We’re in Palm Springs

 

Sunday, December 6, 2009                                                                                                  Lorraine’s report

We’re here in Palm Desert at Thousand Trails RV Park. We arrived on Tuesday, December 1, late in the afternoon.

Last Sunday was another busy day for us. We went into Sears again for a family photo shoot. We went over to Susy’s home and picked them up and headed over to the mall. The photo shoot went better than the previous appointment, and we got several good pictures.

After the pictures, we went back to Susy’s home to have Rick, our son, open up his Christmas presents, since he will be up on the North Slope for Christmas. We opened presents from him, too; everyone had a fun time.

Following that, Chuck took us all out to P F Changs for Chinese. I have to say I have not seen our little granddaughter, Kaitlyn eat so much Hot and Sour soup ever before. She is in a growing spurt, I think, and she ate at least three, maybe four bowls full, a lot for her. It was such a wonderful day for our little family, since we would be leaving early on Monday morning, and Rick would be heading back to Alaska later in the week. Thank you Susy, Mark, Kaitlyn and especially Rick, for coming for our family Thanksgiving; we really appreciated all of it!

Monday we headed out for Palm Springs. Chuck wanted to check out an RV repair place in Chino, CA, so we set the GPS for there. We were making great time until we got through “The Grapevine”. We hit LA rush hour traffic, heading into Chino; six lanes, all stopped, on extremely rough roads, all going nowhere. We finally made it into Chino to the repair shop. It was closed, but a man was still there to open the gate and we pulled the rig in.

It was dark, but Chuck was able to see the oil running out all over the tire. We had broken the seal on the front passenger side wheel bearing, and the tire was hot. We set up, and then ate and went to bed.

Tuesday, Chuck was up bright and early, since the workers at the repair place started by 7 am. He had the foreman check out the stuff that we needed to be done on the coach, and then went over to a shop just across the street for the wheel bearing. They could get us right in as soon as the paint shop was finished with their bid.

We went over around 9-9:30 or so, and that foreman started ordering parts for the bus. We were hopeful that the brake shoes didn’t get soaked in oil, since it would have been a bit of a problem to get parts in for that, too.

I waited in their tiny customer lounge. The office gal plugged in a portable heater, but no TV. At noon, we went over to a burger joint to eat. By then, they had started working on the wheel bearings, the other side was leaking oil, come to find out. They finished up around 2 pm, and we were on the road by 2:15-2:30 headed to Palm Springs.

On the way over we had not one but two different big rig trucks blow out one of their tires right in front of us. It sounded like a great big explosion, with debris flying all over the road right at us. Chuck was able to maneuver the coach to miss most of the big stuff.  God was watching over us that day!

We pulled into Thousand Trails a little after 4 and found the spot by our friends, Melba and Carol. We set up the rig, and then went over to our other friends, Joe and Alice’s for dinner. Alice cooked up a wonderful dinner for us; we really appreciated it. Thank you for doing that for us, Alice.

Wednesday, Chuck started washing the roof while I did laundry, cleaned inside and then decorated for Christmas. We finished and then went out to dinner with our friends, Melba/Carol and Joe/Alice. We went to Augustine Casino for their prime rib dinner buffet. Everyone said the food was great and the price was good, and all had a great time.

Thursday, Chuck continued washing the passenger side of the coach. I took Carol to Costco and Walmart for grocery shopping. Chuck said we should invite Melba/Carol, Joe/Alice and Bill/Barbara over for dinner. We had BBQ steak, salmon and new baby red potatoes, which I made up. Alice brought a cold slaw, Barb brought a green salad, and Carol brought dessert, bread and wine. We all had a wonderful evening.

Friday, Chuck washed the driver’s side of the coach and I took it easy, I wasn’t feeling well. I made chicken noodle soup for dinner and invited Joe/Alice over. We watched a movie on TV and enjoyed a nice quiet evening at home.

Saturday we said our goodbyes to Bill/Barb, they were leaving for home in Texas.

We then went to Joe/Alice’s to go to the Tamale Festival Parade in Indio, CA with them and Joe’s sister Lupe and her husband, Archie. We watched the parade, and went to several booths and tried several kinds of tamales. We had beef, chicken, pork, pineapple, and strawberry. I forgot to say how cold it was, only 45 degree and cloudy.

Freddy Fender, Jr. was performing on one of the free outdoor stages, so we found our way there. Freddy and his group put on a very good show; he sure looks and sounds like his dad, I really enjoyed hearing him, but we had to leave before his show ended to take Misty dog out.

Earlier, Dorothy, who went with us to Alaska this summer, had called and invited us to go with them to the Elks Lodge for their Christmas Party. We met them at the Lodge in Desert Hot Springs and had a nice visit and dinner. It was great to see Tom/Dorothy and Dorothy’s sister, Dessa again. We hope to see them later this week again.

So, another week has gone, seems to be busy as ever. Until next time….Lorraine

 

Sunday 12/6/09                                                                                                                        Chuck’s report

This was a busier week for us, at least it feels that way.  Sunday was our last full day in the Bay area and we put it too good use.  We went back to Sears for photo retakes, I think Lorraine and Susy were pleased with this set, at least they ordered some.  Later we went back to Susy’s to celebrate Christmas with our son, Rick, because he will be back in Alaska and not able to be with us on Christmas.  Later we went out to dinner once again.   Other than the waiting around at the photo place, a good day. 

