I left Mesa 3 days ago or thereabouts.  I tried to go see Elder Hays before I left town and 2 odd things happened. The parking lot across the street, which his daughter told me about, was almost completely empty that day. So I parked there, then sat and waited for the clock to tick away for a little over an hour. Elder Hays apparently does not get up much before 10. As I was waiting, a cop car kept cruising by – think it was the same one, but I wasn’t really paying attention, as I was reading on my Kindle. Then this cop car stopped right behind me, got out and asked me what I was doing. I said I was waiting for the hands on the clock to reach 10. Quite a few more questions were asked and I was even more puzzled as this went on.  Apparently, someone called me in to the cops, thinking I was some suspicious character.  Now I can see that happening if I was in a car or a van, but an RV?   The cop & I both had a good laugh, when he called in the error and found out he was in the wrong parking lot. 20 minutes later, this same cop came back with two coffees and some donuts to share. Had a real nice visit, learned he has a sister that lives in Fairbanks, etc.

I still had another 15 minutes to go before I headed over and a virtual wind storm slammed into me. What the heck?  There was nothing on the weather report for wind and it wasn’t windy at all in Mesa when I left.  So figured it would just blow thru…well it didn’t. It sounded like I was getting sand blasted, tho I really didn’t see anything blowing with the wind. I was accumulating dust on things, even tho the windows were closed and that got me moving, so I left… got out of Scottsdale with white knuckle driving, got onto I-10 and no wind. What?!?  So I will have to come back for a visit, perhaps after the holidays.

Oddly, I did not encounter wind again until Quartzide, it was getting tricky trying to drive in those gusty winds with big trucks all over the place. Thought I could wait out the wind at a rest area and guess what?  In CA, one is only allowed to park for 8 hours. Well, 8 hours would take me into nighttime driving and I don’t drive at night in this RV.  So kept driving until nearly sunset, when I pulled into Love’s, a truck stop in Indio, CA. One exhausted person. Fixed a quick bite to eat and went to bed.  Of course, this being a truck stop – there is zero, nada, zippo quiet anywhere. I put earplugs in and covered my head in pillows trying to find some ounce of quiet. Even my kids tucked there heads in around me. But I fell into a restless sleep until about 3:30am.  Got up, had a cup of tea, turned on the water heater, took a shower, then the generator (gosh why didn’t I think to do this earlier???) to dry my hair.  And waited until the very first light and I left.

Oh my goodness… being tired and going into unknown territory is just plain stupid. I haven’t been in this part of CA since 1991.  There are all kinds of new Interstates, places I remember having been reached by 2 lane roads are now 10-12 lane interstates. Egads!  So to avoid going any closer to LA, I decided to cut across Moreno Valley. Wrong!  Nothing like switchbacks, steep grades, no shoulders and rocks right at the edge of driving space on my short-cut.  I was going to do another shortcut before I even got to this area, but GPS & I do NOT get along. It had me circling thru La Junta, Indio, Palm Springs, even taking me out to Salton Sea. I hate GPS.  No more of that stuff. But I learned that it was a good thing I did not find that shortcut – it would have been one very hairy ride in the RV.  But I made it to Aguanga.  Of course, the gate was locked… The office is closed on Sundays.  A nice gentleman behind me let me in and directed me to boondock and I called Sarah to let her know I was here. And promptly fell asleep. It is so very quiet here.

I’m going to stay here for awhile.  I’m still looking for those elusive cooler temperatures. It was in the 90’s again and again today. Now the nights are getting better – 50’s that first night and it looks like its heading down to the 40’s tonight – I can deal with that!  Bring it on! But would really like to nip those 90 temps back down to the 70’s. Time will tell.