PALM SPRINGS OR BUST!

New Mexico/Daniel Marques

On Monday morning, November 25th we were eager to get through Texas. It is such a LONG ride. El Paso was about 120 miles and a couple of hours drive. We knew that once we got into New Mexico then Arizona would just be on the other side – well, that’s what the map said anyway! We drove up Interstate 10 coming within miles of the Mexico boarder and the Rio Grande. We didn’t realize just how close we were until we drove through downtown El Paso around noon time. We could see what seemed like less than a quarter of a mile away, across the Rio Grande the Ciudad Juárez. Daniel snapped a couple of pictures – I was way too busy trying to navigate through the downtown highway.

New Mexico/Daniel Marques

New Mexico/Daniel Marques

Once through El Paso, Las Cruces New Mexico was about an hour away and then another 2 hours to the Arizona Boarder. Our plans were to be in Tucson around 7ish. Everything takes longer when you are in an RV pulling a car behind you! We finally arrived at Diane’s Daughter’s house around 8pm. Diane thought that Carrie and Chad’s place, because it was on a dead end, would be a great out of the way place to park – and it would have except their beautiful house is in a hilly area overlooking the city and there wasn’t a level street to be found and their driveway would have gotten us hung up for sure. We just wanted to have a little dinner and spend the night with Diane and Jim. This time we really didn’t have a Plan B so we decided to head to the Super Walmart closest to Diane and Jim’s place. It’s not proper RV etiquette to park your RV and leave it empty in their paring lot. If anything happened or they needed to get the RV moved – it wouldn’t be a good thing. So, as it was getting late, we decided to stay where we were and meet Diane and Jim in the AM for breakfast. 

Arizona/Daniel Marques

We would park in front of their house for an hour or until someone complained. So, we went into Walmart and did a little shopping – you ALWAYS need something! We hunkered down for the night with about 3 other RV’s and slept pretty well. We woke up at 8am with cars parked pretty close – probably Walmart employees trying to send a message. At least we were not the LAST rig out of the lot that morning! LOL During the evening we got a call from Palm Springs that made us decide to head there first thing in the morning, on the 26th, instead of later so we postponed our breakfast plans and promised Diane and Jim that we will be back their way soon! Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, things don’t always turn out as planned. But your real friends always understand and know that you will see them soon. So, we left Tucson after fueling up and getting a coffee for the road.

Arizona/Daniel Marques

Phoenix is only about an hour and a half from Tucson on the way to Palm Springs. We had previously planned to have a very quick lunch with Holly & Jason Mallette in Glendale which is a suburb of Phoenix.

We tried to get my Cousin Jonna Coleman and her Husband Paul to join us but it was too short notice for them and we ended up postponing our stop in Phoenix and made more promises. We blew through Phoenix about 9:45am on the 26th and hit the CALIFORNIA state line about 12:30pm.

Arizona/Daniel Marques

HOLY MOLEY!!! Only 2 hours to Palm Springs from the State line! We got into Palm Springs a little earlier than expected and had to wait an hour or so until my friend Tom was through with an appointment. SO, what did we do??? We parked in the parking lot 2 1⁄2 miles away at the Walmart Supercenter on Ramon and Crosley and waited until we could get in to the gated community. We headed down to meet Tom at the house about 4:30pm. And temporarily parked on the side of his house to unload a few things from the RV before it got dark. We made plans with the community Manager to park the RV in their RV lot for the time that we would be staying here. It is only 2 blocks from Tom’s house which made things very convenient. 

Palm Springs,CA/Daniel Marques

We got settled a little bit and headed out to grab a bite to eat at Elmer’s (https://eatatelmers.com) and old staple here in Palm Springs. We sat by the Fireplace as there was a chill in the air and had a delicious diner with my best friend who I had only seen a couple times briefly in the past 7 years. It was a good thing. Since Tom could not make it to our Wedding in June, we had made plans during the Summer to come to Palm Springs in November for Thanksgiving. I had made reservations for us to fly to Palm Springs on November 19th and return to CT on December 17th in time for Christmas. Then as most of you know a few things changed, which pushed us in to making a decision sooner, especially after finding the RV and car package literally in our back yard. I was able to get my miles returned from American Airlines and that’s when we decided to drive out to California.

Wednesday, November 27th was time to finish planning the Thanksgiving dinner. Tom was able to finish most of the grocery shopping before we got here but there were still a few things that I wanted to pick up to add to the planned feast. For as long as I have been making Thanksgiving dinner for my Family, I have always stuffed the turkey the night before as my Mother and Grandmother did before me – and no one ever got sick or died! Of course, the turkeys then were upwards of 28 pounds with a few pounds of stuffing inside. I always had to get them into the oven around 6am in order for us to eat at a decent hour. This fresh turkey was a tad bit over 12 pounds so I decided to get up a wee bit earlier than usual on Thanksgiving morning and stuff the bird then.

It worked out great, even though I had to move dinner from 2pm to 3pm as it took a little longer than I had expected to get that bird into the oven. As you can see from the beautiful pictures that Daniel took, the meal came out fantastic and the pictures almost looked like Thanksgiving dinner at Norman Rockwell’s! We all hope that all of our family and friends had a wonderful Holiday. It was very different being away from our family back in CT but also very special being here in Palm Springs for a slightly warmer Holiday. The next addition to the Blog will be much shorter and a little less detail.

I feel good now that I am only 6 days behind but the bulk of our cross-country adventure has been documented and things will be slowing down now as we enjoy the rest of our time here.

By Mike Farkas

Photos: Daniel Marques