Thru 3 washes, then 2nd road to the west, stop at the white stake

Now that is most of the instructions we were given to get us to our latest camping spot in Quartzsite's Scadden Wash. We had to know to get off Freeway I-10 and head east on Dome Rock Road and we did have GPS Coordinates: 33.66181N 114.18615W. Were we cheating? Nah, using the GPS just let us know when we got there. We needed the above instructions to figure out how to get there with the RV without falling into a hole.

We found our friends among the thousands of other RV's. Nice level spot on "desert pavement". We circled our RV's around a firepit much like cross-country travelers of old in their Conestoga wagons except the lullaby of generators across the land is a new touch!

All these little white dots are RV's visible from our campsite.

This little town of Quartzsite - population of 3500 - has 1.5 million visitors in January & February. It's a madhouse. We walked through the RV show checking out all the new must-haves for the old RV, looked for a new RV (no, not really) at a couple of the RV dealers, and spent 2 days walking through 3 "rock & swap" meets. Kept our wallets in our pocket most the time. We spent a couple hours catching up on emails at the library where they offered free wifi. Visited friends from Washington who are permanent winter residents in Quartzsite. Bought a good supply of books at "naked Paul's" Reader's Oasis Bookstore. Enjoyed the antics of the low-flying ultra-light pilots. And, oh yes, had to get back to camp in time for happy hours!

Gotta "do" Quartzsite every couple years.

Brrr -rrr!

Now we don't want to complain.

After all, the terrible weather we are avoiding up home is nothing like the cool weather we are putting up with down here. And we do see a lot of sunshine....but would it be too much to expect some warmth?

Hmm, maybe, we need to define "warmth". Thinking something like 75 degrees would be nice.

But in the 4 weeks we've been in the LA-San Diego-Palm Springs area, we've had temps below freezing most every night and many nights have broken the all-time cold record for the date. We've had rain 4 or 5 times and it's raining now. Thankful, it is just a drizzle not an all-day gusher like back home.

Only a couple days have had high temps above 70. The rest have been about an equal number of days in 50's as in the 60's.

For the first time ever, a school in Palm Springs was closed due to winter weather and frozen (broken) pipes. This area has been declared a disaster area, because so many crops have been lost. Oranges, limes, lemons, strawberries. As we drive through the farm areas, the greenery on the top of the trees and on the low crops is shriveled and turning brown.

Maybe we've spent too much time in California? But friends in Phoenix and Yuma are complaining about the cold too.

Harrumph!

Segway. Our way?

We got to "demo" a Segway Human Transporter at the RV rally we attended. Have you seen these? (Check out http://www.segway.com/) This was fun. A person could really get into running around with one of these.

They are pretty easy to operate, which is why we've heard of city tours using Segways.
They are designed to travel the sidewalks but can climb curbs. Some newer versions have larger heavy tread tires for going up rugged trails. Understand that there are many used by commuters in the business district of San Diego, but the city fathers banned them in San Francisco due to the steep hills.

The new versions have handles that tip to either side to change direction. The old version turned by changing your weight balance. It's just a wonder to watch experienced riders. All their movements are slight and normal and it appears as if the Segway is running by magic.

Price is still around $5000 and replacement batteries are $1600! Improvements have fixed the abrupt tip over when the battery deplete. There are 2 computer control boards (one redundant - for reliability), with 5 gyros that sense the rider's center of gravity 100 times per second.

Could see it's value maybe in a low traffic neighborhood or small town. Used by the postoffice for door-to-door delivery. We've heard that metermaids near home use them. Would imagine that they aren't as much fun in a rainy climate.

For us there isn't much reason to put it on our "must have" list. At close to 100 pounds though they come apart (wheels and handle) would be a stretch trying to get them into the RV's "basement" storage. Can't see that there would be any physical benefit compared to walking or bike riding (maybe manhandling the unit out of the RV might count?)

Inflation

Latest stop is east of San Diego at Lake Jennings County Park. Not knowing the area and not knowing how crowded it might be, we made reservations in advance (not something we usually do). Aren't we glad we did. The price went up 40% at the beginning of the year and we got in on last year's price.

When making the reservations, we had to "pick" a site. We lucked out with a great view of a canyon 300' below with a number of horse farms. And with just the right angle, an adequate wifi signal to borrow.
Lakes down in this part of the country are often man-made reservoirs and frequently drinking water supplies. Though the fish & ducks can swim around (and poop) no humans can go into the water.

Have been driving around looking at this area's beautiful huge homes. Even in the winter there are so many blooming shrubs and flowers. Everything looks so lush. Picked up a brochure on a home for sale - it wasn't one of the most beautiful homes. Can be had for the "affordable" price of $1,150,000!

There was a very extensive fire in this area in 2003. 40% of this park was burnt. Can see no sign of the damage that was caused. Expect that natives here can see what is gone - we see what is here now. Noticed many of the "beautiful" homes had large metal water tanks on their property. Probably makes their insurance companies happy.

Floating

After the Rose Parade, many of the floats get parked along a Pasadena street and for $ we got up close and personal to them.




It is facinating to see all the use of the flowers and plant products. Broccoli, potatoes, apricots, lemon, and lime slices.


Lots of the color comes from straw flowers which come in many different colors in nature. The flowers get cut from the stems and blended (really! in a blender) and then the small pieces are patted onto glued surfaces. I really enjoy the natural colors


The FTD and the Bayer floats use a lot of flowers. Many floats are made by local communities. Even more are designed by professional float designers and take about a year to build. Of course, the last few days putting the fresh flowers on the floats it must be a rat race. New this year were really long-stemmed red roses - 6' stems!





Many of the floats extend in length and height to make their way to the parade route. Lots of hydraulics that interest Dean a bunch. Many are animated and one even had fire-breathing dragons.