Hemet, California

November 24 - 30, 2008

Golden Village Palms RV Resort

We arrived here later than we normally like after a day of having new tires put on the motorcoach. Now that is not an inexpensive day! While waiting (we were virtually homeless), we took the car for an oil change and a good wash. The oil change was typical, but the car wash...we kept pulling more money out for the tip as the guy actually got on a ladder to wipe the top of the car, including the kayaks, opened the doors and wiped down the inside as well, cleaned the windows, vacuumed the carpet, cleaned the dash...it took forever...all for $12.

When we finally set out for our next destination, it was getting very close to the evening traffic hours in LA and, we didn't miss it! About 30 miles into our trip I heard what sounded like something being dragged underneath us. We finally found a place where we could pull over and found a bent mudflap hanging by a thread from the back of the rv. We managed to tie it up enough to get to where we were going and once we got back on the road, we kept thinking about the "what ifs"; what if we hadn't stopped; what if the mudflap had come off...what damage would have occurred to the car or, worse, to someone else's car.

We finally arrived at Golden Village and it's dark. When we got set up, I took my blood pressure and decided I needed a couple of glasses of wine to "settle down".

This was our first Thanksgiving alone and so far away from home...you'll remember last year we went to the Thunderbird Restaurant in Myrtle Beach with Susan and Bob. I decided I didn't want to go out to eat and we should have our turkey dinner here in the rv. I want you all to know, I made an entire Thanksgiving dinner in my tiny little kitchen, in my tiny little convection oven. I was very proud of myself. One little hint...if you ever use those cooking bags, follow the directions on the bag and not on the turkey wrapper...the turkey was a little "overdone", but still tasty.

We played golf Friday at Seven Hills Golf Course here in Hemet...which, by the way is a very nice town...too bad it's too far away from home. Anyway, back to golf. Ken started out very well and I started out the same way I've been playing lately...not good. It didn't help that we were playing with a couple of scratch golfers who took the game very seriously. Anyway, by the time I came to the fourth hole, I was so uptight...even hit the wrong ball; figured it was time to call it a day. I'll try again next week.

We spent a beautiful day kayaking at Diamond Valley Lake, a manmade reservoir covering 4,500 acres and is Southern California's largest freshwater reservoir, normally holding nearly 260 billion gallons of water.

However, again because of draught conditions, the lake is down about 75 feet.

You will see the water went even lower than the boat ramp. The approximate "normal" water level is at the white line along the soil.

The ramp was so steep, I made Ken drive the car down to take the kayaks off.

And, by the way, winter is coming to the mountains in Southern California. That's snow on the moutaintop behind Ken.

Our next stop is Thousand Trails-Wilderness Lakes, about 15 miles from here. We'll try to get in some golf and get the mudflap replaced.