Sunday, January 31, 2021

Snake hunt and Christmas Circle

 Before I get to today, let me digress.  Last night I was having problems shutting my door properly.  It kept getting stuck.  Couldn't find my flashlight so I was working on it in the dark.  I pushed a switch, stepped outside and closed the door thinking that would help.

Oh no!  I locked myself out of the White Lion 😖😡.  I couldn't believe it.  Yuma is inside but he can't help.  After having a few discussions with myself, I started thinking.  Walked around and lo and behold I had left the passenger side window open a crack back when I ran the TV cable through it.  Opened the window, grabbed the table the grill was on and hoisted myself into the passenger seat.  How is that for an old 75 year old?😂

Now to this morning.  Woke up at 8:30 and got right up and took Yuma out.  It was sunny and warm when the sun was shining and a little cool when a cloud covered it.  Looks to be a nice day ahead.  Right at 9 o'clock the ATVs were at it.  Late sleepers like me I guess.


Had my breakfast outside again and did some thinking of what to do today.  Looked to see how far Slab City is from here and it is 65 miles.  Too far.  I decided I will catch it later in the week.  Decided, I would just take Yuma down to the green grass at Christmas Circle and also do a little snake hunting too!  Some of you have been on this snake hunt before and some haven't.  

Left at 11 o'clock and half hour later here I am just off Rockhouse Road climbing the south end of Coyote Mountain looking for that darn snake.  Done this many times, but always have troubles finding it.  Notice no RVs down there?

See my Jeep down there?

Santa Rosa Mountains across the way.

I can see Font's Point to the southeast.  Can you see the Jeep?

Must be getting close.  I see a scorpion.


Just over this last hill and I look down in the valley below.  And there he is:  a huge 40 foot rock snake.

Never taken my picture with it, so here goes.
Another year of snake hunting done with.  Hope this is the last one we see this year.  Now to Borrego Springs and Christmas Circle.

Yuma finds a couple of friends right away!
We walked around and listened to a fellow named Don play his guitar.  Talked with him for awhile.  He and his wife live here and take RV trips to the cooler northeast area during the summer months.  Opposite of what I do.
Decided while I was here I would take pictures of a few of the many metal sculptures this town is famous for.  If you do a search on my site for Borrego Springs you will see many more of them.






As we headed out of town, I took just a couple of the ones in the desert surrounding this town.



The dragon is my favorite.  And he is huge.

Peg Leg RV parking area is empty.

You're lucky.  My camera battery just went dead so that's it for the day.  Plus it is almost 3 o'clock and we're ready to rest before time to do all my evening chores.

It's 6 o'clock now and all the kids are already done for the night.  Probably packing up and leaving.  Still have to fix dinner for Yuma and me and then probably off to bed.

See you later.

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Down by the Sea

This morning came early.  I woke up at 6:30 feeling sore so I took a couple of Tylenol and went back to sleep.  Finally got up at 8:45 and started breakfast after taking Yuma out.  I could see the weekend warriors had moved into the area.

It is a beautiful warm and sunny morning.   While eating breakfast I decided that Yuma and I would investigate the Salton Sea area just east of us.
This thinking is hard!  As I sat there in my lounge chair I could see the kids racing by.


Certainly enjoying their day!
At noon, Yuma and I jumped in the Jeep and headed the three of four miles down to the sea.
Yuma loves running in the sand.

Long way back to the Jeep.

If I tried driving down here this would be my fate!

Snow capped mountains to the north near Indio.

This area is very mucky and smelly.  Not much fun walking here.  As we were walking along, a motorized paraglider flew right over us.
I could see more up the beach so Yuma and I headed up to see what was up.

There were lots of folks in the sandy area of the beach practicing their craft.  This area looks more like a beach by the sea.  Long way from the water though.
Taking off.

Getting prepared.

Getting ready to take off.

Landing.

Just landed.

They were everywhere.
Southern California folks certainly do like their winter weekends outdoors!   After watching them for awhile, we drove north on the beach until we couldn't anymore.
As we drove through the residential areas, I am surprised at the terrible roads and the poor condition most of the homes are in.  Don't think there is much money in Salton City.  We came on home and just enjoyed the warm afternoon.  Took a shower and just can't do anything with my hair😀
So glad the warm weather is back.  After publishing this it will be time to fix dinner, watch a little TV and then go to bed once the kids get done running around this evening.

See you later.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Laundry day

 It was nice and quiet here with the whole desert to myself.   I heard rain on the roof last night and expected cloudy skies this morning.  Nope, nice blue skies with large dark puffy clouds.

Santa Rosa Mountains

Had my crackers and coffee while planning my day.  Decided to go ahead and get the laundry out of the way and take a first look at Borrego Springs at the same time.  Started gathering stuff and when I was ready to go I realized I had forgotten to eat my last two breakfast courses.  I hate getting old! 😕  

It was 11:30, so just skipped breakfast and headed to town.  It's 30 mile away, but the drive through the badlands on S22 is beautiful.






All this time I've been going downhill towards the Clark Lake dry bed just outside of Borrego Springs.  Below, I see Black Mountain.  
Now I can clearly see the dry lake bed dead ahead.
With the zoom it looks fantastic.
Now we're heading directly into Borrego Springs at the bottom of the San Ysidro Mountains.
Looks like showers in my future.

Didn't want to make any stops in town today.  Got to get my laundry done and get back to set up the Dish for tonight's Gold Rush.
The area where the laundry is there is a hotel and businesses built like an old western town.


Here's a picture looking east back through town towards Font's Point in the distance.
Poor Yuma did not like sitting around waiting for clothes to dry.  We sat at the entrance since no dogs were allowed.  Since not a soul was there, I wasn't too careful.

Here's what we were seeing.


Luckily, the rain didn't last too long and by the time I had the laundry folded the rain had stopped.  Soon, we were back at the White Lion and everything was put away.    Got the Dish going right off with no problems and fixed dinner early since I was hungry.

Watched the sunset shining its glow on the Salton Sea and the Black Mountains.

And then it was time for TV, finish my post and get ready for bed.  Not a bad day after all.  

See you later.