La Quinta, California: Oh Sweet Reader, I had no idea a month had passed since my last update from England. After returning to Los Angeles, and spending four days with the kids, we returned to our long-neglected home. Seems two days before we arrived, the tree outside our kitchen window had blown over in another desert wind storm. It was not completely felled, but leaning on the adobe wall separating our property from our neighbor. No damage to anything but the sorry tree. Our gardeners pruned the leaning tree down to nearly nothing, uprighted the root ball, impaled an 8-foot pole near the trunk, and tied the trunk to the pole. It is ugly, but it seems the tree is thriving and already sending out all sorts of shoots and flowers. This is the tree holding several hummingbird feeders outside the kitchen window - giving us hours of entertainment daily. I asked our gardener when the pole could be safely removed and he replied never.
Then started several days of laundry, sorting, reorganizing, and reading 6-7 weeks of mail. We began our usual exercise routines, but no golf. Poor timing - we returned just in time for the annual "scalping" of the golf course. Our course will be closed until November 7th. World Athletics needs to move the World Championships to October!
Now for the Big News! We sold the Magna Peregrinus! The RV Goddess does not own a RV. What a lucky person who now owns that magnificent magical bus. As you may remember, we have loved and traveled in our Country Coach for 14 years, but after our last three-month trip, decided it was much too large for traveling. It was great for "parking" and living-in for months at a time when we wintered at the Motorcoach Country Club, but at our advanced age (ahem), we are now shopping for something smaller and more portable. And don't forget, that beautiful 45-foot luxury motorcoach (with a washer/dryer AND dishwasher) slept only two. It was purchased long before Leo and Lucile came into our lives. The grandkids want to go "camping" with us, so we are now shopping for something much smaller before they no longer want to even be seen with us. No more dishwasher. No more washer/dryer. (As I told DT: if I can go six weeks in Europe with only seven outfits in a teeny carry-on, I certainly can travel in a RV without a washer/dryer.) And, he knows how to wash dishes. We are excited about the new C-Class RVs on the Sprinter chassis. If you have any suggestions on a great small RV that can sleep four, please leave a comment below.
Less than two weeks after arriving home from Europe, DT went on a golf trip to St. George, Utah, with his old working buddies - The Dinosaurs. I can't remember how many years this group of retired guys have gathered for a golf outing, but St. George has become a favorite place. They rent several houses and golf until they can golf no more. Our friend, Steve M, flew down from Portland to drive to Utah with DT. I had the week to myself with the serious project of my annual closet-cleaning. Not too much to rid of this year, mostly cleaning, dusting (it is SO DUSTY in the desert) and re-organizing. Steve's wife, Tamra, (we all lived together in Taipei in the 1980s) flew down the same day the golfers returned from Utah and we spent My Birthday Weekend together at our house.
I enjoyed a great birthday and was spoiled with so many gifts, calls, facetimes, and flowers, but it was bitter-sweet as we are usually in Las Vegas to see Jimmy Buffett over my birthday weekend. So many years in Las Vegas for Jimmy on my birthday. No more. Never again. It is so incredibly sad. I can't get through even one day without thinking of him, listening to his music, singing one of his songs, or relating a song line to something current in my little mind/life. I did these things daily before his death, but it is now with melancholy - and melancholy is not good.
I will be feeling chipper this weekend though - we are going to spend a long weekend with the 4L's in Los Angeles. We are going to carve pumpkins and celebrate Halloween with our grandchildren, and on Monday (30th), Dave and I have a fun field trip requiring a lot of photos and another blog post... and we have another fun trip planned in November.
After posting every day for six weeks and taking a month off, I guess my blogging vacay is officially over. I'm back.
Until my next update, I remain, your RV-less Goddess.
Wow, end of an era. So glad you posted, it is always fun to hear of your adventures.
Welcome back! Regarding sprinter RVs, we have a Winnebago Navion J with the corner bed. The banquette converts to a bed, and all new J’s have a sleeping area above the cab. We’ve really enjoyed not having to tow and being able to get into winery parking lots, downtowns, etc. However, now that we have two standard poodles, so it’s starting to feel a bit too small. Otherwise, my only complaint is the corner bed, but it allows for a larger living space. The downside to the sprinter chassis is the Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity (OCCC). The Tiffin Wayfarer is nice, but it has a low OCCC.
Welcome back! Happy Belated Birthday!
It’s so sad to hear of Magna Perigrinis’s sale! Hopefully you received top dollar for the amazing care you lavished on her!
As for her replacement, you have an important decision to make on a Class C. We’ve owned our Airstream trailer now for 3 years, and it’s perfect for us. They do offer two Class C’s – one more of a pure Sprinter Van, and the Atlas, which is based on the Sprinter Chassis…but much larger inside. We have friends in our Airstream group that own each of them, and they’re both very happy with them. But unless you’re looking at a Super C (!) I think you and DT are going to be challenged by sleeping accommodations, bathroom space and kitchen lay out. Having rented a couple, we’d strongly recommend you pick a model that includes stabilizer jacks (amazing how much they bounce around while sleeping!), and several offer both a rear pop out and a side pop out/murphy bed.
If it were just the two of you, I’d strongly recommend the Grech Strada-ion, https://grechrv.com/model/strada-ion/ which I think is incomparable in engineering design…but it only sleeps 2!
No wet baths!