Back to Southern California

Hello again, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Friday, March 28^th, with our arrival back in Indio, California at the Indian Waters RV Resort. Saturday we pretty much stayed around the coach for most of the day, taking care of some chores and just chilling. About 5:30 we left with our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock, who are also here at Indian Waters, and drove to Cactus Jack's restaurant, one of our old hang outs from when we lived here. We still love the place and the food, while not inexpensive, is outstanding. We had nice table waiting for the four of us and we had a great dinner. Our waitress was a gal who has worked at Jack's for 20 years and Jackie has known her for that long.

I had the beef ribs, which is what I order four out of five times here, and they were as good as ever. Jackie and Ray both had a chicken and pork ribs combo, which they also said were great. Suzie had a petite prime rib which was a big as the king in any other place. We finally got back to the coach about 8:30 and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.

Sunday, March 30^th, we were up early and headed for the College of the Desert Street Fair by 9:30 or so. I have talked about the street fair many times. It is a weekend gathering of merchants in the parking lot of the College in Palm Desert. It goes on year around, but is much bigger in the winter when we have winter visitors. We walked around and shopped for about two and a half hours before finally finishing all the booths. After the street fair we drove to the Elephant Bar for lunch.

Back in January Jackie and I had gone to the Elephant Bar, again after the street fair, and had a really bad experience with the service. Jackie had written a scathing review on Yelp and the manager responded with apologies and sent us a $30 gift card. We decided that we would try the place again and share our bounty with Ray and Suzie. This time the service was wonderful and the food was good too. We all had burgers, which were very good and very filling, and we enjoyed the meal. With the help of our gift card it was inexpensive too. Yea! After lunch we drove back to the RV park and we stayed in the coach and rested. We were going to do happy hour, but Jackie wasn't feeling well, so we just stayed in by ourselves for the rest of the evening.

Monday, March 31^st, the last day of the first quarter of the year. Where does the time go? Our good friend Barry Cohen came over after lunch to spend the afternoon with us. Regular readers know that Barry's wife Colleen died last summer after a short bout with cancer. When we lived here in the valley Barry and Colleen were our closest friends. They had just managed to sell their business and their lot at Motor Coach Country Club and were ready to really start to travel in their motor home when she got sick. Barry is still living in his coach, but he hasn't had it out since Colleen's death, traveling to visit his daughters by plane rather than driving the coach.

We spent the afternoon talking to him about potential travels he might like to try, such as coming to the FMCA rally in Oregon this year, or taking a motor home trip to Denver to see his daughter. We also caught up with how he has been doing since the last time we saw him in January. He seems to be doing OK, but I know that it has been hard for him.

About 5:00 the three of us walked over to Ray and Suzie's coach and had cocktails. They had invited Barry to stay for dinner and Ray cooked up some chicken cordon bleu and parmesan veggies that was very tasty. We all sat and talked until about 8:30 or so when Barry left to go home and we went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, April 1^st, we went out after lunch to do our laundry. It took a few hours but we got everything done and were back at the house by about 3:30 or so. We took the opportunity to finally visit a little with Eddie and Darlanne next door. We haven't seen too much of them since we got here because they have been busy with family and friends in the area, and we have stayed pretty busy too. We got our first look inside their coach and it was very nice. It is an older coach, early 2000's, but it has been very nicely taken care of and had a lot of improvements. The old owner put in wood floors, a washer/dryer and other items not normally found in a 36 foot gas coach. Eddie and Darlanne have also done some very nice decorating. Eddie is an accomplished artist and most of the art work in the coach is his own work. We sat and chatted with them until about 5:00 when Ray and Suzie came over to our coach for cocktails.

We had drinks with Ray and Suzie for an hour or so before heading out to dinner at Mario's, a local Italian restaurant. Mario's has been around forever in the valley and now has a half dozen locations in the Coachella Valley. The one we went to in Indio was the original. The food and service were excellent. The menu is typical Italian and we all had different dishes. I had a pastrami sandwich because I was hungry for hot pastrami. Jackie had an eggplant dish. The portions were huge, I was the only one that didn't take leftovers home. Everyone was very happy with the dinner and we gave the place great reviews. After we dropped Ray and Suzie off we went home and watched TV until bed.

Wednesday, April 2^nd, we left with Ray and Suzie after lunch and went out to do some geocaching. This is their last day here, so we wanted to get some caching in before they left. We managed to get ten new finds, along with one DNF, before we finally quit about 4:00. We went back to the RV park and had happy hour with Ray and Suzie before going out to dinner again, this time to a place called China Bistro in downtown Indio. This is a very nice sit down Chinese place with very good food. Tonight we ordered one of the family dinners that included at least five entrees, fried rice, soup, egg rolls and other stuff. The food was excellent and, although we had some leftovers, it was not as much as you might expect. We ate a LOT. One of the dishes was Happy Family, a dish with chicken, shrimp, scallops and beef in a brown sauce that has always been one of my favorite Chinese meals. It was very good, as was all the other food they served. The service was also very good. Again we gave good reviews for this restaurant. We dropped Ray and Suzie off at their coach and went back to ours for the rest of the night.

