On the ROAD days 24 & 25

Sunrise in the Los Padres National Forrest
We get in for 50% off........yippee!

Slap on the feed bag before the "Big Chill"

Around the good ole campfire before the "Big Chill"

Well, our 2 days off.........way out in the woods.........no phone.......no electricity.......no running water..........and plenty of "Big Chill". We had a home meeting in Salinas on Monday night after the "Big Rains" of Sunday so we stayed in the brother's driveway so we wouldn't have to drive up into the forest after dark. Tuesday morning we took our casual drive up the mountain and got settled into our campsite early enough to gather some firewood and rustle up some grub. I couldn't resist the "senior access" picture..........it's actually me (Tim) who qualified for lifetime pass........Darcie is still W A Y to young for that type of thing.

We spent the first night without electricity in pretty good shape. We sat around the fire for about 30 minutes and then went inside the Mighty Toyota to play some games we brought along (No "Chopped" on the computer for the next couple of days). We used our lantern for lights and only used the RV batteries for the water pump and a little heat from the furnace just before we went to bed. It only got down to 55 degrees that first night so we were toasty most of the night. I got up at 6:00 AM and flipped the furnace on and got it warmed up to 70 degrees in about an hour.........so Darcie crawled out from under the covers to greet the beautiful day ahead.

Night #2 was a little different story.........no sitting around the fire........drank lots of hot coffee and tea........played games by the lantern in sweat shirts and jackets.........put furnace on for about an hour before bed at 9:00 PM.........and hit the rack. I awoke at 6:00 AM again and flipped on the furnace as it was a balmy 37 degrees outside.........and a toasty 39 degrees inside.........the furnace stayed on for 2 hours this time before we got it to 60 degrees where Darcie very reluctantly crawled out of bed to greet the day.

You learn much about primitive camping.........in the winter...........in California!

It's been fun!

And we're still alive and lovin each other........even through the learning experiences.

Blessings..........Tim & Darcie