Time With Friends is Time Well Spent!

Roseville, CA RV friends, Dave and Barb Schwartz arrived with their Sun City Roseville RV Club. They have been traveling around to various RV parks in the Southern California area. One of their stops was here at the Golden Village Palms. We were fortunate that Dave and Barb extended their stay here when the rest of the club left and so we got to enjoy their company for an additional week. Dave is extremely competitive at the game of Pegs and Jokers and loves to teach new players. We think it is just so he can beat them soundly. It is a game for two to eight players and can be played as teams. Dave didn't know that Diane and Tim had been secretly practicing with Mike and Judy before they left. We spent several days playing P&J either outdoors in the warm sunshine, or in the clubhouse on a recent wet afternoon. We had the closest games ever in an afternoon session with Joyce & Jim, Barb & Dave, and us. It took three heavily contested matches before the guys could claim solid victory. Now we just HAVE to get one of the game boards.

Our Salem RV friends, Ron and Sandy Mountain with their dog Toby, arrived after a rather rough trip over the Siskiyous. They were on their way to Las Vegas for a basketball tournament and had to forge ahead in spite of the weather. They still don't know how much fun travel can be when there is no deadline to meet to be somewhere. They have a beautiful Winnebago Voyage and are still doing shakedown cruises. Every time they go out they seem to learn something new about their rig. Ron had to fly home to work (what's that?) for a few days then returned in time for the good weather.

Gresham friends, Gary and Sunny Stautz, in a shameless attempt to be included in our blog scheduled a trip to stay at the Worldmark Resort in Indio, CA for a week. While there, they rented a car to come over to Hemet to have their picture taken. Just kidding, just kidding. We were delighted to see them and have them visit our winter home. After a tour of the facilities here, we enjoyed a wonderful day at the Echo Hills Golf Course. Gary and Sunny stayed through our Happy Hour festivities before heading back to Indio.

It's March Already!

Okay, no more waiting for a rainy day to update the blog. Sorry that we are so far behind.

Here is a shot of Tim (in the white hat) enjoying his favorite activity here at Golden Village Palms. The game is played for two hours every day, rain or shine, although cold winds can deter a few people. On many days there are enough players to fill both volleyball pools (48 players), but on questionable weather days there may be as few as six to a side. It is a fun game here as there is no score kept and the whole object of the game is to keep the ball in the air while laughing the whole time.

We greeted the arrival of another member of the Wersch clan. Cousin Bill and wife Mary Ann arrived in their Dutch Star motorhome. True to form, Bill managed to squeeze his 38 foot rig into one of the smallest spaces in the whole park. He is well known for getting into tight spots.

Mary Ann is newly retired and still feels like she is just on vacation. Bill has been retired for over two years and has been chomping at the bit to be able to get out on the road.

Leaving their rig parked here, Bill and Mary Ann left recently for a two day trip to visit Death Valley. They were very impressed with the scenery although their overnight accommodations were nowhere near as nice as their motorhome.

Joyce and Jim and Diane and Tim took a Sunday afternoon to load up our bikes and head to Diamond Valley Lake. There is a 21 mile loop trail that goes around the manmade lake. Being the avid bike riding types that we are, we managed to make it for three miles before turning around for the return trip. The consensus was that we would love to be able to make the full ride around, but our bottoms need a lot more training time in the seat. Maybe next year. The scenery was gorgeous and the temperature was just right. The warning signs were a little on the frightening side advising us to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes or mountain lions. We had a great time anyway.

We celebrated Jim's birthday with a traditional happy hour followed by a nice dinner out at the Mimi's Cafe here in Hemet. Here he is reading some of his cards.

Joyce, Diane, and Bill got a chance to meet up with another cousin, Virginia (Piltz) Smith who has a park model home in nearby San Jacinto. Virginia is a real hoot and certainly travels a lot for someone of her age, 78. She had several stories and all of the cousins gained more knowledge about their heritage as stories from days of old were exchanged. Virginia and her sister were planning to audition for the Wheel of Fortune game show which was intriguing to Tim.

The auditions were being held at the nearby Morongo Casino. Diane was willing to go along for the ride but didn't want any part of trying to become a contestant. When we arrived, Diane risked a night in jail (long story) to snap a few pictures of Tim in front of the Wheelmobile. After trying to find the start of an apparently neverending line, Tim gave up his quest to be the perfect contestant and simply switched over to playing a slot machine with Diane on the machine beside him. We both played for over 45 minutes on our first $20 bills. When we ultimately cashed out, we came back with $240 more than we started with. Guess that makes us big winners on Wheel of Fortune after all.

Regrettably we said good-bye to our neighbors Mike and Judy as they started their trek home to Federal Way, WA a week earlier than expected. We can't thank them enough for their help in keeping our coach repaired and for the great hair coloring job that Judy did for Diane. We are just hopeful that we can make it back home without something major happening that Mike won't be here to fix.

Well, today is turning out to be a great day for pool sitting so we will close for now. See you soon!