Santa Barbara to Desert Center – 18 December 2022
We left Rancho Oso and navigated the steep road up the mountain again to get to the road to San Dimas. Luckily we did not encounter any cars whizzing around the narrow mountain bends on the way.
In San Dimas we stayed overnight in a RV park called Bonelli Bluffs which was alongside the Frank Bonelli Regional Park. A very large park which had awesome views of surrounding mountains, many of which had snowed peaks. The area where we were parked had a few surrounding RVs and unfortunately when Derek backed in he smacked the back of one of the cars. Luckily the owner was very good about it. Damage was limited to broken lights and he was happy with the $60 we gave him. Phew! Back in sites are a huge pain for us and usually ends up in a big fight. Its hard to manoeuvre the “Wildebeest” backwards with the truck, as the truck is steered the opposite way to the way the fifth wheel moves and it is darn hard to get it just right. I get on the cell phone and direct Derek into the site but it can take many…many ins and outs before we are completely straight. The truck and the RV have to end up completely straight otherwise we cant get the hitch on and off. Give me a pull through site any day!
That evening we went for a walk into the park admiring both the mountain views and the enormous lake in the middle of the park. Apparently they have won the bid to hold the 2024 Olympic event for mountain biking. The only thing I didn’t like was that there was a very curious (and probably hungry) Coyote close by and I was worried about Jax. When I took Jax for a walk the next morning I spotted the Coyote watching us from a short distance.My eagle eyes spotted his foxy ears sticking up above the grass. Luckily he didn’t try anything. I would have hated to take him on.
We left around 11am that morning for Desert Center and the George Patton Museum. This was a dispersed camping site booked through Harvest Host. It was a lovely spot with fantastic mountain views. There were about 6 other RVs but well distanced. We were told to watch Jax as a Coyote had made off with a cat from one of the RVs the previous day. Derek took off to look at the museum while I walked Jax and checked out the nearby stores. Basically a garage, Circle K type store, a vintage/gift store/post office and a Mexican restaurant. With no hook ups we decided on supper at the Mexican restaurant and were pleasantly surprised.
We were really looking forward to Arizona and happy to get going again in the morning. This was our longest driving stretch for a while but regular stops along the way helped to break up the journey. It was hard to work in the car as I couldn’t get a cell signal in amongst all the mountains so I eventually gave up and settled in to enjoy the scenery.
