Year 3 Week 32

January 21 to 27, 2007

Desert Hot Springs, California

Year 3 week 32

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny, mild, and a bit windy.

This afternoon I was unable to connect to the very poor Tengo Internet signal at Sam's Family Spa Resort, suggesting that Tengo has finally refunded my money and cancelled my service, as I requested / demanded. I drove over to Tamarisk Mobile Home & RV Park to get online. I wasn't able to get connectivity on the Stryker network that I usually use there. Same problem with the Tamarisk RV Wi-Fi signal. I drove around the mobile home park trying to get a stronger signal when I found a new, unsecured Wi-Fi signal. I parked outside the mobile home where the signal seemed to be coming from, and signed on. I sent and retrieved e-mail, updated my blog, and retrieved my Canadian dollar MasterCard statement. A truck drove up and parked across the road from me. The old woman in the truck came over to see why I was parked in front of her mobile home. She was unhappy with me using her WI-Fi satellite signal, and expressed her displeasure at me for being in her gated community, and using her satellite signal. Sorry ... I tucked my tail between my legs and left.

We have been told by other RV'ers that it's quite easy to find private, but unsecured Wi-Fi signals to tap into. I think I'm going to do some experimenting in the future, looking for Wi-Fi signals in and around mobile home and RV parks. I appreciate the old woman's displeasure with me, but ... if you don't want just anybody to use your Wi-Fi satellite signal, for crying out loud, encrypt it to require a security password.

We went to Desert Hot Springs and bought some groceries. Joanne wanted to show me something she saw the other day at Revivals, a second hand store, but it closed for the day just as we arrived. Second hand merchandise in the Palm Springs area is still pretty upscale stuff.

The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament ended today in Palm Springs. The winner went home with < CHOKE > WHAT ? ! Nine hundred thousand dollars ! ?

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. Palm Springs has returned to being the warmest place in North America, for the next few days.

Today was a day dedicated to shopping. First we drove east on I-10 to Palm Desert, our preferred shopping area on Monterey Avenue. We shopped at Home Depot first, finding none of the three items we went there for. Next was PetsMart where we bought some supplies for Bo, including a new bandanna, to replace his old, frayed, shabby one. We bought him a camouflage material bandanna. HA HA HA ... now he looks just like all the other rednecks from Alabama. We drove down Monterey from Palm Desert all the way to Rancho Mirage, looking for a fast food restaurant Joanne wanted to try, called In & Out Burger, a popular Southern California chain. We didn't find one, so we settled for another chain she wanted to try, a Mexican restaurant called Del Taco. It wasn't great. After lunch at Del Taco we went to Wal-Mart. From Wal-Mart I wanted to go to Lowe's to buy a new barbecue, but Joanne wants to do more comparison shopping. < rolling eyes > Geeeeez ... it's just a barbecue !

We drove back to Desert Hot Springs, where Joanne wanted me to see the second hand shop called Revivals. I bought 2 pairs of pants, brand new and never worn. How do brand new, never worn articles of clothing end up in second hand shops ? ! ? Forty dollar pants for six bucks !

Back at Sam's Family Spa Resort, I drove around slowly, first around the mobile home side of the park, then the RV side, with the laptop on the truck's centre console beside me, searching for a good Wi-Fi signal. It took awhile, but I found one, very close to our site. Probably came from the big, expensive motorhome with a bunch of omnidirectional dome shaped antennae on top. I retrieved my U.S. dollar MasterCard statement.

After supper I printed and reconciled both the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar MasterCard statements.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. It was a fine day to do nothing except enjoy the lovely weather.

We slept very late this morning, not getting up until noon. Joanne had difficulty sleeping last night, and was up for much of the night. She never really fell asleep until early this morning, so she needed to sleep late. And I'm still sick with colitis, so my body is happy to stay in bed and rest. And, of course, Teddy and Bo are quite happy to stay in bed as long as we're in bed.

We spent the afternoon in the swimming ( cool ) pool and hot mineral water spas. Mostly in the spas. We chatted with a couple from California, and another couple from Vancouver, B.C.. The California couple are our next door neighbours. Californians, for the most part, don't travel far from home. As worldly as Southern Californians would like to have the rest of the world believe they are, they're actually quite "provincial". Mind you, with a climate like Southern California's, I guess there's not much motivation to wander far and wide.

For supper we went to the park's big Tostada dinner, one of their bigger social events of the winter season. It was great ! We spent the evening sitting around socializing with the couple from Vancouver, B.C. that we met at the hot mineral water spa this afternoon, and the couple from Rochester, N.Y. that we met last week at the dessert party. Like Joanne, the woman from Vancouver is twice a cancer survivor. First she had cervical cancer, then breast cancer a year later, both almost 30 years ago. I'm inspired, and filled with hope, by stories of cancer survivors.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, temperature in the mid 70's again.

This morning we drove into Desert Hot Springs to get haircuts. In the mall where we shop for groceries at Stater Bros. is a hairstyling college. Joanne thought it would be a good place to get a cheap haircut. It turned out to be a good place to get a cheap, poor haircut. And I didn't let them cut my beard. I'll do that myself tomorrow. We picked up a couple of submarine sandwich combos at the deli in Stater Bros., using 2 free coupons from our Rose Parade goodie bags. We had lunch back at the trailer, then left for our planned outing to Thousand Palms Canyon.

