On Tour: Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

It's been over a week since my last entry. We've been here at Indian Wells RV Resort since returning from Napa on the 10th. The weather has been incredible except for one night last week when we had some pretty high winds. I retracted the patio awning before going to bed and ended up getting out of bed around midnight to retract the two smaller window awnings on the port side of the coach. They probably would have been okay, but the wind was really howling like a son of a gun and I decided to err on the side of caution.
We're parked along the eastern boundary of the park that borders Shields Date Garden. When we arrived, there was a hedgerow of some sort of flowering tree/shrub, about eight feet high, running the full length of the boundary. I had to almost touch the back of the coach up against the trees so as not to leave the front end hanging out in the road. A couple days after our arrival, tractors, chippers, a dump truck and several workers wielding chain saws, shovels etc. arrived and began cutting everything down, digging up the root balls and just generally making a mess. We weren't told about the impending (de)construction when we checked in - so it came as a bit of a surprise. It was noisy and dusty and resulted in a view not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as before. The soil here is really more sand than anything else and even when there is no noticeable wind, the sand seems to find it's way into the coach and we find ourselves dusting a little more than usual. It's not all that bad, but the hedgerow provided a barrier between this end of the park and the sandy, beach-like landscape of Shields Date Garden... and it ain't there no more. According to a notice left on our door last week, a wall will be built in it's place. More digging, more dust, more noise.

Before...

After...

I rode my bike up to the office a couple days in (at the urging of a few neighbors) to see if they were offering any sort of compensation for the inconvenience. The woman was very nice but explained that 'word had come down from management' that anyone wishing to leave would have the balance of their 'rent' refunded but that no other compensation was being offered. I spent the next morning checking out three other RV resorts in the area - none of which had a space for me.

Oh well.

I did, however, extend our stay here at IW another thirty days. On February 10 we'll be moving to a site located in the middle of the park - and away from the dust.

So, what else have we been up to. We've been out to eat at a couple of places. There's a recurring TV commercial advertising Mario's Italian Cafe, a chain of four or five restaurants here in the Coachella Valley. One of their restaurants is about a mile down the road from us, beside the Ralph's where we do our grocery shopping. Last Friday we were in the mood for Italian food so we took Suzanne's mom out to dinner. Mario's is apparently a very popular place. We had to wait only fifteen minutes or so for a table but it appeared that people arriving while we were dining had a much longer wait. In his TV ad, Mario boasts that his restaurant serves the fullest $5.00 glass of wine in the valley... he wasn't lying. And the linguine with red clam sauce was incredible!

We took advantage of Senior Monday at the Century Theatre last week (I still haven't completely accepted/acknowledged my senior status) and saw the new Star Wars movie. I enjoyed it, Suzanne was less impressed.

I've been exercising almost daily at the fitness center here at IW. As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not the best, but it'll do.

Suzanne's sister Jodi's son, Ryan drove out from LA this weekend and took us out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory at The River in Rancho Mirage. We had a great time dining outside under heaters and listening to the smooth jazz band playing on the outdoor stage. Ryan joined us for breakfast at the coach Sunday morning before returning home to LA. He also helped Suzanne figure out some issues she was having with her cellphone.

There's a closet in the rear of the coach where we store towels, extra blankets, sleeping bags etc. There are no shelves and everything is just kind of stuffed in there. I've wanted to do something with it for a while and today was the day. I considered a few options and decided to go with adjustable metal shelving. Having visited the local Home Depot several times since our arrival, I chose instead to check out Lowe's today.

Here's a couple of before's and an after...