VACATION– Another Super Duper Chili Bob Tour Day – and dancing at The Range

(this post is about Saturday, March 12, 2011)

 

Oh my my, our wonderful Slab friend Chili Bob took us on another tour today!   We had been hearing about these wonderful Date Shakes, made with real dates from the palm trees in Mecca.  Folks said these are to die for!   So we hopped in his Suzuki Sidekick (with air-conditioning)  and headed out 60 some miles up to get a date shake!   Our Tracker doesn’t have AC and it was topping out at mid 90’s today.

We stopped along the shores of the Salton Sea… and checked out the deserted resort areas and boat ramps.  Some hardy folks still live here, but it never thrived into the teeming tourist metropolis that was planned.  Some areas had flooded and others like these boat ramps were dried out and never replaced.

We made it up to the Oasis Date Gardens…. and enjoyed the most delicious rich sweet and thick shake ever!   We bought a few touristy things too, to take back to the kids, and Chili Bob indulged in a whole box of freshly picked dates!

 

There were some sweet honeysuckle vines growing around the entrance that called my name and invited all of our noses to take in a deep sniff of their sweetness too.  My oh my, I miss Sprintime!

Then.. he decided we needed to see Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and all the lovely places in between.  We wound our way along palm tree lined boulevards, past streets named after Bob Hope and other stars of the stage and screen.  Though the lands of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.   All the way to the mountains….

I just kept clicking the camera and ended up with 155 shots!   And now to pick which ones???

 

This is stuff we sure don’t see in Wisconsin!

He took us past some amazing wind farms….

take a gander at this Lisa and Kevin!  (our soninlaw’s folks) …

there were thousands upon  thousands of them here!

 

 

From there we doubled back around and came down Interstate 10… and stopped for some lunch at a SubWay.  We had no idea we were gonna be gone this long, and lunch time kinda creeped up on us.  A worker snapped this pic for us… just so Chili Bob’s family can see he is eating healthy and not just dates and shakes all of the time!   (he only taste tested some of my shake, and skipped having a whole one of his own)

Now we doubled back around the western shore of the Salton Sea, and around the bottom edge, and up through Calipatria back to Niland ….  he knew of some interesting dates that were growing on a palm tree near the road.  So what did this Renegade Driver do?  He pulled up, hacked some off and sped off with his bounty!   Gosh, now we are a party to a hit-n-run dating heist!   LOL   (they were very sweet, but small)

  

Whew … it was 224 miles round trip for a Chili Bob Date Shake Tour!  This is something you can not miss when you come to The Slabs.  He knows the ins and outs, and places and history of so much in the area!

 

After we rested up a bit, we donned our party duds and headed out to The Range!  It’s a stage with an open mike policy for bands and soloists.  It is run by Builder Bill, a Slabs regular resident.  Just pitch in a few bucks to help with the generators that run the lights and electric music equipment.  We had a fun time, once they stopped playing country and started up some rock n roll.  Dancing into the night of warm 70 degree temps, with a few cold beverages of our choice …. ahhhh   wonder what the folks are doing in the cold frozen northwoods this time of the night?

They had a little food stand selling burgers and things, to help out with the costs.

(Mary, Rich, Kenny and Jan)

Steveio was having a grand time…..                              as was Mary all dudded up

 

Even little kids were dancing, and dogs were running around, everyone was having a good time!

Most of the guys didn’t dance, but held up the bar…  I did get Steveio to dance a few times though

 

Rich and Mary went back to the campers, but Jan hung out with us longer.  Cookie and I danced too. 

 

 

We came back to spend some time around the campfire, and then toddled off to bed. 

Yes, another fun-filled day at The Slabs!