ANOTHER MORNING JEEP RIDE FOR PHEEBS AND I, MET A NICE COUPLE, AND WE KNOW WHERE THERE IS A REALLY NICE MOTORHOME FOR SALE NEAR WICKENBURG ARIZONA

With a full Moon sliding down behind California's San Ysidro Mountains on the West side of the Borrego Valley this morning I slipped out for a few photos.  Moonrises generally garner more attention than Moonsets simply because of timing.  More people awake to see a rising Moon than people awake at the setting of the Moon.  We are always awake for both:))

SORRY FOLKS BUT I GOT A LITTLE CARRIED AWAY ON MY SETTING MOON SHOTS THIS MORNING









Kelly decided to hang around the rig today so Pheebs and I were off in the Jeep again.  Calicos for a coffee to go but no muffin.   With doggy treats in the Jeep Pheebs was the only one doing any snacking.  Not feeling like any bumpstible dusty Jeep roads we stuck pretty close to Borrego Springs itself.  For anyone who takes the time to drive themselves around Borrego's streets and roads they are in for a treat and especially if you like southwest landscaping, architecture, and design.  There are many beautiful homes here laced with golf course fairways and green if you know where to look. At Christmas Circle think Northwest and head off in that direction.  All the orchards by the way are on the North side of Borrego.

LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING SIZEABLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION JUST WEST OF BORREGO’S LIBRARY BUT DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS

WE POPPED IN FOR LUNCH HERE ONE TIME

There is an absolutely beautiful golf course, housing development, and RV Park at Borrego Spring’s east end called 'The Springs At Borrego' and that is where Pheebs and I headed this morning.  First drove through this resort complex 10 years ago and I was knocked out at how pretty it all was with it's fairways, ponds, and palm trees everywhere.  You would never know you were in the desert.  The landscaping has to be seen and everything is immaculately maintained.  I don't think you would even find a candy wrapper on the ground here.  Houses are not large and over lavish but small and neat as a pin.  It's definitely a golfing type community and we seen a lot of folks out swinging the irons this morning.  The RV Park is on the high end style and I don't think they would even allow an 18 year old coach like ours in there.  Every RV I saw looked like it had just rolled out of a showroom somewhere.  I betcha if we Bayfield Bums drove in there with our 16 year old dusty desert coach we would be shown the exit gate pretty darn fast.  People would be in the streets with placards chanting, 'get them oughta here'!!!!!  But that's Okay, as beautifully nice as The Springs At Borrego Is it's not somewhere we would feel comfortable staying.  Just like the Clampetts never really fit into Beverly Hills the 'Bunch' would never really fit into a higher end RV Park either.  Now as hard as this might be to believe we were actually invited by management to stay there one time.  It was just after we had driven through and I had taken a bunch of photos.  Back then just as know I was very impressed with what I saw so I of course blogged about it that night. However, I unknowingly got the name of the place wrong.  Now don't ask me how they found my blog but about a week later we received an email from the Springs At Borrego gently informing me I had the name wrong.   Think I might have called it Springs OF Borrego.  Anyway, they extended a complimentary invitation for us to come and stay with them.  Thought that was really nice but of course we didn't dare haul ourselves in there with 3 dogs , a rig that looked like it had just come through a desert dust storm  and two adults looking like they had just crawled out of a Salvation Army bin somewhere.  Well Okay one adult then and I don't have to tell ya which one of us it was.  I was thinking about that today as Pheebs and drove around in there and the more I thought about it the more I slunk down in my seat in case someone pointed in our direction and shouted to the others, 'hey that looks like a  homeless person in our Park'.  Get the placards!!!!!
   
I have it on good authority that the Bayfield Bunch just may have the big wheels rolling in the morning.  I have unofficially been put on stand-by in case that particular event should happen to come about.  With temperatures set to rise in the next few days we may have to make a run for it.  We hear it's cooler in Northern Saskatchewan.

PHEEBS ENJOYS ALL THE PRETTY SCENERY TOO

NOTICE THE PASSENGERS

FRIENDLY FOLKS HERE

THERE ARE TENNIS COURTS IN THERE

I KNOW MY AUNT JEAN IN SARASOTA FLORIDA WILL ENJOY ALL THESE GOLFING RELATED PHOTOS:))


No sign of the C-130 Hercules plane flying around today so the folks may have departed the area.  I do have a few photos left over from Wednesday's encounter with the plane which are below. 


AT BORREGO SPRINGS SMALL AIRPORT THEY HAVE A VIEWING STAND AND HERE MILITARY PERSONEL AWAIT THE RETURN OF THE C-130


THERE ARE 4 FIRE TRUCKS ON EMERGENCY STAND-BY


SAW THIS ON A VEHICLE DOOR AND THINK THIS OUTFIT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FIRE TRUCKS BEING ON SITE

VIEWING STAND AT LEFT

I WONDERED IF THAT MIGHT BE THE FIRE TEAM LEADIER UP THERE

THESE 2 ALMOST IDENTICAL PHOTOS ARE AN EXAMPLE OF SHUTTER SPEEDS…..TOP PIC IS 1/60TH OF A SECOND AND SLOW ENOUGH YOU CAN’T SEE THE PROPELLERS MOVING BUT BELOW AT 1/250TH OF A SECOND IT WAS  FAST ENOUGH TO STOP THE PROPELLER ACTION

Okay back to the Springs At Borrego

NOW IF I WAS A GOLFER THIS IS THE TYPE OF SCENERY I WOULD WANT SURROUNDING ME

I think with maybe the exception of last year I have made an annual climb up to the Marshal South homestead on Ghost Mountain out in the Blair Valley.  A couple of those years more than one once and it has always been something I've looked forward to each year here.  I was really taken with the whole Marshal South story after reading the book even tracking down his final resting place in the Julian Cemetery one cold rainy afternoon.  Drove by his Son's house in Silver City one time as well.  Ryder South.  Been on my mind to hike on up there again while here but for some reason I just didn't pull it together again.  Next year for sure and on our morning walk today we both agreed we will, if able, be back here to Borrego Springs again next winter.  What a totally great little place this is with so much to see and do in the area if one has the energy to see and do it all that is.  Borrego Springs is a favorite place of ours and hey by gum by golly we might even camp out at the Legion again for a few days:))

HEADING OVER TO THE RV SECTION
NICE WIDE CONCRETE PADS BACKING ONTO THE GOLF COURSE

Met two of the nicest people today.  A small white truck and Escape travel trailer had pulled in along the tree line a ways back from us Wednesday and while Pheebs and I were out this morning Kelly met trailer owners Pierre and Linda from Owen Sound Ontario.  When doggy and I returned Kelly said what a nice couple they were so I slipped over to meet them earlier this evening.  Kelly was right.  Had us a great chat and how nice it was to pick up on their excitement and enthusiasm.  Pheebs even got to meet their pussy cat Puck too.  They are new to RVing and this part of the country and like Kelly and I a dozen years ago have fallen in love with all the very same things we did.  I have a feeling we may see more of these folks in the future.

SKIES WERE BUSY TODAY

AND HERE I THOUGHT THESE FELLAS HAD LEFT BUT LATE THIS AFTERNOON THE BIG C-130 WAS OVERHEAD AGAIN
Friends of ours in North Ranch north of Wickenburg Arizona have decided it’s time to part with their Motorhome.  Here is a brief description of their coach written by a mutual friend of ours.  Janna writes, Our good friends Jim and Ellie are hanging up the keys to their beautiful Tiffin Phaeton motorhome.  As many of you know they now own a home in North Ranch and have decided to sell their 2008, 40 foot, 4 slide motorhome.  Jim and Ellie have added so many upgrades to this coach–it is solar equipped, has nearly new AGM batteries, a residential refrigerator, 2800 watt pure sine wave inverter, new tires in 2016, and much, much more.  Oh, and it only has 57,000 miles on it’s Cummins 360 engine…… You can find more info and photos here at 40' Tiffin Phaeton QSH Class A Motorhome

JIM AND ELLIE’S COACH
No doubt we will miss our little spot here at the Borrego Springs Legion Branch 853 when we leave.  It has turned out to a surprising little find for us and we really enjoyed our 5 days here.  Not like us to come in out of the desert like we did but we were needing a quietly simple little Oasis…..and we found one:))

GOING TO MISS THIS COSY LITTLE PATCH OF TAMARISK TREES

AND WE SAT VERY QUIETLY THIS AFTERNOON AS THIS LITTLE ROAD RUNNER WALKED BY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Letter to My Bank
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing the check with which I endeavored to pay my Internet Service Provider last month. By my calculations, some three nanoseconds must have elapsed between them presenting the check, and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the Automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has only been in place seven or eight years.  You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account with $50 by way of penalty for the inconvenience, I caused to your bank.  My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. You have set me on the path of fiscal righteousness. No more will our relationship be blighted by these unpleasant incidents, for I am restructuring my affairs in 2018, taking as my model the procedures, attitudes, and conduct of your very bank. I can think of no greater compliment, and I know you will be excited and proud to hear it.
To this end, please be advised of the following changes.  First, I have noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you I am confronted by the impersonal, ever-changing, pre-recorded, faceless entity, which your bank has become.
From now on I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh and blood person.
My mortgage and loan repayments will, therefore and hereafter, no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee of your branch, whom you must nominate.  You will be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status, which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Justice of the Peace and that the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets, and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.  In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in all dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required to access my account balance on your phone bank service.  As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further by introducing you to my new telephone system, which you will notice, is very much like yours. My Authorized Contact at your bank, the only person with whom I will have any dealings, may call me at any time and will be answered by an automated Voice.  By pressing buttons on the phone, he/she will be guided through an extensive set of menus:

1. To make an appointment to see me
2. To query a missing repayment
3. To make a general complaint or inquiry
4. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
5. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
6. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
7. To transfer the call to my mobile phone in case I am not at home.
8. To leave a message on my computer. But, to leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated at a later date to the contact.
9. To return to the main menu and listen carefully to options 1 through 10 again
10. The contact will be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.

While this may on occasion involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration. This month I've chosen a refrain from The Best of Woody Guthrie:  'Oh, the banks are made of marble
With a guard at every door  And the vaults are filled with silver  That the miners sweated for.'
After twenty minutes of that, our mutual contact will probably know it off by heart. On a more serious note, we come to the matter of cost. As your bank has often pointed out, the ongoing drive for greater efficiency comes at a cost -- a cost which you have always been quick to pass on to me. Let me repay your kindness by passing some costs back.  First, there is the matter of advertising material you send me. This I will read for a fee of $20 per page. Inquiries from your nominated contact will be billed at $5 per minute of my time spent in response. Any debits to my account, as, for example, in the matter of the penalty for the dishonored check, will be passed back to you. My new phone service runs at 75 cents a minute (even Woody Guthrie doesn't come for free), so you would be well advised to keep your inquiries brief and to the point. Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.  I wish you a happy and prosperous 2018
Your humble client...
Laurence Gerard
Webmonk @ The Friars Club
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