Day 43 - You are my Sunshine

Woke up refreshed & went to breakfast & had the best hotel breakfast of our trip so far. Lots of good quality food & only us & one lone geek, who had issues deciding how to have his porridge! I over heard him mention that he had been attending the Contact in the Desert conference, but was taking the day off today.

After breakfast, we arranged to stay another night, because it is lovely here. We are staying at the Inn At Deep Canyon in Palm Desert, just a couple of miles west of Indian Wells, famous for it’s annual top tennis tournament. The region is beautiful, all low rise buildings & manicured lawns. We are surrounded by mountains on three sides. The wealthy Palm Springs is just 13 miles up the road.

I secured 2 sun beds & lay down for a read, whilst Jackie did some clothes washing. I was just getting settled, when a middle aged man asked if the sun bed to the other side of me was free. I reluctantly said yes & he immediately said “Another Brit, whereabouts are you from?”

It turned out he was Dave from Ludlow, but originally from Worthing & used to know a Sussex Detective called Phil. Dave is involved in spiritual well-being mumbo jumbo & he was also an attendee at the Contact in the Desert in Indian Wells, which is the World’s Largest UFO conference.

Dave proceeded to tell me that we were beings from a higher place & we were just entities passing through Earth in our skin we had been given. He told me that he had seen UFOs on several occasions & he could see people’s auras. This was enough for me, so I told Dave I was a non-believer & I couldn’t be persuaded otherwise. That ended that conversation.

Dave was pleasant enough & after taking a phone call, he said he had to go because he had a meeting with the Contact in the Desert Public Relations Team. We said our goodbyes. I was just relaxing, relieved that Dave had gone, when the geek at breakfast sat down on Dave’s bed.

It took a while, but eventually he asked where we were from? I didn’t ask his name, but he was from Salt Lake City & was here for the CitD conference. He was a Mormon, but not anymore. I suspect it might be because he is gay. He asked what I thought of Salt Lake City & I told him about my observations that residents were either very well off or one of the hundreds of beggars, clearly living rough. He said that the Mormons were in denial about the poor & homelessness. He moved on as well.

We had the pool pretty much to ourselves for the rest of the morning. It felt like we had rented a massive villa just for us & our staff.

At lunch, we drove through Indian Wells to Walmart to get dinner for tonight & tomorrow. We had already decided to stay yet a further night. We bought frozen lasagna & chicken & lots of salad & some beer.

When we returned other guests started arriving. One woman in her late 50’s from LA, we believe was a practicing alcoholic & was a regular visitor to this hotel as she kept saying. She was clearly drinking, but hiding it in a Starbucks flask. Her boyfriend was teetotal, no doubt a recovering alcoholic. She was engaging everyone in conversation. At first it was fine, but as she got more drunk, people were clearly trying to avoid talking to her, including us. She also brought a stereo out, which got louder & louder as she drank. The music was actually good & she was taking requests. I know someone else a bit like her after a wine or two too many!!

Her boyfriend had gone off to watch the Dodgers & she was trying to intimate that Jackie & I go to a restaurant/bar 20 miles away with them. We weren’t ever going to be going, but luckily her boyfriend wanted to watch the entire Dodgers game. So that was that.

By 5.30pm we’re both a bit red, particularly my face, so we retired to the room for dinner & drinks on our patio. A great day, despite the oddballs, which we will be repeating again tomorrow, before continuing with the road trip.

Song of the Day - Is There Anybody Out There? by Pink Floyd.Read more