Stuck Truck

It's been a very rainy winter and the ground is often saturated. We had to take the Airstream into town for the DMV to verify the V.I.N. and in the course of pulling out, my truck got stuck in the mud.

To The Rescue!

Bonnie and Jaime came over with there work truck they fondly call, the "Red Dragon" and helped pull us out with no trouble.

On the right, their faithful companion, "Chata" supervises from the cab.

New [Used] Hybrid and Our First Camping Trip with Casita!

Since we live so far out in the country, we figured the pick-up truck at 15 miles to the gallon was not going to cut it. So, Jennifer did a bunch of research on the best cars for gas mileage, one of which is the Toyota Prius. We found a used on in Santa Barbara which is very clean, one owner, minor body damage and best of all . . . upwards of 45 miles per gallon. It's a hybrid so sometimes when stopped the motor completely shuts off because it switches to battery mode. It's weird and has taken some getting used to - especially at busy intersections!

We also took Casita out for her first camping trip with us! Our friends Bonnie and Jaime [pictured] joined us and we had a blast! The weather was nice at Lake Santa Margarita and there weren't a lot of campers so it ended up being nice and peaceful. We brought our propane grill but also cooked over an open fire - cowboy style!

Right now as we are adding the skins inside, there are only two beds, so it made for nice, spacious accommodations. I'm wrapping up the wiring so will have new pix up soon to show more progress.

Settling Into A Simpler Life

As we begin to experience the retrograde that will enevitably happen with moving toward a simpler life, we are taking deep breaths, enjoying the fresh air and the quiet of rural surroundings. We are starting to get settled in and are returning to the work on Casita. We're putting the skins back in [the inner walls], and when finished, we will add texture and paint to the walls. Here are pix of our progress and me holding farm-fresh eggs from the ranch chickens.

Wool You Look At That!?

We were driving into town the other morning and saw a really beautiful sight . . . a hillside covered with sheep. It was one of those moments where we were so astounded that we stopped, turned around and went back to take some photos. This area is majestic and every day brings wonderful, new treasures. Yesterday while driving, we came upon a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road. We took some photos but the pix didn't turn out.

The central coast of California is still pretty young and mostly rural. It is so peaceful here and the pace is generally slowed by default.

"Green acres is the place for me . . . Farm livin' is the life for me . . . Land spreadin' out so far and wide . . . Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside"!

Even Cows Must ThinkThe Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side

We will celebrate our first week back on the central coast tomorrow and are slowly getting settled in to our new home. We are living at the Clifford Ranch with acres of beauty surrounding us. It's a peaceful sanctuary here and is more than we had hoped to find in our journey back to a simpler life. There are no traffic sounds here. Only birds chirping. The neighbors' cows occasionally get through the fence and come over to enjoy grazing in our front yard. The owners of the ranch [Jeff and Tamara Clifford], have an amazing raised garden along with fruit trees, berries, grapes and more. They also have two dogs and four chickens have recently joined us at the ranch and are producing an average of three eggs a day. Tam literally just brought us eggs while writing this! Yum! Thanks Tam! They are also thinking about getting several head of cattle soon so that will be fun. The photos show Casita parked next to the barn that has a garage in the bottom and living area upstairs, complete with bath and kitchen. The middle photo shows the view from our kitchen window. We are surrounded with beautiful, old oaks and rolling hills. The cows are right. The grass is greener here . . . No wonder California cows are happy!

The Good, The Bad and the Uh-Oh

The Good

We left Sunday and made it into California last night. The truck performed flawlessly and Casita came right along with no complaints. It was pretty danged cold most of the way which actually ended up being good for keeping the engine and transmission temps down. We saw a lot of beautiful sites and enjoyed our time together on the road. I'll post more pix later. We took highways 20, 10 then 8 across the El Cajon pass.

The Bad

We hit below freezing temps in west Tejas and was greeted with snow and ice. We hit a patch on a bridge and started sliding sideways a bit - producing a feeling I hope I never experience again. It was beautiful though as we drove along. The wind swept the snow across the highway like ocean currents. It was mesmerizing.

The Uh-Oh

We'd done some research about what final leg we'd take to get into southern California and based on information published by the Department of Transportation, we decided to take highway 8. This added a harrowing, nightmare-ish end to our long trip. The author had written that you would encounter mountains and if you were towing something, it wouldn't be too bad, just gear down and take it slow. WRONG! This ended up being one of the worst experiences either of us have ever encountered. Terrifying would be applicable here. We were met with mountain after mountain and just when we thought we'd reached the summit, somehow more mountains appeared in front of us. We couldn't go faster than 25 mph and I thought we'd surely drop the transmission. The truck laboured so hard and we just kept thinking good thoughts. The sun disappeared and it got dark quick as we continued to climb to what would ultimately be over 4,000 feet elevation, the wind began pushing against the Airstream so hard that I was worried we would surely be blown over the edge. I stopped ever so often to let the transmission cool - babying it along the way. Once we finally did reach the summit, then we had to deal with coming down the other side and risk burning through brakes or transmission while I tried to keep Casita from pushing us down the mountain. It ultimately stretched over 3 gut-wrenching hours. That wasn't the end. Once we got off the mountain we came into the city of El Cajon and the traffic was equally scary. By then, my eyes were burning and knuckles ached from holding the steering wheel so tight. We made it to the hotel, ordered a pizza and thanked our lucky stars to have gotten through that mess. It's a beautiful morning here today as I write and we're looking forward to the next few days of reuniting with beloved family and friends.

It was tough, but the trip was worth it. Glad to be back California!. We've missed you terribly.

The Golden's Are Heading To The Golden State!Casita's Maiden Voyage

It took two days to finalize packing the Airstream. Although we have sold most everything we own, there was still a lot to deal with in loading. Jennifer and I agree that we now have 1/5th of what we brought to Texas.We had initially packed most everything in Casita, then loaded tools in the truck. When we hitched the two together, the truck was sagging too much and since we were exhausted, we just decided to sleep in the Airstream that night [in our driveway] and start fresh in the morning.

We got up the next day, completely unloaded the truck and redistributed the weight in the trailer. SO MUCH WORK! We left yesterday [Sunday] and drove as far as Abilene and stayed the night. Airstream pulled along fine - although I wouldn't want to load one more pound in it. I think we've got it pretty maxed out so the truck is being put to test also. We are taking it slow at around 50 to 60 miles per hour - so it's gonna take a while. We are just so exited to finally be coming home.

Cali-fornie . . . here we come!