February 22 through February 28, 2006

Wednesday February 22:

Today we leave Sam's on College Drive for Point Loma mid morning, after getting email again.  The road to Point Loma is always hard to find, probably because the state road has been re-routed onto roads with different names. We again circle on poorly marked roads and have to home into the right road a mile down using the GPS.  Once on the right road, the rest of the trip is a breeze!  Today is reasonably clear, and the harbor is beautiful.

Pleasure and commercial tourist boats ply the waters inside the point.

The old lighthouse that serves as a museum is under exterior renovation, but the interior is open.  The displays are interesting.  The kitchen used by the last lighthouse keeper in 1889 has been restored.  

This 1889 "Ladies" kitchen calendar is doubly interesting....

It is noteworthy as a period antique.... but also because it was distributed here in the southwestern corner of the USA by a company from Lowell Massachusetts in the northeastern USA....40 miles from our home.  The world was kinda small even in 1889.....   :-)  The currently operating new lighthouse low on the Point Loma's beach is pretty too, and not under renovation....

The operating light was moved there to get below low clouds that often obscured the old light high on top of the point.  High on the point we often look DOWN on aircraft flying over the waters below....

Of course, some larger aircraft like this Navy transport climb out heading for parts unknown (to us anyway).

We returned to the RV and moved to the Fort Rosencranz National Cemetery a few miles back toward town.  This is a beautiful place for a military cemetery....  

The side seen above overlooks the harbor and San Diego....while that below faces the Pacific ocean.

We find our way back to the city, and head for Sam's club in Vista CA, near the Wild Animal Farm we will visit tomorrow.  Here we spread ourselves around...too long (more than one night?) in one place invites hassles.  We were directed by Sam's manager on the phone to park in the back corner of Sam's  lot; this advice was reinforced by Walmart's Customer Service Manager when I asked there....and we were again told that if police ask us to move, we must!  :-)  So much for a night at Walmart and a night at Sam's here....  :-(    We were quite ready for bed again tonight....this having fun takes a LOT of effort.  :-)

Thursday February 23:

We left Sam's VERY early for the Wild Animal Farm, thinking to beat the traffic then eat in the Animal Farm lot.    Despite a sign routing us south on I-15 straight into a traffic jam instead of straight in on 78, we arrived an hour before they opened, before they were collecting parking fees..  Still, I-15 clogged BADLY while 78 was open, with no traffic. It cost us at least a half hour in stop and go traffic.  We were ready to go when the farm opened...but noticing the large number of school groups, headed right for the train ride around the park. Here we saw LOTS of animals in a free range setting...but the only labels were the announcers audio....and that can't be photographed many identities have been forgotten.  We've taken over 1000 pictures with the new camera in the last 3 days.  When will we find time enough to look at them all.....??  :-(  Anyway, time to make progress toward that noble goal....by hitting the highlights only!  You certainly don't have time to DOWNLOAD them all....  :-)  This mama rhino is defending her "baby" (left) from the bigger intruder on the right....

It looks like a scene straight from Star Wars....or is Star Wars taken from this real world stuff?    :-)  I did not realize these guys were working on the sightseeing balloon when I took the picture....

 Only when putting the page together did I notice......DUHHHH!  This mama rhino is nursing...

She's shoveling fuel in the front end too....  :-)  The train is a great way to see the large expanse of the park while sitting down.

There is construction started to build a new multi loop tourist railway in the park...but that is over a year away.  Many animals in the park share their pasture with others...just as in the wild.

This male giraffe got more than he bargained for when he made a pass at the zebra....evidently zebras are NASTY lovers, and we hear he found himself badly bitten in return....and lost the plume on the end of his tail  :-)  You can see it's missing on the photo above (right giraffe).  We're not sure he learned his lesson though...he still hangs close to Miss Zebra.....  There are way more things to see here than we can include...but the hand feeding of the lorikeets was special....

The expression on this young lady's face says it all as a bird lands on her hand and begins feeding on the cup of special sweet nectar she bought to feed them.....  :-))  The birds also love water, and actively bathed in the stream between cups of goodies.  The petting zoo was also special....

Here I was able to feel the velvet on a buck deer's antlers for the first time ever.....the antlers are definitely not soft and cuddly despite their appearance.....  :-)  This lion cub is being nursery raised....mama could not care for it.

It has a mastiff puppy for a playmate...to substitute for normal social interaction with it's mother and other lions its age.  There was an elephant show advertised...but when we arrived the trainer announced that none of the elephants seemed to be ready to volunteer to do this show....and they only work with volunteer elephants. Oh?  Who's in charge of this asylum?  :-))   Finally one was coaxed down to the ring, and went through its paces....rewarded with carrots and sweet potatoes.  Of course, some treats missed their mark....

Out from under the platform hops an opportunistic bunny, who begins eating the snacks the elephant cannot reach....and drags some from within reach under the platform!  :-))  The bunny was named...so might be a part of the show...but it was hilarious to watch, especially the obvious frustration of the elephant!  :-)  The lion habitat was quite natural, yet allowed visitors to view the animals well as they moved around.

This male is magnificently groomed....probably because of the natural setting which allows him to keep himself clean.  Claire has gone for another train ride, and I feel I'm about animal farmed out, so after an ice cream cone, I return to the RV to await her return.  She finally returned reporting the line for the train ride had been huge, but it was better than walking more...  We headed for a Walmart in Temecula CA that had overnight parking, through HEAVY traffic.  We arrived after dark, but found a spot to our liking and hit the sack soon thereafter.

 Friday February 24:

We got early start on our way to Barstow, anticipating heavy traffic through San Bernardino.  The traffic moved smartly through the really spectacular mountain scenery...

