25. Apr, 2016

SATURDAY 26-04-08 

This morning we sadly left the Malibu Beach RV Park. We had laid in bed this morning with the rear window blind up watching dolphins play in the ocean below. It was a glorious morning and 95F in the shade at 09:30. The millionaires down the road may have a similar view but they’ve paid an awful lot more for theirs. 

Before leaving the campground I popped in to the shop and bought 4 plastic levelling blocks which have graduated heights and sloping faces to help the wheels get up on to them. These will supplement our pack of plastic blocks in helping us to not only level the vehicle but keep the tyres off the sometimes, very hot ground. 

Annoyingly we had forgotten to buy a souvenir mug of Santa Monica, in our opinion a much nicer and more accessible place that Malibu Beach. What added to our frustration was that on leaving the RV Park ‘She’ in our Satnav took us along Hwy1 right past the places we could have bought one, if only we’d been able to park for a few minutes. We went around Los Angeles on the interstates, not a pleasant experience and one I would not want to undertake without a Satnav. Even with one, you have to concentrate hard, but without one, a stranger would be a risk to other road users in a vehicle of this size. Enroute The Chef phoned ahead to the Shadow Hills RV Resort at Indio near Palm Springs and booked us a pitch there. 

On the outskirts of Palm Springs there was a wind farm such as I’d never seen before. There were hundreds of turbines, on both sides of the road and covering a large hill. They weren’t as large as the giants back home but still a very good size. It must have cost a fortune to set up, and suggests we’ve come to a windy place. 

On entering Palm Springs we sought out their Wal-Mart and topped up our fresh food. I bought a cheap gazebo to give us some shade, and a larger, more powerful blender to crush ice for cold drinks. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to buy too cheap. This unfortunately is a real dilemma for us. Had we been granted a visa for two years it would have been worth spending a lot more money on good quality accessories, but for 6 months (2 x 90 days) we have to consider what we need to spend to get by, but without overdoing it. 

We arrived at Shadow Hills RV Resort www.shadowhillsrvresort.com in Indio , a community which turned out to be 20 miles outside of Palm Springs. It was a pleasant looking campground, however when checking in, Rosina was told that this is a pop concert weekend and it is likely to be noisy at night, but the staff suggested that we stay the night and see how we get on, if we wanted to leave we could have a refund. We also found out later there is no local public transport from the campground, and the amenities at Palm Springs are more than ‘a few minutes away’ as stated on the campground website. On reflection we should have left right there and then.

This evening we sat outside and had a nice ham & cheese salad alfresco, listening to the music from the pop concert in the distance. Tonight it’s supposed to be ‘Prince’ performing. The temperature in the shade this evening is 95F. 

LOCATION TONIGHT: Shadow Hills RV Resort, 40655 Jefferson Street Indio, CA 92201.www.shadowhillsrvresort.com (GPS: N33.754692 W116.269284)

25. Apr, 2016

25. Apr, 2016

25. Apr, 2016