EARLY MORNING’S PASTEL SUNRISE
Moonlit desert nights are my fav I thought to myself standing outside with Pheebs Wednesday night. It is that one can see for great distances across the dimly lit moonscaped desert floor which gives the night it’s enchanting mystic. A sense of mystery, a sense of magic and a sense of calm.
Today was a good example of ‘my kind of day’. Woke up with a destination in mind and before 9 a.m. we were all piled into the Jeep heading for Blair Canyon. Picked up highway 78 somewhere near Ocotillo Wells and headed west through the winding Pinion Mountains to an intersection called Scissor’s Crossing. There we picked up highway S2 heading south. This is the route we have traveled many times back and forth to Marshal South’s Ghost Mountain in the Blair Valley. Not far along the Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849 through ‘Shelter Valley’ is an RV Park we have often passed but never gone in. This morning we took ourselves for a drive through Stagecoach Trails Horse Camp & RV and were impressed with not only it’s size but how well maintained and creative the Parks owners obviously are. Not a lot of rigs here but the Park looks like it has a lot to offer. A great setting off the beaten path far from the humdrum of chaotic city life and hordes of traffic and people.
NOT A REAL STAGE COACH BUT A CLEVER ALL METAL REPLICA PAINSTAKENLY WELDED TOGETHER FROM PRE-CUT PIECES OF STEEL
CHECK-IN OFFICE
Five miles or so further south on S2 we topped a ridge and entered Blair Canyon. Immediately turned left off the highway into a camping area at the north end of the Valley. Ghost Mountain is located about 3 miles south so we were very familiar with the road leading there. Right at the turn off from the highway and along the eastern side of Blair Valley along a bumpy hard packed sandy road are a few boon-docking sites. And it was those sites we were there to check out.
WALKING AROUND LOOKING FOR SOME REASONABLY LEVEL GROUND
GREAT AREA FOR ROCK SCRAMBLING
Kelly had brought our Verizon Jet Pack to check for a good Verizon signal but although we did find a signal it was not strong and it was spotty. We only traveled about a mile in and noticed the few RV’s there had already taken the best sites and by best I mean flattest. Flat is always important for RV’s. We did not see any place we liked well enough to park the rig and coupled with the poor Verizon and no cell phone signal we pretty much quashed any further Blair Valley boon-docking plans.
SSHHHHHHHH, WE THINK THAT IS THAT HARD WORKING YOUNG COUPLE 188 SQFT IN THEIR QUIET SPOT OVER THERE:))
NOT FINDING WHAT WE HAD HOPED TO FIND IT WAS TIME TO MOVE ON
Back out onto highway S2 we continued further south checking for any other areas but really didn’t find anything we liked. Cell and Verizon signals are a big problem in the sparsely populated Blair and Vallecito Valley. Although not that far from San Diego the looming Tierra Blanca and Sawtooth mountain ranges create too much of a barrier for any internet or cell phone signals reaching this area.
CHECKING OUT A JEEP ROAD IN THE VALLECITO VALLEY
THE DESERT FLOOR WEST OF GHOST MOUNTAIN IS ALIVE WITH AGAVE PLANTS DOMINATING THE LANDSCAPE
BLUE-GREEN AGAVE PLANTS ARE MY FAV
Not our first time down through this valley we decided to turn around at the Butterfield Ranch Resort knowing we will be down through this area possibly next week on a loop drive that will take us as far south as I-8 then west through the Jacumba and In-Ko-Pah mountains over the Tecate & Laguna Summits to highway 79 where we will turn right and head north up through the Laguna mountains past Lake Cuyamaca and on to Julian where of course we will probably get our faces into a couple apple pies before heading back down through Banner on highway 78 back to our campsite. Well that’s the plan anyway and we’ll be sure not to do this daytrip on a Saturday or Sunday. Way too many week-end tourists on these California roads between coastal San Diego and mountaintop Julian.
I NEVER TIRE OF THE SOUTHWEST’S ENDLESS MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS
DUE WEST FROM HERE OVER THE LAGUNA MOUNTAINS AND OUT TO THE CALIFORNIA COAST LIES THE CITY OF ENCINITAS
WE TURNED AROUND HERE AT THE BUTTERFIELD RANCH RESORT AND HEADED FOR HOME
BUT NOT BEFORE EATING UP OUR TUNA SALAD SANDWICHES KELLY HAD MADE BEFOREHAND
We were back to the rig sometime shortly after noon and spent the rest of the day relaxing. Relaxing for me means working on my blog for the day with photos to edit and words to be thought up and typed. If I wake up in the morning and immediately go into relaxation mode I am toast and my day goes down hill from there. I’m a morning person and still enjoy getting out and about going places and accomplishing things It’s important for me to end each day feeling I have somehow done something useful……………
A FEW YEARS AGO WE DID A 45 MINUTE HIKE TO THIS HISTORIC SITE
PATH LEADING TO THE BOX CANYON OVERLOOK AND BE VERY CAREFUL OF THOSE SHARP POINTED SPEARLIKE BARBS ON THE AGAVES
THAT IS THE ORIGINAL OLD BUTTERFIELD STACHCOACH ROAD KELLY AND I HIKED IN ON FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND HERE IS THE LINK TO MY POST FOR THAT DAY FEBRUARY 24TH 2010…..HISTORIES NARROW PASSAGE
THE OLD STAGE COACH ROAD RUNS ALONG ABOVE THE LOWER CREEK BED AND IF YOU ENLARGE THE PHOTO YOU CAN SEE HOW THE OLD SOLDIERS AND PIONEERS SHORED UP THAT ROAD WITH MANY ROCKS
THE STAGE ROAD TRAILS OFF TO THE WEST AND CONTINUES ON DOWN INTO THE VALLECITO VALLEY
In my Wednesday post I had several photos of the Moon and Planet Venus. While taking those photos I had also noticed what I thought was an early evening star in between them. Wasn’t until reading Tonight's Sky this morning that I realized that supposed star was none other than the Planet Mars. Two planets and the Moon in one photo. Groovy.
MOON, MARS, AND VENUS
I used my Nikon D90 back-up camera for Tuesday night’s photos. Had used that D90 for years until the ‘auto-focus’ went on it a few weeks ago. When I lifted the 90 out of the camera bag I couldn’t believe how really heavy it is. I had become accustomed to the weight over the years but since using my much lighter D3400 now I do much prefer the lighter weight camera.
PHEEBS PICKED UP A STICKER IN HER PAW BUT kELLY SOON HAD IT OUT
GROANER’S CORNER:(( A woman goes to a psychiatrist and says, ''Doctor, you've got to do something about my husband -- he thinks he's a refrigerator!'' ''I wouldn't worry too much about it,'' the doctor replies. 'Lots of people have harmless delusions. It will pass.'' ''But you don't understand,'' the woman insists. ''He sleeps with his mouth open, and the little light keeps me awake.''
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Two cannibals are having dinner. One says to the other "I don't like your friend." The other replies, "Well, set him aside and just eat the vegetables."
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A man exploring the ancient Pyramids of Egypt while on vacation stumbled across a secret room. He sneaked away from the tour group and explored the room. He found a dusty lamp and picked it up. While he wiped the dust off the lamp a genie appeared in a puff of smoke. "For freeing me from my prison, I will grant you a wish, what will it be sire?" The man thought for a moment, then said, "I want a spectacular job, a job that no man has ever succeeded at or has ever attempted to do." "Allah Ka Zam!" said the genie. "You're a housewife!"
