Lazy day and a visitor

 We had some big winds last night, but woke to a calm, sunny morning of 50 degrees at 9 o'clock.  The only thing I had planned today is to go with Tom and take a 40 gallon bladder and fill it with water at the sand dunes and come back and pump it into my empty water tank.

Took a cup of coffee over to Tom and Deb's for a morning chat.  Riley was there, and Deb, On a long and lonesome highway.... arrived later after her long walk this morning.  It was getting on noon when we broke up and Yuma and I went home to finish breakfast.

It was around 2 o'clock when Tom and I went to get water and now I have water when I turn on the faucet.  I was depending on gallon jugs till then.  Didn't know how much of a hassle not having instant water was till I went dry the other day.

It was around 4 o'clock while Yuma and I were taking a walk for exercise that a blue pickup truck pulled up and it was Ivan, Roadtrip 2022.  I had thought he was in Borrego Springs, but he came back to pick up some packages in Yuma.  So, he looked us up for happy hour.  

Yuma and I jumped in the back of the pickup and we headed home.  The rest of the gang was already together at Tom and Deb's.

Tom, Deb, Deb Riley, Ivan and me as the Shadow.

As the sun was waning, we all went separate ways.  Yuma and I have had dinner and now posting to my blog and we'll rest till bedtime.  So nice out, Yuma and I may take a walk under the stars.

They are calling for winter storms in the upper Midwest for tomorrow and based on the temperature predictions, Dolly is going to have a white Christmas this year.  Not a normal occurrence in our area.  She sent me a beautiful picture of the tree she set up in our living room.

Happy holidays and thanks for stopping by.

Searching for turquoise in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains

 This morning I was up before 9 o'clock and fixing coffee.  A little overcast and cool, but I noticed Tom and Deb were sitting in the sun having coffee, so Yuma and I joined them.   It wasn't long before Deb and Riley came up the road from their morning hike and we all sat around and chatted for awhile.

After awhile we broke up so Tom could finish his chores for the day and I needed to finish my breakfast.  Walking back to the WL, I could see a big plume of black smoke rising over the sand dunes.  I believe it is a burning dump in Mexico.

After breakfast, Deb stopped by to say she was going to hike up the mountains to check out the turquoise she said she saw up there last week.

I needed my steps in so we jumped into the Jeep and Yuma and I followed Deb's directions to the place in the mountains.

We walked the last mile and entered a wash area and there it was.

Wash we walked up into.  Way back in Mexico there is a dump fire making lots of smoke.

After examining the blue rocks, we decided it was just rocks with iron in them making the surface blue as it oxidizes.

After the rock investigation, we decided to walk further into the valley cut out by the water over years.

The black spot in the middle is a small mine.

Perspective on how large these mountains are.

As we were heading out of the wash, a small ATV came up and a man and woman hopped off.  We talked with them for awhile.  They were very interesting.  They were sailors, and had lived on a 40 foot sailboat for many years.

They had sailed across the Pacific four times and once, they spent years sailing around the world.  Brave, if you ask me!  They were also Canadians from British Columbia and they had been to the island that Deb and Riley live.  Small world!  

Mine only went back about 10 feet.

We decided to explore the back roads of the mountains and that turned out to be a very rough rough ride.  At 3:30 we decided to go back the way we came to make sure we were out before dark.

We saw lots of red barrel cactus on the side of the ravines.

On the other side of these many dirt deposits is the quarry that we saw yesterday with the water in it.  Years of weather has given these piles an artistic look.

It was time for our afternoon get together when we returned, so we all sat around talking till the sun started to set and everyone headed home for dinner.  It was a nice day.  Got my 6000 steps in with ease and also a lot of relaxing, which is great.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to Mexico and new neighbors

Morning sun bouncing off the White Lion.

 Another early morning leaving Yuma behind as we drove back to Los Algodones to pick up my glasses.  We arrived at 8:30 and quickly stopped by to pick up my glasses.

These are transition lenses, so I won't be forgetting my sunglasses anymore.  It will take a day or two to find out how much better they are, as it will take that long to adjust to the new lenses.  So far, I think they're doing great.

We had decided to have breakfast during our short visit today, but the sun had not yet come up over the buildings, so we walked around looking at things until it had warmed enough to sit in the sun for our outside breakfast.

Me and my friend.

I had what you would call a Grand Slam at Denny's and it was delicious.  Deb and Riley had a chicken tortilla, I think.  It warmed up nicely and it is going to be a clear, sunny day with no wind and a high around 65.

