Showing posts with label BLM Road 801. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BLM Road 801. Show all posts

Friday, December 21, 2018

A nice leisurely drive to Borrego Springs......




Our Location:  Near Borrego Springs, CA

A nice night for sleeping and I managed to keep the peepers closed until just after 5AM PST. An improvement for certain. I woke to see the red glow out the window, rolled out of bed, grabbed the camera and a sweater before heading out the door to catch some spectacular sunrise pictures. I couldn’t decide which ones so included only my favourite. 

 
 
I did nothing to any of the sunrise pictures, the pictures are exactly as they came from the camera.
 
We packed up, hooked up and were heading north on Ogilby Road at 8:05 AM PST, I know because I checked the time. We hadn’t had any plans to leave early but we were happy to be on our way. I didn’t realize that the road would be so rough all the way to CA78. We also had no cell service in this small stretch of Ogilby Road and until we reached Glamdis Beach Shop where we once again seemed to pick up the cell towers. 
 

 
It was the most amazing colour of blue.

This was our first time through the actual dunes here at Imperial Dunes. Quite remarkable. Lots of storage for weekenders to leave their rigs behind and not tow home at the end of the weekend. Very smart idea for sure.

 
And the pink was amazing too.
 
We stopped in the town of Brawley for a few reasons and didn’t really manage to achieve any of them except getting some drinking water. Oh well, it is what it is and we’ll keep trying further down the road. We enjoyed about an hour’s rest at Walmart where we purchased a few things we wanted but that weren’t a necessity.
 
The Imperial Sand Dunes.

They seemed to stretch on and on and on and on...

 
From Brawley we headed out on CA78/86, passing through the border inspection station which was backed up for a long distance. It took us 20 minutes to reach the man at the shack, he simply waved us through. Whatever they were looking for we didn’t fit the profile. We didn’t take CA78 to Ocotillo Wells, it’s too much like a roller coaster and HRH Miss Kitty would have been ill. We instead opted to go further up CA86 to Salton City where we turned onto the Borrego Springs - Salton Sea parkway to continue on our travels. We did stop at the big gas bar/store at the corner but it would have been a half hour wait for someone to come out to fill the propane bottle as they were short staffed. We opted to move on, we’ll get it filled on the way out. 

Heading toward Brawley on CA 86.

Amazing bursts of red in numerous places.

Views from the Borrego Springs Salton Sea Parkway.
 
The drive on the Parkway was a bit rough and I pulled over once to check the tires. The road has an odd ripple to it that causes one to think their tires are in trouble. However it did eventually smooth out and the views of course were picturesque. We debated about putting our feet down on this road, the views are amazing but instead continued on toward Borrego Springs. Upon reaching Rockhouse Road we hung a right and took the tour. We even did a bit of a walking tour but couldn’t find anything that appealed to us and so we continued on to the little dust bowl a bit further down on the corner and are now parked at the exact spot we stayed at last year. 
 
Some friends of ours might enjoy their rides through these paths.
 
What do you think Ron?

 It took no time to set up and a call to dad had me talking to his machine but at least he knew we arrived safely. We then had some lunch, read our books and just enjoyed the new sights out the window. It was in this spot where we first met Doug & Yuma last year. What a truly wonderful meeting that was and we miss both man and dog. 


Sharon do you think you might enjoy seeing this?
 
Maybe this is more your liking.
 
Dad called later to say he’d received my message. He passed on the news regarding Brother Rick's broken leg. It seem he will be sitting out the next couple of weeks with his leg in the air still. According to the specialist it will be at least another couple of weeks before he can put ANY weight on the leg at all. Possibly after that he can start with a bit of weight but time will tell. He’s been a month since he broke the bone in his leg just above the ankle. For an active fella it’s hard to suddenly be inactive. Dad reported the weather as a mixed bag. Freezing rain, snow, about 4 inches/10 centimeters, more freezing rain, rain and now they have almost no snow again. All of this wacky weather TODAY. Sudbury and points north are reporting the highways and roads a mess due to freezing rain and snow. Seems they didn’t get the rain.
 
