On the Road Again

A New Year, New adventures have started!  After 6 weeks of being in Northern California, we left on Jan 4^th heading to Oceanside, CA.  Honestly, we were so glad to have been able to stay in the Bay Area for that long.  We were able to see so many friends and family and to spend time saying a proper good-bye for now.   As I have mentioned before, Jerry retired on June 15^th. I was recovering from knee replacement surgery, and we were on the road June 18^th.  Not a lot of time to say good-bye to everyone!  

When we left in June, we knew we were coming back for the holidays. This time we really don’t know when we will be back to California. 2022 is all about the East Coast after we leave Arizona March 1^st.  Having the opportunity these last 6 weeks to pack in as much time with the people we care about as possible was huge for us.  We will be back, I promise.

In my last blog, we drove the Grapevine (Highway 5).  Why is that such a big deal?  Well, many times the Grapevine is closed due to snow, wind or major accidents, etc.  Thank goodness the weather was perfect until we parked in Gorman for the night.  We had reservations at the Pyramid Lake RV Campground.  It was a VERY old campground, but the site was level, which is a good thing.

That night we had 20 MPH winds.  Needless to say, we both did not get a lot of sleep.  This RV was a ROCKIN’!!!!!!!   We couldn’t wait to get the heck out of Gorman.  We left around 9:00 am on Wednesday and had the exciting experience of driving the LA freeways. 

Thank goodness we have RV GPS as it took us around the major downtown area of LA, but still we got stuck in a traffic jam due to a fender bender.  That was not a lot of fun.  Finally, we got out of the LA area and headed to Oceanside.  We were so excited to see the Pacific Ocean.  The sun was shining, the air was clear, and we made it without any incidents or “Oh SHIT” moments.  That is a major accomplishment on any travel day.

We are staying at the Oceanside Elks Club.  Yes, Jerry joined the Elks before we took off on our adventure.  It was suggested by many full-time RVers as there are Elks Clubs all over the country.  Some have full hook ups and others just electric and water, but all are very reasonable.  Oceanside’s has full hook ups and is very close to the beach.  The space is VERY tight as you can see from the photo.  We had the camp host, Jeff who was a truck driver for many years, help us back into the spot.  Thank God for Jeff.  He saved our marriage that day!  

We have wonderful friends that live in Oceanside, Margot and Louie.  We met them many years ago in Maui and have continued our relationship all these years.  While in Maui, Louie and Margot turned us on to the ukulele.  They took us to our very first ukulele festival while we were in Maui.  We loved it immediately! We joined an ukulele band when we lived in Brentwood, all because of Louie and Margot. We are so excited to be able to spend time with them while we’re here!

They are wonderful tour guides.  We are getting the opportunity to experience the train to San Diego, walking the beach in Oceanside, getting the tour of the areas where they film the show Animal Kingdom, and so much more.  You will get a chance to see some of it in our next VLOG.  So very cool!! We will be here for 5 days.  They truly are incredible friends for life! 

My Aunt Shirley and Uncle Saul also live in Encinitas, which is very close to Oceanside.  Our plan was to visit with them as well.  Unfortunately, we found out their Retirement Community is in complete lockdown due to Covid and they will not let us come to see them, even outside!!!  That was very disappointing for all.  Thank goodness for FaceTime!

Living the RV lifestyle has opened us up to being able to visit friends and family all over the country.  One of the major perks of life on the road.  There are many other perks to this lifestyle which I will be discussing in future blogs.  Now that it has been 6 months, we have experienced so much and have learned so much.  We cannot wait to share with all of you.

Just One More…..walk on the beach