Camp Pendleton, California

January 17th - 31st

We are now at Lake O'Neill, which is located on the base. Gina and I have decided to stay on base for a few weeks to spend time with Thomas and see if or when he would be deploying. Additionally, it will allow us some time to test out our electical system to see what it will allow us to do.

Looking down at Lake O'Neill Campground

It's real convient for Thomas in that we are only twenty minutes from where he is working. His buddy Jeremy gives him a ride to work in the morning and then drops him off in the evening. It's been alot of fun being able to spend time with Thomas. Plus he's really enjoying his momma's cooking.

In the evenings Gina and I enjoy a walk around the lake

We took Thomas out to a restaurant for his birthday. It was located at the end of a long wharf in Oceanside. The wind at the beach was blowing hard but we made it. However, when we left it was raining and blowing even harder. We got soaked and decided to head back home.

Thomas and Gina celebrating their birthdays together

Now after a week of heavy rain we moved back to a dry camping site. Our first attempt didn't go as well as I had to anticipated due to all the rain and no sun. However, even with that being said our batteries still gave us three days. Pretty good specailly with all the cloud cover.

Finally the sun came out which will really allow us to test our new electrical system. Especially the solar panels.

Thomas just got his gear issued to him and he brought it home for us to see.


Thomas showing his mom how heavy the flak jacket is along with the helment.


This is the area on Camp Pendleton that Thomas works on.


Of course he had to point out to us the mountain he runs up.

Camp Pendleton base is so big. It spans over 125,000 acres. Population is over 100,000. It's a beautiful base surrounded by mountains. Only it is way to big for us.

Another beautiful veiw of the mountains

This is a mock town that the Marines train in for urban warfare. I think they call it camera city since there are at least 4 cameras mounted on each tower you see in the picture.

Camp Pendleton's Air Station


One of the tanks on display at the Mechanized Muesum on base.

Santee Lakes located in Santee, California. This is a beautiful campground and is where Jim and Ellie have spent their winter.

Jim grilling shish kabobs for lunch. Ellie did a great job making them and with such bright colors. They tasted even better then they looked!!!

Now the real treat outside of getting together with Jim and Ellie were these smore's brownies. She posted the recipe on her blog and they were extra gooey and needless to say they tasted fantastic.

Gina and Ellie having a great time


Just food for thought: what did we ever do without cameras with timers??

Jim and Ellie, another couple enjoying the fulltime lifestyle and who we consider great friends and plan on meeting up with again down the road.

Thomas sitting outside enjoying his new laptop while his mom is cooking another one of his favorite meals of salmon cakes with macroni & cheese.

Thomas with Jeremy and his wife Brandi sitting outside relaxing.

This is what Gina and I do daily in the following photos. Listening to the sound of freedom. They fly helicopters around here 24 hours a day.

Two CH-46 Helicopters


A C-130 about to land


A Super Cobra


Twin engine Huey

This was the best shot I could get of this V-22 Osprey. It's a combination helicopter and airplane. The propellers tilt 90 degrees. This was the first time that I had seen one in flight. It was quite impressive.

Here's a Gopher. There are so many of them around here. Gina and I sit outside and watch them dig and just play around with eachother.

We did get a treat with this Great Blue Heron. At least that's what I think it is. He just stood around about 4 hours. I think it was sleeping since it never moved.

We did have a surprise to top off the month of January. We found out that a friend of ours from our hometown of Denham Springs was here working in California. We decided to meet up at Starbuck's Coffee in Dana Point for a quick visit. It has been over thirty years since we had last seen her. We had a wonderful time catching up and reminiscing past times. After a few hugs and goodbyes we headed back home.

Gina and I with Lu Ann

That wraps up the month of January and it feels good to now be caught up. Thanks to our family and followers for being patient with me while I got caught up. I know it wasn't much writing. However, thought I would let the pictures do the story telling for me. Hope you like them.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Goodbye Louisiana Hello California

To bring in the New Year Gina took Ashley and Nicole to Biloxi, Mississippi for a girl’s weekend. Their main reason was to go by Keesler Air Force Base commissary and exchange for a little shopping.

Nicole & Ashley with Gina eating breakfast in Biloxi

While they were enjoying themselves I spent the day with Thomas watching football and continuing to work on our solar power installation.

Time was coming to an end for Thomas to be at home and on January 3rd I brought him to the airport for his flight back to Twentynine Palms, Ca. Gina and the girls got back that night and they had a great time. We had originally planned on leaving Louisiana on January 4th then we moved it to the 8th and then again we moved it to the 10th. It seemed like there was always an issue with the solar installation. Finally on the 8th Gina and I set a drop dead date of January 12th whether or not I was finished with our solar installation or not. On Monday Gina's first priority was to take down all of the Christmas decorations and then get our trailer packed up. We tried not to bring a lot of stuff into the house. However, we still brought a lot of stuff inside our house.

