March 1 to March 7, 2003

Saturday March 1:

It is warm enough to not need the furnace at 4AM;  I do bundle up, as it is INTERNET time!  Electricity has better uses than to run a FURNACE…  :-)  We have a good digital connection and lots of business to catch up on after two weeks unconnected.  By 11 AM we are pretty much finished and ready to continue on to San Diego 110 miles south.  The drive is pretty, with some interesting valley ranches.

 After driving through some heavily snow covered mountains and down toward the big city, traffic gets more congested as we drive past attractive but tightly packed housing filling any flat spot of land available.

We continue toward the Sam's Club parking lot we hope to overnight at.  Despite the detailed computer generated directions and GPS, we get off track and miss a highway ramp; Claire expertly drove the RV up a STEEP residential street, and there was Walmart, perched in a large lot carved out of a hillside, and CROWDED.  I dismayed at ever finding two car slots open for the RV, but the other end of the long lot was EMPTY....next to Sam's!  We parked, relaxed a bit, then went to shop Sam's.  The pleasant young manager gave us permission to park overnight in his lot, emphasizing that was a Walmart corporate policy, as long as we were gone during the days. OK!  That seems to suit our schedule!!   ;-)  He suggested we move to the back of another adjoining lot, where it was quieter, there were other RV's, and more level parking slots. Whatta guy! :-))  Dinner is burritos with left over chili and lots of freshly chopped veggies...  ;-))  It does not take long to finish most Internet business, as the signal here is strong.  The financial site that was down is now working so we can pay bills.  :-)  Time for bed; the website can wait!

Sunday March 2:

It's 50.6 under the RV at 5:45 AM  There is plenty of battery; over 75%!  We check mail on the net, download a virus update, prepare to finish the website.  Plan is early departure for Balboa park today to make sure we find parking;  Internet business can be finished there!  The drive there was not per plan; the expected exit shown as a dot on our map was not on I-5, but we blundered into the park, milled around, and finally found the intended parking lot; it was FREE!  The park is GREAT; so many beautiful places we can't possibly include them all.  Here is just ONE example.

I can't help wondering who funds it...many of the buildings were built for two world expositions held here in the first half of the 20th century, but maintenance alone to keep it in its immaculate state must be BIG BUCKS!!  The pools have fish which are keen to show their color in the afternoon sun.  

The park is a kids place too, and they play everywhere in the ideal "fall" weather.  :-)  

Numerous national groups sponsor individual little houses displaying their cultural highlights.  Here is a Japanese garden sponsored by San Diego's "sister city" in Japan.

As might be expected, this is a nice place for young lovers to spend a sunny weekend afternoon, and really is kinda nice for those of us 'more experienced' lovers too...  :-)))

 The sun was fading fast as we left the park;  we were not permitted to park overnight here, but two reasons we might not want to try to rest here became obvious almost from the start.  The World Beat Center across the road put out a constant rhythmic drumbeat.

This was drowned out only by the low flying planes on final approach to San Diego International airport!  :-))

 These babies came over L O W over the hills of the park, and with plenty of sound effects...  This is about as much fun as we could have in one day, so after eating dinner, doing dishes, and TRYING to walk the kitties, we headed to Sam's from a now dark and deserted parking lot.  The drive home after dark was a horror show; twice around a 3 mile loop to find we COULD NOT get to the road we wanted despite the connections indicated on our maps....the ramps overlapped horizontally and paralleled on DIFFERENT LEVELS....grrrrr   It's a five mile detour on a different freeway to get "home" to Sam's.  It does always seem so much more difficult after dark too.....  It was time for bed fast tonight, and sleep came quickly!

