Our Wander Years

A bombing too close to home

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Sparky

Like most Americans, I was shocked on Monday when two bombs shattered the festive Boston Marathon holiday. Like most Americans, I felt that it was, in some respects, a personal attack on me. Like most Americans, I cheered at the death of one bomber and the capture of the other Friday night. Like most Americans, I look forward to seeing him get his due.

But this bombing hit closer to home for me than for most Americans. One of the fatalities – Krystle Campbell – was from Medford, my current home town. The assassination of the MIT campus police officer (and what was the point of that anyway?) occurred less than a half mile from my office in Cambridge and on the campus of my alma mater. The car chase, punctuated by the tossing of homemade grenades, took place on the banks of the Charles River, where I spent many hours running in my younger and more fit days. The shootout, and the death of the first bomber, occurred on a street on which one of my Little League players lived many years ago. The capture of the second bomber occurred less than half a mile from my son’s apartment in Watertown.

All of it very painful and very, very close to home.

But I must say that the Massachusetts State Police, the FBI and the Boston and Watertown police did a superb job in running these dogs to ground. I was very impressed by the surreal but very methodical and effective door-to-door search in Watertown. I think they all did a wonderful job under very stressful circumstances.

I take my Boston Red Sox cap off to all who participated in the search and capture.

But I hope I never see a week like that again.

Categories: Commentary | Leave a comment

You can’t get there from here

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Sparky

We will be in California for another two months – until June 8. But it is not too early to think about the route that we will take to get back to Massachusetts. We are committed to arriving by July 15, so that means that we need to travel across the country in just 5 weeks (6 weekends) rather than the 13 weeks that we invested in the GTW (Great Trip West, for those of you who haven’t read the older posts). It will be very different than the GTW not only in its duration, but also because I will continue to work while we travel, meaning that our travel days will almost exclusively be weekends. We are dubbing this trip the Quick Trip East (QTE).

Arguably the most interesting part of the trip will be the first segment from Aguanga to I-10 near Palm Springs. The obvious route is north on CA 371, then east and north on CA 74 to Palm Desert, then a few miles on CA 111 to I-10. This route is 54 miles on roads that have no sharp curves, no low bridges and are plenty wide enough for our rig. However, the route also has some large elevation changes – up 2,000 feet and then down 3,000 feet – with most of the drop occurring in a 5-mile stretch involving 7 turnbacks and some vertigo-inducing views.

QTE Option 1

CA 74 7-turnback drop into Palm Desert

As Jett already suffers from vertigo even when on solid, flat ground, I think this route would be too much for her. I would have to put her into a drug-induced coma to make this route viable. I decided to look for alternatives.

The next obvious option would be to go north on CA 371 as before – this road is relatively straight and, while it also climbs 2,000 feet, it does so gradually. Then, instead of turning right on CA 74 we could turn left to drop into Hemet, then take CA 79 north to I-10. Unfortunately, the drop into Hemet, though not as dramatic as the drop into Palm Desert, has even more sharp curves and the road is fairly narrow. Not feasible. It was also much longer: 110 miles, more than double the length of Option 1.

QTE Option 2

The third option was to travel northwest on CA 79 a few miles, then north on Sage Road into Hemet where we could connect with CA 79. But Sage Road was even more narrow and with sharper curves than CA 74 into Hemet. It is 87 miles – shorter than Option 2 – but still not feasible.

QTE Option 3

After rejecting all these mountain options I decided that we would have to avoid the mountains altogether. One option would be to take CA 79 20 miles back into Temecula, then get on I-15 and I-215 north to I-10. This would be feasible, but MUCH longer: 117 miles. I looked for an option that would avoid the mountains yet be shorter than this obvious route. I found one through Hemet that would work: down CA 79 12 miles, then north on Anza Road and Rancho California Road (through scenic Temecula wine country), then north on CA 79 to I-10. This route cuts off 20 miles (87 miles) and, except for a minor climb north of Hemet, is very flat and straight. Unless someone suggests a better option – or Jett decides to go into a coma so we can take Option 1 – this is how we will exit Aguanga.

