Friday, December 28, 2012, through Tuesday, January 1, 2013:  In Indio:
Friday morning, Becky played some pickleball, while I finished up setting up our rig and doing some minor chores.  I also ordered a new wheel from the Forest River people to replace the one that was destroyed by the blowout caper, and had a brief discussion with the repair people at the factory regarding a new problem we were having---constantly blowing the fuse that controls our slideouts.  Apparently, the problem can be solved by putting in a higher-amperage fuse.  We'll see.

Friday evening, we met the Wheelers and Van Dusens for dinner at the Souplantation in La Quinta.  It was fun and the food was surprisingly good.  It was nice to see them all again.

On Saturday, after we made a Costco run, we ended up having dinner at Sam's Sushi.  The place was mobbed and we had to wait to get a seat at the sushi bar.  But it was worth it.

Sunday, we met Donna, David, Meghan, and Emily (again) for lunch at the Elephant Bar Restaurant in Palm Desert for lunch.  (They are staying at David's parents' place in the desert for the weekend.)  As usual, I had the Five Spice Shrimp Chicken Stir Fry, which was delicious.  Becky rode there on her bike---28 miles roundtrip.  We all arrived within two minutes of one another.  Pretty amazing.

Monday morning, I played several games of Pickleball.  I was not very good, as usual, but the competition was not that great.  Even so, whatever team I was on lost every game.  That should tell me something.  It seems the rest of the day was spent shopping. 

Tuesday, New Years Day, was mostly football for me, of course.  Also, we watched Trouble With The Curve (a Clint Eastwood movie, not directed by him for a change), from the Redbox, which was very good.

Before the movie, Becky went on another bike ride---this time to Lake Cahuilla, a 20-mile round trip.    Otherwise, we prepared to leave Indio and head for Palm Desert the next morning.  Dinner was from our favorite---Panda Express.  Yum.

Thursday, December 27, 2012:  The Trip From Hell:

Thursday was a very long day.

We slept in a bit, then picked up Ramsey, drove to Soledad Canyon, shut down the trailer, hooked up to the truck, and headed for a six-day stay at the Silent Valley Resort, a remote oasis in the mountains between Banning and Idyllwild.  It was going to be a drive of only an easy 110 miles.  Halfway there, on a remote section of State Highway 138 in the San Bernardino National Forest, we had a blowout in one of the tires on our trailer. 

We didn't know it until a passing motorist gave us a "heads up."  We immediately pulled over and discovered that 90% of the tire had disintegrated and some of the rim had been ground down because of contact with the road. 

Because we were in such a remote location, or because they were idiots (I can't be sure) it took the roadside assistance people an hour to locate someone who could help us, and another hour for him to get there.  Pedro was a champ, though, and within 10 minutes he had changed the tire and fixed (at least temporarily) a hose that was leaking hydraulic fluid as a result of the blowout.

Once back on the road, we decided to pass on the Silent Valley trip and stay closer to civilization in case we had further problems with the hydraulic system. (That system works our stabilizers and slideouts. Very important.)  We found a place in Indio that could take us for the night while we contemplated our next move. The Indian Waters RV Resort turned out to be a nice place and we decided to stay there for the whole six days before we were due to return to the Thousand Trails park in Palm Desert.

Thursday night we treated ourselves to a much-needed sushi fix at Sam's Sushi in La Quinta.

Thursday, December 20, through Wednesday,  December 26, 2012:  Christmas Week:

We headed out for the 186-mile trek to Hesperia, California, at 9:45 AM, Thursday morning.  It was uneventful until our GPS missed a turn in Hesperia that took 15 minutes to correct.  Oh, well, we're retired, so we don't really care.  Our GPS has been making a few mistakes lately.  We may have to replace it and its voice, Samantha.

We are staying at the Desert Willow RV Resort.  It's a nice place.  We have a perfect site.  It's too bad we'll be here only one night on our way to Soledad Canyon.

It was an easy 50 miles on Friday to the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails Resort.  (It used to be called a “preserve” but they changed the name to give it a more upscale sound. They didn’t upgrade the place, though.  Parts of it still look a little run down.)

We settled into one of the sites in our favorite part of the place.  We forgot how cold it was going to be Thursday night and did not act to prevent our outside water line from freezing.  The first thing I had to do Friday morning was to thaw it all out and switch to a backup hose. Then I decided to modify a fitting for one of our water hoses.  I was successful, but in the process I drove a drill bit into the middle finger on my right hand.  It’s not pretty, but it will heal.   On one of Ramsey's walks on Friday, Becky discovered another Dalmatian in the park.  It was a 7-month-old named Pongo.  He and Ramsey got along very well. 

Saturday, we spent some time in Palmdale, running errands.  The streets were jammed and the stores were full.  If all those people were buying, it looked good for the economy.  We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Panda Express, which has become our favorite fast food emporium.

Sunday’s highlight (in an otherwise boring day since we have no Internet access here) was playing Rummikub.  For the first time in months, I actually won the first two games.  Somehow, that ended the session.

Monday, we dropped Ramsey off at Hollywood Dog Training School in North Hollywood---very near the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.  We've been using this place as a kennel since we had our first Dalmatian, Roxanne, trained there in 1989.  Then we headed for downtown Los Angeles to spend three days at The Jonathan Club.  We settled into our room---921---one of our favorites.  Looking at the guest book, Becky discovered that this was the sixth time we've been assigned this room.

We then had lunch at the Quizno's at the Union Bank Plaza.  Late in the afternoon, we headed for Pasadena to have cocktails at the home of Laurie Lloyd, a former neighbor of Becky's when she was growing up.  One of Laurie's three sisters, Christy, who lives in St. Helena, California, and their mother, Darlene, who lives nearby, were also there.  Becky's sister Wendy also came by.  The Lloyds and Sheltons had a very lively reunion.

The next day, Christmas, we slept in, then headed for Pasadena again, to celebrate with the family at Wendy's house.  Our daughter, Donna, and her family were in town from Park City, Utah, and they joined us all. 

It was the usual chaotic Shelton gathering, and, as usual, it was a lot of fun.

 

Wednesday, we had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen in downtown LA, then headed to Hollywood to meet Barbara Coad at the Arclight Theater to see Lincoln.  It was excellent, though I didn't think it lived up to quite all of the hype.

After that, the three of us headed to The Jonathan Club for a delicious dinner.  We all had filet mignon.  Yum!

Saturday, December 8, through Wednesday, December 19, 2012:  In Beautiful Downtown Pahrump:
The 136-mile trek from Barstow to Pahrump, Nevada, went through some of the most desolate parts of California I have ever seen.  The only towns we went through were Yermo and Baker, which aren't much.  The rest of the way is just desert, and the only things worth seeing are the multi-colored mountains and some odd sand dunes.

We arrived at the Preferred RV Resort before 1:00PM and, after tussling with the gate person, who would not even try to understand anything we said, we were finally directed to a nice site.

We've been here before, so it was easy to settle in.  Saturday night we just relaxed; it was a travel day and they are always exhausting for some unknown reason.  Part of the relaxation was watching Hope Springs, a pretty funny Meryl Streep/Tommy Lee Jones flick (from the Red Box, of course).  Tommy Lee did a great job as a grouchy young version of a Walter Matthau-type character. 

On Sunday, we first ventured to the Lakeside Casino, about six miles away, for its Sunday Brunch, which was deservedly inexpensive, but satisfying anyway. 

We learned that it had recently been acquired by the same folks who now own all but one of the casinos in the the city (I think there are six of them).  There is a very nice RV park at the Lakeside property.  (The lake is man-made, incidentally.)

After brunch, we decided it was time for a wine fix, so we headed for the Pahrump Valley Winery for a tasting.  We ended up with two bottles of Chardonnay.

Since our refrigerator is now working, we needed to re-stock it, so a trip to Albertsons followed.

The big events on Monday were my getting a haircut at Walmart and Becky's taking a 23-mile bike ride

---visiting one of the two local brothels to use the bathroom while on her trek.

On Tuesday, my big project was refinishing the wooden step we often use to bridge the gap between the ground and the stairs to our outside door.  The one we have was acquired (by Becky, in an unauthorized transaction) at the RV park we stayed in when we were in Golden, Colorado last year.  It had been painted red some time ago, and the paint was wearing off.  It looked pretty shabby.  I painted the bottom and sides black, and then hand-sanded the top back to the raw wood and finished it with clear lacquer.  It looks pretty good; I may not want to step on it again.

While I was working on the step, Becky got a Mani Pedi at a local salon. She now looks as good as the step.

Wednesday involved a 85-mile (roundtrip) fun excursion to the China Ranch Date Farm a few miles outside of tiny Tecopa Springs, California.

It’s an actual date farm (the date palm trees were planted in 1990) in the middle of a canyon, reached by a one-lane dirt road, with the agriculture made possible by the presence of a stream flowing through the canyon.  Primarily, they sell the ten types of dates they grow on the premises.  They also sell a few date palm trees.

I had to have one of their date milkshakes, of course.  It was delicious.  There is also a large gift shop on the premises, loaded with an odd assortment of old and new things, including Indian crafts.  Strange stuff.

The location was first developed in 1890 as a normal farm (if anything in that part of the world can be considered normal) by a Chinaman named Ah Foo. He disappeared ten years later, but the area was nevertheless consistently referred to as the Chinaman’s place.

Thus, the current name of the farm.  It’s interesting to see how people can thrive in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by palm trees and a few abandoned silver mines.

Wednesday night we had sushi at Yoshi, one of the two Japanese restaurants in Pahrump.  The food was good, but the ambience was a bit weird.  The place used to be a Quiznos, and the bare walls and bright lights were a distraction.

Thursday was the day to go to the dentist for our regular cleanings.  Becky also got a massage.  Because of logistics, Becky had to walk about a mile---in the rain---from the massage to the dentist.  All in all, it was not an unpleasant day.

Friday, we tracked down the local Thai restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner.  The atmosphere was a little odd, but the food was tasty.  As usual, I had Cashew Chicken and Becky had Pad Thai.

It's been colder than I expected.  We're at 2,700 feet, and I guess I should have anticipated that December temperatures would be in the 30s at night and the 50s in the day.  The rain and wind the past two days haven't helped.  It feels colder than it actually is.

Saturday we watched two Red Box movies---Lawless and Your Sister's Sister, both independents with little-known actors for the most part.  They were different, but at least held our interest.     

Sunday, the 16th, we drove the 65 miles to Las Vegas to have lunch with Paula Browne, a buddy of Becky's from the Union Bank days.  She has been a commercial lender with Wells Fargo in Las Vegas for nearly 15 years.  She recently lost her husband, Chris.  She's a terrific lady and is holding up remarkably well.  We enjoyed seeing her again.

Our lunch was at Frank & Fina's Mexican Kitchen, on Blue Diamond.  I had an old favorite of mine:  Ropa Vieja (literal translation: old clothes).  It was delicious.
 
The "highlight" on Monday was watching another Red Box movie, Moonrise Kingdom, which had great reviews by both critics and viewers, but was horrible.  We couldn't finish it.  It was one of those films that are supposed to be very funny but aren't---unless you're smoking something illegal.  In its place, we dug into our personal DVD inventory and watched Lost In America and Get Shorty.  Both are terrific.  And fun.

Tuesday and Wednesday were ordinary days---I read while Becky walked Ramsey and got her hair done.  Late Wednesday, we decided to cut our stay in Pahrump short by one day.  That meant that Wednesday would be our last day there.  We had dinner from the local Panda Express.  Yum.
     

Wednesday, November 7, through Friday, December 7, 2012:  In the California Desert:
The drive to tiny Thermal, California (Population:  2,863) was an easy 133 miles.  We are staying at the Oasis Palms RV Park.  It's pretty nice, though far from anything and virtually deserted since the high season hasn't started yet.  The park is actually in the village of Oasis, an unincorporated plot of land located in the same ZIP code as Thermal.  As the name "Thermal" suggests, it can get very hot here---topping out at 122 degrees in the middle of summer.  Today, it's only 82.  Good.  Since we're so far away from anything, we don't plan on doing much in the few waking hours we will spend here.

On the way here, we were listening to a local talk radio station that plays our National Anthem every hour on the hour (Very patriotic!), followed by the Canadian National Anthem (O, Canada)---which they explain is a tribute to the many Canadians who spend winters in the area.  It's a nice touch.  They also play the Kate Smith version of God Bless America.  It's still exciting after all these years.

We left early on Thursday  to make the 30-mile trek to the Palm Springs Thousand Trails preserve---arriving two minutes before 8:00AM, in time to be the first people to look for a site.  We had our pick of several good ones.

Becky immediately suited up for pickleball, while I settled in to read.

Saturday, there was a pickleball tournament Becky did not want to play in, so instead she went on a 19-mile bike ride to the Street Fair on the campus of the College of the Desert.  It’s a huge weekly (weekend) affair from October to April.  It’s an event we’ve visited before.  She didn’t buy anything.

Saturday was also our 27th wedding anniversary, and we went to the Jackalope Ranch restaurant in Indio---with the Wheelers, who celebrated their 45th anniversary on Sunday.  As usual, the food was excellent; but, unfortunately, the service was awful.

Sunday was our day to see a movie in an actual theater---for the first time in many months.  We settled on Argo.  It turned out to be excellent, in spite of the fact that Ben Affleck (a terrible actor) both starred in it but also directed it.  (He and George Clooney also were in the list of producers.)

After the movie, we stopped by the Bermuda Dunes Country Club to visit our friends Salli and Carl Middleton, who came in from their home in Seattle to celebrate Salli's 60th birthday. Their children and grandchildren were with them.  It made for quite a mob.  It was great to see them all again. 

Monday afternoon we went to see Flight (with Denzel Washington).  I haven’t yet decided whether I liked the film.  It was certainly different.
    

Tuesday afternoon, ten of us from the Thousand Trails preserve went to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  It was a typical Bond movie, full of amazing stunts and special effects, terrific acting (Javier Bardem was very special as the villain), beautiful women, and just plain fun.   We followed that with a trip to a nearby Mexican restaurant, El Portal, for a delicious dinner, laced with yummy margaritas.  

We've now been to the movies three days in a row.  That's a first since we left Pasadena nearly ten years ago.  I can't see it happening again for another ten years.

The next few days were pretty routine---Becky playing pickleball in the morning and riding her bike in the afternoon, Ramsey insisting on going for numerous walks, me reading, and the two of us shopping.  Friday afternoon, a number of us met at Joe and Barb's rig for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. 

Joe and Barb are new folks at the Palm Springs preserve, but have something special in common with some of us---having worked at the North Rim years after we left and after Xanterra lost the concession.  Nice people. 

Joe occasionally works for FEMA as a claims adjuster.  He was scheduled to go to New York last weekend to deal with the Sandy mess, but the trip was cancelled due to a shortage of hotel rooms.  Duh! 

Saturday was sushi for lunch (at Sam's Sushi in La Quinta) and then mostly watching college football.  UCLA beat USC for the first time in years, and the top two ranked teams (Kansas State and Oregon) both lost.  It was an interesting day.  

On Sunday, Becky rented two movies at the nearby Red Box---Magic Mike (awful, as expected, but so bad it was actually impossible to watch all the way through) and Take This Waltz (pretty good).

Monday was a return to normal, with Becky having a flat tire for the umpteenth time in the last month.  Where we've been lately, there are zillions of goathead thorns, which easily penetrate bike tires.  This time, I got a protective liner for the tire to try to help prevent recurrences.  We'll see if that works. 

Tuesday was our day to have lunch at The Elephant Bar, one of our favorite places---in the desert or anywhere.  I had the Five Spice Shrimp & Chicken Stir Fry.  Absolutely delicious.

Tuesday afternoon, we received an email from our daughter-in-law, Joell, directing us to a recent article in the Austin Business Journal---listing the top 10 mortgage producers in Austin for 2011.  Our son, Rick, was #9! 

He was only about 1 1/2 loans away from the guy who was #7 (who works for the same company, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage).  At the beginning of 2011, Rick had been in the mortgage business in Austin for only three months.  Yea, Rick!  For those who may be interested, the link to the article is http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2012/11/19/austins-top-10-mortgage-producers.html

We got our bi-annual holiday cards early this year, and I will have spent much of this week addressing and stamping envelopes.  Becky will do the personalizing and stuffing of the cards over the next week or so.  

Thursday, we headed for the Pasadena area to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Shelton clan.  The bash was at Peter & Terry's home in San Gabriel. 

It was also nice to reunite with Becky's 86 year old dad, Bill.  Fun. 

Ramsey was with us.  We introduced him to Peter & Terry's dog, Berkeley, a dog of mixed breed who is about Ramsey's size.  They got along very well, and Ramsey was so good he was allowed to roam around the house. 

We had arranged to spend the night at the Quality Inn in Pasadena.  Ramsey loved the king-size bed we had.  He spent the whole night on it. 

Friday, we headed back to the desert and immediately took naps; we were exhausted from the Thanksgiving festivities.

Saturday was mostly football.  UCLA lost to Stanford (at UCLA), naturally,

and has the opportunity to lose to them again next Friday in the Pac-12 Championship game (at Stanford).  If UCLA had beaten Stanford, the Championship game would have pitted UCLA against Oregon, at Oregon.  USC lost to Notre Dame, as expected, which was a bummer because the only time I root for USC is when they play Notre Dame.

On one of my Ramsey walks here in the park, I saw the ultimate in RV opulence:  A beautiful motorhome, towing a Bentley convertible.  Wow! 

I actually played a little pickleball on Sunday and Monday mornings, and on Wednesady afternoon, for the first time in months.  I wasn't very sharp but it felt good, anyway.

 

Over the weekend we had started noticing that the refrigerator was not as cold as we were used to.  By Monday morning it was apparent that whatever was wrong was not going to solve itself.  A repairman to whom I was referred finally called me back Monday night and we performed a number of tests by phone.  He gave me the bad news:  Subject to the result of one more (overnight) test, we would need a new cooling unit, which, for practical reasons (i.e., economics) would have to come via the manufacturer's warranty.  The overnight test failed, and I contacted the manufacturer early Tuesday morning to start the lengthy process of coordinating the repair with the factory.

1. 

We will probably have to change our travel plans to accomplish the repair. In the meantime, our refrigerator is kaput.   The last time this happened, we were on the way to Bemidji, Minnesota, and it was a nightmare.

Tuesday morning it was confirmed that we need a new cooling unit in our refrigerator. Late Wednesday morning the manufacturer arranged to cover the replacement under warranty, so we now just have to wait for the part to arrive, which means we will be here an extra week or so.  Oh, well, there are worse places to spend time.

Thursday was our day to take up the offer at Staples for a free "tune-up" of our computers.  I don't know what they did, but the machines seem a little faster.  

Friday called for another cocktail party at Barb & Joe's rig.  The usual suspects attended, and we feasted on leftover shrimp and other goodies. 

That was followed by another UCLA loss to Stanford.    

The rest of the week was pretty routine, with a major exception---we went to Costco and walked out with only one item, and it cost less than $10.00!!!   Sunday morning, Becky rode her bike to the Street Fair again, and came out with only a couple of items.

Monday was the 30th anniversary of our first date (for the arithmetically challenged, that was December 3, 1982) and we celebrated by having an adult beverage at the beautiful La Quinta Inn. 

The place was all decked out for Christmas.  Quite stunning.

Otherwise, for much of the week we just marked time, waiting for the refrigerator part to arrive at the repair facility.  It was scheduled to arrive late Wednesday afternoon, and we had an appointment to take the rig to the repair place early Thursday morning.  Of course, the part did not arrive until Thursday afternoon, so we moved everything to Friday. 

Staying that long at our RV park is a no-no under the rules, so we had to convince the manager to ignore the rules and let us buy the two extra days.  That also required a daily call to our next two scheduled parks to delay our arrival dates.  We pulled out of the RV park at 7:40 Friday morning---headed for The Grand Paw Pet Resort, where Ramsey would spend the day,

and then on to Benlo RV, the repair facility in Indio.  After dropping off the trailer, we had breakfast at Goody's in Palm Desert, then did some Christmas shopping.  

Though we had the right to stay at the RV park Friday night, we had earlier decided to leave the area as soon as the repair was finished, which meant we left Indio, headed for Barstow, 142 miles away, at 2:30 Thursday afternoon.  We knew we would arrive after sundown, which we have done only once---many years ago.  It's no fun to try to set up in the dark, but we wanted to get going.

We arrived at the Barstow KOA in pitch darkness.  But, since we are now such experienced RVers, we managed to settle in quite easily.  An hour later, another RV came in and parked next to us.  (The people left the next morning at sunrise.  I can't imagine doing that on a regular basis.) 

Thus ended our California desert adventure.