Desert Hot Springs – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

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.

01-11-2015 Other Doings in the Coachella Valley

Current Location: Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, near Yuma, Arizona

While swimming, soaking, and hiking in the warm winter temperatures of the Coachella Valley are high on our list of favorite pastimes here, we do manage to do a few other things as well. For complex reasons, we decided to travel north and east through Yucca Valley to 29 Palms to check out the Marine base.

It was a billboard advertisement that called our attention to the murals in the small desert town. Murals are always fun to find, but in this case many of them were on north facing walls, making photography a bit challenging. I suppose this might be to reduce fading on the paintings. A few of the murals were done fairly recently, and one especially was interesting because the signatures indicated that it was completed in just a weekend in May in 2013. Quite the project.

The mural on the Little Church in the Desert had colors that rivaled any I have seen. It was quite dramatic.

This was my favorite, however, what a great sense of humor!

As we headed back west through town, this amazing fence caught our eye. It was in a parking lot of a now closed Farmers Insurance building, and the building was just as creative, with walls and windows of rusted mine metal and old brick, even though the building was fairly new.

Although I don’t care to travel the distances that Paulette travels hunting for quilt shops in Southern California, there are two pretty nice shops in the valley. On Saturday, with gloomy skies and needing a day of down time, we drove south toward Palm Desert and found both shops in the vicinity of I-10.

As is usually the case with quilt shops, these two have entirely different styles and offerings. In previous years I have found great patterns and fabric and made quilts when I got home from the goodies found here.

This time was no exception, as I added considerably to my stash, and bought enough fabulous batiks to make a quilt similar to a sample I saw in the shop that melted my heart. Can hardly wait to get home to get started on it. The colors are so gorgeous.

Sunday after our swim and leisurely breakfast, I drove the short distance to The Sands for a visit with Rick and Paulette. So nice of them to invite me for coffee and “dippers”, a Trader Joe delight that Rylie thought she should share as well. Rylie was adorable, as usual, full of energy and such a sweet face. Rick and I have talked often about computer stuff, and I follow Paulette’s quilting blog, so we do have some things in common beside simply traveling in an RV.

Our days usually included a walk through the park, checking out the rigs and the people. It was especially interesting to notice how many sites were empty this year. Surprising considering the cost of fuel seems to have many more people on the road. Even though we stay here most every year, we have never gone to any of the sales pitches, or actually figured out the ownership style of the park. Who knows. We aren’t buying anyway.

Some people seem to have bought more than one lot, and just down the road from us in the lower park, an owner was installing landscaping, and gravel on one lot next door to his motorhome space. It looked quite nice. I was curious how long these owners are allowed to stay in the park, or if they have to leave as some of the other kinds of park memberships require. However, I didn’t care to find out enough to sit through a sales pitch!

On another note, I learned again to make the trip to the upper park laundry rather than using the one in the lower campground near our site. Once again, as in years past, I lost money in the machines with no way of getting a refund. The office was closed on Sunday, the machines are owned by someone offsite (according to the lone person around in the guard shack). The only way to get back my 1.25 in quarters was to fill out some extensive paperwork and after the problem was resolved, they would mail the money to me. Right…I never did ask if I had to pay for the stamp for that service which would have cut my return in half.

The other minor thing to keep in mind at Catalina is the soft sand and uneven sites. We put pads under the front levelers, but had nothing under the back ones. When we lifted the levelers, the back one had sunk at least four inches into the sand. Be sure to have supports for your levelers and plan on complicated leveling. We have semi-automatic levelers, so can only manage two at a time, and it gets a bit crazy sometimes in these uneven sites.

Don’t want to end thoughts of our stay at Catalina Spa with negative stuff, however. I still give this park a 9 out of 10 for one of our favorite parks to spend time in the winter. The pools are the best part, and I will continue to come south for my allotted seven days as long as this park honors our Passport America. I would NOT pay the regular price of $65 per night no matter how good the pools were!

We left yesterday morning, traveling east on Dillon Road toward Quartzite and then south toward Yuma.

Next: Visiting Judy and the birds at Imperial National Wildlife Refuge

January 2 to January 7 Traveling South

Current Location: Desert Hot Springs, CA at 55 degrees F at 5 in the morning

We left the day after New Years. I think we were both ready to leave earlier, but we did have a plan, and I wanted to watch the Rose Parade and Mo wanted to see the Rose Bowl Game so we decided to wait. The weather at home was icy, with just a skiff of snow left over from Christmas. There was nothing to plow or shovel, and the only real chores to be done were keeping the fire going.

Neither of us are likely to get bored, there is always something to do, but I did notice a bit of restive boredom building, as we made our plans to head south. Call it hitch-itch or whatever…it has been a month since we had the MoHo on the road and we were both ready to go.

Christmas with family and friends at home

As we watched the parade, we again talked of taking an RV trip, one of those group things, where you get grandstand seats, a nice place to park, and visits to the float barns before the parade. Might be the only way I’ll ever see the Rose Parade again, since neither of us really wants to mess with that whole traffic parking finding a place to stand thing. When I was a kid, we would camp overnight on Orange Grove Boulevard sometimes to get good viewing spots. Maybe next year.

This year we watched from the cozy comfort of our home living room, where I spent most of the day taking down more of the Christmas decorations and packing travel food. Now that the MoHo is stored in Grants Pass, we have to fit everything we take on our trips into the baby car for the trip over the mountain. We laughed this time, wondering where Abby and Jeremy would have fit in the heavily laden car.

A night with Deborah at the cottage and when morning dawned foggy and icy as usual for Grants Pass this time of year we were off, heading south on the 5 for what has become an annual migration to Desert Hot Springs. Sometimes we simply pass through on a trek more distant, sometimes like this time, we will stay in the southern deserts, but no matter how we do it, a stay at Catalina Spa and RV Resort always seems to be part of the plan.

We have no fancy memberships, other than Passport America. With our love of state parks, national parks, national forest and BLM camping and boondocking, it just isn’t worth the extra money. However the PPA card gets us some nice half price benefits for our days on the road. Unlike last year, when Catalina was changing its management policies and we were only allowed two discounted nights, this year the policy has returned to allowing a week at half price, for us $32.50 a night is what we expect to pay at full price and we don’t pay that often! Still, the thought of those hot spring pools always draws me back.

Siskiyou Summit, highest point on I-5 between Mexico and Canada.

If we were going to stay a month, I would imagine we would try out Sam’s Spa nearby, a place Nina and Paul enjoy. Of course, The Sands is big and lovely with a golf course and comes highly recommended by Rick and Paulette who spend extended time there every winter. For us, Catalina is perfect, with the lower camping area a bit older, sites not perfectly level made lumpy with sand, and older trees around, eucalyptus, tamarisk, and some kind of desert pine. It isn’t especially fancy, but it also isn’t crowded, with the trees and oleander hedges making the sites in the lower area feel much more private than those in the newer upper part of the park. Without the need for 50 amp hookups, we have the option to stay here.

Mt Shasta above the inversion caused murky air of the Scott Valley

We have traveled south many times, but often from our home in Rocky Point, going over highway 97 toward Weed, or from Brookings a few times where we stored the MoHo until we got the Grants Pass cottage. We haven’t traveled south on the 5 from Grants Pass directly very often, and it is always a surprise to remember just how long a pull it is to cross the pass over the Siskiyou’s south of Ashland at the Oregon/California border. On this crossing, it was icy at 31 degrees F, but Mo did just fine, and I never felt any slipping around at all.

As we dropped down into the valley near Yreka, the air quality began to deteriorate, due to the strong cold air inversions plaguing most of the Oregon and California valleys. The skies were dingy all the way south throughout the great state of California.

For people who like to travel around as much as we do, and who enjoy new experiences, it is surprising to me how comfortable we are with doing the same route and staying in the same places on this southward journey. We took a bit of time to stop in Red Bluff to visit my ex mom in law, a dear woman celebrating her 91st birthday this month.

The entire route is less than 900 miles, but we give ourselves time, spending two nights along the way. My trucker kids would do that trip in one day! The Flag City RV Park along the freeway in Lodi is our preferred first night stop. Half price here with the PPA card is $27 per night, and with cement level pull through sites, full hookups, free wifi and cable TV we like the stop. Easy and fast and we never bother with making a reservation. The nearby Flying J station has the lowest gas price around according to our GasBuddy app, so it is easy to fill up for the next day. This time we also filled up propane, and while it was a buck more per gallon than it would have been in Grants Pass, it was a quick and easy fill right in the driveway of the park.

Morning dawned sweetly with temps in the 50’s, but the air was still murky with the inversion. Interstate 5 south has been worked on repeatedly, and while last year I remember the road being fairly smooth, this year it seemed to have deteriorated more. Of course, Stockton is always bad, with construction going on constantly for all the years I have traveled through that area. With the MoHo jumping and bumping, I looked up the worst cities to live in the US and yes, Stockton is high on the list. Sad.

The traffic on I-5 all the way to the Highway 58 turnoff toward Bakersfield was steady and thick. I guess a lot of people were traveling back to Los Angeles after the holidays. Truck traffic wasn’t as heavy as usual, but the line of cars ahead of us and behind us was solid, and if Mo got behind a truck it often took a bit of effort to get back into the fast moving traffic to pass. I’m glad it was her day to drive! I took photos of the passing landscape, so beautiful in its own way, but missed having Jeremy on the dash. So many photos of him sleeping away in the sunshine as we traveled south on this highway.

We gassed up at the Bakersfield Costco at 2.25 per gallon, amazing for California, and continued east toward Orange Grove RV Park. I learned last year when we ended up in overflow, that reservations were a smart idea. Today proved to be so, and as we checked in with our reservation, rig after rig pulled into the big long driveways they have for that purpose. Taking advantage of the free RV wash area, we got most of the road grime off both vehicles before settling into our full hookup site.

As many southward bound RV’rs know, this campground in an old orange grove comes with free picking privileges. I know you can buy bags of oranges along the road for 5 bucks or so, but they never seem quite as sweet. Probably brought up green from Mexico or something. Nothing quite as sweet as ripe oranges directly from the tree. Hopefully my orange stash will last long enough. I always feel sad at the moment I slice and squeeze the last orange from Orange Grove RV.

Our favorite route into the Springs is not the one recommended by Google maps, but we ignore their suggestions and travel west into Barstow and take 247 south through the Lucerne Valley, Johnson Valley, and into Yucca Valley, where we then travel down 62 into the Coachella Valley. I am always amazed at the rugged landscape, the range after range of faulted and folded mountains formed in marine sediments that have smashed into the continent from far lands. I do have a love hate relationship with my birth state of California and I am always reminded of that when we come south.

The smell of the southern deserts, the sharp line of the mountains unimpeded by vegetation against the sunset, the twinkling lights of desert cities, all remind me of childhood years long gone. I am glad they are gone, but also glad that I have the chance to come back and enjoy the best parts of what I remember about living in Southern California.

Driving south on Corkhill Road toward the resort is almost like coming home. The familiarity feels nice. Back again to that dichotomy between something new and something familiar, I guess there are good parts to each. Within minutes we found a nice spot on 11th street, backed up by nothing but the dog park area, and with no one beside us on the south for two spaces, it feels fairly private.

I am just a small street and a few steps east of my favorite pool in the world, at least the warmest. My favorite might still be the infinity pool at the Dusit Resort in Chiang Rai Thailand. But it is a lot easier and cheaper to get to this one!

Within minutes of arriving, I checked Facebook and found a note from Betty, another RV blogger, all concerned that no one by the name of Sue Malone had checked in. Nope, it was Mo who checked in, and not with her nickname! I asked for an hour or so for us to get out the chairs, and sure enough Betty bopped right into our site right on cue. Bopped is a good description for Betty. She is a sweet, delightful, happy woman who chatters along so comfortably that it is easy to enjoy her company. We visited a bit, took some photos, heard some great stories, and then Betty bopped back to her place to prepare for their early morning departure for Arizona. Nice to meetcha, Betty!

We have a week here at the resort, before our travels will take us south toward Yuma. In the mean time, we hope to catch some of the hiking trails that we haven’t done in the past. Many trails around this area are not dog friendly. We miss Abby so much, but are not ready to get another dog, so this is the year to hike all the dog unfriendly trails that we can find. The weather is with us, the skies are clear and the temperatures are perfect, without the famous Desert Hot Springs winds anywhere in the predictions. It will be a good week.

1-3-2014 It has something to do with the light

Desert Hot Springs 62 degrees F this evening and high thin clouds with a sliver of a moon

I guess because I grew up in Southern California there is something about the color of the light that touches me down deep. I certainly wouldn’t want to live here all the time, but when I visit, memories surface and I feel as though I am in very familiar territory. I slip back into feelings and impressions I had when I was a kid, nameless, the memories are nothing solid, but the sensations are interesting to experience. Wordless, really, and yet I keep trying to put it into words somehow.

It felt that way early this morning, as Mo and I swam in the hot springs pool at 5am, watching the stars and the many airplanes in the dark sky going in all directions. We had the place to ourselves until 6:30, a surprise, because usually there are early risers slipping into the hot water long before daylight. The water in the adult pool in the lower part of the park where we like to stay was a comfortable 95 degrees or so, and the hot spa was 104F. Hot enough to soak out any left over aches and pains left from sitting around too much in the rig.

As much as we enjoy coming to Catalina Spa and RV Resort, it is getting to be a bit more difficult. The park is a membership only kind of place, and while they honor our Passport America card, they now limit our stay to only 2 nights. Otherwise the rate is 65 bucks a day, more than either of us wants to spend, no matter how nice the pools are. The new rules will let us stay here for 4 days for a mere $45, if we spend an hour listening to a spiel for purchasing a Coast to Coast membership, and this would be our home park.

