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| Where the shower was |
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| Donna, the bride to be |
After our departure from Yosemite National Park we headed south towards Palm Springs. Jim and Jackie live in Indio. We called Jim (aka Cowboy), to let him know were coming, but we did not let on to Jackie. I wanted to surprise her.
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| Pool room at Willie Boys |
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| Neil's Lounge |
Tommy has almost a 40 year history with Jim. They know each other from the running around days in Springfield, Illinois. Jim married Jackie on the same day that I married Tommy, except for one year later. We have been out to visit them 3 times prior and love spending time with them. We also went to Hawaii for 10 days with them 2 years ago. We love them!
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| shuffle board |
In Indio, they own a bar called Neill’s Lounge. It is a country western motif with karaoke every night. It is a mile and a half from their main house, and a lot of fun to go to. Neil’s is located on RT 111 which is the nucleus of Indio. This brings in a substantial crowd almost every night of the week. They offer simple bar food all day and all night for inexpensive prices and will buy you a cab ride home if necessary.
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| The big "Willie" |
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| Mountain fire |
Willie’s is amazing! When they purchased the building they gutting the entire thing. It was re created with old time saloon décor. Everything in it - the bars, the fireplace, the pictures, the jail cell, the bank teller station, the ornamentation - everything is authentic. They traveled near and far to insure the genuine authenticity. It is truly awesome! I hope you can appreciate it as much as we did through the pictures I’ve taken.
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| Elvis' house |
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| Beep, Beep! (Road runner) |
Willies has 2 bars, a huge pool room, with shuffle board (love it), 3 outdoor patios, a dining room which can accommodate up to 250 people for lunch or dinner, a mechanical bull, a dance floor with a stage for bands and lots and lots of eye candy. The food is fresh, inexpensive, and very good.
The history behind the name, “Willie boy’s” saloon dance hall goes something like this:
It is based on the true story of a
Paiute Indian named Willie Boy and his run-in with the law in 1909 in Banning, CA
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| Lucille Ball's house |
It revolves around the outlaw Willie Boy who escapes with his lover, Lola after killing her father in self defense. According to tribal custom Willie can then claim Lola as his wife. According to the law, Deputy Sheriff Cooper is required to charge him with murder. Willie Boy and Lola are hunted for several days by a posse led by Cooper. Willie manages to repel the posse’s advance when he ambushes them from the top of Ruby Mountain. He only tries to shoot their horses, but ends up accidentally killing a bounty hunter, resulting in another murder charge.
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| this is where you go when you drink too much |
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| Tommy captured this picture |
Days later, as the posse closes in, Lola dies by a gunshot wound to the chest. It is left deliberately ambiguous whether Lola shot herself in order to slow down the posse's advance or whether Willie killed her to keep her out of the posse's hands. Cooper is inclined to believe the latter and then goes off ahead of the posse to bring in Willie dead or alive.As soon as Cooper catches up, he comes under fire from Willie who is positioned at the top of Ruby Mountain. Cooper narrowly avoids being shot on several occasions. Cooper maneuvers behind Willie, who has donned a ghost shirt, and tells him he can turn around if he wants to, which he does. The two pause before Willie raises his rifle at Cooper, who beats him to the draw and shoots him. Fatally struck in the chest, Willie tumbles down the hillside. Cooper picks up Willie’s gun and finds that it wasn't even loaded, making it apparent that Willie deliberately chose death over capture. Abashed, Cooper carries the slain outlaw the rest of the way down Ruby Mountain and delivers him to other
Paiutes, who carry the corpse away and burn the remains.
When confronted by the county sheriff, Cooper is told that the burning of Willie's body will ruin the people's chance to see Willie in the (now-dead) flesh, denying them the ability "to see something". Cooper retorts: "Tell them we're all out of souvenirs."
While we were in town decided to celebrate Jackie’s 60th birthday. Her real birthday is June 22nd, but we were here now so Jim put together a party at Neill’s. It was a lot of fun because it confused a lot of her friends and Jackie was completely taken off guard.
