Saturday, March 3, 2012

Now in Palm Springs Country

We left Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort, in El Centro, CA, one day later than expected.  We had a very good reason.  That story later in this blog.
Plenty of helicopters fly over the Rio Bend resort.
El Centro is the home of a major US air base. Naval Air Facility El Centro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia As a result, there is plenty of daytime activity in the skies above.  It's also the home of the Blue Angels.    Blue Angels : Official Website
It got a bit breezy one evening so we dined indoors in our fiver.
If you are a fan of aerobatics, or plenty of flight activities, this El Centro area is a good place to park yourself on an outdoor easy chair and keep focused on the skies above.
Farming dots this area and alfalfa is a prized crop too.
A large troop carrier helicopter.
The winds did abate but few RVers were interested in the pool.


This covered wagon is the signature photo for this RV site.
It's an OK 9 hole golf course.
We got to play the resort course here on three occasions.  Although it is a short course, there is one par 5, several par 4's and par 3's make up the balance.  The course appeals to RVers.  It is busy....but I've played much nicer layouts - with nicer (level) T-boxes and better greens.
The Blue Angels, working their magic.  Thrilling to watch.
We had planned to spend only three nights at the Rio Bend RV park.  While registering a few days earlier, we saw a sign promoting a special concert by a favoured performing artist.  Kenny Hess was to put on a show on Monday, March 1.  We opted to stay one more night.  And what a show it was.  Kenny Hess
He is a gifted singer, songwriter and a really good stage showman.
We know Kenny.  In fact, he wrote one song that our daughter Ginette recorded a few years back.   He is a very good friend of our daughter's music producer, Ron Irving, also a gifted song writer and singer. Boutique Records - Home Template
A nice photo taken with Kenny Hess.
Kenny was good enough to sign a CD and to meet our friends, Diane and Hector, below.  We all agreed that he is a wonderful Canadian talent - who like many Canadian talent - go unrecognized in our country but are better recognized in the US. That is a sorry statement but it's true.

Kenny raised the roof and he received a standing ovation.  This guy has what it takes to put on a great show.
Diane, Kenny Hess and Hector (L-R)
After the fun evening, we packed up, closed the slides, hitched up and began the 90 mile drive up to Desert Hot Springs.  This area (in the Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, etc) will be our home for the next seven days or more.

Hector and I will be joining two of my regular golfing friends, who are flying in from Vancouver, for five days of golfing.  Yeah!  Can't wait to play some of the great golf courses in this area.  By booking early, we got really good rates on high quality golf courses.
Ready to leave Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort.
We lost count of the number of trucks that were transporting carrots to market.
Seen at the turn off to the Borrego Springs Highway.  Boon-docking and four wheeling is a huge draw here.
We knew we were near Desert Hot Springs when we saw these big whirly birds turning in the wind.
The windmills were busy generating electricity.
As I write this blog, there is no wind as I look out our picture window in the fiver - at least not yet.  Some locals mentioned that the winds were to die off in the next day or so.  Yeah to that!  We meet our Vancouver golfing friends on the first golf course this coming Monday morning.  We're told the winds will be parked and the nice temps will return. Our fingers are crossed!

More in the days ahead.

Thanks for dropping by.

5 comments:

  1. I'll keep my fingers crossed for no wind, too!

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  2. glad to hear that you arrived safely at your next destination!..rubbing elbows with Kenny Hess..how cool is that!!!..hope the wind doesn't come back but we all know it will!..have a great rest of the weekend!!

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  3. Nice way to end your El Centro visit with the Kenny Hess show. Good picture of you and Jeanette with him. Glad to hear the winds have died down. Have a GREAT Week golfing with your friends from home.

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  4. The United Stated Navy Blue Angels
    Home Base -- NAS Pensacola, Florida.

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