I made my second trip of the season to Desert Sun Resort from July 9-15 and want to update how the resort's recovery is going.

While I was there, CFI (www.clothesfree.com) sent a crew to tape at the resort and will be using the footage in as many as three shows. They taped interviews with resort management, first-time naturists, and a set of three three-generation families, along with almost two dozen news stories (unrelated to the resort), most using "guest newscasters" (people staying at the resort). They also taped karaoke, dancing, water volleyball, and other activities. I expect the shows to start appearing on CFI's website within a couple of weeks.

People previously commented that pictures on the resort's web site show an empty resort and would like to see more picturs of activities, and I continued to help with that process. Since we had people who signed releases to appear in the CFI shoots, more pictures were taken. It's a slow process, though.

Unlike my last trip there, when John and Elizabeth were unable to be there, they were there that weekend and I spent a good deal of time chatting with John (this was the first time we'd met in person: our conversations during the resort transition were by email and phone). It's clear that John and Elizabeth are very dedicated both to the resort and to naturism in general. Despite this being their first experience in both naturist businesses and the hospitality industry, they're doing an exceptional job of getting the resort back on track. As many of you know, they aren't just the resort owners, but have also been homeowners who've been enjoying the resort for a number of years.

We spoke about future renovations. Unlike the case two years ago, the current thinking is to do it in stages, keeping as much open as possible during each stage. There was some discussion earlier on this forum about a possible large expansion of the spa and I wanted to clarify that that was an idea being discussed for a later stage, not something likely to happen in the near future. In the meantime, there are continued improvements. Some are in the "minor" category. For example, new garbage cans are on the grounds and the signs in the condos that had the resort's old name have been replaced. Others are more major. For example, more decoration was done in the restaurant and more was scheduled there and in the office for after I left. There's also ongoing infrastructure work, such as replacement air conditioning in the spa. Changes will likely be visible for a while longer, but at some point, there isn't anything left that can be done short of major renovations.

In my last report, I mentioned three areas where things weren't completely "up and running"; I want to update them now. They were liquor license, Internet, and rule issues. I last updated the liquor license status a week ago and nothing has changed: it's more likely than not that they'll be able to serve alcohol by the beginning of next month, but there'll be an update sometime this week.

There was a problem with wired Internet in the condos. This turned out not to be a wiring issue, but a software one: the DHCP server had failed. They also replaced some old switches to improve that service and I believe it now works (though I didn't test it). The wireless access point with SSID "linksys" is still reachable on a large portion of the resort, especially in the condo area, though nobody knows whose it is. I was involved in a discussion of ideas about providing wireless access throughout the resort. It's complicated by the of the older rooms having "chicken wire" in their walls, which is pretty opaque to WiFi signals. This makes it trickier than normal to provide signals in the rooms. So this is ongoing work, which may or may not be practical. But all of the condos should have working Internet, which is free.

As to the "rules" issue, as time goes on, people do seem to be learning what behavior is appropriate and what isn't and there were no problems in that area that I was aware of during my stay. They're enforcing the "nudity required" rules in and around the pools, which is becoming especially important now that the resort is seeing first-time naturists visiting (first-timers will be particularly uncomfortable when people around them aren't fully nude).

One new rule issue will come up when the liquor license is tranferred, which is that of bringing alcohol into the property. The resort's official policy on that is being finalized now, but the hope is that people will understand the importance of supporting the resort's bar and so strict enforcement won't be necessary.

Both Donna and John suggested I look at the newly-renovated spa, but I was too busy with the CFI folks and didn't get a chance. The restaurant was serving both a buffet for the large group and a limited menu for others and was quite busy over the weekend: there are now about a half dozen part-time restaurant employees who help cover the busy periods.

A number of special weekends are coming up. As was discussed, last weekend was a special water volleyball weekend. Next weekend will be the official "grand opening", moved back from Memorial Day. This is an event for guests, but there'll also be a "dignitary and media" day on Friday where officials from the Palm Springs area will be coming.

I was very encouraged by what I saw and heard about the visitors at the resort, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The numbers of people I saw (and am told were there at other times) look good to me for this time of the year, but more encouraging is the kind of visitors I'm seeing and hearing about. There are a surprising number of first-time naturists coming to the resort as well as naturists who've never been there. People who haven't been there for years are coming back. There are people staying there for full weeks (and sometimes more). All of these are groups that need to come for the resort to thrive and, to me, the fact that they're coming is more significant than the numbers.

I'll be making two more trips to Desert Sun this year, on the first and fourth weekends of August, and will report back on any changes. I'll also update the liquor license status later this week.