RECOGNIZED IN BORREGO SPRINGS

ACTIVITY CENTER AT THE ‘SPRINGS OF BORREGO’

Anyone who has boon docked at the Clark Dry Lake Bed near Borrego Springs knows about…..the wind!!!!  We actually left early last March because of it & last night the wind was back to remind us just who was the big Boss around this place!!  We rock & rolled all night with all the usual flapping slide awning sounds.  Surprised to see our satellite dish still up this morning but my unsightly jury rigged ropes seem to have done the job.  Nice fiery sunrise straight out our windshield to start the day:))

DESERT FLOWERS ARE COMING INTO BLOOM

Today we welcome new blog Follower, Molly Pinner.  Thanks for climbing aboard Molly, hope you like dogs…….:))

We Canadians often have concerns & worries about our border crossing entering the States every fall.  Never hear too much about the American folks & their concerns when entering Canada though.  Donna has some thoughts about that as well as some ‘do’s & don’ts at the border.  You can read her post at, OUR ADVENTURES WITH TASSIE.  And, excitement is building over at ON THE ROAD TO RETIREMENT as the final few days are counted down to ‘hitting the road’ for these folks.  Sticks & Bricks is about empty & the Rig is about full & ready to roll:))  In another blog I am reminded of winter’s gone by & how we have a tendency to complain about the weather. Jenny remembers back to the days as a child when there was no electricity, no running water & no indoor plumbing.  I recall some of these same things as well.  Check out Jenny’s post on what it was like on a cold winter’s night with no central heating & sharing a cold bedroom with 5 Siblings.  HUNKERED DOWN & REMINISCING.

The Desert Nature Center on Borrego’s main street puts out a publication called, The Sand Paper in which it lists all it’s upcoming events & interests for people.  Hiking, Jeeping, desert flower tours, bird trips, field trips of the area & Astronomy are but a few of the many, many, interests offered.  The visitor’s center at the Anza-Borrego State Park in town also offers a weekly series of events & happenings as well.  This is but one of the many reasons I like Borrego Springs.  So much to see, do & learn.  And, the majority of these programs are free.  A person can be on the go almost daily if so inclined.  We have done a couple Jeep tours through PALO VERDE & GRAPEVINE CANYON & I have enjoyed 2 Astronomy seminars, an EARLY MORNING PHOTO CLASS, a GUIDED HIKE UP GHOST MOUNTAIN & an informative talk & static demonstration by Anza Borrego’s only flying pilot who in a blog last year I referred to as, MIGHTY MOUSE.  Mighty Mouse’s gender might surprise you.  If you have an adventurous & inquisitive mind plus the time & interest in nature then Borrego Springs California is for you. 

 

OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOR IS BEHIND US.

 

WE SOMETIMES HAVE TO CARRY THE MOTORMOUSE BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T LIKE ROUGHER GROUND

Consensus from commenters & emailers seems to be the problem with our slide may very well be centered with the slide switch.  I will follow the suggestions sent in starting with unscrewing the panel & give it a good blast with compressed air in there around the switch itself.   As readers have suggested we’ll have a good look at the wiring on that switch as well.

HEADING INTO BORREGO SPRINGS LOCATED AT THE FOOT OF THE SAN YSIDRO MOUNTAINS IN THAT LINE OF TREES

 

OUR TRADITIONAL JILBERTOS STOP

Despite saying we were going to relax for a couple days it didn’t take us long to end up at the Farmer’s Market on Christmas Circle this morning.  Quick stop at the grocery store & then it was off to Jilbertos for my yearly burg & fries.  Great as ever I may add.  Borrego Springs looks exactly the same as we left it last March except we noticed they must have got that hard freeze awhile back because we can see the frostbite damage to some of the trees & shrubs.  Kelly wanted to stop in at THE SPRINGS OF BORREGO to check out the book exchange.   Took some pics as we drove in & around the beautiful palm tree lined onsite golf course.  Sure is a nice looking place & it was here we had another one of our amazing coincidental blog reader encounters.

A FEW PHOTOS AS WE DROVE THROUGH ‘SPRINGS OF BORREGO’ TODAY

Just as we parked the Jeep outside the Activities area building a fellow walking by glanced at the Jeep’s windshield where we have a ‘Bayfield Bunch’ sticker.  He hesitated, turned around & as Kelly climbed out of the Jeep he asked, “are you really the Bayfield Bunch?”  Kelly assured him we were & he said, “well, it’s because of your blog that my wife & I now come to Borrego Springs.”  Apparently while they were over on the other side of the Salton Sea a few years or so ago his wife accidentally stumbled across our blog after Googling some RV sites.  She began following our blog & became interested in our enthusiasm for Borrego Springs & decided to come over for a look see.  Like us, they fell in love with the little town & have been returning here ever since.  His name was Chris Church & he said they were staying in the RV Park there for a few days.  He told us his site number & said his wife Sheryl would love to meet us.  Minutes later we were sitting in Chris & Sheryl’s beautiful Allegro Bay Bus chatting about the coincidence of meeting, reasons for coming to Borrego Springs, travels & other wild stories.  RV folks do that you know:))  Chris phoned another couple to come over & meet us as well so it turned into quite an unexpected 30 minutes of socializing for the elusive Bayfield Bunch.  Always great to meet nice people though:))

SPOTTED THIS 1967 MOTOR TYPE HOME ON BORREGO’S MAIN STREET

We were back to the rig shortly after 1 p.m. & spent a relaxing afternoon inside.  Nice sunny day but the wind gusts buffeting the rig felt cool.  We were both tired from Thursday’s all night rock & rolling in the wind.  I see this ‘being tired a lot’ as another down side to this not so nice aging thing!!

There is a Jeep tour in the morning heading out for South Palm Wash but with a limit of only 7 Jeeps we have missed the registration cut.   Lady said come anyway because if the predicted bad weather shows up some folks won’t go anyway.  We’ll see how things shape up in the morning.  Another Jeep tour went out today over to Ocotillo Wells but we were to late to register for that one as well.  I remember the the last couple years no registration was required.  Folks just met Saturday morning at Christmas Circle & with a leader, headed off out into the desert to predetermined spots.  We are not normally group people but the advantage of the Jeep group for us is the driving experience & knowledge of seasoned Jeepers.  The 2 previous Jeep tours we have been on here have been very informative in learning the history & geography of the area.

A check of the weather tonight tells us we have a 90% chance of rain in the morning & it’s probably going to be a lot colder over the next couple days.  After that it’s back to warmer weather.  In the meantime it looks like an inside day for us tomorrow.

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Gallagher is in Boston and he is waiting patiently, also, he is watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing.
The cop stops the flow of traffic and shouts, 'Okay pedestrians'.  Then he allows the traffic to pass. He did this several times, and Gallagher is still standing on the sidewalk.
After the cop has shouted 'Pedestrians' for the tenth time, Gallagher approaches him and says, 'Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?'

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The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
 
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Technorati Tags: Springs of Borrego,Borrego Springs California,Christmas Circle,Jilbertos

TODAY THE BAYFIELD BUNCH LANDED IN BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA….BESIDE THE OVEN:))

SUNRISE AT OGILBE ROAD WEST OF YUMA

The BLM lands on Ogilbe Road west of Yuma are on the flight line of heavy military helicopters flying out of the Marine base in Yuma to their live fire range in the Chocolate Mountains east of Niland California.  I have seen that live fire in the night while we stayed a few days at Slab City a few years ago.  We didn’t let the helicopter noise bother us Wednesday night.  I always think they are really neat & run out the door to watch them flying low in the darkened night.

WE HAD A BUNCH OF SLEEPY HEADS THIS MORNING 

Decision was made early this morning to head for Borrego Springs so we were up & ready to rumble by 7:45.  We had heard a nasty storm is headed for Borrego on the week-end & we certainly did not want to miss that, eh.  Well, we were ready to go but of course our slide wasn’t.  Wouldn’t retract again so we had to go through our usual scenario of Voodoo charms trying to coax it to move.  Tried the emergency brake…nope.  Moved the rig forward & back…nope.  Swore a lot, wiggled the control panel, took my socks off, turned around twice, stamped the floor with my right foot 3 times & crossed my liver…nope.  I was just pulling a couple of wood blocks out of a bin to put under the hydraulic jacks to level the coach when the living room slide began to go in.  Kelly had decided to try screwing the control panel back in place, tried the switch & it worked.  Minutes later at 8:10 a.m. we were heading north up Ogilbe with the hammer down heading for Borrego Springs.

 

   

MOTORING THROUGH THE IMPERIAL SAND DUNES

Two hours later after a half hour stop at the big Arco station west of the Salton Sea to empty tanks, & take on propane & water, we rolled into the Clark Dry Lake Bed area about 6 miles east of Borrego Springs.  Thanks to a tip from JEAN & SKIP we knew that one of our favorite spots was vacant & it was the same place we stayed 2 years ago while here.  A few years ago another RV couple built an earth oven at this site & it has become a favorite spot for RV’ers.  We were happy to find the Oven in great shape today.  In fact it seems in better shape now than it was 2 years ago so I’m thinking folks have been looking after it.

THE EARTH OVEN

Of course the winds picked up minutes after our arrival & while setting up the tripod for the satellite dish we noticed it was broke & totally askew.  One of the legs has partially sheared off & looks unfixable.  That would explain why the big record wind gusts in Cochise County last Saturday totally slam dunked our tripod.  The ‘Claw’ held but it was the tripod leg that broke.   Only thing I could do was set it up as best I could, tie the tripod to the rig with a rope, anchor it to the Claw, hang a heavy jug of water on the bottom & cross my fingers hoping for the best.  With only a month to go before heading home we’ll try to hold the broken tripod together until we get back to Canada.

