"WE'VE COME ALL THE WAY FROM OREGON TO MEET THE MOTORMOUSE"

 

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS LITTLE FELLOW WAS UP TO

"We've come all the way from Oregon to meet the Motormouse."  And with those words today we met surprise visitors & blog followers, Bob & Lisa Foote with their two Boston terriers, Albert & Rupert.  They are from Bend, Oregon & have been following our blog for well over a year. (Rick, Wandering Willy & Ivan as well)  What a pleasurable couple these two are & it was great to meet them.  They were both very apologetic about seeking us out because they have read about my feelings regarding people & privacy.   I quickly reassured them that I had a habit of blowing smoke & would not devour them in a Cursmudgeony flash of fire.   Bob & Lisa are boondocking at the Bow Willow campground about an hours drive southwest of us & came over this way today in hopes of meeting our little Motormouse.  We were in town so they left a note on our door but spotted us on the highway coming back from Borrego Springs & turned around.  Bob has the same Delorme GPS that we do so was able to give Kelly a crash course on it's operation.  We really appreciated that help.   Maybe I can use it in the middle of the night to find my way to the washroom now.  Thanks for dropping by guys & say hello to Albert & Rupert for us:))  Oh ya, & little Motormouse is still feeling like a superstar after folks came all the way from Oregon to meet her.  She's been rubbing it into the other two guys:))

BOB & LISA WITH MOTORMOUSE & AL HOLDING THE LITTLE RUPERT

We had us a look around the area on our morning walk but decided to stay where we are.  We have 3 out of 4 bars for our Verizon with a direct line of sight all the way to Borrego Springs.  Nice view at night with all the lights.  Kelly has a better cell phone signal & our Skype works much better here.  This area is familiar to us because it is where we first pulled off the road into the desert two years ago & spent Christmas & New Years.  We were here for awhile last year until a truck camper came in very close to us & cranked their radio.   That led to us moving over to the Rockhouse Road area & that is the area we got crowded out of again yesterday.  People, don't ya just love the darn things!!!!

LOOK CLOSELY & SEE HOW RESPECTFUL THESE BOONDOCKERS ARE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS...THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. (click to enlarge)

Friday morning means Farmer's Market at Borrego Spring's Christmas Circle & Kelly was wanting to pick up some fresh vegetable thingys.  I don't have much of an interest in that sort of food stuff  but I do like to meander through the market looking for candid photo opportunities.  I couldn't take a good portrait photo of someone if my life depended on it but I love taking candid photos of people just being themselves.   People's faces are great subject matter, especially if they don't know they are being photographed.

 

A FEW OF THE FOLKS AT THIS MORNINGS FARMER'S MARKET

We were just back at the rig about a minute when Bob & Lisa rolled in.  When I saw the pickup truck turn off the highway & come directly to our site I figured it was one of the guys from the gang that crowded us out yesterday.  Figured maybe somebody had somehow read my blog last night & they were coming over to do me some damage.  Sometimes I wonder about having our Bayfield Bunch.com name in big letters on the back of our rig.

<<< BOB & LISA'S NOTE ON OUR MOTORHOME

Yesterday's suppressed anger took it's toll on me & by early this afternoon I was toast.  Slept ok last night but my energy levels drained away today & I spent most of the time dozing in a lounge chair until I was awakened by an airplane sound I had heard at air shows.  Somebody was practicing stunt flying nearby.  For the second time this week I jumped into the car & headed the short distance to the Borrego airport to watch the plane.  A few days ago I got to the airstrip just as the stunt pilot was landing.  Today he was already on the ground by the time I got there.  The Borrego Springs airport has a special waiver that allows pilots to come here to hone their stunt flying skills.  It is not allowed in big populated areas so a lot of flyers come over from neighboring small towns like Los Angeles & San Diego.

