Cheetahs keeping an eye on Rancho Mirage!

After a wonderful wednesday at quilting group, we made it a day together, fitting in another thing on our touring list. The first stop was to the Verizon store, where we had purchased a Mifi a couple of days ago, and had problem setting up the account online.  Rather than bark at each other with frustration ( ok, there was a little of that!) we went back to the Verizon Wireless outlet and let them solve the problem.  We would never have done it ourselves, as they ended up calling their higher up's at Verizon and sorting it out! I was able to log on twice before we left the store, so all should be good now!

John and Judy Hollinger

We also had a great visit the other day from fellow RV bloggers: The Hollingers, who are staying nearby in Desert Hot Springs.  They have a wonderful blog, www.rvlifeonwheels.blogspot.com and are very busy seeing some television show tapings and hockey games ( Go Leafs! - but don't beat our Canucks!) in L.A. and Phoenix. Now those are fans!

Now, this is for fellow Rv'er Sam: the Living Desert has a 1 acre model train yard. There are more pictures, but our advice is: you will just have to go next year and see it yourself!  So, the picture is to get you interested!  Of course, the derailment off the trestle is for all our retired CN readers.

 

There was an aviary that we could wander in and sit amongst the varied birds, and with just the two of us in there, quietly, we loved it.  Egrets, roadrunners, vultures..... and they remained quite close to us. 

We are extremely amateur birders and well,  you would probably call us bird lurkers.  Certainly not like some we saw today at the Centre with monster cameras and attachments!

So, onto the Butterfly and Hummingbird house to be zinged at by fighting hummers.  The butterflies were mostly hiding out by late afternoon.  This was a large moth.

This was the best! We went back twice, finally late in the day, to obtain a picture or at least see the elusive cheetah.  She was gawjus! 

Quilting and Fuel Cells

Tuesday we went into a Verizon store and purchased a Mifi set up in anticipation of leaving Desert Hot Springs for our further travels, and did general chores. We don't know how the time goes by!

Wednesday was Quilting group for Kim and she had a great time! There is heavy pressure from the group to come back here next Friday to tag along with the ladies to " Road to California" Quilt Show in Ontario, California. Very tempting! ( well, not so tempting for Don... ) He has been busy reading up and studying Fuel Cells for Rv's, as alternative power.  More on that later!

Kim's ( same age ) Aunt Viv emailed after our posting about Caskets and Cadillacs at Costco.  " If a customer buys a casket, do they have to pick it up right away, or can they put it on 'lay away' till needed". We'll let you all think about that one!

C and C at C

Well, here's an interesting thing - we went to Costco yesterday and right by the door exiting the building, there is a display of caskets for sale, next to Cadillacs for sale.  There you go, Caskets and Cadillacs at Costco.  That could be a new song ... or Costco's new advertisement.  Interesting for sure.  Things that catch your eye!

The weather has stayed cool, so other than running around shopping and restocking, we participated in the Sands Rv " tailgate party" which was fun!  A big screen tv was set up, and guests brought appy's and whatever they wanted to drink.  Lots of good eats on the buffet table!  When we entered the wee party, we were asked if we were Duck fans ( Oregon ).... I said I guess we were ( very firmly )!  There are mostly Oregon fans here, not Auburn, so we had to watch it!  It was a good game and we had some wonderful conversations.

Our daily visit to the dog park, resulted in meeting up again with Rick and Paulette, and having another great quick visit. Since our poor old fur gal mostly sits or lays beside us, we looked forward to seeing Rylie run!  At 3:00 in the afternoon, it is a busy time with lots of dogs, and we think our 3 dogs were overwhelmed as they stood or sat right next to us, even Rylie! 

Oh yes, Kim visited yet another quilt shop ( ca - ching! ) and while Donald waited in the parking lot, he spied a Patio Furniture store with a sale - dangerous! Ca- ching $$ again.  We found a reclining chair for those afternoon snoozing in the sun times,  a box of cute little appetizer plates and some fantastic patio lights to hang.  Pictures to follow. Well, we are adding to the California economy.  The patio store had a great coffee bar !

