After shower report.....

7:45 am - Monday - March 14th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA -  51° F, 37% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies again today sans the wind from yesterday afternoon, and evening....the forecast high is 84° F.   Sunrise was 6:56 am, and sunset will be at 6:52 pm.....almost 12 hours of sunlight today.  On this date in 2012 we boarded the Galveston Free Ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula.....↴

Galveston Free Ferry....and it was, indeed, free!  Took us from Galveston Island to the Bolivar Peninsula

Taking a rest stop on the Bolivar Peninsula

We spent the night at Tim and Laila's home after Daniel and Cynthia's wedding shower, and were up Sunday morning with the sunrise....now just before 7 am, instead of 6 am as it had been Saturday.....thank you DST!

Baby girl Bowie

Crosby riding his UPS truck down a ramp

....here are a few more Wedding Shower pictures from Saturday night....

With Daniel and Cynthia

Hamming it up!

....after a cup of coffee to get our engines running, and exchanging 'until next times' with Tim, Laila, Crosby and Bowie we were in the VW by 8:30 am heading back to the Anza Borrego Desert.  The drive eastward on SR-60, and then I-10 was uneventful, and soon we were passing through the windmill farm just before Palm Springs......

.....we exited I-10 at Washington (Palm Desert) to stop at a local Stater Brothers to pick up a few groceries, such as Peppered Bacon.  As we walked through the store (near intersection of Washington and Highway 111) I was struck by how well ALL of the shelves were stocked.  I haven't seen anything like this in a few months....rarely did I see any empty spaces, and the paper goods aisle was completely stocked!.....

All I can say is WOW!!!

When was the last time you saw the paper good aisle completely stocked?

.....after Stater Brothers we made three more stops....first at the nearby COSTCO fuel station to take on 10 gallons of unleaded premium at $5.73/gallon (the best in town), and we were grateful to pay that little....at most stations it was over $6!  Next we went into COSTCO to get a few things we only buy there, then back in the VW to cover the final 57 miles home.

Our next, and final stop was at the Salton City Travel Plaza where I picked up a Mocha Frappuccino, and TLE an ice coffee for the final 20 miles up S-22 to our home.  We arrived just before 1 pm.....just before the winds freshened, and did they ever freshen as the afternoon wore on.  We had planned to have a late lunch at The Red Ocotillo around 3:30 pm, and in spite of the wind at our boondock site we decided to drive into Borrego Springs anyway.  We arrived at the restaurant just before 3:30 pm to find their alfresco dining was virtually wind free, so we found a table to our liking and settled in for a nice afternoon meal....

.....since we are attempting to lose weight (and never find it again) we opted to share an entrée, which choice I delegated to TLE....she chose the French Dip with a side Caesar Salad to replace the French Fries.....she is much stronger than I.  It was a great choice, and just the right amount of food.....

....yup, just the right amount of food.  I decided to have ice tea instead of a draft brew....thank you TLE for helping me to be strong.  The late afternoon breezes in town were delightfully balmy as we passed the time talking, and enjoying our food.  Most restaurants will charge you for the extra plate if you are sharing an item, but not The Red Ocotillo....our total tab was $23 plus tip....another benefit of dieting....lol!

Even though the winds were not bad in town, they continued to rage at our boondock site, and were there to greet us upon our return around 5 pm.  We spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening indoors, and I spent a few hours after sunset catching up on some of the YouTube channels I follow....man, I was really behind!

By 10 pm I was ready for bed, and TLE followed about 30 minutes later.  The wind was coming directly out of the northwest, so the I opened my bedroom window on the south side of the coach to let in a little fresh air.  By 1, or 2 am the winds had completely vanished, and the rest of the night it was so quiet you could literally hear a pin drop.

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March showers.....