                                  

STUNT PLANE'S PRACTICE HERE AS RICH FOLKS FLY IN  WITH THEIR PRIVATE PLANES                                   

I made a U-turn at the airport & headed back towards the rig but remembered some flowers I had seen on Henderson Canyon road yesterday so headed off down there to snap a few photos.  The desert blooming has been delayed this year because of colder weather so the great blankets of flowers are not out yet.  Just some colorful clumps here & there.

 

A FEW FLOWERS ALONG HENDERSON CANYON ROAD THIS AFTERNOON

Now, before I forget again, here are the co-ordinates for the two Socky Von Geepers geo sites that we did on Wednesday's Box Canyon hike.  First Socky photo alongside the dry wash was at.... N 33* 01.0078 by W 116* 26.2901.  Second Socky photo by the dry waterfall was at N 33* 00.8752 by W 116* 26.5346.  Hope these numbers are right in case anyone is interested.

I did put that Box Canyon hike into a Picasa Web Album which can be found at our album site here.... BOX CANYON HIKE  I have a lot of photos from today which I will also put in an album probably tomorrow. 

     

I sure have got myself into a bit of a mess between our old & new laptop Toshiba's.  The music transfer did not go well & I ended up deleting the whole jumbled mess from the new laptop.  I will have to wait for a calm spell in my life before tackling all that again.  I even dumped my favorite Winamp player in the new machine as well.  Also, I have been switching the blog back & forth between XP & Win 7 in the two computers & I've managed to get myself into a quandary over all that as well.   So far I'm not too impressed with Win 7 & I guess it's because I am so used to XP which I happen to think is a totally excellent system,  I'm glad we missed Vista.  I suppose I will eventually get used to Win 7 but I will once again need a few calming days to settle myself into it.  For sure it will take me all summer just to sort out the thousands of photos from this trip.

I have had many really nice comments & emails from folks out there suggesting I put our travels adventures & writings along with photos into book form.  I am very flattered by that but in reality there are much better writers & photographers doing that very thing.   I am of the belief that unless you are the best of the best your chances of writing a successful book, or having your photography published, or recording a song, or becoming an accomplished painter or well known sculptor, your work has to be extraordinary.  It has to have substance & stand out from the rest of the pack.  My blog is just a simple little travel account with a few photos, feelings, & opinions thrown in, plus we are only snow birders & although I do keep the blog going everyday all through the summer months it just doesn't have the pizzazz that the professional people are able to put into their writings & pictures.  I enjoy this as a hobby & if my silly musings & pictures bring some enjoyment of sorts to readers out there then that's good enough for me.  It's the little comments at the end of the blog each day & the emails from folks that make it all worthwhile.  Not just for me but for all my fellow bloggers as well.   There are some great blog writers out there & they are the one's who may have a chance someday of doing something with their blogs.  But, a big thanks to everyone for all your encouragement.  Very much appreciated.

                             

Tomorrow morning I have to be at the Nature Desert Store in Borrego Springs at 6 A.M for an early morning photo class on desert photography.  Wish me luck on getting up in time....................:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And did you know that by the time you find greener pastures, you probably won't be able to climb over the fence anyway.

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.

MORNING PHOTO CLASS & AFTERNOON SIESTA

MAIN STREET BORREGO SPRINGS

The  gusting winds kept the Sand Man at bay for a big part of last night & Kelly didn’t sleep well either.  The slide awnings flapped & the solar panels wiggled & whistled.  It is just the way it is with the desert winds & with a few patters of rain on the roof early on we woke up to beautiful cloud whipped moisture free skies.

                 

CHRISTMAS CIRCLE IN BORREGO                              

The night actually went better than we feared when about 10 o’clock last night we were startled by a loud bang outside, & not too far away.  A cautious peering of eyes through the curtain draped side window told us we had neighbors!!  My binoculars told me there were two rigs & they were young people probably with kids.  One of the travel trailers had double perpendicular windows at the back & that meant bunk beds.  And bunk beds mean kids.  The bang we heard was a firecracker & it was followed by about a half dozen more.  We were not happy campers!!!!  Luckily they were down in a gravel pit about 3 or 4 hundred yards from us so at least not in our face.  We expected the usual loud music, loud voices, & booze infested antics but here it is Saturday night & they have not been too much of a problem at all.  Three small children so we know they will be gone Sunday afternoon.

   

MORNING SKIES

My photo class started at 10 this morning so Kelly took the opportunity to do laundry right around the corner from where the Borrego Desert Nature Center is located on main street.  About 10 people in the seminar which was led by well known celestial photographer, DENNIS MAMMANA.  However, the hour & a half class was not about astro photography, but about desert photography.  He talked about the importance of lighting, histograms, composition , etc.  I would like to get in on one of his night time photo classes too but he doesn’t resume them now until the fall.  Informative morning though & I picked up some helpful tips.

                                      

THIS MORNING’S DESERT PHOTO CLASS WITH DENNIS MAMMANA

Met Kelly outside & we walked across the road to Jilbertos for a bite to eat.  Jilberto’s is probably my favorite eating place in Borrego Springs simply because it’s a simple little no nonsense place.  Food’s good & the price is right.  Nothing fancy schmancy here & it’s where the locals eat.   Specializes in Mexican food & they build a mighty fine hamburger too.    Kelly had something with a Mexican name that looked kinda squueshy to me.  I’m not too big on anything squueshy unless it’s oatmeal.  I am not an adventurous eater thank you very much!!

I’M GUESSING THIS IS A HOUSE FINCH

Took us for a drive around town marveling at the surrounding beauty.  What a great picturesque little place this is sitting right at the foot of the huge San Ysidro mountain range.  I really must take some time & do some more photos around town.

  

BORREGO SPRINGS NESTLED AT THE FOOT OF THE SAN YSIDRO MOUNTAINS (click pics to enlarge & can you find the flying cloud dragon in the center photo)

Back to the rig & it was semi-snooze time for us.  I was at the computer when a fellow rode up on a motorbike.  We had left a note on this fellow’s motorhome earlier today because I thought he might be interested in seeing some of the photos I took of him on his flying machine.  His name was Tom & he was down here from Oregon.  The pics I took a few days ago of a burgundy cart & multi-colored chute was Tom.  He, in turn invited us over to another neighbor’s rig for happy hour & that is how we met Rue & Don who are from Surrey, British Columbia.  They have been coming here to this spot for a few years now & prefer the quietness of the desert.   And, as usual, they were all very nice folks.  I asked Tom about the fellow who had the trouble in the wind yesterday & Tom said aside from a sore hand the elderly fellow was alright.  Said they had moved over to the Salton Sea area.  Tom is a member of the Escapee’s Boomer Club.

DON, TOM, & RUE

And yes, I did get my days all messed up yesterday.  For some reason I thought it was Saturday.  The farmer’s market on Christmas Circle is every Friday morning  & not Saturday.  I think Mr. Crankypants must have shook loose a few brain cells doing that fast waddle across the desert yesterday.   Thought I would be very stiff today but I was fine.  Guess you have to get over a quarter mile an hour to incur muscle stiffness.

And welcome to our 103rd follower, The Gypsy G-Mas.  Thanks for looking in us folks & nice to have you along.   And a note to readers that you can click on the followers to see if they have their own blogsites too, & a lot of them do.  For example:

WAYNE & ROBERTA

THE GYPSY G-MAS

KATIE….ROUGH LIFE

JIM 

BORREGO SPRING’S IS AT THE FOOT OF THAT MOUNTAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

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

I LIKE TO HEAR THE PITTER PATTER OF LITTLE PAWS IN THE MORNING

MOODY MOUNTAINS OF BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

I have heard it said that older folks require less sleep.  I wonder why that is & I certainly do not agree with that.  Seems like it should be the other way around.  Lack of sleep is directly related to crankiness & it's rare to hear of young people being cranky.  Definitely an older folks affliction.  It's been about 4 years now since I last had a full night's sleep so you can see it's been awhile that I have been 'cranked!!'  Sometimes I sleep in my bed & sometimes in my recliner but it's usually a combination of both.  Back & forth, back & forth!!  I usually go to bed somewhere around 11 & am generally back up around 4 with a couple of stops in between.  This makes for some very long tiresome days.  Low energy levels & lack of motivation are the nasty side affects but I would rather deal with these than the addictive side affects of sleeping pills.  Just the way it is I guess so I had just better get used it!!