Thursday, Ray and Suzie left the RV park about 8:30, heading for Point Magu Naval Base west of Los Angeles. They go there to visit with some of their family and friends who live in the area. We left our coach after lunch and went out to do some errands. Jackie got a haircut and then we went to Costco and Walmart for some supplies. After shopping we went back home and, for the first time in a long time, had cocktails and dinner by ourselves. Although we love spending time with friends, it is also nice to have some alone time too. We will probably see Ray and Suzie in a few weeks when we are up in Silent Valley.

Friday, April 4^th, we left the coach after lunch to some geocaching. This was the first time we have gone out caching with just the two of us in a long time. We were able to get eight new caches, along with one new DNF, in a few hours time. We also took a break from caching to do some shopping when our caching took us close to the mall. After caching we stopped at the Cactus Jacks location in Palm Desert. The owner, George, bought this old bar several years after we left the desert to go motor homing, and turned it into a second location. This spot is arguably doing better than the original in Indio.

We stopped there specifically to see Kevin, the Bartender. Kevin was an old friend of ours, having been the night bartender for most of the years we hung out at the original Cactus Jacks in Indio. He changed locations not too long after George opened the new place. Keven is doing well and looks good. Jackie also ran into another old friend, someone she knew from the 60's back in Gardena where her father ran a bar. We also had a chance to talk to George, the owner, for a while when he came in to check on things. We ended up just staying and having a sandwich for dinner, finally heading back to the coach about 7:30 or so. We watched TV the rest of the evening.

Saturday, April 5^th, we decided to do a stay at home and relax day. Later in the afternoon Jackie made another key lime pie to share with our neighbors and friends Eddie and Darlanne, whom we had invited over for dinner. They came over a little before six and we chatted for a while before dinner. Jackie fixed some chicken enchiladas with green chili sauce along with rice and beans. We had a great dinner and then had key lime pie with some ice cream that Eddie had brought over. Dinner, and dessert, were great. We chatted for a while longer and they left for their own coach around 8:00 or so. A nice relaxing day topped with dinner with friends.

Sunday we went out for a few more caches after lunch. We were able to find ten new caches, without another DNF, within a few hours. After caching we went back to the coach. After happy hour, when the sun had gone almost behind the mountains, I went out and spent a half hour or so taking down the screens and the outside decorations, getting ready for travel tomorrow. We then spent our last evening in Indio relaxing with the TV.

Monday, April 7^th, we had the coach packed up and ready for travel before 10:00. Today we are only traveling about 55 miles west to Silent Valley, our ownership resort in the mountains south of Banning. I was pleased that the Jeep went into neutral properly when we went to hook it up. I was concerned with our ongoing problems with the car. When we stopped in Banning to unhook it again operated perfectly. Yea! We always unhook the car at the bottom of the hill in Banning before driving up to Silent Valley, which sits at about 3,500 feet. It is a fairly steep, winding road and my logic is that I have to unhook as soon as we get to the top at the park anyway, why make the coach work extra hard dragging the car up the hill for 11 miles.

We got into the park and were surprised that there weren't very many people in residence. Since the weather has turned nice we figured there would be more. We got a very nice spot right on the main road, close to the central village and proceeded to get set up. We will be here for just under a month, so I put out all kinds of decorations and lights. I also took the time to wash all the windows and the shade screens because they were very dirty. It took most of the afternoon to do all the setup, but I was done in time for cocktails. We then just relaxed the rest of the evening.

Tuesday was a stay at home day. When we stay here in Silent Valley we try to have a schedule that gets us down the hill for caching, or shopping or whatever, about every third day or so. It is not a rigid schedule, but we try to use the quiet of Silent Valley to relax and get chores done.

Today I started my project of replacing the old original tube TV in the bedroom with a flat screen. We did that several years ago in the front, but still have our original TV in the back. We don't use it much. We never watch TV in bed, neither of us can stay awake and don't like looking at a TV lying down. I use it sometimes when I am in the “man cave” doing stuff and there is something interesting on TV, however, since we switched to hi def I can no longer watch the satellite receiver on the bedroom TV because it isn't hi def. It only took me a few minutes to get the old TV out and wow, it was even heavier than I thought. I bet I lost 30 pounds of weight from the back of the coach by getting that old clunker out. I called the maintenance people in the RV park and had them come over to get the TV. They will either keep it if someone wants it, or take it down for recycling the next time they take a load of stuff. At least I don't have to mess with it.

I took all the necessary measurements of the space to use to shop for a new TV the next time we go down the hill. Jackie will also get several cubic feet of new storage because all the space the old TV took up will now be open and accessible for her to use. She is quite happy about that. I also got some bills paid and a few other small chores done, but the TV was the biggy for the day.

Wednesday, April 9^th, we left the RV park and drove down the hill about 12:30. We stopped for lunch at La Casita, our favorite Mexican place in Beaumont, for lunch. They have the best taco salads anywhere. After lunch we hit Best Buy and Walmart looking for a replacement TV for the bedroom. We ended up buying a Vizio 22 inch LED flatscreen at Walmart that was on sale for $158. After Walmart we headed back up the hill, getting back to the coach around 3:30 or so. I spent the next several hours working in the back. I had to do some rewiring in the front of the coach, where all the receivers and switch boxes are, to ensure I was getting a good signal at the coax in the back of the coach. I finally got all that working and got good signal from the over the air antenna to the new TV. I need to get another part the next time we are down the hill before I can get the satellite signal to the back. Our new Direct HD DVR doesn't have a coax outlet on the back, so I need to get a converter.

I also figured out how I can mount the new TV on the frame without having to use the heavy mounting bracket we bought with the TV. The TV is small and very light, so I think I have a way to mount it directly to the frame. We'll see tomorrow if I have the parts to make it work. After messing with the TV we had a chance to just relax and watch TV for the rest of the evening.

Thursday we stayed around the coach for the day. After lunch I worked on the bedroom TV and managed to get it installed in just a couple of hours. I was able to do it without the expensive wall mount, in fact I only used a few pieces of scrap wood I had in the coach and a bunch of screws. The only thing I still need to buy is some black cloth to cover the opening at the top of the frame. The old TV was square and the new flatscreens aren't nearly as tall, so I have to put some speaker cloth on top of the TV. I had to do the same thing when I replaced the front TV. After I got done with the TV and got everything cleaned up and put away I did some other chores before settling in for the evening.

Friday, April 11^th, we drove down the hill into Beaumont after lunch to do some geocaching. We were able to get eight new finds, and a couple of DNFs, in about two and a half hours. The last cache of the day was number 6,400 for us. Yea, another milestone. After our caching we went back to Walmart to return the TV mount that I didn't need to use and to pick up a couple of things. After that we headed back up the hill to the RV park. We BBQed some hamburgers for dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Saturday was another stay at home day. I finished off the bedroom TV installation by installing the decorative cover at the top of the TV. It turned out quite well and now we have dumped both the original TV's and the weight that came with them. After that job was finished Jackie and I spent a couple of hours getting letters prepared for various RV vendors, trying to get donations and door prizes for our Full Timers chapter rally in Oregon in July. We ended up doing 23 letters which will get mailed on Monday. After that it's just waiting. We had a nice dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, April 13^th we headed back down the mountain after lunch to do some caching. We first stopped at the post office and dropped off our solicitation letters, then picked up a Sunday paper. Jackie likes to read the Sunday papers and they don't deliver any up in Silent Valley. After those errands we did some geocaching, getting nine new finds and one new DNF in a couple of hours. On the way back up the hill we stopped at KFC and picked up some chicken for dinner. Once back up we stayed in the coach the rest of the evening. Monday was a stay at home day. We never left the coach, just enjoying the day. We both got a few little chores done, but nothing major, just a nice, quiet day.

Tuesday, April 15^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove down the mountain and then east to Palm Springs. We needed to pick up our mail package from the Palm Springs UPS center. We have our mail sent to us every couple of weeks, normally to the RV park where we are staying. However, Silent Valley doesn't allow guest mail deliveries of any kind, so we have to have it sent to the nearest UPS customer service center. After we picked up the mail we did some geocaching in the Palm Springs area, getting seven new finds before deciding it was a little too hot to cache. The temps in Palm Springs are already in the mid-nineties, and the humidity was up too. After our caching we headed back to Silent Valley, about 35 miles or so, arriving in time for cocktails and then a nice quiet dinner.  

Today was also our cat Smokey's 14th birthday.  We don't know his precise birthday because he was a feral kitten when we got him.  In 2000 I was working as the homeowners association manager at a country club in Cathedral City, California, and our security people had put out a trap for racoons.  What they caught were four wild kittens.  Three of them were typical nasty, and scratchy feral kittens, but the gray one liked to be picked up and held.  So he got a home with us and the rest went to the pound.  When we took him to the vet he told us he thought he was about six weeks old, so based on that we calculated a birthday that fell right around April 15th.  Since that is an easy date to remember, being tax day, we picked that one.  We may be off by a week or so, but Smokey doesn't care.

