31 December '07

Monday

Well Louise and I pulled out of Yuma last Saturday and headed north to the desert around Quartzsite.  We were invited to celibrate the New Year coming with a group of Holiday Rambler Full-timers who were going to have a mini-rally in the desert. 

About 3 weeks ago we met George and Lou Small while we were in Ehrenberg.  They also have a Holiday Rambler "Endeavor" (the same coach as we have) and they belong to a group of other Holiday Rambler owners.  They are all full-timers and members of the Full-Timers Chapter 400 Club.  You must be full time motorhomers to belong and you must own a Holiday Rambler...well we fit the requirements so they ask us to join them for the desert party.  As we pulled off the highway at the location of the flag and arrow directing us out into the desert, we found a circle of Holiday Ramblers waiting for us.  We have really been having a great time meeting, eating, drinking, and shopping with everyone of them.  We start the day with breakfast around the fire pit and we end the day with a dinner gathering. 

 It has been a lot of fun with and without all the company.  Louise and I have taken walks out into the desert, shopped ourselves blue in the tent city of Quartzsite, and just in general have had a good time.  I just want to say;  May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.  May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success and may happiness slap you across the face,and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had, forget your home address!   In simple words    .......May 2008 be the best year of your life.

26 December '07

Wednesday

We were going over to Mark and Susans for Christmas dinner yesterday but the wind came up and started one heck of a sand storm.  It was so bad it woke me up about 3am and continued to get  worse throughout the morning.  It got so bad that I pulled in both slides on the coach.  Later on in the afternoon when the wind had let up I stepped out side and found that sand had found it's way into every little nook and cranny and also had blown one of our chairs down the street and taken our flag completely off the pole and taken it half way to the Mexican border.  Luckily it had caught on a fence so I was able to get it back...I can just see the red, white, and blue flying through Mexico...  Today we finally got together with Mark and Susan at their house.  The wind had finally deminished, the sun was warm, and all of us were ready for a great Christmas steak dinner.  On the 27th, about noon, I talked Louise to join me back in Algondones for another shrimp taco.  Algondones is just 3 miles away from our campground so getting there is just the thought.  When we arrived in the parking lot we saw that there was a whole lot more cars parked there today...no big deal, there are a lot of places for everyone to go.  And as it turned out it wasn't a big deal.  We went to our margarita patio, had lunch and walked back out to the border crossing.  As we rounded the corner to the crossing we were taken back as we saw the line of those that decided to go back at the same time as we did...  Once we got to the back of the line we knew that we were in for a long wait to get across the border.  It was a very agravating 2 hours.  Our "taco lunch" cost us $20 plus the $5 for parking, plus the 2 hours of waiting in the line and the gas to go the 6 miles....what a bargain!!!  I guarantee you we wont do that again...

24 December '07

Monday

Christmas Eve and Mark and Susan join us for a trip across the border to Algondones, Mexico.  

This is the little Mexican town that specializes in drug stores, dental offices, and optical warehouses.  As you approach the border we pull into the parking lot that is run by the Native American Indians (the border borders their reservation).  About 95 percent of those going to Algondones parks there for $5 and then walks across the border.  Susan had a list of drugs that she wanted so that was our first stop, and then we went looking for the best taco we could find.  We all had shrimp tacos and a Pacifico con limon (Beer with a lime slice).  Then it was off to see some more of the town and stopping by a number of optical showrooms as we came upon them.  Shopping done it was time to find our favorite afternoon margarita.

  Louise and I have only been here 3 other times but in that short time we have a favorite place to end the day.  I think Mark and Susan agree with us and they are already planning a second trip back.  Leaving Algondones this afternoon was a snap.  Most often we have to wait in line for 1/2 hour or more to get through Americn customs but today we walked right up and through.

23 December '07

Sunday

Waking Friday morning we found ourselves in the middle of a "Wind Advisory".  Wind advisory, hell we are supposed to move on this morning and we are "advised to stay put"...  Well we slowly ate our breakfast and waited another couple of hours before going up to the office to see if there was "room in the inn" for another night.  The masses have yet to show up in the Quartzsite area yet so the opportunity for us to stay another night was no problem.  Later in the afternoon I did meet 3 different rigs that had braved the advisory and they all told me it would be the last time they would do that.  It was a "white knuckle" drive for all of them and they did see a couple of big rigs off the road on Hwy 10 as they were traveling from Indio.  The wind continued through the night again but as morning came it was a blessing to see that we could in fact move on.  After packing up we drove up the hill to fill the fuel tank on the coach and top off the tires with air.  With the price of gas being sooo much lower in Arizona than California, and the fact that we were just across the Colorado River from California, and the fact that this was the last "traveling" weekend before Christmas, the lines all 7 pump areas were extremely long.  Now that we have a full fuel tank and new air to ride on we headed down Hwy 78 from Blythe Ca. to Yuma, Az. and Pilot Knob, the campground we'll be in for the next week.  We called Mark and Susan (Louise's brother and sister-in-law) and told them we would meet them at Applebees for dinner at 5.  We'll be with them for Christmas and some exploring around the Yuma / Mexico areas over the next few days.  After breakfast this morning Louise and I drove into Yuma and took in the "Flea Market".  The wind is still blowing, but not near as hard as it was, and in doing so it was quite cold.  Everyone would look for a wind break to stand behind as the sun would warm you up just as soon as the wind was blocked.  The wind "is" the topic of discussion around here and from what they say will be for a few more days to come. 

