HIT N THE ROAD: March 2014

STILL IN NILAND

Well, today we took a short trip to Joshua National Park. This is a beautiful park which encompasses two different deserts. The Colorado Desert which is where we are, and the Mohave Desert. The only way you can tell where these two deserts intersect is by the vegetation in them.

We drove in on Cottonwood side and that was the Colorado. Lots of Ocatillo trees, and cholla cactus. The cholla are also known as the jumping cactus, they have a way of getting onto jackets, other clothing, animals and us. They were in bloom because of a recent downpour and it was really a sight to see. We walked along this trail in this cactus garden full of them. There were literally about a thousand plants. We also saw lots of Ocatillo trees which are tall and resemble twigs with fuzzy red blooms which look like catipillars. Some of the trunks were green and some were brown. The pictures tell the story.

There are also loads of rock formations in the park, and one of them looked like the head of a pig. See if you agree. The Mohave Desert side is where the Joshua Trees are located. These trees look like tall Yucca Plants.

In the Cottonwood section of the park the Cahuilla Indians were. They used the spring at Cottonwood Springs area and left behind mortars, clay pots or ollas. They were there for centuries.

We left the park and headed into the town of Twenty Nine Palms. We had lunch in a nice rib joint. Joel had great babybackback ribs and I had beef brisket. The French fries were handcut and delicious. We had sweet tea, which we have not had since we were south. Then we went thru a couple of rustic towns, Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley, then to Palm Desert and made our way back home. A beautiful day. Enjoy the photos.

These are the Ocatillo trees

Lots of pics of the Cholla cactus, don't get too close

Rock formations, doesn't the lower one look like the head of a pig

Joel enjoying the beautiful surroundings

STILL HANGIN OUT IN NILAND

Well, so much has been going on. Last week Joel and I went to Culver City, Ca, near los angeles to see a taping of the "wheel of fortune show". This rv park had a chartered bus and we left in a beautiful new prevost bus (with a bathroom) yippee at 9am. We ate lunch on the bus and got to Sony Studios. Across the street is Columbia Pictures. It used to be MGM pictures. We took a tour of Sony Studio, see the cute pics. Then we went to see the show. Very regimented for the audience, they hold up cards when we should applaud and then to be very quiet. Then Vanna and Pat Sajak came out. They greeted the audience. They have been doing this show since 1979. Vanna wears gorgeous designer gowns and has never worn the same one twice. We had to sit through 3 tapings. They only work 2 days a week and tape 6 shows. Then it happened to be the 6,000th show so they had a cake and all the crew was taking pictures, so we were stuck there until it was finished. Then back on the bus to go for dinner. The trip there was 3 hours and the temperature was 10 degrees cooler and had just stopped raining. We stopped at a Homestyle Buffet and so many people were on line, so joel and I walked across the street to Del Taco. We didn't get home till 11:30pm. We were exhausted.

Well, last Saturday we went to a car show at a mall in Palm Desert, which is about an hour north of us. It has lots of golf courses, so I got to see something green. It was cooler and it rained a little but was very nice. We went to a town café across the street for lunch and joel had a gyro and he loved it. It had been a while since he has had greek food. We left about 3:30 and went to the pet store, and then to the evil empire, Walmart for shopping. We didn't get home till 9pm. I can hardly wait till we move the clocks ahead this coming weekend. Then maybe if we go somewhere we can come home in the daylight. But on to more stuff.

On Wed. Joel went out with the atv'rs to a place called East Jesus. Sounds weird right, yes it is. It is far out in the desert near Slab City, if you have been reading this blog you saw pics of slab city. It was an old army base and lots of folks boondock there, no water, electric or sewer. Good for them, we are used to the good life and facilities. Well anyway near there in the desert is an area called east jesus where artists of all kinds live and make wild and interesting projects out of recycled stuff. Look at these cool pics. Today, because of me surfing around on the net I messed up my computer, but here on mon. and thurs. they have people to fix it for you for free, so I got fixed, and came home to find the fridge repairman. I have been waiting for him for 3 weeks, because my freezer has ice and the fans are not working, however he had to take it out to work on it and because of the leak we had it damaged the wood floor under it, so we have to wait till next week when he will bring some plywood, and fix it. We are so far in the desert only 1 mobile rv tech place comes out and he has lots of other work, so we wait. The fridge is still working so we are lucky.

Tomorrow I hope to go into El Centro which is about an hour south to the flooring store to pick out new flooring and carpet. We had new flooring put in a year and a half ago but the leak ruined it. We also are going to get wood blinds for the coach and get rid of all the wood and sun faded upholstery valances. We are going to get 2 new kitchen chairs too. Make the place light and bright with a tropical theme.

Well, today just came from the pool where I watched Joel playing volleyball. It is a very serious sport here, this water volleyball, and there are older folks playing and they are very competitive and it is all in fun. While I waited for him I went over to the karaoke and did a song. Then came home and made some great chicken marsala, home fried potatoes and salad. Oh, comfort food. Well here come the pictures. Enjoy