Doin' the Borrego

While we paid for a stay of 3 nights in the Quechan Casino RV parking lot, our intent was to stay just two nights giving ourselves a chance to somewhat recover from our dental surgeries on Friday and hopefully be up to rolling our wheels by Saturday, and that was the case.  I awoke Saturday with very little discomfort so decided no more pain pills were needed, which meant I was good to drive.

We were on our way out of the dirt parking lot by 0825, parked briefly on the pavement to insert the Beetle into the trailer, and then merged on to I-8 westbound by 0840......I set the cruise control to 60 mph and just held on to the steering wheel as we floated down the Interstate......our destination?  Borrego Springs Desert!  When we left Borrego back on January 13th we knew we had not had our fill of this beautiful setting, and were determined to return on our way back to Riverside for a few days.

Our 120 mile trek was without incident......we arrived at the Salton City ARCO around 1030 where we parked a few minutes whilst TLE went into the Dollar Store adjacent to the ARCO to pick up a few things, and were back on our way by 1040.  We arrived at the Rockhouse Road sign just before 1100, and were in our site by 1115......right next to our friends Steven, Linda and their daughter Tara (Tara is visiting them from her home in San Diego for the weekend) who arrived back here back on the 20th after leaving us at Quartzite.

Within an hour of our arrival the wind picked up so much so that we were chased inside for the rest of the afternoon......around 1530 I got a message from Linda suggesting we head into Borrego Springs around 1630 for Margaritas and Mexican cuisine.....you don't have to twist my arm too tightly to get a positive response to that suggestion!

Our restaurant of choice was Pablito's Mexican Bar & Grill on Palm Canyon Drive (590 to be precise).  They are open every day of the week, but close each day from 1430 to 1700 for siesta.....we (TLE, Steven, Tara and I.....Linda was a little under the weather) arrived just as they were reopening for the evening.

We promptly ordered Cadillac Maragaritas......TLE, Steven and I all ordered Chile Relleno's, and Tara a Burrito.  Their Chile Relleno is right up there in the top 10 I have ever had.....very, very good!  We were back 'home' by 1830 bidding adieu to each other for the evening as the wind continued to howl.....and howl it did for most of the night.  Ironically, it must have been a warm wind as when we awoke this morning (Sunday) our inside temperature was 72....that is the warmest inside morning temperature we have had since our stay at Rincon Parkway in Ventura!

On a side note......just before we left the Quechan Casino I had run the generator for about 45 minutes to use the block heater.......normally when I am ready to start the Detroit Diesel I walk back to the bedroom (where the block heater on/off switch is) and turn off the block heater, but this time I started the engine, then turned off the generator.....neglecting to turn off the block heater.  Why is this a big deal?  When we arrived at Borrego our batteries had just reached 100%.......after leveling the coach, and taking care of a few outside things I came in to dial in the satellite for our DirecTV, which necessitated turning on the inverter.......said inverter then supplied power to the still 'ON' block heater.....within the 45 minutes, before I discovered my error, our batteries were back down to 89%......doh!  I resisted the temptation to turn on the generator to recapture some of the lost electrons, but just decided to see how much we could get back with just the solar panels. By the time the sun was setting we were back to 96%.....with no plans to watch TV last night I felt comfortable with leaving it there.....this morning the batteries were down to only 85%.....pretty normal if we had watched TV, and started at 100%.  So, the lesson learned.....never skip a step in your routine thinking you will remember to turn something off, or on later.....YOU WILL FORGET......at least I will forget.....:-)

We spent the evening ready......well, TLE did....I got my book out to read around 1845, but apparently promptly fell asleep not awaking again until 2100!  I guess I needed a nap, or was it those two Cadillac Margaritas that sedated me?  I did end up reading for about an hour before going to bed at 2200 for the night.....the wind continued to jostle our coach as I drifted off to dreamland once again.

Thanks for stopping by!