PISA

There are lots of things to see in Italy (understatement).  Closest to us is the Tower of Pisa.  It’s about a 30 minute drive from our farm. 
The city of Pisa is not too exciting.  Crowded with tourists and not really picturesque.
The Campo dei Miracoli, Field of Miracles, is what we have come to see. 
After buying tickets for a specific entry time, we are allowed into the tower for a somewhat guided tour.  The guide is more for crowd control than anything. The guide does give a short introduction and history of the tower and then frees the group of 30 to climb. 
There is some screening to keep people from falling out, but safety is not the real focus here.   
The views from the top are great.  The view from the leaning side is not so fun if you are like me and don’t like overhanging high places.

 
The climb was not so bad.  Going down was much harder on my knees.  There are no hand rails and I had to use my legs to lower myself each of the over 300 steps.

SPENDING SOME TIME IN ITALY

We decided to spend my 75th birthday in Italy.  Every since I read “Under the Tuscan Sun” I’ve been pulled to spending some time in a small village in Tuscany.  This is where we have come.

It’s a small village outside of Lucca, about 6 miles.  We flew into Pisa and rented a car and drove to the farm.  Our rental car is very small, a Lancia,  and works great on the narrow switch back roads.  The day we arrived, we had a dinner in our apartment.  Our landlady provided us with dry pasta, a sauce, a bottle of wine, and enough necessities to get us through the first night.  After dinner, we went to bed and slept for 14 hours without waking.  

                                                 

                                                   

The next day, after exploring Lucca and doing some shopping, we returned to our farm where we had arranged to have an Italian cooking class. 

The other guest at the farm are from Australia.  It turned out to be a wonderful night of sharing and getting acquainted, all the while learning how to make gnocci, bruschetta, and tarimusu.  What a great introduction to Italy.

MECHANICAL PROBLEMS CHANGE PLANS

We had planned on being home by now, but 2 hours out of Borrego Springs, our motor home radiator cracked and all the coolant blew out.  Fortunately, we were just exiting the freeway at Temecula, CA, to pick up some groceries for the trip home.  We stopped in a parking lot before any further damage to the engine and arranged for a tow to an RV service center.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that we have been stranded here for a week waiting for a replacement radiator to be shipped from Oregon.
More good news is that Giant RV found a place for us to boondock in their parking lot while waiting for the parts. 
 
We’ve been here for a week and have used the time to explore the area and do some more hikes.  It’s been pleasantly warm so the time has gone quickly.  This hike was over 4 miles in the “Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve’.  In the late 1800’s this was a cattle ranch and the hike we took ended at the old adobe ranch house under a 500 year old oak tree.
The 4 hour walk took us through open meadows and cool shady washes. 
  
The meadows were in full bloom.
 

LAST DAYS OF HIKING AND HAWKS

Our last days in Borrego Springs were taken up with hiking and hawks.  The last hike we took was 6.5 miles up the California Hiking and Riding trail.  A climb of 2,500 feet that took us a little over 3 hours.  We shuttled some cars to the top so that we did not have to make the down hill trip on foot.
 
 

The day before we left, we went out early in the morning to take part in the “Hawk Watch”.  The night before, approximately 200 Swainson Hawks had landed in the palms.  With no winds and warm temperatures, it was anticipated that the hawks would start to kettle and move out around 9:30 in the morning.  We gathered with a group along Di Giorgio Road to wait for lift off.
Hal Cohen, the coordinator took the opportunity to educate the newcomers on what was happening.
At about 10 a.m. the hawks lifted off.  These photos are taken on a later day, but they show the beauty of the hawk lift off.
 
Approximately 200 hawks left the valley that day.

WE ARE OFF THE DESERT AND INTO AN RV PARK

We returned from our trip to the dentist in Mexico to find a note on our door asking us to move off the desert where we had been parked.  We were disappointed to see it come to an end, but we knew it could happen, so it was not such a bad thing to happen.  Luckily, we had already made reservations to move into a park to empty our waste tanks and fill up with fresh water, so we moved out the next morning.  Here’s where we ended up.

This place has a heated swimming pool and a whirlpool spa.  It’s not very fancy, but very comfortable.  Early in the morning, the sun streams through our front window.

In the afternoon, the shade keeps our patio area cool and comfortable.

Today, Marlene baked an apple pie in our outdoor gas oven in preparation for Steve, Diana, and the Boys who should be stopping in on their way from S.E. Asia to Texas.  But that’s another story that they can tell you on their blog at http://bluedaisyiii.blogspot.com/ .

It looks like the pie is almost ready. 

TO MEXICO FOR A CROWN

I had a crown come off one of my molars so we decided to take advantage of our proximity to the border to head to Los Algodones, Mex. to have it put back on or replaced.  We’ve had work done there before and are quite satisfied with the quality and quickness.  The crossing is 107 miles from Borrego Springs.  My first appointment was 8:00 am so I left here at 4:45 for the drive down.  My neighbor from Canby, Bill, who is camped here in Borrego also, decided to ride with me the first day.  The dentist took one look at the tooth and decided the best treatment would be to replace the crown with a new one.  The crown would be ready by 12:30 the next day.

Marlene decided to accompany me for the return trip.  When the dentist completed his work, he directed me to no have any solid food or do any chewing for one hour.  He also said it was OK to drink liquids.  We were hungry, but we followed his directive and found an open Plaza café and settled into a large Margarita. 
 
One thing lead to another and before you know it a band came out and not being able to resist, we joined in the dancing.  Lunch at a local taco stand where fish tacos were $1.00 and shrimp tacos were $1.25 came later.  By the way, the crown cost $220.  We saved enough on the dental work to pay for all the fuel it took to get from Canby to Borrego Springs.