Last Week in Borrego

After days of discussion and changes in plans, we have decided  to keep to our original plan, and visit Death Valley before we head home.  Before we left home last  November, one of our neighbours brought us a list of places he and his wife visited last year, he highly recommended Death Valley and said the ride through Titus Canyon was amazing. This was seconded by Deb Holder one of the owners of AM Solar in Oregon where we bought our solar panels. Deb and her husband boon dock around Shoshone and really love the area.

We have some things we want to do before we leave Borrego Springs, we want to climb Ghost Mountain again for sure, we had hoped to go back to Julian, but that isn't likely this trip.We also want to go down to
Brawly and El Centro. So the plan tonight is to leave here Wednesday or Thursday, spend a week  by
Death Valley and then head for home. That would get us home by the 16th or 17th of March.

When we were in Ajo Arizona, the citrus trees were loaded with fruit, and we started buying grapefruit, in the ten pound bag. Today we bought our sixth bag, which means we have eaten fifty pounds of grapefruit
since about the beginning of January. Actually I have eaten about 45 pounds of grapefruit, every once in a awhile I talk Skip into having one for breakfast, but he really prefers his eggs and hash brown potatoes.

We went to the fruit  stand today,

And  bought these grapefruit

And these Minneola tangelos which are a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine. They are also called a honey bell tangelo. Skip will eat these, they are really  sweet and juicy.

They cost $3.00 for a 10 pound bag of either grapefruit or tangelos.

There are  several citrus  farms here in Borrego, most of the fruit has been picked now.

We spotted a coyote crossing the road by our rig when we came back this afternoon, so it was back to
leashes for the Bostons today, Sophie was not impressed.

Jean

Making Plans and Lunch with Al and Kelly

We have been making plans and changing them, and remaking  them. We spent the morning looking at maps, trying to decide where we should go when we leave Borrego Springs. We are pretty sure we want to go to Death Valley before we head home, but it would be nice to go up the California and Oregon Coast.

It's kind of hard to resist the ocean, but it is good to see new things, and time is flying by.


This afternoon we met Kelly and Al , whose blog we have been following for a couple years. We arranged to meet them at a cafe in town, we were a little nervous  but that didn't last long as we have a lot in common, including three dogs each, we ended up having a two hour lunch. Both Al and Kelly have been really helpful answering our questions and we have learned a lot about boon docking  in this area from their blog. So it was really great to meet them in person . Of course I didn't take a picture.


Jean

Palm Canyon Hike

We finally got to hike Palm Canyon today and what a beautiful hike it was, The weather was perfect, and the desert was truly beautiful, all the flowers, at times we could smell a lovely perfume in the air. Not sure what it was, it wasn't the lavender.

Brittlebush with lavender behind  
                

The path was pretty good, most of the way, a lot of palms and rocks came down the canyon is a flash flood about ten years ago.

A couple of times we had to cross the creek on logs or stones.

We found this Datura growing on the side of a bank, I have grown them at home,I was neat to see one in it's natural habitat.

The palm grove was amazing, it was quite cool inside, a lot of palms were lost in the flood, but there are lot's of baby palms growing ing the creek bed.

On the way back down the canyon we took an alternate route, I was so happy to find this prickly pear in bloom. It's the first cactus I have seen in bloom on this desert.

I started this blog yesterday (Wed) but for some reason the pictures wouldn't load.  All of a sudden it has got
windy this morning, I hope it doesn't blow all day, at least it isn't cold . They are forecasting record breaking cold temp. for the island, it won't do the daffodils and crocus any good. 

\
Jean

There is Snow on the Mountains

It has stopped raining, at least we haven't had any rain today, but it is cold and windy tonight. We haven't done anything much the last few days, we had rain through the night both Friday and Saturday night. It is a long weekend here in the states Monday is Washington's Birthday, there have been lots of RVs arriving and lots of motorcycles going up the road. The Santa Rosa Mountains have snow on them, in fact all the mountains we could see except Coyote had snow on the peaks.

There was water in the dry lake bed  yesterday

And rainbows

Two young men have pitched small tents about a hundred feet from us, I hope they know how cold it will be.

We have to take the motor home into town tomorrow to get propane, water and to dump our tanks, after that we hope to hike Palm Canyon, weather permitting. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share, and I won't feel like I am always talking about the weather.

We weren't on the bed

Jean

It's Raining ....

The weather forecast was for rain starting this afternoon and raining through the night, so far it's been right on.
We can't complain this is the first rain we have had since before Christmas. We went for a bit of a drive today, and then went to Calico's for lunch. This was the first time we went there, it is a tiny little cafe with quite a varied menu.We both enjoyed our lunch.

We are camping on land that is privately owned, we have heard a two different stories about the owners, one version is that the person who owns the land intended to  start a gravel pit, but didn't have the right zoning, got mired in paperwork and eventually walked away from  it all. The second story we have heard is that the land is owned by three business men who use it as a tax write off. I don't know for  sure but I think the  first version is more plausible. We camped here last November and liked it so well we came back in Feb. When we have been here there has been any where from  about 10 to 25 RVs here. Everyone is pretty respectful of the land, takes their garbage out with them etc.

