The highlight of the morning was sitting on the patio watching the morning arrive while drinking coffee. The neighbor needed a little help, so we pitched in and helped out a bit. She is in her seventies, with a 100% disabled husband and a blind dog, but she doesn't let anything slow her down. She drives a 40' motorhome, tows a Honda, and walks the dog. In two days we didn't see her husband, but she said he requires a lift to get in the motorhome. Her bedroom slide wouldn't go out when she arrived at Saddle Mountain, so she couldn't get to her closet for fresh clothes, so she just hopped in the CRV and went into town and bought several outfits! She was off this morning to the repair shop, but said that if they couldn't fix the problem, she would just drive home to SoCal (with her new clothes!). A very nice lady with a wonderful lemonade out of lemons demeanor.
The highlight of midday was the awesome sight of the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm near Desert Center. It will be a 550 MW power plant when finished in 2015, and is built on more than 6 square miles of California desert next to Joshua Tree National Park. The project has brought 550 construction jobs to Riverside County, and will cost 1.46 billion dollars to build. Most of the PV panels are already in place, and it is a tremendous sight just north of I 10. It appears that the desert has turned to night, with sparkling stars scattered about. Of course, environmental groups worry that desert species of plants and animals such as the Desert bighorn and the Palm Springs round tail squirrel as well as the federally threatened desert tortoise may be harmed. Again with the "precautions".
The highlight of the afternoon was finding a Texaco truck stop that had diesel fuel for $3.31 per gallon! Arizona taxes commercial trucks at an additional $.08 per gallon, and the posted price was, of course, $3.39, which is about 40 cents a gallon less than the big truck stop chain stores. When I went in to pay, the young lady asked if I knew what my license number was. I did. Thats when she told me about the difference in cost, and told me that if I would list my MH license number and sign a disclaimer, the price would be reduced. I couldn't sign fast enough! Note to motorhome owners: if your rig weighs over 30,000 lbs or has 3 axles, you will have to pay the higher price unless the station has a policy that lets you avoid it. Evidently there is a "motorhome gestapo" that randomly monitors fueling stations to make sure no one is cheating. Sheeesh!
We're spending the night at the Spotlight 29 Casino. Officially in the town of Coachella, it is at the intersection of I10 and Hwy 86, and is a perfectly good place to get some sleep and a good meal. The casino has a dedicated truck area, and another paved area for RV's a short distance away from the trucks. There are only about a half dozen rigs in the lot tonight, so there's plenty of room to space out.
As we sat outside eating dinner, we watched the awesome end of the day in the desert:
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