Bakersfield

Arrived Bakersfields RV Park. Done laundry, diner and went to the pool and hot tub. Wi
Fi is down, so using the phone. Tomorrow is Calistoga in the upper end of Napa Valley. No Wi Fi there. Posting might be short for a bit. Hope everyone had a good holiday. We are heading North to the RAIN.

Trip was good except for the fuel stop. The gal at the Von's store (Safeway) didn't seem to understand much. We had 5, 10 cent fuel credits. ie 50 cents off. Seems that they shut off the pump at 35 gallons. So it was 2.09 for 35 gallons. The gal inside didn't know how to just open the pump so she charged me 199 bucks and refunded me 125 bucks. I was still not full of fuel but she didn't seem to know how to turn the pump back on. I in my one way got frustrated and left. My credit card company called within 15 minutes to verify all the commotion. Capitol One. Really good their on the ball. I'll finish filling up later. I think its a lot easier to just stop at the truck stops.

When we came back from the pool the guard dog was in the window. He was as usual exhausted He didn't see us until I knocked on the window. He was sound asleep. You should have seen him jump. Some guard dog. Ha Ha!!!! Opps, Sue says there are no Joe-isms. Lets sea on the way north we will be stoping at the Harris Stake ranch for some really good beaf.

The last day in the Desert

We spent our last day here in the desert. Sue and Elaine went to the "College of the Desert" The worlds greatest street fair. They walked their feet off. No pictures as I was playing golf with Ken. I putted well today.





The girls got done about the same time as us, so we had lunch at Ken and Elaine's club. The waitress took a couple of pictures. It has really been fun spending time with Ken and Elaine. they are such good friends.


Tomorrow we are out of here heading north. (Boo Hoo) We should be in Bakersfield tomorrow night and the next day in the Napa Valley. They have a nice campground there. We have been there before. We will spend a couple nights so we can do a little wine tasting, then north again up 101. If the plan goes correctly we should be home Sunday the 7th. I will report as the Internet allows. Been fun while it has lasted. But sadly reality is at exit 137 off of I5.

Thanksgiving

Wednesday Sue and Elaine set up the house for Thanksgiving. Sue made pies while Elaine decorated. Take a look at the setting on the table.

While the girls worked Ken and I went shopping for booze prices. We went to Cosco and a booze store, but we found the best deal at Long Drugs. Scored on my take home Vodka. It's all stored away heading for Washington.

Wednesday evening we met Cus, Bonny, Bee, Ken and Elaine at Murph's Gaslamp for dinner. This is the same place we had lunch yesterday. They serve family style. And do the put out the food. The have a round thin in the middle of the table and you just turn it to what you want. Good food and another one of those good visits.

Thanks giving came with a lot of rain at our place. We were suppose to be at Baileys at 8 AM, but with the way the sky was dumping we didn't think there would be any golf. Sue called Elaine to see how bad it was at their place. She said WHAT RAIN? So we bugged out real quick with clubs and dog and headed for their place. Here is a picture of the entrance to their club and a view from their back yard. And then the happy golfers.

While on the course we saw some thunder storms in the distance. Must have been the one that dumped on us earlier. Also another nice view of the course.

After golf it was Turkey time. Sue and Elaine jumped of the course on 13 and went home to put the turkey in the oven and met us on the next hole. After golf we hung out and watched the Seahawks get blasted again. Kind of gave up after the 1st half. There was a house full for dinner. Us and some of their neighbors. Dinner was great. Charlie had a good time. He was there all day inside without us. He sure is a good dog. But as always when we got home he was exhausted. Thank you Ken and Elaine for all you hospitality.

This is the desert ????

We woke up this morning to RAIN. In fact it rained all night. This is suppose to be the SUNNY California desert. Worst part is I left the lawn chairs out just under the overhang of the awning. So all the rain went directly into the seats. But it's OK because the sun has come out.





