It is now 11:45 a.m. and we are waiting in line to go into Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails in Menifee, California.
Once inside the campground, we get set up on a beautiful site #98 (see below).
We once again have a marvelous view of the man-made canals in the park.
After finishing getting set up at around 12:30 p.m., we decided to drive into Menifee to the Albertson's store to get some groceries and then stopped at Taco Bell (for the build your own cravings box) for a late lunch. We got back to our campsite at 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The ducks, geese and assorted water birds love to hang around our campsite (see below).
This morning, I took off on a 6.39 mile, 45 minute bike ride around the campground (see screenshots of my ride below).
Just a short distance from our campsite was the remains of a fifth wheel that had burned only just a couple of days earlier. The first story that we heard about this terrible diaster was that a couple that lived in it had just went out to walk their dogs and came back to this pile of burnt charred remains and ashes . . .
However later on, we heard the real story behind the fire and destruction -- a man who lived alone in this RV had left a candle burning in his bedroom up over the fifth wheel hitch unattended when he left the RV. It then must have burned down and caught fire causing the three propane tanks under the fifth wheel to combust -- anyway it's a really sad story.
Luckily, however no one was hurt, but it did scorch the white truck (see in the picture above). It burned everything down to and including the wheels of the RV and a bicycle. Scary for sure!
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Today was another sunny day with the temperature starting at 48 degrees and getting to a warm 74 degrees in the afternoon.
I went for an hour bike ride (8.53 miles) around the campground before lunch (see the screenshots below).
And then at 3:00 p.m., I went to the craft session of rock painting in the South Lodge. Since St. Patrick's Day would soon be here, I decided to paint the rock I had selected in an "Irish theme" (see below).
Friday, March 8, 2024
Another beautiful sunny day. Just before lunch, I went for a bike ride -- a half hour ride (4.28 miles). See the screenshot below.
I also earned the International Women's Day badge today (see below).
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. International Women's Day has occurred for well over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people.
Then later this afternoon our friends, Randall and Beth Townsend, invited us over to their campsite for ice cream and apple pie (see below).
Shown above is Beth and Randall Townsend inside their camper enjoying their ice cream and apple pie.
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Today was a beautiful sunny day with a temperature of 50 degrees when we took off at 10:15 a.m. to head to Laguna Hills, California to meet our friends, Wendy Fox and Tim Jones (who we had met several years ago on a Holland America Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale). We planned to go on a twenty mile bike ride. The weather was beautiful and reached a high of 74 degrees in the afternoon.
We drove along CA Hwy 74 West (see map above).
We stopped at one of the turn outs on the way to Tim and Wendy's house in Laguna Hills, California. The pictures above and below show the town of Lake Elsinore, the Lake Elsinore and the snow-covered Big Ben mountain in the distance.
Lake Elsinore is a unique city in western Riverside County, California. It is famous for the warm thermal winds that blow in from the neighboring Ortega Mountains. Those winds have turned Lake Elsinore into a major center for skydiving, hang-gliding and other aerial sports. Located in the center of the city is a 3,000 acre natural lake, hence the name Lake Elsinore.
Lake Elsinore was established as a city in 1888. It is on the shore of Lake Elsinore, which is a natural freshwater lake about 3,000 acres in size. The city has grown from a small resort town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to a suburban city with over 70,000 residents.
Shown above and below are views of Lake Elsinore from the Santa Ana Mountains looking east.
Shown above is Mel relaxing on a big rock while he takes in all the glorious beauty of Lake Elsinore below him.
Next, we drove past the Hells Kitchen restaurant and bar that was located in the little town of El Cariso along Ortega Highway 74 (just about an hour from Laguna Hills, California). Hells Kitchen was popular with bikers on weekends with the front parking lot usually full of motorcycles.
We have been told that the food was good at Hells Kitchen and the service was friendly. We were also told that If we decided to drop in for a meal at Hells Kitchen, we would be in for a surprise when we went to dress up our hamburgers -- as one of the star attractions of the kitchen was the condiment coffin. At the coffin, you simply had to pull the glowing skull handle and it would open (see below).
We are now back on the road and soon approach San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano is a city in southern Orange County, California with a population of 35,253. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when Father JunÃpero Serra established Mission San Juan Capistrano.
(San Juan Capistrano, California - c. 1806)
Extensive damage caused by an earthquake in 1812 caused the community to decline. Following the Mexican secularization act of 1833, the mission village officially became a town and was briefly renamed as San Juan de Argüello. After the American conquest of California, San Juan remained a small, rural town until the 20th century and the restoration of the mission in the 1910s–1920s transformed the town into a tourist destination and a backdrop for Hollywood films.
Continuing on our way to Laguna Hills, we then followed I-5 North.
We then exited off of I-5 North onto Oso Parkway and followed it until we turned right onto Moulton Parkway.
Next, we then turned right onto Indian Creek Lane, then left onto Jasmine Creek Lane (see map above).
We soon arrived at our friend Wendy and Tim's house at 31 Jasmine Creek Lane in Laguna Hills, California (see above and below).
Above Mel and Tim visit as we get our bikes set up for our bike ride, while below Wendy gets her bike ready.
Shown above are our friends, Wendy Fox and Tim Jones.
