Living the RV Dream

Living the RV Dream



Thursday, November 29, 2012

Our Avila Beach Days

We have been here at Avila Beach for a couple of weeks now and we are getting accustom to our new jobs and our new surroundings. We had a big weekend for Thanksgiving. The park puts on a Thanksgiving dinner for all the guests. The park provides the turkeys, six of them and everybody brings a plate to pass. It was a big success. We had over 100 people and a ton of food. We were able to bring home leftovers and ate turkey for the next few days.
Victoria and Judy guarding the dessert

Dave the boss and turkey cook

Lining up for diner

Our jobs are going well; we are doing similar duties to what we did in Jackson Hole. Victoria is working in the office checking in guest and helping the manager Judy. I am doing maintenance and upgrades to the park. We are replacing sewer and water lines in all the cabins and building privacy fences between the cabins. We also have a nice pool and spa and I have learned how to maintain them both.
This live is not all fun and games

On one of our days off we went to a local attraction. A park where monarch butterflies nest for the winter. It was amazing to see thousands of the little critters all hanging together in the trees. After that we visited a few of the local beaches. This area is a series of beach communities called the five cities. Each one has a public beach and there are 3 piers for fishing.

These are all butterflies, not leaves

We walked the beaches and people watched all the folks swimming and walking along the beach. This is a very beautiful area and Victoria loves being so close to the ocean. This time of year is the rainy season so we have had some rain. It has been a year since we have seen any real rain. Last winter in Arizona and the summer in Wyoming were very dry. That is fun part of this lifestyle seeing and experience all the sights and environments of the areas we stay in.


One of the local beaches

Sand dollors are all over the beach, Victoria has started a clollection


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Is It November, WOW!!!

It is hard to believe it has been over a month since leaving Jackson. Let me catch you up on where we have been and what we have been doing. After leaving the KOA we headed south to warmer weather and the weather was warmer. We left the pleasant 60 degree weather to higher and higher temps.
Our first stop other than an overnighter was Moab, Utah. Here there are two national parks. Arches and Canyonlands National parks. We spent 4 days here exploring the parks and taking in all the geological wonders.

Arches is a wonderland of stone arches and rock formations formed by the winds and the sands of time. It is a really cool place and should be on your bucket list. It is a relatively small park compared to Canyonlands or Yellowstone. It has the largest concentration of natural arches and bridges in one place. They are spectacular and it is amazing to think of how they are formed.




Canyonlands is a huge park. It would take weeks or months to fully explore. We drove the “Island In The Sky” area where we got fantastic view of the canyons below. It is an awesome place and I don’t think the Grand Canyon has anything on this national park. The way the sun changes the colors of the walls of the canyons is fantastic.

These parks are great and where else can you get 2 parks for the price of 1. Also the Moab area is a mountain biking mecca with trail of all types including the famous “Slick Rock Trail”. Being a cyclist I considered doing some riding but I am out of biking shape due to not riding over the summer. We spent most of our time hiking the Tetons.
Our next stop was Vegas. We visited here last winter and it was on our way so we stopped for one main reason, FOOD!!! Last year we went to the buffet at The Bellagio Resort and it was awesome. I ate more than I do in a week. We went back for round 2. I managed to eat my share and Victoria’s and also probable a family of 4. I like to get my money’s worth.
We are not Vegas people, we don’t gamble so after eating and a day or so of walking the strip we are ready to head out. We continued our travels south and stopped for a couple of days at a RV park with a nice pool and just relaxed.

We arrived at the RV park where we planned to work and spend the winter and found that one of the couples we worked with in Jackson were already there. Three couples including us had signed up for working at this park.
The park is in the middle of the desert “literally” it is an hour from anywhere. It caters to off roaders. If you like off -roading in the California desert than you would like this place, otherwise there is nothing there. Victoria and I quickly knew it was going to be hard to spend the winter here and started looking for an alternative.
One nice thing was our view of the mountains
And the sunsets
Pretty dead during the week
Me and my friend Ed working in the 100 degree heat
I could go on about what happens at the park but I will spare you the detail. After our first 2 days the other couple left and were replaced by the 3rd couple from Jackson. They lasted about 10 days and left.
To make a long story short we lasted just short of a month. We feel very lucky to have found another place to go. We are now in Avila/Pismo Beach Ca. It is right on the coast of California. It is in a beautiful area. We are 3 miles from the beach and can get there on a bike path. We have all the necessities here and the managers have welcomed us and seem really nice.
The California coast near the RV park
This little guy is sick and will be helped by the area seal resuce
The park is located on the central area of the California coast about 2 hours north of L.A. The area is several beach communities strung together along the ocean. We will start working in the next few days. Victoria will be working in the office and I will be doing maintenance and grounds. Both of our jobs should be similar to what we did in Jackson.
We feel this will be a big improvement for the desilet desert.  The only real down side to this location is we are right next to the 101 freeway and we hear the road noise day and night. They say we will get use to it but I don’t know? We have a grocery store and fuel and entertainment within a few miles not to mention the beach. We are located a couple of hours from L.A. and about 3-1/2 from San Francisco so we hope to make trips to both along with exploring the immediate area.
Real apple cider from a farmers market down the road
Well, there you go; I have caught the blog up to our latest adventures. I will try to post more often in the future.