We returned by 11:30 and sat outside enjoying the sun and talking about anything that came to mind, because we were waiting for new neighbors to arrive.  It was about 2:30 and up rolled Deb and Tom just returning to Arizona from Michigan.

Yuma was glad to see his buddy Tom again.

Here they are parked in the camp site next to Deb and Riley.  Yuma is on his way from my camp site.

We gave them time to set up camp and then everyone sat around their place and talked till the sun dropped down and it started to cool off for the night.

Deb and Tom.

When I got back to the WL and fixed dinner and turned on the Monday Night Football game I saw that Tom's favorite team, the Green Bay Packers were playing the LA Rams, I texted Tom to see if he wanted to stop by after dinner and watch the game, which he did.  Green Bay came through for an easy victory.

By this time it is past 9 o'clock and time to get this post out of here and hit the hay.

Thanks for stopping by.

A few more pictures of Los Algodones, Mexico

 

My cowboy look!

Just a few more pictures.

Tired boy.

Had a strawberry smoothie.

Beat to hell, but still works!

Deb wanted a picture to put over the door of the Cabin she is building back home and Willie knew just the place to have one made.

Started out as a plank of pine.  She did all this by hand while we watched.

Drying process.

Finished.

We finally got to the exit gate and there was quite a line waiting to go into the U.S.  Took about 45 minutes and there were a lot of vendors and women with babies trying to get the last of our money.  I had no problem at all crossing the border with just my driver's license and birth certificate.  No passport required.

Yesterday, Deb, Yuma and I drove into the Cargo Muchacho Mountains to explore the quarries and maybe a road that would take us through the mountains to the other side.

Military jets and helicopters are common.

Looks like a good road leading somewhere.

Large and deep quarry.

Water down there but no signs of birds or animals.

A lot of the travel is through washes.  Not something I would do on a rainy day.

An array of plant life in one area.

See the Jeep down there?

The ride in the wash came to an end when we hit a line of rocks that would be a waterfall in a rain.  With all the lumps and bumps, we decided to call it a day and head back home.  There is no way through the mountains in this canyon.

Looking back, you can see the desert where we are staying and beyond are the Imperial Dunes followed by more mountains.

The rest of my day.

Thanks for stopping by.

And more pictures of Los Algodones, Mexico

 After lunch, we started our walk towards the exit of Mexico.

Some bartering going on.  Hope it isn't a drug buy!

While Mom was working, this little guy was having a great time throwing a little paper plane he had made.

There is my optical store.  Picking up my new glasses on Monday.

Everything is kept very clean.

Lots of color everywhere.

Me and my Mexican buddy.

I will cover my Jeep ride today in tomorrow's post.  Thanks for stopping by.

More pictures of Los Algodones, Mexico

 Let's continue with my walk around Los Algodones.  Dolly asked me last night why the town was named Cotton.  Let me know in the comments if you knew why.  Originally, Los Algodones was an agricultural town dedicated to the harvest of cotton.  Today, they have found it is more profitable to harvest money from visiting tourists.

The only thing I did today was clean house as it was cold from the cold north winds.  Only a high of 55.  Tonight, of course I will be watching Gold Rush.  Let's get to more pictures of my visit.

Ambulance with lights and sirens going coming my way.

  

This picture reminds me of my visits to Saigon in 1969, courtesy of the US Army.

This tower kept my bearings.  See it and I know where to get out of Mexico.

Alcoves everywhere.

Our plan now is to go to a nice place for lunch.  Rick and Willie have been here many times and they made friends with one of the men that guide people to where they want to go.  Eloy works for many of the dentist, optometrist, pharmacies, so he recommends them and takes you there.  

Over the years, they became friends with Eloy.  He was with us till we had our business done and sat with us for awhile during lunch and then he was on his way back to work.  Very nice man and of course he knows everything and everyone.  The kind of friend to have.  Amazing how he remembers people after not seeing them for a year.

Rick joined us after his visit to the dentist.  Has to go back later.  This was a great opportunity for all of us to get to know each other better.  There was a gentlemen playing oldie goldie American songs with Mexican songs thrown in.  Of course, I had a BLT and water.  Just not a lover of Mexican food and I was hungry for some food I didn't make.

The afternoon was very sunny and actually quite warm sitting in the sun.  We had a relaxing time and I could have sat there all day just listening to the music and looking out over the street.  Cover more pictures tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.