Enjoying Spring in Silent Valley

Hi there, glad you're here. Our last chapter concluded on April 20^th, Easter Sunday, while we were parked in Silent Valley, a membership park just south of Banning, California. We have been here about two and a half weeks and have another ten days or so to go before we have to leave. The park only allows stays of 30 days or less, then we have to go out for at least ten days before we can return.

Monday, April 21^st, we had a nice stay at home day after our busy day with friends yesterday. We got a few chores done and worked some on our plans for our July Full Timers Chapter rally in Oregon. We are the rally masters, so we have to get everything set up. The Bullocks are co-hosting, so we wanted to get as much done while we were together with them as we can.

We had cocktails at 5:00 and then about 7:00 we threw together a left overs dinner at Peggy's coach, using everything that didn't get eaten yesterday. We had a wonderful meal and got rid of the leftovers too. We stayed with Peggy and Vernon until about 9:30 or so watching some TV shows that they wanted to show us. We then went back to our coach and relaxed until bedtime.

Tuesday, April 22^nd, we headed down the hill about 11:30 or so with Peggy and Vernon to have lunch and do some geocaching. We had lunch at a place in Banning called Fisherman's Market. This particular chain also has a couple of stores in the Coachella Valley and has a good reputation. The results today were mixed. I had the seared Ahi sandwich which was outstanding. A really big piece of nicely peppered and seared tuna, along with fries and coleslaw. I also had a cup of clam chowder, which was OK, but tasted more of fish than clams. Peggy and Jackie both had fish tacos which they said were fair at best. Vernon had a hamburger, which he said was way overdone, almost burned. I would go back for the Ahi, but I think the rest would not agree.

After eating we stopped at a couple of stores and while we were there Vernon got to feeling sick. I don't think it was lunch, it was way too soon for that, but he said he thought we should head back home and skip caching. So we drove back up the mountain and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Jackie and I had cocktails at 5:00, but Vernon wasn't up to it, so it was just the two of us. We then watched TV the rest of the night.

Wednesday, Vernon was feeling better but still didn't want to leave the RV park, so we took Peggy with us and went down the hill for some geocaching. We headed west to Yucaipa, about ten miles west of Banning, because we have pretty much “cached out” the area in Banning. We ended up getting eight caches in a couple of hours, along with one new DNF.   One of the caches was in a small strip mall, near a fountain in which someone had placed a hundred or so little rubber duckies.  It really was cute and rubber duckies make popular travel bug items for geocachers, so it fit the theme.  After caching we stopped at Walmart in Beaumont to do some shopping before heading up the hill again.

Peggy had made a pot of bean soup with the ham bone left over from Easter and Vernon had been tending the pot all day. We went over to their coach for cocktails and then bean soup and garlic bread for dinner. It was very tasty and I at way more than I should have. We chatted for a while after dinner and then about 8:00 we went back to our place for the rest of the night.

Thursday was another stay at home day. Got a few chores done, including helping Vernon figure out why is over-the-air antenna wasn't working. Turned out that the last guy to work on his TV connected a couple of cables incorrectly. We had cocktails with the Bullocks and then Peggy cooked again for the four of us. Tonight she made her penne pasta, which is probably the only meatless dish in the world that I love. Pasta, garlic sauce, tomatoes – yum! About 8:00 we were back in front of our own TV in our jammies.

Friday, April 25^th, we left the RV park around 10:30 with Peggy and Vernon in the car and drove down the hill for brunch and a little shopping. We stopped at a place called Gramma's in Banning. The restaurant has been there a long time and we have eaten there several times in the past. I had the beef machaca and it was wonderful. They also give large portions. Jackie had another Mexican breakfast dish called chiliquili's, and Peggy had an omelet. Vernon had a ham and eggs dish. Everyone thought the food was good except for Peggy, who didn't care for her stuff.

After brunch we went to the Bed, Bath and Beyond store in Beaumont so we could get a new crockpot. Ours has finally given up the ghost after about five years of service. It was pretty dented and beat up, but up until the other day still worked. I tried to fix the broken power cord, but it still wouldn't work, so we just tossed it. We got a new one with a digital control panel. I hope this one lasts as long as our old one. After that we stopped at a grocery store so Peggy could get some steaks for a cookout on Saturday. Her grandson Troy, the Marine stationed in Yuma, and his wife Makayla are coming up on Saturday for the weekend. We are going to have a little party and burn some cow. Yea!