Yesterday we went out for lunch at a place called Murph's Gaslight. They are famous for their fried chicken. It is a place right next the general aviation airport in Indio. We sat down at a table and there was our friend Bill Erb. He was having lunch with his daughter. Bill use to belong to Twin Lakes. I first met him when he had a book store by Panther Lake school. I stayed at his condo about 6 years ago and two years ago he picked us up and we played Indian Ridge the course where Bill and Susan have a beautiful home. The food was really good and we had a good visit.






Last night Cuz (Ray, Bonnie and her mother Bee) came over for dinner. I cooked spaghetti. I had three pints left from the batch I cooked in Arizona. We sat outside for a while then came in and ate. They have a home at Shadow Hills which is also in Indio. We have played their golf course a couple times. Another nice visit. That is kind of the fun thing about being on the road. We have lots of nice visits.

Snuffy got his Fluff and Puff yesterday Shines really good. We should get better mileage as the wax job is so smooth the wind should just slip by. A guy named Brian who owns Indian Wells Detail and his crew did the job. The did it last year for us.

Today Sue is going to go to Elaines today to make Pumpkin Pie. I'm going to research the price of booze. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I'll report on ours Friday.

What a difference 10 miles make

We got out of that other place and came to Emerald Desert Golf and RV Resort. This is the third year here. I was trying to save money at the other place but I guess it wasn't our style. Even Charlie didn't like it. He would not even eat. As you can see this place is rather nice.

We arrived about noon and settled in. Sue went straight to the laundry. They have a nice club house area with exercise room and all the trimmings. The pool is beautiful. This place use to be a lot bigger but the owners sold off the back 2/3 to a housing development. It use to have a nine hole golf course but now it is about 3 holes. They also have good sunsets. I might have said this before, but the line is when the hills are pink its time to drink and when the sky is gray you drink all day.






After settling in we went to Ken and Elaine Bailey's house for Monday night football and Pizza. They live on Heritage Palms Golf and Country Club in Indio. Charlie was in heaven he was chewing his rope on Ken's foot. This is his form of nuggie. We had a great time as usual. Today we are getting our annual fluff and puff for Snuffy. Wash and wax. Looks really good when done.

From Arizona to California

Well we left Happy Tails today. After getting all the stuff put away and ready to hook up the car we went to the "Grill" at the golf course for breakfast. This has been our watering hole since we have been there. I think I mentioned the cheap breakfast.

Everybody in the ranch gave us a fond farewell. This has been our third year there. We really feel like its coming home. We have met a lot of very nice folks there. Charlie and Putter have become very good buddies. They had a romp before we left.

Our trip to where we are at in Cathedral City was uneventful. Snuffy the motor home just keeps clicking them off. Only bummer of the day was the place we planed to stay, which we are at. Sounded great with the adds. Turns out to be a dust bowl. NO cable TV, Even the roof antenna gets nothing. It is a RPI park (Resorts Parks International) We can stay here for $12.00 a night. We were scheduled to stay here until Saturday. We are moving back to Emerald desert up by Indio tomorrow. We are planning on having some friends over for Drinks and Pu Pus. Be really hard to do in the dirt.

I can’t believe it but there is a guy parked next to us that has a Airstream trailer mounted on a truck bed. He must have it running on the truck lights as he appears to be in the trailer as the lights are on as well as the clearance lights and tail lights of the truck. Even the picnic table looks unsafe.

With no satellite and TV antenna we have been reading and listening to some good music including the album we bought in Laughlin of the Rangers in the Sky. Will be posting this on my phone as this place was suppose to have Wi-Fi as well. We have hit some great places on this trip but this is one of the bummers. The place we are going back tomorrow is where we met Hussy the cat last year. Emerald Desert and golf resort. Its a nice place. The golf course is gone.

In the mean time Charlie is exhausted and doing Long Dog.

Great last day in Arizona

Today we golfed with Kent and Carolyn Nelson and Dan and Mary Gleason. We golfed at the Raven at Verrado. This place is about 20 miles south of here. We all had 50% off coupons from out couples tournament in September at Moses Lake. The boys played together and the girls were behind. They had to wait for us all day. I think Kent and Dan would have rather played the Silver tees, but I'm the short shooter so the were kind to me and we played the whites.

