Time certainly flies when you’re having fun! It’s March already!
We’ve had some more visitors over the last 2 months but I can’t say it has ever been very busy. So far our first camp host job has been fairly ‘easy’, not that we can compare it to anything off course. We like it that we can pretty much fill in our days as we like as long as the work gets done and there’s nobody constantly watching ‘over our shoulder’. The rangers who come by once or twice every day to check on us are all great to work with and are very supportive and appreciative of all we do which makes us feel we’re really part of the team.
This month was greatly overshadowed by a very sad occasion though. Our cat, ‘big boy’, Felix started to lose a lot of weight and was diagnosed with kidney failure after which he died within a couple of weeks. It happened so fast, we still can’t believe it, he was (only) 11 years old.
We’re so sad, I cried for days. We burry him at Vallecito in a nice spot on a hill overlooking the desert. We’re going to miss him so much!
From the day of our formal ’introduction’ in San Diego Southern Overland Trail 150 years ago at the outbreak of the Civil War.
We’re all drafted to be ‘on duty’ during all 3 days since we’re going to have a full campsite and lots of day-visitors to take care off. The bathrooms will need a lot of attention and the guys will be busy directing parking.
On Saturday I’m in the Stage Station telling people about its history together with a group of re-enactors who will be showing how the travelers in those days arrived at the Station and how the family that lived there lived their daily lives by demonstrating cooking, laundry, sewing, spinning and various other daily chores.
Since I own a spinning wheel and know how to use it I am participating in the demonstrations on Sunday too!
The ‘Mountain Man’, another group of re-enactors, are here and have set up an overland traveler’s camp with demonstrations and exhibits of historic firearms, outdoor cooking, and frontier equipment. The public is invited to try their hand at some of the skills needed in the 1860’s.
At the same time we’re visited by yet another group, a squad of Civil War Infantry scouting the Southern Overland Trail . They’ll camp here Friday night and continue their 32 mile historic march on Saturday morning.
On Sunday the Backcountry Horseman of San Diego, who are camping here with their horses for 2 nights, are riding from Vallecito to the old Campbell Ranch House, as cowboys did in bygone days, all dressed up in period clothing.
We’re invited to join the groups for breakfasts, dinners and campfires and for an evening at the Station where guest speakers share the history of the area by lantern light.
We all have a blast although the weather isn’t really participating. The wind is relentless and it is very cold but at least the sun is shining so we huddle at the campfires and drink spiked coffee and hot chocolate!
One little calamity takes place in our own RV when on Saturday the black tank decided to overflow! Somehow the water kept running after we flushed so it filled up the tank and eventually the bowl! Fortunately we only use our toilet for 'liquid waste' so it could have been worse but it wasn’t pretty! Oh well…
We did some work on the RV this month although not as much as we had wanted. James just didn’t have the time with all the hours he spent on the job in Lake Arrowhead
He did manage to re-caulk one site with the 2 slides though and put new rubber on them so we’re making some progress.