I  sure hope the rain doesn't last too long we have several hikes we want to do before we leave this
area, Palm Canyon is one, and we'd love to climb Ghost Mountain again.


Jean

A Trip to Temecula and The Wind Returns

 Yesterday we drove  to the city of Temecula, about 60 miles from Borrego Springs, we had to buy dog food, which is really expensive here in Borrego. It was a lovely drive starting with the Montezuma Highway, I have no pictures of the drive, mostly because of the traffic. Everyone drives so fast here, if their not passing they are riding right on the back bumper. We made the mistake of taking the dogs with us and it was really hot, so we didn't get a chance to look around at all. If we get a chance we will go back, although our time here is passing quickly, and we have a list of things we want to do, before we leave.

The wind started blowing around five yesterday afternoon, and blew really hard  all night. It was hard to sleep it was so noisy, it has been blowing off and on all day, although it was really warm, around 80F.

I didn't take an pictures today, so here are some I  haven't had a chance to post.

Skip and the dogs on Clark dry lake bed

Louie found a hole.

 

These statues are a tribute to the field workers who worked here prior to the United Farm Workers boycott

Babies with their moms.

And another Borrego sunset

Jean

Another Slow Day and Making Plans

We didn't do much today, actually that's not true, we got water, got rid of the trash, and did the laundry, then we did nothing. We spent the rest of the day sitting outside under the awning enjoying the benefits of our  new shade cloth screen.

We had bought shade cloth in Yuma before Christmas, but we had never decided on how to hang it from the awning. Until I read  in an RV forum, to buy screening spline,which looks like a little rubber rope, and fold the shade cloth over it and use a glue gun to hold it in place, kind of like  piping in upholstery. It took two us to make it, one folding and the other gluing, but it works like a hot damn, the edge fits in the slot on our awning and slide across.

Makes it a lot cooler for the dogs

We haven't figured out how we will anchor the bottom yet, right not we just clip it to the dog crate.

We have been discussing when we are going to head for home. we are thinking we will stay here another
couple of weeks.  Then we will head for the Soshone - Tecopa area of Death Valley. We have a friend that boondocks in that  area and  just loves it. So we will check it out for a while then make our way home . We haven't decided which route we will take, the California, Oregon Coast is always nice but we came that way
last Nov.  We have time to decide and that's part of the fun.


Jean

Don't You Get Bored ?

That's a question we get from our friends back home, and the answer is no. We always have something to do. Every few days we go to the state park to take our garbage, and fill up our water bottles.

We use this water for making coffee, watering the dogs, and washing dishes. It helps extend our on board water so we can go two weeks without filling.

We also have take our laundry to a laundromat every ten days or so, fortunately we have a good one here in  Borrego Springs. I think it's kind of cute.

It's even got  a few palm trees

Once we knew we were staying in this site for a while, we had to  build a fire pit, first we had to go find rocks and bring them back in the tracker.

Skip starting the pit

Didn't take long and it was finished

Today was cleaning day, having three dogs in a small space creates some challenges, one of them being dog hair, we don't have carpet so the floors get swept at least once a day, sometimes two or three times. Even though the dogs get to go off leash every day so they can run, it is never enough for the Bostons and at least once every day they do the Boston 500 which has a course that starts in the front of the motor homes goes straight to the back then half way back and  then a flying leap out the door ,around the crate, back in the motor home under the table then to the front. T his course has to be done several times, which gets Jake upset and he barks at them, and I yell at them, Skip thinks it's okay he says that's what dogs do.

Today I  made everyone go outside so I could vacuum and wipe everything down. I had sad faces staring through the screen door.

We have registered to  go on a sunset/moonlight hike next week, it is put on by the state park, they limit the hike to 15 people so I hope we get to go. We also want to hike up Ghost Mountain again next week. We really don't have time to get bored.

Jean

We got our antenna

We picked up our antenna today at the hardware store. The Antenna works fine, four bars on the Verizon card, the only thing is they sent a wrong part, we ordered a spring for the antenna and they sent an adaptor.
I emailed them right away , hopefully they will send the spring right  away.

On  Tuesday we hiked up Alcoholic Pass, it wasn't a long hike but it was a bit of work, but well worth it for the view.

The first part was a sandy path

Then it started to narrow as we climbed higher

Our tracker is down by the road if you click on the picture you can see it

The top of the pass

And a book to sign

Looking towards the other side of the pass, we went about a mile down and turned  around.

It was much easier, going back down the trail,

When we got to the bottom and drove out of Coyote Canyon we realized we had a broken tail pipe, we had been planning a trip to Indio anyway so that is what we did yesterday, got a new tail pipe and muffler, went to Home Depot, and Walmart, took Sophie and Louie, to get their nails cut. 

Today we stayed around the motor home, until it was time to pick up the antenna. I think that is what we will do tomorrow too, the weather has been so nice in the mid seventies, it's a good  to sit and read in the sun.


Jean