Neil’s Lounge has been frequented by Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, along with Goldie Hawn, amongst others.
Jackie and I ditched the boys several times. One day we shopped ALL day. Okay, well two days we did that. One of those days was at the mall where I finally got my ears re pierced. Yes, I was a baby about it. I made the girls do both ears at the same time because my stomach could not take it happening twice. And I squeezed Jackie’s hand the entire time, but they are now done, and I love them.
Yesterday Jackie’s niece Donna had a bridal shower downtown Palm Springs. I love Palm Springs. It could be ascertained as foo foo but its not as severe as Palm Beach. We toured the old part of town where the movie stars all had houses in the 60’s and 70’s. There are not a lot of stars left but the area still draws tourists because of the history of them living there. Most of the houses, mini mansions, are being remolded by the current owners. They have no comparison to the movies stars of today, and their fortresses.
The bridal shower was fun. The restaurant was exceedingly enjoyable and get this; I basically crashed the party, (although Jackie insisted that she told them I was coming), and I won 2 gifts!!!! Ha-Ha! I ended up having a magnificent lunch for free, walked away with two really nice presents and I stole one of Jackie’s gifts for Donna and put my name on it instead…..I didn’t even have to buy a gift! I hope KARMA doesn’t kick my butt on this one! LOL!
After the shower we headed back to Cowboy and Jackie’s house. (Just so you are aware, everyone, and I mean everyone - everywhere - call Jim, Cowboy. I do not believe 2/3rds of the people they know actually know his name is Jim). Anyway, Cowboy grilled us steaks for dinner. Curt, Jackie’s son, came by to join us, with his son, Taylor. It was Taylor’s 18th birthday. Curt, along with Nick, Jackie’s other son, manage Willie Boys. They work very hard and put in a lot of hours. They are doing a great job and Jim and Jackie are very proud!
We left Indio this morning and are now on the way to Lake Havasu for several reasons. One being we are interested in the real estate there, and two, Jim and Jackie have a vacation house there where we will park the RV - for free! Gotta LOVE free! They are working today and will meet us there tonight for a day or two. They can’t get rid of us yet! LOL
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
After our departure from Yosemite National Park we headed south towards Palm Springs. Jim and Jackie live in Indio. We called Jim (aka Cowboy), to let him know were coming, but we did not let on to Jackie. I wanted to surprise her.
Tommy has almost a 40 year history with Jim. They know each other from the running around days in Springfield, Illinois. Jim married Jackie on the same day that I married Tommy, except for one year later. We have been out to visit them 3 times prior and love spending time with them. We also went to Hawaii for 10 days with them 2 years ago. We love them!
The history behind the name, “Willie boy’s” saloon dance hall goes something like this:
When confronted by the county sheriff, Cooper is told that the burning of Willie's body will ruin the people's chance to see Willie in the (now-dead) flesh, denying them the ability "to see something". Cooper retorts: "Tell them we're all out of souvenirs."
While we were in town decided to celebrate Jackie’s 60th birthday. Her real birthday is June 22nd, but we were here now so Jim put together a party at Neill’s. It was a lot of fun because it confused a lot of her friends and Jackie was completely taken off guard.
Yesterday Jackie’s niece Donna had a bridal shower downtown Palm Springs. I love Palm Springs. It could be ascertained as foo foo but its not as severe as Palm Beach. We toured the old part of town where the movie stars all had houses in the 60’s and 70’s. There are not a lot of stars left but the area still draws tourists because of the history of them living there. Most of the houses, mini mansions, are being remolded by the current owners. They have no comparison to the movies stars of today, and their fortresses.
The bridal shower was fun. The restaurant was exceedingly enjoyable and get this; I basically crashed the party, (although Jackie insisted that she told them I was coming), and I won 2 gifts!!!! Ha-Ha! I ended up having a magnificent lunch for free, walked away with two really nice presents and I stole one of Jackie’s gifts for Donna and put my name on it instead…..I didn’t even have to buy a gift! I hope KARMA doesn’t kick my butt on this one! LOL!
