January 18, 2000- Tuesday- a 7 AM "hit the road"- with some rain and snow starting in Vail, and ending halfway into Utah. If fact, we found out that Eagle Airport was shut down for the day, being below IFR minimums. Breakfast in Grand Junction, lunch in Richfield, and ten and a half hours after leaving Vail, we rolled into Vegas. Our reservations were in the Luxor, via web booking service, and we were surprised with a large, tastefully appointed room for the same price that we paid for the dump in Richfield, Utah on the way to Vail.
Dinner was at the Gallagher Steak House in the New York, New York hotel. They said an hour wait- so we stopped at the bar for a drink and some unwinding. This is definitely the "in" place with a martini selection that was longer then the regular menu. After twenty minutes- our table was ready, and we ordered appetizers, salads, and the house sirloin (about 22 ounces), and another drink. Susan was getting fully unwound when the waiter came to the table and says- there is someone in the restaurant that wanted to send us a bottle of red wine because it looked like we were so in love. The bottle was supposedly a hundred-dollar bottle of cabernet, but he couldn't tell us who sent it. Well, by the time we finished that bottle and had desert- there was no question that we had rubber legs. At the end of the evening a gentleman who had been dining alone, came from another table, and asked if we enjoyed his bottle of wine. He was in town on business, married 28 years, and it looked like we were newlyweds. When we replied that we had chalked up 32 years, he couldn't believe it. Definitely a great feeling! It's a good thing that we were walking back to our hotel, a half a block away.
January 19, 2000, Wednesday- 6 AM came too early. On the road by 7. Rolled into Palm Springs at 11:30 to be greeted by Hobbes. He did great. The kennel woman didn't want to let him go. Then, back to see if we ran out of the propane that was running the refrigerator. Fortunately we only had to add 7.8 gallons (out of 43), to be full. Then drive to Desert Pools in Desert Hot Springs- where we will be for the next week or so.
January 20, 2000, Thursday- a day of trying to empty the car and find where to store all of the odds and ends that we brought from Vail. Then, a walk around our new park- and we found out that the stories that we heard at Indian Waters, our last park, were true. This side of the valley- on the north side of the 10, is in the lee of where the thousands of wind generators are located. There's a reason that the wind generators are just beyond Desert Hot Springs. The wind does a considerable job of letting you know that it's there. In fact, the car was hit with some sandblast desert as we drove the 10 miles from the park to Palm Springs for the Thursday Night Street Fair. In Palm Springs- we were behind the 11,000 foot mountain, and, no wind. The bargains are unbelievable. Bags of red and yellow peppers, avocados, eggplants- a buck a piece.
January 21, 2000, Friday- a day of running in circles. Mom said that the airfares were going up with fuel surcharges. So, we tried to get seats. Yesterday we put a few seats on hold via our Merrill Lynch travel agent- but they were in the $450 to $600 range from Phoenix to NYC and return. Way above the e-fares we found a few weeks ago- but didn't have a chance to book. Today we tried three times to get on a land line- but the office we use at Desert Pools limits you to 10 minutes at a time- and with people constantly behind us in line- it was impossible to surf the various fares. The ones we did find were in the same range as quoted yesterday- way higher then the last time. So- I called one of the "cheapseats" 800 number's and found a nonstop on Continental for $351- much more reasonable- and jumped on that, especially since the other fares were all for connecting flights. And the wind continued- as we drove to Costco in Palm Desert- we were getting sandblasted on a regular basis. As we continued on towards the WalMart to finish our stops, this was in the lee of the mountains, and dead calm. What a difference a few miles can make.
January 22, 2000, Saturday- wash and clean the coach. Did the roof today for the first time in a long time- and the desert dirt certainly accumulated in the last few weeks. A long wet brush and a hose, while walking on the roof- helped restore it to a white color. Allan and Fran arrived in mid-afternoon and after hour walk into the desert, the muscles felt good having been stretched. A quick dinner at the IHOP next to the movies (the only close place)- and we caught the 7 PM show of "Angela's Ashes". Fran and I thought it was a good movie, acknowledging that movies are never full renditions of the book. Susan thought it lacked the passion and detail that the book provided, and Allan caught up on his zzz's.
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January 23, 2000, Sunday- after a great breakfast of lox, 4 kinds of smoked salmon, herring, and smoked white fish- we got a walk in around the block- about a mile square- and passed dozens of motor home parks. Then, off to Indio to see the date farms and date harvesting story. Next, it was time to check out the model homes at Lake La Quinta. Prices from the mid $200 for non-water properties, to over $600 for the lakefront specials. Then we followed a car into the Rancho La Quinta gated community and toured the models ranging from the mid $400's to over $700. Naturally the pools were a $45,000 extra (starting point), and many of the great finishing touches- extras. But, the 12 to 14 foot ceilings presented some interesting options. You can't paint the ceilings yourself, and you can't even clean the mirrors in the bathrooms. But, they were impressive structures. The master bath areas were bigger then the bedrooms, and the walk-in or walk-through closets bigger then the bath areas. Many of the homes had freestanding one-bedroom guest homes, with bath and fireplaces. Some even had refrigerators and microwaves.
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Dinner with Fran and Allan was an excellent serving of giant Costco fillet steaks on the grill, topped off by a bottle or two of wine, and an evening of Euchre.
January 24, 2000, Monday- yesterday and today the weather patterns changed, and the winds disappeared. Definitely a plus in livability. We went into Palm Springs where Allan and Fran rented bikes, and we four cruised around some of the residential neighborhoods. The exercise definitely felt good, as well as needed. Back to the ranch were Sue and Fran did a few laps in the pool. Dinner, hosted by the Goldmans, was at the Palm Desert Marriot. What a property- tremendous in size, and stupendous in landscaping. To get to the restaurant, we had to take a boat through the atrium, and into the manmade pond/lake. Very gentile! The Tuscany Restaurant lived up to it's billing of good chow and service.
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January 25, 2000, Tuesday- Fran and Allan moved to Allan's brothers condo in Palm Desert, and I spent half the day on hold- trying to figure out why our new digital camera doesn't want to produce JPEG files that can be e-mailed. We have stumped the chumps in digital world- they are going up a level and will get back to us. Hopefully, shortly!
We just came back from the Hurricane Carter movie with Denzel Washington- a very powerful picture with excellent acting. What a waste of a man's life, due to the ego of a few bigoted individuals.
January 26, 2000, Wednesday - moving day from Desert Hot Springs to Palm Desert- at Emerald Desert Resort. This place, where we stayed two years ago, is still very much first class and then some.
Susan had been experiencing some heart flutters and some stabbing chest pains on an off for the last few months. So, today we called the Heart Hospital at Ranch Mirage, and were able to get Susan in via the urgent care processes. So, an EKG, blood test, a chest X-ray, and a stress test were on today's agenda. Tomorrow we do an echo cardiogram, and then 24 hours wearing a portable heart monitor. It's great that they were able to squeeze us in with only 3 days available in the area.
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January 27, 2000, Thursday- 8:30 back to the Heart Institute….time for the echo and getting wired with the heart monitor. Later, Fran, Allan, and Beth came over to schmooze for two hours- which included a walk around the Emerald Desert park. They couldn't believe this was an RV park- it looked more like a fancy spa. Hopefully tomorrow we can get the consult on Susan's heart, and all will be great.
January 28, 2000, Friday- 10 AM, back to the Heart Institute with the monitor, and a phone call came at 4 PM from the doctor that everything was OK on all of the tests. No problems noted. A relief to all… thanks goodness. For lunch we met with Beth and Fran at a restaurant next to SAKS in Palm Desert. It turned interesting when the waiter, while cleaning the next table, knocked over a glass beer bottle. It hit the outside patio tile floor, and went smash- and glass was flying everywhere. One piece hit me in the face. After that cleanup, we got our food, and were 1/2 way through it when the same waiter cleaned the table on the other side- and knocked over a pitcher of iced tea. All over my pants, shirts, face and chair came the liquid. Yuk! Fortunately the manager came right over, comped the lunch and gave us her card for any dry cleaning that might be needed. Then back to the ranch for a swim in the delightfully heated pool, and dinner with Fran and Allan, and Beth and Howard at the Lakes Golf Club House.
January 29, 2000, Saturday- back to swinging the sticks for the first time in 5 or 6 weeks. The Emerald Desert 9 holes course- par 3's and a par 4, was in perfect shape. We got 18 in and it felt great to be back on the senior circuit. As hard as it is to believe- I actually had several land on the green in regulation. How frightening! Afterwards, on Fran's suggestion we went to check out the furnished model homes at another golf course development. This one only had two Arnold Palmer courses- and a total of 900 or so homes planned. The model homes were furnished to the nines, and the spaciousness is enormous, as well they should be. With 3000 to 4000 square feet- you have to fill them up with lots of wasted space. But the kitchens, per Susan, were to die for, with 5 and 6 burner stoves, lots of marble counters and walk-in pantries. Interesting enough, the occupancy rate on all these new high end $300,000 to $800,000 units- is 50% year a round. No more 3 months occupancy, but with 110 and 120 in the summer- not for me!
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