The Journey Continues - Part 8

The Journey Continues

Leg 8

Last Stop - Prado Regional Park/Anaheim Hills Tennis

November 25, 2007

November 25, 2007 -- Settled In Chino – Last Stop

It’s late Sunday afternoon. It was sunny when I got here. Now the wind’s picking up and there’s a solid sheet of cirrostratus clouds covering the whole sky and obscuring the sun. It's cooling off quickly.

I’m at Prado Regional park in Chino. It’s a big , really nice park with a lake and lots of fishermen/women, tons of soccer fields, it's "Soccer Sunday" so there were a million people here earlier, and they have a fair number of camp sites – RV and tent.

I stayed here last year for a couple of weeks and like this place. When I found out I couldn’t stay at Lake Casitas over the Thanksgiving weekend, this was my first choice down in this area. But, they, too, were totally booked causing my temporary lay-over in Pomona. When I got here just before noon, most of the RV sites were still full. I had to wait for the man and his 10 year old son who were in my spot to leave before I could pull in and hook up. But now I can only see 3 other RV’s. The Holiday Weekend is over and everyone is on their way back to normal.

The only negative about this park is that it abuts a Dairy Farm and has an equestrian center and so, when the wind is calm and the weather is warm, there are flies around here. It’s been so long since I’ve been anywhere where insects were an issue, I have a bad habit of leaving my screen door open. I’ve already done it twice today and so there are flies inside. I have to consciously close that screen door or those nasty little flies are going to own me. I had to search some, but found my secret weapon....my fly swatter. Yes, an old fashioned fly swatter. As much as I hate to kill living things (any living things) I make exceptions to my moral code for flies and ants. They just bug me. And, of course, when you smack a fly with a fly swatter, then you have the little ugly corpse to deal with. I'd much rather do it in Mr. Miyagi fashion and just grab the buggers in my chop sticks. Then, whether they lived through the grab or got crushed, I could easily either turn them lose outside or drop them in the trash in one operation. No separate corpse issue. That would be nice. However, my hand eye coordination, my hand speed, my ancient vision, and my chop stick skills aren't up to Mr. Miaygi's standards. But, I'll keep trying. If he can do it, so can I.

Here are a few pics of my spot to give you the idea.

(The trees get pretty full in the summer, but as you see it's no forest. But it's open, with big roomy spots and very peaceful and quiet. This is obvously from behind...looking SSE.)

(Here we are -- the next couple from slightly different persepectives -- looking from the open field on my Port side out towards the SW. You can see, there's plenty of room around here.)


(Now we're on the other side -- the Starboard side -- with a few shots looking the opposite way. As you can see, I have a pretty big "side yard" here.)



I’ll be staying here until the Anaheim Hills Tennis Tournament is over. I expected the first round matches to start on Tuesday, but my age division isn’t starting until Wednesday and the finals are on Friday. I’m booked here until Friday, so if I’m lucky enough to make the finals, I’ll see if I can extend one extra day. If I lose or have to drop out because of the groin issue, I’ll leave here on Friday.

How about those gutty little Bruins????????? I know everyone’s laughing about next week, but we were every bit this bad last year coming in to the SC game and completely ruining SC’s entire season. Can the Bruins do it again? No offense to the Trojans, but let’s hope so. We’ll see........

REPLY TO COMMENT

Hi VEG -- By the time you see this, you will have survived the little bity airplane ride and you'll be back home. Glad you're enjoying my TravelBlog.

I trust the rest of your Hawaii trip (after we talked on Thanksgiving Day) was peaceful and relaxing and fun. If I don't see you next week, we'll schedule something for the week after. Of course, if you want to bring Blake out to Anaheim Hills on Wednesday for his first tennis tournament, I have a late morning match and I'd take you guys to lunch at Knowlwood (remember Knowlwood?) after. Think about it.

Love you.

November 27, 2007 – Red Sky At Night...

Working all day today, mostly on my book. I’m struggling to put an index together before I send it to my editor and it’s rather a pain. I finally figured out the system, but it’s still a pain. And since I have to read it to do the index, I keep making additional changes and corrections. I thought the text was done a while back, but I can hardly look at a paragraph without tweaking something.

One of the good things about living in my Motor Home is that I’m never more than 6 feet or so from being outside. And, unlike most RVer’s, I keep everything open as much as possible.

