Sunny and mild. How nice !
This morning we left the casino's RV parking lot ... thank you very much, Rolling Hills Casino ... at 10:30 AM and drove one exit back / north on Interstate 5 to a truck service area with many service stations and repair facilities, etc. We refilled with diesel at a Mobil station. We refilled one of the camper's propane tanks at a Love's station. We drove to three different truck wash businesses, to get the truck and camper washed, but ... two of them were too expensive, and the third one had a line-up. We were heading south on I-5 by noon.
We stopped at the Willows rest area to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank at their sani-dump station. We passed just to the west of the Camp Fire area, and the burned out towns of Magalia and Paradise. During the balance of our time on I-5 today we were regularly passed by firefighter vehicles returning south towards the Los Angeles area. The Camp Fire was declared "contained" today, so maybe less firefighter help is needed ? Or ... the firefighters are so fatigued they need a few days off to rest ? We stopped at the Williams rest area and had a late lunch.
The weather was so nice, and I felt so good, that I was inspired to drive past today's planned destination and drive all the way to tomorrow's planned destination. Two easy days of driving combined into one long day. After passing through Sacramento in
mid-afternoon, the traffic heading south towards Los Angeles became heavier and heavier as the afternoon wore on. Everybody was returning home after Thanksgiving at Gramma's. By the time it became dark at 5 PM it was bumper to bumper, but travelling well at 70 MPH ( 112 km./hr. ) ... in the slow lane ! Around 6 PM we turned west on Hwy. 198 heading to a casino in the middle of nowhere between I-5 and Hwy. 99, the other main highway heading south in California.
We arrived at Tachi Palace Casino at 7:10 PM. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, it is a huge casino, with a huge fuel bar adjacent, with long line-ups at each of the eight fuel pump islands, to buy cheap "rez" gas ( no taxes on it, I guess ). We parked in their RV parking lot, and Joanne made supper. After we had supper the lines at the fuel pumps had diminished, so we drove over and refilled the truck with diesel. Second hundred dollar fill today !
We went into the casino to see if it was interesting enough to entice us to spend tomorrow here. It wasn't ! Despite being huge, it didn't have all that much going for it. Buffet restaurant was nice, but that wasn't enough to keep us here tomorrow. There was a live band playing. WAAAAAYYYYY too loud ! A Mexican cowboy band, not exactly our cup of tea. There is a naval air station nearby, so the casino was filled with testosterone laden "Top Gun" types. And Mexican cowboy types. And lots and lots of local "Indigenous" people. Not surprising, since this is an "Indian" casino, on reservation land.
We returned to the camper and did trip planning for the next few days. Because of today, we are now one day ahead of schedule. We'll probably spend an extra day in Palm Springs.
Monday ; Tachi Palace Casino, Lemoore, to Barstow, California
Sunny and mild, chilly in the evening in the Mojave Desert.
This morning we left the casino's RV parking lot at 11 AM. Thank you very much, Tachi Palace Casino. Our plan was to drive a short distance east to Hwy. 99, then a short distance south to the city of Tulare, to buy groceries and have lunch at Vallarta, my favourite supermarket in all of North America ! Using our road map atlas we calculated the distance to be almost forty miles, on major highways. When we plugged Vallarta's address into our GPS, it showed a distance of just over twenty miles, all of it on country back roads. We decided to put our faith in the GPS, and follow its routing. It was a very pleasant drive through farmland, giving us a view of local agriculture.
We first found Vallarta on its second day of business, about seven or eight years ago, when we pulled off Hwy. 99 into Tulare to find a fuel station so that we could refill with diesel. It was the Mexican supermarket's Grand Opening weekend. WOW ! We were so impressed that every time we drive south on Interstate 5 and / or California Hwy. 99, we stop there to buy groceries and have lunch. First stop in the store is always the large panaderia. Today I bought ten pieces of pan dulce ( Mexican pastries ) for breakfasts. Well ... and maybe bedtime snacks as well. HA HA HA ! While I picked out pan dulce Joanne was selecting a large piece of tres leches ( three milks ) cake. We selected fresh produce ( key limes for Diet Cokes, avocado and cilantro for making guacamole, some Mandarinas / Satsumas ), then went to the fresh cheese counter, like a butcher or deli counter, with all the cheeses in a long display case, and a counter clerk who cuts or scoops it into containers, to your order. MMMMM ... Joanne bought some Queso Fresco ( translates as "Fresh Cheese", a type of fresh cheese similar to Feta, but softer and moister ). I was going to buy some fresh Crema Salvadoreña ( a type of sour cream, from El Salvador ), but ... the store had a special advertised price on Crema Oaxaqueña ( a type of sour cream from the Oaxaca region of Mexico ). We had never had Crema Oaxaqueña before. The cheese counter lady gave us a sample to try, scooped onto a tortilla chip. WOO-HOO ... one container full please. Joanne is eager to try it on the small, multi-coloured potatoes she bought at Trader Joe's. At the fresh fish counter I was going to buy some ceviche ( like salsa / pico de gallo with diced shrimp or raw fish ) , but decided on ensalata de jaiba ( crab salad ).
We went up and down the store's aisles, stocking up on our favourite Mexican grocery products. And then ... finished our shopping at the butcher counter, a display case, perhaps fifty feet long, filled with fresh cuts of meat, Mexican style. We bought some fresh liver, smoked pork chops for Joanne, chicken legs and thighs "butterfly" sliced in half on a band saw, Mexican style, some carne asada por tacos ( seasoned diced beef in a salsa type marinade, intended to be cooked for tacos ) and some pollo al pastor
( seasoned diced chicken in a salsa type marinade ).
When we went to pay, my Bank of America card was declined, as it was last night when I tried to use it to purchase diesel fuel. Joanne's Bank of America card had stopped working days ago. UH-OH ... both our bank cards not working must spell trouble !
While Joanne put away the groceries in the camper, I took our five gallon water jug to a refill machine in the shopping mall and refilled it. Then we returned into Vallarta to have lunch at their wonderful "La Cocina" ( The Kitchen ), their prepared Mexican "fast food" lunch restaurant inside the store. Joanne had carnitas salsa verde con arroz y frijoles
( a pork in green salsa stew served with rice and refried beans ), and I had birria de cabra con arroz y frijoles ( a goat ribs stew served with rice and refried beans ). We had dos aguas fresca ( two freshly made fruit punches ) to drink, mine was strawberry and banana, Joanne's was watermelon and mint leaves. While eating lunch we noticed that we seemed to be the only two gringos ( white people ) in the store. HA HA HA ! No problemo ... I can eat goat with the best of them ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
After lunch we drove to a nearby Bank of America where it took over an hour to get our card drama sorted out. Joanne's card had been cancelled because it hadn't been used in a year and a half. Mine was cancelled yesterday because of "suspicious activity". Fair enough ! I applaud banks for having good security procedures. A very helpful clerk ( a Hispanic woman by the name of Lourdes ) issued temporary new cards, and is having permanent cards sent to our Yuma address. We activated our new cards in the ATM, withdrew cash, and were on our way shortly after 3 PM.
We drove south on Hwy. 99 to Bakersfield, then turned east on Hwy. 58 for the long uphill climb through the Tehachapi Pass to the town of Tehachapi at the summit ( over 4000 feet elevation ). We arrived in Tehachapi at 5 PM as it became dark. We refilled our freshwater tank at Love's then continued eastbound on Hwy. 58 ... descending down into the dark and cold Mojave Desert.
AHHHHH ... the Mojave Desert ! Feels like coming home ! We drove past the Edwards Air Force Base, past the town of Boron, all the way to the city of Barstow. Home of Snoopy's older brother Spike. HA HA HA ! We boondocked overnight at Flying J, after spending the last five nights boondocking at casinos.
Tuesday ; Barstow to Palm Springs, California
Sunny and warm, temperature 72° F / 22° C. Well ! Of course it's warm ! It's Palm Springs ! ! !
Before leaving Flying J this morning ( at 11 AM ) we refilled the truck with diesel and the camper with freshwater. Thank you very much Flying J. We drove a few miles north and east on Interstate 15, then turned south then east then south on Hwy. 247 to Yucca Valley where we turned west then south on Hwy. 62 to Palm Springs. We prefer this lonely stretch of desolate two lane highway through the Mojave Desert to the more popular route south on Interstate 15 to Los Angeles then east on Interstate 10 to Palm Springs. We stopped on the outskirts of Palm Springs at 2 PM to have lunch parked on the side of the road, within view of Guide Dogs of the Desert where we did our last WorkCamping job thirteen years ago.
Since we were still on the north side of Interstate 10, after lunch we drove into Desert Hot Springs before crossing the freeway into Palm Springs. While I had a brief nap Joanne went thrift store browsing. At 3:30 PM we drove from Desert Hot Springs across Interstate 10 into Palm Springs and to the Palm Springs Dog Park behind City Hall. This was Bo's favourite dog park of the many dog parks that we visited in Canada, United States and Mexico. Well ... Mexico doesn't really have dog parks. Mexico is one big dog park. But ... I digress ! We were planning to leave half of Bo's ashes sprinkled around the Palm Springs Dog Park. But ... it was closed today. It will be closed for a month or so for some maintenance. Too bad !
