Wednesday, March 7, 2007
SKP Jojoba Hills Co-Op, Aguanga, CA - Feb 2-28
It turned out to be a good thing we arrived a day late, as there was still a rig parked on the lot we had reserved. We thought we would have to spend a couple of nights in boondocking, which was really not much of an inconvenience except we'd have to move again, but evidently the Office Manager got wind of our "plight" and got someone to kick the other rig off. Before we even had a chance to back into a boondocking spot the golf cart was there to lead us to our lot.
Jojoba Hills is yet another Escapee RV co-op, probably the most scenic and certainly the most expensive (still cheap for CA living if that's what you want), although all lots cost the same no matter what improvements have been made, as opposed to the other co-ops where a new leaseholder would have to pay for improvements made by earlier leaseholders. Our good friends Pat & Dennis have a lot here, and they made the reservation allowing us to stay. We always enjoy our time together, and this was no exception. Highlights of our sightseeing include Mt Palomar (more properly Palomar Mountain) to see the 200-inch telescope, a day-trip to a beach north of San Diego in the little town of Encinitas, and a hike to Palm Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert SP. The beach trip included a stop in Leucadia for some wonderful fish tacos. YUM!
We were close enough to Riverside that Doug's daughter Erin was able to come out twice (once with Bryan) even though she was in the middle of a huge financial restatement plus tax season at work. On the visit with Bryan, we decided to tour & then eat lunch at a winery that Erin knew of, since her work had taken them to a catered Christmas Party there. She unfortunately was a little unclear as to exactly how to get there, and after driving around for a while, she had to pull over since her car (a VERY CUTE new Cooper Mini) was about to run out of gas, and we were almost lost. 
So we three piled into our truck, leaving Bryan to guard the Mini, and drove down a mountain on a steep dirt road to the nearest gas station in Hemet to buy a gas can & gas, then back to reunite Bryan & Erin (& the Mini) and unite the Mini and the gas. 
We then drove around some more, finally locating the winery, which turned out not to serve food, which is why the Christmas Party was catered. Anyway, we wound up eating dinner (not lunch) at an upscale Italian restaurant in Temecula and Doug & Erin got some father/daughter time together and Doug got to save Erin and be her hero and a good time was had by all. We all slept well that night.
We didn't lack for things to do in the park. Doug got to play pickleball once, but scraped his knee so badly that he didn't play again. There's line dancing 3 days/week, yoga once a week (and it was evident how long it had been since we had last done yoga -- too long), movies ("Cars" and "King Kong"), a Super Bowl party, etc. as well as a large swimming pool, 2 spas and 2 saunas. 
We tried to get in as many card games with Pat & Dennis as everyone could stand, plus we played some bridge -- twice at the clubhouse, once at a duplicate club in Temecula (came in second in the novice group), and twice with our friend Alice Zyetz and a fourth.Our birding time seems to have dwindled. Still, we managed to see two new "lifer" birds that pretty much forced themselves upon us.
In the cg we saw an abundance of CA quail, which looks remarkably like the Gambel's quail of CO and does produce hybrids, making for interesting ID questions. While at the beach, there were MANY Western gulls, a very local but common gull of the west coast. We tried for a few more, but they were elusive due to the unusual weather patterns -- first too warm and then too cool.
As predicted, the electric cat bed is a big hit, and Amber tries to take it over, but Rainbow will defend her right to be on it when she's the first one there. Otherwise she slowly snuggles up to Amber & they look as cute as can be together. Also as predicted, we'll probably have to get another as soon as we have a mailing address again.
Our last 6 days at Jojoba Hills were spent in boondocking, planned as a way to save money, since it is one of the more expensive SKP parks and does not have a weekly or monthly discounted rate. We chose the end of our stay figuring that the weather would be more conducive to boondocking. Wrong! The day we moved the sun disappeared behind clouds and the temps dropped 15 degrees. We cannot run things like electric blankets or electric cat beds on our inverter, since it produces modified sine wave electricity that tends to fry the circuitry in modern heated blankets. Rainbow & Amber were not at all happy with this state of affairs and sat around looking pathetic or fighting with each other over imagined warm places.
To further complicate things, we bought a used blue-flame type of heater and are trying it instead of our old radiant catalytic heater. It does not produce as much heat directly toward cats on the floor but projects the heat upward. It feels quite pleasant for humans but the cats, especially Rainbow, are not happy about that either!# posted by Doug and Willie @ 12:56 PM 
