WINTER 2005
SEEKING THE SUN
Well, another month has flown by and it seems that we have not done a huge amount of traveling. As you can see by the map below, we haven't done many miles, and that is a real change for us. Usually, we cover huge distances and then just spend time investigating a few local spots. This time, we are really getting to know south western USA!
- From Perris (1) to Temecula (2) is only 20 miles
- From Temecula (2) to Hemet (3) is only 30 miles
- From Hemet (3) to Indio(4) is only 62 miles
- From Indio (4) to Yuma (5) on Highway 78 to 86 to 10 is only 144 miles
So ... Harvey has not had too much of a work out since we left the
factory, but so far so good ... (I only hope the RV Gods are not
listening!!!!). But, as we go along, I fear that we will hear much
more from Harvey .... sigh....
After leaving Temecula, as we mentioned in the previous epistle, we
headed to Hemet for a week that turned out to be 10 days. We had
arranged to meet up with Harold and Kathy North there and were looking
forward to seeing someone from home. Harold and I have played a
lot of rugby together and Kathy has been our RV Guru for years.
What she doesn't know about RVing is not worth knowing. It
promised to be a good week. The rains had stopped and the sun was
shining with the temperatures hovering in the mid 70's during the day
and the mid 40's at night. 
My kind of weather ... not too hot or too cold. The three bears
would love it!!!!
Golden Village Palms in Hemet is a good deal. They have a one
week promotional deal for $99.00 for full hookup including hydro.
I think
that most of the rigs in there were there for the deal, but as usual
there is a draw back. The park is older and the sites are quite
narrow backing. Along with this is the presence of a cement slab
for a patio and the ubiquitous hazards at the front of the site ...
lamp standards or trees or bushes ... it is always the same. I
guess they think that it defines each site, but what it really does is
make the parking job very hazardous. Add to this a very narrow
road off which you back, and it makes for some interesting
situations. You carefully miss the front prat falls, and then you
have to make very sure that you don't rub your back tires along the
raised cement edge of the patio ... a sure way to slash your sidewalls
and that gets very expensive!!!
Did that bother Elsie??? Sure, as a sparrow, a hawk or a rabbit a
lion (sorry Shakey). Elsie hops out, and with a few well chosen
hand signals, and one slight minor correction, in we go like a cork in
a bottle. Elsie is sure getting good at this!!!! One would
almost think that by now we knew what we were doing .....
I think we ate and drank more that week than we have for years.
Harold must be a bad influence on me ... or is it Kath ....
hmmmm???? Or could it be, horrors of horrors, we are a bad
influence on them???? NAH.... Anyway we had a great
week... we even tried to get to San Juan Capistrano to see the
sparrows, but the road was washed out, so instead we went and had a
great Mexican lunch in Old Temecula. When in doubt .... eat,
drink and be merry!!! 
We were sure sorry to see the
North's pull out. Hopefully, we will run into them again before
we head home.
One of the things we had to do, while we were away on this trip, is to
finally figure out if we want to join a Campground System. Before
we left home, we joined Passport America which has 1/2 price
accommodations in many Campgrounds across the country. It only cost us $30.00
for the year so it was not a big deal. We quickly found out that
Hemet was a Passport Park, and we could extend our $99.00 week for
another 3 days for 1/2 price. Instead of paying $93.00 for the
three days we only had to pay $45.00. So, for ten days we had to
pay $144.00 ... or $14.44 per day ... not bad!!!!
While we were in Perris, one of the other National owners waiting for
work on their rig to be completed, told us about Western Horizon Camp
System. They even gave us a card that allowed for us to have 3
nights, 4 days, and a meal for free in Indio if we listened to a
promotional spiel. Ya ya ... I know ... time share and all that
nonsense. 
But, we had to find out which one
of the Systems would be right for us. There are quite a few of
them ... the biggies are Thousand Trails (not islands), and Coast to
Coast. Western Horizon is not as large as those two but if you include all
the affiliates, they have hundreds of parks across US and even some in
Canada. So off we went to Indian Waters in Indio CA (4 - map
above).