After our shopping we headed back up the hill to the RV park. We later had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, as well as their friend Bonnie Greene, who came up for the afternoon. Bonnie is the same one we had lunch with last week. After cocktails Jackie served up her homemade clam chowder for dinner. She uses the same basic recipe that she did for her Halibut chowder, but uses chopped clams instead. It really turned out well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. About 7:00 Bonnie left so she could get back down the mountain before it got too dark, and Peggy and Vernon went back to their coach. We watched TV until bed.

Saturday, April 26^th, we awoke to a cold and damp morning. We had a good bit of rain overnight, although it had quit by the time I got up at 7:30. Unfortunately, the leak in the living room slide I thought I had fixed had leaked and I had some water to clean up on the couch. Nothing to serious, but annoying to the max. It was also cold, in the very low forties, which is as cold as we have seen so far this stay.

Peggy and Vernon's grandkids, Troy and Makayla, arrived around 10:00 or so. We didn't go over to see them right off, figuring we would let them have time with family. About 2:00 we went down to the village center to attend the monthly board meeting for Silent Valley. Since this is an ownership resort, with all members holding an undivided interest in the park, there is an elected board that runs the park. The park has been going through some rough financial times the last few years, partly because of the aging of it's owners, and partly due the economy and the downturn in the RV industry. They seem to be doing better now, at least holding their own as money goes. The meeting was kind of boring and we left after an hour, at the first break. It was clear that there was nothing important or earth shattering left on the agenda.

Our friends Bob and Gloria Baron were also in the meeting and we made plans to have cocktails with them around 5:00 or so. The Baron's were people we met in conjunction with our activities in the Indio Elks before we sold our house and went full time in the coach. They live in the same country club we did. They are also owners up here and brought their coach up for the weekend.

After the meeting we went over to Peggy and Vernon's coach and visited with everyone there for an hour or so. We already had plans to have dinner with the four of them tonight, so we just went over to talk and catch up with them. We last saw Troy and Makayla in Yuma a couple months ago. The Baron's came over about 5:00 and we talked and visited until just before 6:00 when they left, knowing we had dinner plans.

At 6:00 we went over to the Bullock's and had a nice steak BBQ. We had steaks, potatoes and some veggies and had a great visit with Troy and Makayla. We stayed until about 8:00 when we left, knowing that Troy was used to going to bed early. The Marines get him up at 5:00 every day, so he is an early sleeper. We went back to our coach and relaxed the rest of the evening. Troy and Makayla are leaving in the morning to go back to Yuma. They are leaving early, so we probably won't be up to see them off.

Sunday, April 27^th, was a relaxation day. I did do a couple of minor chores, but mostly just relaxed. Peggy and Vernon went down the hill early with the grandkids and had breakfast. When they came back up later in the day they brought us a Sunday paper, which was nice because they don't deliver them up here in the park. We did have cocktails with the Bullocks at 5:00, but they left about an hour later and Jackie and I had left over chowder for dinner. Very good, even the second time. We watched TV until time for bed.

Monday was another stay in day. Jackie and Peggy got together for a while in the afternoon for some crafts. We had cocktails and then I served up a big pot of my homemade chili for the four of us. Everyone seems to enjoy my chili. The Bullocks went home shortly after dinner and we watched TV until it was time for bed. The wind really started coming up just before we went to bed, hope we are still here in the morning.

Tuesday, April 29^th, we awoke after a restless night. It had been very windy all night long, causing the slide topper awnings to clunk and clank and rocking the coach. We left the park with Peggy and Vernon in our Jeep around 11:30 and drove down the hill and then west to Moreno Valley. We were meeting friends there for lunch. The Babcock's, the Wilson's and the King's were all coming to meet us at the Applebee's in Moreno Valley. Moreno Valley was a place were most everyone had about the same distance to drive, with the Babcock's to the south, and the Wilson's and King's to the west. We had a good lunch, although the service at the restaurant left a little to be desired. Also, it is hard to visit with everyone when you have ten people at a long table. Nonetheless, we had a great visit and were happy to see everyone. We hadn't seen Jerry and Bev King since Indio in January.

