THE FLOWERS ARE BLOOMING, WE'RE LEAVING

This week we took a 4 wheel drive on the "Cut Across Trail". It was a 20 mile drive across the desert connecting highway S22 to S78.

Along the road we stopped at 17 palms, an historic oasis where the early pioneers and traders would leave messages for others on the desert. Marlene added our message to the mail box which is lodged between two of the 17 palms.

The oasis stands by itself in the middle of nowhere.

Our next stop was at "Uno Palm", a lone palm tree in the middle of the badlands.

At the far south end of the crossing we came across our new aquaintences, Ron and Molly, who were camped at Hawk Canyon. This is the same couple who shared pizza with us the other night.

The following day, Marlene's four mile hike took her to the blooming desert along Henderson Canyon Road near where we are parked. Each day as I ride to the hawk watch site I pass through these blooming flowers. On the bicycle, early in the morning, I can smell the fragrance of the blossums.

On this morning they wer filming the Park Superintendant for a TV spot about the blooming desert.

On Friday we fired up the oven for the last time this year. We needed bread for our trip home. After 4 hours of fire, raking out the coals, and sinking the heat, the oven was holding 650 degrees. We got impatient and inserted the loaves.

Marlene was a little disappointed. The crust got a little too dark and the bottom was buned.

However, the bread was delicious and now we have enough to last us till we return to Oregon.

We are packed and ready and will leave here Sunday morning. It's hard to leave. The sun is shining, the temperature has been in the 80's, the nights are cool

ANOTHER WEEK HAS PASSED

It has taken 2 days to complete this post. When the cell towers are busy at the same time I try to upload pictures, the upload takes so long that my blog upload is broken and I have to start over. Marlene completed the caning of one of the chairs we brought along. The finished work is beautiful and she is rightfully proud of her work.

In the mean time I have been busy improving our site in the desert. While in Quartzsite, I watched some of men build a table out of old pallets. The hardware store here in Borrego sets out the old pallets for people to take. I helped myself to 4 old pallets and using the material from two of them I put together a base and four legs of the table. Another trip past the hardware store revealed a 4' by 4' piece of plywood that had been cut in two on a diagonal. There were some old sheet rock screws imbedded in the plywood which I extracted and used to screw the plywood to the frame to complete the table.

Molly and Ron joined us for dinner the other night.

The table comes in handy when I fire up the oven and need space to hold my tools and unbaked pizzas. Here's a picture of one we made the other night when Ron and Molly joined us.

Thursday we went exloring with our Jeep on some of the back roads of Anza Borrego State Park. We invited our neighbors, Doug and JoAnn to go with us. We stopped for a picnic lunch using a pile of rocks as our picnic site.

The drive followed Fish Creek Road through a geologic formation called Split Mountain. The road followed an old stream bed and there were several times I used 4 wheel drive to take us through deep sand or over granite boulders in the stream bed.

The canyon had several interesting rock formations.

An anticline and sincline adjacent to one another showed the incredible force of buckling that took place eons ago.









In other areas the sediment layers were perfectly flat.

One side trip led us to the elephant tree.

We took some short hikes along the way to check out the desert blooms.

JoAnn spotted this cactus about 30 feet off the trail. It was the only one we have seen like this since we got here.

VALENTINE'S HIKE OVER ALCOHOLIC PASS

Sometimes when we're in town doing errands we bring our computer along and use the wireless network at the local library. It's faster than our air card connection through ATT&T, especially when I'm uploading pictures to update our blog. Yesterday we hiked across Alcoholic Pass. It's a 3 1/2 mile hike with an altitude gain of 1670 feet. In order to not have to backtrack the same trail, we coordinated with Jim and Lynn, another Boomer couple. We took our vehicle to one side of the pass and hiked south to north. They went to the other end and hiked north to south.

The trail started on our end through a richly divergent natural cactus garden.

We reached to top in about 45 minutes from our end. The elevation gain is steep from this side. You climb the 1670 feet in about 1 mile. Going down the other side took us longer.

We met Jim and Lynn on the way down and stopped together to have lunch. The reason we took two vehicles is that even though the trail is short, the drive from one trail head to the other is about 18 miles and most of it is over 4 wheel drive type roads. It took us 45 minutes to drive from the trail head the 7 miles back to our RV.

The trail down the north side is not very well defined. It mostly followed a dry wash of an old stream bed and it was marked by an occasional rock pile to let you know you were still going the right way. About half way down we came to the this arrangement of stones. Cute, but not realistic. We still had a mile to go from this point to the vehicle.