The Park turned out to be beautiful! The presentation was well
done with no high pressure
( I had gird my loins for a real
fight, but it never happened). The lady simply presented the
facts and numbers to us, and then let us go away and think about
it. If you are interested in the minutia of Camp Costs read the
next paragraph, if not just skip it and go on to the next.
Western Horizon has 32 parks in the US and one in Mexico. While
you are in anyone of these 32 parks you pay 0.00 per night. But,
you can only stay for two weeks at a time. After the two weeks
you have to be out of the "System" for one week. Then, you
can return for another two weeks. So, two weeks in and one week
out. For the week out you can stay anywhere you want, but you also
can choose one of the affiliate parks (RPI or ROD or ACN etc
etc.) If you go to one of these parks, the cost per night is
either $6.00 or $8.00 US. So for any 5 week period, you would
have 4 weeks for free and one week at either $42.00 or $48.00
total. That makes it $1.20 per night on average. Elsie has
kept meticulous records since we began RVing 3 years ago, and she has
ascertained that the average cost per night has been $33.00 Cdn. So, do the math ... On this trip alone, we will be away
for 95 days ... (95 x 33 = $3135.00) is what we would have to
pay. Using the system it would be (95 x 1.20 = $114.00) You
can just imagine Elsie's eyes as she worked through all these numbers
... I haven't seen that look since she won in Reno last
year!!! Given the "buy in" cost, and the fact that we will
be doing a Spring Trip and a Fall Trip, we figure that we will be in the
plus side by October. 
As you can probably imagine by now,
we bought into the Western Horizon System.
Indio turned out to
be two weeks of good weather and fun. It was a really nice
Campground, and the people were really friendly. The only downside
to the area is the incredible traffic. This area is growing
incredibly quickly. Palm Springs, Indian Wells, Palm Desert,
Indio, Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City are all with in 50 miles of each
other. In fact it is hard to see where one ends and the other
begins. 
Frank Sinatra Way, Bob Hope Blvd, all swim past you as
you go through Palm Springs as do the Bentley, MB and BMW dealers.
This area will be so congested in several years .... everywhere you
look there are new, gated, Yuppie Housing developments that start
from anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 dollars. And the
unbelievable thing is ... they are selling as fast as they make
them. One developer put 35 units starting at 350,000 on the
market on a Thursday, and they were gone by the Saturday. The
builders are making a fortune!!!!!!! Gawd knows who are
buying these places ...
Because of the traffic pressures, we decided to make our home park Casa
Grande, AZ. This area is just starting to torque up so we thought
we would get several more years before we reach the same levels as
Indio.
On leaving Indio we made the longest drive to date to Yuma - 144
miles. We have heard a lot about this area and were looking
forward to having a look around. Because we are now in the
"System" we could stay in an affiliate Park for 6.00 per night.
So for two weeks we will have to pay 6 x 14 = $84.00. Not too
shabby eh?
The park is called Pilot Knob after a great pile of rocks that sticks
up 150- 200 feet in the middle of the desert. We are about 8
miles out of Yuma, and about 4 miles from the Algodones crossing into
Mexico. We are also very close to the Imperial Sand Dunes where
the ATVs roam continually. In fact this is the location that
General George Patton chose to train his tank battalions during
WWII. Apparently the largest military training ground ever
to exist. The tanks roamed from here all the way to Utah.
The desert is flat and unending! You can just picture all these
20 year olds let loose here in a 10 tonne tank ... what a blast they
must have had! Until the summer months of course .... 125 in the
shade ... if you can find any ... can you picture the heat inside
one of those metal monsters???? YECH!!!!
The first week we were here, the weather was glorious! 
We took
advantage of this and headed out into the desert and across the
Imperial Dunes. All around is nothing but sand and rocks with the
odd bunch of grass. Spread over this inhospitable landscape are
old abandoned gold mines and literally hundreds of "dry camping"
RVs. The land is federally owned by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) and you only have to buy a yearly pass of under $100.00 and you
can stay anywhere for as long as you want. These guys are out
there rock hunting, roaring around on ATVs, Dirt Bikes and Dune
Buggies. Every week or so they drive into a RV dump station,
empty their tanks and fill up with fresh water again. Back they
go. There are people who spend their entire winter season living
like this. Sure would be cheap, but Elsie and I like our showers
too much for that life style. 'Sides we don't have an ATV ....
yet????