You will notice the photos of four women in bright blue jackets. There is, of course, a story behind this. Back in February, when we were in Yuma, we were there with the Bullock's, the Babcock's, and the McKay's. On one of the several trips down to Algodones, Mexico, Jackie, Peggy Bullock, Susie Babcock, and Judy McKay all bought these blue cotton jackets. They all had a printed logo on the back of three iguanas holding a sign that says, “no bad days.” They actually ended up having to make two trips to be sure that everyone got the same jacket in the right size. Over the ensueing months, the girls worked on putting all sorts of bling on the jackets, sparklies and sequines and the like.

When they were in Mexico they also bought one for Ramona Wilson. The Wilson's have had some health issues and have sold their coach and stopped traveling, so they weren't in Yuma with us. The girls still wanted Ramona to feel a part of the old group, so they got her a jacket and did the bling on it too. This was the first time we had seen the Wilson's since Yuma, so the girls all wore their jackets and presented Ramona with hers. They all had a grand time celebrating the new, “Algadones Drinking Club.” The pictures are Peggy, Jackie, Ramona and Suzie, all in their club uniforms.

After lunch we went over the Costco, which was in the same parking lot, and did a little bit of shopping. We didn't get too much since we will be back in Indio in a few days and close to another Costco.

After shopping we got back on the road and headed back to the RV park. The wind was still blowing really hard and the weather reports indicated we would have to put up with it until sometime on Thursday. Later on in the evening we had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, but didn't do any dinner because of the late lunch. We watched TV and listened to the wind until it was time for bed.

Wednesday, April 30^th, I woke up about 7:00 after a worse night for wind than last night was. Not too long after I got up the power in the park went out. This is not unusual for this area, since there are limited lines coming into the area and the wind tends to break trees and branches into power lines. By about 9:00 the winds were so bad we put down the satellite dish on the roof of the coach and pulled in the two slides on the windward side of the coach. We were having gusts that had to be approaching 70 or 80 MPH and we were afraid we would have damage. Some of our outside decorations had blown down and we lost one of our garden flags, it just blew away.

Since we are leaving in a few days anyway, I went out in the morning and braved the winds to put away most of the stuff outside. The winds were so strong overnight that they blew our BBQ, which is pretty heavy, right off the table onto the ground. The power was off all day, so we just spent the day watching recorded TV shows and relaxing. We have lots of fuel in the coach for our generator, which can run 24/7 so long as the diesel holds out, so we were not too worried. Late afternoon Peggy and Vernon came over for cocktails and then I BBQed some carne beef and chicken for a nice Mexican meal. We had the meat, along with rice and beans and had a very nice dinner. We watched TV until bedtime and the power came back on in the park just a half hour or so after we went to bed. The wind had died a little during the afternoon, but by the time we went to bed it was blowing pretty hard again.

Thursday I woke up about 7:00 after another long night of wind and found that once again the power to the park was off. I checked the Edison web site and found they were predicting the fix to be done before noon. True to their word, the power was back on a little after 11:00. The wind is gradually settling down and the weather reports say that by this evening it should be calm again for the foreseeable future. Yea! We hung around the coach for most of the day doing a few chores.

Around 4:00 or so we had Peggy and Vernon back in our Jeep again and were headed back down the hill to have dinner with their friend Bonnie Greene. We have met Bonnie a couple of times on this trip and she seems like a very nice person. She lives in Sun Lakes, a large retirement community in Beaumont/Banning. We stopped at Albertson's so Peggy and Jackie could pick up some flowers for our visit, then drove to Sun Lakes. We were a little early, so we drove around for a while checking out the community. A very nice looking place with lots of surprisingly big houses, but kind of sterile. Most of the houses looked alike and there were no people out and about.

