We decided to leave Pio Pico a week early since Isaac and Mona were up in Washington. We arrived at Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails on August 26. Yes, it is hot, but it was hot in Jamul, too! We will be here for two weeks. The sites here are so much nicer. There are a lot more 50 amp here than at Pio, although there are quite a few sites in several sections including the 50 amp section that have sites closed in order to manage the power usage. They are trying to prevent brown-outs or complete shut-offs for those in the other sites during the triple digit heat. While the unusable sites may be frustrating to see, at least if you are in an open site you can have more confidence that your power will be OK. There was a rather bold guy who came up to us twice urging us to go ahead and take one of the closed 50-amp sites. His reasoning was that they work, and we as members have rights. “We pay a lot of money for things to work, so by golly, go ahead and use one.” We didn’t. We understood and appreciated Wilderness Lakes staff being proactive to keep the power on by reducing the draw on each breaker.
Instead, we temporarily settled into a nice 30-amp corner site with plenty of room and some shade. If we had to, we could stay here for our two-week stay, but it would be nicer to run both air conditioners, and not have to shut off the air to use the convection-microwave, and to be able to use the dryer. We rode our bikes around the 50 amp section recording the possible “outdates” on a paper. There was only one leaving the next day. We definitely did not want that site. Three sites were opening on Friday, the 28th. We really liked site 44’s privacy, the location on a canal, and how much shade we’d have facing north! Later, Barry saw the people sitting outsides, so he was able to inquire about them leaving the next day. They were super nice, and told Barry that we could put our tag on their pedestal in the morning. We did just that and later pulled the motorhome over in an area off the road nearby to watch and wait. Around 10:15 am we moved into site 44! LOVE it! We don’t look directly at another RV and what a beautiful breeze by the canal!
5mph for REAL! It is SO nice to have people really drive only 5-10 mph!!! For this being such a large park, we are amazed at the lack of vehicle traffic throughout the day and evening. Makes for great walking and just enjoying one’s site! The roads are all nicely paved. NO major potholes! The entire perimeter is 1.2 miles and it is marked. You could really get some miles in walking the perimeter and all interior roads. Barry went for three laps most mornings while I was off playing pickleball.
Views from some of our evening walks.
We were warned about all the ducks and geese, and what a nuisance they are, but so far they haven’t been an issue at all. I think it may be different during mating season and when they are protecting their nest and new ducklings. We did meet an old duck- “Precious”. I’ve never seen one like him. Definitely an odd sort of duck! The lady who was here before us put out fresh water and fed him (and probably others). She named him “Precious”, and evidently he followed her all around the site wherever she went! I think he soon realized she was no longer here. There was a new couple in town. LOL It didn’t take him long to figure out that we weren’t going to feed him. We did keep the water dish filled.
Everyday between 5:15 PM and 5:45 PM someone arrives in a large golf cart and puts out seed feed of some sort for the ducks and geese in the large open area across the canal from us.. The birds know this and fill the area beginning with fly-ins around 4:30! It is fun watching different groups fly in, with many of them landing in the water. It is amazing how many congregate each day at this time! As we took walks around the park, we discovered various groups of ducks and geese, as well as various single birds. They each seem to have their preferred area. Kind of like we have our preferred sites. 🙂
Two nice swimming pools are open, along with the hot tub/spas at both pools!!(The west pool hot tub at Pio Pico hasn’t been open since Oct 2019!) I liked that you had to sign up at the ranger station for a one-hour pool session. This prohibited kids from signing up or anyone signing up for multiple times at one or both pools! The ranger records your first and last name on the sheet You also are to have your ID with you. No outside guests are allowed to be signed in to swim, but they were able to a bit lax, especially during the week on this since people were good at keeping to only 10 in the pool hour. I only showed my ID the first three days that I signed us up. No one asked for it after that. I assumed it was because they recognized me, but can’t say for sure. Each spa was limited to 2 people or 1 family. Since it has been in the low 100’s, we did’t feel the need for the spa! We have had an hour in the pool everyday so far. A daily afternoon swim hour was our key relaxation time. We absolutely LOVED it, especially, with our inflatable pool chairs that take less room than a typical pool noodle!
SOUTH POOL: We first went here. It is nice and large with 2 spas! Temp–so nice!
