An Old Favourite

 Each year we are in the Yuma area, we go to an old favourite to spend some time at Mittry Lake - a place that holds many fond memories.  Not only is it a nice quiet spot which often provides some shelter from any wind, the scenery is beautiful. 

View across the lake

Out our door - along the canal

This year, as I was out scouting for a spot (this place has become incredibly popular this year), I came up to some of the wildlife.

  I have heard that there were sheep in the area but this is the first time I have ever seen any here.

Parked across from us was a camping unit which was huge, self built, and rather interesting.  This was an old car hauler that was converted by a couple from British Columbia.

  In order to gain some extra height so he could build a two story unit, he cut off the roof and fastened it to pneumatic jacks so he could raise and lower the roof.  The windows are a plastic material held in place by velcro for easy removal.  On the second floor, the wall panels were a naugahyde type material, held in place by velcro, which made for easy access to anything in the walls.  Below are several photos I was able to take during a little tour. 

The staircase to the 2nd floor

The kitchen and eating area

Library at the top of the stairs

My comment - interesting!!!!

Mid week a dust storm blew in - and I mean blew..............  Fortunately we were somewhat sheltered up at the lake plus the wind that blew, came across the water rather than fields of sand and/or farmland.

Finally, the weather cleared and we went off on a bit of a road trip with some friends, Dave and Bonnie, (camped with us) and Chris and Rick who came down from Quartzsite.  The day started a bit cloudy, windy and cool but the  scenery made up for it.  We first visited the horse tanks in the KOFA Wildlife Refuge.  These tanks are large holes in the rock which retain water for the wildlife. 

Then it was onto MacPherson Pass which is a 26 km trail across the mountains - not real difficult but definitely scenic.

We are always in search of a bargain - today we found one.  I am attaching a photo of a grocery bill  where we were able to maximize our savings.  Sure wish we could do the same on a regular basis.

That brought our week to an end with the weather today cool (high of 21C, cloudy, and some rain).  The weather has been unco-operative for many folks - the temps down here have been way below normal since Christmas, but nothing like other folks from around here and at home have been been experiencing.  I hope you all have a great week and perhaps the weather will improve.

Back in Yuma

Just running a little late this week - will post shortly!!

As the saying goes - "a day late and a dollar short" - well I ended up both this week.  The day late is obvious but a dollar short?  Actually it was more like $10.00 short.  I went shopping with my friend Marleen for a few groceries and I knew all I needed was my  credit card; or at least that's what I thought.  However, roadside stands tend not to take credit cards - ended up owing Marleen my dollar(s) short.

The week started with a pizza party.  Marleen is the owner of many intriguing gadgets so this week we got to experiment with the pizza making equipment.  Of course we also got to enjoy different crusts and different pizzas!

This is the dough squisher so no trying to roll it our round

Here is the oven

The final product

We had some rain over a couple of days and cool weather.  In fact it was cool enough to create a layer of frost early in the morning - brrrr! 

Marleen and Gary's son, Travis, is also visiting from Minneapolis and he is likely the king of  new and interesting "toys" here he is playing with his latest.

Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's.....

Travis' drone!!

We ended the week with a 60th Anniversary celebration.  Gary and Marleen's next door neighbours , Gene and Janice, celebrated their 60th anniversary (plus they were also our gracious hosts this past week).  Their son, Doug, and grandson, Kyle, flew from New York to celebrate this special day!

While the weather was  less than we wanted, the friendship and visiting more than made up for it.  Now on to another week.  I hope everyone had a great week and I'll be back in 6 days (hopefully - or maybe 7!).

Back to Normal

This week was quite an exciting week for us with the anticipation of a new motor to run the hydraulics on our jacks and slides.  We finally had a tracking number so we knew it was to arrive on Wednesday, so Gerry made a number of phone calls to get someone to install it but you can imagine the result of that - no one wanted to do it.  I guess they all knew where it would be located - tucked away up in a corner underneath the motorhome so guess who got to gather the tools and don the coveralls (hint - it wasn't the "lady" of this household).  Gerry got to be contortionist, and the old motor came out. 

 Sure enough, late Wednesday afternoon, it arrived.  

Thursday morning was the next step  - read the skimpy instructions and install the new one which went in relatively easy.  Now let's try it - well, the motor runs but that is all.  He tried a couple of different options but to no avail.

  We decided that it might best to head to Yuma as Gary is quite the trouble shooter  (not troubled shooter) and perhaps two old heads are better than one.

This morning, the motor came out, went back in and voila! All is well. 

That was the real exciting part of our week.

We did go on a couple of off road trips.  One was up the Grapevine Canyon which was a nice easy drive after which we took a short hike in search of a spring up in the mountains.  We did find where the spring was supposed to be but we never did see any water.  The terrain was rather rocky but it was neat to see the Salton Sea which was over 20 miles away.

Then we went up Rockhouse Road in search of some flowers - specifically desert lilies. 

We drove quite a distance over a few rocky stretches and quite a lot of washboard.  There had been a specific set of directions and sure enough, there was a patch of desert lilies - one like we had never seen before.  Often we have seen these flowers but never a very large area as they seem to be scattered about.  This was in addition to some other nice patches of flowers.

We came across some sort of structure that looked like it had only a solar panel but it really was an important piece of scientific equipment.

Another week has flown by and it certainly was a satisfying week in regards to our repairs; however it was also sad as we had to say good-bye to friends.  Hopefully our paths will cross again this winter but it may have to wait until next year.

I hope everyone had a great week and hope you will be back next week. 

Just Hanging Around

We are still hanging around Borrego Springs enjoying life; and waiting for our replacement motor to arrive.  There seems to be a bit of a supply chain issue with it but it sounds like it is more of a customer service issue as the motor was apparently in stock.  But, it is on it's way and should arrive one day this coming week.

To keep from getting bored, we did a couple of trips - some off-road and some on-road and all were fun.  We did another tour to Inspiration Point but this time the sun was shining and everything looks so much brighter in the sun.

Then we did a couple of hikes - the first one was to Glorietta Canyon  which was a bit challenging in spots as we had to climb over some boulders but we did it.  Then it was up Fish Creek to the wind caves. 

While some of the trail was somewhat rather mundane scenery, some of it was amazing. 
You drive along canyon walls and see a variety of geological  formations, including an anticlime which is a folded rock formation which has an upwards convex shape.

Then it is the trail to the wind caves which is just under 1.5 miles return trip.  While it is not particularly difficult as there is no rock scrambling, it is quite steep but definitely worth the climb.

Between the two hikes, we took a drive to Laguna Recreation Area  where we go up to over 5,000 feet (we are at 615 feet here) so of course there was quite a weather change.  We went through a couple of small towns - first stop was Guatay where there was what looked like perhaps a museum in progress.  There were some interesting pieces of equipment around.

Looks like a lawn mower?

Not sure what time Happy Hour is - my kind of church though!

Next stop was Pine Valley County Park.  We walked throughout the park, deciding whether or not we should stop for lunch but it was a bit too early.  There were some very interesting trees - one of which was a Ponderosa Pine.  As we were looking at it, we found that the trunk was full of holes and many of them had something stuck into them.  We found some park workers, and discovered that the holes were created by woodpeckers and they stuffed a live oak seed in the holes for later use.

Then it was off to lunch at Major's Diner which is decorated  with items of days past - definitely a unique  decor.  Sad, but it was one of their last days in business as they will be closing their doors this week.

The drive through the recreation area was amazing

as we watched kids slide down the hills,

we walked through snow to reach lookouts, and some even wanted to play in the snow.  What a great day.

Everywhere one goes, there are always signs - some make sense, and some don't, but they almost always provide for some entertainment.  This week, we came across quite a variety of signs.

On occasion, we will hear something that sounds like the flight of a bumble bee.  Well, it's close as these fellows come zooming overhead.

This morning there were a couple of garage sales that we attended.  We did buy a lawn chair which was very inexpensive and is the same as the ones we have.  Then it was home to do something domestic.  I made a loaf of bread (putting the sun to work).

while our friends shared in a banana cream pie.  Life is good.  I hope each and everyone of you have a great week.  Take care!!