Some Time in the Coachella Valley, Our Old Stomping Ground

Hello again, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, December 30^th, when we arrived in Cathedral City, California, in the Coachella Valley, after three months in our “home” of Pahrump, Nevada. We joined up with our good friends and frequent traveling companions, Peggy and Vernon Bullock. On Monday, December 31^st, New Years Eve, we spent most of the day at home. We did go out and do a Walmart run in the afternoon, then spent New Year's Eve with the Bullock's. We did some steaks on the BBQ and watched the East coast network TV shows and celebrated New Year's at 9:00 California time. The Bullock's went home and we watched a little more TV before going to bed and sleeping in the new year.

January 1^st, 2019, Happy New Year! We had a quiet New Years at home. We got a few chores done and just relaxed for the most part. We had cocktails with the Bullock's and then Peggy served dinner. We had pork loin with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. Peggy said it was a German dish that was supposed to be good luck if you had it on New Year's day. We talked for a while and went back to our place about 8:00, then watched TV and went to bed. Wednesday we left the coach about 12:30, along with Peggy and Vernon, and drove to Indio to meet our friends Ray and Suzi Babcock for lunch. Ray likes the China Bistro in Indio and is always willing to drive over a hundred miles from their house in Murrietta just for lunch. We had a great lunch and sat and talked until about 3:00, after which the Babcock's drove over to the RV park and met us all at the Bullock's for desert. Peggy had made a lemon pie and we all had a piece. The Babcocks then headed home. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:00, but no dinner since we had such a late lunch. We went out about 7:00 and drove to the Starbucks in Cathedral City for a geocaching event.  There were several old caching friends there, as well as several people we had not met before.  We had a good time and stayed for about an hour.  We then went back to the coach and watched some TV before going to bed.

Thursday, January 3^rd, we stayed home for most of the day. About 4:30 the four of us left and drove over to Palm Desert to the Cactus Jack's Bar and Grill. Regular readers will know that when we still had the house in Indio, Cactus Jack's was our hang out place. The Indio location has been closed, but the owner, George, opened a new store in Palm Desert. We had a wonderful meal and saw a couple of old Coachella Valley friends. The food at CJ's is not inexpensive, but it is very good. After dinner we drove home and just relaxed the rest of the day. Friday I left the coach about 9:30 and headed to Rancho Mirage to visit the dermatologist. Since I had my melanoma scare in 2009 I have gone in every year for a skin check. The doctor looked me over, gave me my usual shower with liquid nitrogen to get rid of the small basal cell skin cancers, and one new mole, and sent me on my way. Jackie and Peggy had gone out about 10:30 to do some shopping and errands and have lunch. About 11:30 Vernon and I left and went to Boy's in Cathedral City, just a mile or so up the road, for lunch. I used to go there all the time when I worked in Cathedral City and they have the best pastrami sandwich anywhere. After lunch we went back to the RV park and I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some chores and relaxing. Peggy and Jackie got back around 3:00 and we had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:00. Peggy then served dinner, some lemon picatta chicken with linguine . It was very good and we all enjoyed it. After dinner we talked and visited until about 8:30 when we went back to our coach. We watched a little TV and went to bed.

Saturday, January 5^th, our last day in Cathedral City. We mostly stayed home, doing some chores and getting stuff put away in preparation for our travel to Indio tomorrow morning. We did go out to the grocery store in the afternoon. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then Jackie served a nice Mexican dinner, chili relleno casserole, rice and beans. We had a great dinner, talked for a while and then, after the Bullock's left, watched some TV before bed.

Sunday, January 6^th, we were up EARLY so we could get packed up and on the road by 8:00 a.m. We don't normally travel that way, but today we are only going 20 miles across the valley to the Indio Fairgrounds and the FMCA Western Area Rally. The actual rally starts on Wednesday, but we are parking with one of our Chapters, the Overland Trailblazers, and there are a lot of activities scheduled with the group for today. The first four days on the fairgrounds is sort of an onsite pre-rally. We did get out right at 8:00, got into the fairgrounds by 8:30 and were finally parked and getting set up by 9:30. We got the basic set up done and then at 11:00 we traveled, with many of the chapter members, to the Empire Polo Grounds just a mile southwest of the fairgrounds, for the opening day of the winter polo season in Indio. Some of the Chapter members had set it up so we could all go as a group into the grounds and watch the day's matches. Although Jackie had been to the polo grounds for matches many years ago, I have never been to a match and never even been on the grounds here in Indio. The venue is gorgeous, as you would expect a “money sport” like polo to have. We were at a nice table, under shade, with servers to bring food and drinks. Everything was expensive, but it was still fun with lots of people, many of them dressed for the occasion. We had lunch and a cocktail and watched one full match. Unfortunately, during the match we watched a horse and rider go down and the horse never got back up. Never heard exactly what the issue was, but I suspect the horse was put down. Too bad, although it is a surprisingly rough sport. We didn't stay for the second match because it was getting pretty cold and windy.

We drove back to the fairgrounds and I finished getting everything set up around the coach. About 4:30 I went over to one of the buildings on the grounds to get my sound equipment set up for tonight's meet and greet dinner with the Trailblazers Chapter. I have become the Chapter's sound and music guy. About 5:00 we went over for the dinner and there were probably a hundred people in attendance. This is a large and active Chapter. We had a nice dinner of flank steak and sides, all provided by the Chapter. The party went on until about 8:00, after which we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, January 7^th, we went out about 11:30 and stopped at In-N-Out for lunch. After lunch we did a grocery run at the WinCo store. We like the lunch meats that we can get at WinCo. We then went back to the coach and about 1:45 the mobile oil change guy arrived at the coach. The next two hours we hung around the coach while he did the annual oil and lube service on the coach. We used to get this work done every year while on the road, usually at a truck oil change company somewhere. About four years ago I started using this same mobile guy who comes to the Indio rally every year and it has been a lot more convenient. After the oil change was done we relaxed for a while and then around 4:30 we went over to the same room we were in last night for another Overland Trailblazers event. Tonight was a heavy hors d'vouers night and Jackie made a Mexican corn and cheese dip. There was lots of food and everyone had a good time. I did about an hour of karaoke after dinner and we actually had a couple of people come up and do a couple songs each. This was a big change from last year when none of the members seemed to be the least bit interested. By 7:30 we were back in the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, January 8^th, Jackie and Peggy left about 10:30 to go to a ladies luncheon with our group. They went to the Shields Date Garden restaurant here in Indio. I stayed home, did some chores and just relaxed. They got back about 1:30 and we both did a few chores. Around 2:30 I went down to the concrete slab our group uses as a gathering place on the fairgrounds and set up the sound equipment. Today was just to provide sound services for the annual meeting of the Chapter and then music for the pizza party afterwards. The meeting started around 3:30 and went on for about 45 minutes. There was a break and then a little after 4:00 they brought in the Caesar salad and pizza, both from Costco, and served a light dinner for the group. I just played a bunch of 60's music that everyone seemed to like. After the party was winding down I packed up the gear since I didn't want to leave it unattended outside overnight. We had cocktails with the Bullock's and were back in our own coach relaxing a little after 7:00. We watched some TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, January 9^th, we didn't have anything special to do in the morning. About 1:00 we went down to the main building at the fairgrounds for the Chapter Fair. This is something they do at rallies where the provide tables for all the various chapter to set up informational booths so they can try to recruit new members. I wasn't associated with any single booth as far as responsibility, so I just wandered around and helped a little at several of the booths for chapters that we belong to. We left around 2:30 and went back to the coach. After a brief break I went down to the slab to set up the sound equipment for tonight's event with the Trailblazers. One of the main things the Chapter does at each Western Area Rally is a big BBQ and potluck on Wednesday night of the rally. They will have up to 150 people at the BBQ and it is a big recruiting tool, it's how they hooked us. The BBQ started at 4:00 and after announcements I started playing some music. The BBQ was ribs and chicken and the potluck part was all the side dishes. There was plenty of food and everyone had a good time. By the time dark came on the party ended, I packed up the sound equipment and went back to the coach. We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Thursday, January 10^th. Although the rally officially started yesterday, there were no vendors or seminars until this morning. I was out of the coach about 9:00 for a meeting with the Board of the Trailblazers Chapter regarding elections. I am a member of the nominating committee and we needed to talk about how to get people to step up into leadership positions. After that meeting Jackie and I went over to the auditorium for the Full Timers Chapter seminar on full time RVing. I was one of the presenters for the seminar, which the Chapter does at all the FMCA International conventions, as well as at the Western Area rally. The seminar went well, we had a lot of interest and a lot of questions and comments. After the seminar we and the Bullocks drove off the grounds and met with Ray and Suzi Babcock for lunch at an Indio Chinese restaurant near the fairgrounds. They had driven in for the day again, this time to go through the vendors at the rally. They used to come to the rally like the rest of us, but the last few years they have decided they didn't like the grounds, so they no longer come with their coach. We had a nice visit and a great lunch.

After lunch we went back to the fairgrounds and relaxed for a while. About 3:30 we went down to the area of the slab, where our Chapter has been meeting, to line up on the street for the parade. Regular readers may remember that the Western Area rally always has a parade where the various chapters at the rally build floats and make costumes to reflect the theme of the year, which this year was “Once upon a Time.” There were some really great floats and costumes, as always, and everyone was really enjoying the event. Unfortunately, after the parade was over Jackie was helping Peggy fold up her chairs and tripped over a traffic cone nearby. She fell over backwards and hit her head on the concrete. I was not right there, I had taken our chairs over a few hundred yards when it happened. I found out about the accident and went over to her. She had a knot on the back of her head about the size of a half grapefruit, but there was no bleeding, it had not broken the skin other than a slight abrasion. She had not lost consciousness and showed no other signs of concussion, but I was very worried about the huge hematoma on her head. I got the car and then drove her to the emerg

ency room at JFK Hospital here in Indio. It was a typical noisy, busy smelly ER, but they did take her right in. She was in treatment for a couple of hours, they did the vitals and some cognitive tests, and also sent her for an CT of the head. They found no fracture, no subdural bleeding, no sigh of concussion. They gave her a tetanus shot and we headed home, getting back around 8:00. She had a bit of a headache, but was otherwise OK, just a little scared by what could have been. We watched some TV and went to bed.

Friday, January 11^th, Jackie had a good night, slept well, and when she woke up the knot was greatly diminished in size, now just a small bump. I had woke up several times during the night and heard her snoring, so I knew that she was OK. I think she made it through this event without any serious injury. We had a pretty quiet day today with very few commitments with regard to the rally. After lunch we walked over to the vendor area and spent a couple of hours checking out the merchandise. We ended up buying nothing. After the vendors we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while and then around 5:00 we went over to one of the buildings on the fairgrounds for a social with the Military Veterans Chapter. The turnout was a bit disappointing, only about a dozen people. This is a very large chapter with close to a thousand members nationwide. As the Vice President of the Chapter I felt obligated to go and we had a good time talking to the few people that were there. After the social we walked over to the auditorium for the evening entertainment. Tonight was a stand up comedian named Ken Kaz. It is rare to have comedians at rallies, usually it is music, but the National President of FMCA discovered this guy at some non-RV related event and thought he was really good and since then he has done several FMCA events. He put on an hour long show and was VERY good. Funny, topical, clean and really entertaining. I would look for him playing anywhere and go if I could. After the show we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Saturday, January 12^th, the last full day of the rally. We had no commitments today, and just as well as it was raining when we got up. Not too hard, but enough to be cold and wet. The rain finally let up around noon when we left the fairgrounds and went to La Casita, one of our favorite Mexican places in the Desert, for lunch. Peggy and Vernon met us there and we had a nice lunch. After lunch we went to Walmart and Costco for some supplies, then went back to the coach. We were supposed to have a final happy hour with the Trailblazers at 4:30, but the weather was threatening rain again, so it was canceled. Instead we just had cocktails with the Bullocks. They went home around 7:00 and we watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, January 13^th, moving day. A number of people had left the fairgrounds yesterday and they started pouring out this morning around 7:00. By the time we left at 10:30 it was half empty. We got on the freeway and headed east, going 120 miles to Quartzsite, Arizona. It was an uneventful drive and we arrived in Quartzsite about 2:00 local time, since we changed time zones and lost an hour. We quickly got settled into our spot and spent a couple hours getting set up for our eight day stay here. Peggy and Vernon are parked right next to us again and we had cocktails together at happy hour. We didn't do any dinner as we all had lunch late. After they left we watched some TV and went to bed.

Monday, January 14^th, we had a stay at home day. The laundry for the RV park was right across from our coach, so we did a load of laundry to tide us over until we get to Yuma next week. We spent the day doing some chores and generally relaxing. Jackie still has a lot of pain on the back of her head from her fall, so she didn't feel like doing much. About 1:00 it started raining and we had light rain for the rest of the day and evening. We had happy hour with the Bullocks and then did some burgers on the BBQ. The rain was very light, so it didn't interfere with our BBQing. We had a nice dinner with the four of us and then watched some TV and the girls played cards. They went home around 7:30 and we watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday was a stay at home day. It rained all night long and was still raining in the morning. The rain finally cleared late in the afternoon. I made a big pot of chili for dinner for the four of us and Peggy made some cornbread. We had cocktails and then dinner, then after the Bullock's went home we watched some TV.

Wednesday, January 16^th, we woke up to clear skies, yea! The four of us left the RV park about 11:30 and drove the 20 miles back west to Blythe, California to go to Garcia's restaurant for lunch. It is a little, hole in the wall Mexican place that has great food. After lunch we stopped at a couple of stores, then drove back to Quartzsite. We then walked to the “Pow Wow” which is an annual gem and mineral show which is held in an event area located right behind the RV park in which we are staying. Although we don't collect rocks, they also have some nice jewelry and other items and it fun to just walk around for a bit. After walking around the rock show we went back to the coach, then at 5:30 we had happy hour with the Bullocks. We didn't have any dinner because of the big lunch. After the Bullocks went home we relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Thursday, January 18^th, my brother Ken and his wife Susan drove up for the day from their home in Goodyear, Arizona. Goodyear is on the far west end of the Phoenix metro area and it is a straight shot on Interstate 10 to Quartzsite, about a ninety minute drive. We and the Bullocks met them for lunch at Silly Al's pizza restaurant here in Quartzsite. We had a great lunch with lots of leftovers and after lunch we drove back to our coach and sat and talked for a couple of hours. Ken had worked for the City of Avondale, also on the west side of Phoenix, as a Code Enforcement officer, but recently retired and went to work as a flight instructor at a flying school in Goodyear. He and Susan are planning to do the same thing as we are in about five years. They seem to have their stuff together and a good plan. Ken and Susan left around 5:00, after which we had cocktails with the Bullocks and then went back to our coach and watched TV until it was time for bed.

Friday, January 19^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and went to Tyson Wells, the big swap meet/market in town. We spent a couple of hours walking around, bought a few little RV related things and enjoyed the nice weather. We had lunch there and were finished shopping around 2:30 or so. We went back to the coach and relaxed for a while, then about 4:15 we left again, with the Bullock's, and drove over to the “big tent” area for a customer appreciation party put on every year by Redlands Truck and RV. We felt that we deserved to come because we had some work done by them a couple years ago, however, the party is free and open to anyone who knows about it. Apparently everyone in town knew about it. There were several hundred people there, an open bar and some great BBQ for dinner. By 7:30 the party was over and we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Saturday, January 20^th, we left the coach with the Bullock's about 10:30 and drove over to the big tent for the opening day of the Quartzsite RV Show. The tent is up for about two weeks every January and is about a quarter mile long and a hundred yards wide. There are several hundred RV related (mostly) vendors inside, plus another couple dozen outside around the tent. Thousands of people come through the tent every day and I think most of them were there this morning. We simply could not find a parking space, so we gave up and went to breakfast/lunch at one of the local cafes, Mountain Quail. After lunch we went back to the RV park and rested for a bit. Around 2:00 we made another try for the tent and found a parking space, so we spent a couple hours going through the vendors. I bought some supplies, water filters, fuel filters for the coach, and we picked up a bunch of stuff from various RV parks that had booths. By a little after four we were done and went back to the RV park. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:30 and later did some lamb and steak on the BBQ. Actually, everyone but me had lamb, I had a nice cow. We talked for a bit, then went back to our coach, watched some TV and went to bed.

Sunday, January 21^st, our last full day in Quartzsite. We stayed home for the day, doing some chores and getting ready for travel tomorrow. We had cocktails with the Bullocks at 5:00 and were joined by some friends who arrived in the park today, Ernie and Andie. They are old friends of the Bullocks who we see almost every year when our paths cross. We first met them in 2011, a couple years after we met Peggy and Vernon, at a boondocking campout here in Quartzsite with a bunch of the Bullock's RVing friends. After cocktails we went back to our coach, had some dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Monday was another travel day. We were packed up and on the road around 10:00, heading south from Quartzsite to Yuma, Arizona, a trip of about 80 miles. We arrived at the Carefree Village RV Resort around noon and quickly got set up and moved in. We are parked right across the street from Peggy and Vernon and will be joined in a couple of weeks by the Babcock's and McKay's. We have all been coming to Carefree Village in the winter for the last three years. It is a nice park with very big spaces. We finished getting set up, then had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon about 6:00 and did some pork chops on the BBQ for dinner. The Bullock's left around 8:00 and we watched some TV before going to bed.

Our arrival here in Yuma for a month long stay marks a good point to close out this episode and get it published. Until next time, remember the words of the old radio talk show host, Bernie Meltzer. “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” See ya soon.

The Final Weeks of Winter in Nevada - Christmas in the Desert

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, December 8^th while we were still in Pahrump, nearing the end of our three month stay. On Sunday I went out and got the paper and other than that we didn't leave the coach. We had a nice, relaxing day, getting a few things done and just laying back.

Monday, December 10^th, we took Jackie to her PT at 1:00 and afterwards we stopped at the Dollar store for a couple of things. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. I lost about $7 and Jackie lost a couple of dollars. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed. Tuesday we were supposed to go out to lunch with the Duffin's, but Jackie woke up with what she thought was a minor bladder infection, so we canceled the lunch date and just stayed home for the day. We got some chores done and spent the entire day inside.

Wednesday, December 12^th, Jackie was feeling better today. Shortly after we got up I noticed that the furnaces had quit blowing and when I checked on things I discovered that we had run completely out of propane. I had signed up to get refilled when the truck came through the park, but that was not until next Wednesday. We had the tank filled six weeks ago, but have been running the furnaces a lot because it has been colder up here than what we are usually used to in the Coachella Valley. The store just down the road has propane, and it is a lot cheaper than what they charge for the mobile service, but you have to pack up the coach and drive there. We didn't have any choice, so I took down all the Christmas stuff, we packed up the coach and drove down to get propane. It only took a few hours, but it was a pain in the butt. Had I been paying attention I would have had the tank filled LAST Wednesday when the truck came through. Oh well. We got back to the park and back into our spot. Jackie went to her PT appointment and I spent most of the rest of the afternoon getting set back up again. I didn't get all the Christmas stuff back up, but I did do most of it.

About 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for some activities. The first was a spaghetti and wine dinner. Normally the wine dinners are catered by the Symphony Restaurant, which is next door to the RV park. However, they were closed for a private event tonight, so the RV park staff cooked the dinner. It was OK, but a little light for a $15 dinner, even with the wine. After dinner the park had it's annual “pound auction” event for charity. The idea is that people buy something that weighs a pound, could be candy, cookies, a book, a box of rocks, it doesn't matter. You wrap it up and then it is auctioned off. Last year I paid $15 for a bag of black beans. The money all goes to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive, so no one minds when they get a gag item. Jackie and I each won one of the auction items. I paid $11 and got a very nice looking coffee press with a couple of coffee mugs. Actually a pretty nice item for that price, although we won't use it. It will probably be re gifted somewhere along the line. Jackie spent $20 and got a box of dog biscuits, and we don't have a dog. Our friends Ray and Suzi Babcock just got a new dog, so we will save the biscuits for her. The auction raised over $300 for Toys for Tots and it was fun. After the events we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Thursday, December 13^th, I spent a little bit of time in the morning finishing up with reinstalling the Christmas decorations on the coach. About 12:30 we left and went to Red Sky BBQ for lunch. Red Sky has the best baby backs anywhere, and for a reasonable price. We both had full racks and took half the rack home for another meal. After lunch we picked up our mail and then did a Walmart run. A couple of other little errands and we headed for home. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. Since they didn't play last night because of the auction, they rescheduled for tonight. I should have stayed home as I had no luck, losing about nine dollars. Jackie won ten, so I guess I know where my money went since she was playing at the same table. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Friday, December 14^th, we took Jackie to her PT at 1:00 and I did my walk. We picked up mail, made a quick stop at the grocery store and went back home. About 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for tonight's social activities. Normally Friday night is social hour and then karaoke. Tonight they had a soup pot luck dinner provided by the park. They had two kinds of soup, potato and split pea. Then the attendees brought appetizers to go with the soups. After dinner they had a white elephant gift exchange. That is the type where each person brings a wrapped gift, usually an inexpensive item, gag gift, or a re gift. Every person draws a number and when your number comes up you get to either pick a wrapped gift or steal one of the gifts which have already been opened. If you steal a gift, then the person you stole it from can steal another, or take an unwrapped gift. It is a lot of fun. We ended up with a drinking game of tic tac toe and a cute RV coffee mug, although we had several other gifts before the end came. After the festivities we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Saturday, December 15^th, we went out after lunch to scout some sites for new geocaches. There is a lot of open space in and around Pahrump and we need a few more caches here. We finally found a site out in the open desert, just off a paved road, in the southwest part of town. We put an ammo box out there, put some goodies in it, then went back home to submit the cache. Now we just have to wait for it to be approved. We spent the rest of the day in the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Sunday we enjoyed the paper in the morning, then about 12:30 we went down to the clubhouse for another of the Dilly Muffin parties. There were probably 30 people there and it was a pot luck with lots of great food. Everyone visited, we played some games and we ate. It was a very nice, low key party. After the party we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day and evening.

Monday, December 17^th, we went to Jackie's PT at 1:00 and after PT we picked up mail and did a quick Walmart run. We went home and relaxed until about 6:30 when we went down to the clubhouse for poker. Both of us lost a little, again! After poker we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday was laundry day. We went to the laundry after lunch and did our clothes then went back to the coach. We stayed in for the rest of the day. Wednesday was another PT day in the early afternoon. After PT we went back home and I did some work on the newsletter for the Full Timers Chapter which I edit. After dinner we went to the clubhouse for poker and for the first time in a couple weeks we both won, not a lot, but we both ended up a few dollars ahead for the night. Yea! We went back to the coach, watched some TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 20^th, was mostly a stay at home day. I cooked up a big pot of chili for the RV park's chili contest tonight and did some office work and other chores. About 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for the chili cook off. There were eleven entries, most of which were similar to mine as far as the recipe. One made a chicken chili, and one a pork chili, but most were the usual with only the spices differentiating them. I didn't win any prizes, but I liked my chili, so that's what counts. After the judging everyone had chili for dinner. After the contest and dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night. Friday we went out in the early afternoon for Jackie's last PT session up here and a quick grocery run, then spent the rest of the day around the coach. Jackie made a chili relleno casserole and we had our friends Regina and Richard Rubenstein over for an early dinner. The four of us had a nice afternoon and a great dinner. About 6:00 we went down to the clubhouse for karaoke. There wasn't a very big crowd, but we had a good time and got to sing a lot of songs and listen to our friends. After karaoke we went back to the coach and watched a little TV before bed.

Saturday, December 22^nd, we left the coach around noon and went out to Denny's for breakfast. We then picked up mail and did a Walmart run before going back to the coach. About 3:00 we left again and drove over to our friends Len and Debbie Forrest's house for dinner. Millie and Dick Duffin were also invited, and Debbie's mom, who lives with them, was also there. There was a Christmas party being held at the RV park, but we wanted to spend a little personal time with friends today. We had a great time visiting for a couple hours, and at 5:00 Debbie served pork roast, potatoes and veggies for dinner. Jackie had brought a salad. We had a great dinner and more conversation. We left around 7:00 and went back home, then watched TV until bedtime. 

