SUNDAY,
MARCH 25
As I got ready this
morning to leave the Champagne Lakes RV Resort, near Escondido, where I had set
up my camper next to the office yesterday, I happened to glance out my window
and spotted some of the geese I had seen when I got here.
Where I live in Palm Springs,
just steps from my patio, is a pond that is frequented by ducks (and ducklings),
egrets, the occasional cormorant, a thirsty hawk, and Canadian Geese. The geese I saw this morning are white -- Snow
Goose is what I’m guessing they are, based on online photographs.
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| Geese coming 'round my truck... |
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| ...and waddling on by. |
The darker goose with
the knob on its head may be a Chinese Goose - “The Chinese
goose is a breed of domesticated goose descended from the wild swan goose.
Chinese geese differ from the wild birds in much larger size, and in having an
often strongly developed basal knob on the upper side of the bill. Wikipedia”
My destination today –
the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, “…the largest state park in California
and, the second largest in the contiguous United States.” For more information, check out this link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anza-Borrego_Desert_State_Park
To get there, I got
back on I-15, going south to reconnect to Rt. 78 E at Escondido. The route soon became a winding two-lane
road, traversing mostly downhill through a scenic terrain of rocky hills,
leveling out as I approached Santa Ysabel.
At this juncture I then drove along on the flatter and gentler Rt. 79 N
for a few miles before turning east on S2 and S22. The descent to the village of Borrego
Springs, was quite hairy – about 10 curvy miles down a steep 8% grade. I cannot recall ever driving down, or up, a
grade that steep…and with my camper, too.
From where I began that
descent, and could see how far down the desert floor was, I started kicking
myself for making this one mistake with my F-350 Dually – not knowing how to
shift to a lower gear while in motion. I
did that once on a previous trip, shifting from D to 3, and the vibrations I
felt from the truck made me think I’d done it wrong. I must ask David how to do this
properly.
I made it down and, after
prying my fingers off the steering wheel, made my way to my site at the Borrego
Palm Canyon Campground. I hooked up to
the shore power, did my usual “getting settled in” routine, and then went out
to take a walk on the .06-mile paved path to the Visitors Center. I strolled along, stopping now and then to
take pictures --
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| A mid-day half-moon, framed between blossoming ocotillo branches. |
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| Ferocactus - "a genus of large barrel-shaped cacti, mostly with large spines and small flowers." |
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| The flowers of this particular cactus. |
My “usual routine” today
also included sitting outside with my late afternoon cocktail, going back
inside for some supper, watching the sunset -- which is possible now because
I’m away from the coastal rains of last week -- and then watching it become
darker. I didn’t do any reading or
writing this evening. I think that
heart-thumping steep descent wore me out pretty good.
MONDAY,
MARCH 26
I woke up twice during
the night and both times I stepped outside to look at the stars. Void of city and other artificial lights, the
night sky here is perfect for star gazing.
The half-moon I had seen yesterday afternoon was now above me and, even
at “half power,” the moonshine was bright enough to wash out some of the stars. Back in bed, after my second trip outside, I
could see the moon through my side window and, since it often takes me a while
to go back to sleep, I just kept looking at it and watching it slowly disappear
behind the jagged peak of a mountain.
Now would be a good time to go back outside and see the stars adorn a
much blacker sky, but then I fell asleep.
I’m expecting overnight
visitors today! Around 12:30 p.m.,
spotting her red car, I welcomed Leslie Elion and Kuro to my “home on the
road.” They came from San Diego and made
good time on the same routes I took yesterday.
This is the first time Leslie has ever seen my camper and Kuro was
interested in everything, even learning quickly how to jump up onto the cabover
bed.
After their 2-hour drive,
Leslie and Kuro were both ready for a walk.
But first, we transferred their stuff from car to camper – or, rather,
Leslie did while I restrained Kuro – sat down for a short time at the dinette
table, had lunch, and then we were good to go.
Yesterday had been a windy day.
Today, it was calm and a bit warmer.
It was also cloudy but those clouds, blocking the sun now and then, made
for a pleasantly cool walk on the paved path to the Visitor’s Center. I showed Leslie the Cacti Garden, the Pupfish
Pond, and she also went inside the Visitor’s Center. I’d already gone inside yesterday so I stayed
outside with Kuro. He’s such a
sweetheart! He’s a rescue and absolutely
adores Leslie. Like all rescues, Kuro
knows his human is giving him a forever home and a more secure life.
Back at the camper we
continued our visit outside, sitting on my camp chairs. Kuro loved it all – laying on Leslie’s lap
and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of this very different
environment. We had our supper, took
Kuro for his evening walks, and then went to bed – Leslie and Kuro up on the
cabover bed and me on the dinette bed.
TUESDAY,
MARCH 27
There was a beautiful
pre-sunrise orange glow on the eastern horizon when I woke up at 6:30 a.m. Knowing that I’ve been hosting a hearing creature
inside the camper, I sneaked a look over to the cabover bed and -- sure enough!
-- found Kuro looking right back at me!
At the sound of my “Hi, Kuro!”
voice he got all excited and jumped right down to the floor. Because of the way the converted dinette bed
is positioned, he couldn’t jump up to join me there so I picked him up. He did the licking thing and I did the
scratching thing and after about 10 minutes of that I thought he probably needed
to go out. I put him on the floor, put
my shoes on, and the second Kuro saw me get his collar and leash, he got all
excited all over again. It took me a
minute to figure out the slip-on collar but as soon as we were outside he
headed for the nearest pee spot. We
walked for a short time and seeing that he was about to poop I steered him to a
spot closer to my camper. Back inside
Kuro immediately jumped up on the big bed and proceeded to wake Leslie up. I found that entire episode extremely
entertaining!
