the 10th we finally got out for a little sight-seeing and took a drive around Mission Bay, Pacific Beach and out onto Point Loma where we stopped at the Cabrillo National Monument. Interesting place with a lot of information on the early history of the San Diego area. The park is on Point Loma hill so there are some great views of San Diego Bay and the city.On the 12th we went to Old Town San Diego and spent the afternoon walking around the shops. We have been there several times before, but always enjoy the area. There is a transit station in Old Town and one of our plans had been to take the red trolley down to Tijuana, Mexico. You can ride the train down to San Yisdro for a buck, walk across the border into TJ and then take the train back up for another dollar. However, recent news stories from TJ indicate that there are major drug gang problems including shootings in the streets. We decided we didn't need any Mexican stuff that bad.
On the 13th we ventured out to the Sycuan Casino out in El Cajon. Didn't win anything, but didn't lose a lot either and had a good time. Afterwards we visited the El Cajon Elks Lodge. Very nice and friendly lodge. The lodge has over 2,000 members which makes it huge by most lodge standards.
On the 15th we finally felt well enough to feel comfortable visiting Jackie's brother and mom, both of whom live in San Diego. We stopped at Dennis' condo then went over to the senior center where Jackie's mom lives. Had a very nice visit. For various reasons it has been a while since we had seen her. She looks pretty good for nearly 89 years old. After our visit we went by the San Diego Elks Lodge for a cocktail and visit. Much to our surprise we ran into an old acquaintance from Indio, Jeff Albright. It has been at least four years since we last saw him. He had moved from the Desert up to Oregon, however, he moved back down to San Diego a year or so ago to be with his mom. We had a very nice visit. While we were there we called Barry and Colleen because we had met Jeff through them back in Indio. They were quite surprised to talk to him too.
On the 16th we decided to go on one of our famous "Elks Pub Crawls" and took off for a day of lodge visits. We stopped first at the Santee Lodge and had a nice visit. This is a very friendly lodge - in fact, we weren't sure we were ever going to get out because everyone wanted to buy us a drink. A number of the people at the bar were actually members of the El Cajon Lodge which is only a few miles away. After Santee we went North up to the Poway Lodge. Although this was a much smaller lodge, it too was very friendly and welcoming. For those Elks visiting the San Diego area we have found all of the lodges in the county to be very welcoming to visitors. After hanging out at the Poway Lodge for a while we drove over to the Encinitas Lodge, which was actually in Cardiff. Unfortunately, Wednesday was bingo night and because they allow the public in to play bingo, the bar (a private club) was closed. To add insult to injury, they didn't even have any lodge pins for our collection!
On the 19th we took Jackie's mom over to the Seaport Village for lunch and then out for some shopping. She likes to get out, although she doesn't usually want to stay out too long. On Monday the 21st we packed up and headed east to Winterhaven, just over the border from Yuma, Arizona.
We had a very uneventful trip, although we stopped at the truck stop located on the Indian reservation at the top of coastal divide about 60 miles East of San Diego. It is located at over 4,000 feet and it was COLD! I thought I was going to freeze to death standing outside putting fuel in the coach. We arrived at the Pilot Knob RV park in the early afternoon and got set up pretty quickly. We are only going to be here for five days and came down here primarily to go down to nearby Algadones, Mexico to get our teeth cleaned and get new glasses for Jackie.
After we got set up we drove over to Yuma, AZ, about 8 miles East of the park and visited the Elks Lodge. We wanted to get a copy of the Lodge calendar for the week so we would know what might be going on. We ended up staying for dinner since they had their spaghetti night. All you can eat for six bucks. We don't eat pasta at home much so it had been a while since I had a nice big plate of spaghetti - was quite good.
On Tuesday the 22nd we went down to Algodones. The border crossing is only about three miles from our park. We were able to get our teeth cleaned and get Jackie some new glasses in one day. That is good, because it is a long wait to get back across the border. The walk-across line was about a half mile long and it took us an hour and a half to get to the border. For those not familiar with Algadones, it is a fairly small town on the border which is about 70 percent dentist offices and eye doctors. The remainder is made up of pharmacies, liquor stores and shops with the usual Mexican merchandise. Every day the place fills up with folks going down for dental work and eye glasses. We were there last March and I got new glasses and new dentures for a fraction of the cost in the U.S. and the quality is quite good. They don't want to kill the golden goose I guess.
We will be leaving here on Saturday the 26th to head back up to the Desert. We will be going to Desert Hot Springs to stay in another of our membership parks, the Western Horizon's Desert
Pools RV Resort. We'll post again in a couple weeks and let you know what's going on.We didn't have a lot of pictures for this post, so I thought I would throw in a shot of our kitty, Smokey, curled up with his stuffed buddy.
That's it for now - talk to you soon!
