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Writer's pictureRuth Mcbride

From one extreme to the other!

What a horrible night I had last night! The road noise was unbearable being so close to the highway in the RV park in Santa Barbara. I ended up getting out of bed to get my Kindle to read a book, only to find out that my Kindle was on low battery, so it needed charging. Luckily I always have some soft cover books with me, in case I’m not able to download a book on wifi. I started reading until I finally fell asleep after midnight, with the sound of the highway noise lulling me to sleep.


Newman jammed in tight to the highway noise attenuation barrier.


We woke up with the sunlight and decided to get on the road as soon as we could, which ended up being at 9:23am. We had to get on Highway 101 North for 1 exit, before we could get off at a round about, and then get on Highway 101 South. The RV park is really only accessible off the highway if you’re heading North on 101. Anyway, at least we knew we were now going in the right direction to our next destination.





Our worry today was that we would hit traffic in, or near Los Angeles, on our way to Palm Springs, California. Our GPS said it would take us 4 hours from Santa Barbara to Indio, where our RV Resort is located, but we were really hoping it didn’t take longer than that.



On Hwy 101 driving south. We hugged the West Coast for awhile, which was beautiful and sunny this morning at 11C.



When we reached Ventura, California we turned inland and said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean. That will be the last time we see the Ocean on our trip to Florida. It’s a bit sad to see the end of the Ocean, as it was beautiful to watch the different coastlines of each of the States we’ve driven through.



Washington, Oregon, and California coastlines. All different coastlines, but each as beautiful as the next!


As we drove into L.A., I checked to see how warm the temperature was.



Nice temperatures! No coat required and sunny too!


The last time I had done this drive from Los Angeles, (LAX airport) to La Quinta, California it was the last business trip I ever was on with the Bank. In January 2020 I was in California for the launch of the new Land Rover Defender. I refused to fly Air Canada Rouge, because there was not enough leg room for me and the Bank wouldn’t allow anyone to fly business class or upgrade to more legroom unless the flight was over 5 hours, or an overnight flight. So instead of flying Rouge, I flew to LAX on Westjet the night before everyone else flew in, on a 737 with lots of leg room, rented a car and then drove to La Quinta. I remember that the drive was fairly uneventful, which is exactly how it ended up today!


We did see a little bit of a traffic jam up at one exit in L.A., but by and large, our drive was a fairly easy one today.


We stopped to put $200 of diesel in Newman, outside of San Bernardino, California, since we do not have a fuel gauge that is working - with the warning lights on the dash still going crazy. We are manually figuring out how much fuel we put in, our miles per gallon and then recording in our log book, so we know when to fuel up. We figure we will fuel up fully in Arizona, once we get out California, where we are hoping the cost of diesel fuel is cheaper. At $4.99 a gallon in California, it is quite pricey!


We always know we are getting close to Palm Springs when we see these wind farms! I’ve never seen so many wind farms in one place before, except in the Coachella Valley!

The San Gorgonio Pass wind farm. There are 3,218 units ranging from 80 feet to 160 feet in height and the wind farm was built starting in 1982, when wind energy was approved in California. The original idea for wind energy in this area was thought of in 1926. Drew R. Oliver, President of the Oliver Electric Power Corporation promoted the idea of generating electricity from wind in the San Gorgonio Pass area. In collaboration with a local electrician, Oliver build a wind turbine using a generator that had been salvaged from an old roller coaster. They fitted the generator with aluminum propellers and placed a large funnel on the front to concentrate the wind’s power. The powerful winds quickly burnt out the unit, but after a few more tries, they were successful in capturing electricity from the wind. The idea was to try and raise enough funds to generate enough power to provide electricity for all of Palm Springs. Eventually, the project ran afoul and was shelved, but how interesting that now this wind farm generates 615 MW of electricity!

It’s always nice to see the sigh to this spot! We love Palm Springs, California. It’s got such a great vibe!



A most excellent temperature to be arriving to in Palm Springs!


Entering the gates of Motorcoach Country Club, Indio, California. We certainly have gone from one extreme to another! Motorcoach Country Club bills itself as ‘The Crown Jewel of Motorcoach Resorts’. Motorcoach Country Club only accommodates Class ‘A’ Motorhomes 30 feet and larger and the resort was voted Best Luxury RV Resort by USA Today in a Reader’s Choice 2021 poll. So we definitely have gone from one of the worst RV parks in the U.S., to the very best RV resort in the country!


As we were driving to our RV spot, Richard was salivating over the various ‘high end’ coaches in this place!



Tiffin Class A - Motorhome.



Newell Class A Motorhome. Notice the Casita in behind the RV. The Newell brand only does custom coaches for the owners, who can customize everything on the coach, including the paint job.



Newmar King Aire.



A Prevost. A Very expensive coach!



Another Newmar King Aire.



A newer Newmar Dutch Star than our Newman!



Another Newmar King Aire with a casita.



And then there is our Newman! The oldest RV we’ve seen so far in this place! And probably the dirtiest too! Richard is hoping to be able to wash Newman while we are here. He had to check the rules to see if that is even allowed, and it seems he will be ok to wash Newman while we are here. It is supposed to be 100% chance of rain on Tuesday, so maybe he can wash Newman while I find somewhere to get a pedicure!


As part of our amenities in our lot for the time we are here, we have some nice features!



A nice dining room table with an umbrella. A bar counter with a fire feature in it.



A nice seating area overlooking the outdoor kitchen with a BBQ, side burner, wine fridge, sink and bar fridge.



The fire feature is on the counter under the plastic cover. We lit it and it works. I think we will definitely have to do some BBQ while we are here!



Entrance to our casita.



Our little casita which has a desk and a bathroom. I think some people have much larger casitas with family rooms and a washer and dryer, but the owner of this lot is still working in Spokane, Washington and they don’t even own an RV yet. We just happened to meet the owners when we arrived who are down here on vacation staying with some friends in Palm Springs. They have some other friends in this RV resort, so they bought a lot knowing that once they retire in 4 years, they will buy an RV and come here for the winters. In the meantime they put their lot in the rental pool and the resort rents it out for them. They have to pay $50 every time the lot is rented out, out of the money they make from the rental, for the resort management fee.



A toilet, sink and shower in the casita.


A nice tiled shower in the casita. I know where I’m showering with unlimited hot water for the next few days!


After Richard got Newman all set up, it was time for a walk around this 400 lot, RV Resort. Most people seem to have golf carts they ride around in, but our lot didn’t come with a golf cart. It was nice to stretch our legs after our 5 hour drive to get here.



Some of the RV lots are on a waterway and people are allowed to have electric boats to drive around through the water.



There are a number of swimming pools. This little pool, overlooking the water is just down from our RV site. There is also change room and a laundry room for people to use.



A golfing frog near the Clubhouse.



Looking at all of the fancy RV’s in this resort. The Clubhouse is in the background which houses a 5 star restaurant called ‘Top of the Falls’, which is appropriate since there is a waterfall in front of the clubhouse.



Waterfall in front of the Clubhouse and the entrance to Motorcoach Country Club with the gate house in the distance.



There are tennis courts in the background and beautiful landscaping throughout.



A closer look at the back of some of these water lots. Some of them even have their own pool and hot tub!



We happened to find the 18 hole executive golf course which is free to walk on and play anytime. No tee time required! There are organized ‘Men’s and ‘Ladies’ golf days, but anyone can play after the Men or Ladies, at 12:30pm the same day.



Another shot of some of the holes on the golf course. Richard is still in awe of this gorgeous place. He said its like a big playground for old people with money!



A beautiful little area of the resort!



This lady had a beautiful vintage looking golf cart all decorated for Christmas.


We made a reservation for dinner at ‘Top of the Falls’ for dinner this evening. Sunday evening is ‘Italian Night’ so there is a special menu for dinner. There are Member and Guest prices at the ‘Top of the Falls’ and we apparently qualify as Members for the time we are here, to enjoy slightly better pricing for meals. We are going to definitely make use of the BBQ while we are here too. I’ve been looking forward to cooking outdoors since we left home in October, but the weather has definitely not been conducive to outdoor living until now! I know they have Trader Joes in Indio, so after Richard picks up the rental car tomorrow, I think we’ll need to make a trip to stock up on some more food!


We feel like our time in Palm Springs is going to be our ‘vacation’ before our drive to Florida. We’re definitely going to relax and enjoy some downtime while we are here, before we have to get on the road again. We have definitely gone from one extreme to the other though from last night ’til today. This is how the ‘other half’ live I guess in their newer Class ‘A’ Motorhomes! I wonder if we will enjoy this lifestyle or say it was a nice experiment? I guess time will tell, but we’ll enjoy it while it lasts!























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