Do Work, Son - Part 1

Family selfie time!

Like most of the world when the pandemic hit in 2020, both of our jobs went fully remote.  My position at the University of Phoenix was already work from home two days each week, so it was an easy transition; after overwhelming employee response, the company allowed us all to keep working remotely, full-time, even once everyone was vaccinated and whatnot, which is an amazing benefit.  Chris also recently transitioned into a commitment at Gore that allows for full-time telework, a great fit for him as well.  Since we could both work from pretty much anywhere (in the USA, at least), and we own a mobile spot from which to do so (Zelda the travel trailer), we decided to try it out!  

In early October of last year, we reserved a campsite for a week at the San Mateo Campground, part of San Onofre State Beach in the city of San Clemente, CA.  Our friends from Tucson, Bryan and Jen Spencer, grabbed the spot next to us for the latter half of the week, so we'd have buddies to hang out with after work.  Six months later, it was time for us to hit the road! 

Since the drive from home to San Clemente was a bit of a haul (not super long, distance-wise, but traffic through the greater LA area is always horrible), we worked the early shift on Friday and headed west, stopping for the night at the River Sands RV Resort, a new spot in Ehrenberg, Arizona, right on the state line with California.  We arrived after their front office closed, so they left our paperwork outside the door, and it was easy to follow the map and find our site.  As they were so new, everything was bright and shiny, and most sites were empty (but surrounded by teeny, tiny trees, just starting to grow - good luck making it through your first AZ summer!).  We set up for the night and wandered the kiddos over to the onsite dog park for some romping and potty time.

Snoozing in the truck, kicking your sister in the face.

A portrait of a great road trip.

They also have a lake for fishing (off to the left in this shot),

but no dog swimming was allowed.

We had to fight to keep Zoe out of it.

Finishing off the night in the camper by watching the F1 practice session from Australia, we all slept well.  I was up early the next morning to get in a workout before we departed; the amenities at the park included a well equipped gym, and I made good use of it.  I had a great view of the sunrise from the recumbent bike!

It was also garbage truck time, as you can see.

Workout over, I headed back to the camper to find the family already awake.  We did breakfast, showers, and had one more romp through the dog park before packing everyone in the truck and moving further west.

The dog park was decently sized and had some fun agility equipment, too

Maniacs

I promise Zoe jumped over this - after I did

Bea looking all fancy in her new harness

Bye, River Sands!

And we're sacked out again!

We drove through the Coachella Valley, past the Spotlight 29 Casino parking lot where we spent a sleepless night a few weeks prior on the trip to meet Bea, and to the Whitewater Rest Area for lunch and bathroom breaks.

There it is!

Keeping an eye out for Dad

Still a decent amount of snow on the mountains nearby

After that, we completed our final push, into the southern LA region, then out the other side onto the 5 freeway and a bit farther down to the city limits of San Clemente.  Check-in time started at 2pm, and we arrived at 2:30, figuring things would be easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.  Suffice to say that instead, they were super-difficult lemon f*ing frustrating.  Certain parks, including the San Mateo Campground, only let you stay for seven consecutive days; because our reservation had us checking in on April 1st, and the separate reservation I made for Bryan and Jen had them checking out on April 9th, the computer at the park kiosk wouldn't let the staff accept our booking and check us into our site.  It's at this junction that I'd like to point out that the state of California's OWN FREAKING WEB SYSTEM allowed me to make these two reservations, so why it was giving us a problem now seemed ridiculous.  After a solid 45 minutes of negotiating the red tape and bureaucracy that makes up the greater Golden State's reservation system - including talking on the phone with someone who cancelled our reservation for Bryan and Jen, created an account for Chris, rebooked the reservation under Chris' name, and charged us a $7.99 cancellation fee in the process - we were allowed into the park.  Crimeny.

Chris and the girls watching me from the front green area.

Note that Zoe is very in tune with my frustration level.

I may have called the lady on the phone "sweetheart" in a condescending tone -

it was not my finest hour.

Angry Amy at the frustrating kiosk

(it wasn't the fault of the folks working there, and I did let them know that)

Finally pulling into our home for the next seven days - and no more - (site number 28), we proceeded to level the camper, push out the slide, and do all the necessary things to unpack and set up.  I took the truck into town for a quick CVS run (I forgot my migraine medicine - bad move - but I called in a quick refill and picked up some Oreos and Cheez-Its while I was there), and Chris continued setting up our campsite.

Lounging with the kiddos!

Our campsite was really great - we were on the outer ring of the spots with electrical and water hookups, and we backed up to a large ravine.  Camp Pendleton, the Marine base, was on the other side of the ravine, so while we'd hear training exercises during the daylight hours (it sounded like being across the freeway from a shooting range), at night, it was totally peaceful.  The campground is a few miles inland from the 5, and while Christianitos Road, which runs right in front of the park, had some traffic noise, it was minimal, overall.

Hi, Camp Pendleton!

Once we were all reunited, it was time to relax.  Eventually, we busted out the Camp Chef grill and made sausages with salad for dinner, lit up the firepit, roasted S'mores, and enjoyed the evening.

After watching the F1 qualifying session held earlier in Melbourne, it was off to bed for us!  In future blogs, we take the dogs to a few different beaches (with varying degrees of success), we become acquainted with the local flora and fauna, and oh yeah, we actually do some work!

Later!

Amy