Moving day(s), traditions and tours

I trust everyone had a safe and socially distanced Thanksgiving. Ours was a very quiet and small affair.

It’s been a busy five days, starting on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The campground where we were staying, Sweetwater Summit County Park, had a 14 day limit. We had reached our 14 days and it was time to move on. Problem was, many, many, (many) people camp over the holiday weekends in California. It’s something one does not think about when coming from Michigan. Most people back home have winterized their RVs, tried their best to rodent-proof them, and tucked them away for the winter.  Not so much the case here. People like to spend the long holiday weekend camping. Finding a campground with openings in close proximity (and close is a relative term) to our daughter proved to be quite the task. We were also looking for a campground that would take us long-term. The age of our trailer has kept us out of many campgrounds. It’s something to consider when looking for an RV, but I like the price-tag and financing that came with ours (i.e., cash, no payments).

We eventually found a campground that 1) had a vacancy and, 2) did not seem concerned with the age of our trailer. It’s not that close to our daughter, but it’s doable. There was one hitch. A long-term opening was not available until Sunday and in order to camp for the four days prior to the site becoming available we had to move the trailer twice.

Lake Jennings

Lake Jennings

The new campground, Lake Jennings Campground, is part of the Helix Water District. The lake is a reservoir that was created in 1964 to provide water for the local residents of Lakeside. The campground has 97 sites (some of which are precariously perched on a bluff overlooking the lake – tent sites they say, but I’ve seen some intrepid RVers parked in them.  I swear they have to place them with a crane).  Anyway, King, who can be very gregarious and friendly when it suits him, talked the long-term campsite maven into getting us into two pull-though sites. The first site was more or less vertical. I could sit in my reading nook by bracing my feet against the wall. We had that site from Wednesday through Friday and parked the truck vertically behind the trailer – just in case. The second site was fairly normal (we stayed there Friday and Saturday), and our third and final site, (until the end of February) is just across the “street” from the second site. It’s fairly spacious and Cindy has some low bushes she likes to lie underneath and sleep. She is aging and tends to sleep – a lot.

We have stayed at Lake Jennings Campground a couple of times in previous years, never for a long-term stay though. This time around I will be following the example set by other campers and decorating the outside of the trailer for Christmas. I’ve never done that before. Inside I have two strings of garland, a few battery-operated poinsettia-shaped tea lights, a battery operated ceramic tree – and we will call it good. One obviously can over do decorating 184 square feet.

So it appears we are settling in. On Friday, following our first move, we enjoyed a family tradition of getting our daughter’s Christmas tree.  This is our third year of joining in on her tradition. The boys had seen some spray-painted trees from the road and although they did not seem too keen on getting one, they did want to check them out.  Grandma made the appropriate “ohhh” and “How pretty” noises. There also was a small petting zoo (farm animals) at the tree farm. We checked out the ducks, geese, pot bellied pigs, sheep, rabbits and chickens. I listened in as a mother explained to her toddler how eggs came from chickens. I also noted there were not that many hens in the flock but I kept that info to myself.

On Saturday we drove to San Diego and took a catamaran tour of the San Diego Bay. The boys have been asking to go whale watching. Our daughter figured if they could handle the bay tour they could probably handle the Whale Watching tour. Three years ago she and I took a whale watching tour late in the season. Although we never saw any whales (it was the first time all season the charter had not

San Diego skyline

spotted any whales) there were a lot of dolphins that followed the boat. We assume, on the off chance of the same thing happening again, the boys will be just as happy seeing the dolphins – so at some point this winter/spring we will do some whale watching.

Things are starting to fall into place and we are getting into a routine. We are slowly making repairs on the trailer brakes and working on figuring out what is going on with the truck. Lights are still blinking and bells are still ringing but we will get there. In the meantime I’ll turn down my hearing aids and look the other way.

This is the way we go to school

Since arriving in California we are learning, first-hand, the joys of homeschooling first graders.

Our daughter’s twin sons are in the first grade. They attend school online Monday through Wednesday and attend school in class (half-day) Thursday and Friday. The school district’s plan is to switch to five days a week, (half-day) in-class learning after Thanksgiving.  With the Coronavirus on the uptick I’m not certain if that will still happen.  

The country is waiting for someone to do something definitive rather than play golf and bitch about the election.

Yes. That is a political comment.

Regardless of what the district decides, we are here in California to help our daughter with daycare/homeschooling while she works. It’s tough trying to work from home with children in the house. Been there done that. It’s just plain scary when one works on commission.

On day one, what I discovered was keeping first graders engaged and on task (always hated those words when I heard educators use them) is akin to herding cats. “Sit up. Pick up your pencil. No you don’t have to sharpen that pencil again. Don’t hit your brother.  Get off the floor. Do you wiggle like that in school?”

 There was also some initial shyness when it came to reading in front of Grandma and Poppa, although at night they are always eager to take turns reading. I think when it comes to school it’s a little different.

The daily schedule is self-paced learning in the morning and zoom classroom in the afternoon. We finished early on Monday and spent some time in Grandma and Poppa’s truck pretending to catch bad guys or look for stray animals. Imaginations take us everywhere.  On Wednesday we took them to La Jolla to watch the sea lions and seals. It’s about 20 minutes from their apartment so we could finish with morning class, spend as much time as they wanted watching sea life and returned in time for speech class.