Wednesday was another stay at home day. Got a few chores done in the morning and then after lunch we went to the laundry at the RV park and did our laundry. Once the clothes were clean we went back to the coach and just relaxed the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, April 17^th, we stayed at the park again today. Just before lunch our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock arrived for a two week stay. They are not members of Silent Valley, but they have limited access to it through their Resorts of Distinction membership. They were up here a couple years ago just on a day visit, but they have never stayed here. They got a nice spot right across the road from us and spent the rest of the day getting settled in.

We had cocktails with them about 5:00 and then later Jackie served a nice Mexican dinner with one of Peggy's (and our's) favorites, chili relleno casserole. We had a great dinner and chatted for a while before they left to go back to their coach around 8:30 or so. We watched TV until bedtime. It is good to have friends close by again.

Friday, April 18^th, Good Friday for Christians. We drove down the mountain into Banning about 11:00 to go to lunch at a Thai restaurant we like called Zen. Peggy and Vernon also went, but they drove their own car as they had other errands to run after lunch. The four of us went to Zen and met with an old friend of Peggy and Vernon's named Bonnie whom they had invited to have lunch with us. Bonnie and her husband were neighbors and friends of the Bullock's for years back in Northern California. Bonnie now lives in Sun Lakes, a large retirement community right here in Beaumont. She had been at the big 50^th Anniversary party last July in Mineral, but we did not have a chance to spent much time with her there. We had a great lunch, the food is very good at Zen, and some nice conversation. Peggy and Vernon were able to catch up with the goings on in Bonnie's life.

After lunch Peggy and Vernon went off to do their errands and Jackie and I went to Walmart for a grocery run. After shopping we went back up the hill, put stuff away and relaxed for a while. We later had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon in their coach, but no dinner. We were all still full from the great lunch. About 7:00 we went back to our place and watched TV until bedtime. 

Saturday was a stay at home and relax day.  Jackie and Peggy spent some time dying Easter eggs.  Peggy said she always enjoyed dying eggs and has done it even long after her kids have grown up.  The plan is to have colored eggs for a while, then deviled eggs with Easter dinner.  Yea!

Sunday, April 20^th, Happy Easter. We had a great day planned for today for an Easter dinner with friends. Around 11:00 or so Gary and Ramona Wilson came up from their home in Ontario. Gary and Ramona have been friends of ours since we met them at a Full Timers Chapter rally in Joshua Tree, California back in the Spring of 2008. We have traveled with on and off since then and stayed in close touch. About a year ago health issues forced them off the road and they no longer have their motor home, but since the live in Southern California we are still able to see them several times when we are around the area in the Winter months.

Shortly after Ray and Suzie Babcock arrived. We have traveled extensively with the Babcocks the last couple of years, so I won't say too much about our history with them as it has been well documented in previous chapters of this blog. They no longer full time in their coach, but still travel a lot in the summer, and their home is in Menifee, only an hour or so from Silent Valley. About noon we had one more visitor, Marianne Connor. Marianne and her late husband David were our first motor home travel buddies. We knew the Connor's when we were still living in Indio and active in the Indio Elks Lodge and their RV club. The Connor's sold their house and moved full time into a motor home only a couple months prior to us in 2005. We spent a good part of 2005 and 2006 traveling with David and Marianne, sometimes for several months at a time. In 2007 David became too ill to travel and they moved into a new house in Cherry Valley, California, just a few miles north of Banning. We stay in contact with Marianne, but don't get to see her but maybe once a year. Of course, Vernon and Peggy Bullock were parked right across the road.

We now had nine people, all of whom, with the exception of Marianne, have been friends for at least the last four or five years. The weather was exceptionally nice and we all sat outside and

drank and visited and had a wonderful time. Peggy and Jackie were making dinner and around 3:00 we pulled a couple of picnic tables into the shade and set out dinner. We had ham and au gratin potatoes and fruit salad from Peggy, a turkey breast, gravy, salad and rolls from Jackie, vegies from the Wilson's, and Ray and Suzie brought a couple of pies. All in all, it was a wonderful Easter dinner.

After dinner we sat around with light cocktails for another hour or so before the visiting folks decided they needed to leave so as to be back home before dark and before the holiday traffic got too bad. We cleaned up and then just relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening. It was a wonderful time with friends in the sunny woods of Silent Valley.

This wonderful holiday also seems to be an excellent place to close out this chapter. It has been a little over three weeks since we last published, so I think it is time to get this out where everyone can read it. We will be here in Silent Valley for another ten days or so, then back down to Indio for ten days. We will probably publish again when we leave Indio. Until the next time, remember the words of C.S. Lewis, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” It is good to have great friends. See ya.