Before I get on with it... I have finally figured out what to do about the clicking on the picture thing.  If you click on a picture, a new window will open with a large view of that picture.  I won't guarantee that I will REMEMBER how to do it.. but for this post, you can click!

The Ortega Highway (CA 74) winds through the mountains Easterly to Westerly from the Lake Elsinore Valley to San Juan Capistrano, CA.

Here is the Eastern entrance to The Ortega Highway.  After "The Pineapple Express" blew through last week, the road was closed due to numerous mud slides - the traffic cones you see surround a portable highway message board that read something like this ... Ortega Closed beyond Candy Street. 

In the earliest beginnings, the highway was nothing more than Indian footpaths, and a fire trail along the creek.

The earliest visionaries saw it as a highway to the Pacific Ocean.

Some of these words are from http://www.theortegahighway.com/OrtegaHighwayHistory.html.   I wasn’t denied use of this opening summary, but I didn’t exactly go through any labors to seek permission either. I do believe there is enough “me” in it to assign a very low value of plagiarism. The rest of the text is all me – as will be obvious.

Here is the view of Lake Elsinore (and Valley) with snow capped mountains in the background from the 1st pull out on the Ortega.  Becky and I both are very familiar with the California Highways that cross the mountains from The Silicone Valley up in the San Francisco area over to the Half Moon Bay area on the Pacific. 
 

 
Some of the geography is the same as those Northern passes, but some is completely different as the pictures above and below show.  Then again, if you have never been on those Bay Area passes you really wouldn't know the difference.
 

We have this view from our RV... well... the mountain is bit further off  but I did notice these folks our first day in the park.

They are not "hang gliding" or "sky diving" in the traditional sense yet their lift mechanisms look like standard parachutes.  I guess without any research I would call what they are doing... "para-sailing".  I have to check that out and determine if I have just invented a word / sport, or if that is actually what the sport is.  I know for sure they were catching "thermals" and "updrafts off the mountain.

Somewhere near the midpoint of the drive, between San Juan Hot Springs and Lakeland Village we stopped at a country store that, among much other stuff, sells wild game jerky - I have never had Elk Jerky so I paid an outrageous amount for a little vacuum packed bag.  It is really good by the way. 

Where was I... oh yeah, across the street from the country store is a "biker bar" - the message on the board outside the place speaks for itself!

I never did consider myself very good at sketching, drawing, painting etc.  Matter of fact most all forms of art have escaped me.  But in a sense, this picture I took could very well take an award at some symbolic form of nude art photography. 

 I took the picture because of the two "mounds" in the background - I admit it freely.  Come on!  They look like boobs - right?  It wasn't until I downloaded or uploaded (whatever) the pictures into the computer that I noticed the bush in the foreground and the overall subtle implication.  That's all I have to say about that!

Now then... Becky thought I was nuts when I asked her to take this picture.  It is our first view of the Pacific.  Those of you that have been following our sojourn know that we departed Bar Harbor, ME in the middle of October and took a rather zig-zagged course here to CA.  Well, I thought the first peek at the Pacific was rather exciting.

San Juan Capistrano is a beautiful town near the coast.  I am not sure if "Dana Point" is within the city limits of SJC or not.  In either case, the shot above is of the anchorage of the Dana Point Yacht Club.

The breakwater protecting the Yacht Club, Dana Harbor and public area seen above is about a quarter mile long.  Beyond is the only picture I have looking out into the Pacific.

I wasn't about to cap a 4500 mile coast to coast trip without getting my feet wet.  Yes the water is cold.

So that's about it... The Ortega Highway is a great day trip to the coast, we will return.  Come to think of it, we will return to Capistrano with the Sparrows (or whatever) in March.  Right now those cute little birdies are here in the Lake Elsinore Valley - crapping all over the roof of the RV.

And to wrap this thing up....

California Here We Come ... Right Back....

Actually the rest of the line in that song is accurate.. right back where we started from.  California!  Where Becky and I first met.  But that's another story.