 1:25 pm - Sunday - March 13th - Anza Borrego, CA - 81° F, 11% humidity, wind 21 mph out of the west by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2012 we had just arrived at Stewart Beach RV Park on Galveston Island, TX.......↴

Saturday began with temps in the high 30's, but it quickly warmed as is most always the case in the desert.  We were scheduled to depart our boondock site around 12 pm (we actually left around 12:15 pm) to head into Rancho Cucamonga to attend the wedding shower for our granddaughter Cynthia, and her betrothed, Daniel.  We wanted to arrive at the home of my son Tim, and Laila between 2 and 3 pm, and we arrived, after one short stop in Coachella to pick up four packages from the Amazon lockers, and then a traffic jam in Moreno Valley, around 2:40 pm.

By 4:30 pm we were on our way to the home of Chris (son) and Rochelle (daughter-in-law) who were hosting the shower.  I have to note here that Rochelle is one of my most avid blog readers, and she almost always has questions for me, and/or praise to offer.  I'm always surprised to find that people other than my children read my musings.  I consider it high praise that she interested in what an old guy has to say.   We arrived at their home just before 5 pm, and within minutes we were moving from one conversation to another, and that is how it continued for over 3 hours......

With my daughters Sharon (left) and Kate (right)

Chris (turns 50 this year) talking to Cynthia (his daughter)

With my daughter Meredith

With Meredith, Jeannie (sister-in-law), and my brother Philip

TLE talking with Keith....a close friend on Chris' going back to the late 80's.  I see I caught Keith frowning, but he almost always has a broad smile upon his face.

Chris and Rochelle had the event catered by 'Taco Man' (were they ever great tacos!),  and there was an open to make it even more special. There were probably 0ver 70 people in attendance, and the backyard was packed from one end to the other.  This is just the first event in a series of events leading up to the wedding on April 2nd.  My daughter Meredith will be presiding.....yeah, I know.....very cool, huh?

We left around 8:30 pm to head back with Tim and Laila to their home in Ontario (they own a home in the same neighborhood in which our former home is located).  We talked with them until after 10 pm before I finally hit the hay knowing we would lose an hour of time to DST by the time we awakened on Sunday.

As always my heart is still full of love, and happiness after spending time with my children, and their children, as well as many lifetime friends of our children who were in attendance.  I can't believe some of them have already passed the '50' mark in life, and that my son will soon join them seems almost surreal.

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Yup, the pink stuff.....

6:55 am - Saturday - March 12th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA - 40° F, 22% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the north by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 78° F.  On this date in 2012 we were on the Gulf Coast in Palacios, TX....home of the shrimp fleet......↴

For the first time in several weeks (from Wittmann to Anza Borrego) we had a dead calm wind situation Friday morning.....no recordable wind.  There was a point in the early morning hours when the wind was still blowing, but by the time sunrise arrived it had vanished....a very welcome relief.  

I originally intended to get the oil and coolant changed in the Newell when we were in Arizona, but our 2 stroke Detroit Diesel mechanic, Leo, had to go in for hernia surgery so that did not get done.  I located a source for the special pink Detroit Diesel Power Cool anti freeze used in the old Series 71, and 92 engines called Pacific Power Group, out of Kent, WA.  I needed 12 gallons of the pink Power Cool concentrate (we cut it 50/50 with distilled water), and they had it for around $12/gallon shipped.  My initial thought was to drive into San Diego to Pacific Power Group's local store to pick it up, but they do not stock it, so my only option is to order it through their online store, and have it shipped. I have no mailing address here in the Anza Borrego Desert at which to receive the shipment, plus changing it out here in the desert would be complicated.  For one thing, I would have to buy 4, or 5 five gallon cans in which to drain the old coolant, then, secondly, dispose of it. I've been puzzling over that problem since then, and on Friday the proverbial light bulb finally was lit.  

I have a great mechanic in Montclair, CA (not far from the Elks Lodge in Fontana) who has worked on all of my cars since the late 90's, and the Newell since we bought her in 2008.....Joel LeBron of Joel's Automotive.  I called him Friday and told him my predicament, and he told me to have the coolant shipped to him at his business, and he would order the Chevron Delo 100 SAE 50 wt. oil for the oil change.  Once the coolant arrives at his shop he'll let me know, and we'll drive the Newell over to his shop and get everything done in one day....perfect!  He'll also do an oil change on the VW, and install those pesky rear rotors, and pads....also perfect!