REPAIRING THE OLD OVEN AT BORREGO SPRINGS

This mornings sunrise resulted in the reflection of pink off the clouds over the village of Borrego Springs. This looked to be a good day to work on rebuilding the old oven. I had already gathered the clay from the lake bed and found straw, which was actually some sort of dried desert plant that had blown up against a row of trees along the road.

I added water and started mixing the clay. This is the hard part. It's like trying to run in place only each time your foot hits the ground it sticks.

When the mixture reached the right consitency, I added the broken up sage plant material.

I carried the material to the oven while Marlene placed it and packed it around the remains of the old oven.

This time we got the consistancy of the the clay just rigtht. It was really stiff and when we packed it in place it didn't slump and get thicker at the bottem like it had while building previous ovens.

Marlene was doing a good job of getting a full 4 to 5 inches of new clay over the top of the old oven.

We're really proud of the way this repair turned out. Note the use of Marlene's quilt cutting board as a form to hold the clay around the oven door.

Now all we need are a couple of good drying days, a fire for three hours, and some fresh bread dough and we're back in business. It's about time. We are running short of fresh bread and we have'nt had any pizza since we left Quartzsite.

AND YOU THOUGHT WE CAME HERE TO GET OUT OF THE SNOW

We try to start each day with some physical activity. I usually ride my bike and here in Borrego, the loop I do is 13.4 miles. Malene takes a hike during the same time and tries to keep her heart rate in the aerobic zone for at least a half an hour out of the hour walk. On Sunday we took a long strenuous hike together. We met a guy on the trail who took our picture for us.

We hikeed up Coyote peak and, although we didn't make it to the top we took this picture of the desert below us.

The next morning the sunrise was beautiful, but the dark clouds were an ominous indicator of a rainy day. Sure enough, a storm blew in and the wind and rain came and went all day.

That evening there was a great double rainbow just about sunset.
Tuesday's plan was to drive to San Diego where Marlene was to meet with her fourth cousin to do some genealogy work. As we started climbing the mountains between here and there we reached the snow line which had dropped to about 3000 feet during the night.

In Julian, where we stopped for coffee there was about a foot of new snow. Hey! That's why we come here. The variety here in the desert is incredible.

The sun was brilliant and the sky was clear and blue.

We met people on the road who had stopped to chain up. A couple of times I put the Jeep in 4 wheel drive to add some traction on the ice.

The icy branches reminded us of the ice storms we have in the Portland area on occassion.

San Diego was a good experience. We met Joan, who's great-great-grandmother was a sister to Marlene's great-great-grandmother in Germany. Marlene had been in correspondence with Joan for several years.


When they met, they got right down to work comparing notes and research records. Each had copies of family records the other didn't have. Fortunately I had taken a book with me to read while they were working. Three hours later we left Joan's house and went to her son's business where Joan and Marlene made copies of records they each wanted for their files.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AT BORREGO SPRINGS

We are parked here in Borrego Springs on a small hill about 6 miles south of the main downtown. Looking out our windows we get a panoramic view of a couple of mountain ridges. On cloudy days, watching the changing cloud patterns on the mountains is a lot like watching the waves on the ocean.

We have our humming bird feeder in place and there are 3 different varieties or at least 3 different color variations of the birds that come to feed.

About 3 miles down the road is our supply of grapefruit and oranges. It's an on your honor system and for $3 a bag we keep up our fruit intake. The fruit is grown in groves surrouding the stand.

One of the new additions to Borrego Springs is a display of sculptures done by Ricardo Breceda. He was commissioned by Dennis Avery, who is heir to Avery/Dennisen Label products and owns hundreds of acres of property in and arround Borrego Springs. The property is open to the public for walking, picnicing, and camping. The sculptures are scattered among the properties he owns.

The other evening we joined with several other couples for happy hour in the shadow of elephants. These were some of the newest works.

A few miles away on the other side of downtown are the camels and other prehistoric beasts.

I'm not sure what you would call this one. It looked like a friar in the desert.

There are more that we have not seen including birds, turtles, sloths and reptiles. As we find them we'll post more pictures.

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SOMETIMES IT RAINS IN THE DESERT

It's not always sunny down here. Yesterday the wind began to pick up around noon. Then the clouds moved in and a little later we had showers. After dinner it rained and we went to sleep with the pitter patter of rain on the roof.

