Saturday, December 22, 2007

FROM THE SLABS TO BORREGO SPRINGS

FRIDAY DEC. 21/07


(Santa Rosa Mountains....we are in the desert to the left close to the mountains)


The howling & shaking began about one thirty in the morning & once again we were set upon by one of RV'rs most dreaded adversaries........wind!! It came in great huge gusts as only the wind can in the American southwest. I was convinced it would be the end of our newly installed solar panels which were still in an upright position. I wrestled with the decision whether I should go out & climb up there & try to put them down but figured with the size of the wind gusts it wouldn't be a good idea. One of those panels could get away from me & be ripped right off the rig. Layed awake for a couple hours listening to all the new & scary sounds coming from the roof area & imagining all kinds of nasty stuff. The wind gusts were also getting into the air conditioner vents & made them sound like a band of howling banshees. Kelly was awake & didn't get a lot of sleep either. Not a good night!!!

As the sun came up it was obvious that the winds were not going to let up. Dust & dirt were being kicked up & the gusts shook the trailer. We packed things up & I was able to get up on the roof & successfully get the solar panels down between wind gusts. Put the slides in, hooked up the car, bade a fond farewell to the Slabs & the Bayfield Bunch was on the road again. We will miss the slabs because the place had kind of grown on us. If I was younger & didn't have a lot to do I would liked to have come to Slab City, stayed for awhile & helped to clean the place up. Solar Mike did tell us that they have been negotiating with the town of Niland to use their land fill site to get rid of a lot of Slab City's debris. He said the progress is slow but it is moving ahead. Good luck Slabbers, we're rooting for your clean future & who knows, maybe next year we can come back & help you clean up a bit:))

We headed south to Calipatria, picked up some gas, dumped our tanks & took on a load of water. Headed west for Borrego Springs bucking a rough head wind all the way. Caught us a glimpse of the Salton Sea at one point. By 1 in the afternoon we finally caught sight of Borrego Springs in the foothills of the Santa Rosa mountains. Really nice to see all the palm trees as we rolled into town. It was much smaller than I had imagined but it is a pretty little town with green grass, nice architectural buildings, & the town was very neat & clean looking. Un-hooked the car & had a little spin around town. Burgs & fries, ice cream, fudge, & coffee. Yep, I think we're gonna like it here:))

Headed back out east of town about 4 miles & spotted a few RV'rs scattered about on the desert floor. Scouted out the area & found us a location where we wouldn't bother anybody or in turn be bothered by anyone. Positioned the motorhome so the solar panels were facing south & shut it down for the day. We were soooooooo tired. Wasn't long & a couple fellow RV fellows showed up with a bunch of firewood for us. One was from Alberta, Canada & the other fellow was from Riverside, California. Had us good chat about the do's & don'ts of solar power. These folks have been boondocking for a lot of years so we've got a lot to learn.
Don't know how long we'll stay here but we are surrounded by the Anza-Borrego State Park & we hear there is a lot to see & do in the area so we just may hunker down here for awhile & take in the sights & sounds of southern California:)) I wonder where Jay Leno lives!!
NO PHOTOS UPLOADED TO THE WEB ALBUM ON FRIDAY
She's got fudge in that there white bag:))

2 comments: