Friday, February 10, 2017

BIG CITY TRAFFIC MADNESS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LANDS US ON INTERSTATE FIFTEEN NORTH THEN SOUTH

DSC_0082

This is my Friday Feb. 10th post and if you are reading this the ‘Open Live Writer/Picasa problem must be solved:))

For the first time in a long time we were able to sleep with our windows open Thursday night and how nice to feel a soft desert night’s breeze fluffing in on me.  Our new neighbor’s have been respectively quiet and as long as that continues and nobody else shows up we will stay where we are for the time being.  The big moving panic has thankfully subsided.

DSC_0001

MORNING’S SUNRISE DUSTS THE DESET FLOOR

Had the Jeep’s wheels rolling by 7:45 a.m. and a short 15 minutes later we swung ourselves around Borrego Spring’s Christmas Circle heading west up main street.  Minutes later we began the ascent of the San Ysidro mountains up Montezuma’s grade.   We had us a mission this morning and it had to do with Temecula California 66 miles to the west and about two thirds of the way to the Pacific coast.

DSC_0004

HEADING WEST THROUGH BORREGO SPRINGS TO BEGIN OUR CLIMB UP THE SIDE OF THE SAN YSIDRO MOUNTAINS

A nice sun and cloud morning for a drive as we topped Montezuma’s Grade motoring ourselves along highway S22 through sleepy Ranchita to San Felipe Road and finally the T intersection at highway 79.  A right turn took us through Warner Springs where we remembered traveling through before in search of the Great Stone Eagle.  Oh how nice to see valleys and fields of green grass and grazing cattle.  Once out of Warner Springs we were finally on a stretch of road we had never been on before.  I expected there to be traffic on this road but was pleasantly surprised to almost have the whole two lane highway to ourselves.

DSC_0019

DSC_0023

DSC_0024

DSC_0020

What a nice change of pace to see a totally different landscape with grass and trees dominating the scenery.  Highway 79 is a typical winding road for these mountainous regions with lots of hills, grades and tight curves to keep a driver on his or her toes.

DSC_0025

THIS IS VERY TYPICAL OF OUR MORNING’S DRIVE

DSC_0027

STOPPED INTO THE OAK GROVE CAMPGROUND FOR A LEG STRETCH

DSC_0031

DSC_0030

PROBABLY A BUSY PLACE IN THE SUMMER

DSC_0032

QUICK STOP AT AN OLD STAGECOACH STOP

DSC_0034

DSC_0033

Along the way we knew of an Escapees RV Club place called Jojoba Hills. (pronounced HoHoba)  We first heard of Jojoba Hills nearly 10 years ago from Butch a friend of ours originally from Riverside California.  He said someday when his traveling days were over there was only one Park he would be interested in and that was a place called Jojoba Hills.  Friday morning we took ourselves for a drive through Jojoba.  A couple RV Bloggers on my sidebar live here and we were able to locate their places and drive by.  It was way too early to be showing up and knocking on someone’s door unannounced so we just kind of tippy-toed by with a little smile and a wave.

DSC_0039

DSC_0043

LOCKED MAIN GATE AT THIS 55+ PARK

DSC_0044

THIS IS ONE OF THE NICEST RV PARK RESORTS WE HAVE EVER SEEN….VERY IMPRESSIVE WITH ALL IT’S LOVELY DESERT LANDSCAPING AND SCENIC MOUNTAIN VIEWS

DSC_0049

AM ONLY INCLUDING A FEW OF THE PHOTOS I TOOK HERE TODAY AND WILL ADD THE OTHERS IN ANOTHER POST

DSC_0050

DSC_0059

JUDY ‘THE BIRDLADY OF BLOGLAND’ LIVES HERE…..TRAVELS WITH EMMA

DSC_0062

DSC_0064

JUDY SITS UP HIGH AND HAS A GREAT VIEW

DSC_0063

DSC_0067

WE RECOGNIZED THIS WHITE JEEP AND ALPHA MOTORHOME RIGHT AWAY…..MERIKAY'S DREAM

DSC_0068

A WAVE TO MERIKAY AND CRAIG

DSC_0070

THEY CAME TO VISIT US IN BAYFIELD A COUPLE SUMMERS AGO

DSC_0080

JOJOBA HILLS IS SOOOOOO NICELY LANDSCAPED

Just up the road we saw a bunch of familiar looking works of art.  It was the home of famed metal sculptor Ricardo Breceda who is the man responsible for all the amazing sculptures in and around Borrego Springs.

