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02-06-2018 Heading for Tucson via Ogilby Road

Sometimes on our southern sojourns there isn’t enough time. On this trip, however, we made sure to get all the way south to Tucson. We missed our friends and neighbors, Wes and Gayle, who used to live in Rocky Point at least part of the year, and are now located full time in their beautiful desert home in Sauharita, south of Tucson. We have visited them a few times, but it has been a couple of years and we looked forward to sharing some hikes and good food with them.

Imperial Dunes from Highway 78

But first, we had to pick a travel route. That was easy. One of our favorite boondock sites in the southern desert is the wide open BLM area near Ogilby Road, just west of Yuma. Lots of fellow bloggers have landed in these open spaces at one time or another, but I think the first time I heard about Ogilby Road was from Nina, at Wheelin’ It, who wrote some very lovely poetic lines about the place and took intriguing photos that sucked me in.

Our first time here in 2014, we came in from the south, but after George and Patsy talked about a back route between El Centro and Ogilby Road, we decided to give it a try. With our 26 foot rig the road was a lovely ride, driving past the Imperial Sand Dunes. The dunes were quiet on this Tuesday, but the tracks on the sand showed just how busy they must be much of the time with 4 Wheeler’s running about.

Google Maps tried to insist that we take a short cut to Ogilby Road, and we said, no way, it was a bumpy dirt road and we could see that the real Ogilby Road wasn’t too far east from where we were. I told the google girl to stop talking and we found our own way in from the north.

We found a great wide open spot, not far from the hills toward the northern end of the main boondocking area and settled in quickly. We set the chairs out in the cool shade and read, took the dog for some walks, and simply enjoyed the incredible silence of the desert as sunset approached.

I could stay out here for a lot longer than a single night, but it really was just a pass-through for us this time, and a pleasant one. Only problem for me is that when we are boondocked in the desert like this, I have to get up repeatedly during the night to check out the stars, the darkness, and the silence. Incredible.

The next morning we took our time with a good breakfast, a nice walk, and an easy pack up, since we hadn’t unhooked the Tracker, and didn’t even need to drop our jacks on the level desert floor. We simply pulled in the slide and drove off.

The eastern route toward Tucson is fairly straightforward along Interstate 8 until it intercepts I-10, but that also seemed a bit boring. Instead, at Gila Bend, we turned south toward Ajo, a place we have heard about often but we haven’t been there in the MoHo. Many years ago, Mo traveled to the Copper Canyon train, and their tour came back through the US near Organ Pipe Monument, and Ajo.

We were heading for Organ Pipe, but were so enchanted with the little town of Ajo that we spent all our free time there and had to skip the side trip to see the monument. Next time, I hope. I still love seeing photos of this place.

We have friends who have a house in Ajo, but they are currently in Rocky Point. Judy once had a house in Ajo, and we always wondered why in the world anyone would live there. After visiting, we now understand. It is a quirky, artsy place, with cute little funky stucco houses that sell for $69,000 or so. There are some galleries, a few stores, a great museum, and some gorgeous churches and buildings.

We loved the artist alley with murals lining both sides of the street. We both said having a little house in Ajo would be a fun way to spend winter time in the desert. But no, we have the MoHo, and we don’t need another little house anywhere!

Continuing east toward Why, we passed Darby Wells Road, another well documented site for boondockers. Would love to explore that one someday as well, but our friends were waiting and we needed to get on to Tucson. We also passed the road leading south toward the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, where RV Sue and her crew were camped for a couple of weeks. Those mountains along the western edge of the refuge looked really inviting.

We passed Kitt Peak, where google was kind enough to answer my questions regarding the huge observatory at the summit. I guess the next time we go to Tucson it might be fun to take a trip up there to see the huge solar telescopes.

