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23.10.2003: Joshua Tree NP - Palm Springs / Indio
By 7-30 am it was already getting too hot inside Winnie! So we got up, had a quick breakfast and went to pay the ranger for our night. Then we drove over the hills, along a windy road downhill and then along a road that you could see for miles ahead and down to Palm Springs.
You can tell that people have money here. It`s in the middle of the desert but all the brand new, shiny sports cars are extremely clean - probably washed with precious water every morning. There are also 100 golf courses in the valley where the sprinklers work round the clock. Even the trees lining the roads are sprayed with water every day! Did I say water was precious? Here it is a precious waste!
After stopping by at the visitor centre, we drove to the AA office to get a map of the area - we`re members so the maps are free! We also got a book of all the campgrounds in California and Nevada! Then we drove to the Toyota garage. What we found was definitely not what we were expecting. Huge show rooms from several car makers all next to each other in one area of Palm Springs. The sales reps were all standing outside touting for custom! So we parked our 17 year old Toyota amongst all the shiny new Toyota sports cars right in front of the show room! A sales rep was more than happy to tell us that the service centre was about 200 yards further away. What he was not happy about, was that we walked there and left Winnie on show to all the prospective customers!!! Americans drive everywhere, even when its only 200 yards away, but we`re not Americans!
At the service centre we were told that it would cost $150 just to take a look at the petrol tank, not including the cost of repairs! So we decided Winnie would have to wait until we got back to San Diego where we knew the garage M&M got Winnie up to scratch before they used him and where the guy knew Winnie inside out! Lets just hope we can get to San Diego on our tank!
So we walked back to our Winnie showing himself off amongst all those little sporty numbers and took a photo!
Then we spent about 10 minutes inside Winnie searching for the addresses of Kinkos that we had. Kinkos is a place where you can get photocopies, use the fax, receive faxes, use the internet etc ... and also where we could download our CD to put it onto the web site so that everyone back home can read about our travels. We couldn`t find the addresses so decided to drive along further down the "Strip" to where we knew of a cheap campsite - the RV parks (Recreational Vehicles) are at least $40 per night. And lo and behold, on the way we found a Kinkos. So we managed to get our web site updated at last!
Further down the road, we thought we`d got lost and drove into a large car park surrounded by shops and found a French café for lunch. I just had to try out one of their delicious looking patisseries!!
We finally got to our camp at 4-30pm and it cost us $14 for Thurs night, $16 for the weekend nights! Plus it's a hook-up so we get water and electricity included. We were supposed to have site no. 35 but got told we had parked in 34. So we had to unhook everything and move next door! But at least there is a bit of shade here.
The first thing we decided to do was to get rid of all the wood we had stored under our table. So we got out our electric saw!! Sorry, but we`re no lumberjacks! We cut up the wood into more manageable sizes and stowed it all away properly. And we found our print out of Kinkos addresses! Then it was time for desperately needed shower! It had been 5 days since we had had a proper shower!!
After writing the diary we played cards again and guess who won ... again!!
24.10.2003: Indio
Today was a laundry day! 3 loads of washing during which we went to a Chinese restaurant next door for lunch in between. (The chow mein noodles were more like chipsticks - very odd!) When we went to put the washing into the dryers, we noticed that there must have been a tissue amongst the washing and we made a real mess of the floor shaking all the bits of white tissue off!!! Then Helen had to ask for a dust pan and brush to sweep it all up!
We put all the stuff into 3 dryers and then decided it was a waste of money seeing as it was so warm outside. So we took it all out after it had finished and turned Winnie into a Chinese laundry! Honestly, the things we do to save a dollar or two!
Then we drove to the cinema to find out what was on. Easier said than done! There was no one around and we couldn`t even see where you went to buy tickets. Finally someone came out to us and it took them some time to find leaflets and a newspaper with the films they were showing and the times! We were inwardly criticising such a stupid system when we were told that we could buy tickets outside at the box office! And there was all the information about films and times right in front of us!! Will we ever get used to this country?
We decided on "Runaway Jury" - can recommend it to everyone, an excellent film. It didn`t start till 4pm which was nearly 2 hours away so we went to a Baskin Robbins ice-cream parlour in between! After the film we went shopping at food 4 less, our fifteen items swamped by all the trolleys packed to burst all around us! Then we drove back in the dark, put all the washing away and went for a shower.
25.10.2003: Indio
Today was our writing on the computer day to update the website. Helen spent 4 hours writing up a week whilst Kirsten made cinnamon roles in our oven! And then Helen cooked whilst Kirsten wrote the diary and did all the photos. We had the air conditioning on all day as it was far too hot again and we would have been burned to a frazzle in the sun outside.
At about 8 pm we went for a walk around the campsite which was really filling up as there is a Triathlon on tomorrow at the lake we are camped next to. We even remembered to put the clocks back!
26.10.2003: Indio
We got up at 6-50 am and got ready to go and watch the triathlon. We walked down to the lake where the start was and watched about 780 people taking part. The age ranged from 12 years to 82 years!!! They set off in 4 groups with 2 minutes in between as there were too many of them to start all at once. The water was apparently very cold! Most had wetsuits on. Then we watched as they changed to go riding on the bikes for the next leg. One guy got a puncture right away and after trying everything to repair it, finally gave up and joined in for the final run around the lake! Kirsten lost her camera lens cap in between so we had to go hunting for it. Trying to retrace Kirstens steps is not easy! After asking around to find out if anyone had handed it in we gave up searching. And then Helen spotted it on the beach!
The fastest time was 1hour 6 mins. The best woman was 1 hour 12. The slowest was 3hours 10. I think she walked around the lake! She also missed the prize ceremony - the fastest in each age group got some sweets and a pumpkin! Oh and a medal! There was also a $100 prize for someone who did it in costume! But no one did. If Helen had known she would have done it and with a time of 2 ... days!
We walked back with our next door neighbour who had come 7th in his age category. Then we got our sheet out in the shade with the cushions and read a bit. We also tried to fix our water pipe which has developed a leak. Later we finished off the diary updates.
27.10.2003: Indio
Kirsten copied the website onto CD ready to download it and Helen made fruit salad for breakfast. Afterwards we got Winnie ready to drive and Helen hoovered! We went to the dumping station before we said goodbye to our campsite and the ranger who said she hoped to see us soon. What none of us realised was that it would be a lot sooner than we thought!
Today was a day when we constantly had to change plans. Firstly the library was closed on Mondays! So we drove about 15 miles to the next one but were unable to download the CD on their computers. Ulrike had sent us a mail to say that there were really bad fires in California at the moment and San Diego was badly hit. So we checked the news on the internet and found out that San Diego and many surrounding areas were about to be declared as disaster areas!!! We had been planning on making our way back towards San Diego today, stopping in the Palomar mountains for one or two nights on the way.
After lunch at Greek restaurant - buffet, all you can eat for $12 we drove to Kinkos and downloaded the CD updates onto our website. Then we drove off, heading South and went to a visitor centre about 4 miles out to find out what the situation was. We were warned straight away that it was bad! Many roads had been closed - including the ones we would be travelling along. The campsites we were planning on staying at had been closed and others had had the power cut off to avoid causing further fires! There was nothing else to do other than return to our campsite at Indio and replan. We have a driving test in San Diego on Nov 5th but it`s looking very doubtful that we`ll be able to get back there. On the way we could actually smell burning in the air!
Seeing as we would be staying here for at least another night we thought we`d have a look for a cinema. We found one that was closed and another showed alternative films, mostly with English subtitles! So we gave up on that idea and drove back to our campsite.
The ranger was surprised to see us again so soon but shocked when we told her that the campsites were closed or had the power cut off! At least this campsite is still open and still has power! We only just got back to the campsite in time as she`d just locked up the office, so we will have to pay tomorrow.
Back at our site, we got the table and chairs out and read yesterdays newspaper that we`d been given at the visitor centre. The fires look really bad. We decided to go to the DMV in Indio tomorrow to see if we can do our driving test here. All other planning would have to be put on hold.
What have we achieved today? Not much. Basically we drove about 40 miles and spent the whole day just updating our website! But at least we´d found out about the fires and went to the visitor centre to find out rather than just driving off!
28.10.2003: Indio
At 9am we got a knock at the door from the campsite host who told us that the ranger wouldn`t be in the office until later as he had to repair a water tank, so we`d have to try and pay later. We assured him that we wouldn`t run off without paying!
We went for a very cold shower and then came back for breakfast. Afterwards we drove to the DMV expecting a long wait. There were at least 100 people in there waiting for their numbers to come up! We waited in the queue for 5 minutes thinking we, too, would be given a number but the woman dealt with us straight away. She told us that the DMV in San Diego where our test was, was closed due to the fires so we wouldn`t get our appointment for Nov 5th anyway. We got 2 appointments for Monday 3rd Nov in the morning.
Then we drove to the library (open today!) and checked our emails. A friend of ours who is a research doctor in San Diego had written to warn us of the situation there. She said it was raining ash!!! We`d been planning to meet up with her but it`s not going to be possible to get back to San Diego at the moment. And now we have to stay near to Indio as we have our driving tests here next week. So we checked out camp sites in the Mojave desert which is about 140 miles North East from here and away from the fires.
After lunch at a little café next to the library we phoned up various places to see about getting our petrol tank checked out and to hire a car for our driving tests next Monday. Then we drove to a petrol station and managed to fill up. So we were set for a few days to travel! Then we came back to the campsite and waited about 10 minutes for the ranger so we could pay.
Then we made a potato gratin in our oven and cauliflower cheese for dinner! It`s just like being at home! Well, actually our little electric oven is better than the oven we had in Hamburg! As the sun was setting we could see the smoke cloud coming over the mountains toward us. The wind direction is obviously bringing it over this way. Maybe it's a good thing we`re moving tomorrow! But that`s another day!
