NEW CHAPTER

November 23, 2015

Well, it’s time to start a new blog post, as we turn to a new chapter in Ron and Mari’s Big Adventure. We left Dora behind in Borrego Springs, where she will await our return in January behind a big, locked fenced in a lot in town. A drive over the mountains brought us into cooler weather, with clouds passing close overhead.

We will make it to LA in a couple of hours, and hope to be there early enough to avoid pre-Thanksgiving Day traffic jams. Last night, we found an NPR station on the camper radio, and enjoyed hearing local news from LA, as well as catching up on the terrible stuff going on in the rest of the US and world   :  (

Winds last night were stronger than they had been – Ron went to bed even a little earlier than usual, hoping to hold the tent in place during the night. Mari cleared the extra bed off in the camper, pretty certain that he would not be able to sleep with all the flapping around of tent fabric, and some banging of window covers on the camper, and would want to come in just to get some shut-eye. But he did not come in – he loves sleeping outside/in the tent with any kind of weather going on. He might have slept better than other nights, given that the full moon was covered by clouds, and even the bright planets could not shine through the tent fabric as they had on other nights.

Ukulele jams have become part of the evening routine, as there is no television to watch, even on our computers (we didn’t actually bring a television). Ron is really progressing on making chord changes, and learning new chords. It is fun for sing-along music, and sometimes Mari trades her uke for her mandolin, playing melodies and improvising solo parts.

Where Is That Trail????

Dora nestled in at Anza-Borrego State Park

I really didn’t think I would post today. It was a frustrating repeat of yesterday. We got up early with resolve to find the Palm Canyon Oasis Trail. It seemed so easy, according to the area map. We walked from the Visitor Center, an extra 6/10ths of a mile, to the Palm Canyon Campground, to find the trailhead. Everyone we talk to agrees that trail signage is not good here, but I really didn’t think we could screw this up. We did though. We walked through the campground up to within ¼ mile of the trailhead, and then managed to lose our way. We walked across the desert toward what I thought would be the right canyon. We were actually walking in the wash that was littered with dead and broken California Palms, from the devastating 2004 flood that washed boulders and 75% of the palms from the oasis up in the canyon and left them scattered about the wash at the base of the mountain. We were walking downhill, outbound from the mountains, along this wash, and still I was pretty sure I was going the right way, toward the Palm Canyon trail.

I really need to take this whole map thing a lot more seriously. We got a good hike in the desert, but again got extremely frustrated at missing our stated goal. The only thing we have learned for sure is that when we see a picture of a dog with a red line slashed through it, that marks the beginning or continuance of a trail.

Again we bumped into our new Canadian friends. They were in the campground packing up for a move to another site. They don’t make reservations. They just show up and take whatever is available for the night, knowing they may need to move the next day. With a Mercedes Sprinter camper, moving isn’t much of a challenge. We told them, again, that we had failed at finding the trail we wanted. They pointed up the campground road and said, “Its right up there, at the end of the campground. You can’t miss it.” Just as they had done for us yesterday in regards to the Hellhole Canyon trail.

We headed that way and found the trail, and vowed to return to hike that trail when we return from Hawaii. I also vowed to never hike again without a map in my hand.

Aside from that, the day started out well with the sunrise, and ended well with the moonrise.  We got lots of photos, some of which we’ll share here.

Right now Mari is making one of our favorite meals, but it’s a first for us in Dora. Thai Chicken Curry.

Tomorrow we head to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving dinner with Fran and Brian.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, our loving families and precious friends.

Love,

Ron and Mari

PS Yesterday's post was called Sunrise/Sunset, and Ron posted some beautiful photos. Today I have a few to share:

Sunrise and Cholla Cactus

Moonrise and Cholla Cactus

Rose sky at sunset

Rose sky at sunset...

Full moon taken with my new camera    : )

Moonrise and clouds

Sunrise/Sunset

Nov. 23^rd, 2015

Watched a stunning sunrise.

Waited on hold 45 minutes on a call to State Farm about Dora’s “Situation”.

Hunted an hour for the Trailhead to Hellhole Canyon trail.

Met a nice Canadian couple that pointed us to the trail.

Moon and mountains.

We’re waking up to watch the sunrise these mornings. To do otherwise seems to be an insult to one of the great moments of the days here - a lost opportunity. Today the sun rose through clouds, and illuminated them in a way that reminded me of many sunsets I have seen.  One of the great losses of living in a city is the loss of a clear view of the horizons. Both of them. The morning horizon and the evening horizon. Here in the desert there is no such loss. We see both moments, the rising and the setting of the sun. Both are momentous. They mark the gain and then the loss of light and heat. The beginning and the end of the day’s activities.

I’m getting lots of rest here. I find myself retiring early, waking early with anticipation of the new day.  I spend evenings trying to make a better person out of myself. The last few have been spent working on the Ukulele. Not having internet means no Netflix. No Madame Secretary. A blessing, in a way.

Had to return a call to State Farm about Dora's hail damage. After spending way too much time on that, we set off to find our hike for the day. By the time we did get on the right path I had missed several turns and driven an hour longer than necessary. We started out across the desert headed toward HellHole Canyon, following coyote tracks, at the suggestion of the nice Canadian couple who did finally set us straight on just where to find the trail.

Mari following a coyote trail.

 Actually, they said, “Don’t follow the trail from here. It takes you way out of the way. Just follow the coyote tracks. That way you wont step in a hidden hole (from a rotted cactus root) and you also won’t step on any of the vegetation.  Problem was, we didn’t get started until 11:30. The sun was high in the sky and way too hot for this misadventure. After 30 minutes we turned back, with Mari suggesting we get an early start tomorrow on this project.

I spent the afternoon learning Uke chords in the key of D.

The sun is down. The moon is up.  All is well.

And I’m getting chilly sitting outside here. Time to go in.

Our First Day in Anza Borrego Desert State Park

....And we are already loving it :))))

Anza is part of a Spanish explorer's last name. Borrego is a mountain goat in this area.

Sunset

Moonrise

Our Camp. We've only had Dora for 1 year now and we're already adding on! Every good house deserves an addition.

Dora at Sunrise

We had to drive about 1 mile from our campsite to come up to broadcast level to send this message out. The only part of this camping area with good Verizon signal is just off the highway. We are about a mile or two back. The crowd is up here, where their phones will work and there are large parking areas. We're down the road where there is no phone signal. I guess that's the way to get away from it all now.....

We started out today with a hike up the mountain you see the in the sunset photo. That was two hours. We saw birds, bees and butterflies, even in this dry place. 

Then we went into Borrego Springs to check out the town and see where we will be storing Dora while we are in Hawaii. What a nice little town! Its really more like an artist community than I could ever have imagined. For a village of just 3,000 full-time residents, they sure have done a lot. It has art galleries, a town square with weekly music jams. A film festival, free talks on topics of interest. (Geology, Anthropology, etc.) Yoga. Free stargazing interpretive events. And, a great bike shop. I met the owner. He's calling this his "slide into retirement job".  He said that "After a lifetime of coming here, I just decided to move here." 

Sadly, we have to leave Tuesday, but we will be back January 11th, 2016 !!

Date palm groves can be seen all around this area. They sell delicious fresh dates, too!

The view out the driver's side window (taken by the passenger, of course!) - of the Salton Sea, which lies below sea level.

We stayed one night in Quartzsite, Arizona on our way to California (on BLM land). In the winter time there are over 1 million RVers staying in this itinerant "town". And, yes, it is spelled with an S, a mistake made when the town was first named.