Ralph, Steve and I met at Starbuck's on Ortega Hwy in San Juan Capistrano at 6:30, Saturday, December 20th, 2003. Ralph was worried that we were going to "do" Ortega Highway in the dark. I told Ralph "not to worry, the sun will be up before we get too far down the road".

We had a nice, relaxing ride through the back roads. After reaching Lake Elsinore, we had a short stretch of I-15, but quickly broke off at Hwy 79 for some familiar twisties. We arrived in Julian a little after 9 am and had some (what else?) apple pie and coffee.

Fully recharged, we continued on our ride on Hwy 78 to Brawley for gas. The weather was great, albeit a little cool, and traffic was light. After gassing up in Brawley, we continued our ride through Glamis and into Blythe for lunch.

Ralph was determined to examine the lifestyle in Quartzite while Steve and I were anxious to pitch camp. Steve and I took the Old Highway through the Colorado River Indian Reservation. Ralph would meet up with us later.

Upon our arrival at camp, we were shocked! One of our favorite wintertime campgrounds was under re-construction. We're certain that the new configuration will be more conducive to the more lucrative RVs than us "tent scum" who enjoyed the grass campsites. We reversed our route about a mile and stayed at the Buckskin State Park.

Shortly, Ralph arrived at the site. He said that the campground didn't look like he had remembered it. Ralph did not realize that we were not at the old campground and never saw the note that Steve posted at River Island, leaving instructions for our new campsite. It's a wonder how the Portuguese ever found land at all!

Within an hour, Mike rolled in and our camp was complete long before sun down.

One of our challenges, since we could not build a campfire, is finding something to do for entertainment during the evening. An older couple ("Ed" and "Sue") came over and talked with us for a while. This couple, in their mid 80s, were from British Columbia and on their way to the Fountain of Youth (near the Salton Sea). I can only hope I'm as active when I'm in my mid 80s.

We also got a lesson on RV sewage processing by a single woman traveling from Alberta, Canada with her dog and two cats.

After all that excitement, we entertained ourselves with higher level intellectual conversation until we were all thoroughly exhausted. Yeah, we went to bed early!

We were up early Sunday morning, made coffee and had our requisite granola bars. We pulled out of camp at 8:30 with Ralph, Mike and I heading home via scenic Hwy 62 and Steve going north through Las Vegas, Death Valley, Lone Pine and then home. Must be nice having the rest of the year off. How 'bout using some of that vacation time in the summer like the rest of us, Steve?

The ride home was fairly uneventful. Ralph pulled off at Hwy 177 towards Desert Center (must hit those outlet malls) while Mike and I continued towards Twentynine Palms so that we could go through Joshua Tree.

After stopping for gas in Palm Desert, we turned south on Hwy 74 for a nice ride through the mountains. Mike and I stopped for lunch at the Paradise Corner Cafe in Mountain Center. After lunch, we split off Hwy 74 to Hwy 371 until we ran into Hwy 79 and retraced our route to Lake Elsinore.

A great weekend! About 650 miles with very, very little Interstate.