The Way Things Ought To Be

(Housekeeping Note: Through my own inexperience with blogging in general and Google's Blogspot in particular, I inadvertently deleted the first five posts I had written, detailing our preparation, The Five Days From Hell, Daisy's story, our sojourn at Orangeland and our day at Disneyland. I'm working to get them back and hopefully I'll be successful ASAP.)

January 29th

I'll bet when contemplating joining the RVing world, everyone pictures themselves parked in a spot overlooking a lake, surrounded by mountains, barbecuing dinner while watching a spectacular sunset and perhaps even listening to some far-away coyotes warming up for the night. In this camping Eden, the weather is always absolutely perfect, never raining and in a temperature that's never higher than 70 and never lower than 50. And of course, no bugs at all. After having paid our dues for the first forty days, not only does that spot exist but we are there right now.

Welcome to Riverside County, California's Lake Skinner Recreation Area. It is just ten miles east of Temecula, the center of southern California's wine country. We're about ten miles west and over the mountain range from Palm Springs and it is almost beyond-belief beautiful.

OK, so it's 99.9% perfect. Besides one of the rangers told me no one's even seen one in a long time...










But enough of the negativity, check out how gorgeous (as well as empty) this place is:



Like most southern California "lakes", Lake Skinner is actually a man-made impoundment which, being surrounded by a spectacular landscape (which these few pictures do not do justice to), was designated a combination nature preserve and public recreation area. The lake has been stocked with fish and supposedly it's some seriously good fishing for largemouth bass, bluegills and even land-locked striped bass. There are motorboats and kayaks for rent at laughably low prices (compared to New Jersey), a large, well stocked camp store, and their own gas and diesel pumps. They even can fill your RV's propane tank!

Each site has its own fire ring/barbecue and firewood is available at the store. Since Mary Ellen wouldn't think of cooking on anything that isn't spotlessly germ-free we only use the portable propane grill we bought at Camping World. It's amazing how tasty barbecued anything tastes when you're in a camp; I suppose it's the milieu that adds the extra flavor.

Tomorrow Maureen is coming down with her dog Mabel to visit for the day, have dinner with us and hopefully be our first overnight guest (she lives about ninety minutes away.) On Friday we'll be packing up again and heading back into Temecula proper to stay at the "campground" that's part of the Pechanga Casino complex. This campsite was voted the nicest campground in the country recently and there's even a shuttle over to the slot machine palace so we can blow even more of our dwindling life savings. And just in case you thought I was exaggerating about the sunsets we see every night while having dinner, see for yourself: