Year 3 Week 28

December 24 to 30, 2006

Aguanga back to Palm Springs / Desert Hot Springs, California

Year 3 week 28

 

Sunday ; Another gorgeous day in the high desert of Southern California.

Christmas Eve is always a difficult day for me, since my father died on Christmas Eve. And I look at my very special airplane Christmas ornament, given to me by my mother-in-law the year I got my pilot’s license, and I miss her.

As a result of our full time traveling lifestyle, we have discarded some old family traditions ( waffles for breakfast on Christmas morning ... my family's tradition ), retained some old family traditions ( French Canadian tourtière for dinner on Christmas Eve ... Joanne's family's tradition ) and developed some new traditions of our own ( lounging around the pool and hot tub on Christmas Eve and / or Christmas Day ).

This morning we searched out the 4 new members of our Christmas dinner table, and advised them of our meeting at 7:00 P.M. to finalize who’s contributing what. Unwillingly, and by default, Joanne and I have become the “host and hostess” of our Christmas dinner table, a role we believe rightfully belongs to a permanent resident of the park. But since all the self centered park residents filled up all the Christmas dinner tables with their little cliques, us “outsiders” are going to have to fend for ourselves. It’s going to be just fine. We now have a total of 9 people at our Christmas dinner table, all “late arrivals” to the park. Us, our friend Julie who is arriving from Phoenix tomorrow, a couple from Washington, a couple from New York, and a mother / daughter duo from .... I don’t know. Their license plate says Texas, but Texas is a “residence of convenience” for many traveling Escapees.

We spent much of the afternoon in the hot tub. AHHHHH ! It sure is nice to float around a 105 degree hot tub on a warm, sunny Christmas Eve, and let somebody else worry about balancing the chemicals, cleaning it, etc.. I enjoyed having a swimming pool and hot tub in our last home, but they were a lot of work to maintain.

As I took Bo for an obedience session as the sun set, Joanne prepared tourtière for supper. With the exception of my K & N turbo-diesel high performance air intake system, our very few gifts are wrapped and under the tree. Our traveling lifestyle is conducive to a very minimalist Christmas. And we enjoy the loss of chaos that came with Christmas in our previous “brick and stick” lifestyle. Shopping, decorating, the strain of running multiple retail businesses, which included, as I recall, unloading a truck in the freezing rain on Christmas Eve one year. Bah, humbug to that !

As we were leaving Winnipeg in September, Joanne's sister Lorraine gave us a 2 CD set called A Prairie Home Christmas. Thank you, Lorri. We listened to disc 1 yesterday, and disc 2 today while having dinner. It's an old fashioned radio program, somewhat reminiscent of Stuart Maclean's Vinyl Café on CBC Radio.

After dinner, and listening to the CD, we went down to the clubhouse for our Christmas dinner planning meeting. Afterwards, I gave Bo a bath.

Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men !

 

Monday ; MERRY CHRISTMAS

Today was sunny and hot. Perfect Christmas weather ! HA HA HA ! Dreaming of a white Christmas ? I don't think so !

First thing this morning Joanne put the turkey in the oven. I prepared a pancake brunch. We were going to open gifts right after brunch, then head for the pool and hot tub. But first we had to phone my sister. Then we had to phone Joanne's sister and her family. We were going to open gifts, then head for the pool and hot tub right after our phone calls. But then our friend Julie showed up from Phoenix. And before you knew it, the turkey was cooked and ready to be carved, then it was time to head to Friendship Hall, this Southern California RV park's name for its clubhouse < rolling eyes > for Christmas dinner at 2:00 P.M.. Darn ... we hadn't yet opened gifts, or gone to the pool and hot tub.

Our Christmas dinner table included 12 people. The last 2 were a park resident couple who waited until sometime this morning to sign up for Christmas dinner < gritting teeth >. All in all, it was a good dinner, but the layout of the table made it impossible to converse with the people on the opposite side of the table. And ... somewhat in accordance with what we've seen to be an American habit, people ate and ran, some leaving by 2:45 P.M.. We returned to our trailer with Julie, and visited with her until early evening.

After she left to go park her rig in the boondock area, we finally got around to opening gifts. Well, actually, the only one who had any gifts to open was Bo. My gift to myself wastoo big to wrap. Joanne's gift to herself was wrapped, but < shrugging > there's not much thrill in unwrapping a gift that you've bought for yourself and wrapped for yourself. And Teddy had no wrapped gifts. Just a couple of packets of semi-soft food. And Teddy's not very good at unwrapping. Unlike Bo, who really gets into it !

So ... we didn't unwrap gifts until pretty late in the day, and we never did make it to the pool and hot tub. But it sure was great seeing Julie again, and sharing Christmas Day with her.

 

Tuesday ; Aguanga to Julian, California & return

Today was another sunny, warm day.

It was our intention to leave this morning at 10:00 A.M. for a day trip to the tourist town of Julian, about 42 miles away. But we had 2 delays that resulted in us not leaving until about 11:30 A.M.. First, our friend Julie wanted to be assigned a serviced campsite, and move from boondock to a serviced site. She went to the office when it opened at 8:30 A.M., but the office wasn't able to assign a site to her immediately. She finally got a site, moved to it, and was at our site by 10:20 A.M., ready to depart for our day trip outing. But about 10:00 A.M. two members of the park's maintenance committee showed up at our site to replace the water standpipe that I knocked over when we arrived. Joanne suggested that it would be appropriate for me to assist them with the work, so I changed into work clothes, and joined them. We dug down to where the pipe had broken off, then dug a trench to relocate the standpipe about 10 feet further back, removing it from risk of being hit again by somebody backing a trailer into the site. We cut pipe, glued and assembled it, reinstalled the pole and the plumbing, and backfilled. Good job, but hard work, and we weren't finished until about 11:30 A.M..

I washed up and changed clothes, and we departed for Julian. We stopped at the Post Office in Aguanga so Julie could pick up her mail, then headed southeast on Hwy. 79 for 35 miles to the town of Santa Ysabel. We stopped in Santa Ysabel to look a bakery / pie store. Santa Ysabel and Julian are noted for their pies. Seven more miles east on Hwy. 78 and we were in Julian, 4200 feet up the base of Volcan Mountain, a small tourist town with restored heritage buildings filled with touristy clothing shops, antique stores, restaurants, and bakeries / pie stores.

We walked around town briefly, then had a nice lunch in a bakery / pie store / café. Afterwards it was a long ( too long for me ) afternoon of wandering around this quaint little village, browsing in gift and clothing stores. Joanne bought some apple cider, and a hooded sweater. She saw the same style of hooded sweater at VillageFest in Palm Springs, and considered buying it for herself for Christmas, but was undecided. When she saw it in Julian, cheaper than in Palm Springs, she bought it. And just before we left town, I bought a pie, having compared flavours and prices during the day. When I finally returned to the restaurant where we had lunch, to buy a pie, it was near closing, and they had just marked the price down to half price, as "day old" pies. Bonus !

It turned dark as we drove back to Aguanga, about an hour trip. The mountain road was narrow, winding, and descending for most of the trip. And no matter how fast I drove, it wasn't fast enough for the locals. I had a lineup of cars behind me most of the time, and no good opportunities to let them pass. Occasionally a car would pass me, finding a variety of Southern California ways to express their displeasure with me. It's one of the things I find most distasteful about Southern California. Rude, impatient, obnoxious, and often dangerous drivers ... everywhere !

 

Wednesday ; Today was cool, windy, and partially cloudy. It rained overnight.

We had a lazy morning, listening to the first CD of A Prairie Home Companion, a taped live radio show. It was a Christmas gift from Joanne's sister Lorraine, along with its companion album which we already listened to, A Prairie Home Christmas. Just before noon Joanne headed off with Bo to invite Julie and her dog Tansy to go to the park's dog run area. I napped.

After taking Bo and Tansy to the dog run area, Joanne and Julie returned to our trailer. Julie had lunch and dinner with us. We had an enjoyable long day of visiting with her. Joanne prepared a wild rice casserole for supper, to introduce Julie to a dish that was truly "Canadian cuisine", although it didn't turn out quite as well as past efforts. Joanne attributed it to the "cheap" cracked kernel wild rice that we bought last summer, instead of the more expensive whole kernel wild rice that we usually buy. Dessert was yesterday's "day old" apple pie. Very nice !

It was great having an opportunity to visit with Julie over the last few days.

 

Thursday ; Aguanga to Palm Springs / Desert Hot Springs

Today was sunny, mild, and extremely windy.

It was our plan to return to the Palm Springs area today the same way we had come, over the mountains. But 2 things caused us to change our plans. First, the weather forecast was issuing wind warnings for the roads in the mountain passes. Secondly, we didn't have enough fuel to make it back to Palm Springs without buying some diesel, and there's nowhere to buy diesel on the route over the mountains. So we had to head in the wrong direction, back to Temecula, and since we were at the Interstate there, we took the much longer route on the Interstates around the mountains.

From Jojoba Hills at Aguanga we drove west on Hwy. 79 to Temecula. We weren't desperate for diesel yet, and I didn't like the price of diesel in Temecula, so we headed north on Interstate 15 without buying diesel. We branched off onto Interstate 215 to Riverside. I really needed fuel at Riverside, but again I didn't like the price. I put in just enough diesel to get us to Flying J just past Palm Springs in Thousand Palms. From Riverside we followed Hwy. 60 until it reached Interstate 10, then we followed I-10 east to Palm Springs and beyond to Thousand Palms. We filled up with diesel, and refilled an empty propane tank at Flying J. We back tracked a few miles to Desert Hot Springs, on the north side of Interstate 10, opposite Palm Springs on the south side. We found our way to the RV park Joanne had selected from the Passport America directory, Tamarisk Mobile Home & RV Park. It's a real "trailer trash" dumpy park. But we'll survive the next 5 days here as trailer park white trash. HA HA HA !

Things are in a bit of chaos around Palm Springs, due to the death of former President Gerald Ford in Rancho Mirage, a suburb of Palm Springs. Some roads are going to be closed tomorrow to allow for his funeral procession.

Before having a late supper, we went and sat in the indoor hot tub for an hour. As dumpy as this park is, it has an indoor pool and hot tub.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny, warm, and a bit windy.

This morning we drove into Desert Hot Springs to do some grocery shopping. Tamarisk Mobile Home & RV Park is about 4 miles east of Desert Hot Springs. Guide Dogs Of The Desert was about 6 miles west of Desert Hot Springs, so our distance into town is almost the same from this RV park as it was at GDD. While Joanne went into Vons to buy groceries, I refilled 5 water jugs at a water dispensing machine outside the grocery store, then went into the Dollar Store to buy a few items. We bought lunch at our "Mystery Shop" McDonald's and took it back to the trailer. "Our" McDonald's is still overstaffed but inefficient.

After lunch I napped briefly then began to work on the installation of my K&N Fuel Injection Performance Kit air intake system. The manager at Pep Boys said it would take about an hour to remove the factory air intake system and install the new one. I worked on it for 2½ hours and got about 90% completed. And while reviewing the installation manual afterwards, I discovered that I made a couple of minor errors. So tomorrow morning I have to undo until I can correct my minor errors, then complete the installation. Probably another hour and a half until I'm done. HMPH ... an hour to install ! Yeah, right ... maybe the second and subsequent times installing one of these, but certainly not the first. And only if all the correct tools are right at your fingertips.

After supper we went and sat in the hot tub and pool for an hour or so. I found it very distasteful that 2 women there were filled with glee over the execution today of Saddam Hussein. There are quite a few things we were planning to see and do while we were in this area "working" at Guide Dogs Of The Desert. Tonight we discussed and planned how many of them do we really want to see and do, and how long should we stay in the Palm Springs area. I guess the conclusion was that we should probably stay for the whole month of January.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

First thing this morning I resumed working on my fuel injection performance kit installation. While I was working on it, all my neighbours came out of their rigs and watched Air Force One taking off from Palm Springs International Airport carrying the casket of former President Gerald Ford. The death of a former president who was a local resident has dominated the news here this week. While I worked on the truck, Joanne phoned about a dozen RV parks, shopping for a place for us to stay for the month of January.

After lunch we drove to her top three choices and looked them over. We chose Sam's Family Spa Hot Water Resort. We're eager to move there on Tuesday. It's really nice. Reminds us of the all inclusive resorts we've stayed at in the Caribbean. It has a large outdoor pool and lounge area, a hot tub, and 4 spa pools fed by underground hot springs. Many hotels and RV parks in this area have spas / pools fed by the many underground hot springs this area of the desert is famous for. Hence the names ; Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs. The landscaping all around the resort is beautiful, and they have a very interesting and active social calendar for the month of January. It’s not cheap, but hey ... after that Guide Dogs Of The Desert fiasco, and the stellar performance of the stock market in 2006, I think we deserve it !

We drove from our current RV park to where the bus picks us up for our day trip to the Rose Parade on Monday, so we would know how long it takes to get there from our RV park. Afterwards we drove to a couple of pool supply stores. While we were at Kofa Ko-op SKP Park in Yuma, Arizona, I was admiring a pool noodle chair that a woman had. She said she bought it at a pool supply store in Palm Springs. I wanted to find one. The first pool supply store that we drove to wasn’t there any more. The second store had exactly what I was looking for. It’s a mesh “chair” that slides onto a regular pool noodle bent into a half circle. We bought 2 of them.

When we returned to our park, we visited briefly with our neighbours, a couple from Tacoma, Washington who have a 10 month old female Bichon Frisé . She’s a real sweety, and reminds us of our previous dog Nikki. The man was interested in what I was installing on my truck yesterday and today. I showed him Lanoire’s new fuel injection performance kit. He drives a < snicker > GMC. Since Dee-Dee, Joanne and I can’t help referring to all GMC trucks as GMC POS ( piece of shit ). HA HA HA ! Oh, yeah ... we can laugh now !

HA HA HA HA HA ... welcome to Palm Springs, California, home of the retired rich and famous. In the same shopping mall as Pool Emporium we found "The Dogie Bag Bistro & Nutrition Center" ( www.dogiebag.com ), a business that prepares "take out" meals for dogs using "people food". Mutty Meat Loaf ( turkey and vegetable loaf ), Chick-n-Paw Pie ( roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots and peas ), Pooched Salmon Supper ( bite sized cuts of Atlantic salmon served over pesto pasta ), Tuna Mutt Casserole ( chunks of "dolphin safe" tuna with egg noodles in a fish broth ). What the hell is dolphin safe tuna ? ! ? Prices range from$5 to $7 per meal. PHHHHHT ... not for my dog !

DSK