Year 3 Week 29

December 31, 2006 to January 6, 2007

Desert Hot Springs, California

Year 3 week 29

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm.

We had a lazy day to end the year. This morning I composed some e-mails. My neighbour told me that there was an unsecured access wireless internet ( Wi-Fi ) signal next door in the mobile home park. I drove over there, sat in the truck with the computer, and got online, sending and retrieving e-mails, updating my blog, and retrieving year end investment data.

After lunch I went to buy a Sunday newspaper. I spent the afternoon lying on the bed, reading the newspaper. Most of the front section of the newspaper was taken up with stories about former President Gerald Ford, his funeral here yesterday, the first of three funeral services for him, and his departure from here yesterday morning aboard Air Force One to Washington, D.C., and funeral no. 2. Late in the afternoon we got ourselves ready for our day trip to the Rose Parade in Pasadena tomorrow. We're going to have to leave the trailer at 5:00 A.M. to catch a bus at a shopping mall in Palm Springs at 5:30.

Our next door neighbours are German immigrants. Yesterday she was telling us about her plans to make her home made herring and onion salad today. I told her I would be interested in tasting that. Today she brought over a small bowlful for me to sample. WOW < blinking teary eyes > ... strong !

After supper we went to the pool and hot tub, then went to sleep early because we have to get up in the middle of the night.

Our goals were achieved in 2006, and we had a very good year overall.

 

Monday ; Happy New Year !

Today was sunny and mild, a nice day for the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.

We left our trailer at 5:00 A.M. to meet our bus which left Palm Springs at 5:30. I promptly fell asleep so I don't know exactly what route we took to get to Pasadena. I woke up as the bus left the freeway and entered the city of Pasadena about 7:15 A.M.. It took about another hour to drive the last few blocks to where we parked, at Pasadena City College. There was a lot of traffic congestion. We parked behind Pasadena City College, and our grandstand seats were in front of the college. We had to walk about 3 blocks around the campus to get to our seats.

The parade began to pass by us about 9:00 A.M., and it lasted for 2 hours. It was quite nice, but both of us were a little disappointed. I guess my expectations were a bit too high. I think the last time I would have seen any of the Rose Parade on TV would have been between 35 and 40 years ago. I guess the eyes of a youngster saw things as "bigger and better" than the eyes of an old man did today. Joanne expected the Tournament of Roses Parade to exceed the parades of Mardi Gras that we saw last year in Louisiana. It didn't, in her opinion. The theme of today's Tournament of Roses Parade was "Our Good Nature", as in the natural environment. The Grand Marshall was George Lucas, so there was a sub-theme of Star Wars.

I suppose in any bus load of people, there has to be one moron. When the parade was over, we walked around Pasadena City College, from the grandstands in the front, to the parking lots in the rear, to return to our bus. Not exactly rocket science. When we got on the bus, one man was missing. His wife was there, but he got separated from her when he stopped to use a bathroom, then he got lost. We all sat on the bus for an hour, while his wife, talking to him on his cell phone, and the bus tour guide, tried to find him / guide him back to the bus < big sigh >. Idiot ! I wonder how he made it from Oregon to Palm Springs ? ! ?

While we waited for Mr. Genius from Oregon we saw the Escapees bus, carrying the group of Escapees who participated in the Escapees “Head Out Program” to the Rose Parade. Our friend Julie was in that group, and we saw her as she was heading back to her bus. We chatted with her briefly.

I slept for most of the ride back to Palm Springs. I did notice that the freeway was crawling, bumper to bumper, from Los Angeles all the way out to Palm Springs, a distance of about 100 miles, on the opposite side of the freeway, heading back into Los Angeles. It looks like Los Angeles must be a difficult place to get out of at the beginning of a long weekend, and a tough place to get back into after the long weekend. The bus dropped us off at the shopping mall in Palm Springs at 2:30 P.M. and we were back at our trailer at 3:00 P.M.. Bo and Teddy survived our 10 hour absence uneventfully. The neighbour said there was no barking from Bo, he was quiet. Good dog, Bo.

I napped for awhile, until I was awakened by the neighbour bringing me another batch of her home made herring and onion salad. This one was much better than yesterday’s. Today’s was white coloured, and yesterday’s was red coloured. I think yesterday’s was herrings, onions, and beets. < shuddering and whispering > I threw yesterday’s in the garbage.

I downloaded and processed today’s photos of the Rose Parade. They’re nice, nothing spectacular.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning we prepared for departure, drove a mile or two down the road, and "set up camp" again at Sam's Family Spa Resort. A lot of work just to move a very short distance. We spent the afternoon hanging around the pool and underground hot springs fed hot tubs. We wandered around the grounds, looking at the small lake, filled with trout, a few koi, ducks, and a couple of swans. There were also a few aviaries, with pigeons, doves, ducks, and peacocks.

While Joanne went grocery shopping in Desert Hot Springs I worked on analyzing our 2006 investments performance. MMMMM ... t'was a very good year ! I spent much of the evening trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to get a decent Wi-Fi signal and internet connection. After wasting a lot of time at the trailer, I drove to the campground office, and sat outside the office attempting to get a better signal and connection. It wasn't much better there. If I don't get a decent Wi-Fi signal by tomorrow morning, I'll be demanding my money back from Tengo Internet, the Wi-Fi service provider in this park. I prepaid for a month's service.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, a perfect day for our trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

We drove about 10 miles west on Dillon Road to where it ends at Hwy. 62, right where Guide Dogs Of The Desert is. We turned north on Hwy. 62, also known as Twentynine Palms Highway because it leads to the village of Twentynine Palms. We followed it north, then northeast, then east around the Little San Bernardino Mountains through the village of Yucca Valley, to the village of Joshua Tree. There we turned south onto Park Blvd. leading to the West Entrance Station of Joshua Tree National Park.

We drove southeast, then south through the park and up the mountains to Keys View, a scenic lookout at an elevation of 5185 feet. We chatted with 2 men getting out of the rental car that pulled in next to us as we parked. They were Canadians, one from Halifax, Nova Scotia, one from Kingston, Ontario, attending a conference in Palm Springs. The Keys View looks out over the Coachella Valley, and you can see all the way from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. We drove back down the mountains and stopped to have our picnic lunch at Cap Rock.

After lunch we drove over to Geology Tour Road. It's an 18 mile dirt track, for four wheel drive vehicles only. Joanne figures ... if you pay to buy four ( or, in our case, six ) wheel drive, you might as well use it when the opportunity presents itself. Obviously, the guy driving the Hummer in front of us didn't feel the same way. He made a u-turn as soon as he saw the pavement was ending. HA HA HA ! Wouldn't want to get that pretty little Hummer dusty now, would we, big fella ? ! ? After driving the challenging and scenic Geology Tour Road, we headed east towards the Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus Gardens. We hiked around the Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus Gardens nature trail. We finished the hike just as the sun disappeared behind the mountains.

We drove southeast, then south on Pinto Basin Road through the Cottonwood Mountains heading for the south entrance of the park. It became dark just as we left the park about 5:00 P.M.. Once out of the park, we headed west on Interstate 10, between 30 and 40 miles back to Palm Springs / Desert Hot Springs. Our day trip was a big clockwise loop that covered about 200 miles.

While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed today's photos.

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm.

We had another lazy day. Joanne did laundry. I dusted the truck. I bought a "California Duster" a month or so ago, and ever since, I have been "dusting" the truck weekly. Out here in the desert, vehicles become coated with a thin layer of very fine desert sand dust. "Dusting" them with these California Dusters is a lot quicker and more effective than a wet washing.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the hot tubs, swimming pool, and sauna.

At 6:00 P.M. we went to this park's pot luck dinner. Hmmm ... rather an odd assortment of people in this park.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny, mild, and severely windy. We have heard people talking about these severe desert winter wind storms, and we have experienced desert winter wind storms, but nothing at all like today.

So ... with the wind howling so hard that the palm trees were bent over, we stayed in bed for most of the morning, reading and snoozing. After lunch Joanne made phone calls using our cell phone to get information on local "day trip" bus excursions, and I went to the office and used the pay phone to pay the MasterCard bills, and obtain some information from the Canadian Government. Joanne was trying to find a local tour company with a day trip bus excursion to a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but she was unsuccessful in finding one with any tickets available in the month of January. We went to Wal-Mart in Palm Desert and replenished groceries and supplies, then filled up with diesel at Flying J in Thousand Palms on the way home.

After supper I worked on finalizing my 2006 investments analysis, and setting up 2007 investments analysis spreadsheets.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning I did a fiberglass repair on the underside of the lower valance of the front bumper of the truck. I cracked it recently when I bumped a large rock in the last campground we were in. Every vehicle I've owned in the last 25 years has had a plastic lower valance under the front bumper. And sooner or later, usually sooner, they will get broken ! I applied a fiberglass mat and epoxy patch over the crack to keep it rigid and prevent it from cracking more.

This afternoon I removed a broken stand off stanchion on the roof ladder on the rear of the trailer. I suspect it will be difficult to find a replacement part. It was such a nice warm afternoon we went for a long walk, then sat outside reading until it got cool as the sun set.

While Joanne prepared supper, I drove to the office and sat in the truck trying to get a decent Wi-Fi connection. It took me over an hour to retrieve and send e-mail, and retrieve 2 bank statements. I'm incredibly annoyed at Tengo Internet, the Wi-Fi service provider in this park. Their service here is horrible. And ... they have ignored the refund request I submitted a few hours after first signing on to their service here on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to meeting the President of Tengo Internet who is going to be visiting this park next week.

After supper I reconciled December's bank statements. Then we had a "movie date". I recently decided we should begin to watch the movies my sister sent to us over a year ago, for Christmas 2005.

DSK