Another Month

Dec 6 - 13/18  Weather 1/10 inch of rain.....  what is that?  a little misting of rain for 2 days.  Then clouds and cooler for the week.  Temp in the mid 60's and high 40's at night.  Time for Rosey to split for a week and head back to Ontario to celebrate Christmas with the family.  Isn't it Christmas everyday?  It has been so gorgeous here in SoCal we do not want to leave the area just yet.  We are lucky to be able to stay in the Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio till the end of the year.   The Palm Springs Airport is only a half hour away and I was able to get Delta airlines flight to Toronto with a short layover in Salt Lake City.  This is the first time in years I actually got a free flight with my airmiles!  whoohoo.
With the misting rain we rented a car to run to the airport instead of the motorcycle plus my flight was 6 am which meant I needed to be there about 4:30 am.    Who really wants to ride in the middle of the night.

Palm Springs Airport

Palm Springs Airport is so tropical.  After you check in and clear security you walk outside under the palm trees to your gate.  You also do not have a jetway to board the plane, you walk outside on the tarmac and up a ramp to board a small jet.
Landing in Salt Lake City was snow and mountains.  Looked cold outside but I just walked to another gate which is fairly close since the airport is not huge.
Another 4 hours in the air and I landed in Toronto.  It was rush hour and getting my rental car and heading out just meant inching along in the parking lot on the 401freeway to my oldest son's family in Kitchener.

The greatest gift of all - my Aiden

A wonderful visit for a couple nights!  New grandson is so adorable,  Aiden just melts my heart.  Then off to Chatham to for a christmas night with my youngest son.  Three nights at my Mum's senior residence where I got a guest room.  Just getting used to the "inevitable".  Haha.   One night the nurses even checked on me by mistake and then apologized in the morning.  OMG; that was funny.  My last night was in London visiting my dear friend.  
The week flew by and back in Palm Springs I took Uber back to the park since I had Christmas present baggage to claim which would have made Billy have to rope and stack it on the motorcycle otherwise.  It was a very merry Christmas.

St. Andrews Residence - my dear mum and me

Empire Polo Club

Nov 19/2018 Weather 75, night 58

Empire Polo Club

Peaking into the Gardens

Chatting in the RV park we heard that there was a neat place to eat at the Empire Polo Club.  We thought really?  Can we even get in there?  The Empire Polo Club is 330 acres of refined fields and landscaping with 12 polo fields.  This is the largest polo club in the west.  We drove in on the Harley hoping it was not to loud.  The place is stunning. 

beautiful rose gardens and sculptures

Beautifully kept grounds and the Tack Room Tavern had great food and atmosphere.  We took a walk around where it was not off limits.  While having lunch we looked at the gear hanging on the walls of the tavern and had no idea what polo was all about.    It has a mallet, a horse, a ball and sounds very expensive.    The Americans brought the sport to the USA after watching it in England.  The first game was played in 1876 in the USA.  The United States Polo Association has had its up and downs; in the 1950's it had only 56 clubs and 614 players.  The resurgence today has 4,500 players and 250 clubs across the USA, many of the players being women.  While in Palm Springs you can was a weekly match for as little as $30 a ticket.  The matches are open to the public January, February, March.  We wondered if there was practicing going on soon;  we could come and watch as we won't be in the area to see a game.  Would be cool to see though, wouldn't it?     

the Rose Gardens

What we didn't know is that this is where Coachella Music Festival/Stagecoach is held each April.  Wow; what a place to have a music festival.

main polo field

SoCal

Nov 7/2018  SoCal (urban slang for Southern California) Weather is warm  80's, nights low 60's.  We got here 1 day ahead of the winds!  Hurrah for us.  Tomorrow wicked gusty Santa Anna winds will be coming across the valley.  No matter we are here in the Coachella Valley at the far east end in Indio.

our morning coffee pot outside "view"

It is a good area to park an RV; in a wonderful park called Indian Waters RV Resort.  Winds at the west end will be up to 50 mph gusts and you will likely see sandstorms too.  In only 40 miles it is remarkable the difference in the wind speed. 
Oddly we don't summarize too much but thought it was interesting to take a look at since it is a big trip.
It's been 16 nights to get here.
2,821 miles
$1,077 usf or $1,453 cdn diesel fuel
$41.44 usf or $55.94 cdn avg cost per night for a camp site
But it is so worth it.  This is a wonderful area to stay for a while.  We have checked in for a month and the long range weather forecast is great.

around 80 everyday and 50 at night for sleeping, perfect RV weather

Rosey and Billy are taking a few r & r days.  Lawn chair and a book.  Even doing laundry here is great, sitting by the pool.  Rosey has been up at line dancing two mornings already too!  Getting acclimatized!

sitting by the pool while our laundry is in

After a few weeks on the road our coach is filthy so we are getting "The Guys" to wash and wax and carpet clean.  Mum always gets us this treat for our Christmas present.  

the guys

Snowbird Convention

Feb 13/17  Weather hot and sunny, 84 low 58

CSA information

Today we went to a Canadian Snowbird Association meeting at the Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio.  We don't actually belong to the association but have heard so many good things about it; and we are snowbirds!  The first hour was numerous presentations concerning medical insurance coverage, the money exchange program, and other benefits the group offers by joining.  Only $25 a year.  One thing that was interesting to know is that by belonging they will provide  legal services to you for any border or out of country situation that might come up in your life while travelling.  They also lobby for changes to our Canadian Government that will benefit you as a Snowbird.  They were the advocate for extending the days out of Ontario with our OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) it was 183 and went to 212.  Sounds like a good organization to belong to, anything to better our travel time is impressive to us.  The last half of the afternoon was entertainment.  Excellent entertainment - Michelle Wright sang and then John McDermott crooned us.  McDermott could sing without any instrumental accompaniment.  He ended the session with Danny Boy.  What a tear jerker.

