Even though it is dry here, we have learned that living in the desert can be a very windy experience. The fields of windmills and the "drifting" sand should have been a pretty good clue, but when the motorhome rocks with the gusts it becomes very evident. Today was sunny and warming up to 23C and as windy as I have ever seen anywhere. It was a perfect day to do some visiting.

One of the many great things about travelling around the continent is meeting "strangers" and making new friends. This summer when Rick and I were staying in Campbell River, we were parked beside a couple from California, Dee and Jim. In the month that we stayed there, we became friends and exchanged contact information with them with the hopes that we would meet again someday. Well, on Friday night Rick rummaged through his collection of business cards and discovered that they live near here in Palm Desert so he called them. This afternoon we spent a most enjoyable afternoon visiting with them and some of their friends.

Yesterday when we toured the 1000 Palms Oasis, we met another couple hiking, Fran and Steve, originally from Utah who now reside in La Quinta, another community near here. From them, we learned about the oasis and several other places to explore in the area and by the time we finished our trek we'd been invited to join them for dinner tonight. So today, after our visit with our other friends Dee and Jim, we headed over to La Quinta to enjoy a delicious homemade Mexican dinner with Fran and Steve. We had a really nice day visiting with people who one day started out as strangers and have now become our friends.