Today, Friday Feb. 18th, is a down day. This winter is one
of the wettest ones they have had and today it is raining ... yeah ...
here in the high desert ... go figure. They only get about 3
inches of rain per year and today the weather guy says it will rain 1/2
inch. There are flash flood warnings out .... Is this
because we are here or is it the effects of El Nino ?????
The upside of this weather is that the desert is alive!!! For
years there are few if any flowers blooming in the sand. 
Right now, the ground is covered with pink, purple, blue and white
flowers. It sure is a beautiful sight. All these seeds are
covered in the sand and wait years for the rain to come. When it
does, they flower.
Yuma itself is growing rapidly. All around you can see new
houses, shops and malls being built. Apparently, 15 years ago
Yuma was nothing. The old town was slowly dying and shops were
boarded up. Since the Baby boomers and the sun nuts have arrived,
this area is changing rapidly. But ... Oy Vey ... the summers
.... WOW. Even this campground closes for May through
September. It doesn't pay for them to keep open. I can't
see spending time in a place that considers 100 F to be a cold
day. You can tell a local as you drive around Yuma. They
are the ones wearing a ski jacket with hood ... the temperature is
usually in the 70's Brrrrr eh?
The other thing that this Campground has is the closeness to Algodones
MX. From here it is only 3 or 4 miles to the border crossing
where you can park your car for $3.00 and simply walk across the
border. Why would you want to, you say? Well, we are
spoiled by socialized medicine. Any given day will see literally
thousands of people crossing to avail themselves of cheap drugs, cheap
dentists and cheap eye glasses. There must be more dentists per
square foot in Algodones than anywhere else in the world. Prices
are advertised, and dentists are standing on the street attracting more
clients. People next to us in the Campsite bought new glasses
with progressive, photo chromatic lenses, complete with rims and eye
exam by qualified eye doctor for $145.00. Standing in line
waiting to cross back over the border, people are lugging bags filled
to over flowing with prescription drugs. The general topic of
conversation is how much they saved over US prices. We ran into
many, many people who head down here every winter to have their dental
work done, buy new glasses and get enough drugs to last.
As Elsie and I have just gotten new
glasses, have recently been to the dentist and don't need drugs, there
was not much for us to do while in Algodones. So, as usual, when
in doubt, we ate. Now this is you typical border town with
crowded streets filled with throngs of people and not too clean, but we
thought, what the heck ... it is lunch time!!! We chose a street
side restaurant based upon a recommendation freely given by customers
sitting there. We ordered a "Plate" and a Tecate Beer. The
Plate was huge covered with cucumbers, onions, salsa, shredded beef (I
think ... hope), shredded lettuce, radishes, guacamole etc. The
woman cooking the meat and the taco shells was standing on the
street. As you finished your stack of taco shells, she brought
you more ... unending supply. I order a beer with it, and it
turned out to be 1 litre. There was sufficient food and beer (yes
even Elsie had some of the beer)
for the two of us to become
stuffed. All this and the bill was only a little over $7.00
US. The trip was not a complete waste!!!! ( Eat your heart
out Alf ... all this fun and no two step after)
On getting back to Harvey, I finally set up Elsie's Christmas present ... a GPS with Microsoft
Streets and Trips software ... It works really well. Elsie simply
has the laptop on her knee while we drive, and she can see exactly where
we are on the map, tell our speed and even our present altitude. It
warns her where the next rest stop is, what shopping is available there,
and how long till we arrive at our destination. Elsie has always
been a map nut and with this, she has died and gone to heaven.
Before we leave, she plans out the trip, figures how much it will cost
us in diesel and how long it will take. She is in hog
heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rain is supposed to continue today with clouds and showers for the
weekend. On Monday we head to Casa Grande. And after that
... maybe Kino Bay Mx on the shores of the Sea of Cortez. Who
knows ......