20 December '07

Thursday

Over the last week we've been into Quartzsite at least 3 times and finally found our water filters.  We picked up enough to last a year and a half or purhaps a little less if we get into some really bad water somewhere.  I also had a chance to talk with Discount Solar about our coach.  I was thinking that we might want to install a larger panel while we were here, but they talked me out of it for now.  They thought I wouldn't be using it enough to justify the investment right now...maybe a little later if we find that we are Boondocking more.  We also made a trip across the river to Blythe.  Louise needed a haircut and I wanted to visit Starbucks... I also wanted to pick up a couple of things from Ace Hardware.  While there we found a piece to finish off our Christmas decorations.  It is a "Santa Moose" holding a lighted Christmas tree. 

It really came out quite well, at least we've gotten a lot of nice comments on it...  I've also been busy putting a coat of wax on the car and the motor home.  I finally finished the coach today.  It takes a little effort and time to get this thing waxed but boy does it look good.  Yesterday we joined 20 others on a bus trip to a casino.  For $5 each we were to get a bus ride to a casino in Laughlin NV., a great buffet lunch and a full day of gaming.  Once we got there (2 1/2 hours to get up there) we found out that they no longer offered the "included" buffet but you could earn it... it only takes 50 points on your gaming card.  Well hell, I went through $40 and all I had at that point was 7 lousy points...  By the time I would get 50 points I would go into shock from not eating.  I don't know exactly how much I "lost" but it was around $60+.  Now for Louise, at one time she was up almost $200 but by the time she was settling into her seat on the bus it was a minus $15.  She still had a great time, but for me it was a pleasure to be able to go with her wheather she won or lost.  Well tonight is our last night here and in the morning we head for Yuma and back to a campground we were at last year a couple of times...Pilot Knob. 

13 December '07

Thursday

We really enjoyed ourselves in Indio and look forward to returning for a much longer stay in the future.

  Now we are just about 100 miles east of Indio and sitting on the banks of the Colorado river.  We checked into the Western Horizons campground, Colorado River Oasis Resort, on Monday.  Our site is right above the banks of the Colorado and we hope to slip the kayak in soon.  Tuesday we drove the 15 miles into Quartzsite to check things out and see if we could find "the water filter" man.  We would like to re-stock our filters before we leave here, they are much less expensive here than anywhere else we have been.  Unfortunately we came back without any.  Much of "Quartzsite has yet arrived and it seems that "the water filter" man is running later than last year...I hope he shows up before we leave in another week.  Yesterday I spent the best part of the day pulling out everything we have from out of the basement area of the coach.  Everything was taken out to the patio area so that we could do a little inventory and then put back in in a more organized fashion.  Today (Thursday) I found it a real joy to open the basement doors to look for something and immediately find it....who would have thought that a little organization would make such a difference???  The rest of the day was spent just hanging out and meeting and talking with some of the other campers here.  At noon we were all asked to go up to the club house as we were going to be entertained with Christmas songs from the elementary school down the street.  It kind of reminded me of the times when we were invited to the school and our kids class choir would sing for us, it's always very entertaining. 

 Louise started decorating the coach for Christmas.   She found some beautiful electric candles that sit at the windshield and tomorrow we will go shopping to finish her project.  Tonight we sit watching "Survivor"...

7 December '07

Friday

We've had soooo many opportunities to go and enjoy a Pow Wow but we waited "just for this one" here in Indio.  This was going to be a 3 day event but we only had one night to enjoy it, and that one was tonight.  It was held at one of the casinos here in Indio with the "Grand Parade" coming into the pavilion at 6:30. 

It was headed by the "Elder" of the local tribe and a guest from a tribe in Alberta, Canada.  Following them was the flags of the 2 countries and about 250 Native Americans from Nations across the Americas.  This was the 11th Annual Winter Gathering and presented by Twenty Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.  The ceremonial dress of the men, women, and children was absolutely amazingly beautiful.  We took in some of the contests that were to last the whole 3 days.  Now we didn't see the finals, but we really enjoyed the Druming contest, the singing contests, and my favorites, the Ancestorial dancing.  After the Druming and singing competion we saw the Elder men and women (65 +), and the youngest children dance. 

When we left we left with a bounce in our step and an amazement of the stamina of those that were before us tonight. 