Monday March 3:

Slept VERY late, it's 7:45AM with NO sun, and the temperature under the RV is 49.  We decide to do Mexico today and leave the zoo for a possibly rainy day tomorrow.  While looking for other possible Walmarts to stay at, I came upon the Chula Vista info center.  It was near the Chula Vista Walmart; we want info on Mexico, Chula Vista is near the border, and perhaps there we can find out where there is a convenient Post Office too.....  We put the trash in Sam's convenient cans and get an early start. Brunch can await arrival at the visitor's center.  A we leave Sam's lot, we notice a Post Office in the same shopping center where we have just spent two nights...  DUHHH!!  We stop; a bird in sight is worth MANY blind searches.  A tax bill and package get mailed, stamps get bought.  On to Chula Vista, this time Claire navigates.  We find the visitors center without difficulty, I park in an RV parking slot.  This place is GREAT!  The lady on the desk is quite helpful.  She did not know how much parking a large vehicle cost at the border, but cars were minimum $4.  She then suggested we could leave the RV in it's free parking slot here, and take the trolley to the border.  Those over 60 get the senior rate, $1 each way.  Now THAT sounds like a deal!!!  We buy our tickets from the ticket machine with a $5 bill, and receive $1 quarter sized COINS in change; oh, no, they're BAAACK...grrrr.  We dispose of all but one in the ticket machine;  that one goes in a special place far removed from our quarters....  We eat lunch in the RV to ease the temptation of the Mexican street food vendors...  :-)  The trolley ride is fast and easy, although we must stand.  We mill around after exiting the trolley, and ask where to go; through a one way revolving gate, and over a foot bridge crossing I-5 where signs prohibit photography.  We end up in what looks like Mexico, but questions about a bus get us to the San Diego bus...huh????  We are told we are NOT in Mexico, but in the free trade zone in between.  We find ANOTHER revolving gate, and another pedestrian bridge over the Tijuana river.  

This one is lined with merchants and solicitors...we are in Mexico.  The arch in the tourist shopping district stands out prominently.  I am amazed at how confusing this border crossing place is; we have never seen a border town without clear directions on how to get across the border......I do hope we can get back!  :-)  The license plates on cars emphasize that we are now in the Mexican state of Baja California (BC).  The walk to the shopping district is about a mile.  I am about to photograph a burro with zebra stripes tethered on a street corner when the owner wants money.   PHOTOGRAPHIC opportunities of the burro is the product he is selling.  I pass....  We see one of these "opportunities" on most street corners here.  The items for sale are not different from other border towns; the prices seem higher though.

We price Purry's pills; a box we paid $3.20 for in Algodones costs $3.98 here.  We are well supplied, so pass.  We wander past Hotel Caesar, originator of the now famous Caesar Salad.  

We walk to the end of Revolution drive, then turn back.  The tall arch in the center of the tourist market area guides us better than the map.  We walk back towards the border, observe the line of cars waiting to cross 5 lines wide and stretching out of sight to the south heading our way, and finally find the pedestrian line to return through customs.  It stretches out of sight to the north;  we buy a large coffee and stand in line. We notice a number of small bicycles being pushed through a special line for bikes, with no wait.  They have number tags on them and appear to be rentals.  Our line moves in spurts; over an hour later we must pass through an airport type metal detector upon entering the building, but then another long line is ahead.  We ask a bike pusher what the deal is; he replies they are rented for $5 in Mexico, then returned on a truck for re-rental.  I'm not sure WHY the US government continues to support such a scheme with a special "bicycle only" line, when it is obvious that such a scheme would not grow up if there were not usually excessive delays in customs here. Why not more lines for pedestrians?  When we finally get to the customs officer, we get through in seconds with our passports and a verbal declaration that we brought nothing back.  We both vow never to cross the border in Tijuana again without a very good reason.  This wait has taken over 1.5 hours.  A woman who crossed a few ahead of us in line boarded the trolley, and I heard her tell someone on the cellphone that she had waited two hours....  :-((  We return to the RV and drive to the nearby Chula Vista Walmart;  it is the first we find in CA with no overnight parking signs.  Oh well, there are enough bars on house windows in this town that perhaps it is best we move on.  We select a Walmart of   I-15 north of I-8, and easy to get to the zoo from; not closer, just easier.  :-)  On the way out of Chula Vista we find a Chinese restaurant advertising a buffet, and decide we've earned it after a hard day in Mexico.... :-) It is under $8 each, but not at all noteworthy.  Claire drives to the Walmart we've chosen after dark, it is easy to find, and we settle in next to many other RV's.  The traffic noise from I-15 is noticeable, but sleep comes easily again, eased occasionally by the sound of rain on the roof.