We are a bit too rambling for that sort of thing, though, and our road trips include state parks, national parks, boondocking, and lots of other kinds of camping than a Coast to Coast membership would provide. Not a good use of money. So who knows if we will come back again. Today we went over to Sam’s Family Spa, a place that Nina seems to love, but it seemed a lot bigger and busier and the pools aren’t open all night as they are here. That is my favorite thing. I love slipping into a silent hot pool in the middle of the night and swimming under the stars.

Later this morning, when we emerged from the Tracker at the Whitewater Preserve ranger station, that light thing hit me again really hard. Adding to the light was the fragrance of sycamore trees and cottonwoods along the riverbed that almost made me feel that I was 9 years old again. My daddy used to take me on hikes into the San Gabriel Mountains that looked and felt very much like these mountains around us at the base of the Mt San Gorgonio Wilderness.

Whitewater Canyon Loop Trail Nina and Rick have both talked about hiking Whitewater Preserve with their dogs. Finding dog friendly hikes in Southern California is only second in difficulty to finding dog friendly beaches in Florida. I was happy to have a new idea for something for us to do that would be fun on our only full day here in Desert Hot Springs.

The hike was a perfect Southern California hike on a perfect SoCal day: warm, a light breeze, and brilliant, brilliant sunshine illuminating everything around us. I stopped in at the ranger station first to get a handle on the trails and a young man at the desk gave me a thorough and very practiced talk on where to go and what to follow.

What I didn’t realize was that we would be hiking along a very small portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, the PCT, subject of a great book I just read called “Wild”. The PCT meanders along the Cascade crest not far from our home in Rocky Point, and Mo and I have hiked bits and pieces of it when we climbed McLoughlin and hiked in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. The cute little guy behind the desk said, “Gee, you could walk home from here!”. Hmmm…maybe not.

The 3.5 mile loop that we hiked today was definitely enough. I am a bit soft from an autumn full of quilting and not enough snow shoveling. The switchbacks weren’t too difficult on the way up and neither of us were huffing and puffing too terribly, but the knees definitely need a bit of work to handle those downhills. Thank goodness for hiking poles I guess.

We spent about two hours actually hiking and some more time just sitting by the bubbling water letting Abby play before we ambled back to the parking lot. There are lots of hikes in the area, a couple of easier ones, and several more strenuous 8 mile one way hikes that followed the PCT for a great distance.

With a light breakfast and no lunch in our bellies, I was glad that we needed to slip into Palm Springs to buy a missing printer cable on the way home. I just knew there had to be ice cream somewhere in downtown Palm Springs, and with a little bit of help from google we found Lappert’s Ice Cream. My oh My! I had some kind of Kona coffee thing with fancy chocolate in it. The place had lots of Hawaiian themed goodies, and something called Donkey Balls. Hmmm….I did ask about that, and they are macadamia nuts coated in chocolate. Just like the ones from Maui, although I didn’t know they were called donkey balls.

Who takes a Segway into the mountains?

We were happy to get home in late afternoon. Dealing with Palm Springs traffic and people isn’t exactly fun, although seeing Palm Springs in the daytime was kind of nice. Most of the time when we are here we only go there in the evening for the street fair. Once back home we settled in to do money stuff, and Mo was very happy to have our little working Canon printer along so she could print out needed documents.

I said, heck with that, I am going for another swim! With only two days to enjoy the pools I don’t want to miss a minute. I walked a bit more distance to the upper pool, supposedly the nicer one. It was a bit cooler and a bit bigger, but there were a lot more folks around, since it was getting close to time for the “all you can eat” spaghetti supper. With just an ice cream lunch, it started smelling pretty good and I walked back home to start of the Weber and made some yummy pork chops and rice with a salad. Much better than spaghetti from a community pot I think.

I swam last night when we arrived, at 5am this morning, and again this evening. I will be in the pool again tomorrow before dawn as well, you can bet on it. We are heading to Gila Bend and Tucson tomorrow, still not sure whether we will stop in Gila Bend for the night or just press on to Tucson. All depends on how we feel. Gila Bend FamCamp isn’t that great and Tucson is fabulous, but who knows.

Google Earth image of our hike on the Whitewater Canyon Loop

Got an email tonight from Texas warning of possible weather trouble in the vicinity of Fort Davis, so spent a bit of time re-checking routes and weather and fuel stops. Nope. Don’t want that low fuel thing to get us when nights could be in the teens as we get into Texas in a few days. When I planned this trip, I knew that the weather could do anything and everything between Oregon and Florida, so hopefully we are ready for whatever comes our way.