Winter Vacation

Our Winter Vacation '04 - Page 2

The swimming pool at Desert Pools RV Resort

As we were heading east and nearing Desert Hot Springs, we traveled through the forest of windmills that are festooned on the hillsides on each side of the road. Their gigantic white blades were moving with the wind, producing electricity from nature's energy. We soon exited from Interstate 10 and a few miles later we entered Western Horizons Desert Pools Resort. We didn't have a reservation, but because of our camping club membership, we were able to secure a stay for one night. Of course the weather was warm and wonderful as we took in a round of miniature golf and then walked around to survey the facilities. The interesting thing about this resort is that it has natural hot springs that feed its three hot tubs, each at a different temperature to suite your desire. We spent most of our evening soaking and visiting with other RVers who were doing the same. The next morning, we took in a presentation by the CEO and founder of Western Horizon Resorts, Jim Loken, who just happened to be visiting at this time. It was interesting to hear how his business was started, and about what we can expect from having joined this organization. We were impressed.

The next day we were off again, but we did not travel far, just to Indio, about 25 miles down the road to Western Horizons Indian Waters Resort. This is a beautiful place with lots of green grass between RVs, unless you are placed in the transient section like we were for the "one-dayers" where it was just gravel and concrete. But still, it was a very nice place with modern and clean facilities.

On the road again, we stopped the next day at Ehrenberg near the Colorado River across the border in Arizona, at another Western Horizons location called Colorado Oasis RV Resort. That evening, the resort put on a spaghetti feed with ice cream sundaes for desert, and then we enjoyed some singing entertainment by a cowboy singer. We couldn't figure out at first how this singer knew so many songs (he was just singing song after song), but then we realized that there was a hidden karaoke machine that he was glancing at to get the words he was singing. After awhile, many of us began dancing to his music. Then, the manager of the resort broke out some champagne and we danced into the late hours. It was a fun experience and it gave us our first taste of what these resorts have to offer in the way of entertainment and a good time.

The next day, we had a road trip of only 16 miles, but this time we exited the freeway about 5 miles west of Quartzite, Arizona, drove off into the desert, and found a place to "dry camp". Getting off the highway and traveling overland in the motor home was a new experience. The desert floor had a gently rolling flat hardpan surface, which was fairly easy to drive upon. We found a nice level spot with a good view and with some cactus nearby, about a mile and a half from the highway. After we settled in, we then took the jeep and drove into Quartzite to take in the RV show that was there, an annual event. If you are not familiar with Quartzite and the annual migration to this place in January and February each year, it is really quite a spectacle to come upon this oasis in the desert that has only a couple hundred people in the summer, but houses tens of thousands at this time of the year in RVs that cover the valley floor for many miles. Besides an RV show with it's massive tent and various vendors pushing their wares, there is also a rock show with the most beautiful earthly specimens you've ever seen, and also rows and rows of other miscellaneous tents and booths with vendors pushing all kinds of tempting things to buy. This is truly a remarkable place out in the middle of nowhere.

Our abode in the desert was a comfortable and interesting experience. We were far enough away from other RVs so that their generators did not distract us and we felt close to nature in the desert, even though we had the luxury of having our home with us. In the evening, it got dark fast, but we had electricity for lights and satellite TV. After a meal of razor clams cooked by Diana, we took in the night sky of dazzling bright stars, which only the remote desert can provide. In the morning, the distant hills about a half a mile away, were beckoning to us. So, we got on our hiking shoes and started for them as we passed by all kinds of interesting plants and things of the desert. A while later, we found ourselves high on top one of the hills with spectacular views in all directions. It was fun to get out an exercise our legs. Our close up experience with this desert environment was wonderful. After spending two nights in the desert, it was time to move on to our next stop at Casa Grande, Arizona.

In Casa Grande, we stayed at the Western Horizons Casa Grande RV Resort. This was to be our home base for the next two weeks. We were actually quite lucky to have received a reservation for this place since it is normally booked up weeks in advance at this time of the year. However, Diana called for reservations only three days previous to our arriving and we were told that there would be a spot for us. After we arrived, everyone told us how lucky we were to have got in, because everyone else had made reservations many weeks previous. We figure that someone probably cancelled just before we called and that is why we were able to get in. Casa Grande is located between Phoenix and Tucson and is situated in one of the hot spots in the US. However, during our time at this place, it was anything but hot. If fact, it rained everyday during our first week, and we awoke several mornings on the second week to find frost on the car. With Casa Grande as a home base, we made many excursions in all directions and we became quite acquainted with the area. This particular Western Horizons resort is very popular and it is known as the resort with nonstop activities for everyone. We did not do too much in the activity area because of the many excursions we took, but we did take part in a few of them. On three days, when we were not touring the area, we took in a class on Country Line Dancing. We did not know that there were so many different kinds of dances, other than the Electric Slide (which they really did not consider a worthwhile dance), but we tried everything they taught and we had loads of fun. The other thing we did on a few evenings was to partake in the meals put on by the resort. For a nominal fee, we could dine with other RVers in the large meeting hall and enjoy a delicious meal and then be entertained by music performers later in the evening. This gave us a chance to visit and talk with other RVers and to learn of them and their experiences. We found it very interesting to meet people in this way and we learned that there are some very nice people out there in the RV community, some of whom we would like to keep in contact with and meet again.

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