Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe Christmas is here...again. Don't we say that every year?

Being dislodged for almost a week didn't help, as it interrupted our Christmas activity plan. But it gave us an opportunity to visit up close and personal with Steve and Alicia, who graciously opened their home to us in our time of need. While we were there, we ate too much chocolate, and watched back to back "Grand Tour" episodes. Mark suffered from a migraine headache in payment for his indulgences, and I got a lot of crocheting done.

We also took a day and went to Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, courtesy of Steve who provided us with a couple employee passes. It was great fun. Universal recently added a new section to the park - a sort of Harry Potter Land. I hate to admit it, but I'm a terrible Harry Potter junkie. Even though the story is about "witches" and magic and such, those who've seen it or read the books will probably agree that it has very little resemblance to modern witchcraft and is more a story about the conflict between good and evil told in another way. It's not very different than the fairy tales of old (though everyone should make their own judgment about it). In the end, good triumphs over evil, as it should. We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks and enjoyed a glass of "Butter Beer." Yum! The food was delicious.

Friday we took our leave and headed back to Fontana to pick up our motorhome, and on Saturday morning we made our way to Acton, where we intended to be the week before. All our Christmas preparations started today - on Christmas Eve. I have to say, this is the latest ever that I have put up my Christmas tree. But it's up and decorated - finally. The pumpkin pie is baked, and we are ready to entertain company tomorrow.

Sophie (with mom & dad) modeling the
new "play vest" grandma knitted for her

Last weekend, right before the major repairs were to be done, we drove the coach to Lancaster and parked at the Antelope Valley Fairground RV Park for two nights. It gave us an opportunity to deliver Katie's things to her and get reacquainted with our little granddaughter, Sophie, who will be two in April. She's not talking yet, but she says "oh" with the greatest range of expression you can imagine. We'll see her again a few more times before we leave town. 

Another highlight of our time here has been the two visits to the church I attended when I lived here over twenty years ago. I was truly surprised that anyone remembered me, but there were still a few folks - the "remnant" from those long gone days. It was good to be in the House of the Lord during the Christmas season. 

And with that, I'll close and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. My wish for you all is that you know the true meaning of the Babe in the manger -- God, taking human form to live among us, to become like us so that we could know him, to pay the penalty for our sin so that we could live eternally with Him... God With Us, the greatest Gift ever given. 

God Bless us every one!

At Alfateers for Coach Repairs

Are you familiar with that famous saying, "I only came in for one thing..."?

That's more or less our story. A couple months ago, Mark decided to make an appointment with Alfateers to inspect and repair the slide-outs. Alfateers is a hold-over from the original company that manufactured the Alfa brand of motor home. Their staff are arguable the most knowledgeable in the country for Alfa repairs, and the rebranded company has made a name for itself in customer service in the years since. That reputation, and the fact we were going to be in California anyway, is what influenced the decision to get our slide repairs done here.

For better or worse, the appointment to fix the slides turned into a laundry list of fixes..."Oh, by the way, there's this issue too. Maybe you can fix that while you're at it. And...what about this, can you give us an estimate? ...oh, one more thing, this should be a cheap fix..." etc., etc. In the end, however, it wasn't the little things that got us, it was the monster lurking the closet, so to speak. In summary:

• Screen door latch handle (it no longer takes two hands and a knee to open the front door)
• Leaky water valves and hoses in our fresh water hookups and the saniflush leaks (on the black water tank)
• Replace the worn out struts on one of the basement compartment doors
• Reattach the outside wall to the frame on the passenger side
• Replace the main awning motor and brake (this bit the dust just last week)
• Replace the rubber seals and rollers on both slides
• Fix the loose screw causing the bedroom slide to hang up and not fully deploy (this was also scratching both the wood flooring in the bedroom and the outside bottom of the slide)
• Replace the main slide motor and brake
• And the "ka-ching" item (the monster) that we didn't know about until the main slide was inspected, and which will take an entire week to repair... replace water-damaged subfloor in the main slide. For this job, they will have to entirely remove the slide from the coach - 35 hours of labor. Yikes! 

Some of the smaller items are done already. We expect the awning and the water problems to be finished by end of day tomorrow. Fortunately for us, Steve and Alicia (my son and his wife), have graciously allowed us to stay with them in their guest room next week while that major repair is being done. 

I don't even want to talk about the cost of this whole project, except to say that this RV is our one and only house and home, and when things need fixing in your house, you just fix them and deal with the cost the best you can.

God always provides. And I have no doubt He will this time as well.

In the meantime, tomorrow we will be driving the motorhome to Lancaster for the weekend and delivering (at last) the remnants of Katie's belongings that we had been storing for her since she moved from Minnesota to California. She'll be happy to get them back and we'll be happy to recover some space in our tiny home. Then on Sunday afternoon, we'll park the "Follymobile" back here at Alfateers, pack up a suitcase and the cat, and head to Steve and Al's in Canyon Country for the week.

The folks at Alfateers have promised to have everything done by the 22nd. I'm counting on it, because the plan is to camp at the Thousand Trails park in Acton, put up our Christmas tree and bake some cookies... preferably before Christmas.

Bye Bye San Diego

Pio Pico from our window

Well, our time at Pio Pico is over. It was one of our favorite camping sites so far - far enough from civilization to feel like we're camping, yet close enough to the places we want to visit in the area. The jacuzzi was a nice plus. We used it several times. It didn't hurt that we were right across the road from it.