Had a good day yesterday........only did 2 dumb things.  The key to the door of our carport storage area has always been missing so yesterday I decided to round up all our errant keys laying around & go try them all in the door.  Of course while doing this I accidentally locked the door & you know that none of the keys ever ended up working.  There were things inside that I needed so with no other choice I was forced to put a well aimed single kick to the side of the doorknob which of course popped the door right open.......with of course the normal amount of damage.  So, now that's gotta be fixed!!  Second Einstein thing I did was to fire up the rig's generator & then of course get busy with some other things, head off into the house & forget the generator running outside.  Don't even ask how long the generator ran!!!!  Alright, while I'm at it I might as well mention that I forgot my laundry in the dryer so it laid in there all night & now I have another week of walking around looking like a big wrinkled up mess.  There was something else too but fortunately I've already forgot what it was.  Geeeezzzz, hope I didn't leave something running somewhere again!!!!!

RELAXING IN THE DESERT

I have always been kind of a news hound.  Years ago I subscribed to the daily newspaper while living in Stratford, Ontario & liked to stay current with all the local happenings.  We don't have a daily paper in Bayfield so over the past 7 years I've gotten away from local news & more into the habit of worldly television news.  CNN has been my channel of choice & yes, I guess you could say I had become addicted to that as well.  It has always been a love/hate thing with CNN but I am now working on a parting of ways strategy with them.  In fact I am turning the volume down on all my news interests.  I have just simply become tired of all the negative reporting, the repetitive re-hashing, the schlocky announcers, the ever increasing loud & stupid commercials, & just news in general.  I'm beginning to believe in that old saying, 'no news is good news!!'  Instead of cracking on CNN now when I get up around 4 a.m.  I simply put on my favorite soothing ambient music channel, & either just relax in my recliner or pull out the laptop, click it on, & see what the rest of you fellow blogger schmoggers are up to:))   Just seems a nicer & more realistic way to start the day......10-4!!

I love hearing the pitter patter of little paws in the morning.  The rest of the Bayfield Bunch doesn't usually begin to stir until around 6 a.m. & little Cora (Motormouse) is generally the first one up.  She always sleeps on my bed so I can hear her jump down & listen for the patter of little paws coming down the hall as she heads out to where I am in the living room.   She jumps up on my lap & I have to move the laptop off to one side so she can get snuggled in to her little spot.  Next it is Checkers coming down the hall heading for her favorite spot right next to my chair where she knows I will give her a big snuggle a pet her with one hand while trying to type with the other.  Sometimes, like this morning, I pet her in between sentences as I am typing this.  Max stays on his couch across the room until he's ready to go out but stops by my chair first for his big first snuggle of the day too.  Somewhere amidst all this petting & snuggling stuff Kelly gets up, puts the coffee on, & heads for the computer in the sunroom.  It's usually around 7 when the Motormouse starts up with the first game of toys for the day & playtime with the gang just gets more crazy from there.  Barking dogs, flying rubber chickens, bouncing colored balls, & squeaking pink bananas fill the air as we're all racing around in the living room driving Mom bonkers.  And this is only the very first 'toys time' of the day.  It's the same scenario while we're traveling only we have a lot less space for our morning shenanigans & Mom gets a whole lot more madder at us guys.

D'YA NEED SOME HELP THERE DAD??

Just noticed we have some new blog followers so I'd like to welcome Jenni, Mary Ann, William & Karen.  And thanks to all you other followers for tagging along with us as well.  Much appreciated:))

STORMY SKYS WHILE BOONDOCKING NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS, CA.

Had an email from my long time best friend Jim in Stratford last week suggesting we meet for our semi-annual coffee blow-out of the year so we met at a Tim Hortons coffee shop in Mitchell Ontario at 10 this morning.  We left at 1:30 in the afternoon so that was an average blow-out for us.  I have blogged about Jim & our coffee routines years ago in a previous blog.  Jim actually gave up coffee quite a few years ago so I guess we could call it a coffee/orange juice blow out.  But more than one coffee or orange juice??  Nope, we both just have one & make it last for 3 or 4 hours.  That's OK for orange juice but cold coffee sure doesn't do a whole lot for me after a couple of hours!!  Our friendship goes back many years.  Another fellow dropped in but I will blog about the co-incidental significance the 3 of us had sitting there in a later October 19th blog.  Don't know if either one of them thought of it to-day but I sure did.  These two guys & a bunch of other good folks were instrumental in changing the course of my life 30 years ago this month..................!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Get a new car for your spouse. It'll be a great trade!!

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

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

WE WOKE UP IN CALIFORNIA & WENT TO BED IN ARIZONA

CAMPFIRE COLORS

Another beautiful sunny California morning with a big fiery sunrise beaming through our windshield. Not sure exactly when the decision was made to pack up & head for Quartzite but I guess we just kind of hit on the idea about the same time this morning & before long we were in the process of putting solar panels down, awning up, ground mat & chairs away, etc. Planned to drive over & say good-bye to Butch but he beat us to it when we heard our dogs barking. There was Butch & Kapeesh coming over a rise to see how we were doing. Had us big chin wag for quite awhile & then it was good-bye. Always a sad time for me saying good-bye to people & leaving favorite campsites but soon we had the big wheels rolling & my focus was shifted forward to the new adventures ahead. SAYING GOOD-BYE TO BUTCH & KAPEESH

Dumped the tanks in Borrego & took on fresh water. Hitched the car up near the Kiwanis booth just off Christmas circle & headed out of town. Bye bye Borrego Springs & thanks once again for all the great memories over the past 18 days. Sure hope we get back to see you again.

We decided to take a different route to Quartzite & have us a look at some roads, mountains, & scenery we've never seen before. Down through Ocotillo Wells & on into Brawley. We were both needing a good Wal-Mart fix & we had heard there was a new 6 month old Wallyworld in town. What a great looking store because the outside is done in a southwest architecture theme. I did take a picture of the place, & by the way, we asked, & yes it is RV friendly so it's ok for an overnighter folks.

BRAWLEY'S NEW RV FRIENDLY WALLY WORLD

The scenery east of Brawley just kept getting better & better as we followed highway 78 northeast. Saw the kids on countless dune buggies, ATV's & dirt bikes as we drove through Glamis in the Imperial Sand Dunes. Looked like the Sahara desert with hundreds & hundreds of off road vehicles bouncing over the dunes in every imaginable direction. East of Glamis the highway narrows with no shoulders so you really have to keep your eyes on the road. One wheel off the pavement & your toast. No chance of putting the rig on Auto Pilot & slipping back to the washroom on this road. No sireeeeee!! The further we traveled, the greener the desert became & it was nice to see some actual trees beginning to appear. Soon we would be seeing Saguaro cactus in the landscape again. Really missed them in California. The many majestic mountain ranges along this road just added to the magic of the desert landscape. What a beautiful country this is. OFF ROADING IN GLAMIS

We climbed aboard Interstate 10 just west of Blyth & rolled right through town to the east side where we crossed the State Line into Arizona. We had half a tank of propane & were down to about a quarter tank of gas in the rig but wanted to wait until we crossed the State Line before filling up because of the much cheaper fuel prices in Az. Hadn't thought about the Flying J being the last gas station in Arizona before traffic headed into California where gas prices were much higher so the place was packed with vehicles. We had to get on the end of a long double line up for the pumps but surprisingly enough my impatience didn't get the best of me for a change & within about half an hour or so we were again back on I-10 & eastbound for Q. LONG LINE-UP AT THE GAS PUMPS & THERE'S KELLY UP THERE TELLING THE DRIVER'S TO SPEED IT UP:))

There's a point on the interstate when you come over a rise & Quartzite appears in the valley below. It's from here that you first see the vast spectacle of thousands & thousands of RV's spread out for miles in every direction across the desert floor. We've seen this before but it's always impressive. It was 5 P.M. when we rolled up to the main intersection of Quartzite & the traffic was surprisingly light. We figured it was because all the RV'ers were home strapping on the feed bags because if I remember correctly, the many vendors here close at 4 o'clock. Nice unexpected traffic break for us.

