Christmas With Friends

 

Last week Max and I put our landscaping project on hold. We are at a very good stopping place where it will be easy to start the project when we return from our Boondoggle at the end of the month of January. We want to get it done but we also want to play a little as well. Before we know it, we will be back up at Barton Flats getting the campgrounds ready for the summer. But we don’t want to think about that yet!!

Over Christmas we had some friends Dave and Diane, Throwing Caution To The Wind, whom we met two years ago at a Boondocking rally in Quartzsite. They came here to check out what Jojoba Hills is all about.  Our friends Rayn and JJ, Holdingintentionalspace, whom we met work camping at Big Bear last season, also came down from their work camping job at Amazon to spend Christmas with us and to plan our boondocking adventures for the month of January.

On Christmas eve, Max was able to reserve the ranch house so she could use the kitchen and fix the turkey for Christmas dinner. She usually cooks it all night long, so she reserved the ranch house all night Christmas eve. We had a table full of snacks, Dave and Diane brought some really good chili and Rayne and JJ brought a cranberry dip and some brownies. I was in snack heaven! We played games and visited while Max did her thing in the kitchen. Christmas day we had our dinner and pretty much just lazed around for the whole day. The weather got cooler but it was still in the high 50’s.

Dave and Diane had to leave the day after Christmas but they are heading to Borrego Springs for a week or so. I know we will see them there and possibly at Quartzsite. Hopefully Jojoba made a good impression on them and they will come back to visit soon.

Saturday, Rayn, JJ and us took off to San Diego for the day. We started off at Mission de Acala, California’s first mission.

 

After visiting the mission we headed into Old Town San Diego and looked at some museums and the endless shops that lined the streets.

All kinds of ideas for decorating our patio when it is done

After visiting some museums and looking at all the vendors, we had to get our ocean fix, so we went over to Mission Bay Beach and people watched for awhile. It was pretty cool but it is December after all.

We had made some plans to meet with a couple that we met two years ago while we were work camping at Serrano. Jeff and Robin are from the Phoenix area and visit California often. They happen to be in San Diego camping over the holidays and invited us to dinner. We met at an Outback Steakhouse and enjoyed a great evening of conversation.

They are investigating the fulltime lifestyle, and are looking at fifth wheels and trucks. We discussed work camping opportunities but I think we ruined them on the camp hosting gigs due to our horrid bathroom stories! Thanks Jeff and Robin for a great evening and for dinner. We will see you guys down the road for sure!

The last couple of days I have been getting the fifth wheel ready to move. We have not moved it since last February, so I had to check air pressures and lubricate the suspension and get the basement squared away for travel. When we parked it last, we had the plan of not moving it, so things have gotten moved around a little. Hopefully we will get it packed correctly and won’t have to many things bounce around.

We will be heading to Borrego Springs and spend a few days there before moving down to Yuma. It should be about 10 degrees warmer so that will be a good thing. I am sure that Rayn and JJ are ready to get out and do some exploring, we are too! I just hope this old man can keep up!

Enjoy Your Day!!