Palm Springs - 'Wind Event'

And, look at this great campground. Oops, it looks like a dirt parking lot with lots of RV’s on it. No palm trees, no grass, no hook-ups, why in the world would anyone camp here? Well - it’s free for some. For others, it’s next to a casino. For us, it’s a place to hunker down while we wait for the winds to die down through the passes.

Our reservation in the Palm Springs campground ended today and we were supposed to move on to our next campground, in Jamul, the far eastern suburb of San Diego where we plan to stay until we leave for Hawaii. Our route takes us west out of the Coachella Valley on Interstate 10 over the Banning Pass between the San Jacinto Mountains and the Gorgonios towards Los Angeles. When we get over the pass, we turn south towards San Diego. At least that’s the geographic plan. The weather plan is something entirely different. Unfortunately there is a ‘wind event’ which means that we’ve got a wind advisory through the pass. Especially for those of us in what are called ‘high clearance’ vehicles. Since we’re 12’7”, that means us. Wind gusts of upwards of 45 and 60 miles per hour are expected through the pass.

Remember how we just got our RV washed and waxed? Well, the ‘wind event took care of that. Here’s the view out out window towards the RV next to us. All those little dots are minute pieces of sand that cover our RV. Oops. But, luckily we aren’t getting it cleaned today as some RV owners are.

And we will ‘pass’ on trying to make it through the pass today. I’ve called the Jamul campground and they have moved our reservation to Wednesday, mentioning that we are not the first ones calling to change. However we now need a place to stay overnight. A common place for RV’ers to stay when they are just passing through and do not need any hook-ups, is in casino parking lots. They are usually very big and the casinos, hoping to empty our pockets, often encourage RV’ers to stay. And, some casinos have even put in full campgrounds. As we have driven around Palm Spring, we have noticed a casino named Fantasy Springs which has a large parking lot and, every time we pass by it, we notice RV’s and some trucks in the outer lot. It’s only 8 miles down the highway, we can hunker out there to wait out the wind event and travel on to Jamul tomorrow.

So, we hung around our current campground until noon (since we could use their electricity til then) and moved 8 miles on down the road to our new ‘campground’ and here we are. Look how many RV’s are here. Some are here for more than just a night, I’m thinkin.’ They’ve got their chairs and some front door mats out. But, check out the view - beautiful.

Meanwhile, we thought we’d check out the casino - you know how much Gary and I like to gamble. The last time we were in a casino, we had to ask one of the attendants how to play the slots. Dumb and Dumber in the casino. Gary had gone to use the bathroom and I was standing there alone and - get this - a guy winked at me as he walked by - behind his wife. Winked at me? He must have had a piece of dirt in his eye.

Meanwhile, Gary found a slot machine just for him: ‘Cops and Donuts.’ Look at that gleeful face. And, how much money did he win at this? Well, first you’ve got to put money in.

Gary and I did get our walk in around the area and returned for our dinner.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m complaining about the cold but it has been a bit cool out here. Some friends of ours are in Tucson where the lows last night got into the teens. Now, RV’s aren’t really insulated for cold like this. We have furnaces and water heaters and most RV’ers can tell stories about waking up and finding snow on their rigs. We can, too. But RV manufacturers made RV’s for warm temperatures not freezing temps. That means that I’ve got my hiking socks on, my flannel lined nylon pants, a fleece jacket and will be snacking on hot cereal tonight before bed.

In fact, it’s time for ‘snack’ now.