Because we decided to drive to Desert Hot Springs yesterday, Rick drove pretty much non-stop (other than a couple of pee breaks) for almost eleven hours, to about 1 hour from our destination park. By the time we drove through the madness of traffic around LA, it was 9:00 PM, too late to get to Catalina RV Resort and Rick was exhausted. Rather than go any further we pulled into a state Rest Area and within 20 minutes, Rick was in bed sound asleep while I stayed up to get on the Internet and upload our daily journal entry and pictures. It was 18C, foggy and dark but upon checking the weather channel, I could see that it was still 24C in Desert Hot Springs, yes something to be excited about.

This morning we were awake really early but we managed to fall back to sleep until 7:00 AM. We showered, had breakfast and made coffee-to-go and it was one of those times when we truly appreciated being self-contained. It was still 18C but there were dark clouds all around us and I wondered if the forecast I had been following for our destination was wrong. However, within 10 minutes, we could see a huge break in the distance with nothing but blue sky and sunshine...whew! As we entered the clearing, the mercury shot up, the wind began to blow and mountains, windmills and palm trees surrounded us.

We arrived at Catalina Spa & RV Resort shortly before 10:00 AM, just 3 hours and 7 days earlier than we were expected. The office staff was most accommodating and we were thankful that we had decided to come here now because it allowed us to change our reservation to a different site. Had we waited until next week, site 18, where we are parked would have been gone and we would have been stuck in one that was uneven and lacking privacy. Both satellite receivers are working well, we have great neighbours, we are near the office and one of the two pools. Tomorrow we will drive back to Riverside, on the outskirts of LA for our warranty work and when we return we will set up the RV site, our home for the next little while.