October, 2005
page 1
For more of our October adventures, please click on "forward" above.
Our first week in the Palm Springs area during the last few days of September had been pretty "low-key."  Mary had pulled some muscles in her back moving the picnic table from our parking site when we had arrived and then had spent several days moving slowly and carefully from the bed to the park's hot tub and back again.  But we finally got out and on the road to adventure.  One day we decided that looking at some model homes might be interesting...just to see what the Palm Springs area has to offer to retirees...and it would be something easy and air-conditioned.  We ended up going out in a van with a saleslady to look at a section under construction.  She obviously wasn't well prepared and organized because, as we reached the furthest point from her office, only about a mile - down a dirt trail and away from any current construction activity,  we ran out of gas!!   Good news....Tom had his cell phone (saleslady had none)...bad news...low battery...good news...we were able to make several calls to the office...bad news...nobody there seemed to know how to find us as we waited about 45 minutes out in the desert in 105*....good news...one last call to the saleslady's husband brought him to us in only five minutes.  We could have walked, but the saleslady refused to let us do that.  Needless to say, we really weren't interested in buying a house anyway.  We discovered that new homes (2 bedrooms, 1800 sq. ft.) in gated retirement communities here in the Coachella Valley start at about $500,000 and go up.  We visited several other developments and RV parks, too, but there wasn't anything exciting to us.
We continued to spend a part of each day in Palm Springs at the pool.  The temperature was always at least 100*.  We went to the Open-Air Market at the County Fairgrounds (where we had attended an FMCA Rally last January) but were not impressed with its offerings.  We also went to the College of the Desert Street Fair  which is held every Saturday and Sunday morning.  It was quite nice.  And of course, we couldn't pass up checking out a casino, so we stopped at the Agua Caliente.  Probably the nicest stop during our stay was at the "Living Desert."    We walked the 2 mile trail through the various "eco-systems" of the wildlife and botanical park where we saw lots of desert-living animals and plants from all over the world.  Another interesting exhibit at the Living Desert is their model train exhibit.  It is at least an acre in size and was built and is maintained by a crew of devoted volunteers.  It has model sized scenery representing places all over the US and an intricate system of various trains, tracks, trestles and bridges.                      One thing that makes your stay in the Coachella Valley very pleasant is that they obviously have lots of zoning ordinances...all construction sites are surrounded by green privacy fences, most of the residential areas are "walled-in" and commercial areas are very well landscaped, all with access to main streets very limited.  So, no matter the direction you go, when you drive down the main streets, they are usually three lanes in each direction, lined with lots of flowers and palm trees, no signs (making it difficult for us out-of towners to find things like Wal*Mart), and gorgeous mountains in the distance. 

When our time at the Palm Springs Thousand Trails Preserve was over, we moved on to the Pio Pico Preserve southeast of San Diego, California.  We made the move on September 36th..at least that's what the staff at Pio Pico will tell you.  During October last year, Pio Pico was evacuated because of floods.  The year before (2003) the park was evacuated because of wildfires.  Luckily in both cases, damage was minor and nobody was hurt.  But, they decided they didn't want to have an October this year.  We can understand - and also hope they don't have a recurrence.  And, of course, somebody at the weekly manager's meeting asked if there had been any earthquakes!  However, leaving Palm Springs we had to take our second choice of routes because of fires near the Palm Springs area and then when we got to Pio Pico we were told that a new fire had started about 15 miles east of the park.  Both were relatively small.                      Pio Pico is a very large park with lots of amenities.  It is Thousand Trails #3 park in usage and we can see why.  There are two sets of pools and spas, three activity buildings, a restaurant and store, and tons of outdoor activities with a professional recreation staff.  And for us "out-of-towners" there are many things to see and do in the San Diego area.

Our first tourist trip from Pio Pico was to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, less than 10 miles from the park.  The center provides free room and board, training and medical care to qualified athletes training in various sports (including skiing and bobsled), but mainly track and field, archery and field hockey.  The women's soccer program has just moved to a new facility in Carson, CA, closer to a university to enable the soccer players to have easier educational opportunities.  They wouldn't allow us inside the actual facilities other than the visitor center, but we did get to watch some archers practice with those big complicated-looking bows and pencil thin arrows.  The campus is in a beautiful setting and was built with money from foundations and donations, mainly ARCO.
