Wednesday, January 3, 2018

A Heck Of A Hike!

     A rare, at least during the time we've been here, overcast day in the Coachella Valley. Fortunately overcast doesn't necessarily portend foul weather in this neck of the woods. As a matter of fact it was a lovely day with temperatures reaching the mid 70s. Travis and I decided it was a perfect day for a hike so I got online and searched for dog friendly hiking trails in the area. There were several. Some were too short, some too long, some too far away, too hard, too easy... we decided The Homestead Trail looked just about right.
    First things first, a walk over to the dog park for some tennis ball time. There are two fenced areas, side by side here at Indian Wells RV Park, one for large breeds and the other for small. It's a nice area but there's about a three inch gap at the bottom of the fencing - which translates to me having to do almost as much retrieving as Travis. On our way back to the coach there was a fellow sitting at a small table in front of his RV with a box-full of dog biscuits. I'm guessing he's a permanent fixture here and that doling out morning treats is part of the daily routine. He had treats of different shapes and sizes and offered up one of the king-size variety, which Travis gladly accepted.
     Back at the coach I filled my hydration pack with water, dog snacks, human snacks and Travis' collapsible water bowl then we hopped in the car and headed for the hills, literally.
     We had a good time, meeting up with several other dog/human teams and making new friends along the way...

                                                           (click on pics to enlarge)





     I'm not sure how far we hiked. At some point we strayed off the Homestead Trail and onto... I think it was the Hopalong Cassidy Trail and after quite a long hike, came off the mountain about 2.5 miles away from the Homestead Trailhead, where we had parked the car. That necessitated a circuitous 2.5 mile hike through residential neighborhoods - and after about thirty minutes we found ourselves back at the Suzuki (thank God for smartphones and GPS). Travis happily hopped in the back of the car, stretching out on his bed for the eight mile ride home.
    Having worked up a sweat on the trail, once we got home I took a shower before making lunch. I spent the afternoon doing some housework and a couple loads of laundry. My next door neighbor arrived home and came a-knockin' at my door to tell me I should lock up my bikes. He had left his unlocked last night and his wife's was stolen.
    I put the cable lock on the bikes.
 
    There's a channel routed into the underside of the galley counter top that I think is designed to accept LED strip lighting. I've seen this type of lighting in other coaches and have had it in mind to, at some point, install it in ours. So, after feeding Travis his dinner I took the half mile ride to Home Depot and bought an eight foot LED light kit - exactly the length I needed.
     I think it looks cool...


        Tomorrow morning I'll get out my roll of super-sticky-double-sided-tape and mount the control inside the cabinet, where it can't be seen.

  Thanks for checking out the blog.


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