DSC_0086

DSC_0108  DSC_0099

DSC_0104

DSC_0110

I WILL INCLUDE MORE OF RICARDO BRECEDA’S WORKS IN A LATER POST

Temecula was only another dozen miles up the road and traffic began picking up as we approached the east end of the city.  I had scouted out a ‘Best Buy’ store location on Google Earth beforehand so knew exactly where I was going.  Good thing as the two lane highway quickly turned into a 6 lane highway with lots of manic California 4 wheelers on it.

DSC_0112

TEMECULA STRAIGHT AHEAD

We had spotted a certain computer on sale in the Best Buy weekly flyer and wanted to have a hands on look at it.  We arrived at the store just as they were opening at 10.  A nice young fellow answered all our questions.  Well, answered all of  Kelly’s questions that is.  The only question I was able to ask the techie smart guy was where the washroom was.  We waffled back and forth trying to make a decision and by golly we did a make decision.  We decided we had better go have us a burger and coffee and talk things over.

DSC_0116

TEMECULA TRAFFIC WAS BIZARRE WITH SO MANY DRIVERS SPEEDING THROUGH YELLOW LIGHTS

We had seen a Carl's Jr near the Best Buy store so headed on over there for a western burger.  The coffee we got from a coffee shop near by.  Now normally we are pretty good at making decisions but not so much today it seemed.  Finished up our grub and went back to Best Buy.  I stayed in the Jeep with Pheebs with the A/C on.  Yes it was that hot!!  Kelly had a few more questions for the fella and had they had the particular model of laptop we were interested in stock she thinks she might have bought it.  The Best Buy fella said there was another Best Buy store that did have the computer and it was about 3 miles further west.  IMG_2560

HERE’S THE BAYFIELD BUMS SITTING ON A CURB OUTSIDE CARL JUNIORS TODAY EATING THEIR LUNCH

IMG_2559

IMG_2558

IMG_2556

IMG_2557

After several false starts to head east back home we finally decided to turn around and go back to find the other Best Buy store.  Huge mistake!!!!  It was shades of Sarasota Florida all over again as we dashed from traffic light to traffic light.  Green light, grip the steering wheel, close your eyes and shove the gas pedal through the floorboards.   He who reaches the next traffic light first and is still alive wins.  We never saw so many people running yellow lights with one truck roaring right past us running a red.  It was totally insanely nuts.  And then it got worse.

----------------

We could see a freeway ahead of us crossing overhead running north and south.  We knew that to be I-15 and intended to pass under it in our Best Buy store search.  That didn’t happen and before we knew it we were whisked up a two lane ramp right onto I-15 heading north at warp speed.  Awwwww Nuts!!!!  Now lucky for me I have a lot of heavy traffic experience from years ago and although I will go miles out of my way to avoid the damn stuff I can still mix it up with the best of them if I have to and today I had to.  Next exit we were off then on again heading back south to where we had mistakenly got on.  Exited the freeway there and whipped around a corner into a parking lot to ask somebody where the heck Best Buy was.  We were told it was back up I-15 north and that right there was the absolute end of our Best Buy search.  Time to get the hell out of town…… fast!!!!!

--------------------

Grabbed highway 79 heading east, dusted off a couple dozen locals and we were gone like a herd of turtles in a cloud of heifer dust.  What a huge relief it was to see Temecula quickly disappearing in the rear few.  A convoy of Temeculites tried to keep up to us all the way to the highway 371 turn off south of Jojoba Hills but we lost them when we headed straight through towards Warner Springs and they all headed north on highway 371.  Not much traffic from this point on and we were both so relieved about that.  How nice to be in the peaceful countryside once again enjoying the scenery.  How people can live in big cities and maintain their sanity is beyond me.  Never was a question years ago when I was one of them but soooooooooo glad to be out of all that big city chaos now.