I will pick up on our journey down and across the country from my last post The Rocking Chair Ranch...   I know that many of you that have driven across the country, specifically across TEXAS can relate to that all so true rhyme "the sun is rize, the sun is set, and we is still in Texas yet".  Well OK, I took some liberties there but what the hell. 

The trip across NM was uneventful and felt pretty much like the never ending journey across Western Texas. Speaking of that, I failed to mention that where it is true that it is a heck of a jaunt across the lone star state... you should try it pulling an 8+ ton trailer at 60mph. Cars flying by at the 80mph speed limit made the trip even longer. The truth be told... there were literally 3 days where we would stare out at those wide open spaces and rugged mountains in absolute awe of the naked beauty of those deserts, prairies, plains or whatever the proper name for that land is.

One day, in NM we stopped at an I-10 roadside rest for lunch.  If you look close at the bottom left of the picture you will note a masonry wall.  The picnic table was casting its shadow on the wall and that rather interesting sign beyond it.  And just out of the picture to the left is an opening in the wall.  The bottom sign reads "POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS INHABIT THE AREA".  You can read the upper "No Pets in this Area".  No pets because there are likely to be rattlers and scorpions.  But it's OK for people to wander out there in that deadly, poisonous critters infested area?  Well... it just seemed funny to us at the time for there to be an inviting opening in the wall (actually there were several openings).

We spent a week in Tucson, Arizona visiting my Brother David and his wife.  Brother David is a color pressman - I think that's the correct title.  He printed up the following banner for our arrival.  His intent was to post it somewhere on our site just before our arrival but we also planned a surprise for him by arriving a day early.  Best laid plans ehh?  Anyway, we taped it to the side of the trailer for a couple quick pics.  Note the spelling of my first name - Jon - the way I use to spell it as a kid in high school.  I remember thinking that the "h" in my name was useless so I just dropped it.

Here a pic of Brother David!  No... we are not twins.

Our campground in the Tucson area was at the entrance to the Saguaro National Forest and I can't help but wonder how many others pose as Brother David and I did in the following pictures..

I am more than sure that if you did proper research you could find that someone has actually counted / estimated how many Saguaro cacti there are in the forest - must be in the 100,000's.  The sign below gives some of the statistics - they really are quite amazing.

We did make it into a campground outside of Blythe, California just in time for a Margarita and this sunset.  Again, my pictures simply do not do it justice - the sky was on fire for more than 10 minutes.

Wind Farms aren't new news - I know that.  But as we passed through the Palm Springs area, Beck and I were both taken back a bit by the farms alongside I-10.  Becky snapped the picture immediately below because of the snow on the peak of the taller mountain.  Seemed pretty impressive at the time - guess ya had to be there.

There must have been a half dozen farms like the one below in a five mile stretch of I-10.

The final leg of our journey from Blythe to Lake Elsinore, CA and the Lake Elsinore Marina and RV Resort was a hop, skip and a jump and we made it in around noon somewhere.  Took the rest of the afternoon to do a full set up but well worth the effort.  We'll be here for four months.

Most of the time here so far has been spent in the trailer as it was raining pretty much constantly.  But the skies finally cleared and we snapped a few pictures  of the campground and surroundings.

The picture above and below are taken from the boat ramp - it must be10 lanes wide which leads me to suspect that it must get awfully noisy in the park around "safe light" time in the morning.

Here's a few more shots from the RV park... note the taller mountain in the background in the picture above... picture below is of the same mountain after "The Pineapple Express" blew by and dumped more than 10" of rain about six days later.  Some of it landed with a white color.

 The picture below was taken about 10 miles from Lake Elsinore.  Many of the surrounding mountains are now covered in snow - absolutely beautiful although I know some of you might not agree with that assessment.

Well folks... that's about it.   In closing I'll use the picture below, actually I'm using it for the second time but I gave myself permission to include it.

Once again...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(cleaver use of color ehhh?)

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas (or roughly equivilent in other religions) and a joyous New Year to all... and to all...Beck and I love ya!