Monday we headed out towards our next stop in Palm Springs.  We don’t like to travel too far in one day, we try to keep it around 200 miles/day if possible and try to stop around 2 or 3 pm.  We were going to travel a bit farther today, hoping to get to Chino to a repair shop for an estimate on the coach repairs we need.  The GPS said we would get there about 3:20 but I knew we had to stop for fuel and lunch plus there would be some traffic in LA too.  But the roads were rough in places and the traffic was worse than I expected so it was after dark before when we got there.  I think this is the first time we’ve had to back into our site in the dark but luckily Lorraine and our neighbor were able to guide me in with flashlights with no problems. 

I did notice we had lube oil all over the passenger side front tire.  Ah, it was a blown seal, pretty easy to diagnose.  The bearings were a little hot but not over 200 so I hope they would be alright, anyway, nothing we could do until the morning. 

The next morning I met with the owner of the body repair shop.  I wanted him to give us an estimate for the work and check his work schedule too.  I have a good feeling for this place, I saw some of the work they’ve done and looked over some pictures of work they have done.  We really need to sit down and discuss if we will have the work done here in Chino or if we will go back to Red Bay, Alabama for the repairs.  

Once again, luck was on us side for repairs to the front tire seal.  There was a repair shop down a block or two that has done a lot of work with Tiffin coaches.  I was there when they opened and they said they could get us in as soon as we were done at the body repair place.  So a little before 10 were were there and they checked to see how bad the problem was.  I also had them check out the driver’s side as I had noticed some lube oil streaking from it earlier.  After checking it out they said they had the parts needed and would get us out before noon.  All righty, lets get ‘er done.  Ha, they didn’t have the parts after all.   So after checking their supplier, they made a quick trip over there to get the parts.  They told us the brakes were not affected so we wouldn’t have to change them out too, whew.  They got us done and we were out of there by 2:30 before the rush hour traffic started.

We were driving out on CA 60, I think, it is a freeway with 4 lanes each way and we were running in the second from the left lane.  There was a truck in the left lane and they blew a recap tire on their left side, sending the remains across the road directly at us.  I was able to slow enough and move over one lane and missed the biggest pieces, whew.  That’s the first time we’ve one blow that close to us, sounded like a shotgun going off.  But about 30 miles or so later, we had a different truck on our right side blow a recap tire on their right hand side.  The tire remains of course came out way, once again I was able to slow enough to miss the biggest piece but a smaller piece did jump up and hit us, only left a rubber smear but no other damage.  Wow, two in one day, hope that’s our quota for a long time, luck was with us these two times, don’t want to push our luck. 

We got to Palm Springs and got set up next to our friends Melba/Carol.  Our friends Joe/Alice had invited us over to their coach for dinner so we were able to relax a bit, thanks.  Boy do these California roads need some work!

I spent part of the next three days washing the rig, don’t want to overdo it you know.  Lorraine put up our little Christmas tree and decorations around the rig, looks good.  Our home is now as decorated for Christmas as it gets. 

Lorraine wanted to have a B-B-Q with our friends, so she went by the store and we took out some of the Salmon we caught in Alaska.  Melba/Carol, Joe/Alice, Bill/Barb and us enjoyed the good food and good times with plenty of laughter.  We have certainly met lots of nice folks since we’ve been on the road and really enjoy meeting up with them somewhere later. 

Melba/Carol left to head back home on Friday, they live in the North Bay area.  Here’s wishing Melba a Happy Birthday on Wednesday, this is a big one, he will be 80.  Congratulations Mel, have a good time and see you down the road. 

Saturday was a busy day.  We started off by trying to see Bill/Barb before they headed back to Texas to their home.  We got there too late, Bill was already on the road but we did manage to see Barb and say bye to her.  We then met with Joe/Alice and his sister, Lupe and husband, Archie and went to the Tamale Festival  and Parade in Indio.  Boy, they have lots of different types of Tamales, beef, pork, chicken, pineapple and strawberry are the types we tried. 

We also caught part of the Freddy Fender Jr. concert while there.  Boy does he sound like his father when he sings.  He also had a girl singer from Louisiana who could really belt it out.  We couldn’t stay until the end, had to get back and take our dog out but it was a good concert.  We left our friends Joe/Alice and Archie/Lupe there when we headed back to our coach. 

A couple of hours later we headed to the Elks lodge to meet up with our friends Tom/Dorothy who live in the area.  They are the ones  that traveled to Alaska with us and had a hole in their radiator in Dease Lake, BC.  They had to stay there to get the needed repairs and we headed back to Bellingham.  it was good to catch up on their lives and happenings since we were together in Alaska. 

So that was our week, a busier one than normal but we did get to spend time with good friends.  The weather here has been so-so, cooler than normal and cloudy most of yesterday.  The forecast is for cool, cloudy with possible rain this week.  It will still get up to the high 60s so it won’t be too bad, I hear the Northeaster is blowing back home. 

And now for some pictures.

Our first Christmas celebrations this year, with our son Rick. 

With help from a 4 year old.

 

Dessert after dinner, I’ll probably get in trouble for the second one with Susy. 

Outside the restaurant, we asked a passerby to take our pictures.

Part of the trip heading East. 

Lorraine putting up her Christmas tree. 

Barb, Carol and Alice in first, Barb, Carol and Lorraine in second. 

 

They whole group at our place l to r Lorraine, Bill, Barb, Carol, Mel, Alice and Joe. 

At the Tamale Festival  and Parade

Hey Mark, notice where they are from!

Freddy Fender Jr.

 

We plan on staying here at Thousand Trials in Palm Springs for another week and then head back to Susy’s for Christmas.  I think there are some members from the Lewis and Clark Chapter of FMCA here too although we haven’t met up with them yet.  This is the Chapter we joined while we were in Seaside, Oregon a couple of months ago.  Guess that will give us something to do this week.

Thanks   Chuck