On Friday night, we found a nice little RV park in Ventura right out side of Santa Barbara. It had all the amenities that we were needed and Nick did his first dump of all our “dump”. It went smoothly which is a huge relief. Guess our RV wasn’t constipated and everything is working as it should in regards to that. The girls had fun on a little 3 person tricycle, playing in the park and making some friends. I was happy we were to take care of all the things we needed to—especially showering and laundry. We only traveled through LA and that was enough. The traffic was insane (pics posted) and boy, did it stink! Homeless people could be viewed on overpasses, under bridges and on walks in front of some of the most lavish hotels. We really just rode through so I wasn’t even able to capture a photo of the Hollywood sign, though I don’t know why I’d really much care except to say I saw it.
Saturday we stayed at Joshua Tree National Forest and took a great hike in morning to see an old gold mine in the desert. It was a really great park with wonderful landscape. When we got out to the peak we could see the oasis in the middle of the desert. We weren’t able to go to that point as it was another 3.4 miles and we already had tuckered out kids. The ranger said the oasis was quite a site as there are literally palms every where—referring to it as a palm tree forest.
Last night we stayed at a TA travel center and headed to Colossal Caverns and toured them. It was really neat and I am very relieved that I didn’t start to hyperventilate (I also do not care for tight spaces). This was a dry cave though so it didn’t smell musty/rusty and there was no water dripping and other things that normally creep me out and start to get me petrified that the ceiling will start to fall. It was pretty spacious and VERY well lit, so it really felt welcoming? I even caught myself stating to the kids how cool it would be to spend the night there. Of course they all chimed in and said, Yeahhhhh”!
We will be staying in an RV park tonight and let the kids swim and hang out some. It was 85-90 degrees today-- the first really hot day we’ve had on the trip. They loved the warm weather but are really tired and kind of spunky. I love it—not the attitudes from the kids—the weather. There is NO humidity and a nice breeze. I was in Phoenix for business and it was 105 that day and felt like 90. With out the humidity things are so different. The hotel clerk asked me where I was from and when I replied Wisconsin, she asked me if I was handling the heat ok. I thought it was pretty funny. I don’t think this part of the south could handle our summers. Humidity makes everything yucky.
We are hoping to be on the Texas coast in two days—then we’ll spend a bit of time on the beach. We are running out of money and have decided the trip will be cute short. (The towing of our RV did NOT help—that was $300). I don’t want to go home yet. I love the trip even with its pit falls, and know the weather that I look forward to is still months away back in Wisconsin.
Loving 85 today!
Maranatha!