Family Time, Hot Rods, and Tapo Canyon

We arrived at Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort and Campground in San Dimas, CA on Sunday, 2/27. We’re about 30 minutes away (if the traffic gods smile on us) from our daughter Randi and Jose’s apartment in Rancho Cucamonga. It looks like they will be moving to San Marcos, TX in the next month or so. Jose got the promotion and position that he’d applied for, now they just need to find a house to rent and make the move to Texas. Easier said than done, for sure.

 

Perched on the bluff. It looks spacious, but we're in the middle one
of three spaces. Things got tight when it filled up.

Jose has training all this week in CA, so he’s home. Both he and Rog were raised in the California car culture and are car buffs. So, when Rog realized the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Museum was just a few miles from the campground, scheduling a visit was a no-brainer. We went on Sunday and it was really interesting learning about the history and evolution of drag racing and, of course, seeing all the really cool cars.

 

The Wally Parks National Hot Rod Association Motorsports Museum.

Cool dragsters!

Funny Cars too!

Randi and Jose check out the history of drag racing in miniature!

Rog goes for the futuristic ride. Lol.

Like father, like daughter. 

My favorite! 
A 1929 Ford Roadster with a gorgeous Cherry Orchid paint job.

It was especially entertaining to learn that the same engine that we have in the RV, a 5.9L Cummins ISB 6-cyclinder, was modified by Gale Banks and set the record for the world’s fastest pick-up truck in October 2001 with a top speed of 222.139 mph. What’s even more fun is that Rog installed a Banks diesel turner in our rig before we left on the big trip in 2016. Somehow, I still don’t think the Short Bus will be setting any speed records! Lol. 

World's fastest pickup truck has the same Cummings engine
as our RV. Do you think Banks could modify us for racing? Lol. 

From an adventure standpoint, our time at Bonelli Bluffs is going to be a disappointment for you. We’re here to visit the kids and hang out. Both of which we managed to accomplish. We are perched on the hill overlooking Puddingstone Lake with lovely views, including one bizarre LA sunset with rust-colored clouds and blue skies all at the same time.  I spent two afternoons helping Randi get started on her packing. It only took a few hours to convince me I never want to move. Lol.

 

Just hanging out. Yep, checked that box.

How's this for a wild sky?

On Wednesday, 3/2, we had dinner at the lovely Pomona Valley Mining Company with Randi and Jose and his parents. This was the first time we’ve met Jose’s parents and it was a fun evening. His parents, Lori and Jose Sr., are wonderful people who took Randi under their wing and have been so kind and welcoming. I know the kids move to Texas will be hard on them too.

 

Randi and Jose.

The prospective in-laws finally meet. Lol.
(Rog, Teddi, Randi, Lori, Jose Sr., Jose Jr.)

One highlight of our stay at Bonelli Bluffs was the morning coyote visits. We saw them three of the five mornings we were there. The last day there were two coyotes playing around our picnic table. Too bad Riley likes to sleep late in the mornings, or he might have made some new friends. Lol. 

 

Morning coyote sightings.

On Friday, 3/4, the morning of our departure we had a little issue. Falling into the “not a highlight” category was a repeat of the problem we’d had with our rear slide. If you recall in August of 2020, we were in Yakima just one day from home when the bedroom slide refused to retract. We ended up breaking the drive chain, pushing it in, and bracing it with a hunk of 4x4 lumber. We had it professionally repaired by Elite RV Repair, a well-respected RV shop in Oregon a few weeks later. So, you can imagine we were less than thrilled when just 18 months later we were stuck again. Luckily this time, it was just one corner that failed to retract. Rog opened up the mechanism and was able to identify the problem, a failed crimp on one of the cables. He made a temporary fix that got us on the road.

 

Not how Rog wanted to spend his day. :(

We had a fairly short drive (although 65 miles didn’t seem short navigating an RV through LA traffic!) to our next stop at Tapo Canyon Campground in Simi Valley, CA. We had two days scheduled at Tapo with not much on the agenda. Tapo Canyon is a small Ventura County park without much in the way of amenities or activities. It’s a great place to just chill and they had a large unused horse corral that Riley took advantage of for some ball time. Rog revisited his repair on the slide and spent several hours on a more permanent fix. As soon as we get somewhere with cell service (we have none at Tapo) we’ll give Elite a heads-up and see if it’s worth having them take a look at it.

 

Only 16 sites at Tapo Canyon campground.

Riley was bored so I said, "Let's play dress up!"
He was not amused.

Ball play in the big, sandy horse corral was more to his liking.

The stop at Tapo Canyon was mostly a layover to break up the drive through LA traffic, a brilliant idea I might add, plus we weren’t able to get weekend reservations at the more popular beach park that’s next on the itinerary. Yep, our next stop should be fun. We’re planning to visit a new (to us) National Park (Can you guess which one?) and hopefully get Riley some serious beach time. Stay tuned!