We went thrift store shopping to Revivals, our favourite thrift store, and Angel View.
I bought a pair of pants at Revivals and a couple of shirts at Angel View. And, of course, this being Palm Springs, the items I bought were all brand new, probably last year's styles donated by retailers. At Revivals, Joanne found a dress on the "evening gown" rack that was made with some manner of glittery metallic thread. The gown was very heavy, and it looked like the kind of thing that a celebrity ( like Madonna ! ) would wear to an awards event. I suggested to Joanne that she buy it ( it was twenty
bucks ! ), but she felt that it was not really a mastectomy kind of garment. HA HA HA !
We did some shopping at Wal-Mart, then drove to Spotlight 29 Casino, our home for the next few days, arriving about 8 PM. We went into the casino to have dinner in their buffet restaurant.
Wednesday ; Palm Springs
Sunny and warm.
This morning we left the Spotlight 29 Casino RV parking lot around 11 AM. We drove a couple of miles to a nearby municipal sewage treatment plant and used their RV
sani-dump station to dump our waste holding tanks. BUT ... there was no potable freshwater spigot so we drove to a nearby Love's station to refill our freshwater tank.
We drove to Desert Hot Springs and spent much of the day searching for park models available for monthly rental in RV & mobile home parks. My first choice would be to rent a park model in Caliente Springs, an RV & mobile home community we have stayed at a few times over the last fourteen years. We want to rent a park model home in / near Palm Springs next December ( a year from now ). We would likely not be able to afford to rent in Palm Springs, so will probably rent something across the freeway in Desert Hot Springs. Which actually has nicer "hot springs" than Palm Springs.
Late in the afternoon we crossed the freeway into Palm Springs and went to the "temporary substitute" Palm Springs Dog Park. It was only for big dogs, so ... we walked a long distance around an adjacent large city park. Ozzie enjoyed a long walk on lush grass. He hasn't been getting enough long walks / exercise while we've been on the road.
As it turned dark at 5 PM we drove to "downtown" Palm Springs to have an early dinner at Sherman's Deli, our favourite place to eat in Palm Springs. I found an excellent place to park, then we walked around downtown for awhile with Ozzie before putting him into the camper with Emma, and we went for an "early bird" dinner at 6 PM.
MMMMM ! Joanne had split pea soup and the meatloaf platter with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I had cold borscht ( with additional diced cucumber and a dollop of sour cream ) and the roasted beef brisket platter with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Enough meat left over on both of our plates to feed us lunch tomorrow. And maybe even the day after ! The excellent food was accompanied by superbly good service. But ... that's par for the course at Sherman's. As is a hefty bill.
< shrug > You get what you pay for ... which can't be said for some ( many ? ) expensive restaurants.
We left the restaurant around 7 PM and were back at Spotlight 29 Casino about an hour later.
Thursday ; Palm Springs
Cloudy, very windy, heavy rain in the afternoon in downtown ... but we weren't there at that time.
We left Spotlight 29 Casino's RV parking lot this morning at 11 AM, and drove to the nearby Love's station to refill our freshwater tank. Then we drove to Rancho Casa Blanca, a nearby RV & MH community to browse for park model rentals. When we were finished there we drove to a nearby Wal-Mart so that I could exchange an item purchased in Oregon. I was really pissed off that I was exchanging a clothing item, one size for another, and I was required to pay the California sales tax. We had lunch while parked at Wal-Mart. From there we drove to a mall where Joanne's favourite bathing suit store had relocated from Desert Hot Springs. While she went shopping for a bathing suit I napped with Ozzie. I think this is the only store where Joanne has purchased bathing suits in the last fourteen years. She buys one or two per year here. They have a great selection of mastectomy suits. And the chlorine in the swimming pools she uses regularly, at both our summer home and our winter home, "eats" bathing suits.
Leaving the mall where the bathing suit store was located the wind was extremely strong. And we could see as we headed towards downtown that heavy rain was falling there. Ugly, dark clouds were trapped there by Mount San Jacinto. We stopped at a Vons store to buy a loaf of bread, then headed downtown, arriving about 5 PM. I found a good place to park, then we busied ourselves in the camper for an hour, waiting for Village Fest to begin.
