We're here in sunny southern California on Sunday, November 15, 2009. Our drive from Pismo Beach was sunny and warm. We drove to Northridge where we stopped at the Walnut RV Park. It's the only park so far that was close enough for us to walk to shopping services and only one of two or three that are in the major Los Angeles area. We found a Petco store and bought a bottle of homeopathic drops for Weaver. We have our fingers crossed that they will work for a while at least to keep him quiet.
We sampled frozen ice with jogurt at a new shop celebrating its opening. The owner's mother was there and she helped me jump the line to get two samples. We had root beer floats. Not too bad. While standing around eating, we met a fellow who worked for K-tel in Canada. His wife is from Winnipeg. He was born in Edmonton.
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear but cool. Mike got up at 5am and plugged in the heater. We finally got up at 8:30, had breakfast and packed up to head out before the roads got too crowded. The roads were not nice to drive on, but we made it to Desert Hot Springs by 1pm.
The park is called Caliente Springs RV park. It is very nice. There are a lot of park model homes here with RV spaces for those who do not plan to stay all winter. Of course we could stay here. We came here even though the office was closed. Mike chose an available spot and as soon as we had settled in the fellow from across the street came over and introduced himself. It surely is a small world. His mother was from Enderby. Her name was Donna Nordstrom. He is Todd Nordstrom's older brother. Todd is married to Ruth Gale, whose mom, Bev Gale, still lives in Ashton Creek. If you are reading this, hi Bev. See what I mean by small world? Mike taught Todd and Ruth.
The sun went down (behind the mountain) by 4pm. Then it got cooler, so we packed up the dog and moved inside.
Mike made sure he tried out the pools here. They are naturally heated pools, each with a little different temperature. He's feeling very relaxed after the stressful driving through Los Angeles today. We took the Ventura Hwy. through to San Bernadino and east to Palm Springs. What a valley. Full of huge windmills. I can understand why they are out here. It gets very windy here and of course it doesn't take much to turn them. We should switch to wind power at home. We've had enough wind this year to produce all the electricity we'd need for a year.
We hoped we'd be able to stay here for a week but we found out the golf course (if you can call it that), is not open until November 23. We were told that the grass was reseeded so it is not open as early as usual. The other thing is that our discount card ends tomorrow instead of the beginning of December. Apparently the committee here keeps changing the rules. I think we were the only rig that pulled in here today. There are lots of empty spaces for rent. Maybe they are expecting the crowds here for Thanksgiving holiday. (?) Mike will find out in the morning what is happening and we will move back down the road to the Sands RV park which has a golf course that is open (if the park is reasonably priced).
Walnut RV park was the most expensive place we've stayed. It cost us $56.00 US. There was no tv service and only one wi-fi connection and that was in the club house. You may have observed we're trying to be frugal on this trip. We've only paid over $3.00 a gal once on this trip and the lowest we've paid was $2.65 in Longview Wa. at the Safeway. These are US prices. Mike calculated that gas is averaging about 88 cents a litre. Miles per gal varies from 8.5 to 11.5 per. That is Canadian gallons he's worked out. Not too bad.
Remember earlier I mentioned the drops for the dog? Well they seemed to work for a while, in fact, they kept him quiet, although he was still a little energetic. They started to wear off before we got here, but the peace and quiet in here on this trip was worth every penny.
Dave, Dad may have left his 20 amp adaptor somewhere along the road. It attaches to the cord that we plug in for the electricity service. Do you think you could get us one just in case we need it for Mexico? Thanks if you can, don't worry if you can't.
Well, it's time for me to sit back and relax.
ttfn,
Mave n Mike
