As we pack up to leave Orange, CA, Ethan takes a swim with his dad, and I make beds and organize the RV. I call Michelle to make plans to meet up with her in Palm Springs, CA at the Cimmaron Resort where her parents are staying. Turns out that Palm Springs is very much on our eastward way, and we will arrive there at the same time Michelle does. As you know, the boys have been putting a sticker on the side of our RV for each state we travel in, and they have saved the California sticker for Michelle to place on the map. They are looking forward to seeing her and I am, too. I miss her already and I will miss our lunches during the work week. The drive away from the LA area is as hectic as ever and we make our way to the desert which is baking. The ride is two and a half hours long, and we arrive to the middle of the steaming desert to a golf resort. We meet Michelle and visit with her and her parents. Her children are so sun burnt from visiting beaches with their dad, that they are actually sick. I suppose it will take them sometime to adjust to the California sun and remember that they are not in the northeast anymore. Michelle promised Ethan they would swim together in sunny CA, so he changes and Michelle takes him to the pool. He talks Michelle’s face off and she patiently listens, and I know that when we have to leave in a few hours, he will be sad again to say goodbye to the Jordans. Ben and I join them in the pool under the scorching desert sun and Bennie and Matt play Frisbee behind the condo. We meet some very funny, friendly people from Seattle, Washington, and when they find out about our journey, they start singing, “Holiday Road” from Vacation. Yes, we are a cliché! We laugh and talk with them. After a long, refreshing soak, we exit the pool. We have to leave our flipflops at the steps of the pool because we cannot bear to put our barefeet on the concrete that surrounds the pool because we will burn the first layer of our skin from our feet! Seattle and his sister kid us that we should stay and not try to reach Arizona this evening, but we persevere anyway. I hate saying goodbye to Michelle, but we will see her in July when she returns for work and the closing of her house. We almost turned her into a Democrat during the duration of our friendship and we may be able to finish off the job this summer! I will visit her again in California when she can really show me the sights! Ethan hugs her hard and doesn’t talk for sometime after we leave the resort and we are off to Blythe, California and a KOA that sits on the Colorado River, just a few feet from the Arizona State Line.
This deserted part of California, I have to report, is not very appealing. It is hot, rough, dead terrain that is broiling in the sun. We pass massive wind farms and trucks do their best to derail us, but we drive on. The desert is a lonely, abandoned place in the dark, and we pass several groups of migrant workers towing vehicles and moving on to their next destination. Huge federal or state penitentiaries loom off in the distance, and I miss home.
Off in the distance, we see the lights of Blythe, and we are all relieved to find our KOA and exit the truck. A very, very friendly campground owner tells us we cn stay in the pool as long as we want, and I change Bennie and Ethan into their trunks right in the RV in front of the office and take them to the pool, leaving Ben to set up the camper by himself. He definitely appreciates me diverting the kids, and the kids need exercise and to blow off steam. The pool is pleasant and the warm desert air makes sitting at the pool so refreshing and relaxing. I chat an inebriated couple at the hot tub who asks lots of questions about New York City. Since it is difficult to carry on a conversation with a slurring woman, we decide to call it a night and head back to our RV.
Tomorrow we make our way to the Grand Canyon which will require an enormous, taxing drive through the Arizona desert.
This deserted part of California, I have to report, is not very appealing. It is hot, rough, dead terrain that is broiling in the sun. We pass massive wind farms and trucks do their best to derail us, but we drive on. The desert is a lonely, abandoned place in the dark, and we pass several groups of migrant workers towing vehicles and moving on to their next destination. Huge federal or state penitentiaries loom off in the distance, and I miss home.
Off in the distance, we see the lights of Blythe, and we are all relieved to find our KOA and exit the truck. A very, very friendly campground owner tells us we cn stay in the pool as long as we want, and I change Bennie and Ethan into their trunks right in the RV in front of the office and take them to the pool, leaving Ben to set up the camper by himself. He definitely appreciates me diverting the kids, and the kids need exercise and to blow off steam. The pool is pleasant and the warm desert air makes sitting at the pool so refreshing and relaxing. I chat an inebriated couple at the hot tub who asks lots of questions about New York City. Since it is difficult to carry on a conversation with a slurring woman, we decide to call it a night and head back to our RV.
Tomorrow we make our way to the Grand Canyon which will require an enormous, taxing drive through the Arizona desert.
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