The principal reason why we were here in Palm Springs for three days was to attend Village Fest on Thursday evening. A ten block section of Palm Canyon Drive closes to vehicle traffic every Thursday from 6 PM to 10 PM and it becomes a "pop-up" pedestrian shopping mall, filled with arts and crafts and farmers' markets and food concessions and street musicians and specialty products of every sort and ... ! It is particularly interesting as Christmas approaches. And tonight ... < sputter > ... it was cancelled ! Because this afternoon, when the "go / no go" decision had to be made, it was raining heavily downtown !
How disappointing ! We walked a couple of blocks back to where the truck and camper were parked. We had taken Ozzie with us to Village Fest. He wondered what was the point of walking a couple of blocks to crowded downtown, and then walking a couple of blocks back to where we were parked. We drove to a restaurant Joanne wanted to try, but ... I couldn't find a parking spot in their parking lot that I could squeeze our truck and camper into. < sigh > We drove to a nearby fuel station, refilled with diesel, got onto Interstate 10, and headed east to Aqua Caliente Casino, our planned "home" for the night. When we got there ... < sputter > .. they no longer allowed overnight parking of RV's. Boy ... this night just kept getting better and better !
We continued driving east on I-10, back to Spotlight 29 Casino, for a third night of boondocking there. Joanne prepared a simple but excellent supper.
Friday ; Palm Springs, California to Yuma, Arizona
Sunny and warm, temperature in Yuma when we arrived at 3 PM / 4 PM was 74°F / 23ºC.
We left the RV parking lot of Spotlight 29 Casino at 11 AM. Thank you very much Spotlight 29 Casino for three days of quiet, safe, overnight boondocking.
I certainly am glad that your Indian Band bought out its development partner Donald Trump after your casino was built.
We headed south on Hwy. 86, following the shoreline of the Salton Sea, then followed a series of back roads south and east until reaching Holtville where we stopped to have lunch. MMMMM ... burritos from Holtville Taco Shop. Best burritos in America OR Mexico ! "Burritos" is an oxymoron here, so to speak. The "ito" suffix in Spanish makes the noun "little". Therefore, a "burrito" as thick as your forearm, is not a burrito, but a burro ! In any case ... they were excellent ! I had a carne asada burrito. Joanne had a Californian, which is a carne asada burrito that includes french fries inside of it. HA HA HA ! You go, girl !
After lunch we headed east on Interstate 8 until crossing the Colorado River from California into Yuma, Arizona. We arrived at our winter home, Kofa Ko-op RV Park shortly after 3 PM, not remembering until later that as soon as we crossed the Colorado River we passed from the Pacific time zone into the Mountain time zone, so it was actually an hour later.
Emma instantly remembered our lot 52, and was eager to go into "her" Arizona room. We took Ozzie for a lap around the dog park. He was as comfortable in the dog park as if he had been walking there his whole life. AND ... he effortlessly scaled our back yard fence into and out of the dog park with the assistance of the mobile home steps we have on each side of the fence. BUT ... < sniffle > ... being here for the first time without Bo makes us remember and miss him.
While I got the utilities hooked up to the camper Joanne did some weeding in our back yard. The yard was in pretty clean shape. The Arizona room was pretty dirty inside with desert dust. Emma was disgusted ! HA HA HA ! While we worked we were greeted by neighbours and friends who noticed our return.
After it became dark and we went inside the camper I worked online. My priority was to contact TracFone and resolve our TracFone reactivation drama. Well ... ! ! ! Their solution was to send me ANOTHER new SIM card which will take a week to arrive here. HMPH ! Ten days on the road without phone service, and now another week without phone service waiting for the arrival of another new SIM card !
HA HA HA HA HA ! Joanne just finished a sewing repair, using a new / never before used sewing kit in the camper that I picked up at an upscale hotel when I was travelling for work with Canada Post, so it’s ... at least twenty-eight years old !
Home to here was a bit more than 3200 km. / 2000 miles.
Saturday ; Yuma, Arizona
Sunny and warm. AHHHHH !
We were busy today with arrival chores. Joanne spent much of today cleaning the Arizona room and getting it ready for occupancy ; outdoor furniture to the outdoors, indoor furniture uncovered and cleaned, etc. We removed about two thirds of the vinyl walls. I took my bicycle out of the shed and washed it. I connected the satellite dish to the TV in the camper. We took Ozzie for a couple of walks in the dog park. He doesn't like it. Too much prickly stuff for his tender feet. Our final walk with him today was around the streets of the RV park. He enjoyed that much more. Many neighbours / friends came by to visit today.
OH ! And ... I almost forgot ! Joanne cleaned the remains of the dead roadrunner off our patio !
DSK
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