Camping World is finished installing the new floor, new lights, and satellite.  Tyler sent us a picture and we couldn’t be happier!!  Can’t wait to pick it up and go on our next adventure!

We dropped the RV off at Camping World on April 9^th to have the rest of the lights replaced, change out the satellite because the one we originally purchased didn’t support HD on DirecTV which is a no-go with avid football fans such as ourselves, to get the oil changed, and finally replace the floor that got ruined during a routine dinner and game night.  Camping World said they didn’t think the warranty company would approve replacing the floor but they did and also let us choose a different color!

Only one problem, the flooring was back-ordered.  It’s finally in and should be done in 1 to 2 weeks.  At least the coach is in the shop and out of the awful AV wind.

Here’s what happened to the old floor…a dent and a bubble at the same time. The new floor will be from the Rock Slide collection and its vinyl but looks like wood.

Purchasing a new RV from Camping World afforded us a complimentary membership to the Winnebago International Travelers Club (WIT). We regularly receive emails about upcoming adventures and this year’s Southwest Regional Rally in Palm Desert caught our attention as the RV park, Emerald Desert, is a park we’ve been wanting to visit, and it’s only about 2 ½ hours from home.

The rally, which included 4 nights in this amazing RV resort, lots of activities, several meals, and tons of fun was only $245 for the two of us. No, that’s not a typo…$245.00! and it was Sunday through Thursday so it felt like a week’s vacation for the two of us.

The RV park was amazing. A jewel in the middle of the low desert, it was green everywhere except where there were gorgeous flowers.  The sites were huge and spaced nicely apart.  Ours was more un-level than it looked so once our coach’s auto-levelers did their job, the front tires were off the ground about 4”.  Being new RV’ers we thought we better ask if that was okay.  Wow, a lot of differing opinions on that!  Some said it was bad for the shocks, chassis, levelers, while others said it’s totally fine and it’s happened to them plenty.  Well, we didn’t like it so we took an Uber ride into town and bought some nice leveler pads, pulled up on them and re-leveled which fixed the problem.

The first night included a free taco bar meal and $1 margaritas. We met people and purchased raffle tickets for several drawings, and signed up for games.  We met Mary Jane and Tom who became our buddies for the whole week.  They’re from Oregon and I hope we are able to meet up with them again.

Monday morning included a potluck brunch mixer and we met the new Winnebago Outdoor Adventures Western Reps, Butch and Becky Moore. Dinner on our own that night included a nice barbecued filet mignon.  7:00 was an ice cream social then card bingo which was a blast!

Tuesday was breakfast and lunch on our own, and a seminar on cool kitchen items for the RV. Later that day maintenance tips and cool upgrades to consider in the future like Koni shocks and replacing the air in our tires with hydrogen.  Not that fun but interesting 😉

We missed the Caribbean pool party that night but had yummy enchilada casserole in our rig instead.

Wednesday was breakfast and lunch on our own and beanbag baseball which we didn’t participate in…sorry now we didn’t. It looked fun.

We Ubered into town for lunch at Burgers and Beer instead and it was delicious as always.

3:00 was “open coach” and we got to see how Butch and Becky travel…and learned that the lights that keep going out in our coach are due to a defective batch they bought.  Becky instructed us to have Camping World replace them ALL…and of course they will.  Camping World has been awesome and getting things fixed. Potluck dinner, awards, raffles and door prizes (we won $10 to Applebees) ended the vacation and we packed up and headed home the next day around noon.

What a great time we had in Palm Desert! We brought our bikes and actually rode them a couple of times a day!  We enjoyed pretending to be retired and can’t wait to go again! We will be dropping off the rig for new flooring, new lights, our satellite fixed, and an oil change next week.

Still looking for that “go-to” quickie camping site and we think we’ve found it. Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield is just about 1 hour from the house and a really easy drive.  The park is clean, and the spaces are really wide with full hook-ups and picnic tables.  Each site has its own orange tree.  The trees were blooming and the whole area smelled like Hawaii…only stronger.  It was heavenly.

A ½ mile walk to a fruit and nut shack made for a nice morning on Saturday and we scored some yummy treats. The people staying at this RV park were really friendly and we talked to several who were just stopping there on their way through…some were on a 3 month excursion!  I can’t wait until we can do that.