Once I had a shipping address I went online and ordered the Power Cool.....

....the last time I bought Power Cool was when we were in East Texas back in 2012, and I had to replace our gear driven water pump, plus all the coolant.  Then 12 gallons of concentrate cost me $248!

We needed to do a wash after being here in the Anza Borrego Desert for the past week, so we trundled into town around 1:30 pm to do just that.  It was then that I thought to call Joel, the mechanic.  While the clothes were in the wash cycle we took our second 1.25 mile walk of the day arriving back just in time to switch the load to the large commercial dryer.  By 2:30 pm we were done and on our way home.

It got a little breezy in the middle of the afternoon, but by 5 pm the winds had vanished again, so we decided to grill a bacon wrapped filet mignon for dinner.  I fired up the Sea-B-Que (it's been a long time since I wrote that) to do just that.  TLE prepared a side salad to accompany the steaks.  I was remiss in not memorializing that steak via photograph, but rest assured it was beautiful, tender, and delicious!

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Winds of March......

7:09 am - Friday - March 11th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA - 48° F, 8% humidity, wind - CALM! Calm for the first time in days....YAY!  Forecast high for today is 73° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I hiked to the top of Mt. Rubidoux near Riverside, CA.......↴

We thought the winds were done Wednesday evening, but early on Thursday (around 12:30 am) they returned with a vengeance gusting over 40 mph, and blew hard enough throughout the day to keep us indoors most of the time reading.  Amazingly, we did not lose anything to the wind like we did during our first stay here.  When I installed our wheel covers this time I used the special bungy cords which are provided by the manufacturer to secure them against the wind, and they worked!

The overnight wind/gusts were coming directly out of the north, and that means they are hitting the back of the raised solar panels.  I am always concerned about our tilted panels during high winds, even when the rears ones were not tilted that high.  Now, with the two rear panels having a much higher tilted profile I was more concerned, but as it turned out all was well when the sun rose over the eastern horizon......

Winds out of the north were pretty much the constant from early morning and throughout the entire day....the rear panels are doing great!

....we did venture out twice to take our two 1.25 mile walks, but that was pretty much it.  TLE made creamed eggs for dinner which we ate around 4 pm.  I really like having my final meal of the day earlier, so by the time I go to bed it is all digested.  Can't be a bad thing, right?  When we, regrettably, switch this Sunday back to DST we will probably go back to eating at 5 pm, as we'll be going to bed a little later.  Right now I go to bed around 9 pm since the sun comes up at 6 am.....once there is light coming through the windows I can't sleep anymore.  With the advent of DST the sun will be rising at 7 am, and going down at 6:30 pm, instead of 5:30 pm.

I was able to catch the sunset across the western horizon......

.....sunrises, and sunsets are part of the ongoing magic of the Anza Borrego Desert.  As I write this morning (Friday) the winds have abated.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Life is good!

 7:26 am - Thursday - March 10th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA - 59° F, 44% humidity, wind 15-20 mph out of the north by northwest.....we're rockin' like a boat!  The forecast high for today is 71° F with high winds for the rest of the day.  On this date in 2021 we were driving north on I-5 back to Seal Rock, OR in the snow.....here we are just coming up to Mt. Shasta.....↴

Life is good....what else is there to say?  Well, I always have a lot to say, so here goes.  I began Wednesday by going outside around 9:30 am to sit in one of the camp chairs by the firepit, in the sun, to read for about an hour.  Sitting there reading, taking an occasional sip of hot coffee, occasionally glancing up to take in the big view, and feeling the warming rays of the morning sun on my back was delightful.

At 10:30 am TLE and I took our, now, customary 1.25 mile walk towards Clark Dry Lake Bed, and back, then I returned to reading, but this time in my anti gravity chair.  As I read gentle zephyrs out of the west washed over my body having an almost soporific effect.  As I slowly drifted into 'napdom' I thought life could not get much better.  As I dozed I could hear the strains of Etta James singing "I'd rather go blind" softly playing on my bluetooth speaker in the background.  Yup, life is good.

Around noon time I roused myself to drive into town with TLE....she wanted to pickup a couple of things at the grocery store, and browse through the cool stuff at The Frugal Coyote.  Once again we both found things without which we felt we could not live.  I found a pair of 'shoe trees' for a pair of dress shoes I have, an almost new Field and Stream long sleeved flannel shirt, and three matching Callaway Big Bertha 'woods' for my burgeoning gold club collection.  Now I have two matched sets of irons, one set of matched woods, and three, or four putters to begin my summer of golf.  I'll be making choices about which clubs I like and dislike later this summer, and then donating those I do not wish to keep to a local thrift store near Likely, CA.

Upon returning from our short foray into Borrego Springs TLE and I took our second 1.25 mile walk of the day, and then I settled into my anti gravity chair reading until around 3:30 pm when the forecast high winds began to intensify. By the time we went to bed the winds were rocking the Newell, and howling through our solar panels for the entire night.  As I sit here this morning they have calmed somewhat, but are still gusting to over 20 mph.  The forecast indicates they will continue into the night, so it appears today will be an indoor day.  In spite of the winds I managed to get a nice, subtle sunset picture.....

In spite of all that I still say "Life is good".....that's my 2 ¢, and I'm sticking too it....by the way, diesel in Borrego Springs rose 40¢ to $6.89/gallon....yeah, I know....not so good......thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to buy a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Wind abatement.....

 7:35 am - Wednesday - March 9th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA - 49° F, 28% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the west by northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies again today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Tecopa Hot Springs (near Shoshone, CA).......↴

After the extreme exertion of Monday hiking to Coyote Peak there was no doubt in my mind that I would spend most of Tuesday where I belong.....in my anti gravity recliner napping, reading, and just soaking in the big view to our north....

.....oh look, there are chairs by the firepit.....could there be a sunset fire tonight?  And look, the 'Cowboy Wok, and Sea-B-Que are set up....could there be outdoor cooking this night?....

.....if the weather forecast would just hold, and there would be no wind both would definitely happen.  While it has not been overly windy here, it has usually gotten windy late each day, which kind of spoils sunset fires, and outdoor dinner cooking.

I did manage to accomplish two things Tuesday.....I changed the position of the air intake louvers on the driver side of the engine bay to the third position, which is as far out as they go.  It's getting warmer, and necessary to force the cooler outside air into the engine bay to help cool the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 as we head northward later this month......

The louvers are now fully extended to catch more air as we float down the highway

......and I fixed another string of 'fair lights' to deploy around one the bushes outside our trailer.  

TLE brought out her stir fry stuff around 3:30 pm, and whipped up an amazingly  dinner....our only meal of the day.  I had a small bowl of berries (black berries, and raspberries) with some heavy cream around 1 pm, a handful of peanuts, and a glass (8 oz) of V-8 juice, and that was it.

As hoped, the winds laid down by 3 pm, and by 5:20 pm (sunset) it was time to take a couple of sunset photographs.....

....and light the fire.....

......the solar lights finally turned on around 6 pm, and the night became magical.....

......we adjourned to the Newell interior around 7 pm, and spent the remainder of our evening reading.

On the solar front, we've been doing great!  With those two rear solar panels now both tilted toward the sun at the same time we reach 100% before noon each day, and sometimes, like Tuesday before 11 am.  Overnight (sunset to sunrise....about 11.5 hours) we're losing less than an amp per hour leaving us at around 88-89% of full charge.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Ask more questions......

 7:45 am - Tuesday - March 8th - Anza Borrego Desert, CA - 49° F, 16% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2017 we were overnighting in Amboy, CA on old US-66.....↴

The last time I did any sort of hike over 8 miles was during our stay in Yellowstone back in the summer of 2017.  TLE and I had joined the 100 mile hiking club there, and by the end of the summer we pounding out 10-12 miles on each hike.  Fast forward to Monday....Brandon approached me Sunday evening about joining him, Hans, and Tim on a hike up to Coyote Peak, a local summit here in the Santa Rosa Mountains.  He wasn't sure the total distance we would hike, but said it would take around 5+ hours.  Without really giving it much thought, or asking any questions about the difficulty of the hike I said I would be honored to join them.

