FIRST ANNIVERSARY REFLECTIONS
Fourth month on the road (November 2012)

Sky Sailing Inc. located in Warner Springs 

Monte decided on the thirty minute, one passenger ride in a trainer costing $150 which includes still frame pictures on a memory card.  We had to wait approximately a half hour because the pilot, who was going to be taking Monte up, was doing aerobatic loops in a high-performance glider.  When he came down, he convinced Monte to switch from a trainer to the high-performance glider and instead of still pictures to go with a video taken from a camera mounted in the cockpit.   Monte paid the extra $20.

I taped him getting suited up in the parachute, getting into the cockpit, and taking off being towed by the tow plane.  He was only supposed to be gone thirty minutes but ended up landing forty minutes after takeoff.  I taped the landing and his s—t-eating grim that let me know he had an awesome experience.  He told me it was exhilarating.  As a bonus the pilot did some loops that normally would only be done in the aerobatic flight costing more money.  Monte sat in front and was able to take control during parts of the flight.

Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 

 Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park that in addition to open spaces, gardens and walking paths, has natural vegetation greenbelts.  It contains the world-famous San Diego Zoo, several theaters, museums and cafes. 

 Spanish Village Art Center contains a courtyard surrounded by working studios.  We strolled around looking at the various artists works while being entertained by a guitarist playing Spanish melodies

House of Pacific Relations, an area in the park consisting of 20 cottages, representing 31 nations’ exhibits.  The cottages are only open on Sundays.  Each cottage offered a sampling of food and exhibits of its history, traditions and culture.

Seaport Village located near Embarcadero Marina Park

One of the must-see attractions recommended by the lady at Balboa Park Visitor’s Center was the beach on Coronado Island.  We only had a half hour of daylight left when we departed Seaport Village and went over the bridge connecting Coronado Island (technically not an island but a peninsula) with the mainland.  Luckily we found a place to park along Ocean Blvd just in time to watch the magnificent sunset from the beach.   

Pumpkin could never resist a bag.

Ah-the joy of RV living 

 

Our site at Lake Morena RV Park was very large with a picnic table, great view and plenty of room for my car.  The only drawback was that there was a “do not drink the water” order due to high levels of (gulp) uranium.  We had used all of the water in our fresh water tank to flush out the tanks when we dumped at the last RV Park.  Luckily we always have at least 6 gallon bottles of fresh water with us.  We stretched it out and made it last the four days we stayed at the park. 

Lake Morena Regional Park, Campo, CA.  Morena Reservoir lies in the middle of 3,250 acres of chaparral, oak woods, and grassland.  The lake is the highest and most remote of the city’s reservoirs.  The park shows characteristics of desert, coastal and mountain habitats due to its location southwest of the Laguna Mountains. 

We got kind of "lost" for a little while on this hike.

We found a shady place on a huge boulder to rest and eat lunch.  I jokingly told Monte that I was only going to eat half a sandwich just in case we couldn’t find our way back before dark and couldn’t get rescued until morning.  (I really only ate half-just in case) 

Cabin fever and the need to restock up on some grocery staples had us making the 20 mile trip to Albertson’s in Alpine.  We found this great little Pizza place in an outdoor shopping mall. 

San Diego & Arizona Railway Museum located in Campo, CA  

While we waited for the train to arrive we watched a short video detailing the building of the railway by developer John D Spreckels.  Then the “all aboard” was called and we got on the train and headed to our first stop,

the Stone Store built by the Gaskill brothers after their original frame store was attacked by bandits in 1875.  The store functioned as a post office, bank and community center.  It was interesting seeing some of the items that were available for sale during that time.

 

The second floor of the store, which also served as the last home of the Buffalo Soldiers, houses a museum containing military memorabilia.

When we heard the whistle blow we made our way back to where the train had left us off.  We re-boarded and were given a history lesson by our host, one of the many volunteers who operate the train, about what to expect in our next stop at the museum and restoration center.  After disembarking we walked through the restoration center featuring steam locomotives, a postal railcar and passenger railcars including one having a separate section for “whites only”.

There is a picture board describing the role African Americans played in helping to build and run the railroad beginning with newly freed slaves who were given the worst jobs for the least amount of money.

 

 

 

 We chose Oasis Palms because they accept PA and because it is centrally located to some of the places we want to explore.  We had originally planned on staying a couple of days but we liked the park so much that we ended up staying two weeks.

The Salton Sea is a landlocked extension of the Gulf of California.  At 35 miles long and 15 miles wide it is California’s largest lake.  The lake has no natural outlet flowing to the ocean.  Whatever flows in does not flow out.  The Salton Sea provides sanctuary to a diverse collection of wildlife.  Millions of fish feed millions of wintering birds along with the year-round residents including quail.  Some of the vegetation includes desert shrub, creosote bush and fan palms.  The sea’s rising salinity threatens its vital importance to more than 400 bird species.  Because there is less than three inches of rainfall a year the sea is now 30 percent saltier than the ocean.  In 2003 the California legislature passed the Salton Sea Restoration Act to find effective methods to save the ecosystem.  The Salton Sea State Recreation Area offers such activities as camping, kayaking, bird watching and hiking.