I asked the boys if their Mom or Dad helped them as much as I did with school. They said no.  It’s hard to know what is helping and what is interfering. The day after I questioned them about “help,” I stepped back a bit. King, the retired educator, didn’t agree with my tactic. I’m sure by spring we will have it figured out.

Back in Michigan one of our granddaughters in Grand Haven was exposed to COVID and was in quarantine. A few days later the entire Grand Haven school district gave up with in-class learning and school board decided to go back to virtual learning until December 9. In Paw Paw where the other grandkids go to school, the high school has closed for three weeks as mandated by the state, but the elementary remained open. Some things simply defy logic. Although I was informed it was so working parents who can’t find daycare can continue working, I personally believe if we don’t stop the spread, a mandatory stay-at-home order can’t be that far off.  It’s scary times for everyone. Please people. Wear your masks. It’s such a simple thing.  

Speaking of masks… Yesterday we took the boys to check out a campground closer to their home. We drove their mother’s car, since using her car with the car seats already installed is so much easier than moving them into the truck.  We forgot and left our own masks in the truck. King went into a gas station and had to use one of the kids’ masks … the one with dinosaurs on it. He looked really dashing. The boys were quick to point out that the mask had to be washed after Poppa used it. It’s rather sad that seven-year-olds are so wise in the ways of the spread of a virus.

After driving through the campground we took them to the local beach. I came home with bits of shell, lots of sand, and a few other "treasures" that I keep in my "treasure box" in the trailer.

Between trips to campgrounds, beaches and learning how to do virtual learning, it looks as though we are going to have a busy winter.

Report from the road

We meandered across the country and ended up in Quartzsite, Arizona on our sixth day on the road.  I have to admit, and this may offend some, Quartzsite is not my favorite place to stay. But it is free and that’s a big draw.  We have a reservation at a county park near our daughter on Wednesday and since we need some repairs, this is as good a place as any to stop.

I would say Quartzsite is a wild and beautiful country but it’s difficult to see with all the other RVers who are parked here calling this home. That sounds pretty negative, doesn’t it?

View from our backdoor.

Quartzsite is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (the original BLM) land. So camping in some designated areas is free. These areas are known as short-term visitor dispersed spots, meaning you can stay 14 days for free and then have to move on. There is also an area referred to as a Long Term Visitor Area(LTVA) where campers can stay from September through April – for a $180 fee.  For that fee you get a pit toilet, a dance floor and RV dump station.  Quartzsite also has regular RV “resorts” with full hookups.

For a Michigan girl who loves green trees and grass, the Arizona desert is, umm dry. The landscape is flat, sparsely vegetated with creosote bushes and what they call trees (palo verde, ironwood, and mesquite) as well as cacti. But there is beauty everywhere if you look for it -- the mountains in the distance are purple against the sun and I can see awesome sunrises and sunsets through either window in the front of the trailer. Early this morning there was a coyote somewhere outside the trailer. I’ve often heard them in the distance – even at home – but never so close. This one was probably within a stones throw of the trailer. And I don’t throw very well these days. 

Yesterday and today are incredibly windy. King and I have retreated to our trailer. He is watching football and I’m keeping myself busy with writing and reading. I have some paranormal romance novels stored away on my Kindle.

We also have company.

We have a friend from South Haven who left on a nomad travel adventure about a month before we did. We keep in touch via text messages and discovered we would be in Quartzite at the same time so for the next few days we are socializing. I provide the coffee he provides the cookies.

Today King and I drove to town looking for cigars I saw a sign for the Hi Jolly Monument. We are staying at the Hi Jolly dispersed campsite, so I figured it might be worth checking in out.

Hi Jolly or Hadji Ali, was born in Syria as Philip Tedro. His father was Syrian who converted to Christianity and his mother was Greek. As a young adult Ali converted to Islam and after going to Mecca to perform the jajj (pilgrimage) he called himself Hadji Ali – Hi Jolly was no doubt an 
Americanized version of his name.  (For one brief moment the politically correct version of me was offended. But I have a very Dutch maiden name. Not only has the original spelling of my name been bastardized – my father changed it further after joining the Army in 1942. Some things simply are…).

Hi Jolly Monument

Hadji Ali worked as a camel breeder and trainer. He served with the French Army in Algiers before signing on as a camel driver for the US Army in 1856. He was one of several men hired by the US Army to introduce camels to the US to be used to transport cargo across the desert.  Ali was the lead camel driver during the US Army’s experiment with the US Camel Corps. Apparently the experiment was a failure as army mules, horses and burros were terrified of camels. The start of the Civil War led to congress not approving more funds for the Camel Corps.

Ali became a US citizen in 1890 and used his birth name of Philip Tedro. He married Gertrudis Serna in Tucson. They had two children.

Ali moved to Quartzsite, Arizona where he mined and occasionally scouted for the US Army. He died in 1902 and was buried in Quartzsite.

So now, for me, the mystery of the camel logos, streets named Camel, Pyramid or Oasis in Quartzsite has been answered.