Friday, February 27, 2009 - Colorado River Oasis, Ehrenberg, Az

I was expecting a FedEx pack from Monica so we hung around the campground, taking Hattie for a walk and I vacuumed. Well, the positively absolutely has to be there wouldn’t be here until 4:30, so we decided to head to the Blue Grass Festival in Quartzsite. As we meandered down the road, I spotted a FedEx truck. We pulled over and I asked the man if my package was on his truck. He said it was on another truck that was due in 15-30 minutes, so we headed back to the campground. We ate lunch then I check the FedEx website and saw it was delivered. Yeah!

Then…we went to the Blue Grass Festival. We walked around checking out all the vendors then sat and listened to some music. It was very enjoyable.

We went back to camp and Carl fixed dinner. I changed our next camping reservations. Instead of St. David AZ, we’re headed to Fort Mohave, AZ, which is close to Lake Havasu. We are using our Coast to Coast membership in this. Then I did my usual WiFiing and worked on the chronicles and my blog.

Thursday, February 26, 2009 – Colorado River Oasis, Ehrenberg, Az

We are at the Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, Arizona, right over the California Arizona border. When we first drove up, it looked a little desserted, but turned out to be rather nice.

We took Hattie for a swim at the river after breakfast and after I did my AM Facebooking. I talked with Monica. She checked our mail and is FedExing some stuff.
We planned on heading to Lake Havasu City, 90+ miles away but due to a late start, we decided to do something more local, so I checked for POIs on the Tom Tom. Well, the closed Point of Interest to Ehrenberg, Arizona was the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba. What? Well, so much for Tom Tom. We asked at the front office and they directed us to a town called Quartzsite that has lots of street vendors. It actually a flea market. The town is bustling from October to April, then it dies – it’s to HOT. As it was, it was very nice and warm. I bought a out door 9’ x 9’ mat for the RV, some earring backs, and Carl bought some snacks and a T Shirt. The man at the office also told us of a produce market in the area. The directions were: it’s off of 18th avenue next to a pink house. We drove and drove and just when we were about to give up, viola! There it was. Right next to the pink house. It was a small family run farm. We bought some fruit and vegetables and the gal gave us a nice canvas bag ‘cause we drove so far to find them. Nice, huh. We stopped at Albertson’s in Blythe for a few items then headed back to the park.
We again took Hattie to the river for her swim. She’s relentless! I Facebooked. I’m relentless.
Carl fixed bbq’d pork roast. Delicious. Heidi called. It was so good to hear her voice. I worked on Christy’s wedding favor, a wrapper for See’s Candy sucker. It’s very cute.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 – Joshua Trees NP / Colorado River Oasis, Az

Happy Birthday Mommy! We slept pretty good last night. The campground was very quite, so quiet I only brushed my teeth so the water pump wouldn’t’ upset the sounds of nature.
I made oatmeal for breakfast and washed up in the public bathroom. Needless to say, my hair was a fright! I’ll just pretend to be Goth.

We drove to the trailhead for the Oasis and Mammoth hikes, 3.5 miles, one way. It wasn’t the 3.5 up, it was the 3.5+++back. We went about 1.5 round trip, and took lots of pictures.
We left Joshua Trees at 11:30 headed to Arizona for our next leg of this trip.
We arrived at Colorado River Oasis RV Resort in Ehrenberg Arizona at 1:30, 2:30 Arizona time. Yes, they are one hour different right over the border. Arizona does not buy into that day light savings time bs.

It is very hot here, but with a slight breeze, it is very nice. After I checked my email and Facebook, we took Hattie for a walk to the river. The campground is right on the Colorado River, perfect for Hattie. We didn’t bring a ball, so we used bamboo sticks. That was OK, but Hattie likes to chew them up. We went back to the river, this time with her ball. Still forgot the camera. Like we really need more pictures of Hattie swimming after a ball

February 21 -24, 2009 Morro Bay, Joshua Trees and Beyond

Thursday, February 19, 2009 – Morro Bay
OMG! I’ve been so busy working on my Facebook page via high speed WiFi internet on my new pink Vaio computer, I shirked my camping chronicles duties. This will be our first long camping trip since I lost my job. But wait, there’s more. When we got home from our last trip (Bodega Bay, February 6, 2009) there was an ad in the paper for the exact computer I wanted, so I ran down to Office Depot, threw down my MasterCard and viola! I bought it. And I bought a MP3 player. I even went so far as to order a DSL line from Juno, which I’ll get when we get home.
The trip was easy, although Hattie did a freak-out and hid under the driver’s seat. What a dip.

We made reservations at Morro Dunes RV park at met up with Carol and LeRoy. This is not one of our club parks, so we had to bite the bullet and cough up big bucks for this place. The beach is right across the street so we first headed out for a run with the dogs; Hattie, Mazie and Amy. Hattie and Amy were in heaven. Amy looked up to her big cousin and followed Hattie into the water.
We went to town for dinner, our Christmas present to Carol and LeRoy. We ate at the Flying Dutchman – fish and chips.

The ocean roared and it sounded just like the soothing sound of the freeway at home.


Friday, February 20, 2009 – Morro Bay
We met up with Carol and LeRoy after breakfast and headed for the beach. Again, Hattie and Amy in their glory. After their fill of salt and sand, we put the pups in our RV’s and went back to town to check out the shops. I found, after much searching, a Morro Bay hoodie. Very cute, kind of a mustard yellow. We had lunch and were entertained by a couple of local sea lions that were begging for food from the fishing boats. They were competing with dozens of seagulls.
I wonder if I can put this on Facebook? I think I might have a Myspace page, so I’ll check that out.
While we were at the beach, Dennis English called and told me he proposed to Mary. I’m so happy for him. Mary is such a nice person. The date will be in 2011. I can’t wait!
We had dinner at Carol and LeRoy’s. LeRoy barbecued a tri-tip. Delicious.
After our visit with Carol and LeRoy, Carl and I settled in for the evening. I must admit, I’m hooked on Facebook and WiFi. Will I ever be the same?

Saturday, February 21, 2009 – Morro Bay / Tehachapi
I WiFi’d in my dreams. We took Hattie for her last romp at the beach after visiting with C&L. “We” cleaned up while I checked driving directions and campgrounds in the Bakersfield area. The weather started out cool and overcast but gave way to sunshine, just as we were leaving.
Well, she did it again. Hattie did a freak out and hid under Carl’s seat. I’m going to have to put up a baby gate! And why doesn’t she go under my seat? Do my feet stink?
We stopped at an Office Max so I could buy an ink cartridge for my printer. What a rip!
We decided to drive until 4:00 and then find a campground. We used the Tom Tom for POI’s, Points of Interest, campgrounds. The closest park at 4:00 in Tehachapi, Indian Hills RV Park. Much to our surprise, there was snow on the ground and it was mighty cold. We self registered and settled in the RV. No walks around this campground. This campground has hookups – water, electricity and TV.
I turned on my computer and it had WiFi, but… you had to subscribe to it, so I opted out. Instead of Facebooking it, I worked on my pictures. I want to keep them organized right off the bat and not let them get out of control. And then I ripped and sync’d some of my RV CD’s on my MP3.
Carl warmed up leftovers from home for dinner.
It rained last night and the wind whipped the RV a bit. It kept me awake, but Carl slept right through it.


Sunday, February 22, 2009 – On the way to Joshua Trees / Indian Waters
I thought the rain last night would wash away the snow, but it’s still here.
We stopped at the gift shop in Kramer Junction, a place we’ve stopped many times. This is at least the fifth time we’ve stopped according to the Chronicles but I didn’t buy anything. Remember, financial diet, unemployed, down sizing, etc. etc.

We drove for most of the day and decided to stay at one of our ROD clubs that was close to Joshua Trees. I called the first one, Desert Pools, and the do not take ROD members without reservations. Then I called ROD direct and made reservations for Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio. We got in! It’s a very nice park, most of the guests are snow birds. They have WiFi here for $2.00 a day. We walked around the resort. It’s huge! It’s very well manicured with lots of activities for the guests.
The weather is nice and warm, a change from the snow we just left. We had steak & broccoli for dinner and watched the academy awards.


Monday, February 23, 2009 – Indian Waters/ Joshua Trees National Park

We awoke to warm and sunny Southern California weather. We both showered in the showers, had breakfast, fixed sandwiches for lunch and headed to Joshua Trees. It was about an hour drive from the RV park. Joshua Trees was as beautiful as ever. Our first stop was at the Cottonwood Visitor Center. We got a map of the area and plotted our day’s activities. We wanted to find a campground that could accommodate our RV. We stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden. Dogs are NOT allowed on trails, geez, that makes it hard for us, so we didn’t go on the trail, but we did the death defying walk on the other side of the road. There were Cholla droppings all over the ground, little prickly pods that stuck to anything that walked by. At one point I had one stuck to my sock; they only want to go “in”. Then Hattie lifted her front paw and she had some on it. Carl took it off and we quickly left the area. We had lunch at Jumbo Rocks picnic area. Hattie and I did a little rock climbing,really little.
Then we went to Hidden Valley and hiked out a bit but we stayed in the sand and gravel type areas. We found quite a few campgrounds that we could take the RV tomorrow.
We stopped at Walmart in Yucca Valley. It’s amazing how much commerce there is in these desert cities. It hardly seems like they’re even in California.
I quickly downloaded our pictures on the computer when we got back while Carl made dinner, Cornish game hens and asparagus. Chado was so happy to see us when we got home. He was under the couch, one of his favorite hiding places.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 – Joshua Trees NP

We headed, RV and all, back to Joshua Trees. We camped at Cottonwood Springs, spot 4A. There were only a few campers and RVers. We had lunch then headed to White Tank Campground for the Ranger led tour at 2:00. Well, White Tank was a lot further that we thought, so at 2:15, we stopped and went for a short walk. We didn’t have Hattie with us, although she would have had a blast.
We settled in back at our campground and ventured out in our area. We did come upon a small Oasis. Tomorrow we’ll go again and farther.
Carl situated the RV so we would be able to see the sunset, but alas, the clouds interfered. There’s always Cynthia Court! After dinner we took a walk around the campground. By this time the clouds were gone. I couldn’t believe how dark it was, even with thousands of stars in the sky.