Still Catching Up - Our Stay at Camp Pendleton (on the beach 😁)

Map Courtesy of usmclife.com

Thanks to my favorite sister-in-law and brother-in-law, we had an opportunity for an amazing stay at the Del Mar Beach famcamp at Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton in southern California. We can't thank Julie and Steve enough for making this happen for us.

This was our view every day. Our campsite was literally on the beach. I was told they put some kind of mesh under the sand so you can drive on it and not get stuck. But as far as we could see it all looked like soft, white sandy beach 😁

Directly in front of our rig was a huge fire pit.

 Almost every afternoon we cranked up a fire, grabbed our wine and sat by the fire to watch the sunset. Does it get any better? 

 

Every day we would take a beack walk. At low tide there was a wide, firm, clean beach where we could walk for miles... and we did. I think we averaged about 5 miles each walk. We didn't spot any whales, but it is not uncommon to see them here. 

Just down the beach from us was a beach side bistro, Ramon's Mexican BBQ with the biggest, most incredible breakfast tacos I have ever seen. 

For a twist they put french fries in them which may sound strange, but they were really good. First time we visited I made the mistake of ordering 2. Unfortunately I failed to complete my mission.☹️

On our last night we went into Solana Beach to a place called The Belly Up Tavern. This is a very cool place that has a vibe like Austin or Key West. We had a great dinner at the Wild Note Cafe and then watched a local band, the Clay Colton Band. They were only the opening act but totally rocked the place with songs from The Almond Brothers, CSNY and the Eagles. They were amazing! I would have paid just to see them, but there was more.

The main act was a Fleetwood Mac tribute band called Tusk. We had them at Victoria Palms but I was down sick that night and didn't get to see them. They were incredible!

We actually stayed up past midnight rocking to this band. They really put on a show!

This was an incredible stay for us from beginning to end. And as I said, we are incredibly grateful to Julie and Steve for setting it up and sponsoring our entry to the base.

That's it for this post. Next up is the first part of our stay in the Q hanging with the Next Exit crew.

Thanks for reading.

Be sure to subscribe and feel free to pass it along to others who might be interested.

Wanna see where we have been?  https://www.rvillage.com/my-places/embed/dXNlcl8xMDczMTI%3D

Catching up - We Made it to Quartszite... and hooked up with the Next Exit gang!

If you have been following us for any length of time you know we keep bumping into Bob and Pearl of The Next Exit on YouTube. This time it was a planned Meetup, where we  would spend some time together boondocking in the Arizona desert.

Along with Bob and Pearl were three other couples who also follow the Next Exit YouTube channel. I believe it was the first time boondocking for anything more than a night or two for all of us.

If you are not familiar with the term "boondocking" , it is camping in an RV with no hook-ups or utilities - surviving solely on the capabilities of your RV. This means no electric so you have to use batteries or generator. No water except what you brought in your tank. And you have to be able to hold all of your used black and grey water in your holding tanks.💩🚿

This is easy for a night or two. But we were staying for almost three weeks! That changes everything.

To run lights and fans and refrigerators you have to keep your batteries charged. That implies either run your generator or use solar. 

I had just completed installing solar on our RV, so this was a great test. In fact we stayed in Quartszite for 16 days total and never ran our generator at all. We also made it 9 days on our holding tanks before we had to dump. Success! 

One couple, Jeff and Laurie, were in a large class A motorhome. They were well equipped for boondocking with a large solar array and lithium battery bank. They still had to run their generator ocassionally to use their convection oven, but that's the only time. Without the oven, they could do very well on their batteries and solar. 

Another couple, Pat and Christine, were RVing in an íncredibly cool custom built overland vehicle. It is built on a heavy duty IH truck chassis and could literally drive over most regular cars. We had a chance to tour it and I have to say it was amazing. There was not an inch of wasted space, and everything was very functional.

The experience they had with the group helped convince them that they like boondocking. They are currently in Florida getting a huge solar array installed.

The third couple, Charles and Abby had almost no boondocking experience at all. In fact they honestly were pretty sure they wouldn't enjoy it. But the time spent with the group changed their minds a bit. I believe they really had a good time. They said they are still on the fence as to how deeply they will get into boondocking, but they now know just how far and how long they can go. It was eye opening for us all.

Believe it or not, Bob and Pearl were also newbies at this. But they did incredibly well and really liked the idea. I suspect there will be a lot more boondocking in their future. Although whether solar plays a part in that is yet to be determined.

Each day we gathered for breakfast, pot luck style. We did the same for dinners. Needless to say we ate very well.

Between meals we took care of projects, took walks and explored the area. Bob and Pearl replaced their Microwave Convection Oven, Charles and Abby installed some fire protection on their fridge, and Jeff and  Lorie worked to tweak in their solar performance. Pat and Christine just helped everyone else with their projects. Considering we were in the desert with no hook-ups, it was still a very productive time.

We closed out each day with a roaring fire and a glass or two of wine. Most nights we had something sweet one of the couples had màde. Let me just say that Pearl's bourbon balls are now famous (or should that be infamous 😁)  We talked, joked, sang songs and shared stories from each of our travels. We got to know one another very well.

This was a super experience and one we will never forget. I feel as though we have some life long friends, each living a similar lifestyle, and each out to see all this great country has to offer. I expect we will ocassionally cross paths in our travels and that will certainly be a joyous reunion. In fact we hope this might be just the first of what could become an annual January tradition. 

I want to thank Bob and Pearl for organizing this and allowing us to be a part of it. If you want to see actual video of the time we had together, and meet the whole gang, there are a couple of links to Bob and Pearl's channel on YouTube below. Perhaps when you see what good, honest, caring (and funny) people they are, you might be led to just subscribe and follow their journey. And if you happen to bump into them someplace, be sure to tell them hi from us.

That's it for this one. Next up is our second boondocking stay in Quartszite as part of the Winnebago View and Navion rally. We'll include our time at the Big Tent show and the surrounding area.

Thanks is for reading! Feel free to share.

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see where we have been?  

Suggested Next Exit Videos

Watch "Next Exit Boondocking Rally with Friends - Part 2" on YouTube

Watch "We are Boondocking next to the Monaco IRV2 Rally" on YouTube

 

Watch "How we Boondock in the Arizona Desert and our tips to extend our stay in comfort." on YouTube

Back to Catching Up - Joshua Tree NP

As we have traveled in this great country of ours we have learned that just when you think you have seen it all, something new and completely unique will jump out in front of you. That was the case with Joshua Tree NP on California's Mojave and Sonoran deserts.

We visited here the first week in January 2020.

The last week in December there was a snow storm that hit the area and dumped about a foot on the park. We waited a week before going into the park but still found some snowy / icy places at the higher elevations. One trail we hiked was actually a bit treacherous with slick ice.

One of many unexpected facets of the park were the incredible rock formations. They seemed to just be thrust up from the ground on random places. There would be a mile of cactus and Joshua trees, then suddenly a huge outcropping of rocks that looked like they were made of cookie dough. Way cool (but not edible 😁).

The trees and cactus were in very well defined groves. The seemed to stay with their own kind. In the pictures above, the area was covered with these Cholla Cactus. The are rumored to throw their needles at you if you get close, but fortunately that's not true. They have an almost soft appearance but the reality is quite painful (I am told ☹️). Each of the needles has a very tiny point with a barb like a fish hook. The go in easy and come out hard!

The namesake Joshua Tree is a bit less threatening. They are actually a member of the Yucca family and got their name from early Morman settlers because they sometimes look like the prophet Joshua lifting his arms up to God. Seeing the vast areas of these was almost surreal, as though we had traveled to a 1950s era movie about life on Mars. These too were in groves but much larger areas than other species.

