We're in Vacaville

WELCOME to our new Follower, Erin.  Erin, do you have a blog?  If so, leave me a comment so I can follow you, too.  Thank you for signing on with Me and My Dog, we're glad you're along for our adventures! And thank you for the wonderful day on the 4th! You and Steve are great hosts, and Mollie and Owen are little cuties. I had a great time! : )

Since I haven't posted in five days and I've been doing lots of things, this is a short version of recent activities.  I've been really busy and haven't had the time or energy to write posts.  The last few days I've been sick again : (  - bad sore throat and chest congestion, so I'm plugging along, but not quite up to par.  Every time I come to Vacaville I get sick - either while I'm still here or as soon as I get home. There is something here that gets me every time. 

Katie and I had a wonderful visit with Tom and his family, Katie loves to be there because they have a large lawn, and she can run to her heart's content.  We had a fabulous grilled dinner with the family and their friends Rick and Julianne, and we had the planned sleepover with Kennedy and Gavin.

 Graydin - 2

 Kennedy - 8

 Graydin, Kennedy and Gavin

 Rick and Tom

 Recognize the Kamada bar-b-que?

 Tom and Trish's Yard

 The Palms parked in front of Tom's

 Tom getting the backyard ready

Kennedy and Gavin - Sleepover with Grammy in The Palms.

Kennedy is faking being asleep - right afterward she went in the house, sick. : (

  Trish and Julianne checking out a friend's website on their computers.

Kennedy wasn't feeling well, so she left to go back to her room, and was sick half the night.  But in the morning, she came back and joined me and  Gavin and we finished the DVD of Hook that we started the night before.  Shortly after the movie ended, Katie and I took off.

I left Tom's at 10 am and drove up Highway 5, over the Grapevine heading north to Vacaville.  It was pretty warm. I had made a CD with all my favorite songs and played it as we drove.  It was such a good feeling to finally be on my way.

 Driving over the Grapevine - Highway 5

 

 Coming down off the Grapevine on Highway 5

We stopped a couple of times at rest stops to stretch, and continued until around 8 pm, when we stopped at Santa Nella at Anderson's Split Pea Soup.  I ordered a salad to go (I don't like split pea soup) and asked if I could stay in their parking lot overnight, and they said I could.  So Katie and I stayed there Sunday night. That's when I found out my A/C doesn't work with my generator.  I thought it would.  100+ degrees in The Palms, and I'm sure it was warmer in the bunk where we slept, or tried to.   Monday we got gas close by and continued on to Elk Grove, where we were meeting Kristy and Matt before going on to their house in Vacaville.

My son-in-law, Matt, has a sister Erin who lives in Elk Grove with her family, and they were hosting the family for 4th of July.  They have a beautiful home with a big yard and pool, so the heat didn't seem so bad.

 Steve and Erin's Pool in Elk Grove

We had a really nice day, and then drove to Vacaville, where I am currently parked in front of Kristy and Matt's.  I haven't yet had a sleepover in The Palms with Andrew and Lauren because of the heat, but it's cooling off more every day, and maybe tomorrow night they will stay with me and Katie. 

Yesterday we went to Lauren's Gymnastic class, where she is doing really well, especially for a 3-year old.

Lauren on the ropes.  She is learning how to skip, mount-walk on-and dismount the balance beam, somersault, etc.

Today Kristy is off for the day, so we are going grocery shopping and to Camping World to see if I can get a few things, and check on back-up cameras.

Then we're going to check out Solano County Campground, where I think I'm going to stay for a couple of weeks. It's nearby and I want to stay in the area a little longer.  My last couple of days here we're going to try to get camp sites next to each other at the KOA campground in Rio Vista.  Kristy and Matt have a pop-up, and when they got it last year, I got the idea of getting a motor home.  So, all this is their fault. : )

More from Vacaville next time!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Thursday, everyone!  : )

Saying goodbye to Santee Lakes, hello to Carlsbad State Beach

WELCOME to two new followers: 

Alan and Connie, their blog ends March '08 after traveling over six months and putting 5,076 miles on their motor home in the US and Mexico.  Thanks for following along with me and Katie - are you still RVing?

Bob, who writes The Caretaker Chronicles, lives in Vienna and has a very entertaining blog.  Check it out.  Bob, we appreciate your following us as we begin what I hope will be a long time on the road.

