March 11th we drove 172 miles to Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio, CA. It was 64 degrees in Imperial Beach when we left, we estimate about 80 in Perris where we stopped for lunch in a shopping center parking lot we knew about from our trips to the National RV factory, and the high was 94 in Indio that day. Since we arrived around 3PM we probably experienced close to the 94, it was hot. We did snag a 50AMP spot, which cost us $1/extra per day, so we could run both air conditioners. Here is our campsite:
Notice the satellite dish cables are elevated, they require you to keep things off the grass and have enough room to run a mower under wires. Bill tied a bright orange extension cord to the TV antenna and tied the cables to it to get them into the air.
Bill looked around the campground with his camera and saw this 2004 Dutch Star with Paint Scheme B, only in greys:
Then he saw this rig, calling itself a "Dutch Aire". Newmar makes a "Dutch Star" and the next model up is a "Mountain Aire", but Bill had not heard of a "Dutch Aire".
(Bill scribbled out the license numbers on these motorhomes in the pictures)
Bill talked to the owner and the "Dutch Aire" was a joke after the owner had the motorhome repainted.
Dick and Ann Phillips were also staying in Indian Waters, so we visited them a lot during our stay. It turned out to be the last time we would see Ann, but we didn't know that at the time. The next time we saw Dick was at Ann's memorial August 3rd.
On March 15th we decided to drive the Palms to Pines National Scenic Byway. We drove it from Palm Desert to Banning, but didn't encounter this map until close to the other end:
From above Palm Desert you can see much of the area:
Yes, there is snow on those mountains:
This picture shows the windy road up the hill, we would not recommend this route with a large vehicle:
We saw wildflowers:
There were many interpretive signs:
It had been a wet winter, so there were many wildflowers:
Look how green everything is
Many years earlier we had driven this route on a day trip from Diane's sister's house in May, it was all browns then.
Other than birds this is all the wildlife we saw:
We stopped for lunch in Idyllwild,
Towards the end of the journey we had more vistas:
At the end of the journey we visited the outlet malls at Cabazon. It was a full day.
March 16th we drove to Joshua Tree National Park to see the wildflowers.
We enjoyed the lunch special at the Pak Inn so much we introduced Dick and Ann to it.
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