Figured we might as well head to the area that we had stayed at here the past couple of years simply because we know our way around the desert here. About 6 miles south of Quartzite on highway 95 is Roadrunner road & that was our exit off the road as we headed northwest out into the desert.......& hundreds & hundreds, & hundreds of RV's. But, like I said, this was familiar territory so we knew where to head so finally found us a reasonably quiet spot. Nobody near us on three sides but quite a few rigs to the northeast. Oh well, this is January in Q so that means people, people, people. Probably about 5000 people per square foot once you get right into Q itself so I'll be spending the majority of my time right here at the rig with the furry guys:)) Kelly can go into town & do battle with the crowds & go toe to toe with the vendors & merchants. She has a lot more patience for that sort of thing than I do & besides it's a very considerate thing for me to do by staying home. That way she doesn't have to worry about dragging a complaining husband around everywhere or seeing him reduced to a whimpering pile of mush in the crush of the milling hordes of humanoids.

We're able to pick up some television channels here but I'm not so sure that's a good thing. For the past 18 days we have been without television & it wasn't until we turned on our television to-night that I realized how great the past two & a half weeks have been. No gloom & doom news, no phony cop shows, no ram jam hokey local commercials, & no "happy gang" jokesters on the local news channels. I had really taken a liking to our nightly DVD movie nights, which brings me to last night's movie, "The Straight Story." It's the true story of Alvin Straight who drove his lawn mower, towing a trailer, all the way from Iowa to Wisconsin to visit his ailing brother Lyle. This is a simple movie with no Hollywood glitz & glitter. No overblown & over the top hero figures. No stupidity, no bad language, & no phony characters. Just a simple movie with a simple story. Can you tell I liked it:)) Especially loved the instrumental violin & guitar sound track.

I uploaded the Borrego Ranch photos from yesterday to the web album this afternoon & have also uploaded some photos from to-day. I took a series of pictures with a 135mm telephoto lens of our campfire last night & have decided to include them all in the album because of their colors. Ok Al, back yourself away from the computer & go to bed..................please!!

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

IT'S KELLY SITTING ON THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK

Just over a hill to our west is the RV area that a lot of Canadians frequent during the winter months. It is called Peg Leg Smiths & there is actually a monument there to the man himself. You can read about Pegleg's lost gold mine here...http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/gold/nov_gold2.html

From our campsite to Peg Leg is only about a half mile or so & this morning we hiked up the hill that separates us. Nice view & I took some pictures for the web album from atop the rocky hill. A lot of Canadian RV'ers come to this spot each year & it was actually an RV'er from Peg Leg that told us about this area when we were in Slab City a year ago. Borrego Springs is only a short drive so it's an ideal spot for the Canadian snowbirds.