Afterwards we came back to our pad and took Charlie for a walk. Visited with CW and Linda. They had a problem today with their holding tanks, but they got it figured out by the time we got back. Had a drink with them this evening.

We had dinner at Kent and Carolyn with the Gleasons. Charlie was there too. Good dinner. We got relaxed around their outdoor fireplace. It's really nice to be sitting around a fire outdoors this time of year with good friends.

Back in the evening at Happy Trails and the Ranch we came home to all the Christmas decorations. We were invited to help but we were golfing. This is really a nice community. Everyone here is so friendly. Soes seem like a winter home.

We will be off tomorrow for Ken and Elaine's place in Indio and thanksgiving. Will also be seeing Ray and Bonnie Sue's cousin. We will be staying in Cathedral City. Hope they have a good Internet connection. Will report more from there.

Time is getting short

At Happy Trails that is. Yesterday we had an easy morning. We had left over breakfast casserole and fruit from the day before. It was good then and again. I got to go play golf with the guys today. There is a nice guy down her named Paul that is kind of the Twin Lakes version of Al Gallier. In other words he takes the time to get everybody together. We had 8 guys. I played with George. He is from Montana. We had a lot of fun. The other two guys were Ron and Ron. George and Ron own here and Ron is are renter like us.



Today we got up and Sue had a good time doing laundry. (She likes that) Only problem was that she washed Charlies two chew socks and his favorite toy Woofie. He has been in turmoil all day because nothing smells the same. He brought his sock over and put on my foot for smell.




After laundry we went to Richards new house. This place is in the original Sun City community. Bit of good history. This community was planned as an adult community so have no schools and all that stuff. What this means is that the taxes are really low. Richard has property taxes are about $400 per year. Association dues are $395/year. One of the things that is becoming really clear is that it is a lot cheaper living in Arizona than Washington. I wounder how our Governor is going to fix the 5.1 Billion deficit.






Anyway Richards house is nice. He paid $125,000 for the place. Fully landscaped yard. He has a lemon/grapefruit/orange tree as well as much more. He has put in a new tile floor with new carpet in some areas. It is really nice. We had some drinks and headed back home. Stopped by the wine store on the way. We are golfing with our Twin Lakes friends tomorrow. Kent and Carolyn, Dan and Mary and our friend from here CW and Linda at the Raven. We cot the 50% off coupons at Moses Lake last September. I will most likely post from Palm Springs as we head there Sunday.

Every thing is so busy

Charlie survived his first bath by Sue. He was really good. We used the shower in the motor home, or should I say Sue used the shower as I took a picture or two. This is the movie of the 1st bath. Charlie was a bit quiet the rest of the day, but overall he did good.

While the bath was going on I was making chili. We had invited Richard and Susan over for drinks and Pu pus. I had some hamburger left over from dinner last night which I cooked up and we decided to make it into chili. Worked out really well. They got here about 4 and we had a good visit. Dinner was a hit. We are going over to Richards new place Friday. Will report on that later.

Today was the breakfast casserole. Sue worked really hard making this supreme brunch. Fruits, cinnamon rolls and the breakfast casserole. This was for Herb and Phyllis.

They got here about 11 and we had Champagne and orange juice, Some had beer and some had screwdrivers. Another good visit. Sue took Phyllis for a big walk around the ranch. It’s really nice to see our friends from Twin Lakes down here.

After brunch Sue and I went to the pool. We jump in and did the walking and then we sat and read books. I’m reading about Tina Turner and Sue is reading something.

We came back and visited with CW and Linda the folks form Bothel. They have a dog named Putter. He and Charlie get along very well. The had a great time playing. All was fine until they took off on a rip around and under the motor homes. Back to the leashes. We will be playing golf with them Saturday with the Twin Lakes folks.


Tomorrow Sue is going to do as she calls it "fetish" which means clean, wash and iron. I’m golfing with some of the guys from the ranch. I’ll report on that later. Until then "Happy Trails"