Tuesday, January 17, 2017

#31 - Coveys Great Adventure - December 2016 - Simi Valley, Aguanga, Perris, Benson

December, 2016

We arrived at Tapo County Park in Simi Valley with a strong sense of déjà vu. This is our fifth trip to this park and we are more than familiar with it. Unfortunately the camp hosts were the same folks that were here on our last visit, who zealously enforce rules that are simply silly, especially with the sever drought conditions. I hope they move on before our next visit.

Assembly is the reverse of .....
What makes returning to Tapo worthwhile is seeing the friends we have missed all year. The week flew by and I’m glad we don’t carry a scale because I’m sure I put on several pounds!

The day after we arrived I noticed water running out of the bottom of the big slide, a very bad thing to see. The kitchen is in the slide and the leak appeared right under where the sink is located, making that the prime suspect. The cabinet under the sink was dry but after removing a panel and the backs of two cabinets we found the problem: the flexible hose that connects the rigid sink drain pipe through the slide wall to the grey tank had split. Years of opening and closing the slide had finally broken it where it was glued into one of the end collars.

Getting to it was one thing, but figuring out how to repair it wasn’t readily apparent. I called the Monaco coach support line and one of the techs walked me through the repair, pointing out the one critical step that I wouldn’t have figured out otherwise. It took two trips to Home Depot for the parts because I over-thought the process the first time and had to start all over again the next day to get it right.

We discovered Jojoba Hills SKP Park in Aguanga, CA, last year. It immediately became one of our favorites and we had been looking forward to returning for months. We wanted to stay through Xmas but they only had space until the 22nd. I called Meadowbrook Park in Perris and reserved a space there for the 22nd through the 27th, so we were covered for the holiday.

Jojoba Hills SKP Park (JHSP) is located about 20 miles from Temecula on highway 78, a winding, two lane road where the local residents really fly. That is about the only drawback to JHSP. About 300 large sites are spread across over 70 acres of rolling hills. The huge clubhouse houses a very large heated pool, two spas, meeting/dining room, card rooms, library, pool hall, exercise room, quilting room, etc., etc. There are four pickle ball courts, an air gun range, a pottery and a workshop large enough to back an RV into equipped with all the tools you need to do about anything desired. The park also abuts thousands of acres of BLM land, offering miles of trails to explore with the dogs.

JHSP was designed and built entirely by volunteers, the original lessees. It is immaculately maintained and appears to be very, very well managed. Its only real drawback is the lack of a WIFI system. If it wasn’t located in southern California we would seriously consider getting on the waiting list for a lot.

Beyond the park itself, the main reason we come here is to spend Xmas with Kayeanne’s side of the family who live in Hemet, about 25 miles away. One evening we drove to Riverside with Chris, Paul and Brenda to see the holiday light show that the city puts on every year. The historic Mission Inn is the centerpiece of downtown Riverside and the focal point of the lights and decorations. It was certainly worth seeing, but the crowds were almost impenetrable. We finally fought our way back to the car and made our escape. We all agreed that we won’t be back anytime soon.

Deck the halls, however modest
On the 22nd we took down most of the decorations and lights in the coach and moved over to Meadowbrook RV Park in Perris. We spent a month there in 2014 and were pleased to see that it hadn’t changed much. The park is tucked into a small valley and offers large sites, full hookups, a large off-leash dog area and several short walking trails around the rim of the valley. It is quiet and has good access to shopping and services. It is also very reasonably priced. It’s closer to Hemet than JHSP, a plus for Xmas access. It is much closer to visit Ed and Christine Woznicki’s place in San Juan Capistrano for what has become our traditional holiday get-together with them.

This year Xmas was even better because Liesa drove down from St. George. We certainly missed her last year. Xmas eve at Paul and Brenda’s was highlighted by Kayeanne’s excellent chili rellano casserole. Xmas day at Chris’s house was a little chaotic with the Lucy and Schroeder, Liesa’s dog Beckham and Chris’s two dogs, Patches and Morgan making it lively and noisy.

The dogs are very happy to be back
After a month in SoCal with all the running around and the Xmas excitement, we were really ready to hit the road again, so on the 27th we headed east to the Saguaro SKP Park in Benson, AZ. We decided to overnight at the Paradise Casino in Yuma and all went according to plan until we tried to start the generator and it didn’t. It reluctantly fired on the third attempt. When we aren’t plugged into electric power at an RV park, the generator provides AC power and keeps the batteries charged. When dry camping we usually run it a couple of hours morning and evening to cook and to be sure the batteries are fully charged, especially for the night.

As I wrote last year, Saguaro is the park we measure all others by. This is our third visit and pulling up to the office feels a little like a homecoming. We joined the “hot list” two years ago to get our own site and are slowly working our way into contention. We might get one next year.

Cosmo and me: old guys can still party!



We really looked forward to New Years Eve at Saguaro. The folks here really know how to through a party, so we reserved dinner tickets well in advance and polished our dancing shoes. The Jukebox Junkies put on a great show and we had a great time, right up to 10PM when we both ran out of gas and rang in 2017 a little early.

We’ll be in Benson at the Saguaro SKP Park until early March.

More soon,


Bob

No comments:

Post a Comment