The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Joanne and Mo saying goodbye as we get ready to travel again

We traveled easily from our boondock site at Ogilby Road, leaving Phil and Joanne with hugs and promises of meeting up again somewhere along the way as we return to Oregon.  Mo and I traveled south to I-8, turning west toward Yuma, appreciating every mile of smooth pavement on that highway. 

George Yates at Blogger  Fest 2016

As we traveled, we chatted about old friends and old memories that we made over the years.  Ten years ago Mo and I visited with many popular bloggers of that time at a celebration called “bloggerfest’, hosted by a well-known and well-loved blogger named George.  Like many others of that time, George taught  me so much and it was great to meet him in person.  Also, like many others who were so well known during the great hey-dey of RV blogging, George has passed and his memory lives on in uncounted ways. 

As we passed several huge RV parks in Winterhaven along the interstate west of Yuma, we recalled some of George’s stories of staying in those parks in the winter. George and Suzie Yates were from Ontario, and spent winters boondocking on Ogilby Road and staying in the big parks with swimming pools and lots of friends to share happy hours and trips to Algadones nearby for various medical treatments. 

Kelly (Gail) and Al Bossence at Bloggerfest 2016.  RIP sweet Kelly

Not only has the RVing world of full-timers completely changed, but how people communicate on the road has shifted immeasurably.  In those days we were all struggling with internet connectivity, and now many are working on the road with Star-Link.  Many back then were older retired people with huge 40-foot motorhomes or fifth-wheels, and these days the roads are filled with a younger generation of van lifers working from the road, home-schooling their kids, and traveling in much smaller rigs as a general rule.

The trip to Tucson was uneventful and we kept in touch with Phil and Joanne, checking in with them as we turned from I-8 toward I-10 and Tucson, passing Picacho Peak State Park along the way where they would be camping for several days.  After being on the road together since mid-February, I found I was missing their company.  We each had people to visit from opposite ends of Arizona.  They would continue north toward Camp Verde and Mo and I continued south and east toward our favorite spot to camp in Tucson, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

The Boneyard Vista Family Camp at DM AFB is a perfect home base for spending time in Tucson.  Mo and I did stay at Catalina State Park one year, north of the city, but the reservation window for that park is tight and popular, and getting a site is nearly impossible.

This year at the Air Force base campground we had the choice of several full hook-up sites but chose instead to park out in what is called the “overflow” area, without hookups.  It is an easy place to dry camp, with spacious sites, plenty of open areas for dog-walking and all the amenities we could possibly need to dry-camp comfortably.  

Best free dump site we know of

The morning after we arrived, we pulled in the slide and drove around the corner to the perfectly angled RV dump, filled up our water tanks, dumped our garbage, and drove back around the block to settle in once again to our site.

The laundry room is roomy and the price now is 2 bucks a load instead of buck a load.

I then walked a few hundred feet to the biggest, cleanest, nicest bathrooms we have experienced on the road for a long very hot shower.  We decided that the laundry could wait another day and left the base at 12 to be at Wes and Gayle’s home in Sahuarita by 1PM.   

Gayle often has some sort of activity planned for our visit and this time she had tickets for a musical show at a local venue in nearby Green Valley at the Community Performing Arts Center.  As always when we visit, before the show we were treated to an afternoon of what I call “Gayle cocktails”, with sugared rims, fancy glasses, and interesting ingredients.

Their home is so inviting, and the art is much like visiting a lovely southwestern museum, with a few pieces that defy categorization.  Every time I am here, I wander around asking Gayle again where she got a particular piece, and she is very knowledgeable about various southwestern artists.

Before happy hour we walked the desert gardens of their home that Wes tends so lovingly.  Wes is meticulous about his gardens, and we are always reminded of the beautiful patterns he raked in the gravel in the forested property where they lived next door to us in Rocky Point in the snowy part of Oregon not far from Crater Lake.

As always, after happy hour cocktails and “snacks”, as Gayle calls them, we were treated to another one of Gayle’s wonderful dinners in their lovely dining room.  Gayle has a tree in that room that always reflects the season and this time the tree was trimmed in honor of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day.  

The table setting was all in greens and golds and browns to fit perfectly with our supper of an old-fashioned layered dish with stuffing, chicken, and sauce served with a side dish of some sort of amazing potatoes, and asparagus drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It was all so comforting and so yummy. Wes made a chocolate éclair dessert cake that was decadent and wonderfully creamy.

I stole this photo from the All American Girls website.  A bit fuzzy but you get the idea

The show we were to see was called “All American Girls: Celebration of Women in Country”.  Gayle didn’t have a lot of confidence in how good the show would be, especially since she isn’t particularly a fan of country music.  We were all surprised at the great show, with the three girls singing some awesome country music in three-part harmony.  However, the two women who stole the show and had me clapping so hard I bruised my hands were Heather Stricker on the electric fiddle and Mitzi Cowell on the electric guitar.  Wow, just wow.  As is always the case, we were told that absolutely no photos were allowed during the concert. 

Tucson native musician Mitzi Cowell’s music is a gumbo of desert swamp funk and unique songwriting in a base of blues and old-school R&B. Mitzi is an Arizona Blues Hall of Famer, as well as the winner of the 2012 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition. 

The show was great fun and we had a really good time listening to musicians and vocalists that rivaled the best.

By the time the show was over and we traveled back north to the base it was dark.  The area around Tucson is darker than most thanks to some of the dark-sky laws in place throughout the area.  I like those rules except when we are trying to navigate an area that isn’t familiar to us.  We chose to return to the base via the I-19 freeway between downtown Tucson and the Mexican border, a mistake we didn’t make again.

I called Gayle when we arrived back at the rig to ask if we could have an early dinner the next day so that we could be sure to leave their place no later than 6PM.  Wes just laughed at me, since he is used to navigating Tucson roads and Tucson drivers.  Don’t ask my opinion of the majority of drivers in and around Tucson.  We dealt with what were most certainly drunk drivers, aggressive drivers and a couple of young men who walked right out in front  us nearly colliding with our car.  I was a wreck when we got home and I wasn’t even driving.

The next day, we did laundry and some shopping at the commissary before traveling once again to Wes and Gayle’s home for another entertaining afternoon of cocktails, “snacks” and conversation.  Someone decided a game would be fun and Mo taught our friends to play the domino game we like best, “Racehorse”. 

We had great fun while Gayle played the game, jumping up and down and making several Asian dishes that she had fully prepped before we arrived.  Dinner was amazing as always and I have no idea how she managed to get it together while playing dominoes. 

Again, the table was perfectly coordinated with the meal with a beautiful setting that included chopsticks on holders from Thailand and a lovely, enameled wine holder from their recent trip to Viet Nam and Cambodia.  During supper we enjoyed more great conversations about their trip and their plans for travel in the coming months.  It was a wonderful visit with our friends, especially treasured because they won’t be traveling to Oregon in the coming year, and we decided that we will probably skip traveling all the way to Tucson when we go south next winter.

Our trip home that evening was much simpler and more relaxing after we discovered a back road south that avoided the freeway completely. All those funny little loops as we get closer to the base reflect the fact that the only gate open after 6 p is the main north gate.  I realize that anyone who isn’t retired military cannot camp at these family camps, but I do like to share how nice they are and what a remarkable benefit for retired military personnel as Mo is.

Arizona is well known for its amazing sunsets and our last night at Davis-Monthan didn’t disappoint.

Katie met us for breakfast in Tucson

The next morning, before packing up to continue eastward in Arizona, we met with an old friend at a local breakfast spot.  Katie was a young soil scientist when I met her when we both worked in the Klamath Falls soil survey. We kept in touch and I knew she was working in Tucson, and called to see if she wanted to meet.  The breakfast place, Joe’s Pancake House, was a popular spot and we were lucky to get a table after just a short wait.

Some of my favorite photos of Katie include her dog Bud and her kitty Flower (now passed).  Bud and Flower were Katie’s constant companions as she hiked and explored all over the wild parts of the west.  They both hiked with her off-leash and kept her company on many a road trip.

Catching up in person with Katie was delightful, even though some of her news was a bit sad.  She is now the watershed manager and soil scientist for a large National Forest in Wyoming and will shortly return there for field season.  Sadly, her three tech assistants were fired in the recent firing of probationary or part-time employees working for the US Forest Service and other agencies that are under the umbrella of the Department of Agriculture.  Katie was trying to imagine how she would manage all the field work alone in addition to running the program and handling all the soil science work as well.  It sounded daunting. 

Mo and Mattie resting before we continue our travels 

Our time in Tucson was more about visiting with friends this year rather than seeing the sights.  The next few days of our travels would be just for the two of us visiting a place I have wanted to see for years.  In the past, we have been thwarted by snow but this year the snow prediction was to end the day we planned to arrive.

Coming up:  We visit Chiricahua National Monument and the Fort Bowie National Historic Site

At last, we are in our happy place, soaking up the sun and the silence of the open desert on Ogilby Road north and west of Yuma, Arizona. It is so completely different from our life during the previous week at Catalina Spa.

On Monday morning, we readied the MoHo for travel, filled with anticipation for the next step in this winter journey.  The routine is familiar, yet each time we pull out of the driveway of Catalina Spa for the last time for the winter, the view of the magnificent eastern slope of Mt. San Jacinto takes my breath away.   

The winds were still blowing over 25 mph, and the snow level on the mountain was much lower than it had been during our entire visit.  The arrangement was to meet Phil and Joanne at the Chevron station on the corner of the turnoff to Anza Borrego at Salton City.  However, Joanne was having some serious back issues and finally reached her tolerance limit.  She left the campground early that morning in the car, leaving Philip to follow later in their Unity Leisure Time motorhome.  We kept in touch as best we could via phone calls and text messages on our way south and east through the wide and fertile Imperial Valley toward Westmoreland, where Mo and I filled the vehicles at a fairly new, very nice, spacious Loves station. A little side note here:  we have the Loves app, which allows us to save ten cents a gallon with a swipe of the bar code at the pump.  However, the swipe never works, and I have to go inside, stand in line, get the swipe, and prepay.  The cashier and I laughed together about this process, guessing that Love’s wants to be sure we go inside and buy stuff.  After fueling, we then turned toward Brawley, where Phil was waiting with Joanne at the Valley Immediate Care, hoping for some answers as to what was wrong and what was causing her pain. 

It is hard to be ill when so far from home, seeing doctors you aren’t familiar with and who have no clue about your medical history.  Joanne received a prescription for something or other and let us know they were waiting at Rite-Aid to have it filled. Mo and I found a nice wide side road in Brawley with plenty of open parking for the MoHo and Tracker on the shoulder. It was a perfectly sweet spot for us to relax a bit and for Mo to take Mattie for a nice walk along the grassy path adjacent to the roadway.

Another text message let us know they would be leaving soon, and Mo and I decided to continue east toward Glamis, amid the dunes. It was only about 20 minutes or so before Phil pulled up behind us in their rig, with Joanne following in the car. 

Mo and I like to stop at a historic site along the road before we reach the turn south on Ogilby Road.  I told Phil it would be a good spot for him and Joanne to hook up their car before continuing our quest to find a precious open spot in the wide open desert.

The wind was still blowing so strongly that Mattie looked as though she had stand-up ears.  Even with the wind, the temperatures were warm, almost perfect, and Mo and I changed to lighter clothes. 

Last year when we camped at Ogilby I marked a spot on google maps and planned to use the gps coordinate for that spot to get us back to the same sweet space. I found the spot but it was all different and I couldn’t find the entrance to the level desert pavement location that just didn’t look quite right.  It is a bit disconcerting to be leading our little group to a perfect spot and not being able to find it.  We all turned around at the Tumco Historic Site road and backtracked a bit until I found an entrance to the desert that worked well enough to let us drive far enough off the road to escape too much road noise or for anyone to bother us.  Whew!  After a bit of a long and disjointed morning, it was wonderful to finally be in the silence of an open desert with very few distractions.

Mo and I know exactly what we love about boondocking in a place like Ogilby Road, but we also know that it is an acquired taste. I was a bit nervous about introducing my friends to this kind of camping and hoped they wouldn’t hate it.  There is just no way of knowing if the open empty desert will appeal to someone.

There is less than 3 inched of precipitation per year in this most western and southern portion of California, bounded on the south and the west by the huge an shifting Imperial sand dunes and on the east by the rugged peaks of the Picacho Peak Wilderness Area to the west of the Colorado River and the lush landscape of the Imperial wildlife refuge.

With only 3 inches of rain, there is very little vegetation and the landscape that isn’t mountainous and too rugged for a big motorhome is often dominated by “desert pavement”. Not  being a desert dweller, Phillip wondered aloud if the smooth, evenly sized and shaped rocks that formed the surface of the landscape had been hauled in.  Nope, desert pavement if formed by the repeated cycles of shifting and settling  through wind erosion and rare wetting of finer particles of soil and sand sifting down through the rocks before they become much like cement glueing the rocks together in a solid layer that is much like pavement. Once you have found an extensive level spot, often marked by stone fire rings from previous campers, it is highly likely that leveling the rig will be straightforward and there won’t be any shifting sands beneath your feet

The lack of rain of course make for limited vegetation except of a few small plants in the sinuous draws that divide the upland areas of desert pavement.  Fewer plants also means fewer bugs, and it is rarely necessary to worry about closed screen doors when camping.

For us there is a beauty to this kind of emptiness, a retreat from the sounds of life and civilization at home.  It is a kind of meditation to be in an empty desert that isn’t filled with distraction. The eyes rest on the shifting shades of brown and chocolate that color the rugged mountains around us. A bright  blossom of a struggling ocotillo in the draw is spectacular by its simplicity.  Mo gets out our bright red chairs and when we walk the dog for a bit of distance those red chairs stand out like beacons against the flowing browns and tans of our rig which blend right into the mountains around us.

Phil and Joanne found their own sweet spot just a few hundred feet from us and before long, Phil was climbing a nearby hill to get the lay of the land. Mo and I took Mattie for a long walk and watched Phil from a distance, knowing he would be enjoying the wide open spaces that opened out in all directions from the view on that small hill.

As the sun set and evening settled in, the four of us gathered chairs to visit a bit and talk about our day and our plans for the next day in the desert.  The wind was still rather chilly, and we didn’t last long outside before retreating to the warmth of our rigs to settle into a silent and dark sleep.

I slept better during that first night on Ogilby Road than I had slept on the entire trip and woke up easily and gently into the quiet warmth of a desert morning after the wind had died down.

 The next morning, the four of us agreed that it would be a good day for each of us to explore on our own.  Phil was interested in exploring the area around the American Girl Mine, a few miles south of our boondock site.  Mo and I decided it was a good day to explore the meandering dirt roads we could see leading into the hills to the east of us.

Wandering desert roads into hidden canyons has always been something that Mo and I have loved to share since we first knew each other.  Nothing for us is quite as sweet as putting the Tracker into 4-wheel drive and pointing in an unknown direction to see where we end up.

On this sunny and finally windless morning we meandered up the road to discover an old mining site.  Online it is called El Colorado Mine, but the stones said La Colorado Mine.  We didn’t find the shaft that I read about, but Mo found an old dump with cans and broken glass.  

Mo used to travel the deserts of California when she taught there and has a large collection of old bottles.  The treasure is always the bottles with lavender glass that has changed in the desert sunlight.  There were no old bottles at this site, but it was still fun to poke around a bit there.

After exploring as far as we thought was safe in the car, we returned to Ogilby Road and drove south a couple of miles to the entrance to the Tumco Historic Townsite road.  We were stopped at a gate with another mile and a half walk up to the actual townsite.  

The path was rocky and uneven and we decided that it might not be worth the effort to hike up the slope to the town.  From what I could see there aren’t any actual buildings left and the hike would take us to signs with photos of what was once there.

The following text is from the BLM website about the town of Tumco:

“Tumco is an abandoned gold mining town and is also one of the earliest gold mining areas in California. It has a history spanning some 300 years, with several periods of boom and bust. Originally named Hedges, the town was completely abandoned in 1905, victim to speculative over-expansion and increasing debt. Renamed Tumco in 1910 — after The United Mines Company — another attempt to go after the gold proved just as costly.

By 1911, the diminishing prospects of the mines forced the miners and their families to return to Yuma, signaling the end of Hedges/Tumco as a community. Gold was first discovered by Spanish colonists as they moved northward from Sonora, Mexico. According to legend, two young boys came into their camp one evening with their shirts filled with gold ore. These muchachos cargados (loaded boys) were the namesake for the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, where the Tumco deposits occur. Following the first discovery of gold, numerous small mines were operated by Mexican settlers for many years.

In 1877, the Southern Pacific Railroad completed the Yuma to Los Angeles line of its transcontinental route. With the presence of the mountains, a gold rush into the area began. This initial rush to stake mining claims soon gave way to mining companies that moved into the area, purchased claims and developed the mines on a large scale. A 12 mile wood pipeline pumped over 100,000 gallons of water from the Colorado River per day, and the railroad carried mine timbers from northern Arizona for use in the expansive underground workings. Ultimately, over 200,000 ounces of gold was taken from the mines in the area. Tumco was a typical mining town of its day.

Historical accounts talk of rich eastern investors, unscrupulous charlatans and colorful characters in the raucous townsite and the mining boom ultimately leading to financial ruin. Although little can be seen of Tumco, during the boom time of the 1890’s, it supported a population of at least 500 people and the 40 and 100 stamp mills of the mine produced $1,000 per day in gold.”

After wandering a bit we sat on a nice little bench with a bit of a shade shelter and enjoyed our picnic lunch.  Egg salad sandwiches are another tradition for the two of us on back country trips.  Sandwiches, fritos, and diet pepsi are always healthy and nourishing under the desert sun. 

Back on Ogilby Road, we drove south to the intersection of Interstate 8 at the southern end of the road where it ends at the Imperial Sand Dunes.  We were hunting for a place for Mattie to run in the sand, one of her favorite things to do.  She loved the sand, but had to be encouraged a bit to run up the steep dune hills.  Our little sweetheart will be 11 this August and just like us, she is beginning to slow down a little bit.

We arrived back at our campsite in mid-afternoon just a few minutes before our friends returned from their explorations.  Phil had some very interesting photos of the American Girl Mine pit, which I had never seen before. 

I started to research a bit to write about the mine, and my research led right away to a post by Nina Fussing, our friend who now lives in France.  Nina is the one who first taught us about boondocking in this area with this eloquent and informative post about the American Girl Mine.  No one can write quite like Nina, so rather than attempting to come up with something myself, if you are interested, you can read all about it at this link.  https://www.wheelingit.us/2011/12/10/in-search-of-gold-american-girl-mine-ca/

The afternoon was perfect for resting in the warm sunshine and soft breezes.  The four of us agreed to meet at 4pm for happy hour and possibly a card game. Mo decided to skip the game and Phil, Joanne, and I happily played Skip-Bo, the game taught to us so many years ago by John and Carol.

Phil and Joanne went back to their rig for their supper and Mo got out the bbq  so I could make pork chops and baked potatoes with a salad.  We have discovered the hard way that keeping fresh salad greens in the MoHo fridge isn’t very easy and packaged salads that are based on a cabbage and kale base seem to keep best for a week or so.  Dinner was luscious.

While I cooked supper, Mo readied the campfire for our last night on the open desert.  Phil and Joanne brought their chairs over to our place and the fire was incredible.  The wood that I picked up for free at Catalina Spa from a camper who was leaving was dry and burned hot and long.  I think that small fire lasted for several hours.

We got out our phones and tried to figure out how to use the Starwalk app to track what was above us in the desert night sky.  The crescent moon lit the west and Venus looked huge.  We found Jupiter and Mars, Orion and the Great Bear (Big Dipper).  Cassiopea was right  where she was supposed to be.  Stars always remind me of my smallness in the space and time of the Universe.  I love that they always show up no matter what is going on in the world.

The night was perfect, a wonderful sendoff for shared time with our friends until our paths cross again on the route home.

Traveling South on Arizona Highway 191 toward the Chiricahaus

I haven’t kept  up well with the blog since we left Desert Hot Springs on March 3.  Everyone knows what that means.  We have been having too much fun and moving along fairly quickly with little time to write.  I have managed to process photos and write a bit each day about where we are and what we are doing, but that writing still needs a bit of polishing to be blog worthy.

Leaving Catalina Spa and RV Resort

Since I left everyone hanging after Mo’s birthday I thought this morning it would be good to do a quick update.  More posts will follow with the stories and photos of our adventures.

March 3  and 4 Ogilby Road

Settled in at a boondock site off of Ogilby Road

We spent two beautiful days with our friends boondocking in the open desert.  Sunsets, sunrises, silent nights and a wonderful campfire were highlights.

March 5 through March 9

Our very pleasant overflow site at the Boneyard Vista Campground

We drove east on Interstate 8 toward Interstate 10 and Tucson where we camped in the lovely open space of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base family camp at the Boneyard Vista campground. While there we visited our friends Wes and Gayle not far away in Sauharita and enjoyed two lovely “Gayle” dinners.  We connected with a work friend of mine before continuing east toward Winslow, Arizona.

March 9 and 10

We spent an incredible time in the area, stopping for a visit to the Amerind Museum along I-10 before settilng in to our park in Willcox.  It was a perfect location for our day spent touring and hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains and a little side trip to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site.

