Elking....

Our fourteen days in the Ocotillo/Borrego desert came to an end Tuesday......Steven was up early stowing his 7 solar panels in anticipation of our 60 mile move to Indio.....we planned to roll our wheels by 1000 hours, but we beat our plan by 30 minutes........

Photo courtesy Linda Gray Davey

......within 30 minutes we were all dumping our gray and black tanks at the ARCO Travel Center.......this is probably one of the nicest travel centers we have ever visited!  They have 6 dump stations (free to use), two fresh water spigots (free to use) and a gigantic propane station from which they dispense propane at $1.99/gallon......the second best price we have EVER paid for propane........

.....our destination for the day was the Indio Elks Lodge some 60 miles from our Borrego Springs Desert encampment.......we anticipated having full hookups, but just to be on the safe side we all dumped, and took on fresh water.....and after 14 days in pretty cool weather we took on 27 gallons of propane......hoping to do better than that at Quartzite!

Photo courtesy Steven Dempsey

We were back on SR 86 cruising northward by 1045.......since Steven and Linda had been to the Indio Elks Lodge before we had them take the lead......here they are passing us (above).  We arrived at the Elks Lodge around 1130 and in took our place in line to register for our sites.....this lodge has some 55 RV sites......a few pull throughs, and a lot of water/electric back in sites.  We each were assigned back in sites with 30 amp electric and water.....no sewer.....sure glad we decided to dump!  However, even if we hadn't dumped in at the ARCO they do have a dump station here at the Elks Lodge which is free if you are renting a site......by the way the daily rate is $22.....we were guests of Michael and Liz......Steven and Linda also are Elks members, and we are thinking we will become Elks members before we leave SoCal.  We did have to 'drop' our trailer in the parking lot as our back in site is only 38 feet long, but it was all done easily.

While the ladies went shopping to resupply our food and sundries stores the guys busied themselves with projects......I took a shower, packed up two eBay items I had sold while in the desert, and then took a short nap before the shopping party returned with their spoils gleaned from Smart & Final, Trader Joe's, Costco, etc.

Nighttime glam.....she cleans up quite nicely doesn't she?

Around 1630 we convened at Steven and Linda's coach for cocktail hour (Manhattan's courtesy Linda.....my first) and around 1715 we headed off with Steven and Linda for dinner at Billy Q's in Palm Desert (4.5 stars - Yelp - on 255 reviews).....it is a small pizza/sports bar that Steven and Linda found on their last stay in Indio....this is their 3rd time back.  TLE an I would agree that their pizza is exceptional.  We each ordered our own pizzas......TLE the 'Personal' which is quite small, and the rest of us the 'Small'.  The food, service and ambiance were wonderful which nicely complimented the conversation which is always interesting with Steven and Linda.

We were home by 1900 hours and headed to our respective coaches for the night.......thanks for stopping by!