Desert Boondocking (04/04/22)

 Once January came around, Paul and I, and Liz and Randy had sort of made a pact that we would do some exploring, so we packed up the rigs.  Our main destination was Anza Borrego Desert State Park, in California.  Its only a few hours from the house, but surprisingly we have never been there.  We have tried, but something always got in the way. But this time, we made it!

Our first stop however, was the small town of Quartzsite. We have been here many times- its a haven for RVers in the winter, and much of the appeal is boondocking in the desert with friends.  It was a smallish group compared to years past, but we had an awesome time.  We met up with old friends Tom and Dianne, and re-connected with friends Tina and Jeff, who we haven’t seen much of the last few years.  And….we convinced our friends Al and Debbie to give boondocking a try for a few days.

We even resurrected our traditional quesadilla and margarita night- we used to do this in Q every year, and have served as many as 46 people.  Not this year though- it was a nice cozy small group.

After a few days, we peeled off and headed to Anza Borrego, the largest state park in California- 585,000 acres large. Although we stopped at the campground to dump the tanks and get information at the visitor center, our goal was to find a quiet spot to ourselves to boondock for a week.

Anza Borrego has tons of miles of off road Jeep trails, so we had brought our truck camper and towed the Jeep.  Liz and Randy had their bigger rig, of course.  We ended up parking in an old parking lot so we could explore without getting into a situation that was hard to get out of. After looking around, we could have moved to a little nicer spot, but we were content where we were, and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Parking in the desert doesn’t mean we eat jerky and nuts for dinner- Liz and I put our heads together and planned some pretty tasty meals for our stay in the park.

We started our exploring with a hike to Borrego Palm Canyon. This trail is just over 3 miles round trip and leads to an awesome grove of California Fan Palms, fed by a running stream. Fan Palms are the only palm tree native to California, and it was incredible to find a grove of them in the desert.

The following day we hiked a short but extremely fun trail called simply “the Slot”.  It’s a relatively short slot canyon that packed a lot of scrambling and climbing in a short distance.  We had a blast.

Since we were done with that early in the day, we trekked up the windy mountain road to the small town of Julian. Pioneers discovered that this area is rich farm land, and especially perfect for growing apples.  They are now known for their world class apple pie.  Paul says its the best he has ever had (he still talks about it).  

There are also wineries, breweries and shops that line the old fashioned Main Street.  Because Julian sits at almost 5000 ft, it was a bit chilly, and windy, so we didn’t stay too long.

One of the major Jeep trails we took was to Calcite Mine. The narrow, dirt road with steep cliffs was not for the faint of heart (although it really wasn’t too bad as long as there were no vehicles coming the other way).  

At the end of this two mile road, we were able to get out and explore on foot. 

 

You can see in this picture the remoteness by how small the Jeep looks. The calcite mining in this area was done during World War II, and the calcite was used for making gun sights for the Navy.

On the way home, we stopped to explore anything that caught our fancy, including the Carrizo Badlands Overlook. The views here were incredible and reminded me a lot of Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

In between all the exploring, we, of course, had to check out the metal sculptures.  The late David Avery, a landowner in the area, envisioned the town with lots of freestanding, life size metal art and set out to make it happen. 

There are now over 130 sculptures, all around the town of Borrego Springs and the outlying areas. We saw a lot of them, and we each had our favorites.

Our final day was a busy one. We drove the Fish Creek Wash trail with the Jeep, stopping to explore along the way.  

The Wind Cave Trail is a short hiking trail to some “caves” created by the wind.  They were fun to climb around on and reminded me of the Flintstones.

Towards the end of Fish Creek Wash is Sandstone Canyon.  This was a very cool slot canyon that is navigable by Jeep.

We didn’t immediately run home after our stay in Anza Borrego.  We all made a short stop in Yuma to see some friends (of course, I didn’t take any pictures), and then Liz and Randy went back to the house and Paul and I continued on to El Paso to spend a few days with his mom.

To California and Back (12-26-14)

When last we spoke, which was, come to think of it, quite a while ago, Paul and I were headed from AZ to CA. And now we are back in AZ.  I will blame my lack of posts on the holidays and the fact that I haven’t felt well for the last couple of weeks. I am getting better, but my ambition to accomplish things has taken a hit.




On the way to Desert Hot Springs, we stopped in Yuma to visit our friends Steve and Carol.  Carol is a professional photographer-one who helped me choose my new camera.  On this night, she gave me tips on portrait pictures.

They also talked us into staying an extra day, so we could make a trip into Algodones Mexico for lunch. We walked across the border, shopped for a bit, then sat and had lunch in an outdoor restaurant while listening to live music.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  Before we headed back across the border, we bought 3 bottles of the Mexican version of Cointreau (for Margaritas) for less than 1/3 of what we would pay in the U.S.!

Once we made it to our destination in CA, of course I got antsy to see our daughter Jess.  Since we had a free day, and so did she, we decided to make the trek into North Hollywood to see her.  2 hours later we arrived, had some lunch, did a few errands, and then started the trek back home.  Unfortunately we didn't think about the typical L.A. traffic, and it took us 4 hours to get home.  Ugh.

Soon we were off to Paul’s brother’s house for a 3 day stay for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve Paul and I went for a hike with his sister-in-law Sue.  There are actually quite a few hiking trails near their home.

Of course, Christmas is much more fun when there are young children in the house.  Paul’s nephew’s son William was the center of attention, and wide-eyed at all the new toys he got.

New toys sometimes require assembly, and that’s where Uncle Paul comes in handy. Actually, all the guys worked together to build the new trampoline.

Once it was assembled, William wanted someone to jump around with him, and Jess is the only one even light enough to stand on it, so she volunteered.

Once the projects were done, we settled in to play a game of Mexican Train.

There was a little bit of playing and a lot of laughing involved.














I sat close to the hummingbird feeder so I could try to get some decent shots, but I didn’t have too much success.

It’s pretty difficult for us to carry a hummingbird feeder, but I am thinking it might be worth the bother……..I love taking pictures of these little dudes.

Well, that was our holiday- I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Busy, busy, busy in the desert (01-20-2011)

I'm not exactly sure how we can be so busy when we are parked in the desert, but, busy we are.  I guess, in addition to busy, electricity and battery power for the computer are at a premium, so I haven't really been turning it on much.  Being able to check my email and stocks on my phone also makes it less critical to keep turning the PC on. I'll have a few things to really catch up on, once we get settled in a park again.





    In the meantime, we drove up to Mittry Lake with Carol and hiked around for a few hours.  We only got somewhat lost once or twice- it was one of those days that a GPS would have really come in handy, since the trail wasn't really marked.  At one point we thought we were almost back to the truck, and technically we were, but there was a canal in the way, with no way over it, so we had to walk around it, which added a lot more time to the hike.  We had a great time, but I think we wore Carol out!


end of the road for the bikes.

    We've been trying to stay active, so we took our bikes for a ride into the desert. Well, of course we didn't get too far.  We followed a road until the sand got so deep we couldn't ride anymore, then we explored the sand dunes on foot for a while.  It was noonish, so it got pretty hot after a while. I think it was the hottest day we've had- the thermometer read 110 degrees in the sun. 





    We've had one pot luck dinner, and have gone out to dinner once with the whole group.  So much food.  Wow. I forgot my camera last night so I am hoping someone will give me their pictures (hint, hint).  Most nights we sit around the campfire and chat, and the individuals who sit out change every night, so we've had a chance to chat with most people at length.
   Yesterday we had an outing to some Hot Springs about 30 miles from where we are.  It's on Federal land, and free to the public.  It's in an oasis, with a fence around it to protect young children from falling in.  A group of us hung out there for a while before heading back to camp. 

     I am very anxious now to get my new GPS.  I curse Best Buy for having it backordered for so long.  It would have been great to have on the hike the other day, but we also got our first taste of geo-caching, and I am really looking forward to trying it again, but I need the GPS.  Dave took us out to look for a cache that is close to where we are camped.  Basically with geo-caching, you use the GPS to guide you to a prize, which in this case, was a small case that contained paper and a pencil.  Once we found  it, we wrote our names on the paper and put the cache back where it was.  I didn't take pictures because I was so busy using Dave's GPS to find the cache.  You can go online and create a log of caches that you find, if you want, and if there is a difficult cache to find, you can read the hints as to how to find it.  Once I start doing it, I'll post a blog about it.  It's a really great way to get out and explore an area.  We had a great time finding this one, and I was glad it was relatively easy.
    Every once in a while we are really reminded that we live in a trailer.  Last night was one of those times.  The wind kicked up fierce during the night, and the trailer was rocking.  At 3 AM Paul (my hero) got up and went outside to fold up all the chairs by the campfire so they wouldn't blow away.  When he came back, we pulled 2 of the slides in, to keep the noise level down and the rocking to a minimum.  We finally got some sleep at about 3:30 AM.
 Some of the people who were here have left, and others are leaving tomorrow, including us.  We are headed up to Quartzite for a few days before taking off for Tucson.  
   I am sure I am leaving out lots of information and it sure doesn't sound like a busy week, but it has been!

boondocking in the desert (1-16-2011)



rendezvous in the desert

 We have left the lap of luxury and exchanged it for the sparse desert, and we are having an absolute blast.  We are camped out with about 15-18 other rigs, with a central fire pit set up for all to share.  Because we are literally in the desert,  there are no amenities.  No water, no sewer, no electricity.  Some people have solar panels, some have generators, and some have both.  Some people can generate enough of their own power to watch TV!  We can't, though.  We just have a small generator thats good enough to recharge our batteries and run some of our electrical outlets. We don't "boondock" too often so it isn't worth the investment to get anything more than that.  Most of these people are "Escapees"- members of a club that is comprised mostly of people who live and travel full time in their RVs.  Its not a requirement, in order to be in the club though, so some people here are just on a long term vacation, (or people who happened to already be camping in this part of the desert!). But because we all have a certain lifestyle in common, it gives us plenty to talk about!   As I just said to a friend of mine,being here really feels like an old fashioned neighborhood where you see people sitting out on their porches with a cup of coffee, chatting with the neighbors.  Very hard to describe the sense of camaraderie there is here.





stuck in the sand~

     The day we got here we helped "rescue" a fellow RVer who had taken a wrong turn and ended up stuck in the sand.  We have met an incredible amount of people, and have had the chance to actually get to know them a bit.      The days have a very loose routine, where everyone tends to gather a bit in the morning for coffee, before either taking off for the day to do something, or seeing what anyone else may be interested in doing. Yesterday I went for a bike ride with 3 other women, and tomorrow I am going hiking.




Our class president, Sandie, getting a vote on plans for a Pizza Party.



 Later in the day we tend to meet up again for happy hour.  Yesterday we had food set out and we all nibbled our way through the dinner hour.  Today was the saddest day.  Paul and I took off at lunch time to go find a sports bar so we could watch the Patriots play in the playoffs.  Sadly we saw them lose to the Jets, of all teams. Ugh.  No Superbowl for us this year.

   





Yuma, AZ (01-12-2011)

    So the RV park that we are staying in is definately over the top.  We've never stayed at one that had so much going on!  The people are friendly and will stop and chat as they walk their dogs or ride their bikes.  The RV Park is so big, a lot of people ride bikes to get around.

   For amenities, there are two pools, two hot tubs, a putting green, beach volleyball, tennis, full fitness center, shuffleboard, library, chapel, jewelry making room, billiards room, activity room, card room plus others.

All day long there are fitness classes (aerobics, water aerobics, pilates, yoga, couples yoga etc) craft classes, dance classes etc. Not to mention the daily water volleyball in the afternoon. There is entertainment 2-4 nights per week,  billiard tournaments etc. Tomorrow night is a dance, so we plan on going. Tonight was karaoke, and we decided to pass.




 

not your average Shuffleboard

We did work out in the gym today, which felt pretty good.  My only issue with this park is that the Wi-fi doesn't work, which kind of seems ridiculous.  Paul and I spent an hour or so on the phone with their techs, and in the end, they said they couldn't fix it, so I have mostly been using my phone.  There is Wi-fi in the library, but I am lazy.

    The other day we went to an event at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park.  There was a "gathering of the gunfighters", a show they have every year.  We missed the contest for the fastest draw, but were there for the skits that were put on by different groups.  There are 3 judges, and awards are given for the best plot and best acting. Each skit is set in the 1800s. In between watching the skits, we toured the old prison, which was used during the 1800s.  Its what  I call the "motel style", as opposed to the "hotel style" prison.  The door to each cell opened onto a courtyard and is not inside a huge building. The weather here is warm enough that no heat is needed.
One of the woman inmates was found guilty of killing her lover (for cheating on her) and then cutting out his heart and throwing it in his face.  Interesting.
   Yuma has been a thriving town for a long time, since during the California gold rush, the "49ers" had to come through Yuma to cross over the Colorado River to get to California.