Cactus Jack's

For many years, it was the tradition to go to Cactus Jack's for breakfast on Sunday mornings in Indio for the bunch from ORA Indio. The two families that started this was Tom and Mary Cowgill and Don and Charlotte Chilcutt. When the Chilcutts moved to Pheonix and the Cowgills sold out and don't come down to the valley the group just disentegrated.

This morning in memory of those fun years past we went to the Restaurant for breakfast. There were fewer people than we had in the past when we had as many as 20 in the group.



We were also visited by several other former residents of the resort. Gary Lee and Ron Palin stopped by to say hi on their way to breakfast.

Bethlehem Street Party, ORA Indio, CA

For the last 11 or 12 years there has been a street party held in Phase one of the ORA Motorcoach and Spa Resort. The entire resort is invited to come and byob and Hors D'oeuvres to share. All costs are paid from donations made by residents in Phase one and pay for Margaurita Mix and Mudslide Mix which are served to those who want them, decorations, and the band which provides entertainment for the group.





For many years Tom and Mary Cowgill were the driving force for this party. They have now sold their lot and the leadership mantle has fallen on John and Cathi DeBeaumont shown here. The preparations are extensive with buying supplies getting posters, organizing all of the details, etc.

Much help is provided by other residents of Phase one who gather tables from the area and bring them to the circle to use for the party and then taking them back the next day as well as acting as bartenders.


There were even past owners who came all the way from Pheonix to attend the party. Here we see Frank Hallacy, Don Chilcutt, Charlotte Chilcutt, and Pat Hallacy enjoying the party.











The entire resort looks forward to the street party which is held the third thursday of the second month each year. Fortunately, the weather this year was just beautiful and the turnout was extra large.

Friend's TV Challenge

Dan and Barbara have been fighting a problem with the television in their coach for the past year or so. It seems it would lose the
picture and have only a white line from side to side in the middle. They had to use a rubber mallet that Barbara's father used to install the windshields into the model A Fords on the production line.

Nice to have the antique mallet to whack the tv with every time they wanted to watch it, but it does get a little old real quick.


Dan had tried everything he could to get it fixed and could not find anyone to do it. He tried to buy another tv but they don't make this tv anymore and he could not find one that would fit. He tried to get someone to rebuild the cabinet with no success. Needless to say he was at his wits end with the problem when he mentioned it to me.

After looking at the problem for a bit I suggested we get a thin LCD tv and mount it on the outside of the cabinet.




Dan was open to any help he could get so we took it on as a challenge and went shopping after taking lots of measurements. We found a Sony 26 inch LCD that fit the bill very nicely. Along with the tv installation Dan wanted to do something about the sound system as it would not work in surround sound and had a nasty buzz in the speakers.







After a couple of days, we were successful in mounting the tv in front of the cabinet and we got the sound system details worked out so that the Bose surround sound was clear and the rear speakers worked properly.

Here you can see ther grin on Dan as we are finishing up the installation. The new LCD Sony is such an improvement over the previous tv that it is quite stunning. It is capable of HDTV if they decide to put in the HD system. When they watch movies it is especially nice.

I enjoyed the challenge and felt a great deal of satisfaction with seeing the joy Dan and Barbara had with the new setup.

Frank and Kay Niessner

Frank and Kay Niessner arrived at the resort and are on Jackie Miller's second lot. They are only here for a couple of days before returning to the Pheonix area for the balance of the season. Frank and Kay are owners of a Newell Coach as are Jackie and us.

They have been friends and acquaintances since our first trip to the resort in January of 1994 when we both attended the Newell Coach Rally. Frank and Kay are from Washington and have always extended an invitation for us to come to visit their "Poor Farm". Their farm, as we understand it is huge and they grow vegetables and fruits that they ship around the world in large shipping containers.
We promised to try to get there as soon as we could.

We all gathered on Jackie's patio and had drinks and fellowship as we talked about mutual freinds and mutual experiences that we share.

Frank told us that he is now 81 years old and has decided that he is now "non-productive". I recalled our first conversation from back in 1994 in which we discussed retirement as we both had retired at the same time. Frank was having a great deal of difficulty adjusting which prompted his telling me that he is now non productive.




