When you open yourself up to life, Life opens up to you!: Out of adversity good things can happen

June 3 – 6

So after a fun morning playing at the Calico Ghost Town, exploring the mine, riding the rails, checking out the museums, and having fun in the wacky house of illusion, we had a bit of lunch and headed on down the road. This was to be a quick and easy couple hours ride. Huh, well maybe not quite as quick and easy as we thought. Driving through San Bernadino, CA was our introduction into the craziness that is Southern California. Lots and Lots of traffic, felt like we were back in NJ on the parkway in the summer!! Finally got to our exit and we are now faced with up and up and up and round and round we go!! LOL Yep, found us yet another twisty, turvy, mountain road. You would think we would be use to this by now, HA.

We got to Idyllwild RV Campground in Idyllwild, CA in one piece, tired but good. Idyllwild park is another of our Thousand Trails membership parks, sitting high up in the San Jacinto Mountains at around 7000 feet. Beautiful views of the mountains and valleys are had. Tis a rather sandy area so one has to be careful when parking the RV and many of the sites aren't as level as one would like. We got lucky and found one of those perfect sites with lots of space to both sides of us, and a big ole California Live Oak Tree to help keep us shaded. It's not an easy park to get around as it sits on the side of the mountain with very steep roadway. Several so steep you are not allowed to bike on them, and tough walking up so we didn't do much on the bottom section. Fortunately, it still gave us bike riding opportunities and there is a great trail around the outer rim that goes about three quarters around the park giving us some decent hiking and again great views.

Here we discovered the adorable white shouldered squirrels that we have further learned are the common variety here called California Ground Squirrels. They are fun to watch as they crawl close to the ground looking like they are slinking along always on alert. The campground is well maintained with decent clean facilities. There is a store, café, pool, and a pond for a bit of fishing. One we may go back to some day.

It was here that the title of this post spoke to me. As I mentioned it is a very sandy, hilly area so one has to take care when navigating some of the ins and out of the campsites. Fellow campers had the misfortune of getting stuck in such an area (it was mentioned by a staff ranger, this happens frequently). The backend of their unit decided to bury itself in the sand as they were moving from their sloping campsite. The out pouring of others trying to help them get unstuck was heartwarming. We were all quite surprised to discover their unit had a spare tire attached underneath the back end, bigger rigs don't normally have that and this made the getting out even tougher. Shovels, blocks, mats, jacks came from all around and as the day went on to evening flashlights and other lights. The persistence of the owner was to be commended, he was not giving up if it took all night! While trying to help as we could, we got a chance to talk with some of our neighbors and the couple whose rig was stuck. While unfortunate circumstances, it was fun in it's own way to all be pulling together, chatting, laughing, sharing stories, this is something so missed during this difficult time of the pandemic. We got to chat with a couple originally from Bulgaria (?), now living in OK. As difficult as it can be language wise, I do enjoy meeting and talking to people from other countries. What a friendly, interesting couple they were. We got to chat with them again the next day and were even invited to join them in Bulgaria one day. How Sweet. It's people like this that help make our journey special, the meeting, learning about and hearing the stories of others brings a depth to our travels that will be with us in memories for always.

Oh and yes, the rig was freed and surprisingly, no harm done!

June 7 – 10

Time to move on so off to Menifee, California we go. Turning left onto to Rt. 243, took us through the town of Idyllwild itself, sweet little mountain town with several shops along the main road. We discovered the road westward from the campground is a whole lot shorter and a lot less curvy then the section we drove in on. Hmm, should we go back we know which way to approach from!

Our destination: Wilderness Lakes RV Resort in Menifee, CA., bringing us ever closer to Sara, Kevin, and the boys as they too are making their way to their new home, from Washington to San Diego. Can't wait to see them again, Soon!!

Wilderness Lakes is one of those parks that are difficult to give an opinion of. Some of the sites a bit close together and lots of them. We were lucky to find one with just a little more elbow room and on the shady side. The park offers lot of amenities including pool, clubhouse, events, store, cafe, several outdoor sports (horseshoes, basketball court, mini golf, etc) with a creek that runs through in which one can fish. Unfortunately, like all others, the store, cafe, and clubhouse were closed due to COVID and no community events were to be had. Someday this will change, I can only hope. The bathhouse facilities were clean as well as the laundry room. Nice enough place just lacking in something for me. The roads surrounding the park lent themselves to bike riding but held no scenic appeal. Wilderness Lakes is one of those places that have a lot of regulars, many who have annual sites, rather like a community where there are spaces around for travelers but you don't feel fully included. Not having the activities probably played into that as there was no gathering of people.

It did have many of these beautiful purple flowers trees. When I first saw them I said to Paul, they remind me of mimosa trees but I have never seen one with purple flowers. They are: Jacaranda mimosifolia and simply beautiful.

One funny story: While we were there something happened to the water system and it had to be turned off until addressed. It is mentioned when any of the utilities were turned off a warning horn would be sounded. Well, that warning horn was not as one would have expected. One of the staff drove around the campground in a golf cart shouting “The Water Is Turned Off” repeatedly while blowing a clown's horn, yep the one with the big red bulb! Then, several hours later around he went again shouting, “The Water Is On, The Water Is On.” How hysterical it was.

I can't quite put my finger on the why of my unsettledness there, maybe just anxious to get that just further south. I do feel under other circumstances we could have found it more appealing and it's a great place when needing a spot to stop between destinations.

But we did have this little guy stop by for a visit: