Hello again, welcome back. Our last
chapter concluded on Sunday, December 30th, 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 31st, 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 1st, 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 3rd, 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 5th, 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 6th, 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 7th, 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 8th, 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 9th, 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 10th.
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 11th, 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 12th, 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 13th, 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 14th, 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 16th, 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 18th, 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 19th, 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 20th, 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 21st, 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.