Heading along the parkway toward Borrego Springs.

Breathtaking.
 
So there you have it, thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Just east of Rockhouse Road, you can see the dry lake bed in the distance.
 
I don't think I'll ever tire of these mountains.
 
Until next time…. take care, be safe,

 
Tonight out our living room windows to the west.

Tonight out the door to the east.
 
 
Deb
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

A pretty busy day.....



Our Location: BLM Road 801, Near American Girl Mine Road
 
 'Wind through the willows they're disturbing my pillow of leaves that fell on the ground.' Yesterday morning the line from a song sprang to my mind the minute my eyes opened and I could hear the wind whistling not through the willows but through the slide toppers. This morning there was no wind, not a breath, dead calm but as today progressed the wind began to blow ever so slightly and so it continues but as a gentle wafting. Truly we've been very fortunate here with little to no wind most days. 
 
The last few seconds before the sun pops up between those peaks.

There it is peeking over the edge.

Today would be a day of chores in Yuma. We left home but drove around a bit and so didn't get to CJ's Repair shop to pick up our tire cover until almost 11:30 AM CST. A quick stop at the Family Dollar to pick up some things Riley wanted and from there we headed off to Fry's Grocery and Gas bar where we managed to fill the Big Dog's drinking bowl for $2.97 per gallon. We left the gas bar and dropped into the Poppa John's for a pizza to go. For less than $20 we had a large pie with 5 toppings, a dozen bread sticks and a big bottle of pop. The pizza is of course excellent in our opinion. 
 
The sun through the arms of the Ocotillo.

It was a tight squeeze but some how it managed.

 We left Poppa John's to head to Joanne's Laundromat on Orange Street where we spent some time getting us some clean clothes to wear. We also enjoyed some pizza while the washers did their magic. A couple of hours there had us leaving with all clean clothes for another while. Yeah. We love to have clean laundry, don't you? 

 
The sky tonight after the sun had dipped behind the horizon.

It was just like fire.
 
After that it was a stop at Walmart for a few things before we hit the road for the home. We didn't arrive back at the Igloo until about 3:30 pm CALIFORNIA time. I'm sure HRH Miss Kitty though we had abandoned her as we were gone most of the day. 
 
It's not quite full up there in the sky.
 
Laundry put away, some closets rearranged, tire cover on, a quick burn to rid us of our burnable garbage and a chat with dad while I was doing that. By that time the sun was down and it was time to come inside, do this post and spend an evening enjoying the company of my daughter. 
 
Sunset reflecting on the window.


 
So there you have it, a beautiful day but one we spent doing chores away from home. Tomorrow is a travel day and we will be packing up, heading out hopefully around 9 am. 
 
Some nice pink in that sky too.

A beautiful view tonight.
 
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 
 
Slowly fading into a softer and softer shade.
 
Until next time... take care, be safe, 
 
Deb
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

A lazy kind of day......





Our Location:  Road 801, Near American Girl Mine Road

A nice night once again for sleeping and I managed to keep my peepers closed until 4:30 AM. Yeah me! By the time we get back to Ontario I’ll be wanting to sleep until noon. 

Our current location.
 
A lazy day so I’ll make it a picture kind of day. I did do a number of chores around the Igloo, inside and out, cleaned the Dogsled windows too. 

He wasn't very high on his fly over.

He was all alone too.

He's that little black spec in the middle of the photo.

He's still in the photo and the trailer on the right is parked not far from our old spot.

Love the shadows as the sun is sinking.

Not quite full.

Up close to the Devil's Walking stick.

I do love the green, it's almost florescent.

This one looks like two octopus' that have been battling.


Almost gone.

Goodnight from California.
 
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had an excellent day.

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb