There Always Is A Time To Say Good Bye

Besides of the great weather we can enjoy here in the south of California, the other big reason for returning here year after year is that we have always met great people in the Holtville LTVA camp.

And this season is no different. While we had the entire northern area of the camp for ourselves in November, eventually other campers moved in as well. No worries, though, we are all appropriately spaced apart. And that is the third reason why we love it here. We got lots of room. We are not forced to listen to the conversations our neighbours have with eachother because they are parked just feet away from us, like what is the case in most RV-Parks. And that greater distance also seems the recipe for building great relationships with your camper neighbours. 

Dixie is making friends with Kathy

Neighbour's campsite

And because most of us have similar interests as our neighbours, we get along great with eachother. We share dinners, get-togethers, campfires, outdoor games or playing board games. We know that RV-Parks offer similar things in their Rec-Halls, but that's not for us.

Now, while we plan to stay put here until it's time to start moving home again, some campers have plans for other destinations, they also want to see. So, after spending time together, often a few months, the day comes to say Good-Bye to these folks - always a bitter-sweet experience for us. Will we see them again?  We never know. Life can throw a curveball at everyone.

So tomorrow we will have to say Good Bye to our  neighbours from Montana. We talked about meeting again next year, we are thinking of plans ahead, which is part of leading this life-style. 

Maybe other nice folks will come and take their site. We don't know.

Our neighbourhood was especially nice because the folks from Montana also have dogs. Dixie included, there are four dogs and I am sure that also Dixie will wonder where her friends went, once they are gone. Indeed she appreciates the neighbourhood dogs very much. Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in front of the rig, she walked by and went around the front of our motorhome. Since I couldn't see her anymore, i got up looking for her, and there she was over at the neighbours. Dixie has grown social skills we never knew she possessed.

Dixie always finds pieces of wood to carry around

This morning we got ready to get the motorhome to an oil change in town. But there is a story prior to that. I had requested an estimate for oil change, grease job, and filters from a Yuma-based Truck Service (RWC) What they had to offer left me unbelieving. Their price for said service was $3.500!  Naturally my interest in letting them do this zeroed out. Instead, I found a small service place in little Holtville which offered the labor part for $140. I had to go across the street to get the oil and the filters, which totaled at around $500, and that included a very high quality and expensive oil. So for the total of $640, I got the same service which would have cost me $3.500.

So dear campers, make sure you shop around. Most of us are not millionaires and even if you are, you don't want to throw money out the window.

While I was in town anyway, I dropped by the dump station and got our tanks emptied out plus filled up with fresh water. This is just 8 miles from camp - another bonus of being here.

So as of today, we have about 3 months left until we will be home. Time will pass quickly.

Until then we are still enjoying the area and one of the routine things are our desert walks. The area here is called East Mesa and many years ago hot springs were discovered. They were used to generate steam which could produce electric power. So not far from here, we have a geothermal power station, Actually there are several stations throughout East Mesa. When we start walking eastwards through the desert we arrive at one of their pipelines. Some have been abandoned, while others still transport hot steam. We walked along these pipelines which are having big shut-off valves sticking up.

Looking down the campground, our rig out to the right