After settling into our site for the night at Malibu Creek State Park, we woke up bright and early to prepare for a hike into the hills. Our goal was to visit the M*A*S*H site. Even though we weren’t fans of the show, it was nice to have a final destination. No need to pick a random spot to call the end of the hike. So off we went. To one side, we had some gray clouds. Hmmm.

And to the other side, we had some white clouds and blue sky. Not too shabby.

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After finally getting the upper hand on our unlevel site at Malibu Creek State Park, we got to sit back and enjoy the beautiful view from our Airstream… for a few minutes at least.

When you have a toddler, you don’t have hours and hours of nothing to do. Because there is always something to do. Like exploring the campground. So, if Ava sits still and “relaxes” for few minutes, we soak it in… fast!

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Before our last mini trip to Malibu Creek State Park, a lot of people warned us of how scary the road was to get there. We had a flashback to our first little trip to Lake Isabella. Narrow, windy mountain roads with rock overhangs on one side and a cliff down to oblivion on the other.

Well, that nightmare did not materialize. In fact, the trip there was as uneventful as one could imagine. A short drive up the 101 where most of the way was a 6-lane freeway with just the last 5 miles or so a straight 2 lane highway. I think the fact that we did not come from the ocean side of Malibu was the difference. Las Virgenes Road goes all the way through to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, AKA California Highway 1) and it dumps you off right next to Pepperdine University. I am guessing driving a big RV thru the road to there would not be too pleasant.

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Last week, we packed up the Airstream and headed south again. This time it was for our very first official rally. We joined the Families on the Road (FOTR) West Coast Rally which was held at the Newport Dunes RV Resort down in Newport Beach, California. Usually we travel by ourselves, but for the past two trips we’ve taken, we’ve traveled in groups. Last month we camped with a group of Airstreams in Malibu and this time we camped with a group of families in Orange County.

Don’t worry about the picture below. Ava sits in a car seat. All the time. No exceptions. I am sort of the seat belt police whenever we drive anywhere. I have a thing for following the law. Dan makes enough fun of me for being a rule follower so I don’t need any more comments from the peanut gallery. Plus, if you don’t wear your seat belt and you get in an accident, you are not only hurting yourself but the others around you too… and that’s selfish. Sorry, I think I was just possessed by McGruff the Crime Dog. Back to the story.

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We have been wanting to visit a Camping World ever since we got into RV’ing. Unfortunately there isn’t one in our home town. The closest one is about an hour away and we hardly ever drive thru that area. Interestingly enough, there has been a sign off of the freeway a few miles from our house that reads ‘Camping World Ventura! Coming soon!”. That’s great! I thought when I first saw it. But that was over 2 years ago. I have given up the idea that there might be one coming in anytime soon.

This last weekend we went up north to visit my brother and mom in the bay area. On the way back, we stopped in San Martin, CA where a Camping World is just off of the 101 freeway. We could not have been more excited to go inside and check things out.

I think I was expecting it to be a lot bigger than it actually was. After all, it is supposed to be an entire world of camping! Well, it is not the Costco sized building I was expecting but more of a grocery store. But that was actually big enough to have lots of products I had wanted to see and touch.

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Hmmm. I bet you are wondering how we did without any hook-ups last weekend at Thornhill Broome State Beach, huh? Well, we did just fine! I’m still alive and blogging, ain’t I?

We tried our best to be Mr. and Mrs. Conservative on this two-night trip.

Water
Water-wise, we did great. We washed our dishes and brushed our teeth in gentle streams of water and we didn’t take showers in the Airstream. But we did take showers at home. No, we did not go home just to take showers. Geez. We aren’t huge wussies. We went home because we forgot to pack Ava’s sleeping tent and I could no longer take her sleep kicks and punches at night… and Dan was sad that he was banished to the couch. So, I guess, that makes us little wussies. I’m okay with that. Our gray water tank was still empty after three days according to our usage indicator. I think I may pat myself of the back right now.

Power
Electricity-wise, we didn’t do as great. I did my very best to not turn on lights. We used Ava’s mini-lantern when we could and I even washed our dishes in the dark. I must have really looked ridiculous because our new friend David stopped by and offered his generator so I can wash dishes with the lights on… like normal people.  I kindly refused because I was on a mission to see how long we could last on our own. By the end of the second night, our usage indicator was flashing red. Bad news.

Summary
The overall experience was great. I think we can last a long time water-wise but our two batteries will only allow us to boondock for two nights before we need a recharge from the van… or those generators and solar panels that Dan keeps sending me links to from Craigslist.

The next time we need to boondock for more than a night, we won’t be as apprehensive. I just hope the view from our Airstream is just as nice.

the end,
marlene

Last week we were graciously approached by a fellow Airstreamer from our home town to tag along with them and some others in the area on a trip to a local beach for the weekend. We were at the right place at the right time to get in on this trip as it had been planned for some time and one of the campers dropped out in the last moment with a non-refundable fee which we were happy to fill in for them.

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We ended up camping at the San Mateo Campground in San Onofre during New Year’s week for 5 nights. If I had to rate this campground, I would probably give it just an average score. We haven’t been to too many sites so far with the Mali Mish Airstream but Catalina State Park in Tuscon, The Shady Dell in Bisbee and El Capitan State Beach just outside of Santa Barbara are still my top three campgrounds so far. And if these are my references, San Mateo is just “alright”.
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This week we are finally back on the road again. This time, we are headed down to the border of San Diego and Orange County to camp at San Onofre State Beach. Actually, the beach campsites are closed in the winter time so we settled for San Mateo Campground a mile inland from the beach. I know, it’s difficult.

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