Our Girl & Good-bye Southern California

Yes, she's definitely a GIRL!!! I've gotta have some other Goddess energy around here! My mom took this really cool picture of the bus on Monday morning with the moon on it's way out. I love this picture, mostly because I know who took it! Thanks, mama!
We'll be leaving this special, peaceful place this weekend, heading up to Sacramento. I have so enjoyed my time here in this campground. We had *the* spot! So private and spacious and all to our very own. The campground is about 100 acres (I finally asked), and the whole time we've been here, it's been nearly deserted. We have loved our late night walks, our pecan harvesting, our lizard hunting, our sprinkler running and other many wonderful times we've had here. I will surely miss it, we all will. That's the thing about being somewhere for any length of time, you start to make connections, and plant yourself, whether you mean to or not. We now have connections with lots of great people from this area, and some very deep connections with new forever friends. We are counting down the days, only 1 more full day to spend here and then we're off. I've been avoiding that reality. It sort of feels like leaving home all over again. However, I am and will always be grateful for the time we spent here, for the connections made and the memories etched forever in my heart.

Our Lovely New Landing Spot

(this entry and the entry below were written Friday, Dec. 15)

We are now about 10 miles south of where we were before, right on Lake Elsinore. The town itself is about 35k people, and has any shopping we’ll be needing, including an RV shop. We’re at Lake Elsinore City Campground. It’s huge and has trees of many varieties, including several pines, so it feels familiar. There are very few people staying here right now, so it’s incredibly quiet and peaceful. The camp hosts are SOOOO nice, they’re from Greeley, CO and are workampers who travel around and work/camp in exchange for reduced camping fees and pay. There aren’t any ‘amenities’ like a laundry room, but there are 2 laundry mats just across the street. Still no wifi, but my withdrawals are lessening.

We inquired this morning about monthly rates, and they are typically $380/month for 2 people, and an additional $100 per person/per month. Eeek! Even kids! Well, they were sweet enough to just go the $380, plus $50/month for Max, so this is where we’ll be for the long run. Sure beats the $730 we were paying over ‘there’ to be treated like garbage.

Everyone is happier. There is much space to explore and no more feelings of being under a microscope. Our door opens to a beautiful lake view, and a huge yard. We’re the last site on this strip, so we won’t be having anybody on our door side at all. We listen to the sweet sounds of chirping birds all day, and the occasional boat roar by. It’s wonderful and I finally feel at ease.

(oh, and I can get wi-fi if I come to the edge of the campground, so I'll be writing for the blog, then cutting and pasting when I can get online)

Curse the lack of Wifi access :(

We've been unplugged from the rest of the world lately. And I'm going through withdrawals. Seems the wifi we were getting was from someone parked near us in the park, and they pulled out last weekend, now we're without it. Thanks to that anonymous giver of your unsecured system, though! Maybe someone else will come soon? For now, I have to drive over to a coffee shop and sip a drink while I surf around and do other computer/internet related stuff.

This last weekend, we went to the ocean both days. On Saturday we went to Doheny State Beach. The boys caught tons of little crabs, found a football, played catch and tag with John on the beach. On Sunday, we went to San Clemente. My favorite spot so far. Beautiful beach, not a lot of people, huge waves because of the weather. We sat up against these gigantic rocks that protected us from the wind, so all we had was the warm sun on our faces and the sound and smell of the ocean right in front of us. We brought a bunch of food, and hung out and ate and played for a couple hours. And an added bonus was that the boys got to watch the Metrolink and the Amtrak come barreling down the track right by us a few times. It runs right along the coast there. We're planning on riding the train while we're here.

We've been searching for a different campground. Not having much luck. We did find "Ortega Oaks". It's above Lake Elsinore and it's the campground that used to have a petting zoo. But, the woman who used to run it realized her dream of moving to Arizona and living off the grid, so no animals there to pet anymore. The people at Ortega were very nice, but they don't have any openings right now. And, the drive to get there is 12 miles past lake elsinore, up a very big mountain. So, John would add 30 minutes each way to his drive every day. We would end up saving about $115 on camping, but John's time, and his time with us, is valuable too.

We found a very quaint little campground on the lake right there in Lake Elsinore, as well. It's called "The Outhouse". The woman who runs it is kind and she has a little boy a bit younger than Stone. BUT... they don't have any openings right now. They're working on evicting some people, though, so we left our information with her so she can call us when something opens up. We'd end up saving about $350 a month there!! Woo hoo! They have full hook ups and a laundry room, no wifi. But, we can access the lake from there, and the boys can go fishing any ol' time they want! It's also right across the street from the library, and just a short bike ride to Albertson's, so the location would be handy. The drive would be only 10 miles further than John drives right now, all on the freeway.

I've been missing my friends immensely lately. Even shed a few tears yesterday. John asked me what I wanted to do yesterday, and what I really wanted to do was go to a movie with Pam. I know I need to connect with some people here, especially the unschoolers at Long Beach. I will. It doesn't help that my major means of staying connected with people has been lost. Although, I could get used to this sitting in a coffee shop by myself listening to groovy music and checking my e-mail thing!

It's my mom's birthday today, and she's going to lunch with my sister. I'd love to be going with them. She (my mom) sent off a package to us today with some pepper sticks and other snacks the boys love and her funky sparkly little tree for us to put in the bus. The boys and I are starting to talk about what we might like to bake for Christmas goodies. It just feels so completely odd to celebrate Christmas when it's 75 degrees out and the palm trees are swaying in the breeze. Weird. I'm sure the tree will help, and the cd Amy's sending, and the baking.

I'll only be checking e-mail and blogging once or twice a week for now. Try not to miss me too much! :)

New Friends

Saylor and Stone have made a new friend here. Well, they met him right away, it's just taken me this long to write about him. Anyway, D and his family are staying here for a few weeks while their new house is being finished. D says it's HUGE and is so excited about all the cool stuff they bought to go in it, like a pool table and a popcorn machine, and air hockey and...

Evidently, D's dad works for Blizzard Entertainment. Means nothing to me, honestly, but he went on to say that he helps people play War Craft...HUH? You mean World of War Craft? The only reason I even know what that *is* is because Hayden's a player and a fan. So, Hayden, we met one of the kids of the *top guys* there! I guess, by D's explanation, he's 3 away from owning the whole company. Cool!

He is such a nice little boy, and his mom is super sweet, too. She was telling me that they'd like to move. She's lived in CA her whole life and just doesn't "fit in". They have 4 children and people are always asking her why they had so many, are they Mormon? Funny! She's very kind and gentle with her kids and down to earth. I needed to meet someone like that here!

Today, my 3 and D all went swimming. (I was there, too, but water's too cold for me and Sage) Both boys are really enjoying him and they all get along together really nicely. They go outside in the morning, and I can't get them to come back in until it's nearing dark. They even request their lunch to be brought to the picnic table by the playground. Lucky ducks!