Day one -- Bikram Yoga Teacher Training Palm Desert

May 14 Cathedral Palms RV resort – 8:15am

I’ve been on this journey for less than 24 hours and I’ve already broken the rules. I suppose you could say that rules were meant to be broken, and I’ve got a hunkering for some hot tent yoga.

I drove from Roseville to Palm Desert in one go. That’s more than 500 miles, about 8 hours of driving without stops (nearly 10 with). But on that note I did follow the rules. We did make several stops, not to fruit stands (which I regret) but to several rest stops and Jack in the Box - ate a sirloin burger – ick says it all. It seems like there are a lot of desperate people around. While at Jack’s, I noticed a hobo kind of guy spying my totally cool popup, and at the rest stops a lot of men just hanging around – but that could have been for a different kind of desperation. Either way, for a while this ride down took on a different feel than other adventures.

I have to say that Hwy 5 is a smooth ride for the most part. I was impressed with my little pop up rolling behind me. I was comfortable at 70 mph, the speed limit for cars on that road (okay, yeah, the limit with trailers was 55) but it was an easy ride. The only thing that bugged me was the bugs --- for hours I kept getting big wet smacks on the windshield and figured it was a result of the time of day and the recent moisture in this otherwise arid land that created such a buggy environment. Then about 200 miles later, I caught up with a big semi hauling bee hives. The hives had been covered with a netting, but it wasn’t working as well as it probably should have. The bees (and there were tens of thousands of them!) were all blown into the back of the net and obviously were escaping – thus the miles and miles of bee carnage. Kinda makes me feel bad!

Along the drive south, I noticed a high haze in the air. Figured it was the smoke blowing inland from the Santa Barbara fires. I could have been looking at the only thing left of a multi-million house, or a tree, or the smoky whisps of a love note. The general impression of the trip down (with the help of talk radio) is that California is drying up and blowing away. Maybe, but maybe not, it’s time to leave.

Waiting for the office to open up so I can get my designated site (hopefully in the shade – it’s going to be HOT here) and set up.


9:06pm --- Wow what a day. I’m beat. While I was walking around this morning before they opened up, I picked a shady spot in the back and corner, and then registered and paid for several days here at the Cathedral Palms RV park. It has 3 stars in the Woodall’s guide book, but nowhere do they mention all the employees (and some guests) have missing teeth. That’s not the nicest thing to say, I realize, but it seems to be a recurring theme today. I hope I keep my pearly whites intact while here.

So while setting up this morning, I noticed that the wheel jack was gone!!! Apparently, it came apart while driving last night – can’t imagine why – I mean it wasn’t like I was going too fast or anything!!! I need that thing not only to help wheel the pop up over to the trailer ball, but also to get the camper up high enough to work the stablizer jacks down. That’s really important – otherwise when you get in bed, the whole camper will tilt over to one side. Took a trip to Indio this afternoon to get a replacement, but it turns out to be too big. A nice guy (yes, with missing teeth) helped me out by lifting the camper up by hand so I could get underneath and lower the jacks. Tomorrow is another adventure to get the wrong jack returned and a new smaller jack purchased.

So that’s only part of the day!! Went this afternoon over to the JW Marriott and found the infamous Bikram tent which is actually two parts – one is a giant studio with mirrors and everything, and the other is the lecture hall. Walked in while Dr. T was not talking anatomy. Today’s story was about cow milk and breast milk. Lucky me – as an instructor, I got to sit in the back and type away on the iPhone!!! I was surprised, however, how lax the staff seem in comparison to our experience – there were people sitting on the floor, obviously not paying attention, even sleeping!! Not for long though, faithful and wonderful Dom walked over and got them up pronto.

Then lots of familiar faces - Sunny from our training, Amber from Granite Bay, Molly, Manali, Esther, Dom, of course and others. Had afternoon yoga led by Martha from Minneapolis. My good buddy Mark Norby has raved about her for months – he works with and for her – and now I know why – she is passionate not just about the yoga (about life!), she is full of energy, gives great feedback and even sang to us!! She was marvelous. And I have to say, the tent-studio is like a breezy piece of heaven compared to the rainy basement in Acapulco. The back wall is glass that looks over the mountains (so you get natural light – I’m realizing that’s a must for a good-feeling studio), it’s bigger, and it has a great HV (no AC) system. And maybe it’s just the week, but everyone seems so relaxed and nonplussed. They had posture clinic this evening, but I didn’t go – I had to finish the jack project, and I’d rather do a double tomorrow than spent the evening watching everyone bingle the dialogue. Plus I may be a little too close to the experience – I might go into convulsions!! I’ll go next week when Diane Ducharme is here – I’d LOVE to be in PC and watch how she guides people.

Ok, gotta get some rest. Only had about 5 hours of sleep last night and I’m ready for bed. Sending love to all.