January 2015 - Casa Grande, Saddle Mountain, Quartzsite, Joshua Tree NP, Borrego Springs and Julian

 

January 1st - Happy New Year!

 

We enjoyed a wonderful evening last night at the Clubhouse celebrating New Year's Eve with our friends Wayne and Karen and all of their friends. What a friendly place. Sandy started us all out with Jello shooters, Margaret sure likes those! Sandy offered them up to all the tables. Everyone brought tasty appetizers and with the one man band everyone was soon dancing the night away. Ray even managed to dance to a couple of songs, although I know he will pay for it today. The weather outside is gloomy and wet, but the atmosphere inside was warm. Thanks for the great time.

Wayne and Karen, the first ones on the dance floor as usual.

John and Sandy (shooter maker)

Selfie!

Yup the shooters are working ... everyone is happy! happy! happy!

January 4th - Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonapah AZ

We made the appointment at La Mesa RV for 9am on January 2nd. The traffic was light being the Friday of the Christmas/New Year's week so made good time from Casa Grande. They set us up in their conference room for the day so Freya was comfortable and we were sitting in our zero-gravity chairs playing on our computers or reading. While taking Freya for a walk, Ray noticed this car in the parking lot, so I had to take a picture. Other than it being made by Polaris we don't know what it is ... ?

After we got the coach back at 4pm, we decided to carry on down the road to Saddle Mountain BLM, about 25 miles towards Quartszite on I-10. We found a good spot after unhooking the car in time before the sun set. You can see the I-10 in the distance, but can't hear it, very peaceful. We noticed only a few other campers much further towards the mountain, but no one near us. Saturday morning it was 28 degrees and this morning 30 degrees. With our Big Buddy heater we stayed toasty all night.

It's lovely being back in the desert with lots of space and beautiful vistas.

Yesterday we had a relaxing day driving more of the roads in the BLM and we decided we already had the perfect spot for our "beastlyness". I chopped up some wood and at 4:30 we had a campfire for an hour or so. With all of the cooking and eating over the holidays we decided to keep it simple and just have tacos for dinner.

Freya's real happy to be "free" again.

Saddle Mountain, can you see it?

Another beautiful Arizona sunset.

January 7th - Arrival at Quartszite

We stayed at Saddle Mountain until Sunday January 4th, then bright and early Monday morning we packed up and headed to Parker AZ. Our intended destination was the La Paz County Park, as they have a sani-dump and dry camping for a reasonable price, or so we thought. After checking out the park we found there's no water worth putting in the tank, (found out that after we paid the $10 to dump) and $22 for dry camping ... not happening.  So off we went to the Walmart to purchase some groceries and to regroup and decide where to go next as we needed water within the next few days. We decided to go back towards Quartszite and stayed for a night at the Plumosa BLM area.

Upon waking up Tuesday, we decided we might as well go to Quartszite earlier than intended and just pay for 2 weeks. We'll see if we want to stay another 2 weeks, or move somewhere else closer to Palm Springs. Where Kristi and Jason will be arriving on February 4th for a visit. So off we went to La Posa South LTVA to find Steve and Dianne and see how full the area was getting. Dianne was still in her jammies at 9:15 when we knocked on their door. (I gave her a bad time but I am likely to be in the same state several days a week!) There were only a few small spots against the wash near them so we checked further down the road. We found one of the last spots with access to the wash with lots of sand for Freya and shade for me so decided to up anchor and move today instead of tomorrow. By 1pm we were all set up in the new spot. Unfortunately we are a little close to the road and the dust, but the prevailing winds usually go the other way. (fingers crossed that remains for our stay!)

Yup Freya is happy in the sand. (picture by Dianne)

Solar lights put up, humming bird feeders to come after the coach is washed and waxed on Friday.

Dianne invited us over to their friends, Red and Pam's for tube steak and chili Wednesday evening to meet a bunch of their friends from the RV Dreams group. A great time had by all.

