After spending more than 3 months visiting in San Diego, it became apparent that it was time to start moving the bus easterly. The weather has turned cold and rainy, and Debbie and I have become accustomed to 70 degree weather. We had a great time meeting Liam in late September, and that undoubtedly will be the highlight of our journey. These days we spent with Ben, Joanne, and Jamo are very precious to us, and we look forward to the time when we all can be a little closer to each other.
Before the family went their different ways, Debbie found one more family adventure to enjoy. Since we're visiting San Diego, it would be only natural that we should all go ice skating. So, on New Year's Eve, we packed everybody up and headed up to the Viejas Casino in Alpine, and everyone joined in a few laps around the rink. It was a successful evening. No broken bones and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Even Liam seemed to be enjoying his evening wrapped up snuggly warm.
As you can see Debbie and Jamo got to do a lot of babysitting while in SD. The three of them were never far apart, and made for lots of interesting pictures.
Then the weather window dropped closed on us, as El Nino started the 1st of 4 storms, drenching San Diego with several inches of rain and snow. With the rain came the mud, and soon it was not hard to talk myself into moving Big Red eastward in search of nicer weather. Our first stop was just outside of Palm Springs, CA at
Indian Wells RV Resort. This is a very nice, quiet campground with 296 park model and RV sites, located about 2 miles off of I-10. They have lots of social activities, and everyone seems very friendly. Around the corner is
Shields Date Farm , where you can enjoy a feature film titled the Romance and Sex Life of the Date.
It's also a great location to use as a waypoint for visiting Joshua Tree National Park. This National Park is a very unique park. It is located where the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert meet, and the differences are subtle at first, and then become very dramatic. The Western half of the park is the Mojave Desert, situated above 3000 feet, and it's where you'll find stacks of boulders, pinyon pines and junipers.
It is where you'll also find the wild armed Joshua Tree, which really isn't a tree at all, but a species of yucca. In the mid 19th century, Mormon settlers traveling west from the Colorado River, encountered these trees, and named them Joshua, since their arms seemed to be reaching toward Heaven.
The Eastern half of the Park is the Colorado Desert, and is what you'd expect to see when visiting a desert. It is situated below the 3000 foot elevation, and is home to the spidery ocotillo and the jumping cholla cactus.
I am very familiar with cholla cactus from my time working out in Campo. One of the hardest lesson to learn when first arriving on the job, was the importance of walking around cactus and not brushing up against it. It seemed like the cholla would actually jump out at us, and those spines could penetrate our leather boots. I took a spine in my arm once, and had trouble with it for years.
In the park, we found a cholla cactus garden, which I'm sure, has reached out and greeted many a tourist. I watch with amusement as a tourist followed us up the walking path in this "garden" of Cholla, with a little dog walking behind. It wasn't long before the leg was up, and we all know what was coming next.
The Park does contain some magnificent vistas, and we were able to visit one out at Keys View. From an elevation of 5185 feet, there are pretty good look at the mountains and valley below. And cutting through the middle one could make out the San Andreas Fault. We're hoping that stays nice and quiet.
Sorry about those photos...there's a little haze out there from air pollution, and my camera just couldn't filter it out.
As we turned and headed out of the park on the northern edge, we passed huge granite rock formations that were formed prior to the arrival of the dinosaurs. Legend says there are canyons out there and hideouts once used by cattle rustlers. The temperature was dropping, so Debbie and I opted to stay with the Jeep. We did have a wonderful picnic among the boulders in one of the many picnic area located throughout the park. Overall it was a very interesting visit, and anyone passing through should take the opportunity to see it. It is also a recommended visit for anyone interested in viewing the night sky. Light pollution is creeping into the park from cities such as Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, but the National Park Service is working to limit light pollution, and hopefully will be recognized as an International Dark Sky Place. which is a very difficult certification to receive.
A few more days here in Indio, and then we head over toward Blythe to the Blythe Bluegrass Festival featuring the Gibson Brothers. I'm going to see if I can get a discount on one of their CD's! Then we'll be taking a look at an RV Show in Quartzsite, AZ which are always fun. Can't wait to get over to the Carlsbad Caverns and check out the bats!
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