Lake Cachuma County Park, Santa Inez, Ca

Wednesday: (02/22) We enjoyed donuts from a local shop for breakfast. Our first task was to find a drinking water vending machine to refill our bottles. For some reason the two markets in town don't have any. They did but when thy remodeled Von's they removed them and they are currently remodeling Albertson's and the machines there don't work. We finally located some machines at a little market right at the exit to the parke we didn't use. We broke camp and headed on up the road turning off Highway 101 onto Highway 154 to Cachuma Lake. It's a nice road but a long climb up and the drop down to the lake.


We located a nice campsite, #481, at Cachuma Lake County Park. We are one of only a very few campers here, currently. I don't think we can count on that this weekend if we remain here that long. The park is really nice. Lou served leftovers for lunch. I had a hamburger and she had chicken both served with potato salad. It's nice and warm here in the valley by the lake. We relaxed at camp the rest of the day. I uploaded some recent photos from the past week to the blog.


later in the afternoon we took a walk around camp and chatted with some neighbors. Then we hiked two of the three trails in the park, the Mohawk mesa trail (above left) and th Oak Canyon Trail (above right). Neither trail is long but both are nice typical California oakland trails.


The sun setting lit the bluffs on the other side of the lake nicely. For dinner we had macaroni and cheese with green beans.
(GPS:34.58391,-119.9581)


Thursday: (02/23) Lou made scrambled eggs with chorizo, onions, and spinach for breakfast. We had only one near neighbor last night that came in after dark and was gone before sunrise. Other than that we had our section of the park to ourselves.


We took a little road trip today. It's about 10 miles down to Santa Inez. We looked around a few shops including our usual stop at the local hardware store. We were greeted by the store cat name SKU. Store cats must really enjoy their job. They're always so glad to meet the customers. Next, we explored Solvang, the Danish village. We had lunch at the Red Viking Restaurant. We both had their combo Danish meat ball and Danish Sausage with red cabbage salad and mashed potatoes. Very good. On the way home we stopped for a visit to the Chimash Casino. A nice casino but not RV friendly. There is not RV parking at all. Fortunately we have such a nice place to camp up at the lake. For dinner we had leftovers. I had leftover onion soup with a sausage. Lou had chicken with potato salad.

Friday: (02/24) Another nice clear morning. We prepared to leave our wonderful campsite and were on the road toward Pismo Beach by 9am. We planned to move up to our usual Pismo Beach campground for the weekend but half the campground is closed and the other half was full enough that we weren't happy with any of the remaining sites. And our clear day had turned to fog. So we decided to continue on home. But first we visited a couple of thrift stores in Grover Beach then stopped for lunch at the Pismo Fish And Chips Restaurant. We can never pass the place when we're in town. After lunch we continued on to Paso Robles and stopped at another thrift store. Then we were on the road in earnest. We stopped in Salinas for a walk and in Gilroy for gas.We arrived home shortly after 6pm. Dinner was leftover onion soup. Nice to be home.


 

Carpenteria State Beach

Sunday: (02/19) We were up early and on the road by 07:45. We stopped for breakfast at Denny's restaurant in Bell Air. I had pancakes and Lou had biscuits and gravy. They were a couple of items from their cheapskate menu so our total breakfast cost was less than $7. Our next stop was in Carmichael for gas. We took a nice walk to get the blood flowing. Lou checked Michael's craft store and found some nice picture frames she has been looking for. Before leaving we had lunch. Lou prepared leftover roast chicken, cottage cheese and a nice Waldorf salad. 


Our final stop was at Carpenteria State Beach about 2:30pm, where we got the last spot available. We took a walk on the beach and around town. For dinner we had chili sizes by a nice campfire.
(GPS:34.391966,-119.520804)

Monday: (02/20) A nice morning at the beach. Lou made scrambled eggs with chorizo and spinach for breakfast. I spent all day working on the computer.


When some of our neighbors left, Lou did some scouting and found a better site with an ocean view by the lagoon so we moved over to it. Abive are views of our campsite #46 from across the lagoon and from the beach.

 
And the view out our dinette window. Lunch was ham with green beans, potato salad and Waldorf salad. Lou finally "had" to go out so she looked around town, then got some things at the market before returning. I continued to work at the computer all day. For dinner Lou made tacos. It's quite amazing how empty the park is tonight considering there were no spaces left last night. This is a popular weekend destination.

Tuesday: (02/21) Lou made breakfast burritos this morning. We drove up to Santa Barbara for the day. We explored the wharf and everything on State Street.


By the time we headed back toward the car the Farmer's market had begun so we checked it out and got a few things. It's a real Farmers market not a street fair. There was only produce there. So many of  the Farmer's Markets that we've visited are half trinkets, crafts and food vendors.


We enjoyed a nice sunset.


A couple of more views of the sunset. Lou mad sausage onion soup for dinner. After dinner we enjoyed a nice campfire.

Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, Ca

Saturday: (02/18) I had oatmeal, Lou had grits for breakfast. We went over to Yuma and did our laundry. On our way home we stopped at Brownie's Cafe for a snack. A slice of pecan pie and a cowboy cinnamon roll, shared. We took the RV down to the nearby RV park and utilized their facilities to do our tank duty. With everything appropriately empty or full, we hooked up the jeep and hit the road West on I8. We made it through the two check points (border Patrol and Agricultural) fairly quickly and turned off I8 onto Highway 98 to Calexico. We wanted to check out a flea market we liked a couple of years ago but it is all but gone. We then headed up Highway 111 to Highway 86 stopping in Imperial City for an early dinner at the Golden Corral and to get a few things at Costco and then continued on to Indio. We stopped for the night at the Fantasy Springs Casino.
(GPS:33.723872,-116.196146)

Return To Los Algodones For Another Tooth

Thursday: (02/16) Arrived back at the Quetchan Casino near Yuma. We parked the motorhome and Lou drove me down to the border and dropped me off. I crossed in to Los Algodones by 11am. I stopped in at the Dentist office and they all had a worried look on their faces. No I hadn't returned because of a problem with the troublesome crown of a week ago. I had broken different tooth. It's a good thing we hadn't traveled too far. It was only about 150 miles back from Borrego Springs this morning. I was all fitted for my new crown by 1230 but had to wait the hour to get the temporary installed. After it was installed I stopped by at the taco stand for a couple of shrimp tacos and a milk shake. I can't pass them up. Lou had hot dogs for lunch, poor girl! I then caught the pedicab across the border. It does save waiting time. We had Lou's home made enchiladas from the freezer for dinner with some leftover cauliflower. When I finally checked my email i saw an email from the ISP that hosts my websites. They advised that they had disabled six of my blogs due to being a source for spam. Those old Wordpress blogs had been hacked and had code injected that allowed them to relay email. Only one blog is important to restore quickly. All I did this evening was place an "out of order" page on the site instead of a blank screen. Fortunately I do have a backup copy of the database only one month old.
(GPS:32.73896,-114.7223307)

Friday: (02/17) We were up early and had our ham and eggs breakfasts in the casino. I came out and worked on the websites for a while before we headed over to my 11am appointment to get my permanent crown. We also stopped in to get some driving glasses for me. Now maybe I'll be able to read the street signs. After the appropriate wait, Lou and I had lunch at the La Rancheria restaurant. We shared a margarita and a combination chilli relleno, tomale and enchilada, all very good. After lunch Lou headed on across the border so she could get some thrift store looking and grocery shopping done. I had to wait to pick up my glasses but finally got in line for the pedicab about 3:15. the place was really crowded today so there was about a 30 minute wait for the cab, still way less wait than for the walk through crossing. Unfortunately we did get flagged over for additional inspection which added another 10 minutes. I was finally walking back toward the casino by 4:15 and arrived at the RV at 4:45. Pretty much spent the day. I didn't get much done on the websites like I had planned. That's why they make tomorrows, I guess. For dinner we had roast chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots.

Anza Borrego SP, Pegleg

Tuesday: (02/14) Happy Valentine's day to everyone! We got up early to drive down to Pegleg while the wind was gone. It seems to be gusting pretty much most of the day except early morning. We were settled in at Pegleg, about 7 miles East of Borrego Spring, by a little after 8am. We're now down at 634 elevation. Last night we had a good rain storm at Blair Valley. The mountains got some snow. In fact, on the drive down to Borrego Springs we were passed by a ranger that had a 3-4 inch coat of snow all over the top of his vehicle. I fixed toasted English muffins with PBJ for breakfast. We relaxed at home as the wind started blowing pretty well shortly after we arrived. About 1130 we ventured downtown for a look around, and lunch. We stopped in at Carmelita's at The Mall. Lou and I shared a combination plate of a taco, a chili relleno, and a tamale.


We took a drive around the area and stopped to look at a few of the metal sculptures placed all over the valley floor. There is a private estate covering much of the valley floor called Galleta Meadows It is mostly just natural desert landscape but there are creatures lurking about. Dinosaurs, elephants, wild jeeps, coyboys, sea serpents, etc, all sculpted in steel by Ricardo Breceda, a Perris sculpture. Above are photos of a couple of the sculptures. Very detailed sculptures.


I'm not sure all the sculptures are really necessary in the desert. The metal sculpture on the left will never blossom like the one on the right. The estate is open to public use to look at the sculptures, camp up to 3 days, hike, etc. Leftover chicken pasta soup for dinner.
(GPS:33.29478,-116.2977)

Wednesday: (02/15) For breakfast, I made biscuits and gravy. Actually, the biscuits are left over from a couple of days ago and Lou tutored me on making the gravy. Her secret is diced onions in the gravy, lots of them.


We drove out DiGeorgio Road to the Lower Willows. We had to forward the stream three times and crawl over some rocks to get to a point above Lower Willows.


We came to a point where the "road" climbed a pretty good hill over 8-12 inch rocks as the pavement. That was a bit to treacherous for our poor little city Jeep, even with it's skid plates. I hiked up the hill about a half mile to see what was on the other side. There was just more of the same.


We returned to town and stopped at the store for more drinking water and then visited the Visitor center. When we left the Visitor Center, there it was raining and there was a double rainbow across the valley.