In the back Red, David, then Ray and Debbie (David's wife) (picture by Steve)

Gina, Ruth and Diane (picture by Steve)

Me and Steve (picture by Dianne)

A lovely end to a wonderful day in the Arizona sunshine. We stayed until around 8pm and it was time to call it a night as it was getting cool.

January - 10th - Erdman Mine and Beer Belly's

Ray, Steve and Dianne and I went on a little road trip in Quartszite to the Erdman Gold Mine. First we drove through the sub-division we can see across the desert from where we are camped called Rainbow Acres. If we were to buy a lot in Quartszite that is where we would go as the area is very nicely done. Steve and Dianne have ridden through the subdivision and to the mine on their quads but have never gone by the road. The old mine was an interesting place. There is active mining in the area and I think that Mr. Erdman's old claim is now being worked by someone else. Hence the sign adjacent to the ruins! 

Dianne and I poking our heads out the windows.

Contemplating the Universe, or so he says!

Old mine shaft.

Next it was off to show Steve and Dianne Celia's Rainbow Garden, a place we visited 2 years ago. (See pictures on Wednesday February 20th, 2013 post). The day was warming up at a balmy 75 degrees so quite warm.

The Quartszite Garden Club is maintaining this, and doing a wonderful job. We noticed more well-kept memorials this time visiting than 2 years ago.

1pm time to go home for lunch .... or not, as Dianne suggested that we have to go to Beer Belly's in Tyson Wells so why not now. Ray turned around and found us a parking spot. With dog on leash we all walked into the bar. They have great hamburgers and good beer with a live band playing. We managed to find a table with some shade for Freya and me and enjoyed a wonderful hour.

January 11th - Parker Shopping and Wash'n Wax

Friday the coach was hand washed and waxed by Robert's Mobile RV Wash here at La Posa South LTVA. There were 3 guys and they had it all done in 2 hours. A great job, we could see the sparkle in the black paint again!

Saturday was shopping day for me as I ran all of our fresh produce down as I did not know where we were going after Tonapah and did not want to throw anything away crossing into California. I picked up my friend Dianne (with two N's) and her friend Pam at 9:30 am and we were off to Parker, about 40 minutes away. When we left, there was a rainbow in the distance. A short way up the highway the heavens opened and it poured with rain. It was intermittent though so not too bad of a drive, at least the washes were dry.  Ray managed to get a picture of a small rainbow.

Once we arrived at our first stop I gave everyone a walkie talkie so we could go and do our own thing and not have to worry where everyone was. It worked like a charm. First stop Walmart, then Safeway and lastly Basha's to get all of our items on our lists. At this time of year, just after New Years, the store shelves were all being re-organized, and with the rain, Walmart's roof was leaking all over the place, so it was hard to find stuff where it was supposed to be, but us seasoned shoppers persevered.

By 1pm we were starving so I drove the girls to the Crossroads Cafe, a lovely diner with great food and great prices. Thanks Dianne for sharing lunch with me. The drive home went fast and we arrived by 2:30.

I should have taken a picture of the loaded car. Pam in the back seat was surrounded with groceries!

After putting everything away with Ray's help, it was time to sit outside and enjoy the sun for an hour or so before coming in to start dinner. (We sat in front of the coach to block the wind). Another lovely day here in Arizona.

January 11th - Chinese Food Dinner at "Debbie's Kitchen"

Our campsite here in La Posa South.

Ray has been having a hankering for chow mein. We find very few Chinese food restaurants in the states that make the food the way we like, so I've learned to make our own. I always make a ton so we invited Steve and Dianne down for dinner ... they never say no if I am cooking!

We started out sitting around the fire but after an hour the rain began, so inside we came.

First campfire of 2015

A lot of prep is involved to make chinese food and with my small kitchen I have to precook some items to add back in so it was a whole afternoon exercise but well worth the effort ... yumm. Barbequed pork fried rice, (I made the pork and rice yesterday.) Chicken chow mein and mushrooms with bok choy.

Ray helping dishing out.

Freya must have heard beyond our hearing because she proceeded to climb 

onto Dianne's lap and then surprised Steve as she moved on over to him.

Called it at about 8:15 pm. A good evening had by all.

January 13th - Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Canyon

We decided to take a drive up to the Palm Canyon in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge today and check out the boondocking opportunities and possibly see the Palm Canyon. Funnily enough, Dianne just Facebooked to invite us with them and Red and Pam to that destination this morning as well. We all packed a lunch and followed Red in his truck up the 7 mile gravel road. Lots of great boondocking possibilities presented themselves. I did not know what to expect as this would be my first long walk since injuring my foot in November at Lake Mead. Ray and I were "back of the herd" as we made our way slowly up the 1/2 mile hike to the Palm Canyon. Some of the trail had a little more incline than we wished. I was puffing but with lots of short stops was able to negotiate the rocky trail.  Ray felt OK going up but by the end coming down the hill he was definitely done.  Sometimes the gain is worth the pain to see special places. Freya had a great time trying to herd us all together. She kept coming back to me and barking "hurry up mom" and then would fly up the trail to the lead person.

The trail is in the shade and it was a little cold to start

Red and Pam leading the hike.

Wow look at those cliffs, see below.

The hiking party

As I said, there are some steep parts and both Ray and I took it slow.

And finally, our destination Palm Canyon.  There is a trail to the palms, but way too long and steep for any of us. As you can see the sun was only shining on the palms at the top. We did not want to wait for the "right picture".

A look back at the mountain range.

Signal Peak Mountain

After coming back down the trail we had a "tailgate" lunch and I drove back to La Posa South. It was extremely windy when we got back at 12:30 so we were glad there were no awnings out! Ray spent the rest of the afternoon in his inside recliner with ice as it was too windy to sit outside. I decided to make hamburger soup so I did not have to fuss at dinner time.

January 14th - Visiting Friends

Visited with Bill and Elke Marriott this afternoon and met their friends Bruce and Ellie at Plumosa. Boy the area sure filled up since we were there a week ago. I left early at 8:30 this morning to do my 2 1/2 weeks worth of laundry and then attended the new farmer's market here in Quartszite. Lots of lovely fresh produce. Also we were wondering if there was a Tiffin Rally here at Quartszite (9 units so far) and were so surprised when they all started to pull in across from us this afternoon. I am sure we will be over for a campfire or two.

My score today at the Farmer's Market

Bill and Elke

The unofficial Tiffin Rally starting to arrive across from us.

January 19th - The last few days have been a blur!

We've been quite busy here at Quartszite. The days are kinda blending together. On Thursday the 16th I picked up Dianne and we went to the Geeks on Tour presentation on Google Maps. Both of us learned a few things to try, but we left early as Dianne promised Ray and I dinner and needed to get back home. We spent a lovely evening around their campfire in a can and then enjoyed a lovely chicken dish that Dianne tried from one of the recipes I gave her. Way to go Dianne! Delish.

Here is a picture of the Tiffin Group on the other side of the road. We've been over several times for campfires, what lovely people and we will try and keep in touch with a bunch of them.

There are 16 coaches over there and ours makes 17.

Saturday we braved the crowds for the opening of the RV show under the Big Tent. Wow, we were there at 9am to get in and were crushed like sardines! We did however enjoy a wood fired pizza for breakfast. We found the show to be less than it was 2 years ago, not a lot of RV specific products that one would think. Tyson Wells seems to have more bits and gadgets. We left after a couple of hours.

Sunday we stayed home so Ray could watch the football game. At the Tiffin Rally they had a Jambalaya potluck for lunch and everyone contributed great food. I made homemade buns for the group. Ray joined their football pool and won $30, go Seahawks! With all these rigs only running on their generators, the din is like a beehive or the vuvuzela horns at the South Africa World Cup.

Lots of fun. Today I think we will go back to the show to have another look around.

Here is picture off Ray trying alligator for the first time ... I thought it tasted like greasy chicken lol.

January 21st - BLM near Joshua Tree National Park

 We left Quartzsite around noon and headed to Joshua Tree National Park, about 1 1/2 hour down I-10. A lovely sunny day. The traffic getting out of "Q" was horrible ... thought we would get hit by everyone trying to sneak in the line-ups. Glad to be gone, way too much traffic and people. We enjoyed walking through the show but 2 days were enough for us.

Just before the south entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, there are a few unofficial BLM areas. We found a wonderful spot at the end of a road all by ourselves with lots of soft dirt for Freya. Beautiful mountains in all directions. We could see the I-10 about a mile in the distance, so pretty quiet. It stayed warm all afternoon and we sat out in shorts and tee's. Last night however the wind came up and howled. At 2:30 am Ray and I were pulling in the big slide and bedroom slide on the driver's side to stop the toppers from flapping. The gusts were strong enough to rock the coach. Still breezy this morning but the wind is a lot less than last night. Hopefully this was a one-off!

Yup we are by ourselves. Lovely skies.

Ray went a short way up the road today to visit the General Patton Museum so Freya and I are holding down the fort.

January 21st - General Patton Memorial Museum

Ray here for this post on my trip to the General Patton Memorial Museum.  To me, George S. Patton was the greatest tactical General the US Armed Forces had in WWII, so I just had to visit the museum.  I only took one picture inside the museum but it was loaded with displays.  They contained personal letters from Patton right through to displays from the various wars.

Memorial Wall

Patton always carried a pistol like this.

The museum is centered here as this entire area from Palm Springs all the way to Bouse, AZ contained many tank training camps.  They would make fake tanks from canvas in the desert for practicing.

I was thrilled to see a Sherman tank on display.  This was America's standard tank during the war and it was a light weight (actually classified as a medium weight tank) compared to the other forces.  Around 20,000 of these tanks were destroyed during the war.

A view many infantry saw during the war.

Troop transport above and below

January 23rd - Joshua Tree National Park Picture Tour

Yesterday I packed us a lunch and drove us through the Joshua Tree National Park with Ray snapping pictures here and there. Coming up from Cottonwood Springs the topography is fairly consistent with this area. As we kept driving up the mountains, elevation changed from 3,079  feet at Cottonwood Springs up to 5,185 feet at Keys View high above Palm Springs. We toured a bunch of campsites and we really would not fit in most of them. Staying at the entrance to the park on the BLM land, where it is free, warm and has lots of space for our beastly size and dog was the right decision.

The first stop on the Pinto Basin Road was the Ocotillo Patch. The first picture  is what it would look like when they flower in the spring.(Google) The second picture  is what Ray took. Can you imagine the colour if they were all blooming?

The next stop was the Cholla Cactus Garden. We have never seen so many Cholla in one place. The first picture  is what they look like blooming.(Google) The next picture is the one Ray took.

We checked out the campsites at White Tank, Belle and Jumbo Rocks. Kyle's Kastle would not fit in any of them. Beautiful for smaller rigs though with lots of rocks for people to climb over. First up is the White Tank Campsite.  The rock before the campsite is awesome.  Ray didn't take any pics in the campsite itself.

This Joshua Tree is the biggest one we've seen!

Then it's off to the Jumbo Rocks Campsite:

After departing Jumbo Rocks we noticed this "Skull Rock" on the way to Ryan Campsite and our final view point Keys View.

On the way to Keys View, we noticed some rock climber through the "Hall of Horrors" area.

Keys View overlooking the Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs. 

It just might be windy in this area.

Salton Sea

The San Andreas fault line sure shows up as a huge ripple/wave through the fabric of the earth.

Time for us to have the lunch I packed so we stopped at Cap Rock Picnic Site. It was a nice spot to eat and Freya was able to stretch her legs as no one else was there. She was not allowed on any of the trails or areas other than picnic sites or campsites. It was only 55 degrees F. so it was no problem stopping and rolling the windows down while I looked at various views.

