The Jello didn't jiggle......

7:18 am - Wednesday - March 23rd - Elks Backyard, CA - 61° F, humidity 34%, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2012 we were overnighting at a Walmart near Baton Rouge, LA.....6 weeks into our nomadic odyssey......↴

Our Jello plan for Tuesday was to be up by 6 am, and on the road by 7 am.  There were no utilities from which to disconnect, the trailer was on the Newell hitch, the turf, and VW were inside the trailer....we were ready to roll our wheels on a moment's notice.  I turned on our big Kohler/Perkins 7.5 kw generator to run the block heater (it was cold), and perk some coffee whilst TLE readied the Newell interior for travel. Most of my departure work occurs in the days prior to departure, while nearly 100% of TLE's departure prep is on the day of departure.  She has a routine she follows to transform our home on wheels into a road worthy vehicle, and usually within 40 minutes she pronounces the Newell road worthy once again.

As she finished her work securing the Newell interior I turned on the Garmin Trucker GPS, and entered our destination.....Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge.....just 132 miles from our boondock site.  Once that was done I turned the ignition key clockwise and heard the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 roar to life.  While TLE turned off the block heater I powered down the Kohler/Perkins generator and prepared for liftoff.  Zero time was 6:45 am.....I love it when a plan comes together!

After almost 3 weeks boondocking our black tank was just 50% full, but we always like to arrive at the Elks Lodge with empty waste tanks, so after a short 16 mile drive over the hump down to the Salton City Travel Center we pulled into one of their 5 dump stations to transfer our effluent to their sewer system.  Within 30 minute we were rolling again north on SR-86 along the western shore of the Salton Sea.

From the Salton Sea which sits at -131' elevation to the top of Banning Pass at 2,600' we gain almost 2,800' in elevation in around 50 miles, and most of that is gained from Palm Desert to the summit, which is about 20 miles.....it is a grinder which keeps us in 2nd, or 3rd gear most of the time.  As I've mentioned previously, Banning Pass separates the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, Pam Desert, Indio, La Quinta, etc) from the Pomona Valley (Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Pomona, etc).

The forecast high for Tuesday in Fontana was 89° F, and we wanted to arrive at the Elks Lodge well before that.  As it turned out we arrived around 10:30 am with temps just edging into the high 70's.  By the time we had backed into site #3 (we have stayed in site #3 90% of the time we have been coming to the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge), hooked up our utilities, and deployed our awnings it was 11:30 am.....perfect!

As luck would have it we arrived right at the tail end of another 'Santa Ana' wind event....by 1 pm the winds had abated.  Around 3 pm we got dressed and drove over to our favorite local Mexican seafood restaurant...Mariscos Del Pacifico....for a late lunch/early dinner, and then to the home of Chris and Rochelle (oldest son, beautiful, bright, intelligent daughter-in-law) to pick up our mail.  It was nice to sit and talk with them for about an hour without interruption.  Usually when we see them it is at their office, or at a family gathering, so being able to sit with them in their home 'one on one' was a treat.

By the time we left Chris and Rochelle it was around 5:40 pm, and right smack dab in the middle of the Pomona Valley rush hour on SR-210.  Usually the freeway is stop and go at this point, but we were blessed with traffic moving along at 60+ mph all the way to the Ayala exit which takes us south to the Elks Lodge.

Tuesday could not have gone better for us....there was no 'jiggling Jello', and now we settle in for 10-14 days for the upcoming nuptials of our granddaughter Cynthia, and Daniel.  We'll be getting the Newell coolant and oil changed (the same for the VW, plus the new rear rotor and pads), and running a bunch of errands.  I know the time will fly, and before we know it we will be disconnecting our utilities again to head north on US-395 to our summer job in Likely, CA....where have the last 4 months gone?

Thank for stopping by!

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