Just before 5:00 we arrived at Bonnie's place and got the grand tour. She has a big, three bedroom place that looks to be about 20 years old or so, but nicely decorated and taken care of. We had cocktails and chatted for a while before Bonnie served dinner. We had a nice salad and then some homemade pork enchiladas that were to die for. I have to get her recipe for the pork, it was delicious. We talked for a bit, but about 8:00 decided we better get back up the hill before it got too late. We were back in the RV park by just before 9:00. It was a very nice evening with friends.

Friday was a stay at home day. I spent a little time finishing the clean up of the outside decorations and getting ready for our travel day tomorrow. Other than that, we mostly just stayed in the coach, played games, watched TV and relaxed. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then a nice dinner from Jackie. She made the chili relleno casserole that everyone loves. We chatted until about 8:00 or so when the Bullocks went back to their coach.

Saturday, May 3^rd, another travel day. The rules here at Silent Valley permit owners to stay a total of 120 days per year at no cost except for the annual assessment, currently $600. However, you can only stay for a maximum of 30 consecutive days and then have to be out of the park for ten days before you can come back. Although we have only been here for 26 days this trip, we want to come back for another 30, so we are heading back down to Indio for a ten day break.

We had everything packed up and ready to go by 10:00 and said our goodbyes to Peggy and Vernon. We have been traveling with them since just before New Year's, so we will miss their company. We will probably next see them when we go to their house in Northern California in July. We drove down the mountain without the car in tow because it is easier to control the speed of the coach on the steep, winding road with a tow behind. At the bottom we stopped to hook up the Jeep and, Yea, it went into neutral again! This is three cycles now since we had the repair to the transfer case. I am seeing some hope that the issue may be behind us.

The trip to Indio only took an hour or so and we were checked into the Indian Waters RV Resort and parked in our spot before noon. I spent a little bit of time getting setup, and getting hot! The temps are supposed to approach 100 degrees. The resort doesn't have a lot of folks in it. This is the first year that they are keeping it open in the summer. They have have the park closed up and it looks lonely. We do still have a couple of friends staying here, Jay and Donna Blumethal, and Eddie and Darlana Buenidia. They were both here when we left four weeks ago, although the Buenidia's had left for a couple weeks or so in between stays. Jay and Donna are planning to leave and start back towards their home in New York in a few days.

After we got set up and then cooled off we headed to Walmart for a badly needed shopping trip. At happy hour we walked over and visited with Eddie and Darlane for a while then went back to our place for dinner on our own for the first time in a long time. We then just relaxed and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, May 4^th, Happy Star Wars Day! (May the Fourth be with you) We had a nice relaxing morning with the Sunday newspaper. After lunch we did a Costco run for the stuff that we didn't get last week in Moreno Valley because we didn't have room in the car. At 5:00 we met Bev and Jerry King for dinner at Cactus Jacks. We were going to go for Chinese, but it turns out our favorite place is closed on Sunday. The King's, who have a home in Dan Dimas, between Ontario and Los Angeles, also have a lot at an upscale RV resort here in Indio. They were out for the weekend checking on their property and saw on Facebook that we were in town. We had a nice dinner and some nice conversation. After dinner we went back to the coach and just relaxed the rest of the night.

Lunes, Cinco de Mayo! Pensé en hacer las notas del día en español, pero decidí no hacerlo. So, we'll do it in English instead. If everyone is Irish on March 17^th, then everyone is Mexican on May 5^th. Of course, most people who actually LIVE in Mexico consider this a minor holiday, but to Americans it's a great excuse to drink. Much like St. Patrick's day. Silly Americans! We didn't have Mexican food, or beer or tequila today. We did go out after lunch and do almost three weeks worth of laundry. Other than that we just enjoyed the quiet of a 100 degree Spring day in the desert.

Tuesday, May 6^th, no holiday, sorry. Yesterday and last night there was a cold front moving through, which meant wind. Not as bad as it was up in Silent Valley, but more than breezy. However, it also means cooler temperatures, so we decided to go out and do a little bit of caching today. After lunch we went out and got six new finds in the area, along with one we didn't get. It wasn't a DNF, because we found the cache. We just couldn't get to it because a swam of wasps had taken up residence on it. Don't need a cache that bad.

