Solo life on 30 amps - Living full time in an RV: April 10th through April 18th, 2022

Destination number: 94/174/32

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I have one sibling Karen. Karen has been married to Mike since the 1960's. Mike has two brothers Chuck and Steve. Steve has three daughters who live in southern California, one of them, Mia lives here in the San Diego area. I was thrilled when she reached out to me when I first got to San Diego and asked if we could go to dinner or something some time. I mentioned to her I wanted to see the USS Midway which has been docked as a museum here in San Diego for a number of years. She asked if she could join me and then maybe we could grab an early dinner Afterwords. Her interest in joining me made my heart swell with a feeling of being loved, and I have looked forward to spending the afternoon of the 10th with her all week. All three of the Wraight families have some truly amazing children. 💗

Sunday finally arrived and Mia and I made the most of our time on the USS Midway. We basically closed the place down today. Though we both realized the Midway was huge, we didn't know just how long it would take to explore all the open spaces. When we boarded the ship, they took our picture, and so as the main souvenir, I bought the photo package. Yes, they are a bit cheesy, but it does make a nice memento of the experience.

This thing is definitely a floating museum. There is so much to see not only from a naval perspective but also from an aviation perspective as well. These ships are definitely floating cities with 6 mess halls (Cafeterias) and the capacity to have over 4,000 people on board when the ship is at sea! We covered just about all of the open areas of the ship, but we didn't get to the ship until about 2:15 in the afternoon. The ship is open until 5:00 PM, but you really need 4 hours to see everything. And, if you want to spend any time doing the virtual reality experiences, you better make it an all-day event.

This day was filled with so many wonderful memories. Including some of the Mannequins that are put in place such as those in a computer room setting or sleeping in a bunk. And then there was an animatronic of one of the Midway's captains. The most priceless was where Mia and I were talking about how some of the mannequins look so lifelike they are almost scary. And then we came across one gentleman in an area called CIC where this guy was just staring at us. We thought he was a mannequin... and then his eyes blinked. Scared the crap out of both of us. LOL. We topped off the day with a wonderful dinner at a Mexican food restaurant that Mia picked. Thanks for the great day Mia! :-)

The Thousand Trails Park here in Pio Pico has been a great place to stay, especially if you want to unplug. The cell service and internet service are both pretty bad, but I managed to figure out how to make it work for teleworking. I just had to be proactive if I knew I had a meeting scheduled to ensure I had a solid internet connection and cell phone available. This usually meant spending that day teleworking from the car out by a nearby lake where I had good service. The park is great. It is in a very natural setting and well maintained. Though the laundry and bathroom facilities are not as up to date as some Thousand Trails we have stayed at, they have been updated in the last 5 years or so. The Pool and mini golf areas are great, and they are doing a lot of work on beefing up the electrical infrastructure in the park.

On Saturday the 17th, Remi and I set out for Coronado Island. This would not be my first venture to Coronado, but what would a trip to San Diego be without going to experience this place. There are not any monuments here to see, at least that I am aware of, but it does give one a chance to do a little bit of people watching and to see how the other (richer) half of society lives. While we were over on Coronado Island, I was able to see the San Diego Naval base, as well as the San Diego Convention center where I have attended the Esri Users conference a couple of times. I was also able to see the USS Midway from a different perspective. Additionally, there is the Coronado Beach Hotel where those in a much higher tax bracket come to experience the finer things in life.

One of the best ways I could have thought to cap off my trip through southern California was to visit one more time with Steve Wraight and his family. Steve and his wife Elena hosted a Easter Gathering for the family here at their home in Long Beach. The event was filled with a lot of great food and visiting with family, as well as to watch Marina's son Tyler do a bit of a Scavenger hunt looking for prizes, all of them larger than an Easter Egg. The visit was capped off with a cruise through the keys of Long Beach on Steve and Elena's duffy boat. In the keys area, it turns out to be a great area for jelly fish to grow up! Ahhh the good life! 😀

After the gathering at Steve and Elena's was over, Remi and I retired to the Golden Shores RV Park in Long Beach. The RV park is right next to a Waterfowl sanctuary here in the Long Beach area. This RV park is where Remi and I spent the night before we hit the road at 6:00 AM on Monday morning to head up to Chico which is north of Sacramento for our next two week stay.