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February 19, 2010, a Friday
near Joshua Tree National Park to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (Yaqui Well), California, USA
— Ran into some crazy Canucks and had house guests
We took it easy this morning to recuperate from a long day yesterday. I had my normal breakfast and started to work up a blog entry. A few seconds after I climbed into the cab to get ready to leave, two people in a pickup truck approached and they were wildly flailing their arms around. It was G&L-O, our friends from Osoyoos, British Columbia! They have been camping in Twentynine Palm, just north of Joshua Tree National Park, and we had been planning to meet up with them in about a week. We weren't expecting to see them on their way to the Salton Sea! We invited them in and had a very nice visit. What a wonderful surprise! We all left around 10:18.
We resumed heading west on I-10 and ...
Went to the WalMart in La Quinta at 11:05. We picked up a few things including supplies for our next oil change plus an additional quart to finish off our just-completed oil change. After we finished shopping, I put half a quart of oil in the ending to get us closer to the specified amount. We left at 11:52.
We went to a nearby Panera Bread at 11:57. J tried to go online through their WiFi network while we were still in the RV, but we had had to park too far away. Instead of taking her laptop into the restaurant, we just went in to have lunch. The place was crowded, so we decided to order the food to go. I got a Chipotle Chicken sandwhich and J got soup (broccoli cheddar) and salad (Greek). We ate in the RV, then I finished the blog entry. We left at 1:10.
We went to a nearby Circle K gas station at 1:14 to fill up the RV at $2.799/gal. We got underway at 1:25 and ...
Headed south on CA-86 then west on CA-78.
We entered Anza-Borrego Desert State Park at 3:16. It's the largest state park in California and encompasses a wonderful mountainous desert environment. The park is known for the wildflowers that bloom in late February and early March, and we were hoping to be here near the peak of the activity. Unfortunately, the flowers were just starting to bloom.
We reached the Yaqui Well Campground at 3:36. It's a primitive campground, and it's free! We selected a nice site and I parked the RV to maximize solar-electric power. I tilted the solar-electric panels, then we started to clean up the RV. We turned on the generator at 5:00 for 25 minutes so we could run the vacuum cleaner. We have a very weak Verizon Wireless National Access signal. I was able to get online for a minute or two, then wasn't able to re-establish a connection. :( Amazingly, J has AT&T coverage for her iPhone! It's very rare to have AT&T coverage and no Verizon coverage — usually it's the other way around. J made a batch of Citrus Salmon sauce and I started the grill.
J's brother R, his wife C, and their son R arrived around 7:20.
We had dinner of citrus salmon, marinated grilled chicken, long grain wild rice, and fresh asparagus. The salmon was one of our better ones. We had some of J's banana cream pie for dessert.
R slept out under the stars, with occasional light rain, in a bivi sack, C slept on the floor in the "living room," and son-R slept on the floor in our office.
We resumed heading west on I-10 and ...
Went to the WalMart in La Quinta at 11:05. We picked up a few things including supplies for our next oil change plus an additional quart to finish off our just-completed oil change. After we finished shopping, I put half a quart of oil in the ending to get us closer to the specified amount. We left at 11:52.
We went to a nearby Panera Bread at 11:57. J tried to go online through their WiFi network while we were still in the RV, but we had had to park too far away. Instead of taking her laptop into the restaurant, we just went in to have lunch. The place was crowded, so we decided to order the food to go. I got a Chipotle Chicken sandwhich and J got soup (broccoli cheddar) and salad (Greek). We ate in the RV, then I finished the blog entry. We left at 1:10.
We went to a nearby Circle K gas station at 1:14 to fill up the RV at $2.799/gal. We got underway at 1:25 and ...
Headed south on CA-86 then west on CA-78.
We entered Anza-Borrego Desert State Park at 3:16. It's the largest state park in California and encompasses a wonderful mountainous desert environment. The park is known for the wildflowers that bloom in late February and early March, and we were hoping to be here near the peak of the activity. Unfortunately, the flowers were just starting to bloom.
We reached the Yaqui Well Campground at 3:36. It's a primitive campground, and it's free! We selected a nice site and I parked the RV to maximize solar-electric power. I tilted the solar-electric panels, then we started to clean up the RV. We turned on the generator at 5:00 for 25 minutes so we could run the vacuum cleaner. We have a very weak Verizon Wireless National Access signal. I was able to get online for a minute or two, then wasn't able to re-establish a connection. :( Amazingly, J has AT&T coverage for her iPhone! It's very rare to have AT&T coverage and no Verizon coverage — usually it's the other way around. J made a batch of Citrus Salmon sauce and I started the grill.
J's brother R, his wife C, and their son R arrived around 7:20.
We had dinner of citrus salmon, marinated grilled chicken, long grain wild rice, and fresh asparagus. The salmon was one of our better ones. We had some of J's banana cream pie for dessert.
R slept out under the stars, with occasional light rain, in a bivi sack, C slept on the floor in the "living room," and son-R slept on the floor in our office.