The Dutch Star parked among the date palms at the Thousand Trails Palm Springs Preserve.  There were only about 30 rigs in the 300 spaces available while we were there.
Our granddaughter, Merrick, should have been with us to see all the Desert Tortoises at the Living Desert.  She is a "nut" for turtles.
When in Palm Springs, they'll snack on the palms.....some of the giraffes at the Living Desert.
Some of the many windmills on the "windfarms" near Palm Springs providing some of the area's electricity. 
Archers practicing at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA.
The Olympic Flame burns 24/7 on the central plaza at the training center.
For more of our October adventures, please click on "forward" or "back" above.
October, 2005
page 2
The town of Coronado is south of San Diego along the Pacific Ocean.  We enjoyed a drive through the town and a walk along the beach one afternoon and wondered what it would be like to live in one of the well-kept homes in the neighborhoods near the water.  The Hotel Del Coronado is a huge, beautiful Victorian structure built in the 1880s and still in use today.                               We also took short drives to two Mexican border towns...Tecate and Tijuana.  Tecate is a small "working man's town" and didn't offer much in the way of shopping or activities for tourists.  Tijuana is the large, bustling and busy city and the area close to the border is lined with merchants waiting for the US shoppers.  The funny thing is that the US side of the border has a huge outlet mall - much more prosperous-looking than most of the outlet malls we've stopped at in the last several months of travel - and there was a steady stream of people walking from the center back to the border crossing carrying big bags from the stores - and most of the cars in the parking lot had Mexican license plates.  Both sides have a big McDonald's!  We managed to get through both areas without buying a thing.
Balboa Park in central San Diego is acres and acres of beautiful parks and many museums.  It would take weeks to see it all.  The San Diego Zoo is one of the parks and it was quite busy the day we visited in spite of it being mid-week.  The exhibits are spread out over many of the very hilly and lushly landscaped acres.  We took a tour on a double-decker bus and a ride on the "sky-tram" to get the "lay of the land" before we tackled walking the trails, which include escalators in several places.  We saw many typical zoo animals but quite a few species that we hadn't seen before, but the "usuals" are still our favorites. 
The Hotel Del Coronado along the Pacific shore in Coronado, CA
Traffic and shopping opportunities approaching the US border in Tijuana, Mexico
Anybody for a swim?
Open wide!
How about an afternoon snack!  Bamboo anyone?
The Carillon tower in Balboa Park
The Marine Corps Miramar Air Station presented the 50th Anniversary Air Show over the October 15th weekend.  We joined the thousands of observers who lugged chairs and refreshments from distant parking lots and spent the day watching various airplanes and their pilots "do their thing."  There were wingwalkers and acrobatic flyers, attack jets and stealth bombers as well as the Golden Knights Parachute Team, the Blue Angels and a Heritage Team of older aircraft.  The weather was sunny and in the high 70s with a nice breeze...a great day to be outdoors.  It's amazing what some people will do for fun and what they can do with an airplane.
One of the Golden Knights brought the American Flag for Opening Ceremonies of the Miramar Air Show.
Special delivery....do you need a Howitzer?  The Marine Air-Ground Task Force put on a demo assault using various craft and support vehicles.
The Patriots Team flies L-39 jets.
My photography skills aren't good enough to have captured great photos of the stealth fighters and many of the other speedy aircraft.
October, 2005
page 3
For more of our October adventures, please click on "back" above.
Summer finally took its exit.  We had several days of clouds and occasional heavy rain.  Luckily, our Thousand Trails Preserve was not threatened with any floods...they were quite pleased.  Although we're not coffee drinkers, we gathered on two mornings with other campers for coffee and pastry, sharing adventures of travel as well.  Also during our stay at Pio Pico, we went exploring and found nice shopping and restaurant areas in both directions from the park, each about the same distance away.  One has a wonderful produce market which we took advantage of several times. 
Driving to Leucadia in northern San Diego County, we had a great visit one evening with Mary's cousin George Bredehoft and his wife Tonya.  They gave us a tour of their home, which they are planning to extensively re-model in the near future, and we enjoyed a tasty dinner out together...catching up on family news and adventures.  We figured out that it was 1968 when we were last together...and our visit was all too short.  We'll try not to make it such a long time till our next visit.
Our time at Pio Pico was up on October 20 (we're allowed 14 days at a time in the Thousand Trails parks), so on that Thursday morning we did our "travel routine."  We made it almost to the point of departure in good time, but then discovered a blown fuse in the car's auxiliary power port which we use to plug in the "Brake Buddy."  It took us a while to figure out what the problem was and in the process, blew a second fuse...a situation that will need further checking when we have a more resources.  Once on the road, we drove to the Viejas Casino on I-8, near Alpine, CA.  There we got together with our friends, Bonnie and Don Wolfe, who live in Las Vegas but were visiting their daughter who lives just a few minutes from the casino.  We went to lunch at the casino buffet and enjoyed a 2 hour visit.  Then it was on east on I-8 to Yuma, AZ where we checked into the Araby Acres RV Park.   
Mary's cousin, George Bredehoft and his wife, Tanya, in Leucadia, CA.
We enjoyed our stay in San Diego County...the beach, the rolling hills, the palm trees and flowers.  There are a lot of things we didn't see and do and hopefully we'll be in the area again sometime to check them off the list.
From our spot in Yuma we were just a few miles to the Mexican border crossing at Los Algodones.  We made trips on Friday and Saturday both - to do some shopping and to get new eyeglasses.  Admittedly, they are not quite the same quality as ones we may have purchased in the US, but we think they look good (and most importantly, we can see through them!) and you can't beat the price.  We ended up with four pairs of glasses for $180 and two McDonald's sandwiches that we took across to the optician who loves them but doesn't cross the border often!  Obviously Tom had enjoyed the bartering for price on Friday.  A cleaning crew came to the RV park looking for jobs, so we took advantage of their offer for a complete wash and spray wax of the coach for $35.
On Sunday, October 23 we continued east on I-8 and arrived at our "winter home," Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande around 2:00.  We had made a side trip to Eloy, 12 miles down I-10 from the park, to fill up on diesel fuel in preparation for sitting at Palm Creek for several months.  It was $2.97 a gallon...and we'd like to think that the price will come down before we have to fill up again next spring.  We kept busy our first several days at Palm Creek getting things cleaned and organized for a long stay.  "Wax on!  Wax off!" was Tom's battle cry for the week...we were sure at one point the the RV had gotten much bigger...but it's all clean and shining now!!!  Although the park is still quite empty we have enjoyed getting together with old friends and neighbors we hadn't seen in several months.  We've played several sets of tennis, but the golf course has been closed for re-seeding and will open again Nov. 1.   The weather in Arizona is one of the reasons we are here...it has been about 90* and sunny each day we've been here.  
Friends Bonnie and Don Wolfe at the Viejas Casino.
We drove to Tucson on Thursday, Oct. 27 for a good visit with Tom's cousin JoAnn and her husband Don.  They are moving back to Colorado shortly so we had a last get-together at their Arizona home.        On Saturday, Oct. 29 we had guests at our place.  Nancy and Rex Wilsen who were friends of ours back in Ohio, now have a winter place in Sun Lakes (about 30 miles from us here in AZ).  They brought another couple who are interested in full-time RVing with them and we had a fun afternoon with all of them.  In between those visits we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary.  Where did the time go???
Our adventure for the last few days of October was that our car ('02 Olds Alero) decided to quit running.  Luckily for us, the moment it chose to stop operating was in a parking lot inside the RV park.  But, of course, it was a Saturday.  Tom and some of the neighbors played with it over the weekend, including putting a new battery in it.  But, on Monday, we had to call for a tow truck and they took it to the local GM dealer.  They tell us that the security system was malfunctioning and therefore we couldn't "steal" our own car.  We were happy to have it repaired quickly.
Don and JoAnn Blair in Tucson
Our friends from Sun Lakes, Nancy and Rex Wilsen and Cathy and Frank Miller.
Tom did some calculating and has determined that we have driven the RV about 10,000 miles since we left here last April, getting just about 9mpg of fuel.    Our campground expenses for the last year (Nov 1, 2004 to Nov. 1, 2005) have averaged about $15 a night.