Thursday evening I started getting everything ready in The Palms for traveling.  It was easier than I thought it would be, since I have what I want out on counters, etc. I guess I don't have as many counters as some of you, especially the fiver owners. I thought it would take longer.  Anyway, I also dumped tanks, added fresh water since I'll be dry camping for over a week, and stowed the water hose. My neighbor, Mary, offered to help, and I told her I needed a supervisor, but wanted to do it myself because from now on, I'll have to know what/how to do it.  

 

 More photos of Katie and her friends, Buddy and Buster.

When I started, I figured she was "overseeing" from inside her rig, and as I stood there thinking how to undo the water hose without getting all wet, she came out and suggested I turn off the spigot, then go into The Palms and turn on a tap, that way I would use all the water in the hose and not get sprayed.  See?  That's the kind of info we newbies need. : )

 Katie and Buddy

She talked me through removing the waste hose and how to clean it out with my fresh water hose, then I stored it in the bumper "hose container" area.

Put the water hose away, lowered all the air vents on top and lowered the TV antenna.   We were almost ready to go in the morning.  I kept the electric connected so I could have coffee to take with me, and Katie and I went to bed.  I had my checklist with a couple of things still to do before driving away.

 Checking out the lake before swooping on for dinner.

 Another kind of birds flying overhead.

 

Sun is just starting to go down on our last evening in Santee Lakes.

 

I love the way this guy looked.

 White egret?

 
First thing Friday, I heated coffee, unplugged the electric cord and stowed it, removed the leveler blocks and stowed them, checked the roof from outside to make sure everything was done.  Lucky I did that, because the TV antenna was still up partway - that happened before and I drove with it up, seeing it after I was parked again.  I climbed up on the roof and saw that the antenna wasn't fitting into the slot properly to go all the way down, so I manually moved it and came inside and finished turning the handle to bring it all the way down. I'll have to make sure I check that from now on.  

Mary came outside then to make sure I got backed out okay, and at 6 am I was on my way to the beach.  We got there around 6:30, the same beach in Carlsbad that we stayed at before, and Katie and I got settled for the day. It was a foggy morning, and then a beautiful day and gorgeous sunset.  Really nice.  

 Encina Power Station across the street from the beach.

 Lots of people enjoying the beach on a Friday.

 Beach, sea wall, sidewalk, parking and street.

I was asked how I park at the beach.  This is a photo above - The Palms is right at the top of the line of parked cars.  There's a concrete sea wall between the beach and the sidewalk, then a wide area for parking, large enough for RV's, then the street.  You can park here from 5 am until 11 pm, so that's pretty much what I did when I was here.  From early until after dark.  

 Another of the same.

 There were a couple of these on the beach. 
To the left for surfers, to the right for swimmers.

And here are my last sunset photos from Carlsbad State Beach (Tamarak Beach):

It was calm, and warm, and beautiful. People were still on the beach, lots still walking arm in arm down the sidewalk, walking their dogs, just sitting on the wall or benches watching the sunset.  Very peaceful.

Around 9 pm we drove back to Lake San Marcos and stealth camped in the same parking lot as before.  

This morning Katie and I met my next door neighbor from the condo, Julie, for a last brunch at our local cafe, LeeAnn's.  (That's the parking lot we were in.)  So... since I was actually having breakfast there, we slept in until 9 and were ready and waiting at an outside table when Julie drove up.  We had a really nice brunch and catch-up conversation.  I'm glad I got a chance to see Julie once more before we take off again.  She was a great neighbor and I will miss her.

There is a truck stop gas station here in town with the cheapest gas around, so when I post this, Katie and I are going there to fill the tank, then I'll drive to Tom and Trish's house for a final day with my son's family, and an overnight in The Palms with Kennedy and Gavin. Graydin is too young to have a sleepover, so he'll have to stay in his own bed tonight.  Luckily he's also too young to know what's going on, so he won't feel left out.

Tom's going to bar-b-que Costco filets and shrimp for dinner.  He is a great bar-b-quer and they put on such a nice spread - it's always a treat!

After breakfast tomorrow morning, we'll be on the road again, we have about a 9 or 10 hour drive to my daughter's house in Vacaville, so we'll stop somewhere about half way to rest and sleep, and complete our drive on Monday, July 4th.

From Me and My Dog, have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  : )

The Palms is squeaky clean and shining, and goodbye Escape

Welcome to our new followers!  Running Liner, Nan, Jed's Mom, and Bunny Jeans Decor...and More.