PEG LEG SMITH'S IN THE FOREGROUND

Kelly's ankle is getting stronger so we figured on a hike south of Ocotillo Wells. Book said an easy 1 mile loop trail leads to a rare elephant tree. We had been looking for elephant trees in the Mountain Palm Canyon area earlier & that was where Kelly originally hurt her ankle. We had heard of Ocotillo Wells before but had never been down around that area. Ocotillo Wells is only about a 25 minute drive & there really isn't a town of sorts there. It is known as a prime off road recreation area & each year hundreds of thousands of kids descend on this place with their dune buggies, dirt bikes, ATV's, Jeeps, & just about anything else that has a motor. RV's, tin shacks, adobe huts, some nice houses, & a lot of tumble down places are scattered for miles across the desert floor. Luckily for us everything was peaceful & quiet this morning. We headed south out of Ocotillo Wells for a few miles until we came across the turn off that lead to the Elephant Tree Trail. The sandy road started off ok but got very rock infested by the time we reached the trail head. Good thing we brought water because it was very, very, hot. We had been told that rattlesnakes will come out this time of year if the weather is hot to sun themselves, so that was foremost on our minds as we hiked up the sandy wash & onto the rocky trail. No snakes but I did see 3 small lizards skittering about. About 15 minutes of walking finally brought us to the elephant tree. Not a very big tree as far as trees go but when we looked at the trunk section it was easy to see why they are called Elephant Trees. It had a very sweet aroma to it as well. We took a few pictures & then headed back for the car. Just too hot to be out tramping around in the desert this morning & Kelly had a headache by the time we got back to the parking area. MAX, ON OUR MORNING WALK

We were hoping to drive to Split Mountain & hike to the Wind Caves a little further down the road as well but it was not to be. Turned off the highway at the marker for Split Mountain & headed up a sandy wash for about half a mile. Sign had said 3 miles to Split Mountain but I didn't like the feel of the soft sand grabbing at the tires. Our Hyundai Santa Fe is only a 2 wheel drive & the sand was definitely feeling like 4 wheel drive country to me. Didn't want to take the chance of getting stuck way back in there because not many vehicles pass this way, maybe no cell phone coverage in this remote area, & in the heat of to-day we just didn't want to make any wrong decisions. Turned around & headed back to the highway, back through Ocotillo Wells & eventually back to Borrego Springs. It had been a nice way to spend the morning because we got to see some new territory & it got us out doing something. My favorite days are out exploring new roads or trails. I don't mind sitting around the rig once & awhile but I sure get bored fast if I don't have something to do or a challenge in front of me. That's why I've never understood people who just spend the entire winter months in one place sitting in their rigs. And each year they go to the same place & do exactly the same thing every day that they did the day before & the year before that. But, it's different strokes for different folks & that's what makes this whole thing work.

Before we reached Borrego Springs we stopped at the Borrego Ranch (formally, La Casa Del Zorro) near the little community of Montesoro. We weren't sure what it was but there was a lot of greenery & palm trees so we drove in. Wow, what a swanky-do place. We ended up for nearly an hour in there driving & walking around looking at how the rich folks spend their time. I took a lot of pictures & will post them to the web album sometime Saturday but not to-night. To-nights pics will be from the Ocotillo Wells area. We couldn't help but notice the lack of people in this posh playground to-day & that's probably why we got away with taking so many photos of the place. Here is a link to the newly renovated & recently opened, Borrego Ranch.
http://www.borregoranch.com/ bet this place is going to attract movie stars, if already hasn't. I did get a long telephoto shot of the pool area with a blonde in a white bikini but the person was very far away so no positive ID on Britney Spears. Yep, could be Hollywood alright.

MOTORDOG & HER NEW FOUND DINOSAUR BONE

We had only been back to the rig about 5 minutes when a Class C rolled in & parked a short distance away. Acres & acres of room, countless campsites & this guy rolls in & sets up camp next to us. I call those types of people, "huddlers." As soon as they see another RV they feel compelled to come over & huddle. I don't mind friends parked nearby but we don't care for the those strange huddler types!! Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about that. We'll see how things go to-morrow.

We were going to try the earth oven to-night with a couple of small pizzas but when Kelly saw the price of them in the grocery store this afternoon, that was the end of that idea!! I suggested we try some ice cream in the earth oven but Kelly gave that idea two thumbs down. Women huh!!

Another totally beautiful star studded night with no wind. Kelly had a nice campfire going again & all was quiet in the neighborhood. Even the new neighbor's were keeping things quiet. Not sure what's on tap for to-morrow but as long as it's got something to do with something I've never done before or somewhere I've never been or seen before, I'll be a happy camper....................................

OK, WHICH ONE'S THE ELEPHANT TREE

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