California Here we Come!

From Quartzsite, our journey took us due west along 1-10 back to California. It's a familiar route by now. 
We stopped in Riverside for a couple of nights at Jurupa County Park Campground, a really super park if you are fortunate enough to find a spot over a weekend in their new paved section. We tend to forget that in southern California where there is year-round good weather campgrounds fill up over the weekend. We've previously stayed at Jurupa in their new section, and this time counted ourselves fortunate to find a spot in the old gravel section. It was a pleasant stay during which we re-grouped, completed a few chores, planned the schedule for the next months, and re-acquainted ourselves with life back in civilization. 

the older, tired section of Jurupa campground, sometimes challenging
to find a level and large enough space

From Jurupa, we made our way the rest of the short distance to our Alpine buddies, the Johnsons, in Simi Valley. Here we remained for the next couple of weeks. 
While the guys focused on Alpine's To-Do list, we gals focused on fabrics and sewing projects. We had a great, productive visit and not all of it was work - we had a great time together too. Debi and Sandy are always welcoming hosts, and Alpine and we are always happy to call their beautiful back yard "home."  We enjoyed our stay together, savoring the California sunshine on their patio (though there were also a few  gloomy and rainy days), and relaxing in the hot tub one evening. We took Shasta on walks through the neighborhood and Michael did his alternate day runs into the adjoining hills. The view from the top is spectacular:

The biggest project was replacing Alpine's 8-year-old batteries that came with the coach when we bought it in 2014. 

It required cleaning, repainting and preparing the battery bay for the new ones. 

out with the old

freshly painted battery tray

 With Sandy's help and expertise, the new batteries were installed.

in with the new

2 new Duracell engine batteries and 4 new mid-size AGM house batteries 

Other projects: adding a latch on the tank bay door (that came without a latch and flew open on a couple of occasions when the bolts came loose); installing a drain tube under the washing machine; flushing the hot water tank; cleaning the fridge flue, to name a few. 

Debi and I enjoyed time fondling fabrics and working on projects.  A couple of times we went over to the nearby quilt store for a day of sewing with the ladies. For several uninterrupted hours we enjoyed camaraderie, had good laughs, and enjoyed seeing different works in progress. One of the ladies happens to have the same old New Home machine that I once had back in the mid 80s which back then was a pretty sophisticated machine with a programmable alphabet. It was a walk down memory lane for me and a pleasant surprise to see that she still uses it and calls it her workhorse. 

Debi's design board in her sewing studio came in handy and the batik layer-cake bundle I bought in Arizona is now a completed mat for the couch seat.

Debi has a 10-needle embroidery machine (lucky lady!) and I got to play with it and created a couple of labels for two baby quilts.

The ABC quilt is now backed and has a label attached. 

And the animal baby quilt I quilted on the longarm machine in Arizona also has a label and is ready to be mailed to my high school friend in Italy who is about to become a grandmother for the first time.

A few more projects were completed, a few others started, among them soft books that I finally finished after having them on board for almost two years. 

The Figges popped in one afternoon and treated us to Dairy Queen shakes - yum! 
It was good to see Bill and Patti again.

a delightful DQ blizzard 

A fun highlight was going on a Model-A rally with Sandy's Model-A Club. For a few hours, we rolled back the clock to the 1920's and drove in convoy along the highway and back roads past orange groves and fields to Fillmore at 40 MPH. I was impressed with how smoothly the old car drove and how solid it felt, even if it was a bit of a noisy drive. 

Model As gathering in the parking lot at the start of the rally

the 1929 Model A we got to ride in

Michael  helping navigate as we set out towards Fillmore

all of us lined up at our destination

Tomorrow we continue on to the central coast where we plan to spend the next four weeks at our favorite beach.  Pismo Beach here we come!