Winter Cycling and Turning 63

Great Blue Heron in front of my campsite at Caspers Wilderness Park

I spent a few days camped near San Juan Capistrano at Caspers Wilderness Park. This park is a gem. There are only 13 camp sites in a park that has lots of hiking and equestrian trails. There is plenty of room between sites and, in fact, half were empty while I stayed. My site had a great view of wilderness out the back window of my trailer. 

View out the back window of my trailer

Rangers discouraged campers from hiking alone

Yipes!

When I arrived, the rangers were very clear they didn't want anyone hiking alone and asked that everyone stay closer to the campground. There had been lots of recent mountain lion activity and rattlesnake sightings. This park doesn't allow e-bikes, drones, dogs or hammocks. Some of these restrictions are due to mountain lion danger and some are simply to not disturb local wildlife. I stayed at this park 2 years ago, before the pandemic, and loved it. This time was also a good stay but they didn't have any water. The park uses a well for water and the well has run dry. They can't say if the park will ever offer water again. I knew ahead of time the park didn't have water and came with my 50 gallon fresh water tank filled. I also have 2 plastic collapsible 5-gallon bags that I filled. Just in case to make sure I had enough water for my 8 night stay. The camp sites at Caspers all have electricity but nothing else. There is a park sewer dump but, without water, I was inclined to use a dump some where else. The grounds of the campground are beautiful but, for me, the location is what makes it a campground I'll return to.

Lots of signs with restrictions as you enter Caspers

Caspers is beautiful and in a convenient location

This campground is just 6 miles east of San Juan Capistrano and Sendero park where I met friends Leslie and Paula to start many of our trike rides. Orange County is a very expensive place and the private RV parks in the area are all over $100/night. Caspers is only $20/night. To be able to stay in a quiet and beautiful setting near everything I wanted to visit at a reasonable price is, for me, perfect.

San Juan Capistrano beach

The main reason for camping near San Juan Capistrano was to meet up with friends Leslie and Paula to go on trike rides. These gals like to ride fast and far but, mostly, they just like to ride, ride, ride. We did rides with just the 3 of us, rides with other friends, a ride with the Trike Squadron and another with the elliptigo group. Of course, I'll be doing videos of these rides. I had a terrific time cycling with Leslie and Paula over the course of a few days. 

Dana Point harbor

Lunch stop

We did a group ride with the Trike Squadron. This is Glenn Franks Orange County triking group. Glenn is one of the earliest adopters of trikes. He was also one of the 1st people to start a Youtube channel to post group ride reports. His group has been active for a very long time. This is a group that rides to ride unlike most groups I've met that ride to eat. His rides are often in the 40 mile range and rarely is there a stop for food. Everyone knows to carry snacks on a Trike Squadron ride. 

Trabuco Canyon Trail

Trikers on the trail

A good group of Squadron riders met at the Los Rios park which has direct access to the Trabuco Canyon Trail path. We did a 40 mile route down the coast starting in San Juan Capistrano riding through Dana Point, San Clemente passed San Onofre beach with the turn around point near the entrance to Camp Pendleton military base. The weather was sensational with bright blue skies, light winds and temps near 70. It was very fun to ride with people I've known for many years and also meet others for the 1st time.

Trike Squadron flying down the path

Elliptigo Pete

Trikes, bikes and elliptigos

Another ride I did with Leslie and Paula was with the elliptigo group. This started at Bikes San Clemente at 7:30 in the morning. This was a very cold morning and a painfully early start with probably the most eclectic group I've ever ridden with. There was an upright diamond frame rider, an upright rider with small wheels, 3 trikers and 7 riding elliptigos. These elliptigo riders are all business and go fast. Even though they do not have e-assist and I do, I had to really work to keep up. They were consistently riding at 19 mph. We rode together for 20 miles to a golf course for breakfast. After breakfast, us trikers said goodbye to the group and did some off-road riding behind the golf course on wilderness trails. I really enjoy off-road riding especially when you get yourself into trouble on the trail. We found lots of trouble and had to get off our trikes a few times to push our way out of the sand. I put the drone in the air and had it follow us through some of the wild terrain. After such a cold start to the day, it felt great to shed layers of clothing as the temperature rose into the 70's.

Off roading with Leslie and Paula

Triking in the wilderness

I did another ride led by Paula with Rolf and Diane who we know from the Tater TOT triking event in Idaho every June. They camped near me at Caspers and we did a nice route through San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point on another spectacularly beautiful day. It's always fun to meet up with trikers.

With Leslie, Paula, Sally, Diane and Rolf

Surfer with 1956 Comet

Lunch in Dana Point harbor

The last night I was at Caspers, I met up with a girlfriend and her daughter who I have known for over 25 years. We had a terrific time in Laguna staying at a beach house with a fantastic view of the ocean. I left my trailer at the campground and packed an overnight bag so I wouldn't have to worry about having a cocktail on the town with my girlfriends. We had so much fun.

Laguna dinner sunset

Caspers sunset

Next, I got hitched up and moved on to camp at the Temecula KOA. This area has really grown up and is quite upscale with lots of wineries and equestrian communities. I have camped here before and it may be the nicest KOA I have ever seen. The sites are spacious with lots of grass and trees. What's really fun is they have a cocktail cart that comes around all through the campground. $7 for a gin and tonic delivered to my camp site seemed like a pretty good deal.

Mobile Mai Tai cocktail cart KOA

Woodpecker

KOA campsite

Enjoying a gin and tonic delivered to my camp site.

After 3 nights at the KOA, I went back to Caspers. This is only a little over an hour's drive. I had plans to meet girlfriends, again, in Laguna Beach to celebrate my 63rd birthday. Usually, I am on my own for my birthday and rarely get to celebrate with anyone. None of us live in Laguna and we just happen to be near the same place at the same time. What fun! My birthday is on Valentine's Day which is a big restaurant day and we lucked out finding a wonderful steakhouse, Lumberyard, for a fantastic dinner. So much fun!

Birthday with girlfriends

From Casper's, I got hitched up and made my way to the desert near Palm Springs. I have a friend who is a priest of a Catholic Church who lets me park. Joni is also a trike rider. Over the last 2 years, this Catholic Church has become an oasis in the desert for me. I've got lots to do here over the next month.

There is a big tennis tournament here every March within walking distance of the church. Because of Covid, the tournament hasn't happened for the last 2 years. This year it is happening. I really wanted to be at the church early before the tournament starts. I can walk to the Indian Wells tennis grounds from the church to watch the qualifying matches and the players practice. This is a world class event. The very best tennis players in the world, men and women, participate. I've wanted to go to this tournament for many, many years and, I think, this year it will happen.

I also know people in the Palm Springs area who ride trikes and I love riding here. I think Palm Springs may be the safest place I've ever ridden. You can, pretty much, ride anywhere and most of the roads or sidewalks are designed for golf carts which means there is plenty of room to ride a trike. 

Even though my 1st priority is the watch tennis, I expect to be doing lots of trike riding as well.

From Tucson, It's Back to Southern California

The time I spent in Tucson was busy. I did a lot of wonderful riding with Dave, Edna and the Tucson Recumbent Cycling group as well as taking care of big city errands. 

Tucson, for me, feels much bigger than it actually is. The population is very close to Portlands but seems far bigger. The highways are wide and I found the city to be quite noisy. The noise level is tiring.  Davis-Monthan Air Force base has very loud planes taking off and landing all day long. While I was there everyone was talking about how cold it was. Mid-morning temps were in the upper 50's which, for January, didn't seem unreasonable. Most days temps rose to the low 60's. Nice winter riding.

Lovely saguaros

Saguaro National Park

The real draw of Tucson is the Tucson cycling loop. This is 130+ miles of protected cycling paths. I didn't ride all of it but did put in a good amount of miles. My favorite ride was in the Saguaro National Park. I enjoyed it so much that I made reservations to stay in a park campground in April. There were some things I didn't get to do and people I couldn't visit because of Covid. Tucson seemed to be a virus hotbed while I was there. Hopefully, this will calm down by April.

Beautiful Saguaros

I said goodbye to Dave and Edna to head back to California. I had planned to boondock my way and made sure my fresh water tank was full and the black and grey tanks were empty. I had reservations in California at a park close to where friend's Paula and Leslie were staying and had many days to get there. My 1st stop was the Painted Rock Petroglyph campground I had stayed at with Dave and Edna. This time I didn't get my trike out. For $4, this campground is a great deal in a safe and beautiful location.

Painted rock campsite

Painted Rock sunrise

Petroglyph sunrise

The next morning I got up early. This would be a busy day. 1st stop would be Yuma to gas up before crossing the border back into California where gas prices are much higher. The next stop would be Mexico. I had bought a year's worth of medication just a few weeks earlier but it occurred me that I might not be back within a year and decided to stop and pick up a few months more. On my last visit, I learned that the medications I take don't require a doctor's prescription. I only needed to stop into a pharmacy and then go back over the border again. 

Blue dot is where I ended up

Herons in the fields

From here, I turned to a boondocking app to find a place to camp for the night. This became a very interesting adventure. The site I put into Google maps was on BLM public lands beside an irrigation canal just a couple of miles off I-8. Google maps took me to the wrong side of the canal which is all agricultural lands. Turning around was precarious on the very poor dirt roads. I got out to where the road was paved and put the coordinates in again. This time Google took me far off-course and I ended up camping at an abandoned air force base. Perhaps Google would have, eventually, taken me to the site I entered but after traveling down dirt roads in, what felt like the middle of nowhere for miles and miles, I decided an old runway would be a fine place to spend the night. Aside from a runway and concrete building foundations there was nothing but sand dunes and scrub as far as the eye could see. The most surprising thing was I had strong phone service. I posted a few pictures of my location to Facebook and someone responded with a link to a page about abandoned military bases that showed this Holtville base hadn't been used since the 1950's. The next super surprising thing was having a car full of woman stop to ask if I had seen a red jeep go by.  They said they were out looking for recycling and they often found very interesting things in the desert.  Oh boy! I flew the drone and got some nice shots of the desolate landscape.

Abandoned air field sunset

Airstrip sunset

I slept well and took my time getting ready in the morning before driving back down the dusty dirt road through the small agricultural town of Holtville. I again turned to a boondocking app but, this time, found a bonafide primitive campground between the Salton Sea and Julian. There are actually a few campgrounds here but the Yaqui Wash primitive campground is on BLM public lands and doesn't cost anything. The road in was rough and there were some bushes that left minor scratches on my trailer. I'm hoping they will buff out. I pulled into a site that seemed big enough for my trailer before I saw the no camping sign. I should have backed out but, instead, decided to turn the rig around in a circle that was too tight. Today I learned what jack-knifing is and that it is possible for the back of the truck to hit the trailer. A small corner of the trailer tray left a good scratch on the tailgate and another piece of the trailer triangle left a small gouge next to one of the truck bumper sensors. All the damage is cosmetic and it certainly could have been much worse. This was a good lesson and one I hadn't understood before. I continued on down the dirt road and found a very nice site for the night.  Again, I had phone service which always makes me feel safer.

Yaqui Wash primitive campsite

Bumper gouge next to sensor

Jack-knife scratch

Leaving the next morning, I did something I've wanted to do for a long time. I used my Skydio 2 drone and had it follow the truck and trailer using just the GPS beacon. This drone doesn't require a screen to fly and I can keep my attention fully on the road. The drone follows a beacon I kept in the truck and it flies autonomously. I only have rough control over the direction and distance the drone flies.  It seemed to do well and I felt safe driving while flying - very cool! Of course, I would never do this on a road with other cars. 

Drone flying autonomously

Drone photo

Yaqui location

Yaqui camping

I learned that the campground where I'll be staying in San Juan Capistrano, Casper's Wilderness park, doesn't have any water. It uses a well for water and the well has run dry. I decided to stop at a KOA near Temecula to top-off my fresh water tank and empty my black and grey tanks. I was going to be camping at Caspers for 8 nights which would be a good test for how long my fresh water will last while boondocking. I also have 2 5 gallon plastic bags that I filled with water, just in case. Caspers has electricity and a sewer dump but no water. 

Vale Lake near Temecula

The KOA in Temecula is gorgeous. They put me in a pull through site that had a view of a valley and Vale Lake. The spot was $39 which I though was a great deal. The site was big, spread out with lots of trees and grass. There were also lots of scrub jays and red headed wood peckers. I don't know much about birds but I really like seeing them. This campground was fantastic and I would certainly stay here again.

KOA camping

The next day I didn't have far to go to reach my next big destination. I would be at Caspers Wilderness park for 8 nights to do lots of cycling with triking friends Leslie and Paula. They know the area well and love to play tour guide. We have been scheming about doing an RV trip across country this summer. I was eager to spend more time with them to make sure we would get along. This is a great area for cycling and the weather was going to be spectacular. We would do rides together, with the Trike Squadron, the Elliptigo cycling group out of San Clemente and more rides with triking friends. 

Oh my!

Am I in trouble?

Yipes!

The summary of those rides will have to wait.