March 26-29, 2009
Another trip to my son Dean's family in Oceanside, California
After
two delays I finally was able to make my trip south to Oceanside to visit my
son and family. I try to make the trip every three months, but this trip was four months or so since my last visit.
I had a
north wind push me through the valley, and I likely got very good mileage. I
took a side trip into Fresno to meet my cousins, Merle Jean and Ken, for lunch
at an IHOP restaurant. It's always great to get together when we can as I drive
through Fresno.After lunch I continued my drive south on SR99. I thought I'd
have to gas up somewhere along the
drive, but I made it to Frazier Park's Flying J with gas to spare. I put 67
gallons of gas into my 75 gallon tank, so I was running it pretty low. On that
same tank, I also made two trips to Brannan Island, near Rio Vista, towing my
boat. I'm glad that the prices are about half what they were last year about
this time!
Parked at Guajome Park near the kids' home.
Once I
arrived at Flying J I fueled up, as usual, and chose a spot in the parking lot
to spend the night. I poured a couple of drinks, settled into the couch and
watched some good satellite TV. Later I dug out a frozen dinner from the
freezer, tossed it in the microwave and had a good, quick dinner. By 9:00 or so
I hit the sack and spent a good, restful night.
I've
taken this trip many times, but I don't think I've ever driven through slower
traffic through LALA Land. It was stop and go seemingly through the whole city.
But as usual, when I got to Buena Park, the freeway widened nicely and I drove
at 60 the rest of the trip. It was an uneventful trip on down I-5 to Oceanside.
I dropped my jacks and was set up in my RV space at Guajome County Park in the
early afternoon.
My son
picked me up and took me to a local Italian restaurant where we pigged out on
some excellent food. I spent the afternoon and evening with the family, then
headed back to the coach for the night.
On Saturday morning, Dean brought my older grandson over the park where he and I tried to catch a fish in the park pond. We didn't have any luck, but learned later that there had been a fish die-off in the pond a few months ago. We're not sure, but maybe there are no fish in the pond anymore.
Connor ready to play baseball. As a matter of fact, he is the star pitcher!
My son and I went to lunch together, then spent awhile tossing the baseball around the backyard with the older grandson. Soon after, they dropped me off at the coach to rest awhile as they headed off to a Little League baseball game.
We spent the afternoon at their home, and as usual, in the early evening I returned to the coach. I turn in early to get an early start home Sunday morning.
I pulled out of Guajome Park around 0400 Sunday morning, and streaked through the LA area with very little traffic. It seems that early Sunday morning is the only time one can miss traffic in that miserable part of the world!
Streaking home through the Tehachapi mountains toward home - known as "The Grapevine".
I was
home just a few minutes after noon, having driven home with no stops. It’s
always good to be home!