We returned to the RV for a late lunch. Lou made grilled horseradish cheese sandwiches. I had the last of the leftover chicken pasta soup and Lou had the leftover cranberry sunflower seed rice. We hung around home since it was raining. the air smells really nice after the rain.

Thursday: (02/16) We had oatmeal for breakfast. I noticed a new feeling on one of my teeth this morning. I had broken off the side of another tooth. So, we headed off toward Los Algodones. Fortunately, mornings are the least windy time so our desert crossing was easier.

Blair Valley, Anza Borrego SP

Saturday: (02/11) Nice sunrise again today. Lou made fresh strawberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast. On our last day in Mexico she picked up some excellent, sweet strawberries while we were in line to exit. We were on our way by 10am. We headed East on Imperial Dam Road to Highway 95 then down to Fortuna Road. We stopped at the Goldboro's Bakery there and picked up some bread, raspberry bear claw, maple bar, and an apple turnover.We then took 32nd St to Cactus Propane and filled our way empty LPG tank, topped off our gas at the cheaper Arizona prices, picked up a couple of things at Joann's and Target, visited the bank and were off, finally. When we stopped at Joann's we parked next to a farmers market. We picked up asparagus, cauliflower and grapefruit. For lunch we enjoyed the baked goods. When we passed through the California Ag inspection Station we had to surrender our grapefruit. We had planned on stopping in Calexico at the flea market but it was getting late and the winds were getting quite heavy so we continued on to Ocatillo then took Highway S2 in to Anzo Borrego State Park.


We stopped at a nice campsite in Blair Valley, a free camping area in the park. Our camp is by the old 1849 overland Stage Route. We've come up in this world. We were at 196 feet at Squaw Lake, here we're at 2543 feet so it's a bit cooler. Lou fixed BBQ ribs, baked potatoes and broccoli for dinner. It's a good thing the satellite Internet system is working since there is no cell phone signal here.
(GPS:33.0357,-116.4086)

Sunday: (02/12) Partly cloudy today. Almost looked like rain may come. Lou made fresh strawberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast again.

We drove out Blair Valley to the pictograph site and took a hike. It's only a mile to the pictographs.


The wind was icy cold thus the reason for Lou's parka.


Evidently last year there was a bumper crop of yucca flowers.


At the end of the Pictographs trail is this gorge leading to a real end of the trail, a 100 foot dropoff. Lou enjoys the view from the top. We continued on another 1/4 to 1/2 mile through a gorge to a place with a 100 foot drop off


The wash below the dropoff where we stopped (known as Smuggler's Canyon) is shown above left with Agua Caliente Park in the distance and highway S2, the road we came into the park on. On the right are some of the pictographs. Not too many, just on one rock.


Not too many flowers probably due to lack of rain. The "flower" on the left has no problem with no water. It's liken on a rock. A few ocatillo did decide to put out a few blossoms. The wind picked up again and was icy cold on the trail. My leg seems to be happy again and I got back to my usual pace with no limp on this hike. We returned to the RV for lunch, leftover broccoli and chipolte corn soup followed with peaches.


After lunch we drove up to Julian, California, an old gold mining town that is now famous for Apple Pie and a big tourist trap.  We stopped in at the Candied Apple Pastry Cafe for a couple of slices of apple pie. There re probably twenty places in town to get a slice of apple pie, most are just reselling Julian Pie Company pies. The Candied Apple Pastry does their own and are a little creative. We looked around the curio shops. While it was partly cloudy and windy down at our campsite, up here at Julian, at over 4000 feet, we were in the clouds and it was foggy and rainy. We returned to camp and relaxed at home the rest of the afternoon. Dinner was roast chicken with cheesy mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus.

Monday: (02/13) Partly cloudy again today. No wind in the morning. It blew well all night. Chorizo and eggs with apple bread toast for breakfast. While i prepared recent photos for publishing, Lou was busy preparing future meals.


About 10am we took a drive out Pinyon Mountain Road, a Jeep road we saw on the park map.


We stopped for a look out over Shelter Valley (left) and noticed this really old juniper tree (right).


The road was mostly sandy with the occasional rock passages(left)  and some trenches (right).


The map mentioned a "dropoff" a few miles in so we drove out to see what we could seem We found the dropoff about 6 miles in so we couldn't take it on through to the highway past Wind Cave. The "dropoff" wasn't much, just 5-10 feet but also passed through a very narrow notch in the rocks. The combination was enough to have us turn around.


Above left looking toward the dropoff from where we parked. we often stop and get out to access the rocks to see if we can pass. In this case, we didn't bother going over the big rock in from of the Jeep or through the really soft sand to the right around the bush because we noticed the narrow passage ahead and took a look as well finding the dropoff.


We explored several of the side roads on the way back.  At the end of one there was a nice trail down a wash. While Lou waited I took a short walk down the wash a ways before returning.

When we got back to the RV we enjoyed one of Lou's efforts from this morning, chicken pasta soup. The wind picked up after lunch so we relaxed at home.

The wind was gusting very heavy all afternoon and evening. We had some rain later in the evening. For dinner we had fresh cauliflower with cranberry sunflower seed rice, and grilled tuna.