March 11 and 12

Settled into our park in Wikenburg, we visited our friends Mike and Janna.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner and Mattie and their pup Kayce had a fantastic time running and playing together

At the moment, we are sitting in the cozy MoHo with full hookups.  Last night’s rain has stopped but everything is still wet and the skies are gray.  Our plans for today are simple.  We are relaxing in preparation for our trip home.  The next four days are filled with all sorts of weather advisories including wind, rain, snow, and flooding along our route.  With a full schedule of appointments beginning on Monday morning, there isn’t time to dawdle.

Daughter Deanna sent a message to me at 5:30 am this morning asking if we were going to be safe.  She was watching the weather for us and was getting the advisories.  It reminded me of the days when she and Keith were full time truckers and I would watch weather for her and we would text back and forth.  Daughters Deborah and Melody are also anxious for us to be back home as well.  Even my friend Maryruth is ready for me to be back at Sunset House just a mile from her home in Grants Pass.

It is funny that even though we are as close as a phone call or a text message, it still feels different.  I am at that stage of a trip as well.  Most of the adventurous part of this journey is behind us and like a horse to the barn, I am ready to be home.

I will continue to flesh out our recent travels with words and photos so there will be more to come.  I just thought a short update might be in order since I am no longer posting regularly on Facebook and many long distance friends may be wondering where we are.  Till later:

This time of year, the weather in Desert Hot Springs can be very cold, very hot, sometimes windy, and just about anything in between.  After our friends left for Anza Borrego, Mo and I settled into what we thought might be a quiet week of taking care of the Tracker’s electrical issues and then enjoying the simple life of morning swims, walking the dog, writing, reading, and enjoying the warmth of winter sun.

A Google Earth shot of the Coachella Valley from the North with Palm Springs on the right side of the image and Desert Hot Springs just out of view at the bottom of the image

It wasn’t quite as simple as all that because taking care of “things” required driving to “town”. Town means the long strip of cities that line the strip of the Coachella Valley from Palm Springs at the far western edge at the base of Mt. San Jacinto through Indio at the far eastern edge as the valley reaches the open spaces near the Salton Sea.   In addition to Palm Springs, there are Coachella, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Cathedral City.  It is sometimes referred to as “Greater Palm Springs”.

Each of these communities has its own personality, and there are slight differences between the opulence of the huge country clubs and golf courses that line the boulevards and the type of architecture that prevails.  When searching for anything, you first need to figure out in which town it is located and then decide which route you will take to cross the dusty open desert to the south side of Interstate 10 and then to your destination.  As many years as we have visited Desert Hot Springs, Mo and I are pretty good at navigating the valley and making our way to Costco or Trader Joe’s, or maybe the quilt shops in La Quinta or the zoo in Palm Desert.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but we manage.

When we were finally alone with no big social agenda on Tuesday, we knew it was time to find a place to help with the electrical connection between the rig and the car.  The best place we could find that could look at the problem was the U-Haul store in Cathedral City.  We spent the better part of a morning there with some kind men, looking at all the possibilities and making the final determination that we would have to return on Saturday for a formal appointment to rewire the Tracker connection where the electrical cord connecting it to the MoHo was plugged in.  Mo, of course being Mo, went home and spent some time fiddling with the thing and continued to check fuses in the MoHo and sure enough she found the problem on her own,  It was a simple fuse and when we hooked up to leave the following Monday, she had saved us over $150 and a wasted Saturday.

We took time to relax after that visit to town and didn’t leave the park again until the next afternoon when we traveled back to Palm Springs to enjoy a good traditional Mexican meal at a traditional Mexican restaurant.  The Las Casuelas restaurants in Palm Springs, California, are a family-owned business that began in 1958. The restaurants are known for their authentic Mexican food and hospitality. 

We chose the Las Casuelas Original Restaurant just up the road from the Las Casuelas Terraza, where we ate with our blogger friends Rick and Paulette back in 2011 during one of our first visits to Palm Springs.  The food was good, traditional, and satisfying, with few of the flourishes that make California cuisine Mexican food considerably different than this traditional meal.  

I even loved the rice and beans with a flavor good enough to actually eat instead of pushing them around on the plate to get to the enchiladas.  On that day, we had no trouble returning to the RV park with the winds still high but not so high that the roads were closed by dust storms. 

late afternoon sunlight on the windmills lining Indian Canyon Road on the way back to the RV Park

On Thursday afternoon, we decided it was time to visit the historic Cabot’s Pueblo Museum on the north side of Desert Hot Springs. The Pueblo Museum is fascinating in itself, but the story of the man who built it is rather incredible. 

Cabot Yerxa began building the pueblo in 1941 when he was 58 years old. The pueblo was to be a museum and home for Cabot and his second wife, Portia. Cabot Yerxa was a man who took risks, traveled, and was one of the founders of Desert Hot Springs. What we learned about in our visit is Cabot Yerxa’s legacy as community visionary, artist, humanitarian, and environmentalist.

In 1913, at the age of 30, Cabot homesteaded 160 acres in what is now Desert Hot Springs. In need of water, he dug a well with a pick and shovel near his home and rediscovered the now famous hot minerals the area is renowned for. He dug another well 600 yards away from his home and located the pure cold water of the Mission Springs Aquifer. The two wells, one hot and one cold, led Cabot to name his homestead Miracle Hill.

a totem carved from a complete redwood tree with the feather done with incense cedar

After proving his homestead, he relocated to Washington, was drafted into the U. S. Army, and traveled to South America and Europe. Eventually, he returned to the area in the late 1930s to make Desert Hot Springs his home. 

The Hopi-inspired building is hand-made and created from reclaimed and found materials from throughout the Coachella Valley. Cabot used recovered lumber from his original homestead. Additionally, he purchased abandoned cabins and dismantled them to use the materials for the pueblo, going so far as to straighten out used nails. Much of the pueblo is made from adobe-style and sun-dried bricks.

a cupboard filled with Cabots collected antiquities

Filled with Native American art and artifacts, souvenirs of Cabot’s travels around the world, and Cabot’s own works of art, the museum officially opened to the public in 1950. The Pueblo has four stories, is 5,000 square feet, and includes 35 rooms, 150 windows, 30 rooflines, and 65 doors.

Mo delighted in seeing many of the same collectibles she has at our home in Grants Pass

When Cabot died in 1965, it seemed that his pueblo legacy would deteriorate into ruin.  This article (linked here)  in Palm Springs Life explains how one man worked to save the Pueblo and how various donors and the City of Desert Hot Springs stepped in to save this amazing piece of Desert Hot Springs History.

Portia Cabot was a beautiful woman

It only took about 45 minutes for us to complete the self-guided tour narrated by our phone, but it was a fascinating place to see.  I was especially intrigued by the story of Cabot and his second wife, Portia, a woman of grace and beauty, well educated in the arts and familiar with esoteric arts and religions of the world.  It was hard to imagine her walking up the tiny staircases to the rooms Cabot built for her and living this kind of desert life. 

This was the largest, most lovely example of an old palo verde tree I have seen recentlyIt was a lovely day once again, beginning with our swims and our walks, a bit of culture with the museum visit, and a good dinner back at home before we settled into our evening TV watching.

Cat Spa has a pretty nice workout room if one doesn’t feel like walking the desert like we do

Just a little side note: when we are traveling, we try to watch a couple of episodes of whatever Netflix show has caught our fancy by mirror casting the program that is playing on our phone to the bigger TV in the RV.  At Catalina Spa, the phone signal is just weak enough or has enough competition that the casting app doesn’t work well.  Of course, watching on the phone uses free data, according to my phone plan, but using the hotspot to make things work on other devices uses data that will eventually reach a limit and begin to cost us.  We watched our shows on the larger screen tablet using the hotspot on the phone, which worked fine.  I will let you know just how fine when I get home to the Verizon bill for extra data used.  Ah well, another cost of traveling with the luxury of staying connected.

It was a good thing that Saturday wasn’t wasted, thanks to Mo’s efforts, because it also happened to be her birthday.  The winds at Desert Hot Springs had picked up, something that often happens this time of year, but the heat was unusual.  The last few days we were there, the winds were blowing between 30 and 35 miles per hour with gusts to 50 mph.  Before leaving for Palm Springs on the pretty, sunny, and very windy morning, we made sure the awning was put away, the chairs were lying flat on the ground, the fans were going, and the windows were open to keep Mattie comfortable in our absence.Lobby of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Our Birthday celebration in Palm Springs was a highlight of our time in the desert,  We visited the beautiful and informative Aqua Caliente Cultural Museum (link here) in downtown Palm Springs located in the Agua Caliente Plaza that houses the museum, the Sec-He Spa operated by the tribe at the location of their sacred springs and a lovely, meandering pathway that is lined with native plants, waterfalls, and a babbling stream.

Projected image of the floor of the sacred sprins that moved and rippled

The museum is a treasure.  It was originally founded in 1991 and created to share the history and culture of the Agua aliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which include 9 individual groups.  Master planning for the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza that encompasses the Museum and the Spa at Sec-He began in 2015.  In 2017, JCJ Architecture was recruited to design both buildings and the surrounding outdoor spaces.  Based on a conceptual design by the architect, the inspiration for the museum’s curved shape comes from traditional Cahuilla basketmaking.  The footprint of the building represents a basket start, the first few coils of a new basket.  The construction of the cultural plaza began in 2018 and was completed in 2023,

Mo and I have a little bit of a story for this special piece of Palm Springs.  The entire plaza area used to be a big free parking lot, where Mo and I would park every year when visiting the Thursday night street market in Palm Springs.  We were a bit daunted when we returned in early 2019 to find the entire lot fenced off with big signs touting the coming cultural plaza.  I was delighted to see our parking lot transformed so amazingly.

As we toured the state-of-the-art museum, I was impressed with the fact that the tribe has learned to adapt and thrive despite the centuries of invasion by whites into their lands.  The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is a federally recognized Native American Tribe with 31,500 acres of Reservation lands that spread across Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, and into the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains. The Tribe currently owns and operates the Indian Canyons Golf Resort; the Agua Caliente casinos in Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, and Cathedral City; the Indian Canyons, including Tahquitz Canyon and Tahquitz Visitor Center; the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum; and the Spa at Séc-he. By the way, I did finally learn how to say this word: Tahquitz is pronounced  “Tahk-a-which”.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum (ACCM) Collections are mostly comprised of objects that represent the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (ACBCI) and, more broadly, Cahuilla culture and history. Collection items are divided into three major areas: Objects and Artifacts, Archives, and the Library.

The Objects and Artifacts Collection contains a wide range of formats, including baskets, pottery, textiles, beaded items, fine art, archaeological materials, and memorabilia. The extensive collection of Southern California Indian baskets contains examples attributed to Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Serrano, Luiseño, Cupeño, and Kumeyaay makers. Pottery items in the collection consist of both historic and contemporary vessels from Southern California and the Southwest.

The Archives Collection contains primary and secondary source items, including printed materials, rare books, newsletters, photographs, government documents, newspapers, postcards, oral histories, and audiovisual materials.

The Library Collection largely consists of reference books and reports that discuss American Indian and international Indigenous cultures. The Library also contains many standard titles on Cahuilla culture and history.

Mo and I hiked to this waterfall in 2017

We learned so much about this group of people who have retained their unique identity within the urban melee that fills their once-sacred lands in the Coachella Valley.  I especially loved the special effects that illustrated the development and movement of the changing landscape with a great earthquake in the 1850s, and the coming of the stage line and the railroads, the highways, and the cities.  The animated depictions of the sacred pools and waterfalls of the Indian Canyons in the vicinity were spectacular, almost like being there.  I appreciated that the animals depicted were sculptures and not stuffed creatures. I especially loved the beautiful animated creation story shown in the theater in the round.

Mo and I left the museum plaza with a leisurely walk along the river, listening to the waterfalls and watching the sun glistening on the palm fronds in the wind. We were both very impressed with what the tribe has done with this sacred patch of land in downtown urban Palm Springs.

We left the plaza feeling energized and yet rested by the presence and sounds of water everywhere around us before driving the short distance from the museum to the other cultural center of Palm Springs on Palm Canyon Drive, the heart of the city.  Here, we had an unlimited choice of restaurants of every possible type to choose from for Mo’s birthday meal.

We decided on the Tuscan Grille, a restaurant set back in a sunny courtyard with outdoor seating that was shaded and protected from the wind.  The restaurant is old-school Tuscan, much like the popular kitchens from a decade ago that are now considered a bit dated, but I do love the look.  

The menu was especially enticing during the weekend brunch and happy hours from 11 to 3.  Everything we ordered was truly delicious. 

Mo had a chicken salad caesar wrap that was so good, and I enjoyed pasta Roma with one big fat prawn added for extra delight.  

My cocktail was a lime basil cucumber martini, which was incredibly yummy.  We sat there feeling pampered and happy with our choice for Mo’s day. No cake or candles appeared, just the way Mo likes it.

Traveling west on old hwy 111 about 20 mile out of our way to get home

The day didn’t shift from all the loveliness until we started back home by way of Indian Canyon Road across the valley back to the north.  Every attempt we made to cross the freeway led to closed roads and detours and finally I just gave up and followed the Google Map suggestions for getting around the roads that had been closed due to the high winds.  It was quite dramatic, with dust clouds rising to hundreds of feet and winds blowing at 40 miles an hour. 

Almost back to Dillon Road

After a bit of a delay, we did finally get home to our little house, and a little dog happy to see us and get her bit of Mo’s chicken as a treat.  Mo decided that the birthday was perfect.

We ended our week at Catalina spa with morning swims, afternoon reading and writing, and mentally preparing for the next chapter in our desert sojourn as we planned our southern route to the “real” desert where we would again meet Phil and Joanne for a couple of days boondocking in the wilds of Ogilby Road. 

Departing Catalina Sp and RV Resort on a sunny windy morning heading east to Ogilby Road

As I write this morning, the sweet emptiness of Ogilby Road is just a memory, and we are settled into the clean and open space dry camping in the overflow area of the Boneyard Vista Family Camp at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.  Despite being within hearing distance of a busy road, it is a quiet place to be.

The week to come will include time with our friends here in Tucson before we depart for Southeastern Arizona and another visit to a place I have never seen, the Chiricahua Mountains.

There is probably no way that I can convey the power of the blowing winds here in Desert Hot Springs today with a simple photograph. We are both familiar with desert winds, with each of us having spent years at one time or another living in the desert.  We have actually spent time in this very RV park, pummeled by wild winds for at least part of our visit nearly every year since 2010.  Still, when the winds come, it is always a bit of a surprise, and until it happens, I forget how much it drains our energy.

We will be leaving here tomorrow morning, traveling south and east toward the wide open space of Ogilby Road, north of the American Girl Mine.  For those who don’t know, the area is popular with winter boondockers and is not far from Yuma and the Mexican border.

As usual, I begin the story for this week with the current moment before I settle down enough to write about our past week here in the desert.

I ended the last story with the departure of our friends Nickie and Jimmy, who are now back in Nevada City, experiencing the first snowflakes of the winter.  Not good timing for them, but I am sure Nickie will tell you all about it in her upcoming blog posts.

I will now return to last Friday when I left off.  After our friends had left, Phil and Joanne departed for parts unknown to go hiking.  Mo and I were definitely ready for some downtime and a bit of relaxing at home.  We both did some computer work, and I wrote the last blog post before lunch.  

Shannon sings and plays guiter

Mike is the sound guy for the band

Something Mo and I discovered last year during our visit was the informal music Friday afternoons at the Pavilion here in the lower park area.  Shannon is wife to Mike, our early morning swim companion, and the two of them are grandparents to 3 kids who live near their home in British Columbia.  There aren’t many people who like to swim at 6 AM, but Mike almost always is in the pool before we are.

It is hard to describe how good all these musicians are without including a video, but as everyone knows, phone videos don’t always pick up the sound anything as good as it actually is.  Suffice it to say that by the time the last set ends up at 3, most of the folks are up dancing and having a good time.  It is a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

The best part is that the dogs love it too, except we do leave Mattie at home since she can be a bit of a brat around other dogs when she is on a leash.

