We were grateful for the opportunity to spend two happy days at Agua Caliente (last hike not withstanding!) While the open road called to us, we did regret leaving after only two days in Agua Caliente. (After our challenging hike, we hoped to enjoy a quick dip in the beautiful indoor thermal pool. Unfortunately we arrived too late – the pool closes at 5:00, so we missed a last dip in the relaxing pool.)
Our destination for Friday and Saturday was just south of Indio, CA. Oasis Palms RV Park is situated right along CA 86S, but once in the park, it was hard to believe we were close to the major highway.
We visited Oasis Palms last January for a night and were happy to revisit it. Snowbirds have all but left, so we had all the room in the world. The managers are new – just taken over the position the previous Tuesday – we were their first customer. They were hospitable and friendly, and we wish them well. I think that in the entire park there were all of four rigs. The previous residents of our spot loved flowers and had created a lovely garden behind the rig. From the looks of the three rigs next to us, the residents appear to keep their RVs parked fairly close to the road, allowing a little “green lawn space” behind the rigs – it looked like a perfect place where one could relax, read or sunbathe. There is a nice pool here where one could sunbathe, too. However, we didn’t find time to go swimming. It is a lovely place and we were able to get in a little walk and Kathleen was able to get caught up on the laundry in the immaculately clean laundry room.
On Sunday we drove from the Oasis Palms RV Park up to one of our all time favorite parks – Buckskin Mountain State Park, just north of Parker, AZ. We found our favorite site and Kathleen went off to the office to register.
We’ve parked in this particular site several times, so Paul proceeded to back into the spot by himself. Unfortunately, without a “spotter” he did not see the wooden post marking the site and he actually ran over it. When Kathleen returned from registering, Paul greeted her with “You’ll never guess what happened.” And she couldn’t guess. But she could quickly see what he was talking about. The back of the rig was sitting on top of the post – well, not exactly “sitting on top” – the post was on a tilt, pushing the battery box forward and shearing off part of the door. The fender by the back wheels was pushed up and the rear of the rig had an area that suffered another shear. The rig could go neither forward nor backward.
The Park Ranger was notified. He came down and looked over the situation and offered to see if he could get a large jack to get the rig up. Paul remembered he could use the air bags to give it some height. This he did, but the post was still pushing against something under the rig. Our next-door neighbor walked over and look over the situation. He owned a trucking concern at one time, and had some good suggestions. We had no idea if his ideas would make things worse or help things. However, we had no choice but to go with his ideas. He dug a hole behind the rear tire and instructed Paul on how to back up over the post. Paul did a commendable job of slowly backing over the post and the Ranger and our neighbor were able to extract the pole from under the rig.
Oh dear! The entire battery box was pulled off toward the front of the rig, but that seemed to be the worst of things. So Jeff (our neighbor) brought over his heavy truck to pull on a chain he had rigged under the battery box. Gently he backed away from the rear of our rig and by his own knowledge and expertise, he actually straightened out the battery box and even pulled some of the bump out of the fender. By the time he was finished, the rig was even and looked pretty good. We had to use a bungee to close the door to the starter battery section, as the hinges on that door are toast – but might be repaired. The door latch is hanging by a thin wire and will need more bungee cords or something. But looking at that side of the rig, it really doesn’t look too bad. We’ll have to determine what to do about the damage and in the next few days determine how much damage has been suffered.
No one was physically hurt, the Rangers weren’t even worried about the pole, and we were introduced to two wonderful people – our new neighbors, Jeff and Dee. They really went above and beyond neighborly help, and without them we would have had to call Good Sam or AAA for help. The four of us went out to dinner to celebrate our good fortune!
That’s it for tonight. We are sorry about our beautiful rig – and as Scarlet would say, “We’ll think about that tomorrow.” We are both well, at a park that soothes and comforts us, and we were so lucky that Jeff and Dee were here and gave us so much help. How true the saying that “strangers are just friends we haven’t met”.