These snow capped mountains tower above us as we drive the interstate highways.  We arrived at Flying J WELL before noon; there was no scarcity of parking spaces.  We showered after lunch, then relaxed all afternoon recovering from Animal Farm......  :-))  

Saturday February 25:

Today we will go to Mojave National Preserve hole in the wall campground.  A short distance east of Barstow we see the solar electric demonstration site.

A large number of mirrors circling the tower focus the sun's rays into the collector mounted up on the tower. The heat collected is used to generate electricity.  As we approached our exit to Mojave, we saw helicopter sitting on the bridge over the Interstate.  A crew was transferring an injured person from an ambulance to the chopper.

The road to the campground was blocked for 10 minutes as the crews got the evacuee stabilized in the helicopter before it took off, and the ambulance and fire truck blocking the road departed.  Hole In the Wall had a paved road to the campground entrance, $6 with Golden Age card.  This is a pretty place...

However, the only activity is walking, or the visitors center that is within sight, but must be driven to with Claire's painful hip.  We choose instead to animal watch....

This jack rabbit is not alarmed...but we are not as close as it looks either.  The 12x zoom lens reaches right out there!  We relax in the late afternoon and the evening is QUIET!  :-)  I thought I heard a change in the generator sound as it ran after dark...what now?  Soon the propane detector alarms...something is amiss, but incoming air from the ceiling vent fan makes it stop.  Time enough to look into this in tomorrow's daylight.

Sunday February 26:

This morning we will move toward Katherine Landing campground on Lake Mojave, near Davis Dam.  Before leaving, I look at the generator...and find a very good reason the sound should have changed.  The exhaust pipe has fallen out of the muffler due to the muffler metal fatiguing to the breaking point around the pipe connection!!  :-(  That resulted in exhaust gasses getting into the RV carrying enough unburned fuel to trip the propane detector....  We cannot drive with it dragging...but a wire coat hanger soon has it hung back in position, but it leaks a lot.  We'll deal with it later!  We stopped in Bullhead City to shop...and I bought some high temperature red silicone sealer at AutoZone.  We need to try to fix the generator muffler...it will be hard to replace and expensive, and is not in bad condition other than the fatigued connection.   At the entrance to Katherine Landing, we find a truck that actually had to use a runaway truck ramp!

It had worked, stopping the vehicle, but the truck needed a tow to get out of the loose stones.  Katherine Landing campground is $5 with Golden Age card, cash only.  They have a clean coin operated shower, 2 min/25cents.  Cellphone service in Bullhead City was an extended network from Kingman that would not complete a call…tried many times.  In Katherine Landing, strong 1X Verizon tower, but would not make a call until evening.....then it went to analog to talk.  There was no data service.  All night it kept switching between analog and digital service, beeping each time.  We turned it off for the night.   I really should figure out how to turn off that annoying beep!

Monday February 27:

I finally figured out how to turn off the "service change" beep in the cellphone after turning it back on. I decided to put the high temp silicone seal on the generator muffler this morning, and cleaned metal surfaces with green scratcher and 99% isopropyl alcohol before coating both surfaces with sealant, reassembling, then placing a THICK coat of sealer around the joint.  We will not run the generator for over 15 hours to give it time to cure, then hope the exhaust pipe stays sealed.  This is another good place to animal watch!

 The roadrunner is not alarmed much...until the camera beeps at him.  :-))  Claire used the shower room and dyed her hair, then we moved to Bullhead City in the afternoon for laundry.  Had strong WiFi outside the laundry, found some info and phone numbers for the Las Vegas airport and the casinos we were interested in.

Tuesday February 28:

In the morning we started the generator, and checked the repair....it seemed to be holding fine and not burning brown, so expect it will last!  :-))

The coat hanger will hold it in place even if the sealant fails.  We moved out of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, changed oil, filter, & greased the chassis.  Generator started when Claire wanted to vacuum the RV, but would not put out anything; Claire stopped it. I checked generator 15A 12v fuse (OK, looked bright and clean too), then generator would not crank.  I checked main 150 amp breaker, found voltage there, pulled 15A fuse at generator and repeatedly removed/reinserted it.  Then I was looking at books trying to figure out what might be wrong.....and tried to start it again, it worked normally.  YIKES, we may see this one again unless the problem really was a bad fuse contact.  The start toggle switches in the generator do not last long due to the dirty environment back there.  The one replaced two years ago failed in 6 months.  Now we use the inside switch to start.  Could it be going bad too?  Time will tell....  these systems are pretty complex, and when they become unreliable (i.e., intermittent) they can be a dickens to diagnose.  There is NEVER a convenient time for a failure, but some times are more inconvenient than others...and we have Doris coming in tomorrow.  It would be nice to have the generator working properly....but we cannot fix that which is not broken now!  We made calls from the high spot, and found we could park overnight at Bally's for both Bally's and Caesar's Palace.  We moved to a higher spot in the campground when we returned, as our previous spot was taken.  This spot (D95) is even more level, and the phone works slightly better than from A22.  There is a BEAUTIFUL sunset this evening....we TRY to capture it...

We only half succeed.   Tomorrow we leave this pretty place for the bright lights of Las Vegas....that will be interesting too as we get to visit with friend Doris and see stuff we have not done before there...  :-)

PLANS  Today (Sunday 3/12/2006) the snow has stopped in Claypool AZ, and all info agrees we can get to Safford AZ on US70 going east safely.  The power is out all over the area, no stores are open, and many local radio stations and the NOAA weather radio are down due to no power.  Roads west and northeast are still closed, but it's melting fast.  Time to get outta town before we're starved out!  :-)  The cellphones still work, so we're trying to complete all net and phone business before we leave here at noon, hoping to make the hot spring at Hot Wells Dunes 116 miles away by evening. We're in a hurry to upload this...so until next time...

ENJOY...we are!