By Dale Edwards

Sept 1, 2011

We had ten rigs show up for our August campout at Santee Lakes in San Diego County, including new members John Seibert and his wife who recently bought a brand new “Class C” Tioga motorhome just so they could come camping with us. And they said they had a great time, even though the weather was a bit on the hot side. But the group campsite area had nice big sycamore trees that provided lots of shade, and a nice afternoon breeze came through to cool those who sat outside in the circle of chairs telling war stories.

Everyone arrived and got parked without much drama, except Boomer Smith who got a little confused by the three or four different people giving him conflicting backing directions. He almost clipped off a rear view mirror from my coach, which was across the road from his space, but his wife Kathy got his attention just in time. Bob and Donna Lash were a little late in getting there on Friday evening due to a painting project back at home, but they didn’t miss anything as dinner was on our own that night. Hank Fuquay had some anxious moments after he parked and found that his coach had no electric power inside, including no AC or even house battery lights. This had the makings of a camping nightmare, as it was over 100 degrees outside. But after some intensive searching for a tripped circuit breaker or GFI, he found that he or wife Sally had inadvertently tripped the convenience power cutoff switch near the front door which ensures that everything in the coach is off when you go day-tripping from the coach.

Then President Bob Martin provided a little humor Friday afternoon when his wallet unknowingly fell out of his pocket into his camp-chair as he left the social circle to go shopping for some motohome supplies. Someone saw it in his empty chair and we called his cellphone to inform him that he had no driver’s license with him and that we had distributed all his credit cards among ourselves. Typical of Bob, he said he wasn’t worried and had his cash in a money clip in different pocket and would call and cancel the cards.

All in all, everyone had a good time, and first time wagonmasters Gary and Arlene Leister did a good job, even though Arlene needlessly professed that nothing was her fault. She cooked up a delicious egg and cheese casserole for breakfast Saturday morning, complemented with link sausage and lots of fresh fruit and juice and coffee. Just to show off for us, Boomer somehow convinced Kathy to bring his breakfast portion to him while he was still in bed in his coach. We’re not sure what he did Friday night to warrant such attention. Saturday evening the Leisters provided us all with a nice beef stew dinner in the beautiful air-conditioned clubhouse complemented by a pot luck variety of salads and desserts from the rest of us. Even though we had a fire ring and lots of firewood available, no one thought that a campfire was appropriate after dinner, considering how we were trying so hard to stay cool in the warm weather.

So I’m not suggesting that you go out and buy yourself a brand new motorhome so that you can join us on our monthly outings like the Seiberts did, but that’s certainly an option. We do have a lot of fun, and encourage you to try the lifestyle sometime. So give our President, Bob Martin, a call at (714) 964-8503 for more information. Or if he is busy counting his credit cards, come join us at one of our 2^nd Tuesday monthly dinner meetings after calling VP Ron Kay at (562) 425-3759 for reservations a couple of days in advance.