QTE Option 4

Categories: CA, Places, QTE, Routes | Leave a comment

Walking the cheetah

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Sparky

Great zoos are hard to find. There are good reasons for this, the primary one being cost. Keeping a Siberian tiger healthy and happy takes a lot of money. Another good reason is habitat. Koalas, for example, eat nothing but fresh eucalyptus leaves – you can’t even give them frozen ones. Housing arctic polar bears next to desert camels requires some creative thinking.

So, with all the difficulty facing them, how does a relatively small city like San Diego maintain not one but TWO world-class zoos? I can’t provide the answers, but I can attest to the fact: the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are two of the finest zoos you will find anywhere. They are certainly on the short list of best zoos in the US and probably both make a “Top 10 Zoos in the World” list.

We invested a Sunday in the San Diego Zoo a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day, as usual, in San Diego, though right on the cusp of requiring a jacket – one of those days where you get too hot if you wear it and get too cold if you don’t. The Safari Park is actually closer to Temecula by about 20 minutes, but is vaster and is harder to see on foot. We opted for the more traditional zoo.

The park is organized around 9 walking trails, named after families of animals. We, of course, went immediately to the Monkey Trail, then hopped over to the Tiger Trail and saw bits of the Orangutan Trail and the Hippo Trail. That took most of the day, with a break for lunch. Then we opted for the free bus tour to see the rest of the park.

San Diego Zoo map

We saw many beautiful and strange animals, of course, including some that I not only had never seen before but didn’t know existed. The highlight, though, was encountering a cheetah on a leash – the park staff regularly takes their cheetahs out for walks around the park, accompanied by a large dog on a leash, who apparently demonstrates proper leash behavior for the wild cheetah.

Sorry about the cheetah shot – I was so stunned by the encounter that I didn’t even think to capture it until the cheetah was nearly out of sight.

Cheetah on a leash

Giraffes

Proud bighorn

Bull elephant

Orangutan

Playful young orangutan

Exotic birds

Silverback gorilla’s right foot

Gorillas

Flamingos

We also saw a very informative presentation on a particular asian owl (I forget the exact breed now, but it was similar to a Great Horned).

Lunch was good, too, and surprisingly inexpensive. But no Tiger Steak on the menu.

Categories: Adventures, CA, Places | Leave a comment

Life on the links

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Sparky

For the first time in my life I am living on a golf course. We are renting a site here at Rancho California RV Resort that is close to the #3 tee. A little *too* close, perhaps. Looking at the site plan, we thought we would be safe from errant shots, but we didn’t take into account the possibility that I would be playing. I almost hit Patience the first time I teed off from #3. Fortunately, I missed. Instead I got a direct hit on my neighbor’s RV.

They weren’t home. I don’t know if there is a dent, but if you see them… mum’s the word.

The #3 tee from our patio

As is fitting for our location, we bought a golf cart. This isn’t just for me to use while golfing (though it works great for that purpose) – it is also our main form of transportation within the park. If we need to run to the store or fill a propane tank, we take the cart (or, to be snooty about it, the “golf car”). We bought it used for about $1,600 and hope to sell it for about $1,300 when we leave. That will keep the cost down to about $100 per month, well below the ridiculous $300 per month that it would have cost to rent one.

Our “golf car”

The golf course is… interesting. It is 14 (yes, 14, not 18) holes, all par 3’s. The longest hole is 210 yards. But what it lacks in distance it makes up for in difficulty. There is water and lots of it: 11 of the 14 holes have water. I lost 6 balls on my first round and 4 on the second. Undulating greens and deep traps compound the difficulty. I won’t tell you my scores, but I will tell you that no pro would have been happy with them, even on a long, impossibly difficult, 18-hole championship course.

The plan for the resort is to eventually have a full 18 holes, but the economy over the past few years has delayed that. There are over 600 sites in the park and it seems that more than half are for sale or for rent. Apparently a few years ago you couldn’t buy in for less than $70,000, but there are many sites selling for less than that now. There is even one priced at $29,000.

Not that we are thinking of buying. It is a great place with lots to offer, but it is in California. We aren’t likely to retire here. Or even travel here frequently.