 

BROKEN SATELLITE TRIPOD LEG

Anyway, it’s great to be back in Borrego Springs….our California home away from home.  This will be our 4th year here & we certainly have created a lot of great memories in Borrego Springs.  Just type ‘Borrego Springs’ into our search box at the top of the right hand column & you will find lots of my blogs about Borrego & how great this place really is.  Tomorrow we will begin creating some new memories here:))

Thanks to Jim over at JIM'S RETIREMENT ADVENTURES I am able to make a correction to Wednesday night’s blog.  Jim says in a comment, “Al, Just a minor terminology correction, "Hang Gliders" are non-powered and rely on natural lift to fly. Those powered wings with an engine & propeller you see out there in the desert are called "Ultralights".  Thanks Jim, much appreciated.  If you click on Jim’s blog you will see he knows what he is talking about.

And, to answer a comment from a blogger in Tombstone about trees.  On the floor of the Sulphur Springs Valley there are not many naturally grown trees of any size.  Some folks may have pines trees etc but those are not natural to the valley & have to be maintained with a lot of watering.   Naturally growing trees begin with altitude & green forests are generally not far from the valley floor when approaching the mountains.  Here on the desert floor west of Yuma where we are we have naturally growing larger trees such as Palo Verde, etc.  Shrubs like the Creosote Bush, the Bitter Bush & others are more in abundance & give the desert a greener look at this time of year.  Back home in Ontario we basically live in a Pine forest that is surrounded by other hardwood forests so we do appreciate our trees.  At the Flying W Ranch there was one large Cottonwood tree that the previous 2 ranch owners kept watered with an underground drain pipe from the washing machine.  Had they not done that, the tree would not have survived.  

  

LEFT:  OUR NEW NEIGHBORHOOD WITH  A LONG DRIVEWAY

RIGHT: JEAN & SKIP ARE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE

Since leaving on our trip last November we have not been able to access our favorite email program which of course has always been Microsoft’s Outlook Express.  Our internet provider company changed hands this past summer & that changed our access.  All our address books & files are in Outlook so we have been scrambling with Hotmail & Gmail for the past 3 months.  Neither one of the those programs are to my liking & don’t even mention Microsoft’s new ‘Live Mail’ or I will throw something at you.  Long story short is that I am in a stumbling state of confusion here with my my email address’s & correspondence.  Am asking all the folks emailing in to use our ‘Stargeezer’ Gmail address found at the bottom of the blog.  If you have emailed me with a question or comment & I haven’t got back to you, please email me again at the Stargeezer address.  I need all the help I can get at getting myself reorganized here.  Bothers me to think I haven’t returned someone’s email when they have taken the time to email us.

        

In the morning I will be up on the roof cleaning up our solar panels before angling them to the southern sky.  We will be powering ourselves up with the rays of the sun for the next little while.  And did our slide deploy when we got to our Borrego site today?  Well, yes it did, making it clear there is absolutely no method to this ongoing slide madness at all………

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Three cowboys were hanging out in the bunkhouse. "I know that smart aleck Tex," said the first. "He's going to start bragging about that new foreign car he bought as soon as he gets back."
"Not Tex," the second cowboy replied. "He'll always be just a good ol' boy. When he walks in, I'm sure all he'll say is hello."
"I know Tex better than either of you," said the third. "He's so smart, he'll figure out a way to do both. Here he comes now." Tex swung open the bunkhouse door and shouted, "Audi, partners!"

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
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The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
 
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Technorati Tags: Borrego Springs California,ARCO,Salton Sea,Imperial Sand Dunes,Earth Oven,Tripod,Hang Glider,Ultra Lite

RELAXING DAY IN THE DESERT WEST OF YUMA

We are on California time now so we’ll have a slight adjustment period for a day or two as we move ahead one hour.

MORNING WALK & NICE TO SEE TREES BIGGER THAN US AGAIN

As soon as the sun had cleared the tops of the Cargo Muchacho mountains this morning our rig was filled with warming rays of sunlight.  The abundance of yellow flowering creosote bushes cast long shadows across the desert floor.  Sun filtered through the larger green barked Palo Verde trees.  Skies to the east slowly turned from burnt orange to pale blue with not a cloud in the sky.  Off to our west we could see the high sandy ridge line of the eastern most reaches of the Great Imperial Sand Dunes.  Think, ‘Lawrence of Arabia when you think of the Imperial Sand Dunes.  We will be traveling right through them on our way to Borrego Springs shortly.

