Desert Hot Springs Winter 2009

Thanksgiving Day was really warm, in the 80’s. I went to the pool, had an enjoyable time. The pool is a natural hot spring and the temperature of the water is kept at 92 degrees! And the spa is 102 degrees. It is located about 60 feet from our door. It’s wonderful!
We really had some excitement! Someone noticed a large bee being carried along by several hundred ants! At a closer look, it seems that the ants had removed the bee’s right legs and also the wings. However the bee was still alive. When he tried to get away, he fell to one side, and then the ants would pick him up and keep carrying him to their cave which was a large crack in the cement. They moved about 2” an hour! Pretty exciting!
Bob was feeling lost on Thanksgiving Day because he did not have a turkey to tend to. He vowed that if we were on the west coast at Thanksgiving, we would come home so he could BBQ a turkey! The dinner at the club house was nice. Bob had an accident with the wine cork. Seems he was trying to remove the cork and something slipped and he has two sore fingers! Left a blister and blood all over the sheets.
We have signed up for another month here. So we will be here until the middle of January. We have met friends. Brenda and Jerry are from British Columbia. Brenda and I meet at 9:30AM for a 2 hour walk. We then spend an hour or two at the pool and spa. Then some lunch, do some errands, site seeing, or resting then guess what! It is time for “Happy Hour.” No matter how warm it is during the day, when the sun sets, around 4:15PM it gets really cold. The days are so short and time is going so fast. Boo Hoo! Brenda and Jerry left to go on to Yuma AZ. Hopefully we will meet again!
We will be spending Christmas here in the park. Decorations are going up and we like it here. This gypsy life style really appeals to us. It was fun to debate our options on where to go next. Then we both realized we really liked it here and the weather is better than anywhere around at this time. So we will stay!
We have had a very good and also a very sad year. This year in February our RV has taken us to the Desert Hot Springs area, to Tuscon, Lake Havasu, and Sedona AZ. After making the decision about our future??? We crunched the numbers, arranged, gave away, stored all of our belongings and in June we hit the road “Full Time!” It has been a good move for us.
We toured Zion National Park in Utah, enjoyed visiting my Dad and Vena in Provo, then on to Colorado.
In July, we got a very sad call. My favorite and only brother Terry passed away very suddenly of a pulmonary embolism. Terry loved his family, playing golf and he had told us all, he did not want to get old. He had just turned 68 and was getting ready to play his weekly golf game with good friends, he passed away very suddenly. Bob also lost 2 of his Uncles this year.
We went to Clancy MT to Terry & Diane’s home on the mountain top for a week. We then came back down to Colorado. Spent a week in our daughter’s driveway in Lafayette. Then on to Glenwood Springs, Colorado Springs, Ouray. Saw Colorado Monument Park, went to the top of Pikes Peak and spent a week next to a creek in Clear Creek close to Leadville, elevation almost 10,000 above sea level. Then on to New Mexico and Texas to see Rob & Leticia and eventually to Florida.
Another phone call in September about Uncle Bev turned us around and back to the Bay Area. So we are now still in CA, but in the warm part! WE will keep you informed of our travels.
To all of you, have a very Merry Christmas and a very good and healthy New Year!

