In my last post I mentioned evidence of flash flooding in the area. Ogilby Road had apparently been flooded leaving sand, dirt and debris which was removed and piled into berms on the shoulder area. When we found the rock garden, it obviously had been flooded as well. The rock garden is on the edge of an arroyo. Fast moving water must have filled the arroyo and rearranged the rocks.

Here’s a view of the rock garden from December 2014

This is what’s left of it

Donna went for a walk before sunset. She met the owners of the Alpine Coach parked about half a mile away from us – they were the only other people within sight. They were Alpine Coach Association members Rick and Sue Niemeyer from Hemet, California. She visited with them for about 20-30 minutes. I was getting a little worried that she might get caught out after dark. Once the sun sets out here in the desert, it gets very dark quickly.

Sunset in the desert

Donna made it back just as it was getting dark. She made a pan-seared steelhead trout filet topped with sauteed fresh ginger and scallions for dinner. Just because we’re boondocking, we don’t have to eat hot dogs and marshmallows!

Pan-cooked steelhead trout with basmati brown rice and steamed spinach

We had a mostly quiet night. When we went to bed, the lack of noise was almost eerie. In the early morning hours before sunrise, the wind kicked up and made a lot of noise. I was up in time to catch the sunrise which was a mirror image of the sunset the night before.

Desert sunrise

We hit the road at 9:40am and headed west on I-8. We made our usual stop on this stretch of road at the Buckman Springs rest area in the Laguna Mountains (map). We took a short break and Donna heated up leftovers for lunch in the microwave oven.

We crested the three 4,000+ foot summits – Tecate Divide, Crestwood Summit and Laguna Summit – then began the rapid descent to El Cajon. Our coach performed beautifully. The coolant temperature never exceeded 195 degrees on the climb over the summits and the Jake brake easily controlled our descent – I never touched the brake pedal all the way down.

The traffic thickened quickly near El Cajon and the drive over La Mesa into Mission Valley wasn’t exactly fun. It never ceases to amaze me when I see some of the bonehead moves car drivers make to try and gain an advantage of a few seconds or to overtake someone so they can take the off-ramp ahead of them.

We checked in at Mission Bay RV Resort around 1:30pm. We have site 135 for the next 31 days. After checking with the security supervisor, Thomas, I drove to our site with the trailer still attached. We unloaded the grills, scooter, chairs and a few other items from the trailer before we went to the storage lot and dropped the trailer. They don’t allow cargo trailers in the sites here. Trailers have to be left in the storage lot. It was handy to be able to unload most of what we’ll need before dropping the trailer. When it’s time to leave, I’ll have to deal with getting everything back to the trailer.

While I was setting up, I stood up and turned while attaching the fresh water hose. I smacked my head against the bottom corner of the bedroom slideout – again. It was a hard whack – I knocked myself down on my backside. My scalp is cut and my head still hurts.

Donna walked over to Enterprise Rental on Garnet Avenue to pick up a car. We rented a car for the weekend so we can visit my step-dad in Menifee today. He is having health issues and I want to see how he’s doing. While Donna went for the car, I scootered over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill for a quick cold one and to enter in this weekend’s football pool.

After we returned home, our friends Bob and Sini Schmitt from Edmonds, Washington picked us up. They are here at the park until next weekend. They took us to their son’s new bar/restaurant. Their son Beau had a partnership with a place called 57 Degrees where he ran The Brew Project. He just opened a new place on Fifth Avenue south of University last Monday. The new Brew Project has been a real project. Bob and Sini have been helping Beau remodel the two-story building and getting the place ready for business. It’s a cool old building in a hip part of town called Hillcrest. We sampled local craft beers – they had 24 beers on tap – and ordered dinner. I had the Havana torta which is carnitas, applewood smoked bacon, swiss cheese, sliced pickles and whole grain honey mustard on telera bread. It was outstanding.

Donna went out for a 3-mile run this morning. She’s planning to run a 5k with her sister Sheila and nephew Connor next weekend at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

The weather here is just about perfect. The forecast high today is 74 degrees with clear blue skies. Overnight lows are around 60 degrees. The weather guessers are predicting more of the same for the next five days.