Joshua Tree Bloom from Google

January 24th - Emperor Buffet and Box Canyon

We decided to drive into Palm Springs yesterday on Hwy 111 to find out where the Costco was etc. Funny how the car managed to remember the Emperor Buffet, a Chinese restaurant that Bill and Elke took us to 2 years ago. Yumm.

Next I drove us down to Mecca to check out a dump station .... not there anymore and then up Box Canyon Road back to the campsite. Boy has that road (wash) been undermined in the last few years with water. You could tell that there were once great BLM free camping spots but with all of the soft sand they are no good anymore. Here are a few pics.

Just before the end of the road we took a picture looking across the I-10 and you can just see us in the distance.

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the sun I decided to use up the last of the firewood and burn the paper garbage. What a good end to a wonderful day.

Joshua Tree National Park Part 2 - 2015-01-25 20:17

The wind here at the BLM camping spot at the entrance to Joshua Tree is brutal (Remember all those wind mills?). It is like sleeping in a wind tunnel. With winds up to 40 miles per hour, the satellite dish and driver's slides were in every night except for 1 of the 5 nights we have been here. I know ... why did we persevere? This was the only spot that we fit that is in close proximity to what we wanted to see and we're not paying $50/night. Most days though it was fine sitting outside during the day just that by 11 pm the winds would resume.

Even though we would usually take a day or two off between touring for Ray, with all the wind we decided yesterday to make the final trip back into the park leaving the dish down and slides in as it was blowing about 25 miles per hour when we left at 8:30 am.  I drove and Ray snapped pictures on our way to see Arch Rock, Split Rock and the Geology Tour areas. The wind was still blowing about 25 when we got back too, so the slides were in all day and night again. No TV although being Saturday night there is usuallly nothing on anyways.  This wind blew more from the north and the sand pelted our legs sitting in the chair from underneath the motorhome.  When Ray got up to make a drink, he would brush the sand out of the chair before he sat down. Last night was the worst wind yet, probably 50 mi/hr. Glad to leave tomorrow!

The first set of pictures are of Arch Rock, a short 1/4 mile loop trail out of White Tank Campground. I waited in the car with the dog as she is not allowed on any of the trails in the park. The sun was glorious but temps were only 47 degrees and very windy so I did not mind waiting in the car.

See the tent through the opening. True rugged campers with temps at 50 degrees at 9:30 am.

How about tenting under this?

Arch Rock

Next it was off to the Geology Tour, an 18 mile loop on a dirt road. Wow, Freddie Ford did well on the 4x4 road! Fortunately, I did not get high centered anywhere with my careful driving, even Ray was pleased with my driving, even though it kills him not to be the one driving in such situations. Lol.

Me: Do you think we'll end up on that road way down there? Ray: No Deb. Well guess what?

First off, cross the dry lake bed:

Mt. San Gorginio in the background

Miscellaneous rock piles strewn around the landscape:

Next up, Malapai Hill, a volcanic shaft that tried to erupt but ran out of "steam".

Notice the road/goat track off to the right?

The drive next took us to the "White Tank", a dam constructed to capture whatever water they could.  No water to be seen here though!  We were glad for the short walk as our asses felt rather pinched going over this goat trail and hoping to not get stuck.

Heading back towards our campsite, we first checked out the Ryan Campsite:

We stopped at the Split Rock picnic site. We were planning on having a bite to eat, but the wind was still way up and it was quite chilly. We just took turns and walked a short way down the trail to see all the interesting rock formations.

People are starting fires underneath the rock

Hmmm.

What a glorious driving trip. Way too many good camera shots ... hard to pick. I am glad we stayed that extra day to see these areas. When we got back Ray settled himself  in his zero-gravity lounger on the leeward side of the coach in the sun  with his ice pack, and I made us sandwiches. I was not enjoying sitting outside, so I got busy and made bread and some buns for hamburgers tomorrow. Banana Loaf was also made to use up some over ripe bananas. Felt good accomplishing something. With all of the wind, the inside is filthy but no point cleaning until we move onwards to somewhere less windy today. 

January 26th - Borrego Springs and Laundry Day

We left Joshua Tree BLM and decided to go to Borrego Springs, less wind, sunny and warm. After stopping at the Arco at the corner of S-22, to fuel up the coach and car, get propane, fill with water and dump, an 1 1/2 later we were back on the road for the 30 minute drive to Borrego Springs. We should have remembered it was Sunday and all of the OHV people were wanting to dump etc. before going home from the weekend.

We moved on to Borrego Springs boondocking close to Rockhouse Road to get out of the wind. The forecast is for showers this am with more coming this afternoon. Sounded like a good day to do laundry in town ..... not. There were 9 washers of which one was a triple and 2 doubles ... the rest regular ones. Out of the 4 large dryers and 6 small ones, only 1 large dryer worked and 3 small ones. So after doing my 2 weeks worth in the washers it ended up only 1 small dryer worked/and or empty for me to use! So only 1 load got dry so we took all of the wet stuff home. Neither Ray or I wanted to sit around for another couple of hours. The generator is on to use my in house dryer and the rest we made into a "Chinese laundry"!!!!!! 2 thumbs down! Oh well, the weather is crappy so the solar panels are not working well anyway.

Good thing boondocking we only use Ray's bathroom! 

January 28th - Borrego Springs Metal Sculptures

Morning sunrise from our campsite.

Looking at the Anzo Borrego State Park Visitor's Center.

They had a short desert walk around the Visitor's Center that we took. According to the park this year they have had average rainfall so there are quite a few things flowering already.

California Palm

We do not know what the next two bushes are but they sure are pretty.

We noticed driving back down from the park that there were several ocotillo bushes blooming so had to stop and get some pictures.

Next it was off to see the sculptures.

The serpent.

Up close and personal.

This one is for you Garrett ... gonna get you!

Fabulous detail in the sculpture.

Scorpian

Grasshopper

Wine Makers

We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce Visitors Centre to get a picture of this guy.

We stopped at an orchard to pick up a bag of oranges for $3. Last time we were here two years ago, it was November and too early in the season for ripe fruit. They had huge bags of grapefruit for $3 as well but I would never eat enough of them.

It was lunchtime, so we decided to try out one of the restaurants listed in Borrego Springs Tourist Guide, the Red Ocotillo Restaurant. Great food, good service and pet friendly on their patio. We left Freya in the car under a tree right beside where we were sitting so perfect.

This bush was just behind the tree trunk to my left, just beautiful blooms.

The whole desert right now smells of sage from the day of rain on Monday. Later in the afternoon we decided to have a fire as it was a bit cloudy and started to cool down.

As the sun was going down and with all of the clouds, there was this slight opening which highlights the mountain behind us with the wash coming down.

January 31st - Road trip to Julian, yummy pie!

Yesterday started out fairly cloudy after a night of rain so we decided to drive up the mountain to the little historic town of Julian. It was on my bucket list to have some fresh Julian pie from the original bakery. It sure is a windy road getting up to the top of the mountain, I took my time driving up and stopped at this lookout for Ray to take a picture.

It started out here in Borrego Springs at 64 degrees F. and by the time we were at the top of the mountain it's only 43 degrees F. Soon it warmed up to about 54 degrees F. The first stop is at the Julian Pie Company for a piece of pie and tea. Yumm. They have 9 different types in the showcase and a freezer full of ready to bake pies.

The town of Julian started out when gold mining was the thing to do. As that wound down, the apple orchards were used to make the pies that are now well-known in the State of California. There are several other pie shops down the main street.

Most of the buildings are in the Historic Registar and are protected. We walked down the street and snapped a few more pictures.

The only original hotel still standing. 

The Historical Society (in an old schoolhouse)

After a quick walk around town it was time to go back down to the warmth below. It really felt like winter up there.

This morning Ray took a quick drive out to take some early light shots of some sculptures.