Tuesday March 4:

The parking lot glistening wet from rain at 6AM, and temperature is 51 under the RV.  It felt damp and cool, so I started furnace. By 8AM the sun is shining, but the forecast is for showers all day and for the Mardi Gras celebration in the Gas Light district tonight too.  We though that might be a better take in than the zoo today if it rained; at least there is no money lost if we pack it in...  :-)  After we call, we find that there is a $10 fee to ENTER the fenced off streets of the gaslight district tonight.  We decide instead to capitalize on the research we've done on trolley stations and visit Old Town San Diego and heritage park, one of the stations we'd considered to park at for the gaslight district.  We find parking scarce, but finally find two aligned spots that would take the RV in an out of the way large lot.  Out here the parking lots are sometimes laid out with adjoining rows' slots not aligned; this results in us taking three spots instead of the required two...we try not to be more piggy than necessary.  Old Town is the site of the first Spanish settlement in California, in 1769.  There are interesting forested trails to hike, lots of labeled trees, shrubs and flowers.  The Victorian houses in the historic district are privately owned, but beautifully maintained.

One even contains a doll shop.  The California state "Bird of Paradise" is in full bloom everywhere, and is spectacular...

Oh yes, that is the state FLOWER...but we both really do hope it does not fly up anyone's nose!  :-)  From high atop the very defensible hill that Cabrillo chose for the Presidio, we look down upon the intersection of I-5 and I-8.

I now understand WHY we might occasionally get lost in such mazes.  :-)  We hike 2.8 miles, and I am ready to stop, but Claire wants to check the shops.  She returns as I'm walking Purry;  he is grazing on the grass and stops when she approaches.  I'm happy he has not eaten much....  :-)   We depart for nearby Point Loma, and after some milling around, the GPS leads the way.  We find OUTSTANDING scenery, pass a national cemetery on Ft Rosecrans, and find a national monument at the tip of land overlooking San Diego's harbor.  The visibility is not as good as we'd find on a clear day, but the busy harbor overlook is still interesting.

 We do not see any whales out to sea passing southbound to Baja California, but we expect that most have already completed the migration from their arctic summer feeding grounds.  The lighthouse was enough of a reward for the walk.  

This light was actually located TOO HIGH on the hill, and was often obscured by low clouds; it was replaced before 1891 by a light down lower on the point at the coast.  When we walk back, we see a movie crew has moved in with three large trucks.  We visit the statue of Cabrillo overlooking the harbor, and a young lady setting out snacks for the crew volunteered to take both our pictures.  We'll save you from yet another picture of JUST US.  This one at least has a scenic 1854 historic lighthouse for background.  :-)

 She said they had been lucky earlier in the day with their shooting, finishing just as the rain started; she hoped their planned shooting here would go as well.  She did explain that the cloudy rainy weather they were working in today was not a serious problem for them, as it is so rare.  She was dressed in a heavy coat, but we were wearing rain gear with hoods, and glad for them.   As we returned to the RV, we saw a large motorhome had joined the Seabreeze in the parking lot;  it was associated with the filming crew.  The kitties missed us, and competed hard for attention.

 We are especially happy to see Purry's coat return to it's prior black sheen, visible here as a reflection hear his tail, since he has been on the thyroid pills.  He's a DIFFERENT cat, no longer seeming so OLD. :-))  Pookie of course continues to outgrow his skin and stretch his harness, already at it's largest setting. :-)   We drive out through Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, with its long lines of tombstones standing at rigid attention on beautiful grounds overlooking the harbor or the Pacific.  

