R-V There Yet?

March 30, 2007

 We went to San Diego and took a harbor cruise.  It was great.  We will post more on the entire trip later. Our boat pulled out of the dock in the SD Harbor and started going toward the south end of the harbor.  Within 5 minutes I spotted a huge statue that reminded me of the famous World War II “Life” Magazine photograph.

http://www.life.com/Life/special/kiss01a.html

 This is the statue we saw in the harbor.

When we got finished with the cruise we went to the statue and took pictures.  Then we ate next door at a restaurant called The Fish Market.

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=27774

The staute has been in New York City and FL.  It will be in San Diego for 2007 and then will be moved somewhere else.

Looking up her dress!!!!!!!!

March 28, 2007

We got wind of a couple of hot springs that were in the area, near Holtsville, just east of El Centro, CA.

We saw a few curious things on the way to the springs.  We had noticed some strange palm trees that turned out to be decorated antenna for cell and other radio transmission.

This valley is all desert, but they grow a tremendous amount of vegetables here thanks to the massive irrigation projects.  This is an irrigation canal that supplies massive amounts of water to the area fields.

Here are our migrant workers picking crops.  By the way, they arrived in really nice cars.

The two hot springs that we visited were quite different.  One of them was within about 50 yards of Interstate 8.  The temperature was between 105 and 110 degrees.  You can spot these locations because they appear to be your typical oasis in the desert.

The other pool was farther out in the desert on some bureau of land management property.  The temperature of the pool was probably in the mid 90’s.  On the way we saw several RVer’s that were camping in the desert, and had been for the entire winter, with no facilities, but it’s free.

There were several people at both springs.  At this one, some even brought chairs and put them inside the palm tree oasis enclosure.

There was a slight chilly breeze in the air, so it was a little cool when you got out of the water.  There was a pipe in the middle of the pond that spewed a 2-inch column of water about a foot in the air.  The water probably replaced itself several times a day and ran out one end to a little creek.

We didn’t want to bore anyone with the few missing days in this blog.  We did some swimming and a little reading.

Saturday, March 24, 2007 

We needed to go get some supplies and since my cordless drill died, I needed to get a replacement for it too. 

Back down the hill from hell to El Centro and the Super Walmart. (Another note to self: “You’re retired, don’t shop on Saturday”)  It was about 40 miles to town, a little less traffic than going west to El Cajon.  On the way back up the hill the truck temperature gauge stayed right on the center line.  I have to believe that on our last trip up this hill (3500 feet in 7 miles) that the thermostat didn’t open.  The replacement earlier in the week did the trick.

In the evening, there was a scheduled theme dance with a live band.  The theme was “nametag” dance.  Basically, you pick out a current or historical figure and dress yourself accordingly and let people guess who you are.  Tinka was wearing a pussycat ring and a baby doll bracelet along with short shorts and high heels.  Her attempt at portraying a contemporary girl band “The Pussycat Dolls” went over the head of nearly all of the attendees who may not be up on current rock bands.

Rick fared much better in the guess department.  Can you tell who this is?

Friday, March 23, 2007

The weather took a turn to the cool side.  I still got my swim in, thanks to the indoor pool.  Tinka went hiking.

The balance of the day was spent relaxing.

Afternoon sun on the mountains.

Mountains to the South.

Mountains to the West.

Thursday, March 22, 2007The half mile swim time was reduced to 24 minutes.

Some time was spent doing a few maintenance items.  We had a little damage to one of the kitchen cabinet doors when the slides were opened upon arrival.  The cabinet door had opened during our journey and the edge of the slide caught it upon opening.  Note to self:  Be sure to velcro the handles together to prevent recurrence.We completed Tinka’s mother’s income tax and will submit it on Friday. 

A major storm came in in the evening and blocked out the satellite TV for about an hour.   Considering this is the desert, we’ve seen more rain than we have in months. 

Wednesday, March 21, 2007Rick advanced to 1/2 mile swimming, up from the 1/4 mile he had been doing for several days.  Tinka did some pool exercises, in her own fashion, generally making waves.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Golden Acorn Casino located about 15 miles away.  After a round of luck that can only be considered “BAD”, Rick was sent to the nickel slots for the duration.  Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tinka was a little under the weather with the 24 hour flu, so Rick headed back to PepBoys in El Cajon to have the coolant and thermostat changed out in the truck.  Upon return at noon, Rick went swimming and continued to improve his time.  Then we spent some time catching up on sunbathing and reading.