Family Camp at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Tucson

All our extra sightseeing delayed our arrival time at Davis-Monthan AFB to just after 4:30 PM, (we lost an hour to the time zone change). We were delighted to see that the office was still open, but not so delighted to discover that the Family Camp was completely full except for the overflow area. Overflow sites are $11.00 per night, and are the only way to eventually get into the full hookup portion of the camp, since there are no reservations. The office people told us it was a 6 to 10 day wait for a site. Hmmm. At first we thought about just paying for 1 night and looking for a park somewhere, but were discouraged by the information that almost all the parks in the Tucson area were full, thanks to the famous Tucson Gem Show that was in full swing.

What the heck, we decided that dry camping for the four days we expected to stay in Tucson would be a piece of cake. We had full access to all the amenities.

The laundry room with the cheapest and best machines on the road was just a hop from our rig, the bathrooms as well, with their nice big showers and hot water. There was an easy dump site with air for tires, and potable water where we could take care of the necessities with a simple drive around the block. There is free coffee and cappuccino in the camp office, HD TV and full computer hookups with direct access. Does anyone carry cords for direct card access any more?

We had terrible Verizon service, however, and that was a big surprise. Verizon was fine elsewhere in the area, but at the base and nearby it was 1 sketchy bar. We haven’t popped for any kind of boosters since we aren’t on the road all the time and have managed to do without, but it did get a bit frustrating while we were there.

We do love the family camp at Davis-Monthan. It is clean and well maintained, and the base is big and has a great commissary. Mui would love it, Erin. Smile There is a golf course, a movie theater, good gasoline prices at the on base station, a fitness facility and a pool. We never have any time to really partake of all the stuff, but we did enjoy the dog park for Mattie, right outside our door.

In fact, we decided that dry camping at DM AFB is pretty darn nice, with the sites being spacious and much more roomy than the somewhat close sites in the main park area. I think next time we come to Tucson, we will simply plan on dry camping and enjoy the openness and not bother paying the $22.00 per day for full hookups.

We knew the next few days were going to be filled with fun and friends, so enjoyed a bit of down time. The generator only ran for a couple of hours so that I could process photos. I did manage to keep photos processed on this trip, but didn’t even think about trying to upload them to SmugMug until we were safely back in Oregon with our full cable unlimited WiFi. It certainly helped when I got back home to only have to do the writing without having to do all that photo processing as well.

We spent the next few days with our friends, enjoying the dog park and walking with Mattie, and being treated to some of those fabulous Arizona sunsets.

We even had an evening visit from a wandering javalina, who seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Does this qualify as a “the end” photo?

02-03-2018 to 02-05 2018 Hanging with Judy

I think most bloggers that read my blog know Judy, either in person, or from her very popular blog, Travels with Emma. Everyone called her the Bird Lady of Blogland, with good reason. Judy spent ten yeas of her life traveling from refuge to refuge across the United States, volunteering. Judy is especially good with the birds, being responsible for doing extensive bird counts on many refuges.

We first met Judy on our southern trip to Florida, stopping at Anahuac NWR for a visit. The story of my kitty Jeremy and Judy’s dog Emma meeting was a good one. On that trip, Judy took us on a private tour of some of the hidden places at Anahuac, and I saw my first roseate spoonbills in person. Gorgeous day.

Since then our paths have crossed a few times, with Judy visiting us at our home in Rocky Point, us visiting Judy when she volunteered at Harris Beach, and a visit to her home base now in Jojoba Springs. Judy hung up her blogging hat a couple of years ago, but in spite of her quiet absence, we managed to stay slightly in touch. I was thoroughly tickled when Judy called me last month asking about when we planned to be at Desert Hot Springs.

We shared dates and plans, and got caught up on Judy’s new life at Jojoba. The big rig that she never really loved to drive is now gone, and in its place is a nifty new….not park model. I can’t remember what you call it, but technically it isn’t a park model because at Jojoba you are required to have a holding tank. Anyway, it sounds lovely, and Judy’s stories of her life and community at Jojoba were good to hear.

But you know how that travel bug gets to us if we are stationary for too long. Judy found a sweet little Chinook Class B and wanted to try it out with a visit to Desert Hot Springs, and decided to stay at Catalina Spa where we could spend a bit of time together.

