We’re in Palm Springs, California

 

February 22, 2015                                                                                                               Lorraine’s report

Hello once again from Thousand Trails, Palm Springs, CA.  The time sure has been flying by for me, not sure where the days go, but they sure are passing quickly. 

So Chuck wrote about our time since we came here.  I just want to add a few things here and there.  It was so nice Dave and Sandy took time out of their winter plans to come and visit us here in Palm Springs.  Thank you both for coming to spend time with us. it means the world to us.   We went to breakfast with them as they were leaving; it is so sad to watch them go.  They went one way and we went the other.  Hopefully, we will catch up with them here soon, somewhere down the road.

Same thing for Tom, Dorothy and Mary.  We loved visiting with you, it’s such a joy to see you all and to see everyone doing well.  We look forward to seeing you on down the road, next time we make it here to Palm Springs.  I look forward to the next time, even though Dorothy is so busy with all she does, it is always wonderful to see them all.  Many thanks to all these good people who just take the time to be there for us!!!  Thank you all…

So this week we will head back to San Jose to help Susy with her operation.  I talked with her and she is sure ready to have the surgery done, healed and her back to her “normal” self.  And of course, I know I always look forward to seeing our granddaughter, Kaitlyn.  She is growing up so fast.  Her next birthday is in April, she will turn 10.  When did this happen? 

So that is it for me. Have a good week everyone.  Hugs to all…

Lorraine

2/22/15                                                                                                                               Chuck’s report

Oops, we missed posting our blog last week, not sure why but it did end up causing a bit of confusion as we changed our plans and headed to Palm Springs instead of going to Lake Havasu as we mentioned in our blog two weeks ago.  Oh well, such is our life, Lorraine likes to say our plans are as firm as jello. 

Two weeks ago we were firmly planted in Yuma, we had extended our stay at Cactus Gardens for another week.  Monday was our last visit to the dentist in Mexico, they removed the temporary crowns and put on the permanent ones, we paid our bill and we are done with dentists.  Sure glad to have all the work done, we don’t have dental insurance and probably would have elected to have the teeth pulled if we had gone to a dentist up here. 

Tuesday we made a grocery store run then met Carl and Brenda for an early dinner at Daybreakers, a diner at the truck stop.  Not bad, food and service were both good and we had another good visit with these two fine folks.

Wednesday we decided to get in one more visit with our friends who were staying at Fortuna, Rob/Norma, Dennis/Barb and Steve/Sandy.  We managed to stay there visiting, with much laughter I might add, until we decided to drive across town to have dinner at the Cracker Barrel.  We were able to get two tables near each other and continued our visit with these fine folks until we finished dinner and said our so longs outside. 

Thursday we got everything put away and ready for travel.  We had discussed going to Lake Havasu City or Bullhead but decided to travel to Palm Springs instead.  Two big reasons for heading here instead were: it’s more a direct route when we head to Susy’s this week and we could make a drive over to see Joe and Alice before they leave and head back up North.  And it’s a 1000 Trails park so we can stay using our membership and it doesn’t cost anything per night, that’s always a good thing too.

We did experience some heavy winds as we headed West from Yuma but after about 50 miles or so it died down and the traveling was better.  We decided to take the route that takes us along the West side of the Sultan Sea, close enough to see the lake but we’ve been there before so we didn’t stop and explore this time.  We got to our park and were surprised to find a spot right along the main road, not often we get to stay in this section.  The road is very wide so it makes it much easier to back into our spot, only issue is we are facing West and the sun gets hot in the afternoon shining in the big front window.  But we just pull the shades in the afternoon and turn on the air conditioners.  Plus we try to lounge around outside in our chairs some everyday to enjoy this great weather we having. 

Friday we drove to Hemet to meet with Joe and Alice at their winter spot, good to see them once again.  Joe remarked that we get to visit more often when we are not in Washington, even when we stay at their extra lot, because one or the other seems to always have something going on almost every day.  We had a good visit, then drove over to a nice Mexican restaurant before we called it a day and headed back to our place.  They were planning on heading home starting on Sunday so it’s good we got one last visit before that.  We did have Misty with us as we knew we would probably be gone quite awhile, as it turned out, we left around 10 and got back around 7, a full day.

Saturday we sort of just stayed near our place until we headed to Desert Hot Springs Elks Lodge for dinner.  This is actually my home lodge, I joined there 7 years ago.  We were to meet Tom, Dorothy and her sister Mary for dinner, they were having a steak dinner and Dorothy called ahead to get us on the list.  Once again we had a good visit and good dinner, a good time.

Sunday morning Lorraine got ready and went to Church here at the campground.  I was going to start the blog but got busy doing other stuff and just plain forgot the blog until she mentioned it to me a few hours later.  Oh well, not a big deal, we’ll just get caught up the next time. 

That afternoon the  Lewis and Clark FMCA Chapter had planned a pot luck get together so Lorraine got our contribution ready.  The invite said things start at 4 so we got there a few minutes early and helped set up the tables.  Usually at one of these type things everyone is there early and the activities get started earlier than posted but this time we were surprised to note that lots of folks got there after 4 so things didn’t really get started until almost 4:30 or so.  But there were about 40 folks there and everyone had a good time, good pot luck and good visits.  Not a bad turnout considering that Lewis and Clark Chapter is actually from Oregon yet 40 folks were down here, plus they have a  bunch staying in Yuma too. 

Monday we drove over to Augustine Casino for old farts day, they give everyone 55 or older $5 in free play plus $2 off their buffet, I think we pay $12 for two buffets.  Of course we tried our luck on the machines too and this time we both took out some money, nice. 

Our good friends Dave and Sandy posted their blog on Monday and we were surprised to find they were back in Los Angeles once again and would be leaving there in a couple of days.  We called them and invited them to stop by and join us here in Palm Springs but they said they already had plans and didn’t plan on heading this way.  Dave said if he had known we were here instead of in Havasu they could have included us in their planning, shoot.  If only we had posted our blog on Sunday they would have know we were here and maybe could have gotten together. 

Tuesday I had an appliance repairman coming by to check out our fridge, it hasn’t be getting cool enough.  Sure enough, it needed two parts, a fan and a temperature sensor.  After he replaced them, it has been working fine once again but I’m not used to having issues with refrigerators, this is the third service call we’ve had on our two year old Samsung.  It is bigger and stays colder than the Norcold that came with the rig but it hasn’t been as reliable as hoped.  Here’s hoping for a long run of it working without any issues.

After he finished up with the repairs, Lorraine had all the bedding and stuff ready to head to the laundry mat.  We have a washer and drier in the rig and usually that’s all we need but this time we needed to do rugs and bedding so needed bigger machines.  We had checked this place out a couple days before and it has some large washers and driers that we knew would work.  A couple hours later everything was clean and back in the car, not too bad.  On the way back we stopped at Del Taco for Taco Tuesday special for our dinner.

We did have a good surprise, Dave called and asked if the invite was still open to come visit us.  I assured him it was and that it shouldn’t be a problem to get them reservations.  I called back to the office and got them set up for two days and let them know they were set up and welcomed.  So they were able to change their plans a bit and see us even though we didn’t post our actual location in our blog as usual.   

Wednesday we made another run to Wal-Mart, Lorraine just needed a couple of items so it was a pretty quick trip.  This time we went to the new one just up the road from us and it wasn’t crowded, in fact, when we checked out we found an empty register just waiting for us, not too common at WM for sure.

Thursday was another sort of quite day, we made a run to Costco to return something then went back to Augustine for their Thursday senior buffet and once again tried our luck on the machines.  I think I was up but Lorraine sad she was down some, bummer. 

Friday Dave and Sandy got here about about 10:30 or so, I had saved them a spot right across the street from us when someone left earlier in the morning.  Once they got to the gate, we met them and guided them to their spot and left to let them set up.  We had made plans to tour the area a bit later so after they got set up we firmed up our plans. 

First we wanted to see Mike and Linda from our RV America group, the one we stay with in Quartzsite.  They are staying here also so it was just a short trip to their place.  They seem to be really glad to see Dave and Sandy, it’s been three years I think they said.  We only stayed for a sort visit, just over an hour I think, before we left them and headed out to tour the area.  Linda has been fighting the flu or a cold so they didn’t want to do much except let her rest so they didn’t go with us.

Frist off, we went to an Oasis just up the way from us that we knew about.  This one has lots of palm trees and they aren’t trimmed with just a few fronds on the top, instead these are allowed to let them bend down and cover the trunk, sort of like a hula skirt.  This Oasis is located right on the San Andres fault line and there is some “fresh” water coming out out of the desert, enough that it is running, even has small fish and tadpoles in some pools.  We spent an hour or so here, may have stayed longer but they close and lock the gate at 5:00 sharp and we didn’t want to be locked in for sure. 

After the Oasis, we just toured the back roads a bit before we headed back and had dinner at Cocos, a diner just up the road from us.  We really enjoyed our day with these good folks, sure glad they could change their plans to be here.  After dinner we came back to our place and they taught us a new card game called “7s”.  Fairly easy game to understand, must have been because I won. 

Saturday Dave, Sandy, Lorraine and I went to the Palm Springs Street Fair.  We have been there already this year but wanted to show it to Dave and Sandy so we made another trip.  The crowds were larger than last time we were there but did start to thin out a bit by the time we left with our few purchases.  We made plans to go to a “all you can eat” lobster buffet for dinner later so wanted to find something lite for lunch.  Therefore we stopped by a burger place for lunch.

We had a couple hours before we headed out once again and spent some of that time with Mike and Linda once again.  Linda was feeling better but still not up to going out so they declined our offer to go with us to the buffet.  We got to the buffet and on the waiting list by 6, they said it would be an hour’s wait.  So we got Dave and Sandy signed up for their player’s card and they both had $10 free play, that didn’t last too long however. 

Shortly after 7 we got to our table, Lorraine and Sandy both wanted the buffet but Dave and I just ordered off the menu, we both had meatloaf.  I know the gals had their fill of lobster and prime rib and even had a small desert.  The meatloaf portion was pretty large so Dave and I didn’t suffer any either.  We got back about 8:00 or so after another good dinner and visit.

The weather this past week has been just outstanding, high 80s or even low 90s for the most part.  Sure glad we have air conditioners in the afternoon.  The lows have only been dropping to the high 50s to so that means shorts and tee shirts all day long.  We have had some clouds a few days but nothing to be concerned about but the forecast is for rain in Los Angeles tonight with some maybe coming over the mountains and getting to us tomorrow.  We have some dark clouds over the mountains today but no rain so far.  And todays high is only forecast to be in the low 70s, a cold snap for us. 

We have had some heavy winds over the past two weeks, when we left Yuma they were getting close to 30 MPH and Saturday we had some in the mid 30+ MPH.  The sand was blowing across the roads bad enough it looked like a snow storm with snow blowing and drifting but of course, the temps were pretty nice. 

Our travel plans are pretty simple, we will leave here on Wednesday and head back to the Elks Lodge near Susy’s.  She is having surgery on Friday and we will be there to help her during her recovery.  Hope everything goes well with her surgery!!!

I know we have some pictures in the camera as I took lots of pictures when we were at the Oasis so I’ll go through them and add some here then get this posted.   

Pictures along our drive from Yuma to Palm Springs. 

  

The wind was blowing hard enough to blow sand across the road, just like snow drifts only lots warmer. 

  

Even had small “white caps” on the irrigation canal.  Not much grows without water as seen on the right. 

  

This is what happens when there is water available in the desert. 

  

  

A palm tree nursery on the left.

  

Sultan Sea in the background.

  

Our site here at Palm Springs 1000 Trails campground, these palm trees are trimmed like most of them are.  

  

Joe and Alice at their place. 

  

Lewis and Clark chapter get together. 

  

  

  

  

Left to right are Lorraine, Sandy, Linda, Mike and Dave.  Sandy and Lorraine at the Oasis we visited. 

  

Pictures from the Coachella Valley Preserve (Oasis).  The palm trees aren’t trimmed so lots of animals and birds live in/under the skirts. 

   

  

   

Here is the water, comes up right at the San Andres Fault line. 

  

  

  

Some of the branches have pretty severe thorns as shown on the left and middle.  Lorraine, Dave and Sandy on the right. 

  

Sandy under one of the trees that form an arch. 

 

Sunset pictures. 

  

Thanks   Chuck

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