San Diego (Oceanside), Ca Again
July 2008
Sunrise at Frazier Park's Flying J Plaza; LA traffic would be next...
Thursday, July 31, 2008 Day 1: Home to Frazier Park via SR99, I-5: 254 miles.
It was again time to head for Oceanside, Ca, near San Diego, to visit my son, Dean, and his family. My grandsons are seven and three years old, and it's important to me that we learn to know one another. I'm old and high strung; they're young and loud.
Here's one of the grand advantages of a motorhome: When things get too loud at their place, I can head to the peace and quiet of the coach and actually be in my own home while visiting the family. Every time I visit my son, I leave home on Thursday and drive to Frazier Park, near the summit of the "grapevine" in the Tehachapi Mountains below Bakersfield. I spend the night at the Flying J Travel Plaza there, then drive through LA to Oceanside on Friday. It's the worst drive I know of, because LA traffic is the worst traffic I ever have to deal with. But I time the drive to be mid-morning, after the commute. The drive can still be a nightmare, but not as bad as the commute. I then spend Friday afternoon and evening and all day Saturday with the kids, and leave Sunday morning around 4:00 or so. That way, I streak through LaLa Land when the traffic is nearly non-existent.
I stay at San Diego County's Guajome Park, just a couple of blocks from my son's home. When the kids rattle my nerves, I ask my son to drive me to the coach - and I get some peace and quiet for awhile. This system works very well.
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Friday, August 1, Day 2: Frazier Park to Oceanside, CA via I-5: 154 miles.
The drive through LA was uneventful except for a few slowdowns. There was one notable back up on the north bound side that went on for miles and miles. I didn't see the problem, but I was glad to be southbound at the time.
I arrived at Guajome Park around 11:30 a.m. and settled into my space. The only RV connection I use at this county park is electricity, and that's the most important. They also have water, but I don't bother, using onboard water for just a two night stay. They also have a RV waste dump area, but on a four day trip, I don't bother with that, either. The park is very rural with lots of walking paths and even a pond with various ducks and geese. The place is very quiet and the RV spaces are quite far apart, giving one the feeling of being quite alone.
Traffic in LaLa land. It is not pleasant.
Streaking through the much improved area that begins south of LA and runs clear to my exit in Oceanside.
I spent a wonderful couple of hours with my son having lunch at an outdoor table overlooking the harbor in Oceanside. It's become a tradition to have lunch there on my Friday arrival. We're both boat guys, and find the harbor a wonderful and peaceful place to spend some time. We then went to their place and I spent a bit of time visiting. By 8:00 p.m. I was back in the coach for the night. It had been a long day.
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Saturday, August 2: Family visit day.
Jacks down at Guajome Park near the kids' home. This park offers some well secluded spaces, and I always reserve this one. I have electric, but no sewer at this site. But for a four day trip, I don't need to dump tanks 'til I get home.
The day was spent as I usually spend my full day visiting the kids. I get ferried back and forth as their schedule and my nerves require. Breakfast was a Starbucks breakfast sandwich brought to me at the coach by my son as he returned home from a trip to town. Connor, my older grandson, joined Dean and I for lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant where we all pigged out righteously. I spent a couple of hours in the coach during the afternoon relaxing, then back over to their place for dinner. I was back in the coach by 8:00 p.m. I planned to leave well before sunrise to get an early start home - especially to beat the traffic through LA. As usual, it was a good visit and it was grand to see them once again.