On January 8th we celebrated Nicole’s birthday before we left since we wouldn’t be there for her actual birthday plus it allowed Ashley and Parker to celebrate her birthday to before they left.

Happy 27th Birthday Nicole !!!!

Maw Maw Sue and Paw Paw Jack came over right when she was blowing out her candles so they got to celebrate her birthday too. After we all ate our cake Maw Maw Sue shortened the sleeves on Ashley’s doctor’s coat so it would fit her better.

Ashley & Maw Maw Sue

Ashley flew back to Grenada on January 10th and Parker flew back on Jan 13th. We said our goodbyes and wished them the very best in medical school. They both plan on flying back home in May.

We both woke up early on January 12th knowing that we still had a lot left to do before we got on the road today. I focused on the last few items with our solar power installation while Gina was moving and storing the remaining items in our fifth wheel. We finished around one o’clock and then visited with my dad and Uncle Jim & Aunt Nell for a little while. We said our goodbyes to them and got on the road heading west at three o’clock. Not a great time to leave but we needed to cover 1800 miles in two days if we were to pick up Thomas for Friday morning in Twentynine Palms, California.

We made it to Kerrville by midnight and decided to stop for the night. We just crawled back into the bed of the truck and I was back up at five o’clock in the morning. I put a pot of coffee on and then was back on the road driving by 5:15. The goal for today (Wednesday) was California before midnight. We stopped a few times for potty breaks and to get diesel otherwise it was a non-stop drive. We crossed into California around nine o’clock at night and then stopped at the first rest area. We again just crawled into the back of the truck for another night of sleep. We drove 1,136 miles in 19 hours today but we are right on schedule to be at Twentynine Palms tomorrow morning.

We woke up at six o’clock this morning both feeling pretty good. I turned on the water heater and while the water was heating we enjoyed a cup of coffee together.

The road to nowhere
(really this is to show you that Twentynine Palms is in the middle of nowhere)

We each took showers to get cleaned up before we met Thomas and some RV-Dreamers that we have been trying to catch up to. However, it seemed like we were always about a week behind their schedule. Randy & Pam Warner became fulltimers last year and travel around in their Allegro bus. They were leaving Twentynine Palms this morning but were waiting on our arrival so we could finally meet eachother before they departed for Quartzsite. The only site they had available on base was the site they were in which worked out nice.

Randy & Pam Warner

We got to visit with them for about an hour before they pulled out and we backed into their site. We look forward to spending more time with them next month in Arizona.

Our Campsite at Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base

We got all settled in for just an overnighter while we waited on Thomas to call us to come pick him up. We drove over to the exchange to see what they had and while we were there Thomas surprised us by showing up there to meet us. After we got our hugs we went back to his barracks so he could bring out all the stuff he had acquired while here at Twentynine Palms. Once he got everything loaded in the truck. We then brought him back home so we could visit for a few hours.

Thomas Cuttin up with us

Around ten o’clock we brought him back to his barracks and said goodnight to him since he was required to sleep in the barracks. We then drove back home and called it a day.

We got up early Friday morning waiting on Thomas to call us to let us know he had been released. He finally called around ten o’clock and by eleven o’clock we were heading west toward Camp Pendleton.

Thomas thinking he's gonna get to drive
(I don't think so)


Gina was fasinated by all the wind mills & the snow covered mountains

We arrived at Camp Pendleton’s Del Mar Beach Campground around three and found out our site was right on the beach.

Our Arrival to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base


Our Campsite on the Beach


Here we all are on the beach


Our Campsite with our home in it


Thomas & Gina enjoying a nice campfire

We stayed here two days before we moved to another campground located on Camp Pendleton. This campground is located a little closer to where Thomas works and we’re not tracking sand into our home. The forecast called for severe thunderstorms all week and if you haven’t been watching the news last week it rained a lot everyday last week in southern California.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

December in Lousiana

Wow, it’s been a busy month back in Louisiana. Gina and I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and A Happy New Year. We pray that Gods blessings will be bestowed upon you and your family during 2010.

I would like to thank all of our blog followers for the emails inquiring about our status and wanting to make sure we were both alright. I would have written something sooner. However, I was consumed with our solar electrical installation beginning from early morning to it getting dark every day. The first two weeks I had to work around the rain and the final three weeks I had to work around the extreme cold in Louisiana. Gina and I are both doing fine and yes, we are finally back on the road enjoying all the rain in southern California. Now that we are finally settling down I decided that I would try to bring everyone up to date. Instead of one really long entry I decided that I would catch you all up over the next few days. It will be mostly pictures just to give you a glimpse of what we have been up to last month.

