On The Road Again - to Laughlin

We're off to Laughlin for a week and got a pleasant surprise when we went up #177 past Desert Center, new pavement although the road is still like a roller coaster, up and down as far as the eye can see. This town was started by Don Laughlin when he bought an old boarded up motel and 6 acres on the beautiful Colorado River and opened the Riverside Resort in 1966. Today his Casino employs over 2000 people with an annual payroll of over $50,000,000 and the town is a strip of Casinos all along the river where you can ride little 'riverboats' that take you from one end to the other. We view the casinos from our campground.

Happy Canada Day

We had a very fun filled Canada Day, celebrating our 142nd birthday. goodness, we're youngsters!
Our park had a pancake breakfast where \i helped serve and it was delicious. there was also a lunch and lots of bocci and games. there was a BBQ also but we were off to Cj and
Joan's for the Celebration and White Rock put on fireworks. We all had a great time together and it's the last time I'll see the crowd.

Oasis Date Gardens in Thermal

I drove down to Thermal today, about 6 miles SE. Here on 245 acres, is a huge date farm. I enjoyed a date shake made with real chopped dates, not the crystals like Shields but found I prefer Shields. This was so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. They have a nice store, history area, restaurant and gift shop with a picnic area under the palms. You can see some of the ancient machinery and very large sorting and packing area to ship dates worldwide. One thing very interesting was a picture of the invention of the original farmer, a ladder on a round steel track so he could scoot around the whole palm tree to pick the dates.
We've loved our week in Indio, sunsets nearly every night. At this time of year we face south and enjoy the sun every day.

FMCA Rally

We have been very busy here. We went to a presentation on the Copper Canyon tour in Mexico with Fantasy Caravans. It is 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It sounds very interesting with trips to a Mennonite community, local Indians living in caves, colonial villages and more. We played cards at night with Carol and Roger.
Barry and Joan came down today and we went to the Family Motor Coach Association Rally at the fairgrounds. There were many interesting exhibits and we purchased an SMI braking system we need for the car. They will install it tomorrow at our site. We ate lunch sitting on bales of hay with fake thatched umbrellas for shade, which we needed for the 75 degree heat. The theme was about Egypt so the participants for decorating their vehicles in that way.

Snake Sticks and Goodbye to Friends

Patio sales are every Wednesday morning here. I rode around on my bike and got a new stainless steel coffee travel mug for 50 cents. It's from Fantasy Casino and is bright metallic purple. Time to get away from my old rubber one.
One lady was selling these snake sticks for hiking. You thump them on the ground as you go along because snakes can't hear but they'll feel the vibrations and hopefully stay away from you.
We drove back up to Desert Hot Springs and met the old gang at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars - like a Legion) for Tacos and Beer. This is the last time we'll see 2 of the couples until the fall as we go in different directions. We're standing in front of an old war tank.

On the Road Again - to Indio

We left the gang behind and today we're off to Indio, an affiliate AOR park, 15 miles down the I 10. I followed Ron in the car, hardly worth hooking up for, and you can see the valley we're in here with low mountains surrounding the Coachella Valley. We fueled at the Flying J, a commercial truck stop with very easy in and out, where Diesel is now $ 2.17 per gallon. That certainly helps the budget. We checked into Indian Waters and picked a spot facing due south because it's still getting down to 4o degrees F, quite cool.

Happy New Year everyone

We watched the 120th annual Tournament of Roses Parade this morning as we always do. It is about 2 hours long and is a fascinating spectacle. Every single item on the floats must be natural and the colours are from flowers, lots of rose petals, grasses, coconut, wheat, etc. You can see the detail by double clicking on the picture and see how large it is when you compare it to the crowds behind. It takes 3,000 - 13,000 hours to build the floats and people are already planning what they'll do for next year. There were floats from Alaska to China. The drivers are driving blind and have a 'spotter' peeking out to say go 2 inches left or turn at the corners.
Next, we celebrated the New Year with a champagne Brunch. What a joy to be in the sunshine with good friends.