Through the Desert Some More

Spent a few nights in Benson enjoying the nice 25-to-30 C. sunny weather, complete with a hot spa and nice pool, then headed out on the morning of April 8th for the Palm Springs area of California, Indio to be exact.  We really like the RV park here, it's a mix of permanent park models and people like us, three nice pool/spa areas, and palm trees everywhere.  We originally were leaving on the 13th, but decided to extend it until the 20th, taking a chance on what the Coachella Music Festival festivities might bring.

This is a huge (75,000 people a day) music festival about 4 miles from here.  it starts tomorrow for 3 days, but the town is already buzzing and motorhomes and campers of every description are filling up the park, and the city!  Just went out for groceries and saw cars packed with people everywhere, wearing a lot of interesting outfits.  Both cars and RVs have writing all over them in rainbow colors, like "Coachella or Bust," or "Carpoolchella," which is a promo for people to carpool to the festival and win a prize for best decorated vehicle.

Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre are performing, along with over 50 or so other artists, both local and international.  They are having the exact same lineup again next weekend because they can't fit in all the people that want to go.  Both weekends have been sold out for a long time.  Yee haw!

Above, early morning in the Arizona desert

Above, a green adobe on the way into Douglas, AZ

Above:  Glamis, the Imperial Valley Sandunes, where thousands come to camp and run their ATVs and dune buggies and just generally party!

Above:  On the way into one of many Border Patrol Checkpoints along I-8 in southern Arizona near Mexicali, Mexico (you can see the wall separating Mexico and the US in the background)

Above: I-8 is a much nicer way to travel with the RV than I-10, you go through some nice BLM land reserves with thousands of big Saguaro cactus

Above: One of the dingy little stores in Douglas, Arizona.  Note the yellow tulle foo-foo prom dress

"Welcome to Glamis"

Indio, California (Palm Springs)

Back in sunny California again.  It's a little warmer now than it was when we left on January 2nd this year.  We arrived at the start of a 2-day heat wave with temperatures around 105 degrees F.  Lucky for us that the RV park has 3 pools and 2 spas, and lucky for the dogs that the RV has air conditioning!

There are a lot of Canadians staying in this park.  We really miss Texas.  People just aren't as friendly as they are there.  And there's no Texas BBQ here either.  Am I whining?  Get used to it...

A guy just pulled in that we met in Roswell at the park we were staying at.  He had said his wife had some golf tournaments here in La Quinta the first week of April, so we told him about this park, and here he is!  Kind of cool to see someone further down the road again!

The citrus trees here had more fruit on them in December than they do now, and there were more hummngbirds flitting about, so I guess some of them have started to move a bit northward.  Even though we kind of know that once we start moving northward in a week or so, the weather isn't going to be summer-like anymore, we are still going to be in denial til we get into it!  We will be in Oregon around April 18th, and back in Canada at the beginning of May. 

Time to go lounge by the pool, then barbecue some chicken for supper.  I'll add some photos to this later :)  Meanwhile, check out the Photorama and Random Observations pages for photos from Texas and Arizona...

Sentinel of the Desert

The hummingbirds seem to be more active in the last couple of cold mornings.  Once the sun hits the flowers, there are lots of them zooming around the park.  Across the road there is a patch of desert, where we take the dogs to run, and there has been a solitary shimmering, emerald-green hummer over there for a few mornings now.  He sits on the top branch of a big sage brush and chatters away like a budgie.  Today I got quite close to him and got a few photos.  When I got to about 10 feet of him, he buzzed over to see what I was doing, then took off.  We are pulling out tomorrow for Arizona, and I shall miss my little sentinel of the desert...

Happy New Year

 Above:  Walking in the desert with Nachelnik ambling ahead, always the guardian

This RV park was deserted at about 5:00 p.m., cars with dressed-up people exiting in large numbers to New Year's celebrations, with most of the remaining in attendance at the club house for the dinner/dance (this year's theme:  Senior Prom).  There was a frost warning for last night, but after doing laundry and spending some time in the outdoor pool and spa, the temperature read a balmy (choke) 40 degrees at 10:00 p.m.  The cold may have also played a part in why there was not a soul to be seen anywhere after dark (see prior Oz Syndrome post).

 Above:  One of the pool and spa areas at the park

We went outside at midnight to see if there might be some fireworks.  There were a lot of firecrackers and cherry bombs going off in the distance, a few people hollering and whistling at the far end of the park, and then 3 shots rang out from a large-caliber gun of some description, about 500 yards away from us, then some automatic weapon fire a ways away. Someone fired up the song "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang about two streets over, then you could hear the dull roar of car horns and crowds screaming in the town a few miles from here, and then that was the end of that, after about 10 minutes total.

About an hour later we heard a crash on the street outside, and then the sound of something being dragged along that had the sound of metal with sparks flying.  We looked outside and discovered it was one of the park residents trying to navigate his golf cart home and failing miserably.  I don't know what he hit, but he got out to look at the front of his cart, and a crowd of people, glasses in hand (in true Julian fashion -- hey, we ARE in a trailer park, even if it's more posh that Sunnyvale) were all turning away and wandering off, excitement over for the time being.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 Above:  Fuera patiently waiting to hit the road to Arizona (Aaron checking tire pressures)

Above:  The 99-dollar stainless-steel BBQ from Costco:  State of the art, 2 burners, about 2 feet wide but nicely portable with folding legs :)

Oz Syndrome

It rained here yesterday, and tonight it is 43 degrees out there, so it's been much colder than usual, apparently, according to the locals.  We walked the dogs past a group of people hanging out in front of someone's diesel-pusher this afternoon, and when they found out we were from Canada, one of them said, "We apologize for the weather!"

We have now experienced 4 out of the 5 days a year it supposedly rains here.  The park looks absolutely deserted when the skies are cloudy, and when the sun reappears it is like a scene from the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy's house lands on the witch and the place looks deserted until Glinda comes along with her "come out, come out, wherever you are ..." song, and then the Munchkins all pop out in full force.  It's a carnival atmosphere here when the clouds dissipate, with people on bicycles, people in golf carts, people walking dogs, people walking themselves, people in groups, people with suspicious-looking cups in hand, drinking as they amble along together.  I haven't heard anyone singing anything about a dead witch yet, though, and most of them seem taller than in the movie.

Bingo Tonight!  Oh, yeah!