We didn't complete our entire San Diego wish list, but we put a big dent in it. One of the main reasons for making a stop there was to welcome our grandson, Arick Mayo, back from his Navy cruise to South Korea on the Nimitz aircraft carrier. He arrived in port on the 6th. His mom and dad flew in to greet him as well, and we met up with them on Monday for lunch. On Tuesday, Mark joined his kids for the event and spent the day visiting with Arick and getting a personal tour of the ship. Unfortunately, one day was all they got, because the sailor had to report back to duty the next day.

Brian and Maegan Mayo with Mark

Mark and I made one last excursion to San Diego later in the week to the Cabrillo National Monument and tide pools. The day was gorgeous--  warm and sunny, typical for San Diego. It was high tide when we got to the tide pools and so didn't get to see the little sea creatures trapped in the pools, but the ocean is always beautiful and worth visiting.

We didn't get to Balboa Park this time around, but that will give us something new to do next year.

Smoke from the Tecate fire (behind the Coronado bridge)

For a while we were somewhat concerned about the area fires, particularly one that started up east of us on the Mexico border near Tecate on Friday. But the fire service had it put out by Saturday morning, and our only inconvenience was being out of power for the day due to managed power shut-offs by the electric company. This was done for two reasons:  First, to prevent any live wires going down in the wind; and second, to allow them to make inspections to make sure no lines had gone down in the wind. Anyway, we were back on the road Sunday, headed for Fontana.

Fontana is the home of Alfateers, one of the few very knowledgeable firms for repairing Alfa motorhomes. The owners and most of the repair technicians are former employees of the original Alfa manufacturing company that went out of business some years ago. They know what they're doing! We are here to get some needed repairs done on our slides and a few other issues that need addressed -- a subject for the next blog post.

For now, here are some parting shots of San Diego for your viewing enjoyment...

The Nimitz

Arick Mayo with his mom & dad

Only in California

San Diego from Harbor Island

Mark and the Senior Cabrillo

San Diego from the hill

The hidden tide pools

Hanging Out With The Animals in San Diego

Safari Park

San Diego has kept us very busy. We arrived on Sunday the 26th and have been doing something just about every day. Okay, maybe not EVERY day...but for someone who requires two days of recuperation for every day of activity, it seems like it's been every day.

Early in the week we bought ourselves a two day pass to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park and drove up to the Safari Park in Escondido on Wednesday and the Zoo in San Diego on Friday. Lots and lots of walking followed by a dip in the Jacuzzi when we got home.

"Playing" with tiger cubs

The Safari Park, we learned, was established many years ago as a breeding facility for the Zoo. They have also successfully reintroduced animals that are severely endangered, such as the White Rhino and the California Condor, back into their natural habitats (Africa and California) where they are beginning to thrive and multiply again. They also work with many of the animals as "babes" to get them used to human interaction so that they are easier to manage as zoo adults.

Our lunch view

The Safari Park is very much like a zoo, except many of the habitats are larger. The grazing animals are in a wide open area, and in order to see them up close, it's necessary to take a bus tour, which we did. The restaurant where we ate lunch was backed up to this range and we almost felt like we were in another land. The food was good too -- and surprisingly affordable. Prices at both zoos were on par to eating in any regular restaurant of a similar type (sit-down, deli, etc.)

Koalas sleep about 22 hours a day!

My favorite, though, was the Zoo. What a wonderful place! I was impressed the first time I saw it back in 1972 and I am still impressed. It really takes more than a day to see it properly. We missed a few sections for lack of time, but we got there early and were able to see most of it before we conked out and headed home.

The San Diego area is Mark's old "stomping grounds." On Saturday, we drove to Santee to visit some long time friends and old neighbors of his- Miss Nancy and Miss Betty. Betty was away until about three o'clock, but we took Nancy to breakfast and visited together most of the afternoon. Miss Betty is now Mrs. Betty, and when she returned home, we stopped by to see her and her husband and spent another hour. It was a long day, but we had a lovely time getting acquainted and reacquainted.

Sunday, we visited Faith Chapel, the church Mark attended when he lived here years ago. Like every place, change happens. People leave. New people come. Nothing ever stays the same, nor should it. Despite the fact neither of us knew anyone, we were greeted warmly by several "brothers & sisters" and were very much blessed by the service.

Casi Cielo Winery

On the way home we stopped at a winery and met some lovely people who invited us to sit with them. We lingered until nearly four, and (of course) left with a bottle of wine and a couple jars of jam. I'm developing quite a collection of jellies and jams. I don't know why so many wineries sell jam, but they do...and you haven't tasted good jam until you've tasted wine jam. I promise to serve you crackers and jam if you ever stop by to visit.

We're loving it here at Pio Pico. It's definitely one of the places we'll return to, possibly every year. There's so much to do and see in San Diego, and most of it will have to wait until our next trip. We have four days left, and we hope to at least make it to Balboa Park. Maybe tomorrow.

Here are some more pictures of our zoo encounter...

East African Crowned Crane

Local mule deer sneak in and take advantage of the
Safari Park "safe zone"

These long necked antelope can reach food
too high up for the smaller varieties

Anteaters

Meercat

"Watch your head, I'm comin' through."

All the usual suspects