4 December '07

Tuesday

The Salton Sea is California's largest lake and it just happens to be more than twice as salty as the Pacific Ocean and, it sits 220 feet below sea level.  Pretty amazing...  It sits just a few miles south of Palm Springs and a few miles north of El Centro.  Right now the water level of the lake is dropping, but if it were to continue raining here in the Palm Springs area like it did last week, it would sure help.  At one time the "Salton Sink" was the site of a major salt mining operation as early as 1815.  the Salton Sea exists today because of a man made environmental disaster in the early 1900's.  Irrigation routes from the Colorado River caused the river to flow unchecked into the Salton Sink for better than 2 years.  Well now you've got a new lake, and it's very salty...  The lake is 35 miles long, and at the widest, 22 miles.  It is also pretty shallow...approx 50 feet at the deepest point.  With the weather being almost perfect, we decided to take the kayak out of the car and paddle the Salton.

  Each time you get into the water you take in totally different sights, and this one wasn't any different.  We had mountains across the lake and desert and farming fields on the other.  Sea birds were plentiful because of the fish in the sea.  We were really taken with the huge white Pelicans.  I would guess that we saw well over 200 of them in our 2 hour paddle. 

3 December '07

Monday

As we pulled into the Joshua Tree National Park we found immediately that this park was going to be an adventure.  From our first stop at the Visitor Center on the south entrance to the Visitor Center at the North entrance some 70 miles away.  We did our first hike around an oasis. 

 Now you've got to remember that this is desert area, but we did find were water has been sought for centuries from the Indians to the early and late "gold seeking" settlers of California. 

 (Do you see the elephant above?) We also had fun climbing the most interesting twisted rock and exposed granite monoliths we've ever seen. 

 This park is gigantic...  As we drove over the first pass and looked down into the valley below we were stunned.  As far a we could see wasn't even close to the boundry.  All we could see were walls of mountains with more mountains on the other side...mountains of deserts.  The Joshua Tree National Park is composed of 2 deserts, the Mojave and Sonoran...it is immense.  Our next hike was into the "Cholla Cactus Garden".

  They call the Cholla the "Jumping Cholla" because all you have to do is get close and it seems that you've got yourself a mass of cactus quills.  We've been around the Cholla for a lot of years but this natural garden is really something special.  You would think that we would have seen the reason they called this park the Joshua Tree National Park but we flat ran out of time...now we have a reason to return some day, to see the famous Joshua. 

2 December 2007

Sunday

Today was another first for me.  The day we checked in here, we were handed a schedule of events for the week and listed for this Sunday was a "Vendor Day".  This ment that any person or couple that had a product to market or sell could set up a booth an "SELL, SELL, SELL.  Well I wanted to "test" the market with my kayaks...  2 in the afternoon we were ready...table, chair, literature, price sheet, and of course..."The Kayak".  I had no idea of the response that I would get but as it was, I was blown away...  I did't get any sales this time around but the reception was overwelming.  They will sell for me and they will sell well...I'm excited !

Now finishing our 3rd day here in Indio, I've got to say that we've been busy...Did I say busy?  Well that may not be exactly true.  Thursday we decided to find all the local stores and just see the area that we are now living in for the next two weeks.  There is no doubt that this area of California's desert is nothing but beautiful.  Those of us that haven't been around Palm Springs, Indio, and the other towns tghat make up this area only had the pictures and words of others to tell us how nice it is.  Now it's my turn...don't miss it !!!  It does seem that just about everything is brand-spankin new and lying in the shadows of some outstanding mountains.  The weather has really been great since we got here, but yesterday we were entertained with rain...a down pour.  The news told us that this was the wettest day that they've had in the last 2 years.  There were a couple of areas around us that got as much as an inch of rain and created flooding and power outages from one area of the valley to the other.  We were without power for about 2 hours ourselves.  There was a silver lining to being without power, we had a chance to run the generator and get it up to "load".  They tell us that we should run the generator at "load" once a month so thaty gave us our opportunity.  No sooner had the rain stopped that we received high winds across the desert.  Unfortunately today, Saturday, is the day they celebrate the tamale.  The Tamale Festival" is celebrated in Old Town Indio every year.  This is a BIG DEAL !!!  Last year they had 120,000 visitors.  It started off with a parade through town at 10am, opening of the booths and fhe fairas the last person clears the end of the route.  Now the "tasting" of the tamales begins.  There is this one tamale stand that you might say is "the" place to eat tamales.  As we were walking around looking at the different booths and having aq tamale or two, we came upon this one booth called "Grandma Lupes Tamales". 

I kid you not, the line for their tamales was about 150  yards long and each person that was lucky enough to get to the head of the loine was buying "quantities" of those tamales.  It was amazing... Nope, we didn't get into the line but we heard from some of those that did...."the best you can buy" !  Later in the evening, after washing the coach, we walked over to the club house and had a dinner of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravey, corn, salad, and or course...desert.  We ate well today...