Our Knott's Berry Farm trip....Danny, Lexi, Fran, Doug, Tyler, Levi & Dixie (this was before the rain!)

The view of the San Bernadino Mountains from our hike

A closer view of the beautiful snow capped mountains. Desert Hot Springs is in the background on the right. We were pretty high up when this was photograhed.

Settling in at Desert Pools RV Park!

Jan 22 – 27, Tue – Sun ... Getting back into the routine of daily living. Dixie is going to exercise class in the park & Mike washed the motorhome. Dixie has been keeping busy doing haircuts in the park. We made a trip into Cathedral City to Trader Joes and Walmart. Our friends from Chicago came over on Thu. for dinner and cards. Danny came to dinner on Fri. On Sat. we attempted a hike that was to take us to the top of the mountain where there is a US flag (about 4 miles roundtrip but a steep climb). It starts out just across from the park. Well, we missed the trail and ended up walking a steady incline up the canyon. We found out our error over 2 miles into the trip. We backtracked and found the correct trail and started the hike over. We only made it half way as we had already been hiking for 2 hrs. It is a pretty steep climb and we figured we would tackle the full hike another day. As it was we hiked for over 4 miles (half of which was up hill).....too much since we haven’t hiked for sometime. That evening we had a houseful for dinner. Danny & Lexi came over and Doug, Fran, Levi, & Tyler arrived just after 6pm (on their big CA/Disney trip). They overnighted with us (yes that was 6 people sleeping in the motorhome!) It started raining in the evening and never quit which put a damper on our scheduled trip to Knott’s Berry Farm on Sunday. We decided to attempt it anyway so headed in about 10a. It had quit raining when we got there around noon so we went in.....well about 10 minutes later it started raining again. We rode a few rides and took in a couple of show and just when the sun came out and it quit raining, they closed the park due to another storm coming. We manage to spend about 3 hrs in the park and had fun despite the rain! Unfortunately, Mike caught some kind of flu bug on Saturday so he had to stay home! We hope to drive back in mid week to see them. We are also ready for it to stop raining and warm up a bit.

A "Bob Hope" golf cart at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Golf Tourney in Palm Springs

Sunset at the Saddleback Mountain RV Park near Balmorhea, TX

California here we come -- Finally! Happy Birthday Dixie!

Jan 18 – 21, Fri – Mon .... We drove 500 plus miles to Balmorhea, Tx and stopped at an RV park along I 10 for the night. When we woke up on Friday morning the temp was 23 degrees!!!! We hit the road just after 7am and made our first stop about 70 miles down the road in Fort Stockton. The battery on our car was dead so we got a jump start from a fellow rv’er (we have to stop every 200 miles and start the car while towing so the transmission fluid circulates). Well, when we stopped the next time, it wouldn’t start again. This time we went into Deming, NM trying to get a new battery with no luck. We spent over an hour trying and ended up getting another jump and moved on. At the next stop we realized that the rear defogger was turned on & that was what was running the battery down. We made our stop for Fri. evening at a Walmart parking lot in a suburb north of Tucson, AZ. We put the battery charger on the car battery and all was well the next morning and no problems since. We headed out once again a bit before 7am to complete our journey west. We arrived at Desert Pools RV Park in Desert Hot Springs, CA about 230p. It was a long trip but Dixie helped out with the driving so it wasn't so bad (except for the fuel stops, they hurt!) Danny & Lexi came for a visit Sat. evening. On Sunday we met up with our friend, Ross at the Bob Hope Golf Tournament. After that we stopped at an RV park near us to watch the football game & have dinner with some friends from Chicago. On Monday we celebrated Dixie’s birthday with Dixie’s brother, Danny and Jim & Diane Jenks, some friends from Montana. We all went out for a great Italian dinner & lots of conversation!

More of the Dometic Refrigerator Saga!

Jan 14 – 17, Mon – Thur ... On late Monday, the part arrived at Camper Clinic and we were hopeful that we could get it installed on Tuesday but it was not to be. The earliest they could get us in was Wednesday. It’s pouring rain in Rockport, but we’ll be there when they open the doors. They advised us that the cooling unit install would take 5 hrs. We arrived back there at 1245p, hoping to get on the road. Well, their 5 hr job ended up taking 9 hrs, we didn’t get the motorhome back until 5pm. The refrig didn’t feel cold so we decided since it was so late that we had better overnight one more night in Rockport to ensure that the refrig was working properly. We headed to the local Walmart and overnighted there. All was well at 6am and at 7am we hit the road heading west (finally)! It is 1440 miles to Desert Hot Springs, which is our destination. We hope to arrive on Saturday!!!!!!

Jan 7 – 13, Mon – Sun ... Our plan was to fly back to Rockport tomorrow, Wednesday, however we are now having second thoughts. After talking with Camper Clinic today, Mike was told that the refrigerator part “should” be delivered today to their facility and the rep would call to confirm it. Well, surprise, surprise, no phone call. So, it’s unlikely that it will be repaired tomorrow so we’re going to delay the trip at least until Wednesday. The saga continues. Dixie is bound and determined she’s not going to spend the winter in Rockport, Tx. We’ll see. On Tuesday the 8th, we received word that the cooling unit did arrive at Camper Clinic. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it arrived damaged and could not be used. Folks, we’re looking at another week before another cooling unit can be sent. Oh when will this end?? We decided to say goodbye to Dixie’s family in Great Falls on Thursday and flew back to San Antonio where our car was. We overnighted there and drove back to Rockport on Friday. Before we did, we confirmed (after talking w/Dometic customer service yet again) that the new part was shipped that morning.

One more blog from Montana!

Jan 1 – 6, Tues – Sun ... The New Year finds us still in Great Falls, MT with Dixie’s mom and dad. New Year ’s Day was spent much like a lot of you may have spent it, that is, watching college football bowl games. On Thursday, we went to a pro (CBA) basketball game between the Great Falls Explorers and the Minot Electrics. The locals got beat badly. Good basketball though. Dixie has been working almost every day in her sister-in-laws medical billing business. That means a few extra $$ for the kitty. On Friday, we got word from a representative at Dometic (our refrigerator maker) that the needed and much anticipated part is en-route to Rockport, Tx where our motorhome is located. Yeah!! The plan is to fly back to Rockport on Tuesday and get in their face in an effort to speed this process up. We hope to be on the road to So. California by late next week, a 1,500 mile trip. Also on Friday Dixie's aunt and uncle and cousin & husband came to Great Falls. We all attended the high school basketball game. Dixie's cousin's son was playing for Butte and another's cousin's son played for Great Falls CMR. It was fun to watch! Saturday, we saw the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War”. It was mildly entertaining. Today, Sunday, Dixie and I, along with her dad, looked at several houses and condo’s both older homes and new construction—it was open house day. New is much better and we saw a couple we liked. It’s now a matter of making up our minds when we want to make an offer on one of them. Ideally, Great Falls would be a summer type home. In the winter we would head south to warmer climates. We’re still in the thinking phase!

Mike & Dixie.....Christmas 2007

The Hamilton Family (including Teague's and Humphrey's).....Christmas 2007

The End of 2007!

Dec 29 – 31, Sat-Mon ... It’s cold at the farm with night time temps in single digits and day temps in the twenty’s. There’s a little snow on the ground but not enough to do any winter stuff such as snowmobiling or cross-country skiing. Dixie did more work for Fran in the medical billing business while Mike read a good book and surfed the net. We also spent a lot of quality time with Dixie’s sister’s family and kids as well as her brother and daughter from Palm Springs. On Monday, we returned to Great Falls to close out the year 2007 by watching the ball drop ... in NYC ... which is 10:00 p.m. in Montana, plenty late for us “older” folks. On to another new year!