Sunday, December 22, 2019

December 15 to 21, 2019 ; Yuma, Arizona to Palm Springs, California


Sunday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked Mexican Chili in the Sun Oven today.

Routine household chores, automotive maintenance, and departure preparations until mid-afternoon. Went to Happy Hour visit with neighbours / friends Linda and David. Chatted with them and other friends of theirs from 3 PM until 6 PM.

Monday ; Sunny, cool, chilly in the evening. Joanne cooked cinnamon buns and Chicken Mole ( pronounced “molay”, Mexican savoury chocolate “stewing” 
sauce ) in the Sun Oven today.

We spent much of today preparing for departure tomorrow to Palm Springs. Joanne moved a lot of stuff from the fifth wheel trailer to the truck camper which is now parked on our driveway. I refilled the camper’s freshwater tank and did some maintenance on the truck. Around noon I spent time visiting with new acquaintances, people we met yesterday. In the evening I paid some bills online, “taking care of business” before travelling.

Tuesday ; Yuma, Arizona to Palm Springs, California

Sunny and cool. We prepared for departure and left home at 12:30 PM. We arrived in Palm Springs at 5 PM. Well … 5 PM Arizona time, it was 4 PM California time.

We took both vehicles, me driving the truck and camper, Joanne driving the minivan. I felt a bit lonely on the drive, without either Joanne or Ozzie to keep me company. We stopped in Holtville to buy two huge burritos, one to share for lunch and one to share for supper. We stopped at Red Earth Casino near Salton Sea Beach to refill both vehicles with cheaper, “on the rez” fuel before reaching the outrageous fuel prices of Palm Springs ( and most of the rest of California ).

We arrived at our boondocking home for the night, Spotlight 29 Casino, just before dusk. We chose a parking spot in the RV overnight parking lot, and 
I began to reset clocks and watches from Arizona time to California time. While doing that I discovered … WHAT ? Water in the minivan headlight ? AGAIN ? ! ? HMPH ! Must be from the car wash a few days ago. I’m going to have to contact the supplier that I bought the two headlights from recently. I hope they will replace the leaky one. When we get settled in to the RV park we will be staying at for the next month and a half I will once again remove the headlight and dry out the inside.

Our new to us GPS worked just fine !

Wednesday ; Spotlight 29 Casino to Sky Valley Resort

Sunny and cool, chilly evening.

We left Spotlight 29 Casino this morning around 11 AM and headed for a nearby 99¢ Only Store. After a bit of shopping we drove to Sky Valley Resort, on Dillon Road, on the north side of Interstate 10, a bit east of Desert Hot Springs. Our home for the next forty-five days. We checked in, got settled into our assigned site, had lunch, and I took a nap before connecting electricity, water, sewer, and setting up cable TV. Joanne did a bit of Christmas decorating inside the camper, and I set up our Christmas “kaleidoscope” light outside, shining on the truck and camper. KEWL !

We went to the west clubhouse ( this resort has an east side and a west side ), checked out the laundromat, restaurant, mineral hot tubs ( multiple ), mineral showers, warm water swimming pools ( multiple ), sauna, etc. Certainly am looking forward to all that !

Back at home we had supper and watched the three hour season finale of Survivor.

Thursday ; Sunny and warm, chilly in the evening.

We had a pretty good day today ! I did some maintenance work on the minivan this morning. Late in the morning we headed to the swimming pool area. We did an exercise session in the smaller and warmer of the two mineral swimming pools on the west side of the resort. Then soaked in the warmest of the mineral hot tubs. AHHHHH ! Looking forward to a month and a half of THAT !

After lunch I napped then we left to run errands. We drove into Desert Hot Springs and I bought some postage at the Post Office. Then across Interstate 10 from north side / Desert Hot Springs to south side / Palm Springs. At the Bank of America we deposited cash from the sale of OB the SUV. WOO-HOO … the car is gone, the money is in the bank ! We drove around downtown until we found a parking spot, to attend Village Fest, the regular weekly downtown street fair. We wandered from one end of Village Fest to the other, and back. I bought a small Christmas gift for Joanne. Because … she told me to ! HA HA HA !

By the time we were finished at Village Fest it was time for supper. Since we were downtown we decided to have supper at Sherman’s Deli, our favourite Palm Springs restaurant. Supper was superb, as always at Sherman’s Deli. Joanne had matzo ball soup, and a platter of kishka ( with an EXCELLENT gravy )… sparking memories of my childhood years of playing “Who Stole The Kishka” on my accordion. HA HA HA !

We were back home at Sky Valley Resort around 9 PM.



Friday ; Sunny and warm, chilly evening.

I have just spent the better part of three hours trying … and failing … to get about fifteen minutes of online work done. < sigh > This is not the first time I have been in an RV park in California where the Wi-Fi communal bandwidth is completely inadequate. It’s going to be an extremely frustrating part of the next month and a half.

I helped two neighbours with RV “mobility” issues today. This morning the people in the fifth wheel trailer behind us were trying to reposition their trailer. Suffice to say … she left in a huff … and he needed help, after getting the fifth wheel trailer’s king pin jammed in the truck’s fifth wheel hitch. I helped him achieve what he was unable to achieve on his own. And then … < sputter > … the Canadian Albertan ingrate didn’t even offer a simple “thank you”. HMPH !

This afternoon a single woman from New Mexico … with her little dog and cat … needed help getting her Class C ( small ) motorhome squeezed into the small site beside us. We met her later in the afternoon in the swimming pool, and spent quite awhile chatting with her.

HA HA HA … Joanne spent the evening binge watching “90 Day Fiancé” !

Saturday ; Thin, high overcast, warm.

After a late start today was mostly a day of running errands. Just before leaving around noon I discovered a new leak underneath the bathroom sink … < sigh >. We drove to the nearby RV parts store to discover that they had closed a few minutes earlier, at noon … < sigh >.

We drove to Palm Springs via a different route than we usually use from the Desert Hot Springs side of the freeway. First stop was Home Depot where 
I unsuccessfully tried to figure out what plumbing parts I would need to repair our bathroom sink leak … < sigh >.

We used our GPS to get to College of the Desert, where every Saturday and Sunday one of their large parking lots becomes a huge “Street Fair” / flea market, somewhat like Arizona MarketPlace in Yuma, but … much more upscale. I was hoping to browse through the flea market and find some Christmas gift “inspiration”. The only thing in the entire market that “inspired” me was a 2014 Mercedes Benz convertible being sold by the classic / vintage / luxury car dealer that displays about a dozen or so cars at the College of the Desert Street Fair every weekend.

Next was a Trader Joe’s location in Palm Desert that we have not been to before. This was our pre-Christmas Trader Joe’s impulse purchase indulgence trip. And we did ourselves proud ! HA HA HA !

Last stop was a large shopping mall and while Joanne went to the 99¢ Only Store to buy some supplies I went into the Burger King inside the Wal-Mart and used their free Wi-Fi to get some online work done. It seems likely that this will be a regular routine during our month and a half stay at Sky Valley Resort. You would think that a place that expensive would have decent Wi-Fi, but … NOOOOO ! ! !

We arrived back home at Sky Valley Resort at 4:40 PM … just as it turned dark … < sputter > ! ! !

DSK

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