SoCal on Father’s Day

Paul kindly met us at the airport in our newly washed truck – we are spoiled (and super grateful!).  The kids were thrilled to see Maddie and Kendal again and immediately got down to the important job of gift exchange, swimming, playing, and eating, despite tiredness.  I, on the other hand, got down to the equally important job of washing the horrendous amounts of laundry that we brought home – sigh!

Yet another delicious meal made its way to our grateful tummies.  Gosh, these wonderful friends can cook!

Dave collected the camper and along with Paul……..and a ladder……...they cleared THREE nests that had been built in the meager two weeks under the slideout awnings while it resided at the Stables!  We were so sad to discover they had eggs.

After Dave napped (it was Father’s Day after all!), and I drank one of Paul’s homemade caramel frappicinos, we sadly headed out toward Solidad Canyon, north of Los Angeles.

As we drove through the winding canyon (we later discovered that coming to the campground from the opposite direction would have been a far better route), we rounded a corner to find a police roadblock.  Apparently this area has been the location for a number of films.  Sure enough, once we were allowed to pass, a film crew was set up on the roadside with trailers.  We didn’t spot anyone famous!

The campground was another Thousand Trails park but was somewhat lacking in upkeep.  We were informed that a great number of sites did not have functioning electric, so we should test before parking.  As we drove into a free site, the guy in the neighboring site warned us that the other neighbors were prone to drug use and tended to get rather loud!  Our options were limited, so we figured we could brave it for one night.  Thankfully it was pain-free and nothing woke us up!

Dave worked throughout Monday.  We opted to remain in the camper with a/c running (it had been 110 the previous day – quite a hot area!) until it was time to leave mid-afternoon. At our gas stop, we paused for a photo shoot with a couple of lemons - there's something you don't see every day!
 

Passing rows upon rows of different groves as we journeyed north, we enjoyed our sunset view as darkness descended.
 

We arrived at San Benito very late on Monday evening, thankfully with five minutes to spare before the 11pm curfew which we didn’t even realize they had in place!  Mona had stayed up to greet us, and we located a site close to the iBus.