Great Group Ride to Oceanside

By 9:30 Wednesday morning, we had joined a group of like minded motorcyclists for the 3 1/2 hour ride from Palm Desert - over the San Jacinto Mountains - on Route 74 and westward towards Lake Henshaw and Oceanside.

A bike break in Anza, CA

We were ten riders on six motorcycles.  The group included a couple from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan and the balance from British Columbia.  Now, having ridden with this group before, several American riders regularly join in too.  I missed seeing those riders but I am sure the opportunity to ride with them again will happen when we return here in the new year.

The Oceanside riders..... (Jeanette is behind the camera)

Beautiful, hot mid-80's temperatures made for a great ride under blue skies and smooth paved roads.

The last 'butt' break - some 30 miles from Oceanside.

Three plus hours after leaving Palm Desert, our motorcycles were parked at the Oceanside Pier on the Pacific.  We walked the long pier to Ruby's Diner but when told of a 60 minute wait to be seated, we opted to walk back to the beach where we found a great lunch spot.

The day before Thanksgiving saw hundreds upon hundreds of folks enjoying the beach, pier and more.

Jeanette befriended this friendly pelican.  She could almost touch it.

With no mackerel to offer the pelican, it chose to fly off.  The two fellas below seemed to have befriended a large male pelican.  I'm sure the pelican had been offered a mackerel to hang out there with them.

Walking back to the beach

The food court below the pier was busy.  The aromas permeating above were making us very hungry.

Photo taken from the rooftop at our lunch spot

Fueled up and ready to head back for Palm Desert

We knew we would have to ride about one hour in the dark before arriving back home.

Once the sun hid behind the mountains, the hot tropical temperatures quickly cooled and we stopped to add more layers or heat.  Good thing too.  We needed to ward off the desert cold. 

The very last of sunlight can be seen on the mountain tips.

This group ride was very pleasant.  The riders were fun to be with.  Each motorcyclist was competent and that made for a relaxed day at the handle bars. We look forward to more rides with these like minded folks.

Soon to arrive in the Coachella Valley.

By 6:45 pm, Jeanette and I had returned to our 5th wheel.  We felt something was not right.  And we quickly discovered that our area, in the Caliente' Springs RV Resort, was without power.  We lit our numerous LED lights (working off 12 volt) and once we were out of our motorcycle gear, we walked towards the resort office to see if anyone had filed a report.  On the way there, a fella in a Class A motor-home was outside his rig and on the phone to the ownership group.  We learned that it could take some doing to return power to us because a 5th wheel, that arrived in the park near 6:00 pm, had backed into the power service on their site.  That kicked off the power and the damage would require an electrician to repair the post.  That did not offer up confidence that our power would quickly be restored.  And it wasn't!

Jeanette and I changed out into pool suits and enjoyed the coolest of the four hot springs pools for over one hour.  Back at our rig, we checked email (using our Verizon WiFi) before bed time.  I was up this morning when I heard a 'beep' and when I turned on one of our AC lights, it worked.  A few seconds later, I heard a second beep.  Our refrigerators had not switched to AC from propane.  When the power had been restored, the shock tripped one of our breakers.  Switched back on, we had full service again and the refrigerators returned to AC power.  Good!

I am sure the RVer who caused the problem is feeling somewhat humbled this morning.  But....it is Thanksgiving, after all, and he does get a wee break.  Without restored power though I believe some RVers would be very PO'd without the ability to cook up their turkeys or tune in to their football games on TV.  The park has seen a busy run of RVers arrive for this Thanksgiving.

That covers things from here for now.  Thanks for dropping by.

And, a HAPPY THANKSGIVING to our American friends and family.