Most RV people, I’ve noticed, keep their shades and curtains and mini-blinds closed all the time. I guess for privacy. I’m the opposite. I keep mine open almost all the time. If people passing by or parked next to me have nothing better to do that look in at me, I figure that's there problem, not mine. I like the light and it gives me the sense of more space and really the feel of being outside but without dealing with the elements.

Anyway, I was just sitting here working away with all my blinds open and my door and windows open (screens closed) and I heard this strange sound from outside. It’s very quiet here and the sound was faint. It got a little louder. Then louder. I soon realized it was a horse at full gallop.

I looked outside and there was a man or woman on a horse racing up the trail. I’ve ridden horses just a little tiny bit and I don’t’ think ever at a full gallop. It has some sort of appeal, though, doesn’t it? Watching that horse and rider scream by made me think (for a second) that I’d like that experience. Don’t know why, and it’s probably not as fun or exhilarating as it looks. But the fantasy of it holds some appeal. (Maybe it goes back to my playing Pony Express Rider days?)

That’s when I noticed the sky.

If the old Red Sky At Night adage is correct, tomorrow should be a beautiful day.

Take a look.

REPLY TO COMMENTS

Chel - - Yep, it won’t be long now. I expect we’ll see each other within a week or so. I’m excited, too. Can’t wait.

By the way, this spot is not exactly gorgeous. Big Sur is gorgeous – spectacular. Many of the other places I visited on this trip are truly gorgeous. This is nice and clean and open and roomy and very quiet. I can sit outside and play my guitar as loud as I want and won’t be disturbing my neighbors. I like the big RV spaces and the roominess of it. I don’t feel like I’m on top of anyone. That has a lot of appeal for me. But gorgeous? Not really.

Love you. See you next week.

November 29, 2007 – Thursday In Chino

Sadly, this is my last official day of “travel.” At least on this particular Journey.

I would gladly just keep on moving around. America is an incredible place and I encourage anyone reading this to think more about vacations and trips IN the Continental United States and less in Mexico, Europe, Asia, Hawaii, etc. We have it all right here.

I’m grateful that the 21st Century gives me the freedom to work from my Motor Home from wherever I am and still be able to go wherever I want. It’s very awesome.

On the other hand, I’m eager to see my family, including my grandson, Blake. He just turned 1, I haven’t seen him for a couple of months, and Vanessa says that since I last saw him he’s learned to read, write, talk, walk, run, and throw a football. We’ll see.

Tomorrow I’ll head back to Escondido and hook up at my old favorite RV Park for the month of December. That will give me a good chance to catch up with the family and local friends.

Then I plan (assuming my health and groin) are OK, to move down to the Desert for the month of January so I can play the 4 big January Tournaments down there. I did that last year for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. A tournament a week. It's fun.

Yesterday I got to play again for the first time in a month. Met up with Bill at the Anaheim Hills Tournament. He was too good for me and won our match 4 and 3. As I’ve said many times before, and not just in my Travel Blog, virtually all the Seniors who are willing to put in the time and effort to play competitive tennis at our age and at the level we’re playing at are just great guys. Bill did not disappoint. A very good, consistent player. Way more consistent that me yesterday, that’s for sure. A gentleman and a tough and fair competitor.

In spite of the extreme wind and the loss, I had a great time and was, as always, just plain grateful to be physically able to get out and run and sweat and compete hard. I accomplished my main goals: to get out and play a match and have some fun; to test my groin injury; and, most importantly, not do any more damage to the groin.

Mission accomplished. I had to ice it afterwards and am icing it as I'm writing this. Honestly wouldn’t want to play today. It’s pretty tender, but I don’t think it’s worse than when I started. No additional damage done.

And, if you note the smile on Bill’s face, you can assume he was happy with his well deserved win and also, like me, simply glad to be out there and able to “Just Do It.”

Even though this is my last day of my “trip,” I’ll shoot a pic or 2 of my Escondido location so you can get a sense of it when I get there and over the weekend I’ll write some final thoughts on my 2 month Journey and Travel Adventures.

So, if you’re interested, keep checking back.

Plus, I think I’ll just keep blogging anyway. It’s rather mentally cathartic for me. And, of course when I head down to the Desert, that’s a whole new Travel Adventure, so I’ll definitely be online for that.

So you’re all welcome to visit on an ongoing basis if you want. And, of course, feel free to post your own Comment(s) any time.