A LAZY DAY IN THE HEART OF ANZA BORREGO

Well, this Windows 7 is sure trying it’s best to drag out the worst in me.  Just lost or misplaced all of my photos today.  Some  menu keeps coming up now saying the files cannot be found.  I am not impressed nor do I have patience with all this so tomorrow I go back to good old  reliable XP!!!!

Before I forget again let me say Checkers is doing fine since her nasty brush with the Teddy Bear Cholla over in the Kofa Refuge south of Quartzsite.   The stickers inside her mouth appear to have dissolved & all the barbs are out of her fur.  Good thing she had a thick coat or those Cholla barbs would have been right into her skin.  When she got into the Cholla plant the barb clusters clung  to her fur so she naturally tried to pull them off with her mouth & that is how she got all the barbs in her face.

In the recent movings & scramblings from the Kofa’s to here plus degraded Verizon service I have got behind in some of my blog stuff, not to mention emails again.  Have been meaning to welcome followers, Wil, Jim, Katie, Rollie & Gena, plus Wayne & Roberta.  Thanks for following us along folks.  And, it looks like Rollie & Gena have landed in the magic 100 followers slot.  Who would have ever thought we would one day have a hundred followers.   Who would have ever thought one day we would be here where we are.  Who would have ever thought of any of this!!

Kelly was busy with Deerpark Lodge stuff on the computer this morning so I hustled myself up to the top of the large hills to our west called Coyote Mountain.  There are some well worn paths in these hills from a group of folks on the other side.  A lot of Canadian boondockers  favor a spot called Peg Leg Smiths tucked into the southwest end of Coyote mountain & the hills there make for some nice easy walking.  It was Peg Leg Smith’s spot that was recommended to us by a fellow RV’er over in Slab City a couple years ago & that’s how we ended up over in this neck of the woods finding Borrego Springs.  We took one drive into Peg Leg & got right back out of there again.  About 30 or 40 rigs all herded together & that was waaaaaay to many people in one small spot for us.    And yet here on the other side of the hills there is literally hundreds of acres of wide open spaces.  Just another one of the those little worldly mysteries that continue to baffle me.  Well, in my opinion anyway:))

Had myself one of those rare moments of calm patience this morning & seized upon it to quietly sit outside the motorhome & clean my camera gear, telescopes eyepieces, binoculars, etc.  Even managed a few small equipment repairs.  All went well with nothing getting smashed & nobody getting hurt.  This little spot outside has quickly become my very favorite little place to be as I sit here again in the cooling shade of another very warm California day.

Had a lot of trouble posting the blog last night so I was up burning the midnight oil several times.  I think Laurie is right about our poor Verizon connection being the root of my problems & not Live Writer or Toshiba.  Will not try to post another  photo album & will try to cut down on the number of photos.  What do you think are my chances of doing that second one??  Zero to none I’d say!!

Had to go bring Checkers back from a neighboring RV this morning.  She is a naturally friendly & curious dog & loves to go visiting.  Doesn’t matter if the rig is half a mile away, she’s still gonna go there.  We are fortunate to have such a sweet friendly dog but there are things that go ouch out there in the desert & besides, we don’t want our dogs bothering other people.  Not all folks are dog friendly either.  Checkers loves children & is drawn to them like a magnate so we have to keep a close eye on her.  It is another reason we prefer to be away from other RV’ers.  Our dogs can get barky at times & we are sensitive about disturbing people. 