Pleasanton to Desert Hot Springs CA

We spent 3 weeks in the Bay Area. Perfect weather, the trees and colors were beautiful. Spent time with some good friends and had wonderful family dinners. Felt good to have your family surrounding you! We had a lovely dinner at Bill & Lynda’s house. Always a pleasure. Christine was visiting from San Diego and Kayla is now a blond! Nicole and Dave had us to their house. Delightful evening and great food. They are both gourmet cooks. Halloween day we went to Emma’s soccer game, Rick is a Soccer coach this season. After the game we went to their house and carved pumpkins. Mine is the mouse! Alison and Claire were going to parties so they had some neat costumes.
Another tire problem. We have a “Buddy Brake” system. This sits in the car and is extra protection for the brakes. State Requirment. Bob had barely stepped on the brake in the RV for a slow down and the Buddy Brake went into panic. As a result, in the tow car we have 4 tires with flat spots on them. So when you drive the car you go bumpy, bump, bump. We will get this fixed soon! The problem was in the PSI setting on the the buddy break.
We left the Pleasanton Fair grounds on Monday November 4 and drove to Morro Bay. We had stopped just south of King City for lunch. After a nice lunch break we got ready to leave. Turned the key and guess what? Nothing!!! Bob spent some time fiddling around. Got the cables out and connected jumper cables to the car. Found a wire not connected! Fixed that and we got on our way thinking all problems gone! Well guess what! We turned off the motor off at the entrance of the Morro Bay RV Park. Got registered and tried to set off. Turned the key and nothing. We are in the entrance drive way to a very popular park and we cannot move! Looked up and a RV repair sign was there. Park RV maintance crew!! We needed help and they wanted us out of their drive way. Our RV has 6 batteries, 2 for the engine and 4 for the house. We had replaced the 4 house batteries. It was the engine batteries that were the problem. One of the crew after a while, cleaned off the battery cable connections. Viola!! It worked. He gave some advice. Replace those engine batteries. OK, we got the message.
Finally got settled in. The weather was perfection The Park is just across the street from the beach. We had some nice evenings with my cousin Chick. Saw an increable sunset.
On Thursday we received word that Bob’s Uncle Don had been in the hospital for minor surgery and had passed away from complications. Uncle Don is an artist and we had seen him and his family last fall in Virginia. Check out his Web site. http://www.donstivers.com I know some of you have seen some of his prints at our house. Uncle Don is Bob’s Uncle on his Father’s side.
Then on Sunday the 8th we found out Uncle Bev had passed on. Uncle Bev was 97 and in good shape up until this last year. He was very religious so it was fitting he passed away on Sunday. We will miss him. Uncle Bev is Bob’s Uncle on his Mother’s side. So life goes on
On Monday we pulled out of Morro Bay on our way to Desert Hot Springs. When we arrived in Bakersfield from Morro Bay, we decided that we were tired of driving and stopped at the Orange Grove RV Park for the night. We had a mystery! We have been keeping Korkie’s collar on all the time. He does tend to wander off now and then. After dinner, we found out his collar was gone. Bob and I asked each other, “did you take it off?’ Well, our memory is not as good as it once was, but no, neither one of us had removed the collar! Korkie was no help at all. So we looked all over, under chairs, outside, everywhere. It was dark and we were outside with flash lights still looking. After a while, Bob looked under the driver’s chair. There it was. Korkie had gotten stuck on the handle that swivels the chair and had wiggled his way out of it. We still do not know how he did this.
On our way out from Texas we had stopped at this small park and really enjoyed it, so when we left Morro Bay we decided to make a month’s reservation here in Desert Hot Springs. We have begun to build a nest. Got some plants and arranged our chairs outside. Korkie has found some cute dogs to rub noses with and bunnies come out to play at night to entertain him! We are in the front of the park, so we get to watch the rigs come it.
A few days ago a very large 40’ new RV came in with a 20 foot trailer behind it. The manager had a hard time finding a good spot for them. Finally got them unhooked. A park pick up had to take the trailer to a storage parking place. The trailer held a bright red convertible. The man was older with gold chains around his neck. His wife (I think) was a cute young blond with very short shorts and halter top on. Took about 4 hours for them to get settled. Lots of outside tables and chairs, etc. The next morning he attached a clothes line on the back of his quarter million dollar rig and proceeded to hang up his pants and Tee’s. It was tacky tacky. The stayed 3 days and left. We never did see the cute blond wife again. That’s entertainment for us!
Last evening we met a charming man and his wife. He was a Marine who turned 19 in February 1945…… on Iwo Jima.
We are very comfortable here and have signed up for the Park’s Thanksgiving Dinner. The days are very warm and sunny, and when the sun goes down around 4:14 it becomes pretty chilly. We have moved “Happy Hour” up to 4:00 PM because it is getting darker earlier and we are eating earlier and getting up earlier! Hey, maybe we will stay another month?

Or Parker Dam or Yuma AZ is looking kinda interesting. We will let you know.