Check-out time was 12
noon, so by 11:00 a.m., after we’d had breakfast, I started my usual “camper
departure” preparations. Leslie and I
both got back on S22, she going west and me going east. I should mention here that we, unfortunately,
did not see a bloom of wildflowers around our section of the park. The conditions for these desert wildflowers
must be exactly right for them to bloom.
It’s all a matter of winter rains and temperatures and nobody can
predict when and where blooms will occur, if at all. We were, nevertheless, surrounded by much
beauty and that is always much appreciated.
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| Leslie and Kuro. |
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| Leslie, Kuro, and me. |
The terrain along my
drive on S22 E became much more arid and dusty/sandy as I left Borrego’s
mountains and canyons and ventured further into the desert. My road ended at Rt. 86 at which point I
turned north and, several miles later, turned right onto a road where a sign
welcomed me to Salton City. There’s a RV
Park further up on this road but I didn’t have a reservation for a site there. I also didn’t know if I was going to even
want to stay at this particular Park. “Take a look-see, Mappie, and then decide.”
Yup, I’ll stay here,
the West Shores RV Park and Storage. Seemingly split in half, probably
intentionally, I noted that the section to my left was full of long or short
term RVs and the section to my right had plenty of available spaces, all with
full hookups. Directly ahead is the Salton
Sea.
I stopped at the
office, which is located inside the Johnson’s Landing Café & Bar, but it
was closed and apparently won’t open until 3:00 p.m. I decided to just go ahead and pick a site
and deal with the registration later.
Backing my truck camper into the spot I selected, I noticed this fella
sitting with his dog at a nearby picnic table.
Intensely focused on the simple (but sometimes complicated) task of backing
in the truck camper just the way I wanted it, it didn’t dawn on me that that
fella was waiting for me to finish so he could then register me for that
site. Once I realized that, I walked
with him to the office and got that taken care of. I think I picked a great site – there’s
nothing in front of me but sand, some low shrubbery, the Salton Sea and, beyond
that, a range of hills.
Looking at the pretty
scene in front of me, I was surprised to see the dark blue color of the Salton
Sea. I expected a somewhat drab color,
considering how unhealthy this body of water -- a
man-made-lake-formed-by-accident -- really is.
Already causing health problems for humans and wildlife, this extremely
saline, [sometimes] smelly, and dying lake will become more hazardous fairly
soon if California’s legislators don’t act and address the environmental
problems here. This link offers a brief
read of the lake’s history --
https://www.damninteresting.com/sordid-history-of-the-salton-sea/
Needing to catch up on writing
my fifth blog of this truck camper trip I spent my afternoon working on
that. Curious about the onsite café I
decided to head over there for some supper.
I was the only customer…maybe because it’s Tuesday? This does look like the kind of place that
would attract a beer-guzzling weekend crowd.
My server was very nice. The food
was alright.
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| The west shoreline of the [dark blue] Salton Sea, Salton City. |
WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 28
It didn’t take much to
convince myself last night to stay here another day. And why not?
I can continue to work on my blog while enjoying the view directly in
front of me. So, here I am, still here
today.
It was very windy when
I arrived yesterday. There’s barely a
breeze today and it’s also a lot warmer.
I have all my windows open and have been working steadily on the laptop.
Taking a break shortly after lunch, I
visited the office to pay for today and then started to walk towards the
lake. A posted “No Trespassing” sign put
that trek to a halt. As I considered the
implications of that sign I thought I best not ignore it. Walking back to my camper, it occurred to me
that, since my arrival yesterday, I hadn’t seen any people, any watercraft, nor
any water birds on or near the lake. And
to think that this lake used to be a popular recreational area.
THURSDAY,
MARCH 29
This morning I started
to gather and bag up stuff in preparation for my return home tomorrow. By 11:30 a.m. I was on my way, stopping first
at the Salton City Post Office, which was located inside a small store near Rt.
86. I then took that highway, going
north. The Salton Sea, for a good number
of miles, remained within view at my right before it tapered off and gave way to
groves of palm trees, most of which, I’m sure, are date palm trees. Folks may scoff at the idea of visiting the
Salton Sea but I will vouch for this being a drive worth taking, even if it
takes a full day to drive around the entire lake.
At the juncture of I-10
I took the Dillon Road exit towards Desert Hot Springs. This turned out to be the perfect road – my kind
of road -- to bring my truck camper trip to a close. Extending straight ahead like an unfurled ribbon,
seeming to end right at the snow-capped San Gorgonio Mountain, this lonely
two-lane road has many gentle rolling dips which made my drive that much more
fun. I stopped on the shoulder to take a
couple of pictures --
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| Dillon Road, going west. |
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| Mt. San Jacinto, as seen from Dillon Road. Palm Springs is at the base of this mountain. |
The new Palm
Springs/Joshua Tree KOA in Desert Hot Springs was the perfect place for me to
spend my last night in the truck camper.
I got more stuff ready for unloading tomorrow at home and then, noting
that it has indeed been hot here, headed for the pool. Looking up at the full moon later that night,
I thought, “How cool is this? The moon was full my first night on this trip
and it’s full again my last night.”
SUNDAY,
APRIL 1
My last major chore at
the KOA last Friday was to drain the camper’s water faucets and then dump the
black and grey tanks. I arrived home
before noon and completed the process of unloading the camper. The next morning, (yesterday) my friend Mike
joined me on the drive to Galaxy Campers in Ontario to return the camper to
storage. [Thank you again, David!]
Final Note: Over the course of this four-week trip around
southern/central California, I accumulated 1,526 miles and needed 136 gallons
of diesel fuel.