So, what do you do when it rains? We hunker down and read. Marlene just finished "The Potter's House" and I'm reading "China Boy".

Friday is market day in Borrego Springs. We wanted fresh vegetables and this is the best place to stock up.

Marlene is being selective.

It looks like we're having brussel sprouts for dinner.

A couple of local trubadors let me join in on a couple of songs. They were doing some of the old favorites.

A rainbow added a nice touch to the morning.

Now the wind is coming up again and I expect we will get some more showers soon.

FROM MEXICO BACK TO BORREGO SPRINGS

Monday was another beautiful sunny day in San Felipe, Mexico. Steve and Diana wanted a day by themselves and we wanted an Opah/Omy day with the boys so it was a done deal. They took off early in the morning for a breakfast out and a day of hiking and exploring the beach and desert south of San Felipe. We had breakfast with the boys and then headed downtown. Our first stop was the ice cream store. Casey had fallen asleep by the time we reached down town so he missed the first bowl. Ryder ordered a bowl of bubblegum flavor, the rest of us had a bowl of coconut and every one was happy with their choices.

Our next stop was a taco shop for lunch. You may have noticed we have our priorities in order. Life is short, have dessert first. At the taco shop, we were the first customers of the day. So after we placed our order, the proprietor sent her son out to buy fresh corn tortillas to make the tacos. Ryder ate two beef, Phelan had beans and rice along with Marlene, I had 3 fish tacos, and Casey ate some of everyone's order. After lunch, we played on the beach and headed back to the beach house. A neighbor had given the boys a kite he found in the desert. Appearantly someone had let loose of the string, the kite flew away and finally hooked on a cactus. The neigbor retrieved it and gave it to the boys. Ryder got it into the air on his first try.

The next morning the "big" boys set out on an ATV adventure. The same neighbor that gave the boys the kite also had 2 ATVs that he let Steve borrow. With Ryder in back of me and Phelan riding with Steve, we set out for a couple of hours in the desert.

At the end of the ride Ryder said to me, "This was more fun than Legoland". Now that's really something. He loves legos. After the ride and warm shower to knock off the dust, Marlene and I said our teary goodbyes and headed back to the boarder at Mexicali. It was hard to leave. We sure enjoyed spending time with their family

It us a couple of hours to drive back to Mexicali. Than an hour extra to stop for lunch at a roadside restaurant we discovered on the way down. We reached the boarder at about 3;00pm and it took us 45 minutes to make the crossing. The line was 3 lanes wide and about 1/2 mile long. We had no problems crossing. The inspection was minimal. We retrieved our coach from storage with no problem, boondocked that night in a Wal Mart parking lot next to a Costco, did some shopping and headed for Borrego Springs, Calif., the next morning. We arrived to find the spot near our earth oven open. The oven as you can see is still in good shape. Another layer of clay will put it back in baking condition.

The only problem I can see is that is that a small lizzard has taken up occupancy. I'm hoping he will move out when I start adding more clay to the outside.

SIDE TRIP TO MEXICO

We are on a short side trip to visit Steve, Diana, and the boys who are in Mexico. They have rented a small house in a "Campo" in San Felipe.

The house is right on the sea.Mornings are pleasant and the tides are really high and low, as much as 18 feet swing on some days.

The first night we all went out to a taco shop. We walked a mile down the beach to the center of town.

Casey eats all by himself and loves beans and rice.

In the mornings we sit on the deck in the warm sun.

It's hard to beat this kind of grandkid fix.

One day, Diana took Ryder and Phelan to the local bakery so they could learn how bread and sweet things are made here.







Casey, Steve and I stayed home and played in the sand.

Here's a shot of the house taken from the beach. Theirs is the grey one just to the right of the white house.

I even got to do a little fishing with Ryder, but we didn't catch anything.











Watching birds and shrimp boats was another part of the day.

One day after breakfast outside we headed out on a tour of the local area.




Here's a house for sale that we stopped to look at. It is selling for $100,000 and the annual fee to the "Campo" or condo for maintenance is $400.

In the afternoon we headed down the coast to see the giant cactus.

These are really old. As much as 1500 years. They are in a preserve and you have to pay a small fee to enter.







Ryder is trying to push this one over, but not having much luck.

The whole small valley is filled with the cactus.

This was our picnic of oranges, boiled eggs and peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches.

Steve, Diana and I hiked about a mile out into the valley and came across these buzzards roosting on top of the cactus. Small birds and even eagles nest in them.

This one was unique because it had no arms.