Palomar Mountain News

Once upon a time Roy and Mable Lou Riffle spent their honeymoon at a cabin on Palomar. They celebrated their anniversary for over six decadesat different cabins until they purchased their own in 1962. Roy was a projectionist at Oceanside drive in theatre and later in Rancho Bernardo. Tuesday was his day off so they came up nearly every Tuesday and spent a night or two in the early days.

Fun visits with Roy and Mable Lou always included stories of keeping their horses at the lodge and riding all the trails ‘round Birch Hill and Crestline. They were good friends with the Hap Mendenhalls and looked forward to helping with the cattle drives.

Three children, Mike, Kate and John, were added to their family and all had so many happy memories. Kate was known for riding bareback all over the mountain.

Before you know it, Kate was all grown up and fell in love with Ken Telles. Where did they spend their honeymoon? The cabin of course.

It was a sad time in 1983 when that vintage cabin burned. The Volunteer Fire Department responded right away, but it went up so fast with all that dry wood. Sifting through the ashes, they found Mable Lou’s spurs. They had a key to the old cabin and kept those two mementos.

The Ruggles and Telles families rarely missed weekly visits and went right to work planning their new cabin. They choose cement block to be more fire resistant. It was quite a project getting through all the permit process and finally completing in 1995.

Rusty Spurs is just about ready for a new family to enjoy.

1568 square feet includes the main level. Vaulted ceilings and a skylight. The living room has a wood burning stove, kitchen, bedroom, full bath and nice deck to enjoy the forest views. A few worn books are waiting for you and give us a hint of how much they enjoyed watching the birds and learning their names.

The original plans called for stairs to the basement. But, during the building process, Mable Lou decided she would really enjoy that area as a pantry. Stairs could be an option for an addition.

So the walk-out basement is presently used as a work shop, game room and has extra options for sleeping. There is a full bath there, too, and (drum roll) a furnace that services both levels. (That is pretty special when the snow is falling).

It is cute-as-can-be with level land of .14 acre, extra parking, nicely groomed and freshly painted.

$249,000 and it is yours… including a very special key and much loved set of spurs.

Let’s saddle up and go see!

Bonnie Phelps, Realtor