  Salvation Mountain is an art installation covering a hill made from adobe, straw and thousands of gallons of paint.  The numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses were created by a Leonard Knight, a local resident.   Leonard, a Vermont native born in 1931, accepted Jesus in his heart in 1967 while sitting by himself in his van.  He arrived in Niland in 1984 where he began work on his mountain that he kept expanding.  In 2002 the mountain was proclaimed a national treasure.  In 2011, Leonard was placed in a long-term care facility when he was diagnosed with dementia.  As we walked in the structure I couldn’t decide if I felt like I was inside a Dr. Seuss cartoon world or getting a glimpse of someone’s LSD-induced dream world.  In any case it was a weird and fascinating experience.

 

Just beyond the shrine is another very weird place called Slab City.  It is a snowbird campground used by Rivers and from what I observed, mostly SQUATTERS.   The “city” takes its name from the concrete slabs that remain from the abandoned WWII Marine barracks of Camp Dunlap. 

What struck me the most about Slab City is that it is essentially a DUMP.  I was really surprised to see very expensive RVs parked next to deteriorating skeleton remains of old Winnebago’s and Airstreams.   Unwanted items are just discarded anywhere evident in the numerous trash piles scattered around the city.  There also appears to be a division in the city between the snowbirds on one side of the (dirt) main road and the squatters on the other side.  There is a sense of community present evident by a posting listing weekly events including church services on Sunday and structures such as the “Library” and “Internet Café.”    Although staying at Slab City is FREE, we would not camp there because I would feel like I was living in some Walking Dead apocalyptic world.

 

Joshua Tree National Park.  The Joshua tree is a member of the Agave family. 

Legend has it that the Mormon immigrants, who made their way across the Colorado River, named the tree after Joshua, the biblical figure because the outstretched limbs appeared to be in supplication guiding them westward.

Cholla (pronounced choy-ya) Cactus Garden

Monte spotted a tarantula crossing the road and had to stop to take pictures. 

The sign at the start of the trail for Ryan Mountain warned to take plenty of water and to allow 2-3 hours for the 3 mile hike.   It took us 2 hours to reach the 5461 foot summit because I had to stop every ten feet or so to catch my breath.  I have to admit the thought of giving up crossed my mind a couple of times but as people kept passing us up I reminded myself that it was not a contest to see who gets to the top first.  As we were climbing it was difficult to see how much further it was to the top and every time I thought we were close and the end had to be around the bend, it wasn’t.  BUT finally we reached the summit and I really felt a sense of accomplishment. 

 

During our stay at Oasis Palms we woke up to an unpleasant surprise one morning.  The first clue that there was a problem was when I got out of bed and my feet hit the wet carpet.  My suspicion about the source of the water was proved when I opened the bathroom door and saw the toilet bowl full of water.

 I spent a couple of hours trying to dry out the carpet in the bedroom while Monte spent the entire day working in the basement.  There is a trapdoor leading to the basement just outside of the bathroom door that allowed the water to drip down to the basement.  Monte had to totally empty the basement and wipe everything down.  The weather was in our favor because it was very sunny and the things left out dried quickly. 

The camp had been having issues with power brown-outs and broken pipes.  We are not positive but what we think happened was that the power went out through the night and when it came back on the water surged.  The (clean) water overflowed from the bowl.   Unlike a house toilet bowl there is no overflow hole in an RV.  Monte did some research on-line and found out this is not an uncommon problem. 

The Palm Springs Tram, the largest in the world and the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, has a passenger capacity of 80.  Its interior is 18 feet in diameter and 8 feet high.  Because of the unique slow cabin rotation, twice per trip, all positions in the tram offer a spectacular view.  There are a total of five cable towers that gave my stomach a little twist because, as we passed them, the tramcar swayed. 

 

Monte had wanted to bring along our trekking poles but I said I didn’t think we would need them as the hike we planned on taking was a “novice” trail.  The trail, that was only 1 and ½ miles but took us over rocks, up slopes and down slopes, had me wishing several times that I had my poles with me.

Thanksgiving Day at Oasis Palms. 

The resort owners host pot luck dinners on all the major holidays. 

I brought along a green been casserole.

We liked out day trip to Joshua Tree so much

 we decided to camp there a couple nights on our way to Arizona. 

 

Cottonwood Springs Hike at Joshua Tree 

It was COLD!  There are no electric sites at Joshua Tree-We stayed there pre-solar installation so we had to conserve our power because we could only use the generator a couple of hours in the morning and the evening.

So far, Joshua Tree is one of my favorite places. 

 

Desert Sky RV Park, Apache Junction, AZ      We originally booked two months at Desert Sky. My daughter Renee, and two granddaughters live a short distance away and I was looking forward to spending a lot time in  December and January with them.  When I saw that two months was not going to be enough time we extended another month.  And when we decided to install solar on the rig we extended yet another month so Monte could take his time with the installation.

My granddaughters knew we were coming but they weren't expecting us for another couple of days so we surprised them when we picked them up at school. 

 

It had been almost a year since I saw my daughter, Renee and I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with her.