Around 5:00 we went over to Cactus Jack's to meet friends for dinner. We had arranged to meet Bill Lowe and Lynette Bolier, some friends of ours from the Indio Elks RV club. To our surprise, they also brought along some other RV club friends, Steve and Gail Schmidt. Although Jackie stays in touch with both Lynette and Gail through social media and email, we hadn't actually spent time with Bill and Lynette for nearly two years. We last saw Steve and Gail last summer in Tillamook, Oregon when we just happened to run into them camping at the Elks campground there. We had a great dinner with the six of us, catching up and chatting. It is good to see old friends every now and then. After dinner we headed back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, May 7^th, we left the coach around 1:00 and drove to La Quinta, the next town over, to have lunch with some other old Indio Elks RV Club friends. Ralph and CeCe Bogan have always been sort of the axle around which the Elks RV club moved. CeCe is outgoing and friendly and we have been friends since we first met back in 1999. We haven't seen them for a couple of years because we missed connections with them every time we were back in the Coachella Valley. Ralph is nearly 90 and has some health problems, as does CeCe, but they are still traveling as much as possible and just living life to the greatest extent. We really enjoyed meeting up with them and being able to catch up. We had lunch at a new place in La Quinta called the Broken Yoke. It is a breakfast and lunch place, with a pretty extensive menu. The decor and service were very good, but the food was average at best.

After lunch with Ralph and Cece we drove to the shopping mall in Palm Desert to do some window shopping and just get some exercise walking around the mall. We were there for a couple of hours, not buying much, but walking the entire mall. After shopping we headed back to the coach and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, May 8^th, we decided to have a stay at home day. We did some work around the coach and relaxed. In the afternoon we had a mobile service come by and wash the coach, which had become pretty grungy. For dinner we walked over to our friends Eddie and Darlane's coach, just a couple spaces over, and they BBQed some hamburgers with fixings. We had a nice chat and stayed there and talked until it started to get dark. We then went back to our coach and watched TV until bed.

Friday, May 9^th, we left the coach around noon and drove over to Cactus Jack's to meet for lunch with our friend Barry Cohen. Barry and his late wife Colleen were probably our closest friends when we still had a house here. Colleen died just under a year ago and we want to stay in close touch to Barry to be sure he is doing OK. We had a great lunch and talked a little bit about a trip he is thinking of taking with his coach. He lives full time in his coach at an upscale resort here in Indio, but he has not traveled in it at all since before Colleen's death.

After lunch we went back home and relaxed for the afternoon. Around 5:00 we drove over to the Indio Elks Lodge for some cocktails and to meet with some friends. This was the Elks Lodge we both were initiated in, me in 1999, Jackie in 2001. Barry met us there at the bar because he realized during our lunch that he had not yet paid his Elks dues and he wanted to get his new card. While we were with Barry in the bar, Ralph and CeCe Bogan, the couple we had lunch with a couple days ago, arrived for dinner. They had Lucy Hack with them. Lucy was married to Ralph Hack who had been, for several years, the president of the Indio Elks RV Club, the Desert Drifters, when we were active with them. Ralph died several years ago, but Lucy looked very well and was happy to see us. Barry, Jackie and I sat with the others in the dining room for a while, talking and drinking, but the three of us were not going to eat dinner there as we had a large, late lunch at Cactus Jacks. So when the dining room started to get really crowded we left so as to make room for paying customers. We then went back to the RV park and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the night.

Saturday, May 10^th, our friend Barry came over to our coach after lunch to spend the afternoon with us. He and I spent a couple of hours back in the Man Cave working out an itinerary for a trip back to Arkansas to see his daughter and granddaughter, then back west to Denver to see his other daughter, and then back to the Coachella Valley. If he goes it will be the first trip he has taken in the motor home since his wife died nearly a year ago. We plotted overnight stops, some based on places we have stayed in our travels, as well as general directions. He seems excited to try traveling again, I hope he goes.

After our travel planning we sat and talked and spent the rest of the afternoon together. Jackie made chicken enchiladas for dinner and we had a great afternoon. Barry left to go home about 7:00 or so, after which we watched TV until bed.

