CALIFORNIA HERE I COME.....RIGHT BACK WHERE I STARTED FROM (Kind of)

Lake Havasu City, Az, is behind us as is Needles, Ca. and we are heading west to Escondido RV Resort in Escondido, Ca. in San Diego County. To get there our route took us, yet again, along I10 West through some more amazing and barren desert to 215 which led us to I15 south to our RV Park. I won't put any more desert pictures on here since it all looks pretty much the same but I did get a photo of some pretty incredible dried up lakes that we see from I10 east of Joshua Tree National Park. There were three of them and quite a ways in the distance so this is the best shot possible. The white you are seeing is the salt.

Not sure which dried up lake this is. There were three on the map.

It's very remote with nothing out there except the odd little town dotted along the way and we traveled through mountains, across huge expanses of nothing and crossed and re-crossed the Colorado River a couple of times. Our first little peek at 'civilization' was when we entered what people from Southern California refer to as 'the desert', meaning Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indio, and a few other desert towns that have sprung up in the Coachella Valley. These towns kind of all run together and have a successful tourist trade although the desert cities have attracted many year round residents as well. Plenty of Hollywood people have made their homes in the desert and Sonny Bono was once the mayor of Palm Springs.

Driving through Coachella Valley and the wind farms.

Thousands of windmills. In the background you can see the desert hills.

Driving down from San Jacinto south toward our destination we saw, out of nowhere, a green, green valley, indicating that southern California had been rained on lately and it sure did look beautiful.

How green is your valley??

No more than 45 miles north from where I used to live and I had no idea this existed.

Suddenly we were back on I15, the freeway that I drove pretty much every day for ten years, and boy oh boy did it feel exciting. As we passed through Temecula, a busy town with some pretty famous wineries, where I used to shop and by-passing Fallbrook, where I used to live and on south to Escondido it was like old home week for me. Everything looked so familiar and yet it all looked so different somehow. I knew it was beautiful when I lived here but you tend to take beautiful scenery and beautiful views for granted when you see them every day.

Our little co-pilot, Kaede, was born right here in San Diego.

As was Freddy, our co-co-pilot.

Our RV Park in Escondido is called the Escondido RV Resort; is located about three blocks from the I15, is a ten minute drive away from where my sister lives in San Marcos and within walking distance of groceries and close to all kinds of shopping. In other words, it's right in the middle of it all and, as an added bonus, is a very attractive and extremely well kept RV Park. We lucked out on this one.

Erik and Kaede enjoying the California sunshine.

Well treed, wide one way roads.

Another view.

Bird of Paradise

I believe those are some California drinks. Yup.

California Dreaming is becoming a reality.

Since our arrival on the 23rd of January we have experienced perfect weather, have reconnected with old friends, I've played plenty of tennis, visited Fiesta Island, one of the many local wineries, Erik has played music and we have just generally enjoyed ourselves.

Our friend, Phyllis Miller, brought us champagne on the day we arrived.

Cheers.

Down in San Diego there is an island called Fiesta Island, a vast island off Mission Bay with fire pits, dog parks, various water sports & 27 miles of beach. We took Kaede and Freddy to the dog park there (about 95 acres of off-leash fun) and took these photos. It's so large and there are so many dogs but they don't even cross each others path - so much room to roam. The road around the island is one way and designated at 5 mph/8kmh, a necessity as children and dogs and adults alike run around, ride bicycles and load their boats and kayaks into the bay.

Erik off to the left, Kaede on the beach, Freddy checking out the blonde behind him.

Fiesta Island.

Beach is behind me.

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Circa 2006, Candy, Phyllis, Moi

2015, Same court, Same group.

On the tennis front, I was able to join on a monthly basis, my old club, Vista Tennis Club www.tennisclubofvista.com and have had a steady diet of fun tennis followed by leisurely lunches that involve lots of laughing, good food and the odd glass of wine.

This is by no means the extent of my blogging about California. Truth is, we have been busy doing things, going out, getting over pulled backs (Erik) and a killer cold (me) but there are plenty more pictures, videos and words about our time in sunny California coming your way. Stay tuned. There's even a music video or two to get you tapping your toes.

Cheers.