Thursday, May 23, 2024 ~ ☀Sunny 89* already! Had a few repairs this morning. Tim fixed the leaky toilet 🚽 then flushed the system. Had coffee & tea while packing up and pulled out by 9:40am. Stopped at McDonald’s for our Diet Cokes and treated ourselves to an egg McMuffin! Drove south of Vegas on 95. Went through town of Searchlight…lots of small casino’s and old mines along the highway. Lots of full Joshua Trees and solar fields too. 10:53am elevation 2550ft in the Cal-Nev-Ari desert area. Population 244! 11am Crossed into California…here if you’re towing your speed limit is 55mph! ALWAYS!!!! California is mostly desert regions, rocks, dirt, tumbleweeds…nothing as far as you can see! As we drove through the town of Needles, its in the Mojave Desert region in California. It lays on the border of Arizona and Nevada. Known as the Midwest Dust Bowl in 1930”s. On Route 62 the town of Rice…It’s a ghost town, Population 0. A former town in the Rice Valley and in the southern tip of the Mojave Desert. The only thing remaining are Rice Shoe Tree and an unmanned railroad siding!
1:40pm Near Eagle Mountain Road it’s 96*, elevation 1000ft. A lot of desert! NOTHING! Then I thought I was seeing a mirage….no it’s the color green ahead! 😂 Tree farms and vineyards! 3:50pm Drove through Mecca, California 111. Mecca got its name with the drilling of artesian wells in the lower Coachella Valley and the introduction of date palms. In the early 1900’s , developers bought the town site, changing the name to Mecca. Stopped at Joshua Tree National Park, walked small trail, looked at exhibits and earned our Jr Ranger Badge.
Now through Rancho Polo which is the 🐎 Equestrian center in the foothills of Coachella Valley. Lots of polo fields then lots of dirt fields. We arrived at Lake Coahuila Veterans Regional Park campground. As we turned in we both looked at each other with the WTF look! It was a sand lot, ant mounds around a body of water?!? Found our site and there was a 300 gal propane tank behind us & big High Voltage boxes next to us and a run-down shower house next to us that took quarters! After a long day traveling we setup then booked an RV park for tomorrow in Indio closer to our friend Rigo’s & John! Took a walk to this lake and there were these big Carp feeding along the edge looking like the Loch Ness monster. Made dinner then watched a movie! Traveled 283 long miles today through the desert!
Friday, May 24, 2024 ~ 8:30am 73* sunny & hazy. Coffee & tea with eggs, sausage & cheese scramble. Don’t even want to look outside but we decided to work on a few things and then gave Bubbles a bath! Showered and packed up after making sandwiches. 12:10 Pulled out! Found a McDonald’s and I was a happy camper! 1:00pm Checked into Indian Waters RV Resort & Cottages. Site 119 with a deluxe Grass Patio! Got a tour of the 2 pools and clubhouse, game rooms and fire pit area and laundry facility. Set up and relaxed a bit. Then met our friend John at their house in Rancho Mirage. Toured the house and gorgeous backyard. Went down El Paseo Drive to City of Palm Desert to Piero’s Pizza Vino. 🍕🍸 We so enjoyed our evening with Martini’s, fried zucchini blossoms then Salami Board and Chicken Pizza. Sat there for a few hours feeling no pain then after saying goodnight stopped at Lowe’s for a roll of refletix. Traveled 43 miles today.
Saturday, May 25th Day 55 ~ 8am 65* very windy. I worked on blog and journal and Tim did a few maintenance projects. Enjoyed our coffee & tea and waited till lunch time and had sandwiches. 1:30pm left for Palm Desert. It was meant to be for we found a parallel parking spot right in front of the Lilly Pulitzer store! Oh the ladies there were so nice to us. I must of tried 20 + items since its been so long since I’ve seen a Lilly store!😲🤦♀️ Let’s put it this way …I walked out with the 3 GWP gifts!!! 😊We walked down El Paseo Drive which reminds us a lot like Worth Ave or Las Olas back home. Shopped in Tommy Bahama store & furniture store and were given Key lime Pie samples and MiaTai’s, enjoyed live music as we strolled along. Met John back at his house where we met his nephew then left for SiBon restaurant. Had the most amazing cold cucumber soup like on the cruise ship! OMG the Lobster Mac 7 Cheese, Schnitzel, Linguini shrimp and chocolate Mousse was spot on! After a few drinks drove up to the Ritz Carlton which looks over the city. Walked around like we owned the place! He showed us all around. Sat outside in the cool evening air, listening to live music and great conversation. Another fantastic night. Time to say good night! Traveled 71 miles today.
Sunday, May 26th, 2024 Day 56 ~ Sunny and 90* with a high of 96* dry heat! Had leftover Lobster Mac & Cheese for breakfast! Yummy. Supposed to meet John & Rigo early and go to Palm Springs but his plane got in late so after a nap they’ll come over for dinner so we left at 10am for diet cokes then Costco and Aldi. Came back and prepped food then went over to the pool. We made a lot of phone calls back home and to friends and all is good. When the boys arrived we started with Margarita’s 🍹 then grilled fish, potatoes and had Caesar salad and brownies and cookies for dessert. Rigo talked us into staying an extra night and asked us to attend a party with them tomorrow. Of course we cancelled our next reservation and will stay one more night. They stayed till 11 then lights out! Had a great night! Traveled 10 miles today!
Monday, May 27th, 2024 ~ HOT Sunny 8am 74* DRY 102* AC hasn’t shut off Sat outside a bit due to sinus’s are a mess from all the dust & smog! 10am I was in the laundry room and did 2 loads of laundry for $6.00. Showered and got ready and John & Rigo picked us up at 1 for a pool party at their friends Ron & Kelly’s house. WOW what a house they designed and had built on the back end of a golf course…..72 million dollar home 6553 sq ft! Beautiful 2 story house with the hot tub on the 2nd story outside the bedroom with an outdoor kitchen. What an amazing view! Even a wine cellar! They are both retired trauma surgeons and we worked in a few of the same hospitals together.. Then they moved to Cleveland then Colorado where they still have their summer home in Steamboat Springs and winter here in La Quinta, Ca. We had cocktails, Kelly had made all kinds of appetizers and then Ron grilled chicken and pork tenderloin. Enjoyed watermelon feta salad white & purple potatoes, corn & edamame salad then a blueberry pound cake with a liquor frosting! Amazing. Then we all enjoyed a swim! Such a wonderful afternoon and evening with new friends. Time to say see you soon to the boys till our next adventure together! ❤️
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