January 2007

January finds me driving back to the RV after moving Mom into her new apartment in Columbus. Driving a car a long distance, and I-40 ocean to ocean IS a large distance, makes me realize just how convenient it is to have a refrigerator, bathroom and microwave 15 feet from the drivers seat. An RV IS the only way to travel. The Oklahoma and Texas panhandles were very beautiful and if it was not for the temperatures in the winter time, would be worth another look for where I am going to settle when it is time to park this for a while. Guess I will just HAVE to keep traveling and looking some more. It was interesting to travel towards Phoenix on the Sunday before the Ohio State - Florida BCS game. Just about every car or vehicles on the road was supporting one teams colors. It was fun to watch and listen to the interaction in the rest stops on I - 17. And after all that build up, what an awful game. Boise State for National Champions, the only undefeated NCAA team!

Friendship. A simple word. Very often taken for granted or over looked. This holiday season, I was shown one of the best examples of selfless friendship I have ever experienced. A die-hard Yankee fan bought me a Boston Red Sox Blanket and Throw pillow in team colors. Now that is friendship! Thank you RLB, for your friendship thru the years of laughter & tears of raining teenagers and working together, plus a few computer crashes, a flood or three and of course, LVMATE.

Keeps me nice and warm while I watch the TV in the living room. Somehow, with this ice storm that has devastated the heartland of the country, it is hard to remember that it is less than 30 days till pictures and catchers report to spring training.

The mountains in Southern California are some of the starkest things I have ever seen. There is no vegetation on them at all. Having seen the, I now understand why the mud slides, on those rare occasions where it does rain out here are so devastating, There is NOTHING to hold that dirt and gravel in place.

This morning I was awakened to a rather loud and unusual sound, and no it is not the lawn sprinklers. THAT sound I have gotten used to. (see my comments on what a 5 star RV park should and should not have) I realized what that sound was and grabbed my camera and took this picture over my roof.

The Balloon landed in the field behind the RV park. I am sure the Casino that sponsored the balloon thinks this is a good way to get its name out there, but I am not so sure that waking up potential customers at the crack of 8 am is the way to do it

Please note the leaves still on the trees and with a bit of color left in them. This has truly been the year of the eternal Autumn. I figure it is possible to make fall last 18 weeks, if one is willing to travel a bit to do so. There are rose bushes in full bloom out here, along with Chrysanthemums, Petunias and the ever present Pansy. Do people know how hardy a Pansy really is?

View from the roof of my RV

I wish the pictures showed better how crisp and clear the air is here in this valley. Those mountains are 50 to 75 miles away and over 10,000 feet. Yet it seems you could reach out and touch them or walk to them to in minutes.

As January comes to a close, I head back to my favorite Western horizons Park, in Desert Hot Springs CA. Here I spend most of my time being, well too busy to do any thing else but but having fun. 8 am to 10:30 to 11, pickelball is played with gusto. Many of the players are tuning up for the Senior Games to be held in Palm Springs Feb 8 thru 11th. Pickelball is a competitive game that does not require the athleticism of something like tennis, but rather placement and positioning. At the Senior Games, the age brackets run all the way to 80 to 85 and there are plenty of players. Good Players at that too. 11:30 to 1 is volleyball most days, followed by a nap and then water volleyball under the stars. There is nothing like ending a day in a heated pool, in 70 degree weather playing a game with few rules (for get 3 hits and no double hit, only two rules we play with is keep it out of the water and inside the lines) A fun time is had by all, and we end it with a long soak in the mineral spring feed hot tubs and a sauna. Get up and do it again tomorrow!

While the scale says no drop in weight, my waist line has gone down a lot here. So has my blood pressure. I had that checked after a proved that my head was harder than the cement and tile wall in the swimming pool diving for a ball. My head is OK, and the park was nice enough not to make me pay for the crack I put in the tile. I did pick up a new nickname though, when I play water volleyball here, I will forever be known as KnotHead!

Got to run, time for a late afternoon session of pickelball!

From Sunny and warm Southern California!