We were also treated to a very special sight. Because of the moisture deposited from the recent snow, the Ocotillos were in bloom. Apparently this is a pretty rare sighting. The blooms are very small and break out along the spiney stems of the plant. Once again these were all in a grove, and there were many that seemed to be in bad health or dead. My research found that they are suffering from pollution and global warming, and some think many of these desert plants may be near extinction. The already live in a pretty hostile and unforgiving environment, and may not survive increased temperatures and droughts. It's a shame.☹️

Anyway, the sights of Joshua Tree NP were unlike anything we have seen elsewhere and made for an incredible visit.

Of course this park is 1235 sq miles so there is much we didn't see. But we certainly enjoyed our time there.

Thanks for reading.  Next up, our incredible stay at Camp Pendleton, right on the Pacific Ocean beach!

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see where we have been?  https://www.rvillage.com/my-places/embed/dXNlcl8xMDczMTI%3D

Rock Springs Pie Company

One of the ways we get free overnight stays is through a club called Harvest Hosts. They contract with vinyards, attractions, museums, golf courses and so on to provide free overnight camping for RVers in the hopes they will get some business during the stay. Last night we stayed at a quirky little place called the Rock Springs Pie Company. 

As you can tell by the name, this place is famous for it's pies. But the food here is real down home comfort food. I had the first liver and onions since retirement and it was fantastic.

They also have a twist on their ways to serve pie. Of course there are hot and cold, drizzled and ala mode. But they also take your choice of pie, ice cream and toppings, and blend it all into a pie shake. I had the peach crumble pie shake with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

But one of the interesting quirks were the stuffed animals around the place. At every corner, on the walls and down the halls you can find some type of large animal.

It is all housed in a very historic building which was originally an 1800s merchantile when this was but a wagon trail.

Cool place, great food and pies and something to see at every turn.

We have been off the grid boondocking for the past 16 days. Today we head to a campground with hook ups in Cottonwood AZ. Needless to say we are looking forward to very long, hot showers (before you ask, yes we have been taking showers while boondocking, just short ones to conserve water 😁).

For anyone interested, our solar worked flawlessly. We did not use our generator even once. We went a maximum of 9 days with our onboard water supply and holding tanks. And our propane still registers full. Very positive results!

A Night At A Casino (we won 😁)

When our travel from one place to another is more than 3 hours we try to find a stopping point somewhere in the middle for a quick overnight stay.  Many businesses allow and even encourage this. Most notable is Walmart among others. Also most casinos welcome RVers for overnight stays. That's how we ended up at Blue Water Casino in Parker AZ.

The casino sits right on the Colorado River and even has a Marina and wakeboard cable ski area with ramps. Cool!

Anyway, most casinos have a pretty decent buffet. In this case it featured prime rib among the usual fare.  They typically have a players card or membership that is free and gets you a discount on the buffet. We aren't gamblers so we typically eat and run.

This particular casino has $10 in free slot play for new members, plus a spin on a slot machine at the registration desk. This was a chance for an additional $100 in free play.

Cindy and I went up to register, went through the formalities and then I stepped up to take my free spin. Ding ding ding... Winner!

I won $100 in free play. What? Really? Yup. In fact they gave me the $10 sign up money too so I had $110 free!

Of course you can't just cash that in. You have to play it. The bet gets subtracted from the free play money but the winnings go onto your card which you can cash out.

So long story short, I won $93 playing with the free play money. Of course not being gamblers we cashed out and left. And for those of you who do gamble, I realize this was chicken feed, but for us it was hitting the Lotto.

Oh, and Cindy won $3 too 😁

We got a free place to stay for the night, the winnings payed for our dinner and drinks, and we walked out with about $50 in our pockets.  For us this was a very good night😁

I still have some catching up posts coming and tonight we are staying at The Rock Springs Pie Company. You can bet that will justify a post 😀

Thanks for reading!

Cindy and Terry

By the way, you can follow our location in near real time at RVillage.com (our username is CaTGoss)