NORTH POOL: Soon preferred this pool since the stairs are the entire width at both ends. Works great to claim our own corner. We put our feet up on the stairs, lean back and take a nap. 🙂 Yeah, rough life!
HEATING UP! Saturday of Labor Day Weekend it was 114 degrees! The pool wasn’t as refreshing as it normally is. I could feel the hot air radiating off the pavement and just hanging over the pool. Breathing in hot air like that is not conducive to relaxing. We went back to the North pool for the remaining days. It seemed a touch cooler, but if the temperature was near 114, we simply waited to go to the pool from 6-7 pm. SO much better! We even used the spa before we left the last two nights. We really appreciated the outdoor showers provided. It was nice to wash and condition our hair, and rinse off all the residue from the salt water pool. I really think when outside showers are provided that a lot more people use them before and after getting into pools and spas.
Our friends, Jo and Don Richardson, came up to visit for a day!
PICKLEBALL!!! A couple of my Pio Pico pickleball buddies who are both quite good, are here now, too! Rob has a lease site here, but has to work all over southern California, but might be able to arrange his schedule some days to be able to play PB early in the morning ! Les will be here the entire time we are here! Luckily, they suggested the same place to play that is only about two and a half miles from the park! Aldergate Recreation & Dog Park is beautiful and has a decent level of play. How nice that it is only 5 minutes away! There is also a bathroom right there!
ALDERGATE PICKLEBALL COURTS:
What about the pickleball courts that are within the TT park?
There are 4 courts at Wilderness Lakes TT within the RV park, but no one seems to use them. Even if the courts get blown off in the morning you have to sweep an entire court + off prior to playing later in the day. Although Barry and I did do so one evening for the two of us to play for an hour, we aren’t likely to do it again. Courts are not lit. People may play when it is cooler, but I enjoyed going nearby to dedicated pickleball courts. The public courts all had decent players.
Shortly after moving into our new site, a guy walked by and asked Barry if we were playing pickleball today. Turns out it was Matt Allen. I played with him and his wife, Jina, at Orlando Thousand Trails, and down in the Keys at Sunshine Key RV Resort this last December (2019)! He recognized me. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. LOL He and his wife are good pickleball players. They will be here till September 4.
On Saturday, Aug 29, we all ended up at Aldergate and had some really competitive games. Also showing up to play was Job, who I knew from Big Rock in Santee! Evidently, he has a house here in Menifee and is in the process of getting it ready to put on the market. Crazy! What a small world. The Allens, Les, Rob and I plan to play again tomorrow. Heck, now that we are settled into a 50-amp site, I may get to play every morning we are here! Does life get any better than playing three hours of good pickleball, going home to my honey, getting something to eat, relaxing for an hour at the pool, followed by peacefully sitting outside next to the canal with a wonderfully pleasant breeze!?! I think not!
ADDITIONAL COURTS!!
Margarita Park in Temecula. Les suggested playing here because there would be a lot of quality play but with twice as many dedicated courts. They have 4 dedicated pickleball courts and 2-4 portable nets depending on the need. Matt and Jina showed up, too! It was awesome! Margarita Park is about 20-25 minutes from the Thousand Trails. The drive was worth it because the park was so convenient to a Costco (with a gas station), Macy’s , JC Penny’s and much more! I got plenty of errands done after pickleball. 🙂 I went shopping a couple of days. I can’t remember the last time I went to Macy’s or Penney’s! I needed cooler shorts for playing pickleball in HOT weather. Labor Day sales worked well for me.
CONESTOGA PARK is about 5 miles away from Wilderness Lakes TT. It only has two courts, but is a beautiful park by a new housing community of the same name. With the group (mainly from Aldergate) that showed up on September 5, I got lots of play. I did not lose a single game! I was totally focused. What a difference that makes!
We enjoyed visiting with Shirley (from Pio Pico) before or after a few of our evening walks. She is looking forward to starting work here at Wilderness. She took a part time job with housekeeping. Sounds like the hours will be perfect for her and she will be able to stay year round at the park. She had to move from her original canal site, but found a very peaceful site with a nice shade tree and nice green grass behind her! Congratulations, Shirley, on making this change. Turns out Bruce arrived before we left. He hired on with maintenance. We wish them both well in Menifee.
Well, Sept 9 has arrived, and it is time for us to leave in the morning. We really enjoyed our time here at Wilderness Lakes TT!