I think one of the main boondocking factors for me is the issue of…….noise.  Don’t know why but I have become very sensitive to noise these past number of years.  People noise that is!!  I don’t mind jet aircraft overhead or even the ka-rump of heavy bombs in the mountain ranges from time to time but human voices from another campsite will send me into a tizzy & if it’s loud drunken party noises it will send me about 6 feet off the ground in a hot volcanic plume of anger!!!!  ATV’s or dirt bikes being raced through the desert by immature, inconsiderate kids will cause me to wish them many bad happenings.  Don’t mind train whistles in the night but screaming kids will turn my brain to mush every time.    Probably the worst offense to my ears right up there with drunken partying is somebody else’s music.  And I don’t care what kind of music it is, even if it’s my kind of music, I don’t like it because somebody else is playing it at a rude, inconsiderate, & obnoxious level.  And even if it isn’t loud, don’t matter, cause if I can hear it, I’m not going to like it!!   I am very picky about when, what, & how I listen to music & it’s just another reason I do not like to be camped anywhere near anyone.  Doesn’t matter if they are the finest folks on the planet, people noise is people noise!!  And how about those people that come over to your site & chew up 5 hours of your time standing around talking about totally nothing except what great guys they perceive themselves to be.  Men are the worst for this hands down.  Or how about that couple who want to bend your ear off non stop with all their latest totally boring kitchen cupboard door handle renovations.    Just another reason we prefer the chattering of birds, the howling of winds, the blowing of sand, the beating of rain on a rubber roof, & the yipping of coyotes.  Now to me, that ain’t noise & that ain’t too bad of an opinion either:))

And, out of fairness I should add something else here.  Although Kelly isn’t as extreme as I am on some of these points, we are very much like minded on many things.   It’s just that she has far more patience & tolerance than I do  & with 5 kids to her credit I think she has come by those traits honestly. 

It’s Thursday Feb 18th & I just found my pics from yesterday & dropped this one in to make sure it worked…….and it did.

GROANER’S CORNER:  Groaner’s corner will be back tomorrow night when I switch back to the other laptop & XP.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

WOW, IS IT EVER HOT!!

LIFT OFF

My mercury thermometer told me it was 90 in the shade this afternoon until I realized the little red mercury filled glass tube had come away from the backing of the thermometer.  As soon as I adjusted it we dropped 10 degrees.  I think the sunny side of the rig got up to about 310F!!  Wow, what a climate change from a few days & weeks ago in Arizona.  I’m sitting outside right now, shirtless, & totally enjoying the warmer air & new California mountain vistas in front of me.  With my map & compass I’ve already figured out where RICK is on the other side of the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto mountains.  He left his outside RV light on last night & I could see the faint glow over the mountain.  Said he’d be sure to turn it off tonight & not interfere with my Stargazing!!

The Class A motorhome closest to us moved this morning so I immediately thought it was because of us moving into the desert neighborhood too close to him.  You know how sensitive these boondockers are about their space!!  Turns out he moved a short distance away to where there is a flat & wide dead end road.  He had a small enclosed trailer on behind so figured he was an ATV’er with a machine inside.  Well he had a machine inside alright but it wasn’t an ATV, it was an ultra-light motorized hang glider.  Wasn’t long & he had the big door open & the machine rolled out onto the smooth gravel.  Grabbed my 200mm lens & headed in his direction & stopped about half way to watch.  He warmed up the engine for a few minutes & then shut it off while he carefully laid out a very large multicolored square para type chute behind his burgandy machine which incidentally had a large round propeller on the back.  I was careful not to approach any closer & distract him from his assembly & safety checks.  I know how easy it is to forget something when hooking up the car to the RV or running final checks if someone comes along & starts ying yanging to me.  By the way, when you see someone hooking up or unhooking their rig do not approach them with ‘”Howdy there neighbor!!”  Distractions cause accidents & especially at this age & stage of the game when it’s crucial us older folks totally concentrate on what it is we’re doing.  Wait until your neighbor is sitting down in a relaxed state of frustration before going over & hanging that “Howdy'” thing on him!!

I tried to put a photo album in here about the ultra lite power glider but after waiting for an hour & a half for the blog to publish I finally gave up & took the album out because I sign kept coming up saying there was a problem with the album so either Live Writer failed or Windows 7 failed.  Tomorrow night I will probably go back to the old computer & shove this new computer & Win 7 waaaaaaaay far under the bed!!!!

