…and I will go to Texas

The first part of the above quote is: “You may all go to Hell”, it is attributed to Davy Crockett after he lost a bid to become a congressman from Tennessee. As we are getting back on the road, we are heading to Texas to take care of some medical procedures, since that is our home state. Ironically, as we are also leaving California, I do feel some kinship to Davy and his feelings.

Hold on though, we weren’t leaving California immediately. We headed down to Hemet CA for a few nights. I was hoping to meet with my cousin in the area but schedules did not line up. However, we did meet some very nice neighbors at the Golden Village Palms RV resort. They were fellow Airstreamers and we met them in passing years back at an Alumafandango but we were able to reconnect this time around.

While we were in Hemet we got a phone call from our realtor in AZ that is selling our late mother’s house. She stated there was a water leak in the yard and it appeared to be the water main from the street! We were planning on swinging by the house on our way but this meant we were going to be there a bit longer. Good thing we are retired and had over 2 weeks to get to TX!

We stopped off in Quartzsite for a rainy night.

We took up our normal location in the driveway and coordinated a plumber to repair the water main. We were able to get it done in a very timely manner. We also were able to get a yard service setup. We got moving again after 5 nights.

Our normal parking spot.
Local grocery store ready for customers of a certain age frame.

Last year we stayed for a while at an Escapee’s Co-op park. These are locations where you can purchase an interest in the park which gives you a site to park your RV. You can also augment the site with non-residential buildings to make your life easier. The one we thought we would try is the one in Benson AZ. I was thinking of going to Tucson but this was just a bit south and with their ‘New Visitors’ special, it became very attractive. They also had a place for a week at under $100 (that includes our electrical usage).

The Benson Escapee’s park is very nice. The Co-op portion is very attractive and might be something we look at in the future. We took a few day drives around to Tombstone, Bisbee, etc. One evening we went to see some Airstream friends: Rich, Eleanor, and Emma. The park has a lot of activities to keep their members busy. I went to genealogy talk. They had some outside entertainment one evening and we also attended the weekly music jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpzfkRF2Dw
‘Our’ spot at the Escapees Coop.
Lunar eclipse

Since we spent a well deserved week in AZ it was time to get moving to Texas. We had a bit of ground to cover. We first made to Las Cruces, then into West Texas. This was definitely NOT the beautiful part of the trip. We spent the night in Fort Stockton, TX at a Passport America spot that looks like it caters to the oil industry. It was cold and windy, we even had a few icicles from the water the next morning.

NOT the sign you want to see if you have an Airstream!
Our spot at Fort Stockton, TX
This was the locking system for the door in the restrooms!
However, the paper towels must be GOLD!

We were happy to leave Ft Stockton behind and work our way through West Texas. The next stop was the South Llano River State Park. This was a very nice location. We took a short walk down toward the river, saw numerous birds and where the flooding happened about 6 months ago.

We were able to try out our new fire pit!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obBvc9ElJbw
Armadillo sighting!

The next stop was Johnson Creek RV park near Kerrville, TX. This time we were there for 2 nights (Passport America) so we could unhook the truck for the first time in 3 nights!

We had made it to our time (Feb 1) to start our month long stay in Henly TX. On the way there, we ran over an oil drip pan on the road and suffered a minor injury to the trailer.

It looks like a simple repair, just have to get the plastic part from Airstream.

Now that we are here, near Austin we get to start our chores!

Between the holidays

We were at our house during Thanksgiving but the day after we headed to the SF bay area to visit our family there. As usual, the issue was finding a place to stay with the trailer. Our go-to location is transitioning and only have 2 spots now that would fit our trailer. We opted to stay in Pacifica at the SF RV Resort. The last time we were here, RV’s could back up to the cliff and hear the waves crashing. Things have now changed. There has been such erosion that area has been closed off due to safety concerns. We were only there for 3 nights.

We headed south from there to Paso Robles. This is another location that we have stayed at many times and there used to be only one major RV park there, Wine Country RV. This time we tried a different one, Vines RV Resort. It is a very nice park and, as a bonus, a Passport America participant. We were able to visit some of our usual locations in that area while we were there. Here is a sunset from there:

After 4 nights there we headed to our next stop, a favorite, Catalina Spa and RV, in Desert Hot Springs. This leg was over 300 miles, which we try to avoid, so we decided to break it up. We did an overnight stop outside of Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park. It was a nice place for an overnight but a bit pricey and, alas, the oranges were not ready to pick!

We stayed at Catalina for 8 nights and took advantage of Passport America with them also. We always have a good time in the Palm Springs area and we were biding our time for an upcoming event. The mountains got some snow on them while we were there:

Our next stop was Van Nuys. We were heading to the Hollywood RV park, we knew it as Balboa RV park. We have stayed here also and like its’ proximity to many things to do.

We primarily came here because we had tickets to a filming of Jeopardy. I love Jeopardy and have always wanted to see it taped so I decided to get tickets. Roxie thinks I should go on it sometime but I KNOW that would be the episode where the questions were about Opera or English monarchs!

Unfortunately we got a phone call that the Jeopardy taping had been cancelled but they offered us seating at a Wheel of Fortune taping. We accepted. They put us on the production guest list for a different date. It was OK with us even though I would have rather seen Jeopardy.

Prior to the day of the taping, we met up with our friends the Chens. We met them at the Sriracha factory in Irwindale CA for the factory tour. They have wanted to go to this tour for a while and we are always willing to on one. The story of the founder of Sriracha is really great, you should read it here. Here are some shots from the tour:

We then drove to their house but stopped off at the California Yuan Yung Buddhism Center. It was nice and serene with good views from the hills:

One night while we were down there, we went to eat at Lawry’s Prime Rib. I remember going there once as a child and seeing them carve the prime rib from a hunk of beef in a cart. They do this right at your table. Not much has changed. The food was very good, the ambiance was great and the service was fantastic!

The next day was the Wheel of Fortune taping. We first went into the wrong gate at Sony studios but since we were early it didn’t matter too much. When we went in the right gate, we couldn’t fit the truck in the parking structure and had to park on the street (meters). The assistants started lining people up and we were taken first (remember we are on the production guest list) and this was a good thing! I forgot that my pocket knife was in my pocket. This is a no-no. I had to walk/run back to the truck, then back.

I made it back with plenty of time. They brought all of us into the studio and seated us. They gave us instructions on when to clap, when to be quiet, when we can go the bathroom, etc. They taped 3 episodes that day. There was a LOT of clapping that you were supposed to do and follow the assistants. I figured out that we were cheap labor for the show. There is a possibility that we will be seen on one of the shows. Our shows are being shown on Feb 7, Feb 8 and Mar 13.

After our 7 nights in SoCal, and 24 nights total, it was time to get back to Visalia for Christmas time.