February 22 to March 10, 2005 - San Diego area

February 22nd we drove 189 miles on I-8 to San Diego and camped for eleven nights at Santa Fe RV Park:

The campsite was small, it had been raining and the campground was right by I-5.  But we were able to get the stay for half price with Passport America.   All they could fit us in for was eleven nights since they had few spaces long enough for us and they were all reserved after that time.

We had a bad experience due to the concrete pad, the satellite dish tripod collapsed and broke apart.  Luckily we still had the old small tripod, though it had a latch problem.  We went to Home Depot and bought some parts and made a wooden stand so the tripod could not collapse again.  We had to order the replacement part.

We went to the San Diego Zoo on the 24th.

Between rains we were able to take a look at the beaches on the 25th, the weather didn't stop the surfers:

Diane's parents came and stayed at the campground a few days.  We all went to Coronado and Old Town San Diego on the 28th

Diane's mothers notebook computer was dying, so we helped her buy another at Costco.  She ended up with the same computer as Bill, a Sony PCG-K37. 

Once Diane's parents moved on to Ramona, where they were still close by, we had a hitch receiver put on the CRV and bought a bike rack.  Then we bought two bikes on March 2nd, a Trek 7100 for Bill and a Trek 7300 for Diane.  Here they are on the CRV:

The 7100 is red.  We rode them on the local bike trail which starts where the street in front of the campground dead ends. 

March 3rd we met Diane's parents in La Jolla and went to the Birch Aquarium at ScippsHere are our adventures.

March 4th we moved 23 miles to Bernardo Shores RV Resort in Imperial Beach for a week.  It was not a cheap place but it was recommended by a customer we talked to when we were getting our hitch receiver installed.  Here is our campsite, which backed up to a lake:

The lake in back was protected for wildlife.  Notice how we store the bikes on the back of the motorhome while camped.

Notice the small tripod and stand:

The small tripod uses the inner stops, the large one the outer stops.  You will see this stand in most pictures of our satellite dish from now on.  It really keeps the dish stable on reasonably flat ground.  If we need to install on a hillside we don't use the stand.

What you don't see is the jury rigging Bill had to do to make this small tripod work since it had a broken latch.  The latch completely broke while setting up in Imperial Beach, but Bill was able to make it work.  If the latch would have worked the tripod would be raised higher since the dish is supposed to be five feet off the ground.  The large tripod's replacement part was being shipped to Diane's parents address and we hoped it would arrive while we were close by.

We met up with our friends Dexter and Cherie for the afternoon and evening on the 6th.  They were in the process of getting their house ready to sell and could use the break.  We had a wedding anniversary to celebrate and asked them for recommendations for a nice place to eat and ended up with a foursome.  We met at Seaport Village and did some browsing.  Then we headed to downtown San Diego for a show, Triple Espresso, and dinner at Georges on Fifth.  We had a great time.

On the 7th we met Diane's parents at the San Diego Zoo.

On the 9th we again went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  When we got back we found out the tripod part had arrived and arranged to drive over to where Diane's parents were staying and we would all see the wildflowers in Anza-Borrego State Park the next day.

The next day, the 10th, started out very bad.  In the night our new bicycles were stolen.  The thieves cut the lock on the back gate of the campground and brought in a truck and stole multiple bikes and fishing equipment.  Since the campground was right off the Coronado bike trails there were many bikes to choose from.  A neighbor lost a brand new tandem, it was only a couple days old as opposed to ours which were about a week old.  We were mad, felt violated, and very frustrated.   We had only taken two good rides on these bikes and now we were out close to $1000 including the accessories that were attached to the bikes.

The policewoman who wrote up our case said she never comes into this campground, but now that thieves have found it she expected to be coming from now on.  We all knew the bikes were already in Mexico, it is only four miles away.

(We didn't replace the bikes until April.)

We still needed our tripod part so we headed for our rendezvous with Diane's parents, we hoped the wild flowers in Anza-Borrego and their company would cheer us up.  We left our car with their motorhome and Gregg did the driving.

Here are our adventures in Anza-Borrego.

Having the bikes stolen tainted our time in San Diego, but otherwise we really liked the area.

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