Here's a picture of the finished project.
(I will do a separate entry on our electrical system)


Solar Panels mounted on top of the truck in the raised position


Gina and I with Brandi

Gina and I attended Brandi's commencment ceremony as she was awarded her BA in Education from South Eastern Louisiana University. Brandi was our oldest son's girlfriend and will always have a special place in our hearts. She will forever be a part of our family. We love her very much and are extremely proud of her.

Later that evening Gina and I, along with Nicole and Shane attended a graduation party for Brandi.

Brandi and Gina

Brandi was hired to teach at Denham Springs High School. She gave me and Gina a tour of her new classroom. Brandi and Gina minds were tossing around ideas for decorating her classroom.

Brandi in her Classroom

After Brandi and Gina had spent several days up at the high school her classroom was finally done. Gina really enjoyed the special time helping Brandi prepare her classroom for her students. She is going to be an outstanding teacher!!!

Ashley and Parker along with their dogs Jada & Sophia flew home from Grenada. They both finished another semester of medical school and we were thankful that they were able to be home with us for the holidays. In celebration for Parker's birthday, Gina made homemade lasagna and made a brownie birthday cake.

Thomas and Gina

Thomas flew home from 29 Palms, California December 19th and will have to report back on January 3, 2010. Now that all of our children are home it's time for making memories with our family.

Me, Thomas and Gina on our way to church in celebration of Our Saviour's birth.

Gina with our daughters Ashley Jenkins and Nicole Young. Then Wanda Jenkins with her daughters Paige Seals and Paiton Achord. They had a girl's day planned. First it was breakfast at a restaurant named the "Broken Egg" then they all went and got their hands and feet pampered by getting manicures and pedicures. They all had a fun and relaxing day.

Here I am playing Santa Claus. Gina thought it would be a nice idea since I had grown a beard during the month of November. Really I was just tired of shaving for awhile.

We gathered at my brother-in-law and sister’s house for our traditional family Christmas get together. It was especially nice this year with seven great grandchildren. We all had a great time and I really enjoyed playing Santa. I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or the adults laughing at me.

Here is Ashley with her cousin Stephen. They are the same age and have always been real close. In reality they are more like brother and sister than cousins.

Thomas telling Uncle Rickey what it’s like to be a Marine and what it’s like being stationed in Twenty-nine Palms, California.

Ashley making up for lost time visiting with Aunt Dana.

Nicole and Shane holding my niece’s newest baby, Danny Lopez

As they say all good things must come to an end. It was nice not shaving for six weeks but I was really getting tired of the beard. Ashley had asked me when she got home if she could shave my beard before she left and I said ok. It was one of her Christmas wishes.

Not only did she shave my beard but she got carried away and included shaving my mustache too. I told her that since she got to shave my mustache too then she would have cut my hair too. Here is the finished look. Gina said that I look 15 years younger. What do you think???

Thomas sitting in front of the fireplace Christmas morning trying to wake up and get warm before opening presents.

Nicole and Shane opening presents and Nicole showing off her new coat.

Ashley and Parker along with Sophie having fun opening their presents.

Thomas admiring his new ostrich boots with Angel being content laying in his lap.

Ashley and Nicole posing with Santa

OH, it’s Dad not Santa

Christmas morning after we exchanged gifts with our children we all loaded up in the truck. Now picture me as Santa driving my truck around town Christmas morning. Everyone on the road either waved or blew their horns. As we drove into the Seals subdivision children would be out playing with their new toys and then they would see me (Santa). They would either have shocked looks on their faces or they would run to get their parents.

After driving through the subdivision we finally arrived at Josh & Paige Seals home. It’s a Seals tradition for Josh to make homemade waffles for everyone on Christmas morning. Gina had prearranged our Santa visit. So for the next few hours I greeted the neighborhood children with candy canes and posed for pictures.

We were all having so much fun so we stopped by Shane’s parent’s home for a visit. Dave and Chris Young are proud grandparents of Evangeline Young. Her parents are Judy and Brandon Young, Shane’s oldest brother. I posed for pictures with Evangeline who is nine months old. Gina and I enjoyed catching up with everyone and talking to Jessica and Cato about RVing. They are living fulltime in a fifth wheel while they work.

It was such a joyful morning visiting with family and friends. We all had so much fun with me as Santa that we decided to make this our new family tradition. Next year Gina will join me as Mrs. Claus. Our day was definitely filled with memorable moments that we’ll always treasure.

Well this about sums it up for the month of December. Just to bring everyone up to date. We are camping at Lake Oneill, located on Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base which is between Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Thomas is only working about 20 minutes away from us so he has a buddy drop him off in the evening. I think he comes here every evening just to see what mom has cooked for him. I think Gina is spoiling him by cooking all of his favorite meals. Plus it’s been an extra treat that he gets to spend the night with us.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.