top trainer and judge here at Rancho Oso.  The stock dog demo was followed by a training session for bucking bulls.  The bulls are young and the cowboys put weighted teddy bears on them that are released by remote control.  The explanation of how stock dogs are trained and how bucking bulls are trained was really detailed and informative.  Tomorrow we move to Acton, CA to Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails.  But I'm going to miss Santa Barbara!

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January 8, 2009:  We have had enjoyable days since arriving Sunday at Rancho Oso in the Santa Ynez mountains in Santa Barbara County, CA.  We were joined by Carole & Jim on Monday for a 3-day visit.  Besides lots of good conversation (that means Carole & I talked our heads off), we made a trip to Santa Barbara and several hikes around the preserve were undertaken. 

December 21-January 3, 2009 San Benito TTN (Holister, CA)

N36°41.467 W121°18.024

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At the Pinnacles National Monument

December 28: Today, bright and sunny, inspired us to make an outing to the Pinnacles National Monument near here.  Managed by the US Department of the Interior, this is an excellent hiking area, formed by volcanic and earthquake activity.  Very strenuous and a rewarding view once we completed a mostly uphill hike which included a trek through a very dark and tight cave.  A flashlight was required in order to get through the cave.  I am left with the opinion that this is a place all should visit, and it would be preferable to do it at a much younger and fitter age!

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December 24-25 We locked up the trailer and drove to Fresno to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning at the home of our nephew and his wife. We joined Ray's sister Carole and her husband Jim for an overnight stay. Christmas eve was enjoyed along with at least 20 other people who gathered for a Cuban Christmas eve dinner of, among other things, roast pig, rice and beans.

We arrived back in San Benito about noon Christmas day in time to experience another one of the many earthquakes (minor ones) that happen here daily. Many are a 3 or 4 magnitude on the Richter scale. Others are as low as 2 or 3. It seems to be something that the locals pay little attention to. 

Seismically, this is a very active area. Where the San Andreas fault heads NW, it intersects with the Calaveras fault,which goes NNW from there. USGS map covers a fairly large area, and shows 60 earthquakes in the past seven days. Almost ALL of these are along the San Andreas Fault, SSE ofHollister.

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December 21: We left Manteca, CA after an enjoyable breakfast with Wilhelmina and the gang (I say "gang" because there are sooo many people who attend the weekly Sunday breakfasts.) Wilhelmina's kids, grandkids, great-grandkids all gather and enjoy each others company. We left in the rain and arrived in the rain at San Benito TTN which is near Holister, CA and about 100 miles southwest of Manteca. We'll be here through January 3.