Chilling in the Hills of Santa Barbara

As I reported in my previous post, we were evicted from Soledad Canyon RV Park due to complications from the power outage and were sitting it out at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park, along with many of our fellow campers. When it looked like it might be a while, we booked a Thousand Trails park in Idyllwild, the only park reasonably close with openings. At $25 a day, the AV Fairgrounds was biting into our budget too much and we had pretty much reached our limit there. However, we had to stay at least through Monday, the 4th, for Mark's dental appointment (to fix his broken tooth).

Happily, we got the call that Soledad Canyon Park would reopen the next day, on Tuesday. So of course we cancelled the Idyllwild booking and were able to finish out our stay in Acton.

Now we are in the Santa Barbara area at the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails RV Campground. This park is about 25 miles northeast of Santa Barbara, up in the mountains. It is very remote and we can't get either phone or internet connectivity here. Supposedly, there is WiFi at the lodge, but it's no good for anything except perhaps checking email and text messages.

Rancho Oso's claim to fame is horses. They cater to campers with horses, and they also have horses available to ride (for a price, of course). Having no horse skills whatsoever, I hesitate to rent a horse. I've only ever been on the back of a horse twice - both experiences were disastrous. The first time was as a teenager. I went horseback riding with a church group. The horse I ended up with kept stopping to eat grass, and if I made any attempt to motivate him to move along, he answered by reaching around to bite my foot, which I kept well out of the way. This horse knew I was terrified of it and took full advantage. The second time I was a little older and it was considerably less traumatic, but I still couldn't get comfortable with the whole experience. It's probably better that I leave horse riding to the equestrians and be satisfied with admiring them from a distance.

Our first excursion after arriving at Rancho Oso was Solvang, a quaint little Scandinavian town about a half hour's drive from the campground. They are noted for their ambiance, which is primarily pricey. Everything was expensive. I almost bought a coffee mug, but couldn't bring myself to pay $15 for it, especially since it was likely made in China with slave labor. Still, we visited three bakeries for lunch and pastries. (I love my pastries!) It was a very nice day, and if nothing else, we got a good walk in.

Solvang, CA

We had a bit of a scare last week when a fire broke out between us and Santa Barbara due to severe wind and probably a downed power line. We weren't too worried until the next day when the wind shifted and we saw the giant plume of smoke coming our way. Fortunately, the good Lord sent a rain storm to put it out, but not before it did some damage on the highway-- melted some guard rails, I'm told. They're supposed to have everything repaired and the road opened again before we're due to leave.

The fire north of Santa Barbara threatening to come our way

In the meantime, the high desert (Lancaster) and Soledad Canyon RV Park are dealing with a couple inches of SNOW! It seems we chose a good time to be gone from there. By the time we return it should be melted away and back to its normal fifty degree weather pattern.

This year we spent Thanksgiving with our community of campers. The Park hosted a full blown Thanksgiving dinner and asked attendees to bring a dessert to share. I made two pumpkin pies:  one regular and one non-dairy with a gluten free crust. It was my first attempt to make a pumpkin pie with almond milk, but it turned out surprisingly good. Nut "milk" is the only real alternative because nobody wants their pumpkin pie tasting like coconut. We sat with another full-time RV couple from California and really enjoyed the afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner at Rancho Oso with John and Janet.

The only thing missing at the Thanksgiving meal was the actual "Thanks" giving. No blessing was asked over the meal (though of course we asked our own blessing privately). Perhaps they were worried about offending someone. It makes me sad that praying to the God of heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of life and thanking Him for His provision would give offence or cause discomfort to anyone. Too many have forgotten from whom the blessings flow.

Nevertheless, I hope your Thanksgiving was happy and bountiful.

God bless, and safe travels to all!