The fort was used for coastal defense, defending San Diego harbor from sea attack in WW2.  Bunkers from the Army Artillery batteries remain, but doors are locked and there is no public access to the interior. We proceeded through near rush hour traffic to Walmart on Murphy Canyon Rd where we had spent the previous night.  I had not even cleared the driver's seat when a security guard knocked and said there was a sign posted in one driveway prohibiting overnight parking; we'd be towed and ticketed if we stayed.  This was not a driveway we had used, and indeed was hard to enter through due to lane restrictions on the road.  We said we had not seen it, and planned to move on.  As we ate dinner, the TV showed pictures of the rain falling on the Mardi Gras celebrants in the gaslight district; THAT did not look like it was $10 worth of fun; we'd made the right choice for our day's activities.  We did dishes, then moved the seven miles to Sam's on College Ave.  It was as always, empty except for a few cars and the same two RV's that had been here before.  It was also quiet compared to the Murphy road location; as they evidently do not object to RV's staying several nights, as long as they move in the daytime, we'll overnight here until we leave San Diego.  We relaxed for a few minutes, then bed time.  The activity of the day made sleep VERY easy this rainy night!

Wednesday March 5:

It rained quite a bit overnight, and was cool in the AM; 47 degrees under the RV.  It's furnace time again at 6:30 when I awake, but at least the sun is shining on the curtains.  :-)  The TV news reports numerous accidents due to black ice on I-8 east of San Diego in the mountains.  I'm happy to be here and not moving.  :-)))  We depart before 9AM for the World Famous San Diego zoo.  This time we vow to follow the signs to Balboa Park/zoo.  The route takes us into downtown city streets.  Yes, there are signs; no, the roads are not great for this size vehicle.  We brush too close to a parked truck unloading at a market and the bikes catch his mirror.  Tom, the driver prefers cash for the damages, and estimates it will cost him $60 for a new mirror.  The deal is quickly done, as we are blocking traffic, and we drive off with his receipt after restricting the bikes back away from the road edge by tieing them to the ladder with Purry's leash. We soon arrive at the zoo, and find parking plentiful.  We are inside at 9:45AM.  This is an undescribable zoo; imagine a zoo where you are close to the animals in a natural looking habitat.

Many of the display cages are just COVERED with vegetation, yet there is NO SMELL (well, maybe just a tiny smell from the exotic river pigs).

 Despite the vegetation, the animals are encouraged to "hide out" in plain view by use of favorite perches, heat lamps, or other clever "trickery".  This fancy feathered bird is freely exhibiting his finery on the cage screen..  :-)

 One of the highlights of this zoo is their panda breeding program.  I was shocked that only 1000 pandas remain in the wild, while 150 are in captivity, most of those in China.  Pandas spend most of their time sleeping, and much of the rest of it eating.  

I guess it is no surprise that we catch them all snoozing.  :-)  

The polar bear display is impressive and we are fortunate to catch this guy in a playful mood in the water.

He played with the empty plastic water bottle, even losing it for a time under rocks in his pool.  These koalas are nocturnal animals, but are convinced to choose a visible place to sleep by clever use of heat lamps.  

This Andean Condor is the largest flying land bird.

It's 12 foot wingspan keeps it's 30 pound weight gliding aloft effortlessly at heights of over 4 miles in thermal updrafts while it seeks prey or carrion.  It's neck is unfeathered skin to avoid fouling of feathers by carrion, as is a vulture's.  These Alaskan brown bears at 1500 pounds are even larger than the grizzly.

 What do these guys do in the woods?.... Just about anything they want!  This two humped camel looks ENTIRELY too pleased with itself, but I'll not tell why.

