California Christmas

Our campsite at the East Shore RV Park

We arrive in California a few days before Christmas.  After frugally searching for a free camping spot in the Angeles National Forest, we learn from a park ranger that it's not safe to leave our trailer alone on public land in the foothills, so we go to an RV park instead.  And it's a gorgeous RV park - the East Shore RV Park in the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park on the Puddingstone Reservoir in San Dimas (next door to Pomona, home of the Fairplex and popular drag car racing park which we can see from our site.)  We are camped high up on a hill overlooking part of the reservoir, a small airstrip, multi-million dollar homes and the snow-capped mountains to the east.  It's a beautiful view, as it should be for almost $60/night!  Since it's been raining almost every 3 or 4 days, the grass is green and lush which Grady loves after the dry, sandy desert.

Uncle Bill, Marilyn & Brad Christmas Day 2012

We wouldn't normally pay this much money to camp, but we are here to spend Christmas with my 83-year old uncle, my dad's last surviving sibling.  Uncle Bill reminds me a lot of my dad, and I get him talking about their childhood.  They were very close and spent a lot of time together when young, being only 2 years apart in age.  It is interesting to hear stories about my dad, their other 2 brothers and my grandparents, like how my grandmother was a crane operator at one of the steel plants in Hamilton during the depression and she had to tie her dress together at her knees so the male workers wouldn't look up her skirt!  We enjoy a wonderful family visit, go out for a few meals, and we cook him a small Christmas dinner. 

Reservoir, big homes and foothills beyond

During our stay here, our truck dies.  We are leaving to go pick up my uncle to go grocery shopping then out to dinner when the truck starts, then stalls and won't restart.  Luckily, this year we had purchased Roadside Assistance for our truck AND trailer, so we get a free tow to a nearby GM dealer, although it's late Saturday afternoon and no mechanics are on duty until Monday morning.  So Brad and I wait it out at the RV park (grateful the trailer was already parked somewhere) and use the time to walk along the reservoir and relax.  Monday morning (Christmas Eve day), the truck gets fixed (a cracked housing over the fuel pump which leaked diesel) and the best part is it's covered by our warranty.  Merry Christmas to us.

After almost a week, we are sad to leave but looking forward to continuing our desert camping experience.