California Still

(NOTE: View a larger picture by clicking on the photos above.)

We made the move to Lake Skinner as planned. It is a very nice park in the middle of a nature preserve, surrounded by mountains. No traffic noise here. It is a mile to the first gate off the road, then two more miles to the guard station before the campgrounds. No WiFi at the campground, so no internet. We will have to work at finding a “hot spot.“ The campground is about 13 miles from the town of Temecula (pronounced Te MAY cula). We are about 90 miles from where our daughter Debbie lives in Huntington Beach.

Look at the pictures above. The first one is of our trailer at the campsite, approximately in the center of the picture, taken from a distance, You should be able to recognize it by now, if you are a regular reader. The second picture is a view across a portion of the lake. The day was rather overcast, one of very few such days we have experienced since we have been in the West.

As we pulled into the campground we saw that one of the “Camp Host” (Volunteers who receive free site accommodations in return for 20 hours per week of light duty in the Park) had Dish Network TV hooked up. We decided that since he was getting service, we would give it another try. We got out the equipment and set it up again. We went through the procedures as required. Again, we could find nothing that worked. I thought perhaps the Camp Host could help. I knocked on his door and explained the situation. He said he would be glad to try and help.

The “Host” came down to our trailer. He setup the dish as he usually did. Nothing! No signal. “That’s funny,” he said, “I never have any trouble finding the satellite. I just spit in the wind, turn it this way and that, and it connects.” We tried again. Nothing! We checked all the connections. Nothing seemed to be wrong. “Would you like for me to go get my dish and try it,” he asked. “Sure, I say, “if you don’t mind.” He retrieved his dish, got out his compass, set everything up and……your guessed it, nothing! “It can’t be your dish,” he says, “or mine should work.” Sounds logical to me. Since nothing we did worked, I put up the equipment. I thanked our host for trying. We resigned ourselves to watching “fuzzy,” over-the-air, Network programming until we returned to Arizona.

On Thursday Debbie came to the Park to spend the day with us. We were discussing the Dish Network situation and the thought hit me, I haven’t tried this dish hooked directly into the receiver without going through the trailer wiring. Perhaps the Trailer wiring is at fault. You guessed it again! Out comes the equipment, and we try again. Same outcome. Nothing! Perhaps it’s the receiver itself. We don’t know. We will be back in Quartzsite on Monday. Perhaps then we will find the problem. I have determined that it is not we who are the problem. Something else is amiss.

We forgot the TV problem and when into Old Town Temecula to visit the many gift and antique shops they have. Seems that everywhere we go has an “Old Town.” The town is decorating for Christmas. You see a view of some of the buildings in the picture above.

Today, Friday, we came to visit Debbie in Huntington Beach. We have already told you that the distance is 90 miles, which should take about 1 ½ hours to drive. But an unusual thing occurred, it started raining about 1:30 AM, and was still raining when we got up. To avoid the traffic on the freeways, we decided not to leave until about 8 AM in order to miss the heavy “down town” traffic. But we had not counted on the rain. “It never rains in Southern California.” Or, so it is claimed. So, since today is an exception to the rule, we left an hour later just to be sure we would miss most of the heavy traffic.

You know how it is in the Southeast when it snows a little and nobody seems to know how to drive in it? The same thing happens in California when it rains. The cars stack up and the traffic goes crazy and there are accidents everywhere. Today is no exception! It was raining steadily when we left the campground. We had little trouble at the beginning of the trip, but after about 30 miles it all changed.

Our trip for the day requires travel over four different Freeways. I don’t think I have to tell you what California Freeways are like. If you haven’t experienced it, you have heard about it. We ground to a halt. Then we moved at Campground Park speed, 5 to 15 miles per hour. For 15 miles we crept. Then, we saw the problem. A dual-tandem semi-truck had wrecked. On the other side. Going in the opposite direction. The only problem on our side was “rubber necking.” We got up to normal speed again…….for two miles, then slowed again. By the time we were supposed to have arrived, we had gotten about half-way. We completed our one and a half hour trip in just short of three hours. Now, we have to get back. Going with the traffic. We will have to hurry. The gate at the campground closes at 10 PM.

Now that we have Internet at Debbie’s, I will get this blog on. By the time a blog is again due, we will have Internet service in our “Winter quarters,” and hopefully our TV problem will be solved. Until then, we hope your days are going well and filled with good things as you prepare for the coming season.