WHOOOOOSHHHHH

What a busy day!
1. Visit the Dog Park. Duty done. 2. Go to Caliente Swap Meet/Farmer Market 3. Palm Springs Air Museum

The Swap/Farmer Market is held in Desert Hot Springs in a storage compound. That is actually a good idea - it is paved, clean and the vendors can just wheel their goods back into a storage lock up when done.  It costs 50 cents each to enter.  We didn't buy a thing.  There was only one local food vendor and we already had our bag of oranges from last weekend still to use up. Very windy at the meet. Whoosh.

 

Then, we were off to the Palm Springs Air Museum as today they had a special presentation and fly over.  An amazing place! We got there about 11:30 am and self toured the hangers, looking at the Army side first, then the B17 hanger and lastly the Marine/Air Force hanger.  The museum specializes in World War 2.  At 1:00, there was a great Program as part of their " Victory 65th Anniversary of WW2".  Today was " Island Hopping the Pacific".   The Marine/Navy/Air Force hanger has a great sound stage set up, and today hundreds were in attendance, including many, many vets.  A Presentation of Colours by Cathedral High School opened and closed the event.  The Palm Desert High School Choir, dressed in tuxedos and long black dresses, sang the American National Anthem and closed with America the Beautiful.  The 50 plus strong choir was top notch! Very moving.

 

I took 66 pictures today, and it is hard to pick the best to post.  At the end of the program, was a demonstration flight of a T33 Jet.  If that was not exciting enough, while the T33 was warming up on the tarmac by the museum, right in front of us four marine jets ( likely from Twenty Nine Palms Marine Base ) took off. WOW!!!!!! The word fast  is the key word here! WHOOOSHHH! And of course, they look very different and very 'space age' compared to the T33 Jet we were waiting to see take off. As we had no idea that was to happen, I could hardly get my camera ready quickly!

 

And below is the T33 Jet that demonstrated:

It was fun to read all the exhibits and read about ships in the Pacific Theatre, and their battles.  The artwork on the planes is a story itself.

Fly By of the T 33 Jet 

There were many 'docents' or volunteer WW2 Veterans who were more than happy to answer any of your questions or tell stories.  The T33 Jet belonged to the Museum, and many of the planes came from the estate of Robert Pond.  Some are flyable.  The pilot was a current Air Force pilot, likely donating his time, in order to gain more fly hours.  His passenger, as the T33 is a 2 seater, was one of the Museum's mechanic's, who had never flown in a military jet. I'll bet this was one of the best days of his life today - the jet flew low level fly by's 5 times in front of the museum. 

Fantastic day. Drove home through a sandstorm, with caution signs on the road advising that driving was at our own risk!  We have pulled in a couple of the 5th wheel slides to lessen the noise.  And CONGRATS to the Seahawks! See that Lynch whoosh down the field through 8 defenders?

Pioneertown and Sons of the Pioneers

With the weather warming up here in California, we drove up to the Yucca Valley to have a look at Pioneertown.  The Sons of the Pioneers singing group were business partners with a man named Dick Curtis, to build this town in 32,000 acres for movie sets for television and movies, in the mid 1940's.  The first western movie was made in 1948: Cisco Kid with Leo Carillo and the last movie was in 1995: Howling 7, New Moon Rising.  Now, I am such a young lady that I do not remember the Cisco Kid, and I only know of the Sons of the Pioneers from Bayfield Al, but Donald thought everyone knew about those shows from when they were kids.  Sorry dear, it was Superman and Rocketship 7 out of a Buffalo, NY t.v. station for me!  Yes, yes, I know about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans!

This little town has seen better days - it was in disrepair, and it looked like the recent heavy rains a couple of weeks ago have taken their toll on the main street.  It was still fun to look and take pictures and it was a cool day to take the dog with us - there was snow on the street!

Of course, we had to have lunch at Pappy and Harriet's, which at one time was a biker bar, and with the few patrons here today, it maybe hasn't changed much from that!

 

 

Another enjoyable day, and tomorrow we are off to the Palm Springs Air Museum. Oh yes, found another quilt store nearby - hey - actually Donald found it and he suggested I go! Whoo Hoo! I did !