First travel blog

So here I go for my first TRAVEL blog.
That is a travel blog where we aren't going to an organized event anyway.

To me the travel type blog is what it's all about. I just like them.
They let you into the "secret", share the places we'd all love to see and the things we'd like to do.
I've been an avid blog reader while dreaming of becoming that full-timer myself.

Not that we're full-timers just yet, but it's getting durned close. In fact today may well be the day that determines exactly when we hit the road. The potential buyer of our house has until tomorrow to make up his mind then we move on to the next offeror. A flurry of offers and counter offers should see it done one way or the other.

Which brings us to where we are at the moment. Lake Moreno County Park in San Diego County. Located about 80 east of San Diego not far from I8. Take the Buckman Springs exit and follow the signs on "Old 94" towards Campo. Lake Morena Village and Lake Morena County Park are about 7 miles down the road.

Reservations are made at: 
http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/parks/online.html

Cost is about $30 a night. It's partial hookups with a dump station in the center of the park. The big news is that they are in the process right now of adding sewer connections for all sites and 50 amp connections too, so perhaps in 2016 it will be full hook ups. The ranger says it will cost an extra $5 a night once the facilities are active.

The lake used to be much larger but a decision was made to keep it at about 5% of it's capacity. The rest was drawn off to feed Otay Lake which is San Diego's major reservoir. 

There are still boat ramps and good fishing here, one of these days I really must break out my fishing stuff and make use of it!

Fairly flat and with shade trees, the park is simple and I think appealing. We're here June 29th thru July 3rd and it is very quiet right now. I expect it will be a lot busier for the July 4th weekend. We stayed here last year for the Labor Day weekend and it was at capacity but still quiet.

Within walking distance of the campground, in Lake Morena Village, is a little store that packs in everything you can think of and has a HUGE selection of beer and booze. They also do sandwiches etc if you need them. There's another small market about 1/2 mile down the road with a gas station, but there isn't much else close by so stock up before you get here.

One story associated with the park is of Charles M Hatfield a "Rain Maker" who was hired to make it rain after a 4 year drought in 1916. If he filled up Lake Morena he would be paid $10,000.

His rain making skills were apparently amazing as they had 35" of rain and 14 people died!!

He didn't get paid either.

We went walking this morning to the corner of the park where the Pacific Crest Trail comes thru. Quite a fascinating trail which leads all the way up to the Canadian border. Some walk. We met a couple up in Oregon a couple of years back who had walked from here in around 6 months. They were determined to do it end to end. Their most urgent priority on reaching a store after weeks in the wilderness was to recharge their cell phones!!

Having set foot on that trail I can now claim to have been on the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.

While we were walking I heard the distinct "Put. Put" call of wild turkey, and right in front of us between two trees was a big Tom calling his hens. We watched as four hens came out and he spread his tail and puffed up his chest to display for his "Harem". They weren't in the least skittish and we watched from fairly close up for several minutes until they wandered off into the trees.

Not far from Lake Morena is Campo where there is a railroad museum and you can take a train ride. It's a diesel not steam but the carriages are old so there's a good atmosphere. The train used to go to Tecate in Mexico but a tunnel failure prevents that trip now.