We had thought our previous travel day, from Quartzsite to Borrego Springs, at 165 miles, was short. Borrego Springs to Indio was quite a bit shorter, at about 65 miles! Love these short hop days!
It’s a good thing Linda made reservations, as the Lodge “campground” was full! They offer sites with water and electric hook-ups, and a dump station nearby. They also have dry camping as over-flow. The featured picture was taken from in front of our spot.
A couple of days before we arrived, Linda learned her friends, Clarke & Elaine, would be there also! Our first evening, we went into the lodge for some adult beverage refreshments, and to get acquainted with Clarke & Elaine. You follow along with their blog Our Newell Adventure.
Linda, Elaine, and I headed out early (for me) on our first morning. Our stops included Costco, Walmart and Trader Joe’s. The men opted to go to Lowe’s instead, with a mandatory man stop at Harbor Freight. Us girls stopped for Thai, the guys had Mexican. Later that evening, the six of us had pizza at Billy Q’s, Linda’s favorite pizza stop.
Our second day we took care of some chores, including Bill helping Steven replace an inverter fan. Since there was entertainment (a DJ), after dinner, we headed into the lodge. We kept the bartender busy as we chatted for a few hours. I would have done a bit of dancing, but the conversation was lively next thing we knew, it was jammie time. I know, lame, right?
The next day was the highlight of our time in Indio! Sadly, Clarke and Elaine had moved on already, but Steven & Linda and Bill & I headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. We packed a picnic lunch, and were ready for an adventure! Since words will not adequately describe the experience, I’ll just show the pictures, although honestly, they don’t do it justice either.
Our next stop in SoCal was Twentynine Palms. You may remember, Bill and my Goddaughter, Jessilynn, and her family live there. Last time we were in the area, Bill & I parked right in front of Jessie’s house, but this time, since we were traveling with Linda & Steven, we decided to stay the one and a half miles up the road at the Elks. We had actually noticed the Elks last time we were there, hoping to use their dump station, but since we weren’t Elks yet, they wouldn’t let us. Now that we are Elks, they welcomed us with open arms, and even invited us in for food at their installation dinner. If it weren’t that we only in town such a short time, we would have considered the offer, but we wanted to spend every minute with Jessie, Mike and the girls.
Bill and Mike went up to the grocery store to get some burgers for dinner, while Jessie and I visited and started making the salsa verde. The girls entertained us with their antics. What a great day!
The following day, I was up and over to the house by 8:30AM! I know – right? Me?! Why?, you may ask. Well, there was Carnitas to make of course! I had asked Jessie if we could make them, as on our last visit she made them and I had been dreaming about them since we knew for sure we’d be stopping to see them!
Linda (who spent the previous evening in the ER with a kidney stone!) & Steven joined us for dinner. I was excited for them to meet the family. That, and I’d been bragging about the carnita’s, so they were excited to try them. Bill took care of a few things before coming over with margarita’s, but Jessie and I had gotten an early start. The day flew by, a sure sign of a wonderful day. We ended the evening with puzzles and family dancing (even Uncle Bill!), afterward kissing the girls goodnight in their beds. Our next visit MUST be longer!
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Next up: RV Dreams Reunion Rally in Pahrump!
Those carnitas looked so yummy… how about a recipe????😋
Thanks for reading Chloe! I’ll see what I can do – it’s not my recipe 😊
Thanks to good blogs like yours, my husband & I sold everything, bought a small 5th wheel & will be leaving Dallas after a few more Dr appts. Our second night the marina & boat storage caught on fire & we woke up thinking the world was ending with all of the explosions. Last night we were in a hail storm & tornado warning. Needless to say another hair raising night. I would like to start a blog to keep family & friends updated. Are you happy with inkhive? Also is there information on joining the Elks? Thanks- Hope to meet for happy hour down the road- Bonnie
Thanks for reading, Bonnie! Sounds like a crazy beginning to your full-time life – hope things calm down for you guys! I use WordPress.org and the theme is by Inkhive – it took me some time to learn how to use it after the first few years using WordPress.com, but yes – I am happy with the blog. We really wish we had known about – and joined – the Elks at the beginning of our full-time journey – it has been a great experience being an Elk and staying at their lodges! I would go into your local lodge and ask for an application. It is easy. You will need a sponsor, sometimes someone in that lodge will offer to sponsor you, if not I’ll see if we might be able to. Please keep in touch and let me know how your journey is going! We’d love to meet up down the road!
Love the desert. I was there just before the big earthquake, visiting my daughter. 25 yrs ago. She was just married and DH was stationed at 29 palms. Went to Jousha Tree national park, and to Palm Springs. Did not get to go up the mountain. Love following your blog. Keep it up.
Thanks Carol! We are glad to enjoy the blog! We didn’t get into Joshua Tree NP this visit, since it was such a short visit and we did last time in 2016.
Hey Kelly, love the first picture. Beautiful. Oh cool picking lemons. That thing you did up in the air, scary. I am afraid of heights and things like that really scary me. Not to say I have not done those types of things or will not again but makes my stomach turn. LOL. Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Always great to hear. Still looking at getting the new rig soon we hope. Have a wonderful weekend. Please tell Bill we said hello.
Thanks Chris! I used to be more afraid of doing things like the tram but I’ve decided I’m trying not to be afraid anymore. There are some things I still won’t do (ride a motorcycle, skydive, scuba dive) but other things I am going to at least try to try. Helps to have Bill or other trusted person with me.
Keep me in the loop on any rig decisions!
Kelly, those are the things I will not do either. I did try scuba diving a few years ago and freaked out. At least I tried but will never do it again. Frank on the other hand loved it. I will keep you posted. Getting excited about getting it sooner rather than later. Have a great day.
Wow, that tram looks incredible! We have heard about Linda’s hospital visit, that had to be a bit scary. We also heard there was a fire at 29 Palms, did you see any evidence of that?
Thankfully, Linda is doing well, but yes – was scary! I did not see or hear about a fire – I’ll have to ask Jessie!
Thanks for all the blogs
Can Bill write about the way he goes through the motions on the F350 (I have a 2015 F350) going downhill. I have never been down steep grades and I wonder what does he do how many tacs do the truck go to. A video would be nice but how does the truck act does it ram up a lot etc… Thanks
Thanks for reading, Darryl! That’s a great question! Bill will answer shortly!
Hi Darryl
We have a 2011 F350 dually Diesel so I believe all this would apply to yours. The exhaust brake is integrated into the tow/haul mode. On smaller grades (2 or 3%), I press lightly on the brake pedal to cause a downshift to 5th gear. This is generally enough to maintain our speed. On steeper grades (4 to 5%) I slow down a bit before the decent and go down in 4th gear, again this generally holds our speed back. On steeper grades I slow down even more and go down in third gear. If the grade is really steep the exhaust brake alone cannot hold back the speed increase. I let the tachometer spin up to 3600 to 3700 RPMs and apply the truck brake for a few seconds and scrub off 10MPH or so and let the speed gradually build up again. This allows the brakes to never get to hot. We descended one 11% grade that I went down in second gear. Our truck automatically upshifts if the RPMs get to 4000 RPMs so I always apply some brake before it gets there. Once you go down a few you will feel much better about it. The truck does a great job towing our 17000 pound rig.