She arrived late in the week, and I made supper for us to share inside the MoHo since we didn’t have an outdoor table big enough for all the fixin’s. The next morning, Judy invited us over for a Sunday brunch, with the best Bloody Mary’s I have tasted in a long time, and some breads from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

It was Super Bowl Sunday, and without following football this season, we decided it was our last chance to get to the movies in Palm Desert, and Judy joined us. We sat in those great big comfy recliners with our wine and popcorn to watch Darkest Hour. An excellent movie, and the wine was cheaper than the popcorn.

On Monday we left Mattie safe in the cool MoHo and took Judy to the Visitor Center and ponds at 1000 Palms Oasis. It wasn’t too crowded when we were there, and I think Judy enjoyed seeing the visitor center since she has so much experience with different centers at different refuges. Thousand Palms is a Nature Conservancy site with a great history, and there are some lovely hikes from the main area, but those were for another time.

On Monday evening, Judy treated us to her dinner, “stuff” is what she called it. She said when her kids were growing up it was either white stuff or red stuff, and the red stuff we had was delicious. Patio time and conversation time as we both prepared to pull up stakes the next morning and head out in opposite directions. Judy back to Jojoba and Mo and I to one of our favorite desert boondocks on Ogilby Road.

It was great to have some time to catch up, and to see that Judy is doing well.

02-01 Days in the Coachella Valley

Palm Springs at Night is always lit up beautifully

Often when we are visiting this part of the desert, we fill up the days with lots of “doings”. This time we decided that we needed a bit more “being” and a little less “doing”. That didn’t mean we wanted to sit around all the time doing nothing but hanging out, but we did limit our excursions to one thing per day for the rest of our week at Catalina Spa. Not counting swimming and reading of course, those two were on the list every single day.

I finished knitting a winter scarf in camo colors for my great grandson, who loves all things camo. Managed to get it mailed from the Desert Hot Springs post office in plenty of time. On our first afternoon in town, after setting up at Catalina, we decided that it was time, after 8 years of driving east on Dillon Road from Indian Canyon road, past the Dillon Burger and Grill that we needed to stop for one of their down home hamburgers.

The ambience of the bar was great, funky old bar with fun people eating and drinking, a bunch of guys from some plumbing company on a work break, and a bunch of bikers on the patio enjoying the sunshine. The burgers were decent, not fancy or fabulous, but decent, and at 4.95 each our lunch was under 20 bucks including the beer and wine.

On another day we explored the stone sculptures at the big yard down on Dillon Road. Another place we have passed often and never visited. The sculptures were amazing, the artist was a character, and he talked to us about the cost of installation and transportation for these gorgeous pieces of nature’s art. He has installations all over the country. We imagined one the of pillars with windows sitting by our driveway at the entrance to the new house, but probably will never pop for the $5000. it would cost to do that.

On Thursday afternoon, we made the half hour drive into Palm Springs to enjoy an early dinner at a restaurant we enjoy. Macarena’s is Mexican place right in the center of town, with outdoor seating along the main street where every Thursday night there is a great street fair. We got a streetside table and good service while watching the vendors set up their booths for the evening festivities. The Happy Hour appetizer menu had perfect choices for each of us to share,and I had a killer good marguerita to go with it. I like it when a Mexican restaurant has good flavors that surprise me, instead of the same ole same ole. Dinner was delicious and we ate every bite, no leftovers! It is easy when you order appetizers instead of the full course deal.

As darkness fell, we joined the throngs walking down the center of the road, enjoying all the vendors and art for sale. Before we left home, Mo and I scoped out some large exterior walls of the new house, thinking we needed a bit of house art. I thought at the time that we might find something either in Palm Springs, or Tubac, Arizona, and we scored in both places. We found a beautiful sun sculpted in stainless steel by a local artist at the street fair, and I managed to get through the crowd of people without puncturing anyone with the pointy sun rays. Photos will come later for this piece, waiting now in our garage for the bad weather to lift before we decide exactly where it will be placed on the house.

As the evening wore on, the crowds thickened to the point of being tiresome. We were really glad that we came early and had supper before strolling the street fair. We were back home by 7 fully satisfied with our meal and our outing and ready to settle in for another swim. It was hard to share the pool with all those other people, you know the ones, the noodlers. It seems that evening time is when folks like to “noodle”, where they all gather in little pods, floating on their noodles and chatting and laughing. I have no problem at all with that, but I do wish that they would at least leave me a tiny lane on the far edge of the pool to actually swim. Another reason I miss my 3 AM swims. I actually like to swim!

The next day we woke up early to travel south again to Palm Desert to visit the Living Desert. We went there for the first time in the winter of 2016, just after the little giraffes were born. Those babies are now 2 year olds, and there are more young ones that are part of the group now.

We arrived in time for the morning feeding, and while we were on the other side of the feeding fence, we laughed watching all the little kids holding out carrots to be wrapped up by those long black tongues. Their responses were almost more fun than watching the giraffes.

The Living Desert is a zoo, but an accredited one that does great things for endangered species. Our timing was good for this visit because unlike last time, the animals were out and about, including the wolves and especially the jaguars. Those are truly amazing cats, who kill by using their powerful jaws to crush the head of their prey rather than going for the jugular as most cats do when killing.

The 3 cheetah sisters were a new addition since our last visit, and they were wonderful to watch. Each day they have the cheetah runs, where the handlers feed them at opposite ends of their enclosure, both for our enjoyment and exercise for them. Cheetahs need to run. It was amazing watching those long lanky bodies stretch out even for short distances.

We had to find the meerkats, of course. I still think that Mattie is part meerkat. I know I know, but she sure does look like one when she sits on her hind end, straight up, and turns her head from side to side with her little pointy nose in the air. Pure meerkat. We confirmed that when we saw the meerkats once again. They have to be on the list of cutest animals ever.

The gardens are beautiful, even in winter, and walking the pathways will get in a good 3 miles of walking without even trying. It is spendy, at $17.95 per senior person, but worth it. I think we might have to go at least every other year, if not every year.

We returned to another favorite place for a lovely morning hike. The Big Morongo Canyon Refuge is just half an hour up the hill to the north in the Morongo Valley. It is a no dog hike, but thankfully Mattie is happy to wait at home in her MoHo bed if we want to head out for some non doggie entertainment.

We had hiked this area in the past, and knew it would provide lovely views and great open space. It was quite chilly when we started out at 7:30 in the morning, but by the time we returned we had shed sweaters and were back to sleeveless shirts.

Unlike the Indian Canyons at Taquitz and Palm Canyon, this hike is free, but doesn’t have the waterfalls and streams, but also doesn’t have the crowds, at least when we went. We passed a few people on various portions of the trail, but most of the time we had the refuge to ourselves to enjoy.

In between all the activity, we still managed a lot more down time for walks with the dog, swims, reading in the chairs in the shade, and just enjoying the 80 degree temperatures, heaven after a foggy winter in Grants Pass.

01-30-2018 “Home” to Catalina Spa

Most years when we travel south, we slip into one of our favorite little spots, Catalina Spa and RV Resort. Last year was a bit of a shock for us, since one of our favorite things about this particular park was the hot spring fed swimming pool that was open all night. I have watched moon rises and sun rises from this pool, watched stars at night and one time tracked the space station as it crossed the sky. I love swimming in the dark without the sun in my eyes.

Last year the “adult” pool in the lower (older) part of the park was closed for renovation, and I had to either walk or drive in the middle of the cold night to get the the upper pool. We knew that the lower pool renovations were complete and were excited and a bit nervous about the changes.

I discovered that I really am resistant to change. It infuriates me. Cracked me up when I realized how I was reacting to the shifts, just like an old person who can’t deal with change. As time passed, I reminded myself, “change or die”, and I began to adjust to the shifts in our favorite place to camp in the Coachella Valley.

The new pool is quite modern looking. The lovely old and somewhat amateur murals on the spa wall have been replaced with very spendy and lovely glass tiles. The pool is spotlessly clean, with some kind of machine that runs during the night. A very nice technician explained to me that California state law requires that all pools be treated with chlorine, and that not using it could result in the complete shutdown of the pool. Sigh. What I loved about that pool, in addition to the 24 hour open thing was the fact that it had no chlorine in it, and neither did the spa. The hot springs at the resort completely replace the water in the pool every 3 days or so and in the spa more than twice a day. Technician man said that even when he keeps the chlorine level up to state requirements, it is on the very low level of those requirements. I only noticed it very faintly early in the morning, at 7am, when the pool now opens. We also were told that the resort is now being billed as a “family resort destination”. No such thing as an adult pool any more. At least they still honor Passport America and our daily rate was a cool $22.50. Not bad overall. Change or die.

The camping area has changed as well. Half of the lower park (including the area we always chose to camp) has been closed off for repairs, and for eventual conversion to park models only. We were directed to our spot by a volunteer in a golf cart, unlike in the past where we were allowed to make our own choice. It wasn’t a bad spot, actually quite level, and the sand had been freshly raked. Instead of the tall tamarisk trees at the rear of our rig on 11th street as we always chose, we had campers directly behind us, and our patio was completely visible to them. Not exactly private, but tolerable, since we were lucky enough to have nice, quiet campers in those spots.

The park seemed fairly full, but with half of it shut down, that would explain why. We were given pages and pages of rules and activities, how to create a “safe bag” for exiting in an emergency and all sorts of other stuff. TV thank goodness is still not digital, so we were able to get it via cable. (We left our cable at home somehow and had to buy another one) So much for knowing where everything is located after our move.

We were so lucky for our entire time in Desert Hot Springs with absolutely perfect weather. It was especially lucky to be in a place with clear skies for the early morning spectacular show on January 31, the Supermoon and the Lunar Eclipse. I didn’t even set an alarm, but woke up several times during the night to gaze at the moon, and was awake just after the eclipse started. Didn’t pack a tripod on this trip, and thought that I really didn’t need to try that hard for a perfect photo. So many good friends are really good at what they do, and they all have tripods. I did want to at least try to capture the moment for my own memories, and the photos I got made me happy enough. I was surprised at how many people around us in the park just slept through the entire display. Of course, there were a few folks wandering about in bathrobes and slippers, smiling and laughing with me.

Once the sun was fully up the last morning of January, it was time to take Mattie walking in the big desert area just north. The dog park is small and was muddy from the morning sprinklers, and the desert was much more inviting. Within a few days, Mattie had made friends with several other dogs whose owners liked walking in the open, and several of us let the kids play off leash when everyone got along well. As usual, Mattie likes the big dogs best, but there were a few little ones who were playful enough for her. She can be a bit of a brat when she is on-leash, and gets all excited when she sees new dogs, wanting to play. Her version of play can look kind of aggressive if you don’t know her, and I spent a lot of time saying, “No!!”

I was glad for doggie play time for her since she will be going to visit a doggie care center while we are in Mexico next month, and the place requires her to be well behaved with other dogs. Of course. At least she had some practice during out three weeks out on this trip.

Time passed slowly for us at Catalina. This year the weather was so great, with NO wind, an unheard of thing when visiting Desert Hot Springs at this time of year. We had time to read in our chairs on the shady side of the rig, to swim mornings and evenings, to actually relax. That is something we both really needed to do since we have been so much on the go for the last two years. Real relaxation has been missing, and especially relaxation in warm sunshine! Wonderful.

We had a few plans upcoming for the later part of our week, including some hikes, and some traditional treats like the Living Desert and Palm Springs Street Fair, but the quiet down time we enjoyed those first few days was extra special.

01-29-2018 The Oranges are Waiting!

I know I write about this almost every single year, but I just get so excited thinking about the oranges that are waiting for me at Orange Grove RV Park. I don’t even eat them, I juice them. Crazy, I know, but with those big bags of juicy sweet oranges, I can have the luxury of making fresh orange juice every single day for at least a couple of weeks. I can barely stand to drink OJ from a store any more.