That evening, we learned that Phil and Joanne’s friend Loi was going to be in Palm Springs for the weekend.  Earlier, we had discussed going up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and the decision was made to go on Saturday after learning that it was something that Loi also wanted to experience.

Mo and Sue at the top of the tram ride in 2010.  A lot more snow that year

Mo remembered our last visit on the tram in 2010 and wasn’t interested in spending another 40 bucks and most of a day with a big crowd of Saturday tourists to do it again.  Phil cleared out his car so that I could ride with he and Joanne, and we departed the park to meet Loi at 11 at the tram parking lot.   Of course, as I mentioned, it was a Saturday, and by 11, all the parking lots were nearly full. My memory of this experience from 2010 was very different. This time, there were a LOT of people and a lot of shuttles moving people from the parking lots to the entrance where tickets were purchased. 

Phil dropped Joanne and me off at the beginning of the ticket line and drove back down to park the car and meet Loi in her car.  By the time everyone was in line, the nearest entry ticket was for 1:37 PM.  It was just a little bit crazy, but we did find a reasonably shaded place to sit outdoors and escape the hot sunshine while we waited for our tram entry time.

Loi an Joanne trying to stay cool while we waited 2 hours for our turn on the tram

Once we entered the car, I was glad that I had come.  I hadn’t remembered that the floor of the cable car rotated. These are the world’s largest rotating tram cars, traveling over two and one-half miles up the cliffs of Chino Canyon to an elevation of 8,515 feet.  

Each car can accommodate up to 80 people. At the top, there are two restaurants, two documentary theaters, a natural history museum, a gift shop, and over 50 miles of hiking trails into the pristine wilderness of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. During the approximately ten-minute journey, tram cars rotate slowly, offering picturesque and spectacular vistas of the valley floor below.

Once at the top, we were at a bit of a loss as to where to go, with few available maps of the trails that made sense and so many levels and so many people.  After looking around a bit, we decided on having a late lunch at the casual restaurant before going outside to take photos of the desert views far below.

It was interesting to see so many families and kids, many of them carrying various kinds of snow toys and ready to play.  But the trails were icy, and we didn’t see a lot of snow that would have been easy sledding for little kids.

Phil and Joanne at the desert overlook

I am going to digress a bit here and share a moment that was not my best.  Phil, Joanne, and Loi decided they wanted to take the zig-zag paved trail to the bottom of the canyon to hike the lower trail a bit.  I did think I could possibly start down with my walker.  (I haven’t mentioned yet that I was allowed to take my walker on the rotating tram car.  The facility is very accessible, even to wheelchairs.) Sometimes, that walker is a great people barrier, allowing me to maintain some personal space in situations that are crammed shoulder-to-shoulder.  I thought I could go down the pathway but discovered that my legs just weren’t strong enough, even with the walker brakes, to keep the walker from sliding, and I gave up and returned to the patio at the top of the trail.  

View down the Discovery Trail before we decided to try it.

I sat there, feeling incredibly stupid, as I watched my friends, little old ladies, old men, kids, and people of every shape and kind going down that trail and huffing their way back up.  It was another wake-up moment for me on the IBM journey.  In case you haven’t been reading long, I have Inclusion Body Myositis.  Look it up.  I devolved into a serious pity party, sad for all I have lost and unable to be thankful at that moment for what I still have.  I had sunglasses on in the bright sun so I could bawl my eyes out safely and not get caught.  Until Joanne showed up after deciding that going all the way to the bottom was stupid and caught me crying.  Empathetic as Joanne has been with me throughout the years, her sense of humor won me over, and I was able to laugh at myself.  I can still walk, and many people with this disease cannot. 

When Phil and Loi returned, they said there wasn’t much down there except an icy trail and some really huge Jeffrey pines. 

The three of us at the top of the tram where we can see our RV Park location far below in the distance

The return trip on the tram was just as lovely as the ascension, and by the time I returned home to tell Mo the stories, I was over my silly episode.  Mostly.  It still is a bit frustrating at times for me to remember how strong and fit I was until just a few years ago, but I do try hard to be appreciative about what I still have that many don’t. Not always easy.

On the next day, Sunday, Phil and Jo hung out with Loi.  In the afternoon Loi came to visit at the park and Phil, Jo, Loi and I meandered over to the pavilion to play cards at the comfy tables under the pergola in the shade.  

John and Carol and sweet Jimmy at Harris Beach State park in Oregon

We played Skip Bo, a silly game that Mo and I played on a rainy day long ago with our friends John and Carol, who taught us how to play and provided margueritas for all that wet afternoon at Harris Beach.  It amazes me how many memories we have of friends we have met thanks to this blog and to theirs.  Carol and John no longer blog much but they are around on Facebook and are active in their work with Fantasy RV tours.

On Monday morning Hartwigs departed for a week at Anza Borrego State Park and Mo and I settled into what was to be a quiet week after all the activity of the previous week.  It was just what we needed.

The hyacinths I brought from home so I would miss their bloom loved the hot desert

Now it seems that my writing time is ending, and I will have to continue this story in the next post.  It is 6:15 and time to head for the pool, so we don’t miss swimming with Mike before we depart the park for the open desert. There are some fun activities I want to share, including the amazing Cabot Museum visit, updates on the Tracker connection issue, and Mo’s birthday celebration with just the two of us in Palm Springs.

To be continued: