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CaddyGrn · 01-22-2010, 11:38 AM

Well folks according to NOAA the worst of this storm is over, but still thunderstorms and more rain and wind forecast for today. We tried to get out and take a picture with the nasty weather, but it just didn't look as bad in the photos as it was.

This morning we had sunshine, buty now clouds are rolling from the west and more rain is definitely coming. Plans are to head north tomorrow... hopefully the roads will be passable and all that to get past the worst of the SoCal areas.

I am attaching a pic of the mud puddles in the little RV park we are staying at. The overnighter area is mostly gravel (as you can see...) they have a large number of permanent folks and "snowbirds" (escapees from the winter weather) who come down this way. They have quite a few amenities here, but it is the typical retired set... many who seem to full time in their big RV's and others who live in their mobile homes (or manufactured housing, whatever they call them now...)

We hope to drive around a bit today and see how the the flash flood areas look.

Hope everyone is safe and dry!

NorCal Bambi · 01-22-2010, 01:12 PM

Sitting in the Bambi and working on art projects is good.
This is a Collage of Baja Textures and images.

NorCal Bambi · 01-22-2010, 07:52 PM

Sitting parked in a RV Lot. One had to do something.

This image: Sands of Time

CaddyGrn · 01-22-2010, 10:13 PM

Hello folks,

Today we expect to have our last full day here at the Salton Sea as the weather is improving ~ finally!

We took time out today after Don had his "art fix" (see his earlier posts

) to drive around the lake (er.. a... sea) Interesting sites for part of the drive. Just north of us here on the west side are some date palm orchards and other palm orchards of some type. Didn't get any photos though. Around on the east side just about 1/4 of the way down from the north end of the lake is the beginning of the Salton Sea State Park. They have a nice (but small) visitors center and some full hook up camping spots. This area is the only area that is currently open as the 4 or so other campsites are closed. Either for the winter or budget cuts, or perhaps even non-use.

We were delighted to see that the camp host is an Airstreamer!

Below is a picture!

CaddyGrn · 01-22-2010, 10:25 PM

As everyone knows it has been raining here in Southern California like crazy for the past 4 days! While driving around the Salton Sea we viewed many washes and washouts like the one pictured.... lots of water came down and temporarily flooded the dry creek and wash beds.

The last is what we saw as a "hopeful" sign.

tallytwo1994 · 01-23-2010, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

Sitting parked in a RV Lot. One had to do something.

This image: Sands of Time

So what program do you use - I like!

Carol

CaddyGrn · 01-24-2010, 04:10 PM

Hello all!
We are currently sitting on the beach at Hobson County Park near Ventura. Got here last night...discovered this AM that our bumper has lost (broke) a weld. So we have scoped out local places to get a repair tomorrow. Today is Sunday and maybe some game day so we figure the welders of the world are watching tv.

We are in a great spot - full hookups listening to the waves crash on the breakwater nearby. We will likely have to wait somewhere anyway because of the weather closer to home.

No wifi here just my iPhone ... But hey, I'm online!

NorCal Bambi · 01-24-2010, 04:27 PM

Carol, photos from my iPhone - processed in adobe Photoshop. Thanks for the positive comments
Don

NorCal Bambi · 01-25-2010, 12:54 PM

Let's see here we are in a Coffee Bean Shop in Oxnard, We had made it to a RV Resort just north of Venture. We were getting ready to clean up and head out when it was noticed that our bunper on the truck had broken again. for those of you who don't know the story Last year on the way to Area 33 the bumper broke in the middle of nowhere. We were luck to find a place about 100 feet away from where the problem was noticed that was willing to a on the moment repair. That fix got us down the road for a total of about 3000 miles. Not bad under the circumstances of the repair location the first time. This time we are in the middle of a large metro and a good place was found this morning. C&S RV Service Center. They also do large truck work. They were willing to take the job on right now. It was obvious they could put several things to one side and work on our problem. They were willing to do a complete modification of our 1968 Barden Pumper. They are removing the bumper and creating a whole new under carriage for the needs we have. This will be great and meet the needs for when we start pulling the 55 Flying Cloud. I much greater demand on the truck. They are engineering a whole new system put putting it into the original bumper and the truck will still look stock. How great is that. The shop foreman made the statement that his Dad had had a very similar truck and he was familiar with what it needed.
This side adventure had doubled the cost of our trip to Baja. But we will be safer in the future. After all what's important? We saw some beautiful sunsets here. I'll try to upload some pictures later. It's Claudia's turn to play with the computer. Alter all three days without computer time is almost as bad as having the Airstream sit in storage too long.

Don

str8strm · 01-25-2010, 03:26 PM

at Lake Casitas in Ventura, arrived in the rain on Thursday, rain on Friday and then 3 great days. Unfortunately more rain coming in on Tuesday evening. Glad you found a repair shop that is good.

Area63 · 01-25-2010, 04:48 PM

I have been following your trip diary - looks and reads like you all had a good time. I am glad that you liked some of my suggestions, and that they worked well for you.
Baja is always an adventure of a special kind. I can't wait to go back, hopefully this fall.
Have a safe trip home!

NorCal Bambi · 01-25-2010, 07:16 PM

This is a test. iPhone photo upload
Picasa files keep getting an invalid file.
I'll try something else.
P.s. Thanks for the humor. You must have tried this also.

FC7039 · 01-25-2010, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

This is a test. iPhone photo upload

strike one

mrchinup1 · 01-25-2010, 08:32 PM

Great trip, great pics and great drawings. Thank you for letting us follow you on your Baha trip. My wife and i would love to go down there for a month or two. She is still a little nervous, so maybe someday. Thanks again, George & Kym

jordandvm · 01-27-2010, 10:54 AM

After returning home, unpacking, cleaning up the “Twinky” and putting her to bed till the next trip, I felt the need to jot down some thoughts on our trip to Baja.

First, we were lucky to find such good travel-mates in Don & Claudia to make the trip with. They were loads of fun and we had many good talks over dinner and the campfire! Thanks for sharing your company on this adventure!

The positives on the trip were many……..here are a few:

We were able to make the entire 3000 mile trip without any major accidents.
We enjoyed 8 days in the sun and warm weather in Baja right on the beach!
The local food offerings at the several restaurants we visited were very good and the seafood was excellent. City water was safe to drink.
We met great folks there who were helpful in keeping us out of trouble during our stay. Thanks to Debbie and Ron for all your help! And thanks to Uwe for encouraging us to go to San Felipe rather than the west coast of Baja.
We were able to share our trip on Airforums and had some great comments on our adventure.
The locals were friendly and helpful during our stay.

jordandvm · 01-27-2010, 10:57 AM

The negatives on the trip are also worth mentioning……here are a few:

Border crossing at Tiajuana was nerve-racking…..thus the change in plans crossing at Mexicali (east gate) and new destination of San Felipe.
Mexican insurance was expensive, checking three different companies, the cheapest was $407 for TV (20K) and trailer (30K) for up to 21 days (we only stayed 8 days, but still had to pay that much).
Campsites in San Felipe were no bargain, paying $30 a day for full hookups on the beachfront. We could have stayed at another place about 5 miles outside of town for $15 a night with no hookups and showers were $2 extra. We were prepared for boondocking, but didn’t see the value and there seemed to be no one there to look after things if we left our rigs. No other campers were there and we didn’t feel as safe as we did among the campers at Campo San Felipe right in town and could walk to restaurants and coffee shop for wi-fi fixes.
The campground we stayed at was not secure……another camper had his solar panels stolen during his stay. A fellow camper, who has been coming to San Felipe for the last 15 years from the PNW was accosted by a local who lived next door for just looking at his electric meter in front of his house on a walk one day. Fishermen were constantly coming and going day and night, walking and driving through the campground. Itinerants were constantly going thru our trash bin looking for aluminum cans or whatever. We were besieged by hawkers of trinkets, and jewelry, which we kindly said “no thanks”, and they moved on. A nightclub was next door and kept us up a couple of nights. I now understand why Ron & Debbie built a beautiful house in a gated community in San Felipe.
While many of our photos portrayed a pristine setting on the beach, the city was filthy, trash was everywhere (the campground where we stayed did keep things pretty clean while we were there). The city needs to clean up its act if they want to be a popular travel destination. We were told that unemployment was 50% in the area and could explain why many places were shut down or out of business. We applaud Ron & Debbie, for their contributions to the local food bank in feeding the unemployed and hungry.
As a footnote, we did stay at three California state park CGs on the way down and would have to say they are very expensive, $33 (with the senior discount, otherwise it is $35/night) for no hookups. We’ve been spoiled by the great state parks in Oregon, Colorado and Arizona.

jordandvm · 01-27-2010, 11:03 AM

The challenges we had on the trip were also worth mentioning……here are a few:
· We discovered a major leak in our toilet soon after taking it out of midwinter storage. This was due to improper winterizing before a cold snap in the PNW. We also discovered a roof leak (we store it in our own covered storage). We had both of these repaired in Redding before we headed further south.
· We had a flat tire in Baja, picking up some metal on a roadside stop. The Pressure Pro sensors picked this up before it went completely flat and was an easy fix in San Felipe.
· The truck engine alert light came on while in Redding, and was able to put some expensive engine cleaner with the gas to fix the problem. It still ran rough at idle, but the light did not come on again until after we returned home, so will have to have it checked at our local dealer.
· The water heater would not light after we drove through a sandstorm leaving Baja. Then it suddenly worked again for a few days, now it’s on the blink again. So will have it checked at Sutton RV.
· We seemed to hit the brunt of the storms in SoCal. We thought of going to AZ for a few days, but the storms were hitting that area also. One stretch north of San Bernardino was particularly heavy rain (could barely see the highway)……… then we managed to head north on I5 with a 40mph tailwind.
· On reaching Redding, we hit a 3 hour delay on I5 at a chain check station and opted to take hwy 299 to Arcata on the coast. From there, we took hwy 199 to Grants Pass and I5, avoiding the Siskyous.

The bottom line is we are glad we made the trip, but would not go back because it’s too far for us to travel for the cost of gas, insurance and camping. If you’re planning to stay 3-4 months, it might make more sense. We would rather go back to Dead Horse State Park, AZ and be among Airstream friends at the FCU rally (we’ve made the last three rallys). We also enjoy the AZ state park CGs and seeing different locations in the Southwest.

**Stefrobrts** · 01-27-2010, 11:24 AM

Thanks for the final, honest, evaluation, Jim. At least you did it once for the experience.

NorCal Bambi · 01-29-2010, 06:29 AM

Hi all, we got home yesterday afternoon on the 28. Thanks to all for following along on our adventure. Claudia and I both got home with colds. So we will rest for a while. Winterize and clean out the trailer and all the other things once we get home.
Thanks again Don

CaddyGrn · 01-30-2010, 09:47 PM

We will have to post a few more pics and give a "report" on our loooooong trip home (if you count all the days waiting for decent weather in SoCal along with a bumper rebuild...) We also had a tire come apart (not flat!) about 90 miles from home. Did a little damage to the wheel well, but I haven't got the pictures downloaded yet.

Still hugging my kleenex box and drinking orange juice.