We have traveled our winter escape south so many times, and several different ways. In the years when we stored the MoHo in Brookings, before we bought the Grants Pass property, we traveled south along 101, through San Francisco and intercepting I-5 east of Paso Robles.

In the years when the MoHo was stored in Redding, we traveled south via I-5 all the way to Bakersfield before heading east on Highway 58 over the Tehachapi’s to the desert. I-5 is in serious need of repairs, and each year it seems to get worse, in spite of the few spots that get repaired.

Mattie is a happy camper when we are rolling down the road.This year we decided to travel Highway 99, the old historic route through the Central Valley, Lodi, to Modesto, to Merced, to Fresno, to Bakersfield. This freeway can be narrow and crowded, but traffic doesn’t seem to travel quite as fast as it does on I-5. 70’s instead of 80’s. Also, except for the areas through the cities, the pavement was blessedly smooth. No bumpety bump d bump for miles and miles and miles, and no 6 inch divots in the pavement. We had a valve stem go out on one of those potholes, and it just doesn’t seem right that there should be big ugly potholes on an interstate freeway.

The route south to the desert isn’t that long. Theoretically we could travel it in two days with ease, but it is more fun to take our time, stop after 300 miles or so, and arrive rested and ready to play

The trip was uneventful, leaving Lodi around 9 and pulling into Orange Grove RV Park around 3. Perfect driving day. We had fueled in Dunnigan the day prior to arriving at Lodi, and didn’t need gas again until we reached the Costco in Bakersfield. This time, with our travels down 99, the Costco was right off the exit. Easy off, easy on, and cheapest fuel around. Traffic was heavy, however, and the lines were long, as usual. Ah yes, we are back in California again. We have to pump our own gas. Always a jokester around who asks us if we know how when they see our Oregon license plates.

Arriving at Orange Grove in the afternoon, we were once again glad that we took the effort to make a reservation. This is such a popular park for Canadians on their way south and most of the license plates were from various Canadian provinces, including Ontario and Quebec.

Sometimes they have signs saying “please only one bag per rig”, and that bag is a small plastic garbage bag. This time, however, with most of the low hanging fruit gone from the trees between sites, they had no such restrictions. Instead, the maintenance man came up to tell me about their additional grove that is just a bit west of the main campground, loaded with oranges all the way down to the ground, and free for the picking. I, like many others I saw, filled a grocery bag or two, and they weren’t small plastic ones, they were big Trader Joe’s cloth bags. I took enough to last as long as I thought they could stay fresh without refrigeration.

Within minutes I had my first orange, sliced up and eaten from rind to get all the juice. Then a bit later I did the old California trick of puncturing the stem end of the orange and drinking the juice, before I cut up a bunch of oranges and made a full glass of the sweet stuff. Darn good thing I don’t have diabetes!

We didn’t pack our satellite this time. It just has been entirely too much trouble the last few times we were out. Our TV is not digital, so doesn’t work in all parks. After all, our rig was built in 2006, before digital was the norm, and we aren’t in that much of a hurry to upgrade. A break from TV is a nice thing. We listen to the radio for the news, and thoroughly enjoy the different perspective of NPR in the morning.

Orange Grove does still have cable TV, however, and not the kind that requires a digital TV or a cable box. Our problem with broadcast TV is that we are so used to watching at our own times and skipping the commercials, that regular TV is a pain in the neck, so it doesn’t stay on for long.

Orange Grove also has LOTS of outside lights on at night. It was quiet, with only a bit of road noise from the freeway that is 1/4 mile distant, but we were glad we had darkening shades that kept the light out. Reminded me of our nights in Alaska, where it never got dark at all, and the shades worked great. We still have day/night shades, the kind with cords, and the MCD shade upgrade is also something we aren’t all that much in a hurry to complete. Mo has fixed the shades a couple of times, makes sure the strings are all working properly, and our shades are just fine after ten years. I can hardly believe we have been traveling in this rig for that long. She is still great, and we can’t find any other that we would choose to replace her.

Onward to Catalina Spa and RV Park, with our minds curious about what we will find with the new owners and remodel of the park.