Life Lessons

Ok, so this blog is a little less about Tater and a little more about me, I guess. And why I’m doing what I’m doing. Some people have been skeptical of the whole “RV-Living” thing and I just thought it would be a good idea to try to put into words what motivates me, personally.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned in life is to learn from experience. And whenever possible, I try to learn from the experiences of other people as well.

I’ve learned that the best time to travel is when you are young. Don’t wait ‘til you are retired - and too tired or too sick or too stubborn or too big to fit in your bikini. Play now, work later. Most retirees I’ve met prefer to sit. Why not sit at a desk and work? It keeps your mind sharp.

I’ve also learned never to put off ‘til tomorrow what you can accomplish today. This might sound difficult for procrastinators, but if you’re putting off WORK in exchange for PLAY, it actually works out quite well.

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One of my favorite things to do is to glean information from my older, wiser family members about their childhoods, about the past, about a time on Earth before I existed. I find it fascinating to know who Connie and Frank are, besides just Mom and Dad. Or what my Nana’s life was like raising kids in the 50’s. This past year, I’d been thinking of all the things I’d like to ask Nana the next time I visited her. On December 26, 2007, Nana passed away. I never got a chance to ask her any of those questions. Fortunately, Nana taught me a great lesson. Don’t take anything for granted. No matter how comfortable you are, things always change and you should appreciate what you have today because it might be gone tomorrow.

This blog is dedicated to Nana.
May 12, 1919 to December 26, 2007

The Lucky Tater

Saturday night, Tater was lucky enough to escape tragedy when a drunk driver careened into some cars parked just in front of him, outside the Quality Inn. Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath (you can see Tater three cars back). One of the damaged cars had been moved before I got a chance to take a picture. Mule also escaped without incident (he was parked right behind the maroon car at the time of the accident). Ben, Lola & I slept soundly in a hotel room... we had no idea what happened until the following day.

All Good Things Must Come To An End...Or Not!

The other day, Ben emailed me this article and I thought I'd post it here. It gives a little insight into where we live and what we do, and obviously if the ban is passed, it would affect what we are doing. Most likely we'd just have to park inland and away from the beaches. I think most of the issues arise from homeowners parking their many toys on the city streets as a means of storage space, however the ban will obviously affect people who live in their RV's as well. My favorite part of the article is midway down the page where they refer to "Poor people who live in motorhomes..." ;)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080127-9999-1m27parking.html

On the Road...Literally!

OK, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to describe a little more in detail exactly what it means to live in an RV in San Diego.

By law (at least in San Diego), we are allowed to park in parking lots at the beaches, bays, cliffs and parks except between the hours of 2AM and 4AM. We are permitted to park on the side of any city street for up to 72 hours straight.

On days when Ben has to work early in the morning, we usually park Tater on the street in front of the hotel where he works the night before. I work remotely from my laptop, so we either get a room at the hotel or I can work from the RV as long as we are within wi-fi range. Eventually, we will have satellite internet but for now I have to work wherever there is free wireless.

Once Ben is out of work, we hit the road. Sometimes we go back to Ocean Beach (always my first choice because everyone knows Ocean Beach rules!). Sometimes we go to Shelter Island (nice and quiet and right on the bay…lots of older, upstanding RV folk stay here). Sometimes we park on Catalina (between Tony’s house and Catalina Lounge… convenient, but inevitably some punk kids will bang on our door or window at night). We also hit up other cool neighborhoods and places we’d like to check out… or go camping and/or check out sites in and around San Diego County (lakes, mountains, desert… anything nature-like that we might want to see).

The best parking spots are on roads that aren’t heavily traveled. Preferably, we will park near a baseball field, an embankment, a hotel or parking lot. If we must park in a residential area, we will park near an apartment complex where there are many tenants, or a house with a tall fence… basically anyplace where we won’t be bothering a homeowner. I know firsthand what it is like to have an RV parked in front of your residence and it can be very intrusive and irritating. So we try to stick to areas where no one will bother us or be bothered by us…and we rarely stay in the same place two nights in a row. We never stay in a parking lot at night because we’d be required to move Tater to the street at 2AM, and no one wants to get up at 2AM to move.

As you can see in the photos below, RV living is quite common in San Diego. We almost always have RV neighbors, no matter where we park.

PART V: Heading Home

We took a less treacherous route on the drive home, but no less beautiful. Here are some pics of the awesome roads, mountain vistas, and cloud covers...

PART IV: Dirt-Biking Off Erosion Road

Next, the three of us (yes, Lola included) went dirt-biking on some trails around the desert. First, we went to Desert Gardens, which wasn't very impressive - it looked just like every other part of the desert. Then, we took the S-22 out through the Badlands and took a four-mile desert trail out to Font's Point. One of the locals referred to it as "The Edge of the World" and I thought that was the perfect analogy.


On our way to Desert Gardens

Ben takes a spin across the creek

Lola was happy to see Ben return for us!

Ben and Mule at Font's Point

A view from Font's Point (The Edge of the World!)

Me & Ben

Mule parked at Font's Point (Try to imagine if we didn't have airplanes to get us around the country!)

Another shot of Mule

PART III: Palm Canyon Trail and the Oasis

Ben and I hiked from our campsite down the Palm Canyon Trail to find an oasis. The trail is a three-mile round trip hike through the desert. Ben and I took the somewhat more ambiguous and circuitous "Alternate Trail" so I'm not exactly sure how long it was but I know it wasn't as clearly marked as the trail they advertised in our trail guide. However, we DID find the oasis and it was pretty amazing. This is where people usually spot Bighorn Sheep drinking along the waters edge. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any on our hike. My only regret was not bringing more water on the hike because the sound of running water in the hot desert sure does make me thirsty. Luckily, it was mostly a downhill hike to get back to Tater and fresh, cold drinking water!




Setting off on the Palm Canyon Alternate Trail


















A view towards our campsite














Me and an ocotillo


















A cool cactus














The oasis

Bridge over untroubled waters


















Ben at the oasis

















I still can't believe we found running water in the desert!


















A view of the oasis looking back from whence we came














The palm grove