JANUARY 2011

 Happy New Year!

We celebrated the New Year at coffee time with Joe and Dianna and a Dutch delicacy called ‘oliebollen’. That would translate to ‘oil balls’ what really doesn’t sound too good but I’d say they’re sort of a doughnut or fritter and traditionally eaten on New Years day. James learned to make them from my Dad and he’s gotten pretty good at it over the years. They were delicious!

                                

The weather so far has been pretty good. We discover it can be very windy in the desert and it does rain but practically every day starts out beautifully sunny.

We had a few downpours which are normal for this time of the year but overall it has been cooler than normal, which is something that’s been going on all over the west-coast for the last 2 years or so. We’re very happy with our roof structure; we can still be outside even when it rains!

Since this campsite is listed as being horse friendly but wasn’t really set up for it, students from the Americorps installed some horse corrals this month and James worked on 2 bins for the manure.

                                       

We’ve been taking some trips in the area during our days off. We went to Julian, a little town about 40 minutes from here at about 4000 feet in the Mountains east of San Diego. 

It’s known for its ‘world famous Julian apple pie’ from its many apple orchards and has a cute historical center with beautiful old houses from it’s heydays during the short gold-rush in the 1860’s.

Off course we have to try 2 different pieces of pie! 

After touring some of the scenic mountain roads we did a little wine tasting at 2 of the vineyards for which this area is also known. 
The weather was gorgeous and we can sit outside in the late afternoon sun overlooking the vineyards on the hills. Not a bad life!

This winery was called: 'the blue door' (surprise, surprise)

                                                           

We also brought a visit to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It is the largest State Park of California and home to the Bighorn (or desert) Sheep and many other desert critters and is famous for its big display of wildflowers in the spring.

It has a beautiful visitor center and the short video they show about the park is well worth watching to learn a little about this beautiful area.

It is close to Borrego Springs, California’s first Dark Sky Community. There are no big box or chain stores. It is a wonderful quaint, quiet home for many ‘snowbirds’, people from colder climates that stay here for the winter. 
Personally I’d much rather be here than in busy Palm Springs for instance, where so many snow-birders seem to go.

Oh, ...and James celebrated another Birthday this month!

Are those some grey chest hairs honey  .....?

DECEMBER 2010

Since James still had to commute back and forth to Lake Arrowhead quite frequently to finish up his projects I do all of the ‘host work’ by myself so James can spent the hours he has to make on the various projects they want him to do.

The first one he tackled consisted of making 4 new horseshoe back boards to replace the ones that were falling apart. They wanted it done before the busy holiday ‘season’. He did a great job!

                                                           

I usually clean the bathrooms real good on Monday after most people have left and spiff them up on the following days when needed.
Since there weren’t too many people staying during the week there wasn’t much else to do so I started working on weeding the cactus gardens, pruning back bushes and cleaning up the sites which is an ongoing project over the winter months.

                                                        

Joe and Deanna are a great source of information about workamping and the RV lifestyle and we spent many evenings together around a campfire, picking their brains. They also introduced me to a domino game called ‘Mexican train’, lots of fun and apparently a must to be able to play as a workamper and also to ‘s mores’, which I had never had before! Yummm!
I, at my turn, introduced them to ‘coffee time’, which in Holland means a sit down coffee around 10 or 10.30 in the morning (every morning) drinking 2 small cups of coffee with some cookies while exchanging gossip and how your day is going so far.

On Christmas Eve we grilled steaks and stayed up late. It was a crystal clear and very cold night so we bundled up in blankets wearing shawls and gloves. It was absolutely gorgeous. Not a sound to be heard, the stars were out in full force and we think we even saw one falling, or was it Santa …?

                                                   

On Christmas day we had our 2^nd potluck at Agua. I’m glad I inherited a lot of great recipes from James’ Mom who always had a lot of church potlucks to go to. This time I brought a fruit salad with cream also known as ‘Ambrosia’. No calories in this one!

                                                                                                                                                                          Of course we had sold most of our christmas decorations but I had kept a few small ones so I had put  

the RV somewhat in the 'Christmas spirit'.  Merlin always loved to climb our trees in the previous years so after we came back from the potluck it was no surprise that he had tackled this one too,        

and  had knocked it over!         

                                                                                                                                                                

Who, me..? Nahhh...

                                                                                                                    

Also, we had been keeping an eye on new jobs posted on workamping.com for next summer and had sent our resume to a few 'contenders'. We'd like to spent some time at the beach if possible and were thrilled to get a call from Turtle Rock RV resort in Gold Beach, OR, just after Christmas.

We set up a little telephone conference during which we were both interviewed by the owner and were approved on the spot!

It's great to have something 'secured' for next season, one less thing to think about!

                                                                                                                                                               

NOVEMBER 2010

Finally our last week arrived! We had a little farewell party in the RV during which we showed off our hard work and said goodbye to the neighbourhood.

We left very early on Sunday morning the 21st, in order to not hold anybody up while we crawled down the hill at a snail’s pace.  I had been quite nervous about this part of the trip but the newly installed Pac Breaks did exactly what they promised us they would do and we made it safely down the hill.

To install the breaks had not been that easy to say the least! The Banks breaks we choose to use at first turned out to be not compatible with the truck’s model so we had to look into something else and that while we almost had no time left before we had to leave! It involved some frustrating trips up and down the hill and than when they installed the current ones it took them several attempts to get them to work properly.

                                                                    

It took us a day to get to Vallecito, we took it slow and took breaks often to walk the dog and re-assure the cats that they were going to survive this ordeal. I was driving behind James because we had decided to keep our faithful Subaru since James needed a car to commute to Lake Arrowhead where he was still finishing up some big projects that would provide us income over the winter. 
Everything went pretty smoothly except for the fact that we took the road up and through Julian which in hindsight was not a smart thing to do since we had to climb 4000 feet and the road was very narrow and insanely windy! It took us forever since we had to go slow but we made it to the other site, down into the desert and arrived around 4.30 pm at Agua Calliente from where the rangers accompanied us to our host spot at Vallecito a couple of miles down the road.

It wasn’t the easiest spot to move into and James had to unhook and re-hook again a couple of times to make the turn, during which he bend the landing legs (minor detail), but we finally got it done. The spot is beautiful, under a great roof structure which keeps us out of the worst of the wind, rain and sunshine, all of which conditions we encounter rather forcefully during our stay. We also have a good view of the entrance which makes it easy to spot new arrivals.

                                                                  

We met our neighbors and co-hosts, Joe and Deanna, who turn out to be the nicest people we could ever have wished for to have as our first co-workers.
We had a couple of days to settle in before we had to start working so we slowly set up ‘camp’.

                                                                    

We tried to set up the screen room too but gave up on it after 2 days because the winds turned out to be way too much and it kept blowing away and rattled the awning in a way that I was afraid it would rip off. The cats seem to feel right at home, they take the desert as one huge litter box and kept themselves busy hunting all the little critters that hide in it.

                                                                       

Sadie loves to chase the jackrabbits during the day and the little bunnies that show up in the evening. She never got one but enjoyed trying. We keep her on a long line most of the time but if we have no guests she can roam around free and for her walks I walk her off-leash outside the campground.

Our job here consists of meeting and greeting the campers that come in and check that they have payed, although we have nothing to do with the financial site of it, they have to deposit there fees in the ‘iron ranger’, a pole with a slit in it through which they have to slide the envelop with money.

                                                                       

We also have to keep the bathrooms clean and the grounds looking tidy but however we want to do that was left to us. As long as we make 20 hrs between the 2 of us and were a ‘presence’ for a couple of hrs during the 3 days we have to work each week, it's fine.
James is also drafted to work on a couple of projects during the time we will be here and I am asked to give tours of the historical Stage Coach building on site for 2 hrs. on Sundays and maybe upon request during the week.
Quite a challenge for me because I was never too comfortable talking to a group but after the first couple of times I found I was actually enjoying myself and started to look into the history of the place in order to be able to tell people more. I also met a lot of people that knew much more about it than I did and that was fun too; I learn something new every time!

                                                                       

Not too long after we arrived we had our first potluck dinner at Thanksgiving, the first of many to come, at Agua Caliente which was a bigger campsite down the road from us. We got to meet most workampers and rangers and had a great time and great food!

                                                                       

It was truly special to be with such a great group of people during the Holidays, being used to only the 2 of us most of the previous years.  It turns out to be an unexpected benefit of this ‘lifestyle’. We gain a whole group of family and friends and when we got ‘enough’ of each other we each go our own way! I like it!  I made James' Mam's layered ‘overnight salad’.