A New Year and A New Day

In my year end comments, I stated I was going to work hard at writing something every day.  Several persons offered supportive comments for that goal.  So here we are; January 1, 2013.

It was moving day for us.  We hitched up after 52 days at the Ventura Oaks KOA and headed out on the Los Angeles freeway system for our destination here in Riverside County.  I have been dreading this trip through LA all year long.  It was helpful to do it on New Years Day.  Interestingly, I was planning to take the northern bypass around LA, that being the 210 freeway through Pasadena, CA.  I was talking with my brother over Christmas and he reminded me that Pasadena was a little busy on New Years Day, what with a Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game.  Glad he brought that to my attention.

So we took the 5 Freeway to the 10 Freeway and then several other freeways to end up at Lake Skinner Recreation Area near Temecula, CA.  The trip of 166 miles was somewhat nerve wracking, but I engaged a strategy of getting in the third lane in from the fast lane and staying there to avoid having to change lanes frequently to accommodate on ramps and off ramps.

This is a Riverside County Park with over 200 campsites, most with full hookups.  The nightly rate is $30, however the 7th night is free  if you stay a week.  So we are here for a week for $180.  When we arrived, they charged us an additional $1 per night per pooch.  Ouch.  The site was fairly easy to back into, but I had to level us up side to side with pads under the tires on the right side.  The sites aren’t huge, but they are not too tight either.  50 amp electric is good.  Water pressure is good.  The best part, for me, was I got a great satellite connection on my DirecTV dish.  It has been a long time since I got an 85% connection rate.

Also acquired a new piece of electronics from Staples; a Verizon 4G MiFi unit.  I had been using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3G unit as a MiFi and it was really slow.  The new MiFi unit is much faster and I connect up to 10 devices, whereas the Galaxy could connect only 5 devices.  The really good part was the cost; $19.95 for the hardware because I had an upgrade available on Rosie’s old phone that I could use for this unit.  It is an extra $20 per month on my Verizon bill, but the speed difference makes it well worth it.  The technology available these days is astounding.   I have been kind of a techno geek since childhood.  I built my own crystal radio when I was about 8 years old.

After we set everything up, we took the dogs for a walk on a long walking path; then had a great dinner of roasted potatoes, country ribs and corn.  We are getting low on food supplies, but there is a Wal-Mart Supercenter about 12 miles away; and a Trader Joe’s near the Wal-Mart.

Thanks for stopping by.