April 2002Number 4
We spent an inordinate amount of time at Catalina Spa & RV Resort this year. As many of you know, Catalina Spa is one of our "homeparks", located in Desert Hot Springs, CA. A homepark is a campground where we can stay for up to two weeks, for free, at any time of the year we want to. And for each two week stay we must remain out of the park for 7 consecutive days between stays. These are called "out-weeks." After our first 14 day stay we spent our first out-week going to San Diego, and then driving north to visit my brother Ed and his wife Maxine in Manteca, California. During our second out-week we went to 29 Palms, California and visited the Roy Rogers and Dale Evens museum in Victorville. We also re-visited Joshua Tree National Park to see what we missed a couple of years ago on our drive-thru. And lastly we checked out the mural that was in progress last year, while we were here, on our way thru to Earp, CA.While at Desert Hot Springs, our visits were enhanced by acquiring new friendships, something we had never had the time for before. We met the Parents and Browns, two couples from Lower Michigan who we had seen here before, but had never talked to at length. We also met two couples from the Bay area of California. The Palestini's and the Bach's were a pleasure to meet and talk to. The Palestini's are wine officianados, and the Bach's are domino players. We enjoyed their company immensely while we were here. Phil and Joyce Bach also taught us how to cook and eat Artichokes. Sharon and I thought they were somewhat of a chore to cook and eat, and we really didn't appreciate the lack of taste. We did, however, have a really good time peeling and dipping them in Mayonnaise before eating. The neighbor stopped over and asked us to hold down the noise, and it was only 9 o'clock. We didn't think we were making that much disturbance. Maybe he was upset from the afternoon when I spoke in a very loud voice, to quiet that "damn barking dog." Some people seem to be a little thin-skinned.We also had never been at Desert Hot Springs long enough to find any good restaurants. This time was different. The swimming pool gossip centered around 2 places. The Agua Caliente Casino where we could get an all-you-can-eat Breakfast for two for $7.50. And the Pak Inn. A Chinese Buffet, with so much food, you couldn't possibly taste it all. And all of it fabulous. We were also pointed toward a little Mexican Restaurant in town that served Breakfast for $1.99. (2 eggs, 2 bacon, hash browns and toast) It's run by the owner who used to own a Health Food Store so they use natural ingredients to cook their meals, and no salt. We also went to the Sidewinder Grill and the Paradise Grill for sandwiches. And here's a little tid-bit of knowledge for Jessica. In 35 days we never ate at any of these restaurants more than twice, except for Carl's Jr. The $6 Burger has gotten my attention at least 4 times this winter. So see we actually do other things besides sit around and go out to eat.And finally the weather has cooperated with us very nicely, except for the wind. The Santa Ana winds blew more this year than we've ever experienced. At least 2 days out of every week they whistled across the valley making whitecaps in the pool. But with the temperature of the pool hovering at 93 degrees, we just toughed it out. It did however cool the pool down a couple of degrees when they blew 2 days in a row.We also picked up a snippet of information while at Joshua Tree National Park this year. It seems that the San Andreas Faultline runs right through Desert Hot Springs. It comes down from the north and splits just northwest of the city. The north branch skirts the eastern side, and the southern branch comes around the west side, rejoining again south of the city. So if we ever disappear without a trace, you'll know where we went. There is an upside to this situation. If California ever has the "big one," and the whole coast falls into the ocean, we'll be the proud owners of beach property. | ||||
The motorhome is a beautiful thing. It allows us to visit with relatives now that we're retired. In the past we've visited with my brother Ed and wife Maxine, My nephew Dan Rocheleau and wife Sheri, My niece Sheri and husband Bob and this year we added my cousin Tom McKenna and his wife Dawn. The campground that we were parked at was about 3 miles, as the crow flies, from my cousin Tom's house. We spent a night in their yard.We parked our motorhome on the "grapevine" at Gorman when we went to visit Ed and Maxine. We were only 287 miles away from Manteca when we set out from the campground. Last year we had 450 miles to go in one day. We made great time and were in by 1 in the afternoon. As usual, we had a great visit.Capulin Volcano National Monument is located near Raton, NM in the northeastern part of the state. The site is a preserved volcano that erupted about 56,000 years ago and is now a part of the National Park System. The site is actually the cinder cone that remains after the eruption, and the subsequent lava flows.The Visitor Center has an excellent movie which shows the history of the volcano and the surrounding area. After leaving the Visitor Center we drove the blacktop road to the south rim of the volcano. Once there, we observed one of the most striking views of the valley below. In the foreground were the lava flows with the vegetation, and in the background were the volcanoes of the immediate region. Visibilty was at least 100 miles. | ||||
