Paulette and I were both up and around at our usual time of 6:30am on Thursday. After pouring some coffee, we each sat down with our laptops, at the kitchen table, to check out blogs, email and news. First, we raised the blinds on the windows and, as usual, were rewarded with a spectacular view of the San Jacinto and Bear Mountain ranges framed in a beautiful, clear blue sky.
Paulette holding Annika with Diana(Tom & Donna’s daughter)
Neither one of us had any particular plans for the day, but Paulette was very busy planning for her big trip Friday to the Road To California Quilt Show near Los Angeles. This is the largest quilt show in California and seems to be sort of like The Haj pilgrimage to Mecca – something every quilter must do at least once in their lifetime. Paulette is going with a van load of her quilting friends from here in the RV Park. As for me, I’ll have to think of something to entertain the muttzo’s all day Friday!
Looking across the golf course for Tom, Donna & Debbie!
After a little discussion, we decided to take a drive down to El Centro, CA, which is 2 hours south of us and only 10 miles from the border with Mexico. My brother Tom, and his wife Donna, have been staying at the Desert Trails RV Park in El Centro since November so we thought we’d surprise them by dropping in to see how they were doing.
These old wooden wagons are placed all over the Desert Trails RV Park
We left the park at 9:30 and headed east on I-10 until we got to Indio where we turned south on Hwy. 86 which would take us the rest of the way to El Centro. The drive was mostly thru desert interspersed with some agricultural areas. We were also able to get several glimpses of the Salton Sea – a completely landlocked body of salt water – it’s pretty big too!
I really like these old wagons, so I took a lot of pics of them
After driving thru the small towns of Westmoreland and Brawley, we pulled into the Desert Trails RV Park in El Centro at 11:30am. We quickly found Tom and Donna’s site, but were surprised to find their daughter Diana, and her 6 month old baby daughter Annika, the only ones home. Diana quickly explained that everyone, including her younger sister Debbie, was out on the golf course playing in a park tournament. Did I say we just decided to make a surprise visit?
Annika looking down at Molly and Rylie – she was quite taken with them
Anyway, Diana told us they would be finished around 1pm, so I decided to take Paulette over to the big, new shopping mall so she could look around for a while until the golfers were finished. But first, we were starving, and we had spotted an In ‘n Out burger place in El Centro, so we decided to give it a try as neither one of us had ever been to one.
The menu is incredibly simple – a double-double cheese burger, a cheeseburger or a hamburger. We both ordered cheeseburgers. Paulette thought they were great because of the fresh lettuce and tomatoes. I thought it was a nice lettuce and tomato sandwich, with very little sign of any hamburger – the thinnest burger I think I’ve ever seen. I’m now told I should have ordered the double-double. So, the jury’s still out on In ‘n Out for now.
Tom, Diana, Annika, Donna and Debbie – we’ll see them again Saturday
While Paulette went shopping in the mall for an hour, I fired up my iTouch and connected to the Internet to check emails, blogs and news. This iTouch sure has turned into a great little gadget for times like this. Paulette returned empty-handed saying that nothing was on sale so she didn’t buy a thing.
Tom and Donna’s RV park is just 5 minutes from the mall and by the time we drove back, the golfing was over and they were all waiting for us. We had a great visit, got to meet the new baby, Annika, and to say hi to both Diana and Debbie who are just visiting from home in Victoria, B.C.
Before we left, we made plans for everyone to come up and visit with us at the Sands RV Resort this Saturday. They were driving up to Palm Springs anyway as Debbie is flying home to Victoria while Diana will be staying on with Annika for a bit. With that, we left El Centro at 3pm and made it back to our park at 5pm just as it was getting dark. Just another beautiful day in the desert.
Have a great Friday, and thanks again for visiting!
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