Doing a Lot of Nothing.

 

And we are getting real good at it, we are still at Ogilbe Rd. We drove to El Centro one day and we have made a couple of trips into Yuma, once to the Park and Swap and another day we went to the indoor market, mainly  to buy books.

A few days before we left Borrego, we drove to Temecula a good sized city about an hours drive away. It’s a nice to  drive through the mountains, and see the green fields of Warner Valley.

After we got groceries, we headed to a hobby shop, where Skip bought a remote control plane. He was actually planning on buying a small helicopter, but was told that a plane was easier to learn to fly.

This is what he bought. A SuperflyX

 

 

It’s been quite a learning experience, he had never flown a plane before, the first time he flew it went up quite high and  flew  for a  few minutes before it went straight down and crashed hard enough break the nose cone. He has had several more crashes and is getting good at repairs. One of our neighbors was flying his plane and was nice enough to give Skip some pointers, he it did get it to fly several times today but it has crash landed every time.

The Superfly isn’t the only plane in the sky. We usually take the dogs for a walk around four o’clock and almost every time there are either helicopters or planes doing some training. I keep trying to get a good picture, but they are moving so fast.

I don’t know what kind of planes and helicopters these are.

I think we will be staying here until after the weekend, there is a car show on Saturday, and we want to make another trip across the border, before we move on.

The Garden

Jean

Back to Ogilbe Rd and a Desert Garden

 

We left Borrego yesterday,we hadn’t intended to be there for seven weeks, but it was easy to stay, good weather, lots of things to do, and some nice people to spend time with.

We said goodbye to Gay and Martin who we met last year, they also live on Vancouver Island,but they travel most of the year. we shared several campfires with them

New friends John and Nicole are from Bridge Lake in northern BC, they have two cute  dogs called Nibs and Snickers.

Not hard to guess who is who

We may see John and Nicole  in Yuma . Nicole is running the half marathon at the end of the month.

On Sunday we had a visit from a park ranger, who told us that the property we all camp on had been bought by the state park.He didn’t think there would be many changes, except for a time limit for camping, metal burning containers, dogs on leashes, just the normal state park rules From what we understand the boundary would be at Rockhouse Road, so there would still be some private land for those who spend the winter,He was a little vague about the boundary,I guess we will find out if we go back there next year.

We decided to go back to the BLM area outside of Yuma, We have several things we have to do in Yuma, so we are settled in on Ogilby Rd. We really lucked out with our site, we are in the same area that we were in last November but about two hundred yds. farther off the road.

This is looking out our door.

Someone built a beautiful desert garden

 

There are even steps down to the wash

The weather today was perfect, sunny and warm, things seem a little greener here,even the Ocotillo were blooming.

We saw the news from home tonight. it is so cold and snowy, hope you all are keeping warm,

Jean

A Visit to the Wind Caves

 

Several weeks ago we drove past the town of Ocotillo Wells to Split Mountain Wash, we saw the Elephants Knees but the ground was so muddy we didn’t climb to the Wind Caves.

Today we climbed to the caves which are one mile from the bottom of the canyon.

The beginning of the trail was steep and pretty rough.

 

Part way up looking back .

Closer to the top the path improved and flattened out

But not for long

Another look below,

 

Our first look at the wind Caves

They are so amazing

Skip is checking to see if anyone's home.

Even way up here there is graffiti

The Elephant Knees

One last look at the caves

We have had two cloudy days, but still no rain, Monday is a holiday  for Martin Luther King Day, so we will stay here over the weekend and on Tuesday head back to Yuma for a while..

Jean

Hellhole Canyon to Maidenhair Falls

 

On Monday we decided to hike up Hellhole Canyon to Maidenhair Falls, a hike of about 5 miles round trip. Skip and I had hiked to the falls last year but Mike and Charlotte had never been there.

We really noticed how dry it was there was only a couple of plants blooming.

In the beginning the path was pretty good mostly sand. The farther we walked into the canyon the harder it became to follow or even find the path.

This part was pretty good.

There were rocks to scramble over and under.

About half way we could see the Palm Trees

You can still see the burn marks from the fire that swept through the canyon in 2002

 

 

 

We finally found the falls,….sort of, the Maiden Hair Ferns are there but not much water.

Skip is looking

 

Charlotte is looking too

There is a trickle of water nothing like last year.

 

We hike the canyon about a month earlier than last year, so we didn’t expect to see many flowers, but the canyon seemed really dry, there hasn’t been much rain since we arrived here December 1st, less than a 1/4” over two days in the middle of December.

The green trees over by Coyote Mountain are the Citrus Groves everything else looks pretty dry.

 

We said good bye to Charlotte and Mike this morning, they are headed to Yuma. John and Nicole fellow BCers  had the four of us and Ivan over for a campfire last night. John and Nicole are from Bridge Lake, BC, Nicole is a marathoner and will be running a half marathon is Yuma in a couple of weeks.

We are thinking of moving on soon, but can’t decide when to move and where we want to go….maybe next week or maybe tomorrow.

Jean

A Busy Few Days

 

We have been busy this,last week. A trip to Indio with stops at Costco, Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart, we had lunch at the Fisherman's Market. We both had shrimp tacos which were very good. Because  is too hot to leave the dogs  in the car, we don’t take them with  us when we go shopping . The trip to Indio takes just under an hour each way so we always seem to be in a rush to get back.

We made a trip up Ghost Mountain to the Marshall South Homestead, It was the third time we had hiked up the mountain, but it was the first time for our friends Mike and Charlotte.

We were looking for his kiln and we came across this

 

I think it is in the right spot but I don’t believe it is the kiln, none of the rocks are blackened and I don’t think it would have been sitting like that .

I suppose that in a few years there will be nothing left of the homestead,and I wonder if  the story of Yaquitepec will still draw people to Ghost Mountain.

We came across this Road Runner on the way out of Blair Valley.

Skip and I also took a trip to Julian, which is a small mountain town about 30 miles from Borrego Springs.

We found Marshall  South's grave there.

A Model T Us Postal Truck turned  into a tourist ride.

 

 

We had taken the dogs with us to Julian,last time we were here it was cold ,this time it was very warm so we didn’t take the time we wanted to look around the town.

Today we hiked up Hellhole Canyon to Maidenhair Fall, I can’t  load my pictures so I will leave that until tomorrow,

Jean