Monday, September 30, 2013

Coachella Valley Preserve

Sunday we went to Southwest Community Church. We go to this church whenever we are in the Palm Desert area. We really like the worship here as well as the teaching from Pastor Gerald Sharon. Having said that we really do miss our home church, New Life Community Church in Oxnard, Ca.

Southwest Community Church
After church we decided to go out to lunch. I had heard of a burger joint called "Grill-a-Burger" that was supposed to have some really good hamburgers. They really were good and I think we will be back! :)

Bacon Cheese burger!
Today we took a trip to the Coachella Valley Preserve to 1000 Palms Oasis. We have been here many times and last year even hiked a couple mikes to another oasis with a pond in 100+ weather with the Blankenbillers. 

I took the pictures today with my phone, and I could not see what I was taking because the sun was so bright. I did not get this whole sign.

1000 Palms
Here is the preserve.

Preserve
I thought this was kind of cool how this palm curved over a bench seat.

Curved Palm tree
We walked a little ways down the McCallum trail.

McCallum Trail sign
This is the start of the trail.

McCallum Trail
We met a couple that was on vacation from England. They were planning on going to Joshua Tree National Monument Park tomorrow, and then on to Death Valley and then Yosemite. Unfortunately the boneheads in Washington didn't do their jobs and ALL of those places will be closed starting Tuesday! 

Here is the wood walkway we met the couple on.

More of the trail
We really like it here in the Coachella Valley. Palm Desert is so pristine! All the roads are always clean and the landscaping is beautiful! Because we have good 50 amp service (and the Hughes Autoformer is working great), the 5th wheel stays cool. The swimming pool is very nice. And so far the heat has not bothered us at all! In fact the other day it got down to about 85 and we were commenting how cool it was! WEIRD! 
No problem though, it was back to about 97 today! :)

Well that's it for today,

God bless you and thanks for reading,

Love you,
Brian and Patty








Thursday, September 26, 2013

Flexible Cutting Sheets



Yesterday we went to the Salton Sea again. The Salton Sea was formed in the early 1900's when the Colorado River had a levy break and the flooded the plain. There was no exit so the Salton "Lake" was formed. Because there is no exit for the water to flow, once the levy was fixed through evaporation only the salt and chemicals were left. As farmer runoff occurred with no place for the  water to exit and thus circulate the water continued to become more salty and toxic.

Fish died, the water stunk, the land became scarred. It is an awful looking place. Some people have stuck it out, but it is truly a dead area. Some homes, but most are abandoned. We took some pictures last year if you want to look it up. Did not take any new ones this trip.

It was time to defrost the freezer in the RV.  It normally takes several hours to accomplish this tedious task. I read somewhere that you could use flexible cutting sheets to line the back of the freezer.

These can be bought at Walmart or Bed, Bath and Beyond or other stores. We picked ours up in Quartzsite back in January at one of the swap meets for cheap.

Flexible Cutting Sheets
We got either 4 or 6 of them for about $5.00. They are 15" x 11" in size. Sometime maybe in May or so we installed them. Because they were not the right size to fit I first put one in long size up.

One sheet in.
Because they are flexible they do bow a little so I have the bowing out in the middle, that keeps the top and bottom tight against the back. The shelf keeps it tight in the middle. I overlapped the sheet to put the second one in.

Both sheets in.
After we put both sheets in, we refilled the freezer. I usually wait until we are low in the freezer to defrost.

Refilled
To defrost now I just reverse the process. I first pull the food and the shelf. The ice just builds on the back wall. I was able to pry the first sheet because they overlap using a butter knife. It came right out with a 1" thick sheet of ice. The ice slid right off the sheet. I thew it out the door like a Frisbee! I did the second sheet the same way. Next time I will put a towel in the bottom to catch any falling ice.

Ten minutes later I was putting it all back together with no fuss or mess! Whoever thought of using this was a genius! I am impressed. I have a few extra sheets that I am giving to RV Bill. It is about time I am able to give back to my good friend!

This morning we went to the Augustine Casino in Coachella. It is a small Indian Casino that has an excellent breakfast buffet. Monday and Thursday are Senior Days or as they call them, "Golden Gamers" day.

The made to order Steak and Omelette buffet is only $7.50, but on Seniors day it is only $5.50. For some reason they only charged us $4.50, possibly because it was our first time. I questioned the lesser charge, but they said it was correct. There is no tax because it is on the reservation so it was only $9.00 total for both of us. It was really good! Better then the Vegas buffets!

They also gave us $12.00 each in free play. You can not just cash that out, but have to play it, but can cash out any winnings. We cashed out $59.04! We figured that was pretty good, even after paying for breakfast, we cleared $50.00! We could get used to that! :)

Well that is it for today,

Thanks for reading,

God Bless,
Brian and Patty