Running Liner - they are not retired yet, but make short RV trips and hang out in their small RV.  This is a new blog, and she has lots of great photos posted so far.

Nan and Jed's Mom - I don't see a blog listed for either of you - if you have one, or start one, let me know so I can visit you both, too! 

Bunny Jeans Decor...and More, this new follower, Margie, and I met here at Santee Lakes.  She has two really cute dogs, and when Katie and I passed their site, of course the dogs wanted to get together, and so I walked over and was invited to sit down and visit.  We had the best conversation - it was really nice.  Margie has a blog about decorating that's beautiful and interesting - check it out.

WELCOME to you all, and thanks for following along with me and Katie on our Great Escape! : )

Well, The Palms got her wash and wax this afternoon.  It was a much better experience than I expected, of course I really didn't know what to expect.  The company is called Fresh Mobile Detailing, and is owned by Tyler Deno, a 19 year old "kid" who has a really good business going.   He has quite an operation - when they got there, there were three guys, Tyler and two employees, Josh and Adam, and they really moved.

From now on when I hear about "these lazy young kids," I will definitely have a story to tell the other side.  These guys worked hard for a hour and a half, they washed the entire rig from top to bottom, then applied a wax and buffed it out, the entire rig was waxed and buffed, 

the tires cleaned,

and the windows washed.  I'll tell you, they really worked, and it was hot out!  Tyler checked everything that was done and went over any areas that he wasn't happy with.  I was impressed with his attention to every detail on every part of The Palms.

I can definitely recommend Tyler and Fresh Mobile Detailing - you'll get your money's worth and then some.   They were happy, listened to my comments, answered all my questions (my son says I'm a nightmare customer because I always get involved and want lots of answers), but they were great and put up with me and my chatter and picture taking.

If you're ever in the San Diego County area and need a good company to wash and/or wash and wax your rig, give them a call:

And here she is, clean, shiny, very smooth:

Just look at the shine on that hood, if you click on the photo, you'll see a real reflection:

The decals look richer and I'd guess the wax will protect them from weathering as quickly.

He also installs radios/stereos/speakers, window tinting, and HID lights.   I'm sure he does just as good a job with those areas of his business.  Thanks Tyler, Josh and Adam, you guys did a great job!

And here's Katie, supervising in the chair,

and later in her new halter (see hated it when I put the other one on her, so I broke down and got a different one - she likes this one):

 

 Katie's new halter - pretty in pink ruffles

This morning I drove to work in my Ford Escape, and left it there.  Marc, one of our supervisors, drove me back to my campsite.  So... she's gone, and I'm sure going to miss her.
 

But Tom will take good care of her... much better care than I took of her, I'm sure.

It was a busy day, and now I'm going to get my Kindle and relax.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  : )

The Lakes, the car, the bath

Welcome to our new followers:  Joyce Gray, Longdog2 and Stargeezer.

Joyce and Longdog2 don't show a blog (yet), but Katie and I are very glad you are joining us on our full-timing adventure.  Welcome aboard The Palms!

Of course we all know Stargeezer, Al from The Bayfield Bunch.  Al, I've been reading your blog almost from the beginning of my RV dream planning, and have enjoyed your posts immensely.  The good times and the bad times, you're an honest, interesting man, and I love your photos.  Welcome aboard to you, too, I'm glad you've joined Me and My Dog as a follower!

Here are a couple of photos of some of the amenities offered here at Santee Lakes:

 Beautiful pool and hot tub area

Large pool

 Laundry - squeaky clean, ironing board, too

I was going to get a shot of the club house, but there is a pot luck every Monday night, and there was a crowd of people lined up filling their plates, and I didn't want to intrude since I wasn't participating.  It looked and smelled wonderful, though.  They also have free coffee and pastries on Thursday mornings, and this week there is also a free concert at 6:30 Thursday evening.   Friday is family night with games and cards and Bingo at 7:00.  Saturday there is a live band in the clubhouse. Lots going on every week for people who want to participate.  

This is a secure park, with gates that lock overnight. People who are staying here can get in and out after hours with an electronic gate access code.  The front part of the lakes is open for day use with an entry fee, and the rear lakes are for campers only.

