Coursegold, CA

Yesterday we went to the Bass Lake ROD park and decided we didn't want to move there due to mountains, small sites and big trees. We are going to move Monday to Reynolds ROD park 3 miles from here because we won't have to pay anything for the site. We also did some grocery shopping. Today we pooped ourselves out washing the trailer.

Coursegold, CA

We made it 200 miles to our destination for a couple weeks. We are at a beautiful Escapee SKP Park called Park of the Sierra's, the most impressive of all the Escapee Parks we have been in, period. It is in the Sierra's and 26 miles from Yosemite National Park. We were impressed when we crossed the 4000+ foot Tehachapi Pass, east was the blue cloudless sky, hot, brown and sandy desert; the peak was very clouded; and west coming down out of the mountains we immediately came into vivid green covered mountains and hills. Night and day difference! This is the first real (natural) green we've seen in over two months and looks just like a very hilly MI in the peak of Spring. Green hills, big trees with leaves, bushes, lots of big clouds, etc. I think it could actually rain on this side of the mountains. OH, it's in the 60s not 90s. The variety of everything we are experiencing is fantastic!

Mojave, CA

Well, the name of our blog has "adventure" in it and today that was the case as you can see in the pictures. I was concerned about climbing mountains for the first time and we are 3 for 3. Mobey Dick, the great white F350, did a superb job. Tomorrow we get to test it going downhill. If nothing else we have found cooler temps and we are wearing insulated shirts in the evening. High 60s and we are cold, but there is a very stiff wind blowing and that added to today's fun.

We lost 2 hours to the flat tire in the middle of nowhere, we were very lucky that our cell phone worked on 1 and 2 bars so we could get Good Sam's road service. Our Pressure Pro alerted us to low tire pressure in one trailer tire so it paid for itself today! After we checked into the CG we found a tire shop in California City to plug the hole in the tire and put it back on so the spare can return to it's hiding spot. The adventure continues tomorrow........

Desert Hot Springs, CA

Since the last blog we have been staying in the park pretty much. Judy has been doing water aerobics at 9 am daily but the high light has been volleyball in the pool. We do this every day for two hours and have really been enjoying it. I would say it's the most fun we have had in any CG since we started. We stick around longer in the pool and/or one of the hot tubs. When we play from 11 to 1 ya get LOTS of sun so we've been working on our tans. Yesterday we went to Shields Date Garden for some date ice cream and a date shake. It was well worth the 1/2 drive! It might not sound good but it was great! Notice the permanent ladders attached to the trees. We also watched the video, The Romance and Sex Life of the Date. I now know why dates are so expensive....very labor intensive. Also, one male plant to forty eight female plants. He's a happy tree! We have seen where the $$$ is in S. CA. There's lots of very green grass, large normal trees, flowers of every color and at one intersection a golf course on each corner, not to mention the golf courses behind those! This place craves water. When you get to the end of the developments it is immediately brown desert, solid green on one side of the street and brown desert sand on the other. Today we played volleyball for the last time, ran some errands and started to pack for tomorrows departure.

Desert Hot Springs, CA

Ya haven't heard from me as we've been pretty laid back. LOTS of R&R with some local trips for food and supplies. Judy has been hitting the pool (water aerobics) and hot tubes often and Wednesday we played water volleyball in the pool with about 30 others from 5 to 7pm and enjoyed it so much we're going again tonight. They play several times a week. Judy took PO-KE-NO lessons and lost most all her pennies yesterday while I cleaned bugs off the front of the truck and trailer, vacuumed and a few other items.

One thing we did was join Western Horizons membership parks. After determining we have averaged $19 a night for CG's the last year and examining their programs we believe we will be saving money in 2 years as we need a site every night full timing. We won't be staying in their parks every night but will whenever we can. With a wandering philosophy we can easily use them as a target and with diesel over $4 here in CA we'll be staying put at least a week or two. We'll be leaving here next Wednesday after deciding to stay a little longer at $0 per night.

Desert Hot Springs, CA

St Patrick's Day we didn't do much, in the morning we drove into town to check it out and there are hundreds of windmills (windmill machine farms as they are called) in the pass through the mountains. LA is about 100 miles west and LOTS of their smog comes through with the winds. We went to the CG dinning room and had a real good corned beef, cabbage, taters, and carrot supper. Today we left about 9am and drive through Joshua Tree National Park. You can check out the pictures, click on them to enlarge, and if you look real close can spot some rock climbers. At one location we counted 11. On one picture you can see a long vertical crack with a climber going up. In another you can see the silhouette of two climbers on the top. We also stopped for a picnic in the park. After a 120+ mile drive to and through the park we exited within 5 miles of the General George Patton Museum at Chiriaco Summit. We spent two hours checking it out. The General open a huge desert training camp there in 1942 to prepare his troops for the WWII African campaign. The camp was in S. CA, AZ & NV and was huge. It was closed before the end of the war.

Desert Hot Springs, CA

We wanted to stay another day or two in Quartzsite and explore but the A/C voltage was too high (above 132 volts) causing our trailer's Electrical Management System to power us down to protect the electronics from excessive voltage. We topped off the main tank (diesel was $3.80), stopped to say hi to Hi Jolly, had breakfast at Micky D's, hooked up and left at 10am. We crossed the Colorado River in to CA and are at a Western Horizon Resort for four nights free. We get the sales pitch Wednesday. In checking the weather we see snow on a pass we have to go through so we decided to let it warm up first. We are now in the land of big mountains with snow reaching above the clouds. No hurry to go up there yet, we are retired! When we leave Thursday the Ford will get the first big mountain test. Who's Hi Jolly? If you click on the pics to enlarge them, the brown marker will tell you all about the camel jockey. Right now he's in a typical AZ desert cemetery. Judy is off to the mineral water hot tubs for a soak.