Springtime at Jojoba Hills

Hello, one and all! I almost missed springtime (at Jojoba Hills) - there's less than a week left in spring! Winter snows (well, at least one) have given way to sunny skies, mild temps, and the full color of spring.

Five+ years of continuous travel and 2 1/2 years of blogging have been capped now by 4 months of sitting still at our new home base in SoCal. We're not through roaming the country by a long shot - there's so much more to see - but it's been great to catch a breather at such a wonderful spot as this mountain "community" of 280+ sites. It's filled with like-minded people - no mixed use homesites here - who remain "on the road" at least part of the year, but know that they will return to a place that is their's.

One benefit for us has been the "yard" - I know...all you readers who have real yards to tend are saying "Are you crazy???" but we have been without a piece of ground where we could dig in the soil or plant a flower or a tree for nearly 25 years. That's a long time for a guy who used to love to pull weeds - yes, I used to be mentally ill. Now we have a space where we can actually do some landscaping and cultivating - go to Lowes and Home Depot and pick out flowers and plants - visit a rose ranch up in the mountains to select the "right" variety of rose bushes to try - shop local nurseries to get the right kind of fruit tree that will thrive in the area. All this and I don't need a lawnmower, because there's no lawn. You can see from these "before and after" pictures, we've taken advantage of all the place has to offer. New outdoor furniture. New places for decor. New ways to make this little piece of heaven even more enjoyable.

The fact that we lead a charmed life has never been more evident than in the little things that happenstance could have made so differently for us. After all, we didn't get to pick our site from many possibilities. We could have ended with the hot afternoon sun on the "living" side of the coach, but we didn't. We could have ended up high on a hill that caught the full breeze (which can be very strong on windy days - you've doubtless heard of the Santa Ana's,) but we didn't. It could have been a much smaller lot (they're not all as big as ours,) but it isn't. We could have been on a treeless expanse (we have a maturing live oak that will someday probably have Spanish moss hanging from it,) but we aren't. We could have had neighbors who were never there or who were cranky (even RVer's can be... well, you know,) but we have great ones. How lucky can two people be?

You quickly get to know your fellow Jojobians, because volunteering for things is at the heart of the success of this place. It was built on 145 acres of virgin high desert by a group of 30 or so RVers  (median age 67) from the local area starting back in 1989. The whole place is beautifully run/maintained by a manager, a fulltime staff of only three office and five maintenance people. So it's obvious that there is much work to be performed by membership volunteering. We can do as much or as little as we want of the day-to-day things as well as special projects like contruction of new storage sheds or restoration of a pond, and committee duty on the various boards which keep the resort running. That may seem like fulltime work, but Jan and I total around 10-15 hours per week - just enough to keep you off your backside.

We are coming up on the summer days - supposed to get downright hot here - most days in the 90's, with most nights in the 50's and low 60's - good hanging around the pool weather and good sleeping weather, too. So far, though it's been great - only four days above 80 so far.

We'll keep you posted - if we can find the time - sigh (or was that a yawn.)