We drove about 15 minutes east on Dillon Road, to Thousand Palms Canyon, where we were planning to explore / hike in the Fan Palm Oasis. Unfortunately, as at Indian Canyons, dogs are not allowed in Thousand Palms Canyon < sigh >. I wonder why dogs are not allowed to visit the desert canyons and oases, when the entire Palm Springs area seems so "dog friendly". Oh, well, Bo enjoyed the short "drivey" nonetheless.

We returned to Sam's Family Spa Resort, and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the hot mineral water spas, and lying around on lounge chairs in the sun on the pool deck. As the sun dipped behind Mount San Jacinto, we took Bo to the Palm Springs Dog Park. Bo loves the Palm Springs Dog Park. He romped around both the small dog side, and the big dog side, for about half an hour, until it became dark, and he was tired.

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot. I thought I was going to die, hiking 2½ miles across the desert !

This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we headed off for Coachella Valley Preserve in Thousand Palms Canyon. We parked, and went into the small Visitor Centre at the Fan Palm Oasis called Thousand Palms Oasis. After looking around the Visitor Centre we set off to hike the McCallum Trail a mile and a quarter across the desert, following the San Andreas Fault to another Fan Palm Oasis, called McCallum Grove.

Geeeeez ... I didn't think a mile and a quarter hike, on level ground, was going to be so difficult. The desert ground was soft sand, and our feet sunk in with every step, so it felt like walking through knee deep water. The air temperature was a comfortable 77 degrees, but the intense desert sun made it feel like 100 ! The sun made my hat hot, my clothes hot, and my skin hot ! I should have worn shorts. We made it to McCallum Grove, another Fan Palm Oasis, with a pond fed by a spring bubbling up out of the ground. We sat and rested for a few minutes, then began the hike back.

Whew ... < pant > ... another mile and a quarter, and I had a new found respect for the Mexicans who hike long distances across the desert to sneak into the U.S.A.. For crying out loud, if they survive the crossing, give them a drink of water and a job ! If this is what hiking across the desert in winter temperatures in the 70's is like, I can't imagine the horror of hiking across the desert in summer temperatures of 120 degrees. Back at the trail head, at Thousand Palms Oasis, we slowly ate our picnic lunch, then drove back to Sam's Family Spa Resort.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the swimming pool, mineral water hot spas, and sauna. In the hot spa we chatted with a farmer from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. In the sauna we chatted with a couple from Idyllwild, which is a couple of hours from here, but 6000 feet up in the mountains, with snow on the ground. It's a neat feature of living in this area, that you can go from desert, to ocean beaches, or skiing on snow up in the mountains, all within a couple of hours.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

We did some chores this morning then left for downtown Palm Springs, to have lunch at La Casita, a Mexican restaurant with a buffet lunch on weekdays. Good lunch ! After lunch we went to see a collection of three restored settlers' homes, now serving as little museums, operated by the Palm Springs Historical Society. Interesting, but more Joanne's "thing" than mine. As we were driving out of downtown, I decided to stop at Palm Springs Exotic Car Auctions showroom. If Joanne can drag me to Historical Society museums, I can drag her to see classic and exotic cars. It was interesting. This was one of three exotic / classic car dealers in Palm Springs. My favourite was a 1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spur. Joanne's favourite was a 1962 Thunderbird.

We returned to Sam's Family Spa and spent the rest of the afternoon in the hot mineral water spa, chatting with a couple from San Diego, on their way back home after visiting Quartzsite, Arizona, a bizarre place in January, with half a million RV's camped out in the desert, attending the giant rock and mineral shows, and flea markets.

We gave Bo a bath late in the evening. What a stinky little dog !

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm.

My ulcerative colitis flare-up persists. I felt really sick on and off today.

Today was a "chores and maintenance" day. Last night when we gave Bo a bath, he punctured a little hole in the gel coat finish of the shower stall floor with one of his sharp little claws. That's the second time that has happened. The first time it happened I thought it was a fluke occurrence. Now that it's happened again, obviously we'll have to do something to prevent it. I guess we'll buy a rubber bath mat to put in the shower stall for him to stand on when we give him a bath. I mixed up a small batch of fiberglass resin and hardener mix, then drizzled a drop onto each little hole. I hope that works.

I spent much of the afternoon removing and replacing a plumbing vent cap on the roof of the trailer. I bought the necessary materials, and put this project on my “to do some day” list about a year and a half ago. We trimmed Teddy’s and Bo’s claws, and administered flea treatments and heartworm medication. Joanne went to do laundry, and I drove into Desert Hot Springs to buy a birthday card for Joanne.

I bought a lovely looking birthday card that was in Spanish. “A mi Amor en su cumpleañ os”. I could understand that on my own. “To my Love on your birthday”. I asked the young, lovely, obviously Mexican woman at the cash register to translate the verse inside for me. WOW ... it was HOT ! By the time she finished reading the card to me, I was ready to throw her down on the floor behind the cash register and have my way withher. HA HA HA HA HA ! Boy, they don’t make cards like that in English !

 

DSK