HEY, I WONDER WHAT’S GOING ON OVER THERE

FROM TAKE OFF TO TOUCH DOWN

Ok, back to the hang glider guy.  Once he had that chute laid out behind him it didn’t take long for him to rev the engine, start a short take off roll, & become quickly airborne.  Cracked off a bunch of shots as he rose into the early morning air & disappeared off down the valley.  Wow, if only I would have been a whole lot smarter a whole lot earlier in life:((  I did sign up for an ultra light training course in 1993 at the Centralia airport South of Exeter Ontario one time but the course was cancelled & I was credited my $25 registration fee.  And that was the end of that!!

Of course it didn’t take us long on a short dog walk this morning to discover a better RV site just a couple hundred yards away from where we were.  Definitely a better spot but would our Verizon card work.  First order of business was to return to the rig & bring the computer over to the new location.  Should mention here that we are using our Wilson antennae to bring in the 2 bar signal we’re using.  Without that antennae we were only getting one to no bars.  We had tried that antennae a couple other times in different places but with negative results.  Glad we didn’t junk it because without it here we would not be on line.

<<< MOVING FROM HERE TO WHERE THE CAR IS

And so began another move.  Drove the rig over to the new site & began setting things up again.  I hopped up on the roof & worked on deploying the solar panels while Kelly made 3 or 4 trips with the car between the sites bringing over the firewood, tables, mats, etc.  Up until yesterday we have always parked the coach with our side door facing south to catch the warming rays of the sun in the cooler Arizona air.  Either the right or left side of the rig has to face south in order for the roof’s solar panels to take advantage of the arcing sun all day.  Now that we are into California’s warmer climate we have to park with the side door facing north so we have shade to sit in & not roast over on the south side.  Another bonus of this new site today is that we can now see the town of Borrego Springs in the distance & that will be nice to see the lights at night.

 

OUR NEW SURROUNDINGS

Once everything was set up it didn’t take Kelly long to hop into the car & head for town about 5 miles to our southwest.  Her first destination was the Thrifty Coyote thrift store she likes plus she wanted to pop into the True Value hardware store which happens to be one of the greatest well stocked hardware stores I’ve ever seen.  Another stop was the  Borrego Desert Nature Center where all the information is regarding things to do in Borrego Springs & Anza Borrego State Park.  It was another reason we came here earlier than planned because we knew the desert programs offered would be gearing up.  I knew there would be Astronomy & Photography classes, guided hikes in the desert, plus Jeep tours so we wanted to get in on all that this year…..& we’ve made a good start.

MAKING THINGS LOOK A BIT LIKE HOME

Kelly was back to the rig about 3 with a pile of information.  Inside half an hour she was on the phone & had us signed up for our first jeep tour.  I am also signed up for 2 separate photo instruction classes regarding desert photography.  One starts at 6 a.m.  zzzzzzzzzz.  Also a ‘Tailgate Tour’ this Sunday at Borrego’s tiny airport.    California’s only State Park pilot Kelly McCague explains her responsibilities & takes folks out to the runway for a close up look of her plane.  There are many more activities going on so we are probably going to be busy people.  I’m also thrilled to see there is a Ghost Mountain hike coming up because I took a great interest in the Marshal South Ghost Mountain Story when we were here the past 2 years.  In our search box at the top of the right hand column just type in Marshal South or Ghost Mountain for the blogs & photos I have done about that.

OLD BUS LEAVES – SNOW ON A DISTANT MOUNTAIN – BIRD STATION

As I’m typing this outside today there are unseen jet fighter aircraft high in the overhead sky twisting, turning, & diving.  Can’t see them but have been to enough air shows over the years to know the sounds of jet aircraft in tight turns, swooping dives, & afterburner climbs.

