California Here We Come!

It is April1 and we left Phoenix (Buckeye) with all the other April fools.  We have watched the steady exodus of snowbirds for the last couple of weeks and today’s a big leaving day since a lot of the monthly and winter stay folks are leaving today.  We can definitely see it is time to move because the high temps are hovering at 90+ degrees.  It is too hot to stay outside during the main part of the afternoon unless you are in a shaded breezy place.

We stopped at a park situated on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.  It is a nice park with green grass; something we have not seen for a couple of months unless we saw it driving by a golf course.  This is a great place for a little R&R before moving into California.

Down by the Colorado River at the River Breeze RV Park

We haven't seen this much water anywhere for the last 2 months!

We bought gasoline at a station on the Arizona side of the state line because it is $1.00 cheaper per gallon than when you cross the river and state line into California.  The difference is attributed to taxes, which is funny because the California primary is coming up soon.  We see signs that read, “Vote No on E” and the line right below that reads, “We Pay Enough Taxes".

I for one believe it as evidenced on our sales receipts from purchases at stores and restaurants.  There is even a “CRV” tax on bottles and cans purchased.  CRV is an acronym for California Redemption Value; you can get this back if you carry your emptied bottles and cans to a recycling center.  In other words, it is a tax because it is too much trouble to save, store and transport these empty containers to the approved places.

As we make our way into Southern California, we drive through Palm Springs and pass Bob Hope Drive while traveling on Sonny Bono Memorial Highway.  Along the way, we drive through a huge windmill farm.  This farm is located in a pass through the mountains where the wind naturally gathers and blows most of the time.  Passing that area we come to Beaumont and turn left to head south into Hemet.

Agricultural checkpoint entering California.

Howdy!

Windmills everywhere

Even up the mountainside in the distance!

The sight we behold is fabulous.  Having not seen green and mostly brown for such a long time our eyes were treated to a feast of green on the mountain sides as we descended into a valley between mountains.  The valley was lush and green too.  We are thinking we are glad we picked Hemet as our next home.

Arriving at the RV Park we are told most of the snowbirds have already exited and we can have about any place we choose.  A helpful volunteer showed us a couple of sites that are shady and quiet.  After being here awhile, we have come to appreciate more fully this choice.  There is the exception of one incident with details forthcoming in a later posting.

It appears Hemet is a retirement community as there are a number of dedicated neighborhoods that allow only residents aged 50 or over.  The day after we arrived we washed the travel from our cars and went exploring.  We found an interesting lake and camping area south of Hemet known as Lake Skinner Recreation Area.  Looks like a great place to get away and we suspect it gets a lot of summer business.

We also found a restaurant named Polly’s Pies that seems to be a chain.  Since there are no Cracker Barrels, we think this might do in a pinch.  If you ever stop at one, be sure and order the Strawberry Lemonade for your drink.  Yummeee!

We have been reticent to post our arrival in California for a couple of very good reasons.  We wanted to surprise my cousin Margaret, who lives nearby, and her sister Nancy, who is making a visit here about the middle of the month.  There will be more about this in the next posting.

Our first excursion was to the National Hot Rod Museum to look over the exhibits and history behind the NHRA.  Bibi is definitely getting her education on the various forms of car racing, cars and drivers.  She says she never realized just how much there was to learn.  She is a fast learner and has gotten most of the jargon down now.  We will be scheduling a NHRA drag race to attend when we locate one close to us in the future.

For now she will have to settle for a dirt track race event we have scheduled in the near future.  We have tickets to attend the World of Outlaws Sprint car races at Perris.  The speedway is only thirty miles from where we are staying and we will say more about this in the next blog post.  Here are some pictures from the NHRA museum visit.

Mr. NHRA, Wally Parks.  No, the statue not me!

David and I are in Hog Heaven!

These are the real thing.

There are even a couple of pink cars for the girls.

Yes, they are everywhere.  On the floor, on the wall and even overhead.

That is it for now.  There will be another blog posting soon.  Enjoying our time here in California.