Kay, seen here on the left with Jackie on the right, talked about all of their Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren from their ever expanding family and they even have some in the "oven".

It was very pleasant to spend some "together" time with the Niessners and recall the many wonderful times that we shared in the past.

College of the Desert Steet Fair

Each weekend a street fair is held in the College of the Desert parking lot. These fairs are very popular and you can find just about any sort of item there. They have farm produce, knick knacks, clothes, watches, and many other sundry goods.

The crowds are huge and interesting to watch. Many of them are winter visitors who shop for various trinkets.

Here Barbara prepares to challange the crowds to find some treasures.



They have moved the Street Fair from the South east side to the west and aligned the stalls in straight lines which makes it a bit easier to shop. There are about 5 such lanes about two or three city blocks long with stalls on both sides!










As many others, we just have to attend at least one Street Fair during our visit. Yes, we did find
several items that we "Just had to have!"

Superbowl Party at ORA Indio

There was a wonderful party at the clubhouse here at ORA Indio yesterday! Full bar and food (Ribs and Chicken with all the trimmings!) which were provided by Beaudry RV, Country Coach, and Patio Plus.

These pictures were taken just after the food had been served and shows some empty chairs which were in high demand just moments earlier!





They had set up an enormous projection screen on the stage of the clubhouse which made it easy to see from any place in the room. There were several television sets scattered around the perimiter also as well as the one in the owners lounge.









This is the group we came with. John and Cathi DeBeaumont shown on the left had us up to their lot for drinks and snacks prior to the "Big Feed!".

This is the only flat surface they could find to eat their dinners on as all others were full.

Got to see a lot of people that we had not seen for a while and had a great time.

Borrego Springs

After lunch with the Tom Miller Memorial Ride group in Santa Ysabel, some of us got together to take an alternate route back over the mountains on the way back to Indio.

The route selected took us back through Borrego Springs which is just west of the Salton Sea. The road was up and down as well as twisty turny which was fun and quite picturesque.

We turned into the lookout over the town and took some time to visit and take a few pictures of the area.



I mentioned to the group that there was a new RV park down there with a golf course that I would like to find. Three carloads of us took on that challenge and located The Springs at Borrego RV resort to the north and east of the town. It has a nine hole regulation course and an 18 hole par three course as well as a driving range.

There is also a nice sized clubhouse with a swimming pool and three hot tub pools with the mineral water from the springs to soak in. The entire facilities were quite inviting so Dan and Barbara and us decided to reserve sites for the first week in March.

Our next adventure awaits!

Tom Miller Memorial Ride

Today we were honored with the opportunity to join a group and to ride in memory of our friend Tom Miller.

The ride began at ORA Resort in Indio, CA where we ate a real nice breakfast and then went to Santa Ysabel to have a lunch then back to Indio. The total distance was about 240 miles. We took our car and Dan and Barbara rode with us since Dan did not bring his Harley down this year.

Jacky Miller along with her daughters Lori and Sheri and Sheri's husband Robert were in attendance.

This photo was taken from the photo memorial put together by his daughters and presented on a television in the clubhouse here at the resort.

Here are some of the riders gathering in preparation for the ride.

Most of these people were part of the regular group of riders that took rides here over the years. Barbara was Tom's designated rider and went with him on many rides behind him on his Harley. Tom's wife Jacky did not like riding that much so she and I would sometimes take my car and meet them for lunch. So we were glad to have made it to the ride.



Here is a group photo of the bikes prior to starting on the ride. There were a total of 42 bikes and 50 riders plus 24 more attended via the automobiles.










Everyone had to sign up and pay a donation of $25.00 per person to participate. The organizers anounced that they had gotten enough money to send $1000.00 to the Heart Association as a donation. They also announced that they had decided to make the Tom Miller Memorial Ride an annual event to be held the day before the superbowl each year.






The breakfast was furnished as a donation by Beaudry RV Sales, Country Coach, and Patio Plus which was a real nice gesture.

Lunch at the Apple Country Restaurant in Santa Ysabel was very nice.

All in all the ride was a success!