This is the kind of park people come back to year after year, and reserve their sites up to a year in advance.  Some are lakeside, or near the lake, and others are in more park-like settings:

I'd  much rather be by the lake.  I might come back in the future and stay a few days or a week and stay closer to the lake. The cost is the same as the site I'm in now, but of course it would be the daily rate or weekly if I stay that long.  I'll make sure to call a few months in advance to make sure I get one of the sites I want.  I just talked to a couple who have come here for years, they are from Arizona, and they gave me their favorite sites by the lake, so I have something to go on when I come back.  Thanks Irene and Steve!

Yesterday outside the pool fencing, Katie went nuts on the lawn, rolling around like crazy:

She was full of energy, poor thing - she's always in The Palms or on a leash and she is such a runner, she can't get her energy out.  When she gets like that, I yell, "run, run, run!" and she starts running like mad, she is super fast and can run forever.  But when she has to be on the leash, I turn around in circles and she runs and runs around in large circles, still on the leash.  It's not the same as just taking off, but she loves it.  These large grassy areas by the pool and laundry are perfect for "circle running."

Katie stayed in bed this morning until 10:30!  I love it!  I did my Wii stuff, had coffee, checked e-mails, made some phone calls, took my shower, watched a little TV, and finally I got her up.  In the condo, we got up at 5:15 on workdays, but on my days off she was staring at me - an inch from my nose - every morning around 6 - 6:30 until I got up and let her out to go potty.  She is taking this retirement thing very seriously.  

When we took our walk, I headed toward a noise that had been going on for a while, sounded like a generator at the end of my loop.  Generators are not allowed here in the park, so I was curious.  It was two men with an RV washing business who were cleaning the RV at the end.  So I scheduled an appointment for them to wash and wax The Palms tomorrow at 11:00.  They were booked solid today, and their first job tomorrow is the big rig down the way from me - the huge one with the window cages for their dogs.  Those people are full-timers and have been coming here for years, I guess they pretty much live here, and I figured if they trust this company, I would too.  I've only hosed The Palms off once, but I don't know the history of how she's been taken care of, so I thought a wash and wax was a good idea before we leave Santee.  

They charge $3/foot for wash and $7.50/foot for wash and wax, but he said he'd give me $6/foot for both.   That's $144.  I don't know if that's reasonable or not, but I do know I'm not waxing The Palms.  I may wash her myself from now on if I'm in a place that allows it, but I can't see myself doing a wax job.  So we will start out clean and shiny on Friday.

My son is going to buy my car from me, so she will stay in the family.  I think he'll love driving it as a work car instead of one of the business trucks.  I'll drive her to the office tomorrow and one of the guys will bring me back to Santee.

So, as of tomorrow I will have only The Palms, and she will hold everything I own.  When I take off on Friday morning, I will truly be a full-timer - on the road.  I'm getting really excited about that.  I know I'm a full-timer now, but camping for a month at Santee Lakes doesn't exactly feel like an "adventure," although I think it was a really good plan to be here this long to get me and Katie adjusted to living here, and learning a little more about her.   

The Palms is set up and organized (and re-organized a few times) so Katie and I are comfortable and have everything I think we'll need.  I'm sure I'll come across other things that will be useful, but the only large purchases that are still planned are solar installation and a back-up camera.  Those are going to cost me, so I'll do research before I have them installed.

Another beautiful day in San Diego County!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday everyone!  : )

My Wii is set up, moving on this week

I've learned more about The Palms in the last three weeks, and feel more comfortable with the systems. Still lots to learn, though.

I took my car to CarMax on Friday, and they offered me a price within the range I was looking for.  Low in the range, but acceptable, so I'll bring it back on Wednesday and sell it to them.  My son mentioned maybe wanting to buy it from me for the same price, so either way it will be sold Wednesday.

The site on one side of mine has remained empty since Larry left over a week ago, but I have a new neighbor who arrived on Friday.  Paula is an older woman with a little dog, who arrived with her son and his friend to help her get set up.  The kids have had such a good time, they stayed until Sunday afternoon, and she is leaving this morning.  Katie loved her dog, Roxie, they got on really well.

I thought it was funny that we had three older ladies with their dogs, traveling solo, all in a row. Paula has a friend camping here who has a new kitten, three months old. She is leash training it - so cute. 

