We will never forget Tehachapi and they will never forget us

Wednesday, December 24


Everyone is up so early this morning. That works out fine actually. We can leave early and arrive in Indio at the RV resort at lunch time and settle down for a few days before Marcela, Kai and Belle have to leave again.
The dishes are done, Ramiro has completed his preflight check. It's 9 am and off we go.

As we pull off the parking lot onto the road we hear “ggrrrrckgrchkgrckgggrcrg”. The slope is too steep for our large rig. The hitch digs itself into the pavement and we come to a complete standstill, blocking the entire road. Oh, sh....... now what?

We try lifting the rig by putting the stabilizing jacks down, lifting up the wheels and try putting some wood under them. That doesn’t work.
Ramiro starts the car, preparing to take it off the dolly, hoping to lessen the weight on the back of the rig.
Marcela stands on the road exposed to the freezing wind. We recall being at an elevation of over 4,000 feet. What else can we expect?
Kai helps Ramiro and I search for gloves and something warm to give to everyone and I take pictures, lots of pictures. This is exciting stuff guys, this is going on the blog.

By now several vehicles have stopped, observing our catastrophe. There comes the police. Aha, now we will find a solution.
A friendly Californian with a truck and chains offers to pull us out.
The wheels of the rig are smoking as he tries to pull us out. We all hold out breath.
One more try, more wood under the wheels, another pull. We hear the sounds of cracking wood, under the pressure of the wheels; A loud cheer; We’re moving!!
We thank the Californian and the police and we're on our way east bound again.

Five minutes later. I ask: “who has the keys to the car”? Not me. Not me either.
“I think they’re in the car” Ramiro says. Oh, but the car is locked. What the heck, let’s keep on going, We’ll save that excitement for later.

We drive through the Mojave desert. It’s flat and brown. Large fields of low bushes, with the weird looking cactus like, Joshua Palm trees scattered around.

We make our descent and see another summit in the distance and more snow.
This will be over soon, will it?

We see the signs of Indio and are all excited. Do we stop for lunch or do we keep going? We all agree to keep going, but prepare a snack because it’ll be another hour before we get to our destination.
We arrive at Indian Wells RV resort and find a nice spot in between the rest of the RVs and winter retreats. Half of the license plates here are from Alberta.
We call Good Sam to break into the car and get the keys out. We pop some dough into the oven to make Christmas Squares, and we greet our first curious visitor from Calgary.

Ramiro hooks up the power and water and the kids dive into the warm pool.
The temperature is nice here. There are Humming birds everywhere.
I convince Ramiro to come with me to the grocery store in the car, because we’re out of wine and have nothing for our Christmas dinner.

When we return I prepare my Mom’s famous recipe of Macaroni and cheese, with ham and curry. Everyone loves it Mom. Especially the stringy melted cheese!!

Then we need to find a way to get Bella out of the RV for half an hour so we can decorate and have Ramiro play Santa. When she returns with Marcella she gets to open a few of her presents.

There is a party going on in the Club house and Ramiro and I walk over. We enjoy the hot rum and meet some people who come here every year to stay for four to six months. The kids are in bed and Bella has left cookies and milk for Santa, and a note asking Santa to answer yes or no to her question. If he has her Dad's phone number.
When we make our way to our bedroom we find our room decorated with Christmas lights. Merry Christmas everyone!