Indio

Welcome back everyone. Thanks to all of you that are following us on our travels!!!!!!

On my last post I brought you up to May 2nd and we were at Indian Waters in Indio California. When we arrived Eddie was looking for our "Buendia Family" sign that we hang on the front of Freeda. As he was searching, he came across some window coverings. We thought these were total block out covers for when the rig is in storage. Upon a closer look, Eddie realized that they were made out of the same material as the tire covers, just in a different color. He had a "hmmm" moment. He put up these "covers" and low & behold guess what we have had the whole time!!!!! Yes, we have side front windows, windshield & wiper blade shade covers!!!!!! It is a good thing we didn't have Diego make some for us. I would have been kicking myself all the way across the country if I had spent $400.00 on something we already had. I guess that is just another thing to chock up to our "learning curve"

 windshield & wiper shades

On the 3rd, Eddie took the Cruiser to Mando's so they could do a tune up on it. It is running so much better now. It is great having a brother in law that is car savvy. I stayed home and puttered around. I noticed a rig pulling in that looked a bit familiar. It was Roy and Jackie Holt!!!!! I went over to say hey, but didn't stay long because they were trying to set up. It is good to see them, and we are TOTALLY excited to be able to spend some time with them. Later that evening they stopped by for a chat. I could spend hours picking their brains!!

Roy & Jackie's rolling condo

Sunday, Star Wars day, Eddie picked up Lily to come for an overnight visit. He also Picked up Terri & Mel from the Airport. Our little car was going to be packed so I stayed home to get ready for our Lily time. They got back to Freeda about noonish, and we went straight to the pool. I had purchased a mask from the dollar store for her to use in the pool, but it turned out to be to small. 

Drying off

Lily at the pool

Tree by the pool

After about an hour, we decided to go get her a better mask and get a bite to eat. We dried off and headed out. I snapped some pictures of the pool area. Indian Waters is such a pretty place. They keep it very clean and lovely here.
We hope to come back here often, especially in the winter. I liked parking under a big tree while at the pool, because it shaded the car. But my poor Cruiser got TOTALLY bombed by the birds!!!!! We are still cleaning off the bird poop.

Pond at Indian Waters

Indian Waters pool area

Getting ready to head out

Different kind of art object in Indio

Our first stop was Target. We found the perfect Mask & Snorkel set, and noodle for Lily, plus a bright hot pink raft for me. Then it was on to Goodys Cafe for some lunch. Lily had not eaten there before, so it was a new experience for her. She couldn't wait to play with her new Mask & Snorkel!!!!

Lily trying Goodys Cafe for the first time

Trying it on for size

Lily ready for the water

After errands and a little nosh, it was time to go back to the pool. Lily was excited to try out her new water gadgets in the actual water.

Getting ready

Here we go

Lily & Aunt Darlanne

In no time at all, Lily was going under the water and breathing out of her snorkel like a pro. She was still a bit nervous about the deep end, so we stayed on the shallow part of the pool.

Getting the hang of it

our Lily fish

I think Lily would have stayed in the pool all night if she could of, but eventually it was time to go in. We had a nice dinner in Freeda, and made the couch into a bed for Lily. She is our first overnight guest!!!! Lily and I made brownies to enjoy the next day.

Monday morning both Eddie and Lily were up early, but let me sleep in a bit. As soon as the pool opened at 10 o'clock, Lily and I were in it. We ended up staying out there for four hours. I made sure to have lots of sun block on us both. I floated on my hot pink raft, and Lily got more and more comfortable being in the water. While Lily was taking a turn on the raft, I noticed a leak in it. So I would blow it up, float for a bit, lose air, roll off, blow it up, float, lose air, roll off, blow it up........... Lily and I had a very good laugh about my raft issues. Eddie joined us after a bit, and that was when Lily and I noticed we were getting pretty hungry. After lunch, Lily and her Uncle Eddie did an art project. When they were done, it was time to take Lily home. We had SO much fun with her!!!!!! She is such a beautiful little lady. We can't wait until we can have her visit again.

