Second Month of Travel (March 17 – April 13): 

• Visiting friends and family continues to be one of the main highlights of our travels.
• Boondocking (camping without hook ups–no electricity, water or connection to sewer)
  • We tried out “boondocking” in Joshua Tree and found we suck A LOT of battery power, even if we aren’t intentionally using electricity, so we need get on the ball about getting solar. Tom and brother in-law, John, went through the electric system to determine nothing was wrong, thank goodness!
  • We found a leak in our fresh water tank that such that our water is dripping out of the entire bottom of the back of the rig…definitely needs to be fixed before our next boondocking adventure, currently planned for Jasper National Park in August.
• We are finally NOT focused on where the next Walmart or Camper World is!
• It takes two GPSs to get us to our destination–the truck GPS gives us immediate directions and my GPS in satellite view provides the overview and a heads up if we can get into and out of parking lots.
• SURPRISE: Loved San Diego! We got to camp right on Mission Bay for $80/night–so much to do with beaches, mountains, hiking, biking and wine tasting AND the weather was amazing!!

April 9 & 10:  Visiting the LA Area and Observations of fire damage in the Ventura & Santa Paula area

April 9 – 10: Ventura Ranch KOA suffered major fire damage from the fires between Ventura and Santa Barbara this past fall. The KOA Campstore and nearby RVs were totally burned to the ground. It was interesting to see burned cacti and palm trees.

The campground has at least a dozen resident peacocks, which are charming for about 10  minutes. The one pictured below almost ended up as our dinner after walking around our rig about 4-5 times, then jumping up on the back of the truck. Tom was NOT impressed!