Sunday, December 23rd, we enjoyed our usual relaxing morning with the newspaper and coffee. About 1:00 we went down to the clubhouse for a Christmas party put on by Millie Duffin. Millie always has had a Christmas Eve party here at the park, but this year the clubhouse was not available on the 24^th, so she set it up for Christmas Eve eve. There were about 30 people at the party with lots of food, visiting, fun and games. The party went on until about 5:00. One of the highlights was that one of the Duffin's sons, who live in Park City, Utah, drove down to be with them. Although Dick knew they were coming he didn't tell Millie. She was very happy and that made everyone else happy. After we got back to the coach we just relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.

Monday, December 24^th, Christmas Eve. My brother Russ and his wife Zen drove up from Las Vegas to spent the day with us. He works in the Golden Nugget Casino downtown and has to work tomorrow, so they came up today to celebrate Christmas. This is the first year we have done Christmas here in Pahrump, most have been celebrated down in the Coachella Valley, so it was nice to have family for the holidays. We sat and talked, and Jackie prepared a very nice Christmas feast with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. Zen brought some hors d'oevres and also an apple pie and ice cream for dessert. A complete meal. Yea! We had dinner, talked for a while longer, then had our desert. Russ and Zen left about 6:30 and headed back over the hill and we just relaxed for the rest of the evening, watching for Santa to fly by.

Tuesday, December 25^th, Merry Christmas! Since we had already partied with our friends up here in Pahrump, and already celebrated with the only family we have close by, we had a quiet Christmas with just the two of us. We celebrated the holiday and relaxed for the entire day, never leaving the coach. A very nice Christmas. Wednesday was mostly a stay at home day. Since we are leaving Pahrump on Saturday I spent a couple of hours taking down the Christmas decorations inside and outside of the coach and storing them away for another year. Other than that we just hung around the house for the day. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker, our last session for this trip. Both of us won a couple of dollars. After cards we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Thursday, December 27^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and headed over the hill for Jackie's last followup appointment for her knee. This time we got to talk to the doctor himself instead of just the staff. They gave Jackie a cortisone shot, but in the place below the knee where the hamstring muscle connects to the leg. They thought this was a likely place for at least some of her pain to be coming from. They also gave her a prescription for a course of oral steroid pills. After the doctor's visit we stopped and had lunch, then did a Costco run and stopped for haircuts. Once we were done with our errands we headed over the hill and back to home, where we stayed in for the rest of the night.

Friday, December 28^th my brother Ken's birthday. We spent the day getting ready for travel tomorrow. I took down the screens and other outside decorations and Jackie did some work in the coach. After lunch we did a Walmart run and stopped for mail. We then returned to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the day and evening. There was no karaoke or social in the clubhouse tonight. Saturday was a travel day, our first real travel in three months. We left Wine Ridge about 10:30 and started south, heading ultimately for Cathedral City in the Coachella Valley, but stopping overnight in Hesperia. We got into the Hesperia Elks Lodge about 3:30, after making a lunch stop at the Mad Greek in Baker, a regular occurrence when we take this route, and a fuel stop outside of Barstow. We got settled in for a one night stay, doing the minimal set up.

Sunday, December 30, New Year's Eve eve. We left Hesperia about 9:30 and continued south and east to Cathedral City. We stopped for propane along the way, but still arrived at the Cathedral Canyon RV resort about 12:30. We quickly got registered and parked and began the set up process. We will be here for a week before moving 20 miles east to the Indio fairgrounds for the FMCA rally. Peggy and Vernon Bullock are parked right behind us, having also come in today, although from only a dozen miles away at the Thousand Trails park in Palm Desert. We have not seen the Bullocks since early September when we saw them in Redding, California. After we got set up we relaxed for a while, then about 5:00, we went over to the Bullock's for cocktail hour. After cocktails Peggy served her penne pasta dish, which we both love, for dinner. We sat and talked until about 8:00, when we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Our departure from Pahrump after three months marks a good spot to close out this chapter and get it published. As I mentioned, we will be in the Coachella Valley for two weeks, then we move on to Quartzsite for a week and then Yuma for a full month. Until next time, remember that life is like a roll of toilet paper; hopefully long and useful, but it always ends at the wrong moment. See ya soon.