OK, time to field some questions……………..Regarding that $165 fine at the Kofa Refuge.  Friday morning a fellow in a tent trailer stopped by our site when he noticed me outside looking through my telescope at the mountain.  He is a part time forest ranger & pro photographer from Oregon down here for some camping.  He thought I might  have spotted some big horn sheep.  Anyway, he had come in the day before, gone past the Kofa Refuge kiosk & set up camp just off the road in the desert.  There are signs through there with a picture of a jeep with a slash through it.  Being a forest ranger he took that to mean no ‘off roading.’   What it really meant was No Motorized Vehicles.  A lady Kofa ranger came by, was very upset with him & stuck him with a $165.00 fine for camping in a no vehicle area.  Needless to say he was ‘not a happy camper!!’  Saturday we saw a Class C heading into the park & Sunday morning while out on our drive we saw that Class C parked right directly behind one of those No Vehicle signs.  Nobody around the Class C & we figure they were out for a desert walk.  Felt the right thing to do was leave a note in their door to warn them they could be in for a fine.  Yes, this is BLM land but they have signs up to prevent jeeps, ATV’s, dirt bikes, etc from ripping up certain areas of the desert.   I understand that but the signs are definitely confusing!!  Some signs are just a vehicle picture with a slash & some are a vehicle with a slash & the words, ‘No Vehicles.’

And in the photos of our group outing I think I remember naming all the folks in the first photo.  I remembering picking that picture so I could specifically do that & that’s why I didn’t keep repeating names with all the remaining pics.

And regarding snakes, scorpions, the desert, & our dogs.  During the cooler winter months the snakes & scorpions are in a dormant state underground so are not a threat to our dogs.  But, it is starting to warm up now & those critters may start to stir before too long so for sure we are going to have to be extra vigilant now.

Seems I am still forgetting some other questions but if you send them in again I will get on top of them right away.  I am slowly accepting the fact that if I don’t get on something immediately, chances are I am going to forget it:(( 

THE VIEW OVER THE COMPUTER:))

And I am also typing this with Live Writer for the first time on our new Toshiba laptop with Windows 7.  Had brought our older Toshiba out earlier but had trouble with reflections.  Noticed a big improvement with the new Toshiba so maybe they have improved the screen technology.  Also plan to use the new computer from this point forward for all blogs & photos as well so I’m officially off & running with Windows 7:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((   ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

HELLOOOOOOO BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA:))

MOON MUSINGS WITH FACE OF THE SNAKE

Woke up this morning with a hankering for some semi civilization & a Jilberto's hamburger & the only place I could think of with that kind of action was.....Borrego Springs, California.  Question was which route to take. 

A VALENTINES DAY SHADOW HEART ON THE MOUNTAIN BESIDE US SUNDAY

Had packed most everything up Sunday night so we didn't have a lot to do in the morning.  Took the doggy guys for a short walk, had a last long look around at our little site tucked cozily between the Kofa & Castle Dome mountains & had the wheels rolling by 9:20.  As usual I had my last looks back with pleasant memories of our few days there.  The gathering in the desert was a rare & special day I'll always connect that day with that site.

                               

A LAST LOOK AROUND THE CAMPSITE BEFORE LEAVING THIS MORNING

Only a dirt road mile to the highway & as I rolled up to the stop sign I was still debating which way to go.  Yuma, El Centro,  & Brawley maybe or Quartzsite, Blyth, Glammis, & Brawley.  Had I remembered the southbound construction I would have chose the Quartzsite route but of course with my memory I swung left out onto the highway & proceeded to the rear of a long line of cars a couple miles down the road stopped on the highway waiting out a paving operation.   No U turns with 53 feet so we waited it out.  Stop & go, stop & go but after half an hour we were underway.  But, not before I clipped a flagman's 'stop/slow' sign with my passenger mirror.  Don't think he was paying attention as he let his hand held sign out too far as we were squeezing by a narrowed spot in the road.  No damage to the mirror but I think I broke the cigarette in half he had hanging out of his mouth.  When I quickly checked my mirror he was making some kind of cross sign in front of his chest.........:))

<<< CONSTRUCTION SLOW DOWN

Soon as I got into the Yuma morning traffic I was wishing I had gone the other way but we made out OK.  Spotted a Cracker Barrel sign about 11:15 a.m. & knew we had been to that location before so exited I-8.  What  we had forgot about was how small the parking lot was at Yuma's Cracker Barrel.  It is not big rig friendly as we soon found out, squeezing in the entrance & wiggling out the exit seconds later.  Back to I-8 & kept on going. 

