I had my normal breakfast and made my coffee to go. There was a solid cloud layer, and J decided to stay in this morning. I left at 6:55 in the Jeep by myself.

I went to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, and stopped to photograph a cooperative loggerhead shrike perched on a fence post along the entrance road (below left). Several red-winged blackbirds were feeding in the grass by the auto tour loop and the small flowers made a nice environment (below right).


I photographed some of the American coots where a patch of yellow wildflowers was reflected in the water (left). I also saw some species that I didn't see yesterday: killdeer, black-neck stilt, and least sandpiper.

I returned to the RV around 9:40, packed up my computer, then left in the Jeep by myself.

I went down to the boat ramp so I could go online through my Verizon Wireless USB stick to do some computer work.

I returned to the RV at 10:05 and started to download the images I took this morning. We turned on the generator for an hour, and I quickly vacuumed the inside of the RV. Then I did a quick downselect of the images I took this morning in iView.

Picnic with J's Sister S

J's sister S and her family arrived from Pasadena around 11:30. We had a picnic outside of J's Roll-Your-Own Wraps, J's Bean Salad, and potato salad. We left around 1:15 with J, NA (J's niece A, seven), and I in the Jeep and S, BilS (J's brother-in-law S), and NR (J's niece R, twelve) in their car.

We went to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, and NA was very talkative in the Jeep — she had been rather shy up until that point. We all got out at the far end of the auto tour loop and took a short walk back between two ponds. It was muddy from the recent rain, so we didn't go far. On the way back to the entrance, NR joined us in the Jeep.

We returned to the Lake Perris State Recreation Area and went to the marina area around 3:50 for a rest stop.

We returned to the RV around 4:10 for some hot drinks (hot cocoa and hot cider), and it started raining heavily shortly after we returned — perfect timing! There was a nice complete rainbow after the rain stopped. J's sister S and family left around 5:40, and J and I quickly cleaned up and got ready to go. We left around 5:50 in the Jeep.

Dinner out with old friends

We went to the Macaroni Grill in Corona around 6:40 to get together with my friends K&J and P&C from my Long Beach days. It was great to see them again! I had Chicken Marsala and J had a Spinach Salad. J and I split a piece of Tiramisu for dessert. We left around 9:00.

We stopped at a Shell (gas station) in Perris to get enough gas in the Jeep at $3.059/gal to last us until a cheaper place. I also checked the tire pressure because the right-rear tire looked low. It was, and two others needed a little air too.

We returned to the RV around 10:15, and we were pooped!