California Here We Come ... Right Back....

Actually the rest of the line in that song is accurate.. right back where we started from.  California!  Where Becky and I first met.  But that's another story.

I will pick up on our journey down and across the country from my last post The Rocking Chair Ranch...   I know that many of you that have driven across the country, specifically across TEXAS can relate to that all so true rhyme "the sun is rize, the sun is set, and we is still in Texas yet".  Well OK, I took some liberties there but what the hell. 

The trip across NM was uneventful and felt pretty much like the never ending journey across Western Texas. Speaking of that, I failed to mention that where it is true that it is a heck of a jaunt across the lone star state... you should try it pulling an 8+ ton trailer at 60mph. Cars flying by at the 80mph speed limit made the trip even longer. The truth be told... there were literally 3 days where we would stare out at those wide open spaces and rugged mountains in absolute awe of the naked beauty of those deserts, prairies, plains or whatever the proper name for that land is.

One day, in NM we stopped at an I-10 roadside rest for lunch.  If you look close at the bottom left of the picture you will note a masonry wall.  The picnic table was casting its shadow on the wall and that rather interesting sign beyond it.  And just out of the picture to the left is an opening in the wall.  The bottom sign reads "POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS INHABIT THE AREA".  You can read the upper "No Pets in this Area".  No pets because there are likely to be rattlers and scorpions.  But it's OK for people to wander out there in that deadly, poisonous critters infested area?  Well... it just seemed funny to us at the time for there to be an inviting opening in the wall (actually there were several openings).

We spent a week in Tucson, Arizona visiting my Brother David and his wife.  Brother David is a color pressman - I think that's the correct title.  He printed up the following banner for our arrival.  His intent was to post it somewhere on our site just before our arrival but we also planned a surprise for him by arriving a day early.  Best laid plans ehh?  Anyway, we taped it to the side of the trailer for a couple quick pics.  Note the spelling of my first name - Jon - the way I use to spell it as a kid in high school.  I remember thinking that the "h" in my name was useless so I just dropped it.

Here a pic of Brother David!  No... we are not twins.

Our campground in the Tucson area was at the entrance to the Saguaro National Forest and I can't help but wonder how many others pose as Brother David and I did in the following pictures..

I am more than sure that if you did proper research you could find that someone has actually counted / estimated how many Saguaro cacti there are in the forest - must be in the 100,000's.  The sign below gives some of the statistics - they really are quite amazing.

We did make it into a campground outside of Blythe, California just in time for a Margarita and this sunset.  Again, my pictures simply do not do it justice - the sky was on fire for more than 10 minutes.

Wind Farms aren't new news - I know that.  But as we passed through the Palm Springs area, Beck and I were both taken back a bit by the farms alongside I-10.  Becky snapped the picture immediately below because of the snow on the peak of the taller mountain.  Seemed pretty impressive at the time - guess ya had to be there.

There must have been a half dozen farms like the one below in a five mile stretch of I-10.

The final leg of our journey from Blythe to Lake Elsinore, CA and the Lake Elsinore Marina and RV Resort was a hop, skip and a jump and we made it in around noon somewhere.  Took the rest of the afternoon to do a full set up but well worth the effort.  We'll be here for four months.

Most of the time here so far has been spent in the trailer as it was raining pretty much constantly.  But the skies finally cleared and we snapped a few pictures  of the campground and surroundings.

The picture above and below are taken from the boat ramp - it must be10 lanes wide which leads me to suspect that it must get awfully noisy in the park around "safe light" time in the morning.

Here's a few more shots from the RV park... note the taller mountain in the background in the picture above... picture below is of the same mountain after "The Pineapple Express" blew by and dumped more than 10" of rain about six days later.  Some of it landed with a white color.

 The picture below was taken about 10 miles from Lake Elsinore.  Many of the surrounding mountains are now covered in snow - absolutely beautiful although I know some of you might not agree with that assessment.

Well folks... that's about it.   In closing I'll use the picture below, actually I'm using it for the second time but I gave myself permission to include it.

Once again...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(cleaver use of color ehhh?)