New trailers!

Our first line of new trailers. We chose the Tango line from Pacific Coachworks, an innovative company here in California. These trailers are so well-constructed - aluminum frame, indestructible Centrex front cap, all wood throughout, porcelain marine toilet, power awnings, etc. There is an optional slide-out outdoor kitchen/entertainment center available!

We tried out the Flagstaff 30' trailer for Thanksgiving

Dad had to drag us out to Santee Lakes in the only trailer that did not get rented for Thanksgiving weekend, but we had fun once we got there. We took the 30 foot Flagstaff trailer with a "super slide." This trailer sleeps 5 or 6 (or more if you bring air mattresses). It has a large bathroom separating the bedroom from the living room, with a large shower with a garden tub. There is a big flat screen TV and stereo with surround sound in the living room. It rained most of our time here, so we watched several movies. The first night, it was dry, so we had a campfire with another family from Poway, whose kids are friends with ours. Nick had a great time riding his scooter around the park, feeding ducks and pretending to fish. Mom went into work for a few hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and was glad to get some organizing done that she can't do with customers and other employees around.

We noticed a few unusual deficiencies in the Flagstaff trailer during our stay, such as the lack of electrical outlets near the dinette or the bed - places we usually plug in the laptop and our cell phones. Also, the bathroom doors are short, with 3 inches of space at the tops and bottoms. We were also glad we used this trailer before any renters, so we can fix the too-loud water pump and converter fan before we give it to anyone else.

Jeremy drives heavy equipment at the new lot

Jeremy gets to do things other teens dream about. We rented several large lifts to do the signs on the new lot and Jeremy got to drive them around and help with the construction. Nick got a ride on the hoist they used to put up the big billboard sign too!

How to move a 10 x 10' shed (but don't get caught!)

The guys did not want to spend days dismantling our 10' square tool shed and reassembling it at the new lot. We used a forklift to help get the shed onto a flatbed tow truck, drove it over to the new lot (on the freeway no less!) and dropped it at the new lot.

New Rice RV location

Wow! What a busy summer and fall! We have now moved to our new lot on the 67 freeway at Riverford Road. This is a perfection location (it has been an RV lot for 25 years, anyway). Forty thousand cars pass by our huge freeway-side signs every day. There are four sales offices plus and administrative office building with lobby and a large service bay/shop. We have a new service department manager, Jim, and a new rental department manager, Adrian. We already see that we are 10 times busier at this lot for all aspects of our business - rentals, sales and service. Perhaps the best part is the golf carts we now have to drive up and down the huge lot.

NEW RICE RV LOCATION!

We are moving to the big lot along the 67 freeway at Riverford Avenue, formerly occupied by Double-D RV and then Revolution RV. This is a big move up, with lots more offices, space for the new units we will be selling, customer parking, etc. There's easy freeway access and a gas station directly across the street to make life easier for our rental customers. And now we have an excuse to get a couple of golf carts.

New address: 11510 Woodside Avenue, Santee, CA 92071. The phone number will be the same.

Vail Lake RV Park in Temecula - a new Rice family favorite

We definitely will add Vail Lake to our list of favorite RV destinations close to San Diego, to use for a quick getaway or to try out a new rental unit. Vail Lake has 500 spots in a beautiful woodsy area near Temecula, about 45 minutes north of San Diego. Our site was big - so big we did not have to unhook the boat we brought to use at the lake - we just backed the 40 foot RV and boat into the spot. The park's big attraction is a water slide, although that was closed when we visited (rats!). There are 3 big swimming pools (one shallow one for toddlers). The water was quite cold, which took a little getting used to, even with the 100-degree-plus outside temperature. The main office complex for the park included a miniature golf course, a bar with pool table, restaurant, ice cream bar and stage. Friday night, we sat at the patio tables and watched a very good band (the bartender told us it was a group of teachers from Vista High School - I did not verify that). Kids and parents danced in front of the stage. Our 3-year-old Nicholas danced like something out of a music video, which makes me wonder what he has been watching with the older kids!

Our visit was in September, with a very small crowd. It might have been a different experience on a more crowded summer weekend. We noticed that Halloween is a big holiday at this campground - they already had the decorations up when we were there and they told us they were fully booked for that weekend.

The park is a few minutes' drive from Vail Lake, a private lake where members can fish, waterski, wakeboard, etc. We arranged a trial day at the lake to see if we wanted to buy a membership. When we arrived, we thought the lake was too choppy to wakeboard and ski, but we found that there is a protected area that was still glassy, a long, narrow strip of water with hills on both sides, perfect for such sports. We probably won't buy a membership any time soon, but it's a great sports lake if you live close by and would use it every weekend.

Which RV did we take? Well, we had just gotten this 40' Fleetwood Discovery on the lot, but it was not officially in the rental fleet yet. Someone dropped it off to either have us store it or rent it out for them. It was quite nice inside, with 4 slides and two sofas, so it had more sleeping room than our two Monacos. But towing the boat up to Temecula, the engine ran hot, and we found some other broken things inside the RV, so it probably won't make it into the rental fleet, unless the owner wants to pay for repairs up front!