Mary and her dog, Ginger, left again Sunday for Arizona and will be back on Thursday.  We have become fast friends.  I got my Wii Fit Plus set up the other day, but I wasn't very careful packing the console and it wouldn't work, so I went to Wal-Mart and got a new one.  I was telling Mary about it, and she wanted to see how it worked, so she came over and tried it out and loved it. Saturday we went to Wal-Mart and Mary bought the Wii console and Wii Fit Plus.  She got it all set up and when I was walking Katie Sunday morning, I could hear the faint sounds of the Wii coming from her rig. : )

When we went to Wal-Mart, I left Katie in The Palms alone for the first time, and asked Paula and her kids to let me know if Katie barked while I was gone.  They said she was good, she only barked when they walked near The Palms, so maybe I'll be able to leave her by herself.  I closed everything up, lowered the shades, and turned on the Endless Breeze 12V fan, and that seemed to work.  I have her crate, just in case, and will use it if I need to, but I'd rather leave her loose in The Palms if she's quiet.  

I haven't done anything on my Wii Fit for a long time, and I've lost a lot of the balance, strength, and endurance I had built up, so I'm working on that again.  I'm going to try to put in at least 20 minutes every day. It's amazing that I actually have enough room in The Palms to do most of the things.  The running I have to do in place, of course, but everything I've tried so far I was able to do. I'm horrible with the Yoga, and that would take more room than I have, so that's my excuse.  No Yoga. Since that's so hard for me, though, it's probably the exercise that I should do. : (

I'm getting The Palms ready to travel Thursday afternoon, and plan to leave around six am on Friday.  I plan to go back to my beach spot in Carlsbad to spend the day Friday, dry camp in my usual place Friday night, and spend some time Saturday with my son and his family. (They get back from vacation Friday night.)  I want to have a sleep over with Kennedy and Gavin, my 8 and 6 year old grand kids, on Saturday night in their driveway.  Sunday I'll leave to start the drive to Vacaville to visit my daughter and her family, arriving on Monday.

Katie has been a little sweetheart, and is enjoying this lifestyle.  She is getting socialized with the other dogs here at the park, and is actually going over to some of them now.  She is getting even more attached to me since we're spending so much time together.  I don't know if that's good or not, but it is what it is and she seems happy.

 Katie and Buster

Katie and Roxie

Since I'm leaving on Friday morning, I'm already feeling like I'm in departure mode.  I'm going to get out my departure checklists and cut and paste them into one that will work for me.  When I was stealth camping before, I didn't have much in The Palms, and I wasn't hooked up, so it was pretty simple to stash things and drive away.  I don't think I'll have much more to do now, but want to make sure I have everything covered.

No photos today except the ones of Katie and her new friends.  I've pretty much snapped everything of note that we've been doing here.  I don't usually take advantage of the amenities like pools, gatherings in the rec room, etc., but maybe today when we take our walks, I'll take some photos of those things so anyone coming through this area will have an idea of what's offered.

After the first few days with the kids bugging me, things settled down and have been really nice and quiet.  The park is beautifully maintained and the volunteers (workkampers) are all really friendly and helpful.  They had a sign up in the office looking for volunteers, so if anyone wants to stay here and work, you might check it out.  They have volunteer sites in each area, I'd guess they have a lot of volunteers working, especially through the summer months.    The weather has been beautiful, cool in the mornings, warm to hot in the afternoons with nice breezes, cool again the evenings.  Full hookups and free wi-fi.  $690 a month in my size site which includes electric and pet fee.  Santee Lakes Regional Park and Campground.

NOTE:  I am adding this after reading my first two comments - $690 (monthly rate) is only $23 a day, and for San Diego I didn't think that was bad.  I was originally going to stay here while I was working - through December - and would have been bringing in a full time salary.  I thought that was a bargain at about 1/3 of the cost of my condo.  Now that I'm retired, that will all change and my "frugal" lifestyle will start in July.  (I had pre-paid for June.)  But - it seems like a lot of bloggers I follow pay more than that at the RV parks they stay in.  And they are not in California, or especially San Diego, which is really expensive.  I was surprised at the comments that this is expensive.   And happy - if you guys think this is expensive, then I probably will be paying less than I thought for future camp sites in other areas.  : )  What do you all think is reasonable for a night with full hookups?  I'm hoping to overnight free a lot by stealth camping and Wal-Mart, etc., but will occasionally stop at a park for a couple of days, or longer if I really like it and can afford it.

From Me and My Dog, have a nice Monday, everyone!  : )