Sunday we had our usual relaxing morning with the Sunday paper. After lunch we drove to Walmart to stock up before we have to leave on Tuesday to go back up to Silent Valley. Around 4:30 we left the park and drove over to the Motorcoach Country Club in Indio to spend some more time with our friend Barry. We sat in his coach and talked for a little while, then went up to the bar and grill in the country club.

We spent a couple of hours up there, having some drinks and a light dinner, and talking to Barry, as well as some of the other folks who live at the park. This is a very upscale RV park, over half of the coaches in the place are Prevos's, or Newell's, both multimillion dollar brands. It is interesting sometimes to talk to the “other half” to see how they think. Barry is much more down to earth and middle class than many of the people here, but he has a personality that let's him get along with anyone, so he enjoys it here. We left about 7:00 or so and went back to our coach and the TV for the rest of the night.

Monday, May 12^th, we went out after lunch to do some errands. We dropped off some old clothes at the local charity store, then went to a Supercuts to get haircuts. We both got haircuts, Jackie after about a month, mine after around six months. After our haircuts we made a couple other quick stops, then headed back to the coach where we relaxed the rest of the day.

Tuesday was another travel day. We had everything packed up and ready to go around 10:00 and we were off, headed west back to Silent Valley for another month. We hooked up the car and the transfer case worked again. Yea! When we left Indio there wasn't much wind, but the closer we got to the pass and the Banning area the stronger it got. By the time we got into Silent Valley it was very windy.

It took us a while to find a space we liked at the park. The weather is getting nicer, so there are more people taking advantage of the place. We finally found a spot that was OK and got parked and the basic setup completed. The wind was blowing about 30 mph, so I put off doing any of the outside stuff until tomorrow. We got registered and then just relaxed in the coach, listening to the wind, for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, May 14^th, the wind blew all night and was still blowing today. We just stayed in for the day, doing a few projects and relaxing. Around 4:00 the wind finally laid down enough that I was able to go outside and put the sun screens up on the windows. I had to wash them first to get the dust from Indio off of them. We had a nice dinner of pot roast and veggies that had been cooking all day, then watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, May 15^th, a very happy birthday to the love of my life, my wife Jackie! And, also to our kitty Benji, who shares the date. Benji is two today, Jackie is not. We decided to have another stay at home day and did a few chores, but mostly relaxed. I told Jackie she would have her birthday dinner tomorrow or Saturday, where ever she wants. We had a very nice day and didn't do much except enjoy it.

Friday was another relax at home day. We watched RVs come into the park all day and the place is really getting crowded. This is as late as we have been up here in years, so we are not used to the place being this busy. About 6:00 we walked over to the newly opened restaurant for dinner. The park closed the restaurant and bar a couple of years ago when they were having serious financial issues and the businesses were losing too much money. The last couple of summers they have been open on weekends, but we have not been up here in the summer. They opened both the restaurant and bar last weekend, only for Friday and Saturday, so we wanted to try it out.

The restaurant is no longer a real restaurant. Previously the park hired a real chef and he and his staff made real meals. The liver and onions they used to have here were to die for. They had roasts and steaks and even prime rib on occasion. Now they have a fry cook doing mostly a fry menu. Sandwiches and hamburgers, fish and chips and other frozen stuff. It fills the hole, but it is not really nice dining anymore. You order at the counter and pick up your own food when they call. After dinner we went to the bar for a cocktail. The bar hasn't changed, but the prices were high, at least for Absolute. It was $7.00 and it was one shot, not much to look at. Might be an OK place to come for a beer, but I don't think we will be doing any real drinking in here like we used to.

After we got back to the coach and were watching TV, one of the rangers came to the door and handed us a notice that the water system had failed a test today so they were obligated to tell everyone they had to boil the water before drinking. They said they were going to flush the system tomorrow and get it retested. Fortunately, we had a few bottles of water in the car, so we will be OK until tomorrow when we are going down the hill to shop and can pick up some bigger bottles of water, just in case the problem persists.

Well folks, it's been close to a month since I last posted an episode online, so I think we'll close this one out at this point. We will be up here in Silent Valley for another three weeks before we begin our summer travels. I will try to get the next chapter posted before we start up the coast the second week in June. As we continue our travels I remember the wise words of Yogi Berra. “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” See you next time.