Rancho Oso

 

Today we drove up into the hills northeast from Santa Barbara to see a park named Rancho Oso that is so different from what we have been seeing, I have to share it with you.  The campground is also setup to accommodate horses, so campers can take their RV or tent and horse trailers up into the hills to enjoy a very country atmosphere just a few miles from the ocean and the city of Santa Barbara. 

I was delighted with some of their imagination for camping sites such as wagons for sleeping in a circle around a campfire or a teepee just like we used to see in Old West style movies.  They had cabins that were styled after old western town buildings and corrals for the horses.  You can go on trail rides, swim in the pool or just hang out in the campground with bunches of things for the kids to play on.  The kids however will actually have to relearn how to entertain themselves, because cell phone and Internet service do not exist here.  If I could be 14 years old again, I would think I had died and gone to Heaven staying here with my parents.

We treated ourselves to an ice cream bar at the “General Store” and took our time looking around.  A steady stream of campers were arriving for the Easter weekend while we were there.  I am sure I would not take Puff up there on the winding roads (and Jim said he certainly would not either!)  There were times when we would have to pull over to let passing cars proceed by us or us by them with mere inches to spare.  With a shear drop off down into the canyon from the road, that part was not too enticing but the views were phenomenal.  It is amazing what you see doing this job! 

Settebello in Oxnard, CA

We went to a restaurant called “Settebello” in Oxnard tonight with two members of the Good Sam staff that help us with our work.  They are called Account Coordinators or “AC” for short.  We really are grateful for the assistance they provide and wanted to show our appreciation.  Settebello is a restaurant chain that started in Henderson, Nevada and now features seven locations specializing in authentic Napoli styled pizza importing almost all of their ingredients from Italy for their “made from scratch” pizzas.  Curious about the process I learned the following from their website: 

The style of the pizza is called “Pizza Napoletana” using soft dough. It is cooked in a wood-burning oven, taking only about a minute giving the pizza a very distinctive style.  Pizza in Napoli is soft and foldable. The people in Napoli generally eat pizza with a knife and a fork because it is considered “wet” compared to American style pizza. Blackened char spots on the pizza crust occurs from being cooked in a blistering hot, wood-burning oven.

The oven at Settebello was handmade by artisan oven makers in Napoli, Italy. The brick floor of the oven is made with "Biscotto di Sorrento" and each brick is hand pressed in Salerno, Italy. The mortar holding the bricks together is composed of volcanic sand from Mt. Vesuvius! A handmade, wood burning, artisan oven can properly cook a Pizza Napoletana in about one minute using an oven temperature of around 1000 degrees.

Using a wood pizza peel dusted with a little flour, the "pizzaiolo" (pizza maker) transfers the garnished pizza using a rotary movement. The pizza slides rapidly with a quick wrist movement onto the cooking surface of the oven.  You can get fairly close to the oven to view the process and watch the movement described above.  Check out their website at:  http://settebello.net

Santa Paula, CA

We inspected a park in a little town called Santa Paula.  The buildings there were interesting because of their apparent age.  The town seemed like a quiet place, but the park owner shared with us the youths in one part of the town make things dicey at times for them at times with petty crimes like stealing a bike.  But that’s not unlike so many other places we hear about all over the country.  In spite of that information, we did not detect anything that would alarm us during the short time we were there.  The town struck me as a quaint place reminiscent of Middle America.

Apparently the town is known as the “Citrus Capital of the World” and the abundant lemon tree groves we saw attest to the nickname.  The trees look like they are ready for picking with the branches full of beautiful, yellow fruit.  They also grow oranges and avocados here.  Agriculture is a major component of the town’s economy now. 

Originally the town was headquarters for the Union Oil Company founded here in 1890 with the merging of several smaller companies.  The town is situated within slightly less than five square miles and is also known for its numerous murals.   There is a beautiful Southern Pacific Railroad station here.  The town has also been used as a site for several movie films. 

    

Back to Ventura

Today we came back to the California coast, literally traveling down from Acton to Ventura.  It was a 2,300 foot drop in elevation in just over 90 miles taking us just over two hours.  We passed through the Vasquez Rocks Park again and I got better photos riding higher in the coach.  It really is an interesting area of geology and I can visualize why it made a good movie set.

This is the first time we have returned to stay in a park where we've stayed before during work (either here or when we were in the Northeast.)  You may remember Ventura Beach RV Park is the one that is located within walking distance from the ocean.  Already the higher humidity is making my skin feel better after being in the dryness of the high desert for two weeks.  This is also the most convenient park for our next circle of inspections.

The strawberry fields across from the park are gone now and the land is freshly plowed and harrowed into smooth dirt.  Further down the freeway, raspberry bushes are being uncovered from their plastic tunnels and are now at the end of their growing season with brown leaves.  I remember mine in Friday Harbor would do the same thing in the fall.  I'd cut them back and the following spring they would grow up again to four feet tall give or take and make raspberries all over again.  I wonder if they have more than one growing season in California?  According to what I could find, it is July through October.  Maybe they have developed a special variety for this area?  I will see what I can find out.

Well, we are doing fine.  Tomorrow is another work day, but the internet works well here so I will be back with you soon and add a few photos along the way.

A Walk In The Park

A walkabout the RV park where we are staying this evening was delightful:

 Friendliest cat on the block wearing a bandanna.  Don't tell Snoopy!

 Mike the Bulldog

 I like this car.  Don't tell Jim! 

One of two horses living up the hill from the park.

Snoopy the Helper

Snoopy's Corner:

Just in case you were wondering, I have been very busy helping Mom with the computer and her job. We really like to work together.  When she's busy filling her coffee cup, I check out what we are working on and keep her up-to-speed.  I am getting very good at iPads.

It is really nice here.  I get to watch birds every day.  And the sun hits the front dash windows on Puff every morning so I get to sleep in the sun.  Pretty cool indeed!

Oh, we also had our water heater fixed this morning.  Mom does not like cold showers and the heating element went out we found out.  Now we have a brand new one that a very nice man installed.  He also made Mom's dryer work better.  So we are really happy around here tonight about those two things.

But then Mom over ran the gray water tank and we had to clean all that up just because she was washing spinach.  Sometimes we forget we are in an RV it is so nice in here.  Anyway, Dad got everything fixed so that is good.

Mom told me there are lots of other cats and dogs in this park.  She found out when she was walking. She even saw two horses.  They have lizards here just like we have in Florida.  You know this RVing isn't too bad for one of my cat lives...

Good night to all of you.
Love, Snoopy

Acton, CA

We are staying in an unincorporated town called Acton in an absolutely gorgeous RV park, which is located close to Los Angeles if you go in a northerly direction out of L.A called The Californian RV Resort.  The Acton area is made up of rugged mountains laced with winding canyons that dramatically capture ever-changing shadows within their ridges as the sun moves across the sky.  The area has exotic names like Antelope Valley or Oak of the Golden Dream (the site of the first documented discovery of gold in California in 1842 when gold was found within wild onions pulled from beneath an oak tree.) 

Here also is a county park called Vasquez Rocks with visible rock formations pushed up and heavily eroded from 25 million years ago-another site on our trip that is a photographer’s dream come true.  The area is named after one of California’s most notorious bandits, Tiburcio Vasquez and covers 932 acres.  It is a National Historical Site because it was home to prehistoric Shoshone and Tatavium peoples.  The area has also been used as a popular movie set over the years.

But let’s go back to Acton.  In the 1800s the area was established by gold miners and named by one of the miners after Acton, Massachusetts.  Gold, copper and titanium ore lured the miners to this location.  Acton has retained the ambience of an old western town in the style of its buildings and some dating from the 1800s still exist.  You can still hitch up a horse at the Acton Post Office or at several other businesses on either side of it if you ride into town.  This is equestrian country and horse pastures are visible climbing up the sides of hills as we travel in and out of the valley.  The movie industry has even made use of Acton’s Old West architecture as a set for numerous movies and music videos.

Also of note is a large preserve (run by Actress Tippi Heddren) located in the valley not far from Acton, which houses numerous lions, tigers, leopards, cougars and elephants in a natural African-styled habitat.  We were told that guests at one of our campgrounds in this area could sometimes hear the lions roaring at night.  The preserve is open for Safari tours.  We actually saw a few of the animals from the road through fences while traveling from one campground to another.

Jim was interested to learn that this area is also home to an active Radio Controlled airplane group.  He was familiar with the type of flying done here on Parker Mountain called “dynamic soaring” where a world speed record was once achieved by the RC flyers at 302 mph!  Jim says the speed is achieved by looping the planes along side the mountains to catch updrafts that ultimately make speeds like this possible as they go through loop after loop.  Just imagine the skill these flyers must demonstrate!

I am walking the hills in this campground to work out my Fitbit (and me too!)  I like being here because I feel safe to walk alone and I carry my camera for the always-present photo opportunities.  There are hummingbirds everywhere because people have put out feeders for them.  Spring has sprung in California with flowers and trees blooming everywhere.