West of Yuma we went by the area where the header photo for this blog was taken.  Pilot Knob.  A lot of rigs out in the desert there & I don't know why.  It's flat, treeless, & sandy.  We over nighted there one time last year & it's the only time we ever came close to getting stuck in sand.  In fact I thought I had bent the wheels on the car.   Anyway, they call it the dust bowl when the heavy west winds blow sand in off the Algodones Sand Dunes, & those winds can be horrendous.  Just a short distance away is Ogilbe Road where we camped out for a couple weeks last year & it is hard packed with shrubs & trees.  Lots of room for hundreds & hundreds of rigs with mountains close by & interesting mine sites.   Don't know why folks would camp in the dust bowl except they are a few miles closer to Yuma & the malls.

ALGODONES SAND DUNES WEST OF YUMA

We could have taken quiet & scenic Ogilbe Road to Brawley but I was curious to see what the country was like along I-8 to El Centro.  Aside from the Sahara looking Algodones Sand Dunes the landscape is totally boring with scrub desert most of the way.   For the last 3 years upon entering California we have noticed something else in this area as well & the only thing I can think it might be is......smog.  Hard to see the surrounding mountains in the haze.  I often wonder if it is the smog from the large California cities on the coast blowing inland. 

MR. SNOOZY FACE

Groceries & a tuna sub for AL at Brawley's new Wally World & then north towards Calipatria to dump the tanks & take on water at a rest area.  Back through Brawley heading west for Borrego.  Looks like they are building a bi-pass around Brawley on the north side.  That would be a good thing.

We pulled into the Clark Dry Lake bed BLM land around 4:30 California time.  Noticed the usual amount of rigs scattered about in the desert as we turned onto Rockhouse road looking for a spot.  Had hoped to park beside the same earthen oven we did last year but somebody was already in that spot.  Unhooked the car & drove around with the computer looking for an acceptable Verizon spot.  Best we could find was 2 green bars about a quarter  mile north of the oven site. 

ON FINAL APPROACH FOR THE CLARK DRY LAKE BED EAST OF BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

I'm afraid we have been spoiled with great  3 & 4 bar Verizon coverage so it's going to require a lot of patience now slowly working with 2 bar reception  here at Borrego but hey, 2 bars is better than no bars.  Just takes sooooooo long to open everything.  Didn't get any blogs read this morning & with this slower speed it's going to be a problem.   Saw a lot of comments in hotmail about last night's blog & Kelly managed to publish some but I haven't read them all so hope to read them in the morning.  This 2 bar connection is just so slow & I just don't have the patience to wait for sites to open right now.  We are both sooooooooo beat tonight.

 

WE'LL TAKE A SECOND LOOK WITH REFRESHED EYES IN THE MORNING & DECIDE IF WE'LL STAY IN THIS SPOT

Didn't take a lot of photos today so when Kelly noticed a thin crescent moon tonight I slipped outside with a 200mm lens & a slow shutter speed to create some crescent moon musings................

   

TONIGHT'S CRESCENT MOON WITH A SLOW SHUTTER SPEED & SOME CAMERA WIGGLES

Tonight was the first night warm enough on this whole trip to actually be outside after dark with a short sleeve shirt on.   Noticed the temps really went up west of Yuma today & I had the A/C on for a bit.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  One of the great things about being over 60 is kidnappers are not very interested in you.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.