Michelle Wright is 9 miles from our hometown in Ontario

What a view going into Cochella Valley

Feb 1/17  Weather sunny and 78, low 55
When we drove into the Palm Springs area a few years ago we approached it from the Northwest.  This time we are westbound on Interstate 10, totally different view. There is a 6% grade for 10 miles descending into the Cochella Valley, which was no trouble just take our time.  

Cochella Valley map

The views out our motorhome window of the surrounding mountain ranges were beautiful and covered in "snow".    We had forgotten how high the ranges are and how low the valley is; it took us by surprise. 

interstate 10 westbound into Cochella Valley

look at those mountain tops

We are going to stay for a month in Indio which is a city in the Cochella Valley       (the others are La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Cochella, Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs) and do a bit more exploring of the area.  The motorcycle riding is great here with the nearby mountain ranges however; we might not be able to get into some of the roads as we heard there is up to 4 feet of snow over 7,000 feet!  Yikes!  How amazing is that?  In the Valley the weather is consistently beautiful 70's to 80's with low humidity.  Nice.

view from the pool/clubhouse area in our rv park

Our park for the month is Indian Waters RV Resort, nice park with a great view.  We have a big long pull thru, which is so much easier for us pulling the trailer.  The park has a calendar full of activities so Rosey just might have to partake in some; keep you posted on what those might be like.  No not bingo; thinking more along the lines of yoga and line dancing.  I got this Fitbit charge 2 for Christmas from my boys and it counts my steps everyday.  It is a great little gadget motivator.  Every hour it tells me to keep moving!!!   There is an older fellow (I will guess he is about 75) across from us and he wears a Fitbit.    He walks and goes to line dancing and it all counts as steps; he had over 12,500 the other day!  Gosh, I've been cruising along at 8,000 plus steps thinking that was ok.  So maybe line dancing is the key to health?  

that little wrist Fitbit will make you get up and go

Golf Comunities everywhere

Jan 22/15  Weather  82 sunny, beautiful day to go for bicycle ride
We started out riding our bicycles across the street around a golf - gated community.  There was a sign for Model Homes so we followed it and stopped at the gate to see if we could just ride in.  This area is filled with gated communities, more than anywhere we have seen in Florida or Texas or Hawaii; actually anywhere.  The golf holes surrounded the homes and every home was lovely.   The sales fellow gave us a brochure and said go ahead and walk inside the 10 homes just out this door.  Nice,,,,, we were just snooping so we felt glad that we didn't have to waste his time on us!  The neatest thing we saw in all the homes  was a half door in each master bedroom/walk in closet area that opened to the laundry room so you didn't have to carry the clothes around the house.  How smart is that???

Entrance to Shadow Hills

View from the first home

all the homes were south west adobe style with beautiful flowers and landscape

nice patio lounge area

these back yards were nicely done

a laundry door  = other side is the master bedroom walk in closet

lots of big windows in each home

Palm Springs & Desert Cities

Jan 17/2015 Weather - Perfect.  Really just perfect.  Sunny, dry (20% humidity), about 78 degrees.  Cool at night 50's.  So you don't need the AC running.  It's just perfect!  Everyday.  And you know if it's good enough for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope and Dinah Shore and Gene Autry and Gerald Ford then we think there must be something to it :)  They all have a street named after themselves too.   Land of the movie stars..... ?

Our park - Shadow Hills RV Resort

So we are checked in to Shadow Hills RV Resort for the month.   Palm Springs and the area which is known as the Desert Cities is about 40 miles long, and has several small suburbs - Cathedral City, Thousand Palms, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta, Indio and Coachella.  It is a valley and a desert.  Every direction you look you see mountain ranges.  It's quite a view.

driving downtown Palm Springs on Palm Canyon Drive

Last Fall we met the nicest couple in Napa Valley and they are regular winter snowbirds returning year after year to Palm Springs and it happens their nephew owns the RV park.    How lucky for us to meet them and we were able to get a spot in the park.  There are several places to camp in this area; some of the RV resorts are very large and luxurious on golf courses.  They offer sites up to $120 a night.   Your thinking that's crazy for a spot to park your RV!!!   We agree!  Well this place is lovely and small and very friendly with enough amenities for us and very affordable.  Once again meeting people and listening to their advice has helped us find a great campsite.  We plan on doing some riding and a little R & R.

Huge Wind Farm just before Palm Springs