Southern California

This is a different part of southern California. It is desert. It is dry and generally hot, although it has been windy and a little cool yesterday and today. Our campsite is great and we have met some very nice people. They have also given us some good tips on what to see next. The volunteers even brought us free camfire wood for a few nights. (The closest store is about 50 miles away.)

The campsite has no cell phone or internet coverage so it is hard to connect with people, but I suppose that it is nice as a start to be isolated. We are currently about 10 miles down the road from our campground at a private campgroud that has a laundry area - yes it is time to do laundry. They have free wifi so it seemed time to update my blog.

The drive here from Oregon and the Bay Area was long and tiring and it is good that we have just stopped for a week to make sure that everything works. (We are really spoiled in Oregon that we do not have the kind of traffic that they have in LA.) We spent one day on the scooters riding around, but there is not much here within scooter distance. We also spent one day driving to the Salton Sea. We actually drove all the way around - it took two hours. It was vey interesting because there was lots of green and crops on one side of the road but very dry and arid on the other side. Of course it is all due to irrigation. The irrigation canal was right next to the road. As far as we could tell there was lots of oranges, dates and grapes growing there. There were also lots of refrigerated trucks on the road to pick up and deliver all of the crops. But it was a nice easy drive.

At my insistance we turned off the road at a place called Bombay Beach - sounded good? Well it was very depressing. A very small area filled with old dilapidated trailers and shacks. Very poor. Apparently there had been a beach there at some point, but the beach now had a sign that it was closed.

Our campground has a regular pool and a therapy pool. We have spent some time in both - although a lot more in the therapy pool. The therapy pool is about 102 degrees and apparently (according to the sign) contains many minerals. Bob says that it does make his back feel better. I just plain enjoy it.

I have been pretty diligent about doing exercise and have even lost another pound. There are some great hiles to take. As we drive around or walk around I see more and more in the desert. People kept telling me that there was a lot to see - but it takes some time to get over the feel that this is barren and there is nothing to see. There are many off road hikes and campsites along the road.

Last night the wind came up pretty strong so we pulled in everything that could get hurt by the wind and even had dinner inside Fanny (the trailer) because it was so windy. This morning it is cloudy but the sky is clearning and it is getting warmer.

The next few days will be more sitting, reading and swimming. Then on to Arizona.