Today was sunny and mild, a nice day to resume travelling. We left SKP Park of the Sierras this morning and headed south on Hwy. 41 to Fresno, then continued south on Hwy. 99. We needed to stop for groceries before lunch, as we were out of lunch fixings. We decided to take an exit into the city of Tulare to look for a grocery store. Right off the exit ramp there was a large shopping mall with a Mexican grocery store named Vallarta. And today was its Grand Opening.
WOW ! ! ! What a great Mexican grocery store ! As soon as we walked in the door my eyes bugged out at the sight of the huge panaderia ( bakery ). I sent Joanne off to shop for other items while I shopped in rapture for pan dulce ( Mexican pastries ). She returned in a few minutes all excited about the in-store fast food restaurant. MMMMM ! ! ! Tamales, tacos, tortas ... you name it, they had it ! AND ... she had already picked up a small tres leches ( three milks ) cake. Today's lunch special was ... barbacoa de borrego combo con arroz y frijoles ( barbecued lamb combo with flavoured rice and refried beans ) < salivating again as I remember it many hours later >. MMMMM ... that's for me !
We decided to complete our shopping before having lunch in the store. WOW ... what an outstanding butcher section ! We bought some lovely fresh beef liver and carne asada
( marinated minced beef for tacos ). At the fish counter I couldn't resist getting myself a tub of ceviche de pescado ( Mexican style seafood salad ). After browsing through the entire store, and putting many items in our shopping cart, none of which were on Joanne's grocery shopping list, we returned to the lunch counter. Joanne ordered a tamale con puerco ( pork tamale ) and an aqua fresca ( fresh squeezed fruit juice ), and she shared my borrego ( lamb ) platter. I've eaten more lamb in the last five weeks than I've had in the prior ten years. We had lunch, paid for our groceries ... 50 bucks and not a single item from the shopping list ... and headed out, continuing south on Hwy. 99.
Our objective for today was Bakersfield. We thought we would arrive in Bakersfield in time to do some Wal-Mart shopping before dark, then head over to Camping World to boondock in their parking lot overnight, and shop there in the morning. We arrived in Bakersfield a little earlier than we had expected so we headed to Camping World first. I was looking for seven items there. They had ... none ! We headed over to Wal-Mart, stopping to refill with diesel on the way. The new Bakersfield Wal-Mart has the largest grocery section I've ever seen in a Wal-Mart. After we completed our Wal-Martin' I left Joanne in line to pay and I left the store to walk over to a nearby Walgreens. By the time we met back at the truck, it was dark. Bakersfield's Wal-Marts do not permit overnight parking, and we didn't want to head back to Camping World to boondock there because we had already finished shopping there, so ... we headed out of town and continued south on Hwy. 99.
It soon merged with Interstate 5. Our "plan B" was to boondock overnight at a rest area on I-5 near Lebec, less than an hour south of Bakersfield. < sigh > The rest area was permanently closed. Unsure of what "plan C" was going to be, we continued driving south. Didn't really have much choice, the traffic was bumper to bumper and moving fast ! Within minutes, at the next freeway exit, was a Flying J. How fortuitous !
MMMMM ... tres leches cake after supper !
Monday ; Frazier Park to Cabazon, California
Today was sunny and mild. Of course it was mild. We were in the Mojave Desert !
I have just lit the new Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater for the first time !
WOO-HOO ! < singing > I can feel the heat ... I can feel the heat !
This morning we departed the Flying J and headed south on Interstate 5 for just a few miles then east on Hwy. 138 into the Mojave Desert. We skirted along the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains, bypassing the northern parts of Los Angeles on the southern side of the San Gabriel Mountains, until we reached Interstate 15 where we turned south heading into the northeastern corner of Los Angeles suburbs. WOW ... heavy traffic !
I-15 to I-215 to I-10 to Camping World in San Bernardino. Camping World didn't have what I needed ( again ! ) but ... they directed me to a nearby hose fabrication business where I could likely get propane hoses custom fabricated for the two new heaters.
Just a mile or so down the road, and into the city of Loma Linda we found Alternative Hose. It took me and a service technician about an hour to figure out and find all the different fittings that would be required. It was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. And expensive ! But ... WOO-HOO ... he and I finally got it all figured out and he found all the correct fittings and connections. While he made the hoses I returned to the trailer for a late lunch.
By the time I had finished lunch the hoses were complete. I spent the rest of the afternoon in their parking lot installing the hoses and completing the installation of our new catalytic infrared radiant heating system. I finished, got cleaned up, and pulled out of their parking lot at 5 PM just as it turned dark. Congratulations, Daniel, on a job very well done !
We headed east on Interstate 10. At Beaumont I saw a Home Depot so I took the next exit. I needed some hardware. And while backtracking to the Home Depot there was a Bank of America so we were able to withdraw some cash. Some days just go better than others, don't they ? We continued eastbound on I-10 to Cabazon, just before Palm Springs. We spent the night in the RV overnight parking lot of the Morongo Casino.
Tuesday ; Cabazon, California to Quartzsite, Arizona
MMMMM ... what a toasty warm night we all had ! The trailer's new heating system is excellent !
This morning we pulled out of the Morongo Casino's RV parking lot and drove over to their Travel Center to buy diesel and use the RV dump station. Today we were heading to Quartzsite, Arizona to attend a three day Escapee Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally, boondocking out in the desert for three days. We needed our waste holding tanks to be very empty, and our freshwater holding tank to be very full. While I refilled the truck with diesel, Joanne went over to check out the RV dump station. Fifteen bucks ? ! ? I don't think so ! ! ! We're not sure why the Morongo Casino would charge such an outrageous fee for the use of their dump station. Last year it was free. Our suspicion is that it might be to discourage the borderline homeless from living in decrepit RV's in the casino's free RV parking lot. There seems to be quite a bit of that happening in California. AND ... very unfortunately ... we also see evidence of homeless people living in cars in Wal-Mart parking lots.
We headed east on Interstate 10. Soon we were passing through Palm Springs. On the east side of Palm Springs we stopped at Flying J in Thousand Palms and used their RV dump station. HMPH ... five bucks ! Used to be free at Flying J until Pilot bought them out two years ago. Continuing east on I-10 was somewhat like driving across West Texas or Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. Interstate 10 from Palm Springs, California to Phoenix, Arizona is a few hundred miles driving in a straight line on flat ground through the Sonoran Desert. One could set the cruise control, tie off the steering wheel, and take short snoozes !
We entered Arizona and soon thereafter reached Quartzsite. We stopped in town to refill a water jug, then headed about ten miles south of town to the Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally site out in the desert in the middle of nowhere. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, taking into consideration that we had passed from Pacific time to Mountain time. DARN ! Forgot the time change ! We had had a late lunch in California, and now we were eating a communal dinner in Arizona about 3 hours after lunch !
We had ( early ! ) dinner, played some silly games ( standard Escapee rally fare ! ) then spent the evening socializing around a campfire. As always seems to be case, it was us and some other Canadians who lingered around the campfire long after everybody else left to go to bed ( around 8 PM or so ! ).
Wednesday ; Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Rally near Quartzsite, Arizona
What beautiful Sonoran Desert weather. Brilliant sunshine, temperature way up in the 70's.
Day two of the Roadrunners Chapter 7 Rally started with a communal breakfast. followed by socializing around the campfire. Many of the rally attendees went to the town of Quartzsite for the rest of the morning to browse flea markets and ... ? I spent the rest of the morning sitting around the campfire with a small group chatting dangerously about U.S. politics, military policies, and most dangerously, the U.S.'s continued detention of "suspected terrorists" at Guantanamo Bay. I don't think I made any new friends. Joanne was a bit pissed off at me for engaging in sensitive discussions like that. HEY ... doesn't the U.S. Constitution provide for freedom of speech ?
The "scavenger hunt" scheduled for the afternoon was cancelled. After lunch I napped with Sully, then puttered around a bit doing some minor maintenance. Joanne and I took Bo for a long off leash walk and obedience training session out in the desert. Late in the afternoon we rejoined the rally group for a communal dinner followed by a campfire. When I was asked yesterday by the rally organizers if I would perform magic around the campfire, I ( perhaps unwisely ) offered to also read an excerpt for my journal. A "day in the life" type of story around the campfire. Tonight around the campfire I read my journal from February 15, 2009, the day we went to see the La Quebrada cliff divers in Acapulco, Mexico. Yeah ... that went over like a lead balloon ! When I read that same story to the Okanagan Chapter 33 members, it garnered a few laughs, and even a few "ooooohs" and "ahhhhhs". Tonight ... apparently nothing but boredom and contempt ! I'm embarrassed !
Thursday ; Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Rally near Quartzsite, Arizona
Another sunny warm day in the desert. This morning started with a potluck breakfast. Early this afternoon I had a phone discussion with the lot transfer committee at Kofa
Ko-op and finally received the authorization I had been waiting for, to pay the amount we owe to the current owner of lot 52. Only after he confirms receipt of the amount we owe him directly can we pay Kofa Ko-op the amount owing to them, and conclude the lot purchase transaction. While we will likely be able to move onto lot 52 tomorrow upon our arrival, we won't be able to conclude the purchase transaction until Tuesday at the earliest. Until then, we will have to pay to rent what will become our own lot in a few days. HMPH !
We drove to the Post Office in Quartzsite to purchase a money order and send it to the current lot owner. Of course ... I should have known ... an attempt to purchase a U.S. Postal money order in that large an amount by a non-U.S. citizen would result in the suspicion that I must be a terrorist. We've only been in the U.S. for 17 days so far this season, and I'm already really sick and tired of how we have been treated by U.S. government agencies. I stood in line at the Post Office, then filled out forms, then watched the postal employee enter the information from the forms into his computer, for a total time in the Post Office of an hour and a quarter ! I'm beginning to gain a greater appreciation for why so many Canadian Snowbirds drive across the U.S. as quickly as possible to spend their winters in Mexico !
This evening we had a communal pizza dinner followed by a charity auction of donated items. WOW ... this group raised over $1300 auctioning off items donated by the attendees. Each attendee made a contribution. We donated a basket of "Canadiana" food products, mostly B.C. Okanagan / Similkameen products. Afterwards we sat around a campfire socializing. I was going to perform a magic trick, but before I had an opportunity to do that, one of the old fellows ( age 80 ) brought out his guitar and played and sang sad, old cowboy songs around the campfire. I brought Sully over to the campfire and he very happily snoozed on my lap, wrapped in a blanket, just his head poking out facing the fire.
Friday ; Quartzsite to Yuma, Arizona
Today was sunny and warm. Great ! This morning we prepared for departure and left the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally site out in the desert, and headed south on Hwy. 95 to Yuma. We arrived at Kofa Ko-op, paid for four days of site rental fees to rent what we consider to be "our" lot, and got settled in. I'm a bit miffed at the four days rental fees, but ... life goes on, I guess.
We're glad to be "home". We're excited about getting lot 52. I have plenty of work to do on the trailer to occupy my time for the next four days until we can actually do anything on the property.
We had lunch, I napped briefly with Sully, then we went to a TGIF social hour in the clubhouse. We chatted with old friends and new neighbours. After supper we headed down to "The Big Curve" Shopping Center. I dropped Joanne off at Albertsons to do some grocery shopping, and I went across the street to Lowe's to buy some hardware I needed. After we returned home I went to the clubhouse to get online and send an important e-mail. There is some sort of a problem with the park's Wi-Fi system, and most computers are unable to get online. I borrowed a computer from some visitors from Golden, BC, whose computer had successfully connected to the Wi-Fi signal, and I used it to send my important e-mail. I then chatted with them until very late in the evening.
Saturday ; Another gorgeous weather Yuma day, sunny and temperature way up in the 70's. We got up early this morning to participate in Kofa Ko-op's yard sale. We set up a little table and set out half a dozen or so items that it's time to get rid of. < sigh > None of them sold < shrug >.
Joanne did a lot of laundry today. I worked on minor maintenance chores on the trailer. And, of course, socialized a lot with friends and neighbours. Late in the afternoon we headed over to the Ray Kroc Center ( baseball stadium ) to see the Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival Glow. We watched the hot air balloons that are here for the annual Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival be inflated and tethered in the baseball field. We had never seen hot air balloons be inflated before. It's interesting. After dark, they would all simultaneously light their burners, creating a great hot air balloon "glow" exhibition. When that was all done we watched the balloons be deflated. Very cool !
DSK
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