Feb 11 Sunday- I find out there were just over 7 thousand bikers on the marathon yesterday. It did not rain like they expected today so we go on a 6 mile hike in the Mecca hills just east of Indio. Phillip our leader is very knowledgeable, he has even written a book on hiking in the Palm Springs area. We have 14 people and 5 dogs (all got along off leash). We meet at the Albertsons parking lot just of Washington and car pooled . It was a walk about where he told us of different trailheads to hike at another time. He showed us scenic and geological points of interest. A great time was had by all.
Feb 10 Saturday- I say a quick good bye to Cliff and Ruth Ann then I head out to the Palm Desert library for a free docent guided tour of art in the library inside and out , but I am stopped for 5-8 min as just outside the park 1000 of bikers ( pedal) are going down Dillon for a marathon . I finally find a small space to make a left turn. There are only 5 in our group. We are there for 1 hour . There were 12 pieces of art work to see. Very interesting. I take my computer as they have free WIFI and my month with tengo has run out. My favorite was a large frog titled-Puffed up prince. I also enjoyed "c" is for cat, a little girl reading to her cat, both bronze.

Feb 9-Desert Hot Springs-Friday Cliff and Ruth Ann get another day in the park. I go with Linda to the Coachella preserve to hike with Paul. He has 19 hikers. We hike to hidden Palms. I meet a former hiker I met last year( Ethel). We plan to hike together Sunday. Tonight Ruth Ann cooks a farewell dinner as they leave tomorrow.

Feb 8-Thursday. This morning I hike with the Coachella Valley group. We go to the bat caves near the Salton Sea. We are led by 2 sisters from Edmonton Alberta. There were 14 on this hike. We start at 220’ below sea level; the butte is 90’ above. We find some gypsum (desert rose) and some pumice stones on the way. We also see seashells as this was once under water. There were no bat in the cave today but they use them when they are migrating. We saw lots of wasps nest on the roof of the caves. We stopped to have lunch at the visitor’s center at the Salton Sea. We walk to the edge of the lake and we see many dead fish (tilapia). It sure made the place smell. Tonight we go to the Desert Art museum and the village fest in Palm Springs with Cliff and Ruth Ann. We meet Bills cousin and his son and granddaughter here. We buy gyros for dinner in the market. I sure sleep tonight.

Feb 7 Wednesday. We are still in Desert Hot Springs in Desert Pools park. I do the walk away the pounds and the water aerobics with a soak in the hot mineral pools. A computer class next. Tonight we go to dinner with Cliff and Ruth Ann to the Roadhouse on Dillon Road as they have 2 for 1.

Feb 6 Tuesday-We stay in the park today and I do the exercise programs. Tonight we have both Cliff and Ruth Ann and Dona and Orville (both from our 2nd Mexico caravan) over for dinner. We have a great time reminiscing.

Jan. 5 -Indio-Monday- It is still beautiful and sunny in the 80’s. Today we go to the Living Desert in Palm Desert. We take a picnic lunch as there is so much to see. They have added onto the train layout. We also went to their butterfly world and watched them hatch. I always enjoy the hospital tour. We go for dinner at the park. They have meatloaf with all the trimmings including salad and desert for $ 4.00. You can’t beat that.

Feb 4 Sunday-I go on a hike, only 3 miles in Palm Desert, part of the Hop-along-Cassedy trail . We hike 4oo feet right at the beginning. Somewhat difficult for me but it gets better as we go on. Bills cousin shows up in the afternoon. He books into an RV park near us for a month. It is hot today . It gets up to 85’

Hop-along-Long-Cassity trail Palm Desert we did 3 miles

Feb 3 Saturday- Today we go to the colledge of the desert market. We both buy another pair of croaks.

Feb 2 Friday-Our friends from our first Mexico caravan arrived today. They have rented the park model for 1 week. We take them to the Art Place in Palm Desert. They have a no host bar the first Friday of the month. It is not as elaborate as El Paseo but fun nevertheless .There are art stores as well as antique stores. A pottery store that makes 7 feet vases. Do you know if you double click on the pictures I posted they will enlarge.

Thousand Palms perserve

fruit from washington palms

Feb1 Thursday-Today we install my USB 2.0 adapter for wireless lan on my computer. I take Linda on another hike this time only 4 miles to Hidden Palms, still windy. Tonight we go to El Peseo in Palm Desert for the Art Walk. 3 couples tag along with us. We have fun in and out of art galleries drinking wine and eating h’orderves. Some galleries had champagne or hard liquor. All for FREE. About 20 galleries participated we didn”t get to them all as we pooped out.

Jan31-Wednesday-After the walk away the pounds I attend a computer class put on in the park. Terry has a WIFI signal finder. I buy one hoping it will work on our boat. I take Linda and Max on a 5 mile hike on the McCallum trail and Moon country in the Coachilla preserve. It is very windy but good for hiking.

pond at thousand ponds contains pupfish and minnows

Sand dunes in thousand palms- frindge toad lizards live here

Trail in thousand palms-Skirts of Washington palms

Jan 30 Desert HotnSprings-Tuesday. Today I do walk away the pounds at new park . We find out the people who were on our Africa trip are here in the park too so we have a visit. Then I go to Catalina Spa 3 blocks away to attend a computer class in blogging as I was having trouble posting pictures. After the class we drive to down town Desert hot Springs to see what was new. (not much) After dinner I went and played Pokino.

Jan29 Monday Today we move to Desert Pools just outside Desert Hot Springs. We get all set up and after lunch I go to Catalina Spa RV park as Sue has a computer coarse. Shannon sends an e-mail they will be leaving Costa Rica Feb 6 and are heading for La Paz Mexico until they go back to long Beach Cal.

Jan28 Desert Hot Springs-Sunday- Today I go hiking at the Coachella Valley preserve we do the Mcallum trail and Moon country.(3and a half hours) 13 people.

red splatters on rock are fire retardent,it made for an interesting sight.

View from the oasis. We hiked up to here. great view.

Burnt Washington palms after the burn 1-1/2 years ago foilage nice and green and healthy-snow creek

Jan27 Indio-Saturday-their was a meeting with Jim Logan the owner to Western Horizons. It was very interesting and informative . He is hoping to put in free WIFI, free long distance phone calling including Canada and he wants 50 amp power in all the sites. He set us straight on some rumors-he and his wife are not separating and Western Horizone’s has not gone bankrupt or sold. There are 28 thousand members. After the meeting we went shopping getting ready to move to Desert Hot Springs. Lyn and Larry from Powel River game over in the afternoon and in the evening a couple who went to Australia with Fantasy and who have signed up South Africa came over so we could swap stories. We showed each other some highlight in pictures.

Jan 26 Indio-Friday-I take a group to the bird scantuary after doing walk away the pounds. We meet a couple we did the 2nd Mexico trip with(Dona and Orville) We have a good visit.

Jan 25- I am met at 7am in front of our gate to go hiking. There were 17 people . We hike to Snow Creek near Whitewater, west of Palm Springs. We visit a recently burnt oasis. The palm trees have black trunks but the foliage is completely healthy after 1 and a half years. Our weather is 75-45.

Jan 22- 25 Indio-Bill takes the truck back and they put in a higher pressure pump and they think we got gas in our aux. tank so they said to keep filling it up and run it through before you do hills. I go to help knit squares for needy children’s blankets. We get a surprise. Richard who worked at the Gibson’s marina store and office was parked behind us. I had given him a card years ago to try Western Horizons for 5 free nights plus dinner and they honored it. Wednesday I go on the tag along again to consignment stores. What fun. Bill gets some Mexicians to wash and wax the RV 160.00. Thursday I get up early to go hiking.

Jan18,19 20,21- Indio-We try the 2.25 breakfast at the park. It was good. We go to the new 99 cents store . It has fresh produce and dairy. Everything is 99 cents. We head to the visitors center and I pick up all the latest. Next we drive up the big hill towards Idyllwild to test the tanks. The auxiliary tank is acting up. It is cloudy and tries to rain. Saturday we go to an art show in La Quinta. I forget my camera so no pictures. We go for a walk in the bird sanctuary. Sunday we go to the COD fair. We buy our years supply of socks. We sign up for the Austrailia trip . on stand by or 08 with Fantasy for Sept 23-Nov 9 from LA. Time will tell. Bill takes the truck back in Monday

Jan 17- Indio-Wednesday- Our park is very active since they have a new manager (Roger) Cory is in Verde. Evening games are active, even pokino in the evening as well as the afternoon. They have a tag along once a week, this week we went to thrift shops way out in Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage. It was fun I found some nice blue glasses (7) I guess one got broken. They have a camera roundtable and computer class. There are lots of crafts too . Calligraphy,beading,and knitting , crocheting and quilting, plus scratch art to name a few.. They have exercise in the morning and water aerobics. They teach you new card games including bridge. A bike ride around the park 2.1 ) miles is offered in the morning. Mcbride RV maintence and Fantasy RV tours including wine and cheese in the afternoon. They also go to Ivey ranch for golf. Friday is Movie night and Saturday they bring in entertainment. Oh yes don’t forget pool tournaments. Yesterday we went to the Fantasy tour thinking we would sign up for the Austrailia tour in Sept 07. Would you believe it they were all booked up. Do we go with another company or wait for 08???? Bill took the truck in this morning we still haven’t heard anything so we are without a truck.

Jan. 14 Monday Moving day-8am 37’ windy but sunny. We turn the clock back one hour. It takes us 3 hours to get to Indio. The truck was acting up again but we made it. Something to do with the transfer pump we think. Lots of new changes at Indian Waters RV park as they got a new manager. More activities and they serve breakfast and lunch Mon-Fri for very reasonable prices-1.00 for soup,1.00 for breakfast burrito,2 eggs hash browns and toast 2.25 and more. I don’t think I have to cook. We quickly get settled even the satalite dish worked on the first try. I walk to the new Albertsons only 2 large blocks away. A great new store.

fields and fields of vegetables Yuma area

Sand dunes just past Yuma







an ATVer's paradise

Jan 12,13 14- Yuma-not much happening Bill finishes with the dentist in Algodonas a little over 3 thousand dollars, 2 root canels and replaced all the old fillings. He still has one to do but ran out of time ,so next year. I help make blankets for the Mexician cardboard families just across the border. Last year the park made 600 blankets. We did our last bit of grocery shopping and Bill filled the fuel tank as we get ready to leave for Indio Monday. Bill is already hooked up. The weather has turned cold especially at night (38) but goes up in the daytime (73) but the wind doesn’t help.

Jan 11 Tucson-Thursday-We get good news today . Shannon got her green card and spousal visa. She had to fly to Montreal to get her interview. Bill and I go to the movies. The matinee, we see Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. It was pretty blood curdling. A little to much violence for me. Sunny and mild but it changes tomorrow.

Jan 9 Yuma-Tuesday-Today is RV show in the park where they bring in 5-6 RV to view. They give coffee and donuts so that bring a crowd. We do not see anything we liked in our price range. We do laundry today. It get up to 80’ beautiful. They have a limited time for laundry as they have a septic tanks so they decided not to open the laundry until 2pm so that people can take showers in the morning. It is a good thing that we arrive early. I play pokino ton
Jan 8 Yuma Monday-Back to Yuma again to have lunch with Ron & Pat. We go to Happy Chief in Old town.4.95 buys a complete meal. It was ham today. We see Vancouver is getting another storm snow and all.


Jan 7 Yuma Sunday- We go back to Yuma to go to another swap meet. Here I buy 10 lbs of grapefruit for 8.00 and I buy a queen size bed cover for 18.00. We try to visit Wolf and Barb at Country Roads but they are not home. They phone when we are on the road and we are going to meet in Indio, but they gave us Linda and Brian’s new address in Yuma as they are no longer in West Winds as they raised the rent

Jan 6 Yuma -Saturday-It is still very windy here. Today we go to Yuma ( 5 miles)from park. We go to one of the large swap meets. Again row upon row of venders like Apache Junction. I buy some fresh vegetables and some candied ginger (yum). We decide to visit Ron and Pat from Medicine Hat. They are in Sun Vista RV park. It is huge over 1 thousand sites. Lots of activities, including an indoor and outdoor pool. They are there for 3 months.( about 1400) They have a grapefruit tree in front of their site. We went home with 2 grapefruits

Jan5 Friday-A day of rest. I have a cold or hay fever. It is very windy and dust flying everywhere. The park had a RV show. There was the new Alpinlite there. We asked about the rummers that the factory was sold or had gone bankrupt. Yes it has been sold. We have an appointment in March to have the damage done by the blowout last year. They said that should be OK. The new Alpinlite was a great disappointment. Many thing missing that we enjoy in our rig.

Jan 4 Thursday-I am finished at the dentist. Bill has more work, so he returns to Algadones. We get an e-mail from Shannon and Ethan. She has her date for the interview in Montreal. She will leave Costa Rica Tuesday Jan 9 for Vancouver then Montreal Jan 13. Hopefully everything goes well.

The courtyard where Bills gets his root canal in Algadones 

Jan 3 Wednesday-We drive to Yuma for a ATM machine, as the dentist only takes cash. Problems ,problems problems, none of the ATV machines will give us money. Are we asking for too much at a time????? Are the machines empty?? Its getting late and Bill has an appointment at 10am, so we head for Mexico and try the ATM machine there(at border ). It only will give you $200 at a time. We use both cards so it cover the work for today. We return to RV then Bill goes back to Yuma and the bank straightens us out. Apparently we got new cards and they didn’t give us the amount we wanted to take out increased. We now have money to pay the dentist. The joys of traveling.

Jan 2-Tuesday Sunny and warm Today we drive to Mexico, only 10 min. away from our RV Park (Pilot Knob). $3.00 lets us park all day in a large Indian Parking lot (secure). We walk across into Mexico. Algadonas here is where we get our teeth checked and cleaned ( 25.00 each) They have all the modern conveniences the newest thing is a TV scanner that shows your teeth so X-rays are not necessary, except for hard to get at areas. You look at a flat screen TV. I have only 2 small cavities. Bill has a lot of work to do. I had mine done last time. They have time to do some today he finishes at 4:30 I go and get my hair coloured and highlighted $50.00 We go to cross the border and it looks like a long wait someone said about 1 hour, so we have supper in town. It only takes half an hour to cross now.

Yuma guest- roadrunner

got his prize-wiener I think he comes every day 

Jan.1 Monday- Today we have a leisurely drive to Yuma. 180 miles 3/1/2 hours. We travel with our friends from Medicine Hat Alberta (Ron & Pat) who were also in Casa Grande for 3 weeks too. They are staying in Yuma for 3 months we are staying for 2 weeks. We pass numerous feed lots, very smelly. Yuma is an agriculture area, the lettuce and winter vegetable capital of the world. We pass many RV’s pulling ATV’s coming from the sand dunes for the holiday just outside of Yuma. We have a special guest for lunch, a road runner. Apparently he comes by every day bumming.

Hudson & Dina Scottsdale Arizona our mail deliver 

Dec 30 Saturday- We got Sherri to phoenix to catch her flight home Friday. Hudson and Dina left also as it started to rain and the things we were going to do was outside- visit the Casa grande ruins and visit the Greek Orthodox Church in Florence(really something to see-five churches on the premises all with icons from Greece.) Today is beautiful and sunny wouldn’t you know it. We are getting ready to leave for Yuma on Monday for two weeks. They have a big New Years party here but we do not go . Bill can’t stay up that late, so I will go and play pokino with our group. We play every night here

Dec 27- Casa Grande-Today we go back to Scottsdale to see the galleries again. This time everything is opened. We also walk around old town.

Dec 26 -Casa Grande-Tuesday Boxing day. Off we go to the outlet mall. Lots of bargains were to be had. Sherri has a good time at the Gap. Hudson and Dina arrived after supper with our mail.

Dec 25 Casa Grande-Christmas. We have a wonderful traditional dinner at the RV park. They fed about 275 people . Last time they fed 315 ,so they were down from last time . Weather was perfect not too hot and not too cold and sunny.

Scottsdale
Scottsdale 

Dec 23 Sunday- Today we drive to Scottsdale to go to the Art Galleries. Do not go on a Sunday as very little is opened but we did walk Old Town. A nice sunny day.

cotton fields Casa Grande
bails of cotton Casa Grande 

Dec 23 Casa Grande is cotton, cantaloupe and watermelon country. The town is really growing with many many many new houses being built all around. They even have a super Wal-Mart (like a Safeways inside). They also have an outlet mall. The weather has turned cold in the evening around the freezing mark. It goes up around 65 in the daytime. It even rained part of a day.

.

Bills Christmas decor Casa Grande
inside at Casa Grande 

Dec 20-Casa Grande-It’s time I updated my blog. We have been in Casa Grande for just about 2 weeks. I am back playing pokino ( a card game with pennies) and doing walk away the pounds (3 mile) and silver stretchers. This RV park has a lot of things to do. Even entertainment about 3 nights a week. I am also back to line dancing in the afternoon. The RV is decorated for Christmas inside and out. Bill did the outside. We are enjoying Sherri’s company. We picked her up in phoenix last Tuesday with no problems. We took her to Apache Junction for the largest flea market in Arizona.

Sonora desert museum
ocotillo,prickly pear,saguaro
cardenal in Sonard desert 

Dec 11 Monday. We are in Casa Grande half -way between Tucson and Phoenix. We had a great time in Tucson. We went to the movies and saw Casino Royal, a James Bond show. We went to the Desert museum, I love that place. We went too late and all the animals were napping. So just got bird and scenery pictures. Tucson had a street fair lots and lots of stuff for sale. It was even bigger than the one in Palm Springs. They closed the street down here too. But theirs is only for one weekend and PS is every Thursday. The weather was a lot warmer then Benson,. Really just perfect. I think it is colder her at night.

soda straws in Kartchner Caverns
stalacites stagmites and flowstone in big room Karchner 

Dec 6 Benson wednesday-We finely get the truck fixed after 5 days. They thought it was dirty fuel but after closer inspection found that the transfer pump ( just installed in Farmington in October wasn’t working right) . $600.00 latter everything appears to be working. We will leave today for Tucson. We were not able to do too much with no truck but we did manage to go to Karchner caverns, as we told Peg and Gerry our first wagon masters we would treat them for letting us stay with them for a while. They picked us up and stayed for dinner as the caves are only 10 miles from Benson. We are on our way to Tucson now.