 There is a small trickle of a clue left in the photo though....  :-)) On that note I think we've covered as much of the zoo as we can, although there is HUGELY more to see there.  As the closing time neared, we elected to return home with 30 minutes time remaining; no, we did not see everything,  but missing the giraffes and some hoofed animals was not too disappointing.  We did see lots of them in Sanford Florida's very fine zoo last winter.  It was too bad we missed the humming birds, but we were too beat to notice they were there on the way out.  We got our day's and dollar's worth out of this place; now we must recover our energy, sort the pictures, and move on. We spent the WHOLE DAY here, walking to the point of exhaustion.    We felt the $19.50 admission fee was justified, and being well spent by the zoo too. The drive back to Sam's after dark is through narrow city streets again. There just does NOT seem to be a good way to use the plentiful freeways to get to and from this park.... :-(  A woman walked from a bar to open her driver's car door in front of us....I stop quickly, she turns around looking up at us with a dazed expression, then flattens against her car as I drive past.  It is still close to rush hour, and traffic is heavy.  When we reach the freeways, the driving becomes easy an we know the way to Sam's well by now.  We find two new large RV's parked in Sam's lot tonight.  GREAT, the more the safer!  Dinner is left over tofu stir fry and rice, warmed in the microwave.  It is thankfully quick, and after watching news and finishing the dishes we are off to bed.  Claire is too "tired" to sleep, so watches TV for a while.  I wake up at 1:30AM to some distant murmuring I think is loud voices;  it continues for a while, not close enough to really disturb, but then a muffled crack that could be a shot; or was it something else????  I do NOT want to know and do not peek out; ignorance of such things is what keeps us safe in these unknown neighborhoods.....the talking soon stops and I drift back to sleep.

Thursday March 6:

It's 49 under the RV; We plan a fast Sam's shopping run before our departure up the coast.  I plan the trip on the computer as Claire shops and uses Sam's ATM.  We depart and find the driving easy, as rush hour is past and we've selected all freeway routes out of San Diego.  We get glimpses of the sea as I-5 runs north along the coast.  The roadside is covered many places with flowers, beautiful to look at.  The passenger side mirror shifts position suddenly, and I find an exit to pull off and go up on the roof to adjust it and tighten the screw that holds it.  This is coming loose just TOOO often...grrrrr!!  We see signs on the road we've chosen prohibiting trucks over 1 ton.  We go back, and find a small shopping center on another road for lunch.  We consider doing laundry at the laundromat here, but pass; yesterday's zoo exertion is still too fresh.  :-)    We continue to San Clemente state beach, where we find they have no spaces that will take RV's as large as ours.  They will allow us to dump and take on water for a $4 senior day use fee.  This is good, and it will allow us to photograph some of the fantastic scenery here too.

We park and walk the steep trail down to the beach.  We see a gang of prisoners working on the park grounds.  The trail passes under a railroad track running right ALONG the beach; AMTRAK has been marketing a trip on this line as a tourist attraction.  Claire prepares for her first contact with the Pacific;

We are fully dressed as a surfer carries his board into the 60 degree water WITHOUT a wetsuit; even Claire is disbelieving.....brrrrrr.  Claire makes contact, but has no strong desire to submerge further.  She says she has been in colder water, but not recently.  :-)  A train comes along the track.

By the time the camera focuses, from my position near the tunnel looking up at the track, we all get to do a suspension safety inspection on the locomotive moving at 50 mph.:-)) Well, we do not ALWAYS get the picture..... :-) We return to the RV and shower before dumping; we never pass up an opportunity for a hot shower when it will not permanently drain the water tank!!  :-)  We are not sure where we will spend the night, but will first go to check at the San Clemente Walmart, then on to a state beach further north with larger spaces if we cannot stay there.  The Walmart has signs posted "No Unauthorized Parking; no camping".  :-(((    I decide to ask, as other RV's are parked there.  Walmart says they have no objection to us parking overnight; the city posted those signs, and nobody has ever gotten into trouble parking there. Oh well...  I take that to be authorization, so we stay.  :-)  Claire has already started dinner, and it is ready soon after I return; spaghetti with Claire's marinara sauce....MMMMMMMM good!  We turn in after dishes and making coffee for the AM.

Friday March 7:

It's 47 at 5AM, with fog.  I would start the furnace, but fear I need all the electricity to restructure the website.  It seems to restructure, but the heavy thought required to keep track and make it all tie together is…kinda PAINFUL  :-))  We will not know until the files are uploaded and the linked sites tested whether we have fully succeeded.....  We leave San Clemente early, headed for a Walmart with gas in the LA suburb of Lakewood, then on to Oxnard where we hope to spend the night in the Walmart or a state campground.  We drive on the Pacific Coast highway, CA Rt 1, right along the coast.

 It is beautiful, and we pass the numerous California coastal towns we have always heard about; now we have a better idea where they are.  Huntington Beach is much flatter than the rest of the coast has been, very reminiscent of the palm lined Florida beaches.

 Huntington Beach is UNLIKE the Florida coast an important way; all sorts of oil pumps are lined up for miles just inland of the highway.

They are partially hidden behind visual screening fences to limit most motorist's view of the "unsightly" piping, pumps, and apparently some ongoing new drilling.  We sit high enough to peer over the fences into the interesting operation.  We drive into greater LA around midday; traffic is not as bad as we'd envisioned, but smog is worse.  Haze has been present all morning as we drove along the ocean, but we'd attributed it to the forecast morning fog along the coast.  Here it became OBVIOUSLY smog, and my eyes burned a bit.  This 2PM picture looking down on the city from a hill tells the story.

The Lakewood Walmart appeared just where predicted, but had "No overnight parking" signs.  I had to go in to fill the gift card for gas, and asked a floor manager if we could stay overnight; she said we could ask the manager who was busy an it would probably be OK, but it WOULD NOT be OK without his approval.  She said each manager could deal with the problems in his own lot, and had no idea if the Oxnard store would allow us to stay.  The message here is to always ASK; the signs really do not mean "no";  they say "no" and mean "ASK"!  We drove through pretty seacoast towns with picturesque beaches, homes on pilings perched on the cliffs over the pacific, built so close there is no room to walk between them, no good place to even park a car away from the highway.  I'm sure these fall into the category of "If you must ask the price you cannot afford it" luxuries....  The scenery is magnificent, even with the haze.  Point Mugu is attractive.  

Oxnard is a vegetable growing area, and the fields are full of workers.  We find the Walmart, and are a bit disappointed to see the "No overnight parking" signs.   We immediately ASK however, and are cheerfully told it is OK, limit is two days near the store, longer near the street; check with security to be sure you are in an OK spot.  I see the Pinkerton Security car, and ask if we are in an OK spot, the manager had said it was ok to stay overnight.  She seemed incredulous that the manager had approved it, but said we were in a good spot. Shortly after I'd returned to the RV there was a knock on the door; I looked out before opening, and saw the uniformed security lady I'd talked to in the car.  She said the lot would be patrolled all night, offered any assistance we needed, and said in answer to my question that this was NOT a safe area.  The RV parked 5 spaces away had been burglarized when it's owner was out, that is why Pinkerton Security had been brought in.  Well, this looked a lot better than many places we've stayed, but we thanked her or her offer, and redoubled our usual security precautions.  Our main defense is denial of intelligence to a potential attacker.  We rely on his being reluctant to invade that in which he does not know what he faces, especially if he does not see tempting valuables.  Tonight we take extra steps to be ready to repel boarders, and keep the cellphone easily accessible.  Dinner is red cabbage and pork, and it cooks long and slow with delicious odors emanating as I work the web page. The eating is at least as good as the anticipation, too.... It is soon time for bed.  (Oh, just so there is no week of suspense, the security precautions worked perfectly; we had a quiet uneventful night!  ;-)  )

PLANS: We are in Oxnard CA, enjoying the scenic California coast.  We would like to proceed north until we reach Muir Woods and Reyes Point north of San Francisco before heading inland and south, starting the long trek home for Easter.  We intend to stop briefly in Albuquerque NM for another look at Indian jewelry, then choose Interstate 40, 20, or 10 for our eastward journey, depending on the weather; this winter being what it is, I'd predict I-20 or even further south I-10.  :-)

THAT'S ALL for this week; until next time, ENJOY!  We are!!  :-)