FMCA, Wilderness Lakes

We had to put up with a lot of rain during the pre-convention week, but the sun came out for the official convention days and remained for the duration. Now that's what we came to California for!

During these conventions, there are numerous seminars presented covering all types of topics. I attended one on geo-caching, Alaska and the A.E.D. Of course, Glenn was unable to attend many because of his job. They certainly kept him busy! The worst was a spill at the dump station. The "honeywagon" was emptying his truck and the underground tank was clogged, so it started spilling out of another hole. No one was notified until it had run under some of the convention attendee's motorhomes. Of course, it had to be the group with some of the most expensive motorhomes!! Poor Glenn was stuck handling the situation for over 6 hours! There were 3 more spills over the next 2 days, but not as big and they were handle more quickly. There is talk among the organization of changing Glenn's title from Safety Coordinator to Sh-- Officer!

We had some good entertainment. The first night was Abba-mania and Staying Alive. These groups played the music of ABBA and the BeeGee's. Night two was Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits. Peter was very entertaining and had us all laughing! The third night was the Bellamy Brothers.

Friday was Glenn's wrap-up meeting and when he was asked for his report, he rolled out some toilet paper. Funny guy! After the meeting, a great breakfast buffet was served.

After the convention, we moved on to Wilderness Lakes TT campground, about an hour and a half drive south. Some of the hillsides are now orange with the poppies blooming! This is a nice campground, however it is next door to a large dairy and across the street is a chicken farm. Needless to say, it gets a little smelly. We hear that in late summer the flies get really bad!

Took a little drive from the campground to the Budwieser Breeding farm. It is not open to the public, but from the road we could see some of the Budwieser Clydesdales. We were lucky enough to see 5 new babies!

Yesterday (March 5), we drove about an hour south to the Santa Rosa Plateau. It is an ecological preserve that features vernal pools, hiking trails and wildlife. We saw 6 coyotes roaming the meadow, acorn and Nutall's woodpeckers, meadowlarks and bluebirds. We hiked about 6 miles and are feeling in today! So we will take a car ride up to the mountains today and see if there is still snow.

Due to the odor, we have decided to cut our stay here short and move on to Palm Springs early. It is warmer there, so we may be able to get in the pool. We really haven't had the weather to swim since Orlando, FL. We hope to catch some of the desert bloom while we are in the area, also.