Wednesday the 7th was a shopping and errand day. We went to Walmart and stocked up. We bought food, supplies and refilled our meds. We want to get ready for our road trip that we are referring to as "the big push". We spent over two hours at Walmart. Shopping can be exhausting!!!! We went back home and unloaded all of our goodies. Our once bare shelves are now all stocked. I realized that I had forgotten to eat. Now you would think that someone as overweight as I am eats 24/7, but believe it or not, I don't. I have this bad habit of getting caught up in whatever I am doing, and plain old forget to eat. We were supposed to be going to Margaret's, so we made a quick pit stop at Burger Box to grab a late lunch.

yum yum!!!

I DO  so love me a Burger Box Pastrami sandwich!!!! And the fries........ nom nom!!!!

My silly honey bunch

Track work being done

Burger Box is across the street from the train tracks. While we were there, a very LOUD machine was doing some work on the tracks. Even though is was noisy, it was also interesting to see it. It looked as though is was pounding the railings down.

Noisy machine

Our reason for heading to Margaret's was because she is assisting us in making a website to sale Eddie's art work. She created The art of Buendia blog/website and set us up with a Paypal and Etsy account. So if you or anyone you know is interested in or looking for some REALLY wonderful art, please check out theartofbuendia.com or you can go to etsy.com to purchase one (or more) of his pieces. It is still a work in progress, but it is coming along. Margaret is VERY knowledgeable in this area, and was a GREAT help. This all took some time, and it ended up being a late night for us, but well worth it.

Birdie & Poppy

Lily

Thursday we had the AWESOME pleasure of having Roy and Jackie over for a barbecue. I made some potato salad, and Eddie cooked burgers. We had that with the trimmings, and then Rainbow Sherbet for dessert. A Roadrunner came by, but didn't stay for long. I guess he wasn't hungry or very interested in our conversation. We chatted until the sun went down then they headed back to their rig. It was a great evening, and exactly what we were looking forward to when beginning this lifestyle.

Eddie at the BBQ

Roy & Jackie

even Suzy enjoyed the evening

our backyard at Indian Waters

Margaret and Robbie have been so helpful and awesome, that we wanted to do something for them. So Friday we went over to watch the girls so mom and dad could have a date night. We picked up some pizza, root beer, and Popsicle's for dessert. Eddie and I had a BLAST spending the evening with our great-nieces. 

Phillips phamily pizza party

Lovely Lily

Maybe baby

Eddie and the girls had fun drawing pictures.

Uncle Eddie & girls drawing

Busy bee's

Poppy

The bestest kiddo's around

 After the art time, it was Popsicle time. Then getting PJ's on and brushing teeth. All to soon they were in bed and mommy and daddy came home. It was such fun for us to be with them. We want to do it a LOT more next time we are in town. We are head over heels in love with Lily, Mable, Olive Birdie and Poppy. Oh, and of course their mommy and daddy!!!!!!!

Popsicle princess's

Saturday I went over to Terri's to get in some floating time in her pool. We had a nice visit and I just LOVE her pool and jacuzzi. Terri and Mel designed it, and it is BEAUTIFUL. The wind had started to really start up, and by the time I headed home, it was going full force. It wasn't to hot out, but we closed up the window's and turned on the A/C because of the dust. It was and is reeking havoc on my allergies. All night the rig was swaying. The sky is more grey than blue-nasty!!!! 

Sunday May 11th. Happy Mothers day!!!!!! Eddie made me breakfast this morning, and I got calls from both of my beautiful daughters. Best way ever to start a day. The wind is still pretty strong. We hope it dies down a bit. Tomorrow we start our Eastward journey, and do not want any issues with the weather. We have been keeping a close eye on the wind conditions in Southern California and Arizona. We are going to get an early start because Eddie wants to travel up the hill in the cooler part of the day, good thinking. So today we are preparing to hit the road. There is a lot of driving and boondocking in our future. Both of us are excited and nervous. We are about to enter VERY uncharted waters for us. I think that our adventures are really beginning tomorrow. We are truly trusting in Heavenly Father to watch over us, keep us safe, and provide us with the means to continue on. 
This brings you all completely up to date with us. My plan is to post every couple of weeks at the least. So stay tuned to what and where the road brings us. In the mean time stay safe, be good to each other, and be happy always!!!!
Eddie, Darlanne & SuzyQ