 

THE DESERT HOLDS MANY MEMORIES, MYSTERIES & SECRETS

Listening to the Yuma news last night they talked about the yearly death toll in the sand dunes.  I was not surprised at the high number.  Lack of water for people? No!!  Exposure to the elements?  No!!  I will give you a hint.  Most deaths & injuries are young males…………  Mix immaturity, alcohol & speed together & you have come up with the answer.  These sand dunes are a playground to thousands upon thousands of people & especially the younger folks.  The majority of them are week-end warriors pouring out  of large cities to rip around in the sand dunes with their mechanical metal monsters.  No traffic lights, yellow lined divided highways, roads or caution signs out there.  No rules or regulations, just countless numbers of dirt bikes, dune buggies, ATV’s & whatever a motor, transmission, grease, oil & tires will produce.   Racing every which way at blinding & careless speeds these vehicles tear across the dunes.  The collisions at the tops of sand dunes are inevitable & bone busting.  But, it is the way it is here in California & like I’ve said before….it is the way of the wild & wooly west.

No rigs or people near us at all but we can see a few RV’s about half a mile or more away & that is acceptable.  Heard a familiar sound in the sky on our walk & saw a low flying hang glider far off to the north.  His glider’s sail colors brought back instant memories of a year ago around now when myself & some other RV’ers had to race to the aid of a downed flyer who was in trouble with the big wind gusts picking up his machine & rolling it over.  You can see my blog about that incident at the Clark Dry Lake Bed near Borrego Springs Ca. on Feb. 19th 2010.  TODAY I HAD TO RUN VERY FAST 

  

Our border collie Checkers needs a special kind of dog food that can only be bought at a Veterinarians.  We had an idea where the Vet was in Yuma yesterday but with our total 53’ length & heavy traffic I wasn’t into driving around trying to find it.  We decided to stay here at Ogilbe Road for a second night so unhooked the Jeep this morning.  Kelly headed the short 7 or 8 miles back into Yuma for the dog food & I’m sure some shopping:))

Can’t tell you how nice it is being back in full boon docking mode again out here in the quiet Yuma desert.  And especially after a couple days traveling & banging around in the city of Yuma.  Traffic, noise & people everywhere.  I like Yuma but a city is a city is a city!!  From I-8 you can see RV Park after RV Park as this is one of the most popular RV destinations in the Southwest.  Kelly & I both thank our lucky stars we have have chosen the RV boon docking lifestyle we have.  Might not be most people’s cup of tea but it sure is ours:))

We received that Microsoft Streets & Tips email that so many others received as well last week.  I haven’t heard of any repercussions (trial offers) from it so we decided to send for our 5 copies today.  They will be delivered to the hardware store in Borrego Springs.  For any of you folks in the Borrego Springs area that is where you can get your stuff shipped to.  Just drop in & let them know you are expecting something.  Great little hardware store as well. 

Took my new Nikon D90 for a little desert walk this afternoon & quickly realized I had some more tweaking to do.  I have a preference for rich full saturated & punchy colors & shy away from that slightly overexposed brighter look.  I’m on the other side of the beam & prefer to underexpose my photos a bit & then work with them in Picasa 3.8 from there.

With our recent slide problems the question has been asked, would it be better not to have slides in an RV?  My opinion on that is is a simple, ‘No!!’  Slide problems have diminished greatly from the early days & if you figure how many RV slides are used problem free every single day compared to the occasional slide problem there is no comparison.  It’s the old ‘plane crash’ syndrome.  Thousands upon thousands of flights every day you never hear about but as soon as a plane crashes, flying is touted as unsafe.  Personally, under our present configuration of 2 adults & 3 dogs I would never buy an RV without slides.  The daily advantage of extra space far outweighs an occasional, if ever slide problem.

Kelly was back to the rig about 2 with the dog food & said she never had any problems getting around Yuma.  Yuma reminds me of Sierra Vista a bit with it’s wide streets & low profile skyline.  We have always loved southwest architecture with it’s shapes, designs & bold colors.

Looks like we’ve got us a bit of weather heading into the area so we’re trying to decide whether to hunker down here west of Yuma or head for Borrego Springs.  Winds picking up here right now……..

SO GREAT TO SEE THE COLOR GREEN AGAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:((     The eastern lady who was all ready to take a horseback ride said to the cowboy, “Can you get me a nice gentle pony?” “Shore,” said the cowboy. “What kind of a saddle do you want, English or western?” “What’s the difference?” asked the lady. “The western saddle has a horn on it,” said the cowboy. “If the traffic is so thick here in the mountains that I need a horn on my saddle, I don’t believe I want to ride.”  And did you hear about the bow legged Cowboy who was fired for not being able to keep his calves together.

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
 
BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
 
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
 
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Street & Trips,Sierra Vista,Yuma,Nikon D90,Borrego Springs California,Palo Verde trees,Cargo Muchacho Mountains,Boon Docking,Bayfield Bunch