Tournament of Roses

 Oh my goodness ... we actually saw SUNSHINE yesterday!!   Too bad I was sidelined by a packing frenzy and didn't get one single picture.  It finally dawned on me that I should probably get everything but the food packed in case I end up leaving a day or two earlier.  

I've also completely changed my plans ... which no doubt will change ten times before I leave this weekend.  More on that later.

Right now however, you will find me in front of the television waiting for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.  I was a little taken aback when I couldn't find it yesterday.  I guess it's the old "if it's on a Sunday, Monday is also a holiday" thing.  Or maybe they have never had it on a Sunday.

I do know that getting one of these floats ready for the five mile route is an epic task.  There are several companies that specialize in making these floats.  They each have a location, called a Barn, in which to put on the flowers after the main construction is completed.  They start work on the float designs in January, then build up all the frames and electronics to make the characters move.  

By November/December, the real work begins ... the ordering and placement of all the flowers and seeds which come from around the world.  Seeds as tiny as a spec of pepper are used, along with dried flower petals and cut vegetables, before the fresh flowers are added.  

Want to help?  You can take your rig down to Pasadena and stay in any number of places.  I stayed at the closest Elks Lodge, parked between five other rigs squished in like log cabin blocks.  I ended up with a 110 plug to keep my fridge going.  I have a friend of a friend contact that would love to have you help out her company barn.  Most all of the decorations are done by volunteers.

You can spend hours cutting rose stems to the perfect length, then plunging your frozen fingers into icy water to fill the little bud container before sticking the stem in it to keep it wet.  That is then placed on foam board and carried to the float where they are carefully placed by experts.  It happens that year was freezing cold and we wore six layers of clothes to try and keep warm.  

I also spent hours spreading glue on globes before sprinkling mustard seed and ground flower petals along the marked lines.  That part was fun ... climbing up and over the floats.    

Back to the Indio Rally ... now that I have ice cream, I'm working on the rest of the story.  There's a big pancake and sausage breakfast, a second breakfast day of casseroles, bagels and yogurt (trying to keep it healthy), followed up by a big barbecued pork loin dinner.  RATS ... I just remembered I have to cook something for that dinner.  I guess another trip to the store is in order.  

In between is a happy hour or two, and of course the ice cream.  This is a picture from a couple years ago. Hopefully I will get there in one piece and have a few more pictures this year.

I am very much looking forward to seeing this site from my rig.  Blue sky and a pretty sunset.  

As for my plans, I've decided to leave Saturday ... if the weather holds ... and drive straight over Tehachapi.  Sniff sniff ... no oranges from the Orange Grove RV Park.  It will be a really long driving day, but I will hit the pass at about 1:00 or so, the warmest part of the day.  It again looks like the weather guessers are saying sun ... but you never know.

And yes ... I did call Mr. Chance.  I offered to fly him first class ... he thought I was kidding.  He assured me if I went over the pass around noon I would be fine, and once hitting Mojave, will have no more chance of snow, just high winds and dust storms.  Not really ... the dust storms any way.  

Once over the hill, I will probably stay in Hesperia at the Elks Lodge.  I will meet up with the rest of the group in Indio on Sunday at the Walmart Parking lot.  First thing Monday morning, we will caravan into the fairgrounds, assuming of course we don't get chased off the parking lot.

I did have one more "moment" when I remembered I never ordered a good battery operated light for my rig for dry camping.  I know my lights don't use much battery, but this doesn't use any at all until I start the generator and recharge it.  Hmmm speaking of the generator ... I suppose I should have started it once or twice, although I'm not really sure I will need it on this trip.

Lastly, I watched a little more football, just to keep my mind from going crazy, which is a pretty hard assignment.  The 49ers beat the Raiders ... a huge Bay Area rivalry, even if the Raiders did move to Las Vegas.  It was insane that they missed a short field goal and had to go into overtime, but came up with the win anyway.  I did watch two other games, but I can't tell you one single thing about them.  

More packing today ... my time is getting short ... and guess what tomorrow is?    B I N G O !!!