Clubhouse was gorgeous and there’s a group poker game every Saturday night. All are welcome.  Bathrooms, showers, laundry, and pool were spotless.  We’ll be regulars at Orange Grove for sure.

 

Three more lights in the coach went out this trip. I was in contact with Tyler at Camping World and he has ordered them all.  I think it’s time they look for a possible electrical issue…

We had an appointment at Camping World to get a lot of items fixed on the RV. Now our satellite TV and radio both work as do several other little items. They had to order the lights that went out already.  LED’s can’t be replaced I guess?  The whole light assembly needs to be changed out…this isn’t exciting news.  While they worked on the coach we went to lunch, the mall, and to a movie.  We stayed at Travel Village that night and as before, it was really nice.

Check out our new poof’s for the coach!  They are the perfect ottoman for traveling!  Also check out the mysterious shavings we keep finding next to the living room slide when we travel.  Tyler at Camping World says it’s totally normal…

It’s worthy to note that we took the 5 north to the 138 going home and the grade was crazy steep and the truckers were jerks.  We’ll stick to the 5 south to the 14 north in the future 🙂

Can’t wait for Orange Grove in 3 weeks!

I’m not gonna lie, we were nervous about this trip.  A trial run in our car the weekend before helped a lot but still…the idea of driving a 26,000 lb. house on wheels down the 405 for 2-2.5 hours was a little bit unsettling…until we did it!

It was Garrison’s 30th birthday and he wanted an RV camping trip with the family at the beach and nothing was going to stand in the way of that!

Gary drove down and everything went smoothly.  We left at 7:30 in the morning so the traffic was moving with no incidents.  Our favorite app “WAZE” guided us along the way, alerting us to stalled vehicles and the fuzz…and so we flew.  Got down there and WOW what a gorgeous beach!   The RV park was clean, and had electric and water which was all we needed.  It’s on Pacific Coast Highway so a lot of noise on the backside, but it faded into the background of a great time had by all.

Nikki, Elliott and the kids arrived shortly after Garrison, Emily, and Marlowe.  We had snacks and drinks and everyone went to the beach to play, do handstands, collect shells, and take selfies.

 

Back for dinner including burgers, brats, mac&cheese, and baked cheesy zucchini.  With full tummies and the sun already down, Elliott built a great fire out on the sand and we sat around and told stories, made s’mores, and enjoyed the great weather and most of all, each other. Wow, this new life…I’m so in love with it.

N&E went home with GEM and G&B stayed with us in the coach. Everyone slept great that night even with PCH traffic, and after a quick breakfast and another visit to the water where Brody and Grace found a baby sea lion coming up on shore, we packed it up and said goodbye to Bolsa Chica.  We will be back though!  It was a great time with our beautiful family!

~L O V E~

The “Coach” as we are trying to call it because I keep saying rig but I don’t like rig…has been parked for a month now!  The weekend after the Bakersfield trip was booked by an amazing trip to a luxurious spa, The Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, complimentary of CHB.  The weekend after that was spent getting ready for the Super Bowl, the weekend after that WAS the Super Bowl and here we are this weekend with other fun plans surrounding Valentine’s day.  Today we will drive our car (boring) down to the Beach to check out the location of our next adventure and see GEM for lunch ❤

… Then a fun Valentine’s dinner and game night spent with Nikki and family ❤ … Such Blessings!

Until we are able to go again, I guess we will camp in our own yard!

Just got home from another weekend adventure.  This time we traveled alone and got in a lot of R&R…including a nap!  The river that runs along the RV park is dry which was a bummer because the freeway is so close that we could hear freeway noise non-stop. Friday night sirens and 3 trains (complete with whistles) roared by throughout the night…yes in the middle of the night!  Saturday night was a lot quieter. The park itself was very nice, clean, and had a great store, clean bathrooms and showers, and very nice and helpful staff.

I’m on the Trim Healthy Mama plan so tried to bring healthy meals and snacks and truthfully, the dinners (sloppy joes and chicken Florentine) were yummy but we decided that when we camp we want fun stuff too, like soda, chips, and ice cream!

We got in some football and found the digital channels, yippeeeee!!, And since Bakersfield is about 10-12 degrees warmer than Lancaster we actually got in some outside time including a couple of walks.

We hung our awesome sign from Nikki and Elliott, and plugged in the night light from Donna. Another successful trip … can’t wait for the next one…Bolsa Chica State Beach!

 

 

…when all you want to do is GO!