Departing Day from El Cajon

I'd left my camera in the house so wasn't able to include two additional photos from my last evening there on this visit. First up, Dad and Fiona holding court.

 The little towel in front of her is her bed, one she can futz around with to get exactly where she wants it before curling up on it, or not.

 In another photo equipment fail, I had only my small lens and no tripod to get this shot of the moonrise. Instead, I braced it on an ivy branch and came away with an arm (and camera) crawling with ants. "Eeeewww" doesn't come close to capturing the feeling.

In the morning came the time for me to prepare to leave. As I walked Merlin before my breakfast - long after his, I might add - a tear came to my eye. Always does after such a short visit. Merlin and I interrupted Fiona's morning nap. She eyed him with something short of antipathy and will not be sad to see The Beast leave the premises.




 I gathered my things as Dad and Pat readied themselves to clean up from breakfast and complete the morning puzzles. Dad has always been a huge fan of the Jumble. Pat tried to explain to me now not to let Cryptoquip defeat me every time. Yesterday, I was able to complete the New York Times crossword puzzle without cheating; then again, it was the Tuesday puzzle.

Before Dad came out to help me disconnect and do a last pre-flight check, I folded down Merlin's crate and moved it from the porch back into the RV. It doesn't give him much room to negotiate his way inside and severely curtails my movement. The entry door is directly across from the table, heater with fridge and microwave above it are in front of it toward the drawers you see. 

 On this leg, I was again fortunate to not have to contend with any wind worth mentioning. I got back to Sierra Trails RV Park in Mojave and I'm puffed up with pride to report that I backed in and hooked up all by my little self. Ta Da to me! That made me realize that the whole way here, I neither clutched the steering wheel nor reacted to every move the RV made on the road. It seems one's body reflexively adapts to new sets of circumstances. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

 When I checked in with Dad on our arrival at the same RV Park, he encouraged me to check the forecast for the Central Valley because some kind of front may approach my part of the state tomorrow. It all looks calm. This is good. 

 To leave you for this post, a couple of snapshots from the road.
You gotta love California's geology.

A roadside attraction. It took me back to the hundreds we saw as a family crisscrossing the U.S.

I recognize the architecture of this shuttered food stand but can't for the life of me, or an hour's worth of Google searching, remember what it was. I want to say A&W. Dairy Queen? I give up.






















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