Feb 9th to 12th - Desert Hot Springs

Feb 9th – Tues – Desert Hot Springs
We got up early this morning to get laundry done. I had to wait about 10 minutes for washers and then 4 of the 12 dryers were out of order so the whole process took longer than usual.
We needed to make a booze run and stopped at K-Mart on the way so I could try on a shirt that I had seen yesterday. Didn’t get it but bought 3 others. The golf course here requires even women to wear collared shirts so I needed some more.
We played golf at 1:04 and were paired with another couple. I was a little intimidated when the other woman teed up on the white (men’s) tees. But after a great drive, her game became very much like mine – inconsistent. Play was very slow and we got a few sprinkles of rain before we finished at 3:15.
Just after we got back, Barb called and said they had some questions for us and could we come to site 29. We grabbed an umbrella and walked over to Russ & Judy’s park model. Also there were Lynn, Gilbert & Grace, Paul and Gwen who is a neighbor of Russ & Judy’s. The help they wanted was with a couple of buddy burners. The tins they bought were too large so we put it all aside and concentrated on drinking & laughing. This is a great group of people.
They had all played in a golf tournament that included a large lunch. Judy had put out some snacks and then Russ made hot dogs. Terry still thought he needed dinner when we got home about 7:30 but we just had dessert. Russ drove us all home as it was pouring rain.

Feb 10th – Wed – Desert Hot Springs
Back to the laundry room to wash my new shirts so that I can get them shortened and ready to wear. The machine repair man was there and found the reason for some dryers being out of commission was full money boxes – how simple should that be to fix!
We set out on a bike ride around the park but did not get far before we stopped to talk to Larry who was sitting outside reading. He wanted to finish his buddy burner so Terry made a couple of trips to get our kettle and then our camp stove to melt the wax. Larry got a perfect size tin and followed instructions exactly to cut the cardboard so he wins the prize for the best buddy burner! L&B’s friends Bill & Nadine dropped by so we continued on with our bike ride. This park is on a hill so you have to peddle hard in one direction and rest on the other.
We went to visit friends (and prior neighbors) Bob & Sue who are staying in Rancho Mirage for a month. We left early to find an RV supply store for a closet door clip. We didn’t find a store and were too early so we stopped at the Agua Caliente Casino. I bailed us out of a steady downhill by finding a machine at the last minute that hit a couple of bonuses. And then we were late!!
It was so nice to visit with Bob & Sue. They were our neighbors when we first moved to Bellevue WA and we have not seen them since a short visit in Quartzsite in Feb 2007. We went out for dinner at “The River” area of Rancho Mirage and walked along the strip of stores after dinner. We were happy to have warm jackets as it was pretty cool.

Feb 11th – Thurs – Desert Hot Springs
We went to the line dancing lessons again this morning. The instructor was late and had problems with the sound system so we didn’t get in as much dancing as last time – but enough to know you did something.
Time for a short break and then we hit the golf course again. We need to establish a handicap here to play in the weekly Scramble so this should do it. We were paired with a couple from Edmonton and had an enjoyable round.
I had some meat in the crock pot and added veggies and bread for an early dinner. We walked to Larry & Barb’s at 4:30 to go to the weekly Palm Springs Street Fair. We parked beside a large home furnishings store so had to check it out before wandering up & down the closed street with all the vendors. We stopped for ice cream on the walk back and got home around 8.

Feb 12th – Fri – Desert Hot Springs
We played in the golf Scramble today. Since we were late getting our score in yesterday to calculate a handicap, we were put together and then another guy (Andy Anderson) was added for a threesome. Another lady (Win) joined us but she did not have an established handicap here so she played her own “game”. We did OK (2 over par) and might have won a bit of money but Andy has a 7 handicap and pulled our average “down”. Golfers will probably understand this!
Lunch was served after we all finished with beer & wine available for purchase. Very expensive - $1 for a beer and 50 cents for wine. Lunch was a submarine sandwich, chips and a cookie for the modest amount of $2. The weather was superb and we enjoyed lunch outside.
We received our forwarded mail so after going through it all we found an RV supply place and got our closet door clip. Terry was afraid of being bored later so we went to the casino for a while. This time it was his turn to bail us out by winning a $110 bonus on “Jaws”.
We are currently waiting for the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics but the TV station is having “technical difficulties” and the sound is not always coming through.