What do we like about it? Start with the site we are renting. Compared to our previous site, in San Jose, it is positively luxurious. It has an outdoor kitchen, with a grill, a sink and a refrigerator, and a patio furniture set. It has beautiful landscaping, including some palm trees. It abuts the third hole, with fountains in the pond. The pond is a haven for waterfowl and the hole is a constant source of amusement as we watch duffers even less skilled than I navigate the hazards of the hole. There is enough pavement to accommodate not only Patience and the truck but also the rental car and the golf cart.

The park has 5 pools and 5 laundry rooms. Two clubhouses (one with the largest paperback swap library that we have seen anywhere). Tennis courts. A dog park (where our pups have made some friends). A market and a cafe with a patio. Lots of open space for dog walks and birds everywhere, including hummingbirds, hawks, various ducks, egrets and cranes and the omnipresent coots (a.k.a. mudhens, according to some residents). I have seen a roadrunner and a coyote and I am told that a bobcat was sighted nearby recently. Rattlesnakes in the surrounding desert. It is a good place to learn about and appreciate wildlife.

The weather. Yes, we have had some cold nights and, because it is a desert climate, it gets cold after dark even on warm days. But on balance the weather has been very pleasant and is wildly better than Massachusetts winter weather. If it was a basketball game, Aguanga would be the Globetrotters and Massachusetts would be the Generals.

What don’t we like? Well, as a working man I have to say the the commute is too long. It doesn’t have as many activities as we found at Paradise in Phoenix. And, because it is California, the water tastes like it has been filtered through a greasy rag. And airfares to the east coast are too high.

But the negatives are few and the positives are many. We really like the place. We will be sorry to leave. But we will be gone by June 1, heading back east.

Fishing pond

Patience in the palms

Pups on the patio

Greenspace behind our site

That’s not a statue

The 4th hole

Desert adjacent to the 13th tee

The Lakeside Cafe

Firepit at the lake

One of the pools

Tennis courts

Our patio in the sun

Coots

Categories: CA, Places, RV Parks | Leave a comment

Temecula

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Sparky

Temecula is a middlin’-sized town (about 100,000 residents) about an hour from Los Angeles, an hour from Palm Springs and an hour from San Diego. It is about 400 miles south of San Jose, which is why we are here: we were hoping that we would get warmer weather by moving closer to the Mexican border. So far we have been mostly disappointed: the Temeculan weather doesn’t seem much different from the San Josean weather. And, as has been our experience since we arrived in California, the temperatures have been running consistently below normal. Everyone is complaining about the cold winter.

I guess… if 60 is a “cold winter.” It may not be balmy but it is WAY better than a New England winter. I am watching the Weather Channel as I write this, getting an up-to-date account of how “Winter Storm Saturn” is grinding its heel on Massachusetts. I really enjoy watching the misery that I am missing. We have even had a few days above normal, reaching 80 in a couple of cases. It isn’t quite what we hoped – we have worn shorts just a couple of times – but I will take it.

Temecula has long been inhabited by Indians and, of course, has the requisite Indian reservations and casinos. Jett and I have donated a few bucks to the Great Indian God “Slot”. And Jett has partaken of the local Indian cigarettes ($2.50 a pack) which she rates “not bad.” It has an “old town” that would have a Wild West flavor – if antique shops existed in the Wild West. It is an interesting area, though not very large: it runs about 6 blocks.

Jett and I came into town with the dogs a couple of weeks ago and encountered a staged gunfight in a vacant lot. It was very hokey, though it seemed to attract a fair number of tourists with nothing better to do than watch a staged gunfight in a vacant lot. Grace did not enjoy it at all. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe (it was one of those warm days) and she cowered under the table while we ate.

Gunfight at the Vacant Lot

My office building

I have an office in Old Town. It is in a building with a wooden sidewalk. I am subleasing space from a bridal dress shop. I’m not kidding. I work in a pink office with photos of wedding dresses adorning the walls.

My desk

The pink office wall

My workday commute is 20 miles and 25 minutes each way. That is a longer commute than I wanted but the RV park makes it worthwhile. And the commute is arguably the most interesting thing about living in Temecula. It is a volcanic moonscape, unlike anything you will find in Massachusetts. I haven’t tired of it yet.

As a teaser, I will include one photo from the RV park. More on the park soon.