DSC_0118

SO NICE TO BE BACK IN THE SANITY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

A quick stop in Santa Ysabel at the Julian Pie Company netted us 3 more jugs of soft apple cider.  Boy oh boy do we ever love that stuff.  Headed on down the road to Julian where Kelly picked up a few grocery items at Jack’s Market.  We were soon tumbling our way down the east side of the Vulcan Mountains towards the desert floor far below.  More sharp curves on this mountain road than a box of spilled noodles.

DSC_0120

STOPPED AT THE JULIAN PIE COMPANY FOR A FEW MORE JUGS OF CIDER

DSC_0121

JULIAN CALIFORNIA’S MAIN INTERSECTION

DSC_0122

PHEEBS WAITS PATIENTLY FOR KELLY TO COME BACK OUT OF JACK’S MARKENT WITH SOME GOODIES

We were soon into more sharp curvy roads as we threaded our way through the Pinyon Mountains east of Scissors Crossing between Blair Canyon and the Borrego Valley.  We were finally back to our rig sometime around 2 California time. 

DSC_0133

PICKING OUR WAY THROUGH THE PINION MOUNTAINS

DSC_0137

Our day trip had lasted 7 hours.  Tired??  Ya darn right we were.  I’m beginning to think the only way we will ever get to see the Pacific coast will be on a bus……………..

DSC_0001

DSC_0004

DSC_0006

DSC_0007

DSC_0005

At the time of publishing this late tonight we are yet again under the onslaught of big gusting Borrego winds trying their best to launch us into orbit again!!!!

DSC_0002

DESPITE TONIGHT’S BLUSTERY CLOUD COVER I DID MANAGE ONE PHOTO OF THE FULL MOON

GROANER’S CORNER:))  A cowboy walks into a bar and orders a whisky. When the bartender delivers the drink, the cowboy asks, "Where is everybody?"  The bartender replies, "They've gone to the hanging."  "Hanging? Who are they hanging?"  "Brown Paper Pete," the bartender replied.  "What kind of a name is that?" the cowboy asked.  "Well," says the bartender. "He wears a brown paper hat, brown paper shirt, brown paper trousers and brown paper shoes."
"How bizarre," said the cowboy. "What are they hanging him for?"  "Rustling," said the bartender.

5 comments:

  1. Well, this post worked fine for me. Maybe OLW is working for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the drive to Temecula, the Jojoba park looks so nice I like all that open sky.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was some happy to see where Judy lives! She told us she was going to get rid of the motor home she drove all over the country. I think this is the first post I have seen of her new digs. I think Tioga George had a picture with her, but don't remember if it showed her home.
    I hope the medical stuff turns out not to be serious. Here, the Old Man is wasting away. Quietly told me Monday night that maybe he will drink Ensure, since he had dropped from 115 lbs. down to 110. I hit Walmart before I slept!! A strong wind would actually blow him down! Take care. Appreciate th Bunch!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walmart also sells Premier Protein. I think it has about double the protein (30g) and less sugar and fat than Ensure. My wife was 122 lbs in August and has stabilized at about 85 lbs thanks to a protein drink. If you can get to Costco you can buy a case of 18. Five different flavors - she doesn't care for the caramel.

      Delete
  4. Our son and his family live in Temecula. Yes, there is a LOT of traffic! We usually drive down there on a Sunday morning and I'm planning a visit mid-week sometime. DO be careful on those freeway entrances! The drivers there are NUTS! (that's for sure!)....LOTS of accidents on 79 around the Stagecoach place. People constantly pull out and pass me, even when there is a double yellow line! Phew!
    Glad you got to see the sculpture garden. That is one of my favorite places! He is a very nice fella, too.

    ReplyDelete