We left camp around 8:30 am, and began our trek across the valley to Tim's Class Motorhome, which is parked right at the base of the mountains....about 1.25 miles away.  After picking up Tim we began our climb toward Coyote Peak.  The 'trail' we followed was very faint, and went pretty much straight up....no switchbacks, just straight up.  For the first mile, or so I was doing fine, but my energy began to wain at about the half way mark, which I calculate to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5 miles into the hike. I had to admit to myself I was just not in good enough shape to climb straight up a mountain side.

I was beginning to lag behind the guys about 50 yards when they stopped to take a break. When I finally caught up they asked me how I was doing, and I replied that my tank was just about empty.  I had actually stopped to eat one of my protein bars, but it was having little effect upon my energy levels. Brandon offered me a product he used when he was doing long distance cycling called GU Chews......

.....they are kind of like big gummie bears.  He gave me three of them, and within a couple of minutes I went from feeling totally gassed, to ready to hike again....amazing!  We continued on still climbing pretty much straight up a ridge with occasional flatter spots where I could recover before the next climb.

Then the next issue presented itself....before we began the hike I had proactively applied some 'Moleskin' to both my heels, and that worked fine until we were about 1/2 mile from the summit at which point it appeared I was getting blisters.  I suspected the 'Moleskin' had slipped off my heels.  I knew it would take me about 20 minutes to remove my shoes and socks, and let the skin dry before I applied a new layer of Moleskin, plus I could see that the last 1/2 mile was pretty much straight up, and steeper than anything I had done so far, so I announced that I had gone as far as I could, and would wait there for them to make the summit, and return.  At this point we had hiked just under 5 miles....mostly a straight up climb.....

I'm standing about about 1,898' elevation, and Coyote Peak is just under 2,200'...we began our hike at 700' elevation (looking north)

.....while Brandon, Hans, and Tim continued the hike I found a nice rock to sit on to eat a snack, and address my burgeoning blister issue.  As it turned out I only had developed a blister on my right heel, but the left heel was close to sprouting one, so I'm glad I stopped.  I knew I needed to get some 'Moleskin' on those two hot spots, or it would be painful descent.

The view was spectacular in all directions......

Looking toward Borrego Springs (west)

Southwest

East.....our boondock is so far away I cannot see it

This rock appears to be petrified wood....I think....the picture doesn't really do it justice

Descending....looking southeast

Left to right: Hans, Brandon and Tim

....the guys were gone about 40 minutes before returning to me, and then we began the long descent, which if it is even possible, was more difficult that the ascent.  The composition of the trail was mostly small, round rocks....sort of like walking on ball bearings downhill for 3+ miles.....very treacherous.

By the time we reached the valley floor once again it was around 1:30 pm, and we had been hiking around 5 hours.  We dropped Tim off at his Class C around 2 pm, and were back home around 2:20 pm....almost 6 hours since we left on our hike.  The guys hiked just under 11 miles, and I just under 10 miles.  As I approached our campsite TLE exited the Newell to see how I was doing.....I was completely out of gas, and I don't think I could had walked another 1/4 mile.  I had about a cup of water left in my 100 oz. Camelbak Mule hydration system....that was close.

I sat down in one of the anti gravity chairs while TLE took off my socks, and Keen hiking shoes.  The 'Moleskin' had done its job, and there were no new blisters.  From there I went inside, stripped off my clothes, then hopped into the shower for a much deserved hot shower.  By the time I had dried off, and re-clothed myself it was after 3 pm.  I sat down in my recliner, and took a much deserved nap.  Lesson learned?  Yup, ask more questions about the trail, and difficulty.  I was not sad I did not make it to the summit....I was able to see them summit, and that was enough for me.  My main concern was fixing my heels, and preserving enough energy to make it home, which I barely did.  Do I regret making the hike....nope....it was worth it to see those high up views, and spend time with some really interesting guys.  I think I'll spend Tuesday enjoying the view from my anti gravity chair.

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