Thursday AM
Landed in Palm Desert Monday afternoon with nothing special to report. Had a wonderful visit with Doug and Diana Ludden and got to see Dick Tootle as well. He wasn’t at his best, but Vicki helped Diana light a fire under his caregiver and he got some much needed nausea medicine to relieve his uncomfortable symptoms. Lompoc has certainly changed and become a much different place. Much more developed than the place I grew up. Did get together with Buddy Andrews and had a lovely coffee and 2 hour chat. It is such a wonderful feeling reconnecting with past friends and acquaintances. It was just weird having coffee in the old Moore’s Department Store where I spent many a fall shopping for school clothes.
The drive down to Menifee was a bit exciting, but it always is having to drive through north LA in a coach. Thankfully it was mid-day and the only road that was jammed up was the I-405. What a shock!!!! Landed at Menifee Monday afternoon and took a 30 amp site on our usual street in the park, Texas Avenue. No irony there. (LOL)
Made the drive Tuesday to Palm Springs and had no problems it terms of wind through the pass. Apparently, there was a high wind warning, but it wasn’t supposed to happen until the evening. It was a bit breezy as we got on I-10 but nothing too spectacular. The wind farms were making electricity at an accelerated rate however.
Met a very nice couple from Edmonton Alberta via Vancouver Island who have decided to full time it for a year with the coldest winter months spent in Mexico so they can avoid the long Canadian winter. They’ve got a Class C, towing, two kids and dog. Love me some Canadians!!! Our friends Ron and Shar have had a major repair of the hot water system and it delayed their trip down here a bit and sadly we’ll miss each other by one day. Such is life of full time RVers! 🙁
Friday AM
There are just some days when it’s time to chuck in the towel. Pardon me as I vent just a bit. While we love the lifestyle and wouldn’t trade it for the world, sometimes it just gets a bit annoying. With the rig not working as well as it should things just seem more complicated. Our frustration level is rather high as the repairs we thought were made are sub-standard at best. While our ice maker is technically repaired, it leaks water into the bottom of the freezer making a 2-inch layer of ice and growing. It is somehow misinstalled. Meaning we are going to have to defrost about every third day or have a glacier in one side of the freezer. While I appreciate that we somewhat rushed the service department with our timeline, why don’t people take the time to do the job right? Also, our newly replaced, brand new air conditioner/heat pump works perfectly for heating the rig, but as far as cooling the rig, it doesn’t work. Granted it was cold in Washington when it was installed, but you would think they would have tested it to ensure that it works. We contacted Blade RV and the best they could advise us was to find a repair shop to replace the whole unit, which will be covered under warranty. That’s all well and good, but now we have to find a repair shop that has an ac unit, the time to replace it and I’m sure the labor charges are going to be our responsibility. It’s all so terribly frustrating. We did get the passenger slide out, but 3 teeth in the motor cog are damaged, so I’ll have to help push it back in when we get ready to leave. We’ve basically said that’s the final straw and have started looking for a new rig. While the Itasca has done everything we’ve asked of it, it is definitely starting to nickel and dime us. Although these are really big nickels and dimes!
Palm Springs weather is sunny and warm during the day, but it has gotten chilly at night. Am amazed at the prices here. How do people afford to live in California? Gas is over $5 and diesel is even higher. It is going to make finding a new rig a bit of challenge as we consider gas versus diesel. Not looking forward to the dance, but it will also be exciting find a new home. We are thinking of something in the Tiffin family, so if any of you readers have any input or suggestions we are all ears.
Saturday AM
Still in Palm Desert and enjoying the sunshine, albeit right on the edge of being cold. Not really too much to report. Did a bit of shopping locally, Costco, the swim suit outlet, and the infamous Palm Springs “thrift’ store. Amazing the differences in thrift stores based on their location. Much different that Brownsville for sure. Basically lazed around the house as we haven’t been sleeping all that well. Will undoubtedly taken a gumming and head to the dark side of the moon in our dreams. LOL Tomorrow headed to the College of Desert Flea market. Always interesting stuff to see and people watching is at its peak. With my knee acting up, may have to use our placcard. However, finding a parking spot to use it will be about as likely as hitting the powerball!!! Plenty of older folks who need the spot, so will let karma decide.
Monday AM
Yesterday we put Palm Desert in the rear view mirror after a 5 night stay. Had our wonderful Canadian friends John and Kathy Rogers join us as they arrived on their trec to the great Southwest from the great white north, eh. Before their arrival Saturday afternoon, went to College of the Desert Swap meet. Got some cool stuff, purses, hats, and such and the best German Chocolate Fudge I’ve ever eaten. Expensive, but OOLALA, soooooooo good!!! A bit of sad news, RHT is in hospice care as he approaches the end of life. Please keep him and all of his family in your thoughts when you take a knee next time. He so influenced my youth and adult life. Made it Yuma with no troubles but hit the wall with the time change. Decided to go into Yuma and just overeat Church’s Fried Chicken and other really bad comfort foods. We were able to watch Oliver’s final football game. They lost a heartbreaking contest on the last play of the game, 18-16. Oliver was impressive again at center. He was definitely winning more times than not against a much bigger kid. So proud of him. We are at Araby Acres, an Encore park, for the next 5 nites, as we head to Mexico and the dentist. Then its balls to the wall to get back to Brownsville. While in Yuma, we plan to shop for rigs on Wednesday. We’ll let you know how it goes. Other than that, did I mention, we are still loving retirement.
