January 22nd

  Breakfast in the hotel, actually it was pretty good for what was billed as a bright beginning.  They had more than I would have expected at a continental breakfast anyway.  Yes as Phil  pointed out last time, it depends on the continent.   It turned out to be a good deal as Marg came up with a coupon on the rate and then talked the clerk into a two bed room that would accommodate all four of us in a La Quinta hotel.  It was cool at San Bernardino, but that is high country being in what seems to be the mountain area.  Got some fuel before heading out and paid cash to get the lower rate of $2.33/gallon, but didn't fill up.  That was good for the area as I saw rates as high as $2.79 when paying by credit card.  This is a real trend we see in the area, lower prices for cash.  Makes me wonder how much of the sales revenue is being reported as income for income tax purposes.
  Traffic was busy as we went out all the way to Indio, but still made more miles in an hour than we did in the 2 1/2 yesterday.  The wind was gusting all the way and when we got to the big wind power installation, most of the propellers were turning.  There must have been well over 100 turbines in a small area.
  I wanted to get over the state line to Arizona before buy fuel, so when we got to Quartzsite, I pulled in to fill up.  We also went for lunch to Carl's Jr.   It was sure busy as the place is still full of people going to the big gem show/RV sale/yard sale.  For a small community, they sure attract a huge number of people for this.  Without exaggerating, I would estimate somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 rv's boon Docking in the area.  These people are dry camping; in other words, they just park out in the desert with the dust, scorpions and rattlesnakes.  Some will stay all winter, others will move on to other places when this big event ends.  It seems to go on for a couple of weeks.  We took an hour and looked around.  Some really interesting stuff as well as a lot of real junk.  I picked up a few things, but I don't think the rest did.  I saw some of the oldest outboard motors I have ever seen right over by the old pump engines, tractors, cars, etc.  There was even a self propelled manure wagon that some guy was taking for a test drive.  Pretty funny.
  After about an hour it was back on the road.  By then traffic was light and it was 4 lane divided on the interstate all the way to Phoenix.  Made it back to town just in time for another rush hour.  After LA, I was not about to be rattled by one in Phoenix.  The roads are better, wider and traffic is handled much better in this berg.  Had lots of fun debating with Daniel about the HOV lane or one of the regular lanes.  We must have chosen well as it only took 45 minutes to get through the heart of the city.  On the radio they reported a few major accidents that we could have been caught up in had we chosen poorly, but Marg picked a winner.
  When we got back here, we went straight to Ihop for supper.  Neither Daniel, nor Vanessa had been to one before, so it was an opportunity for me to go to an old fav and them to try something new.  I had the usual dish off the seniors menu [yes you read that correctly] and then it was back to the park.
  The wind was still blowing when we got to the park and the temp had fallen off quite a bit.  In fact I think we are forecast to be in the 40's tonight [that is in single digits for our metric followers].
  No pictures - well I thought the last couple days would hold you for a bit.  LOL!