17 February ‘08
Sunday
We left the snow behind and headed off to Indio this morning. Well the truth is, the snow was almost totally melted the day after it fell. The aftermath of the storm left one of the main roadways badly damaged by slides and second main road was very slow to open because of wash-outs. In taking all that into consideration we opted for the freeway system for a lot of today’s driving. Indio is about 125-130 miles north northeast from Ramona so we headed for California 515. About 75 miles later we were at Temecula, turning right and heading east to Indio. What we didn’t expect was that we were just about ready to head down the “Pines to Palms”… The Pine to Palms is the two lane roadway that drops from 4,400 feet to -50 in an almost totally vertical drop that is one hair-pin turn after another.
I really didn’t want to venture onto such a drop in altitude because I’ve always got to keep my eye (or should I say “my foot”) on our speed or breaking power as we are going down the hill with our “toad” (our car) pushing behind. To be honest I really enjoyed the ride and challenge while my partner, she who rides in the seat to my right, had other thoughts of “enjoyment or terror” at the time. We’re heading here to Indio for our first “Rally” although this is actually called a “Pre-Rally”. Pre-Rally because we (us being one Holiday Rambler motor home out of 72) are all going to travel together 75 miles to Pomona, California to attend The FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Rally. Almost the moment we pulled into town we picked up the cell phone and called Leroy and Claudia to see if they were “home”. They have decided that Indio is their new home away from home, or winter home area. Louise and I were lucky to be here now as their daughter Carrie and her two sons and daughter are here visiting. We haven’t seen her for a very long time and as far as her kids, this was our first time. What a great family… Yesterday we checked into our new campground and this morning we joined other “Holiday Ramblers” (the brand name of our motor home) to start the rally.