We rode our bikes along the sidewalk out of the neighborhood where Wendy and Tim lived. Once we got out of Laguna Hills, we followed the Aliso Creek Riding and Hiking Trail.
Shown above and below are a couple of the bridges on the Aliso Creek Riding and Hiking Trail to Cook's Corner that we had to cross over.
The Aliso Creek Riding and Hiking Trail runs a total of 16.4 miles through the foothills of Orange County, California between Portola Hills and Wood Canyon in Laguna Niguel. The 16.4 mile trail makes a consistent gradual incline—providing a gentle uphill or downhill paved course through several parks and neighborhoods, along its namesake stream. Our trip to Cook's Corner today was a little over 10 miles each way.
Shown above and below is part of the paved trail we followed.
I ended up walking my bike over the metal plate bridge (see above) as the turn was a little bit sharp and it made me nervous.
Shown above and below is more of the beautifully paved trail to Cook's Corner.
The picture above shows the location of Cook's Corner from the end of the Aliso Creek Trail. We followed the Aliso Creek Bike Trail for most of the way to Cook's Corner (see the map below).
Cook's Corner is located at the juncture of Santiago Canyon and Live Oak Canyon roads in Orange County, California. It has been hidden in the canyons since 1884. It is considered to be one of the most famous biker bar and restaurants in Southern California.
How Cook’s Corner Began
Though lauded by many as a biker bar, Cook’s Corner transcends that reputation. Nestled at the cusp of suburbia and nature, the roadhouse takes you back to country times. The Cook family had the land stretching back to 1884. Cook's Corner was named after Andrew Jackson Cook, who bargained for 190 acres of Aliso Canyon in a land trade in 1884.
In 1926, his son Earl Jack "E.J." Cook converted a beekeeper’s cabin into a restaurant for miners and local ranchers, across the street from its current location on the corner of Live Oak and Santiago Canyon roads.
Then, after Prohibition ended in 1933 and alcohol began being sold, it became a burger joint with a full-fledged bar. In 1946, when Earl Jack Cook bought a World War II mess hall from the Santa Ana Army Air Base, he moved it to El Toro Road where the adored wooden building tavern stands today.
Over the years, its clientele has gone from dusty miners to die-hard bikers and families with kids — all gathering for a good meal and a cold drink. In the mid-1970s, when Victor Villa and Volker Streicek bought the Trabuco Canyon restaurant and bar from the Cook family, the place was already nearly 100 years old. Under several generations of Cook family ownership the place had served miners and what passed for cowboys in Orange County. And, after World War II, it had become a fun stop for visitors to the county’s still rural canyon areas.
But with time comes change as encroaching development has often threatened to take over. In 1987, Cook’s almost went belly up to make way for a new road. Then in 1996, another batch of developments risked changing the scenery forever from right across the street.
But Villa and Streicek, who sold Santa Ana motorcycle accessories, also saw Cook’s as a biker bar – with a twist. They molded it into what it represents today -- an old-fashioned roadhouse popular with riders worldwide. Motorcycle gang members and their loud rides would be welcome. But biker colors – and whatever biker grudges or disputes any patron might have outside the bar – were not. Fights were rare and violence was frowned upon. Bikers of all kinds love the place and it’s still a spot that attracts families, suburban travelers and hard-knuckled bar lovers.
Shown above is Shirley with Wendy Fox at Cook's Corner, while below is Tim Jones with Mel enjoying a beer at Cook's Corner.
Shown above is the menu at Cook's Corner, while below is the Reuben sandwich Mel got made with pastrami grilled between two slices of marbled rye bread, and French fries.
Shown below is Tim Jones and the cheeseburger and fries he split with Wendy. Closest to the front and center of the picture is my roast beef and cheddar sandwich on a hoagie bun with fries. All of us split the yummy onion rings!
As I mentioned earlier, the bike ride round-trip was just over 20 miles.
Shown above and below are the screenshots of the first portion of our bike ride from Laguna Hills, California to Cook's Corner. (This was the most of the uphill part of the bike ride. It took almost an hour and 17 minutes for the 10.46 miles.)
On this portion of the bike ride due to the amount of uphill climbs we made, I received the Climber 1 Badge from Garmin (for climbing 500 feet during a cycling activity). See below.
Shown above and below are the screenshots of the second portion of our bike ride from to Cook's Corner to Laguna Hills, California. (This was by far the easier part of the bike ride because there was a lot of downhill riding. It took almost 57 minutes for the 10.49 miles.)
We got back to Wendy and Tim's house at about 5:30 p.m. We went to work getting our bikes loaded onto the truck, so we could head back to Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails in Menifee, California. We got back to the campground at 7:00 p.m.
What an invigorating and enjoyable day with had with our friends, Wendy and Tim, on our e-bikes. Hopefully we can meet up with them again in the for another beautiful bike ride, or a cruise together!
Tonight we need to remember to set our clocks forward one hour for Daylight Savings Time -- which always happens on the second Sunday in March during the spring. This gives most Americans an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings until the clocks fall back again in the autumn. And this is when Daylight Saving Time ends on the first Sunday of November as we turn our clocks back an hour.
Tonight as we hop in bed, we will rest our weary bones for sure after our lengthy bike ride today! GOOD NIGHT!!!
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