AstroGypsies

We read a travelers blog about this “hidden gem of a park” and it suddenly dawned on me they were talking about Anza Borrego…hidden, ha! Don’t think so, guess they never tried to make reservations for any of the sites in the Palm Canyon Campground in Jan/Feb or March! Gem, yes. The Borrego Palm Canyon trail is hiked by roughly 20,000 visitors annually so yeah, not hidden dear! With the rains, come streams and waterfalls trickling through out the Palm Canyon path.

It helps to start the day with a beautiful splash of colour! Cat walking first, lizards chasing, then human walking!

The trail winds through the stream at times past beautiful boulders, it is rocky walking over stones and between and under the boulders at times! I think I got flanked by an 80 year old with walking sticks…sigh…so I’m a tortoise! I ate too many tacos in Baja, Mike, a frigging’ mountain goat! I told Mike the only people slower than photographers might be botanists walking;) I like taking pictures of the flowers and odd plants:) Ha! The trail was the quietest I’d seen, bloom has not really started but there is still lots to see!

A fire swept through here in 2020, the palms have survived thankfully but the whole area is closed to give it a chance to rejuvenate. There used to be seating in the shade, Mike found a boulder while I stalked a beautiful Costa’s Hummingbird defending his bush of red chuparosa flowers. I needed a breather anyway! whew!

I talked Mike into taking the alternative route back, I hadn’t quite given up on seeing any borregos and had seen them along the higher path once before, what was I thinking? It wasn’t well marked and I think we went off path a few times, rock jumping, scrambling up and down, life is an adventure and my legs will hurt for days I’m sure! Ha! No borregos but we got to see a beautiful American Kestrel snacking on a grasshopper! There are no pets allowed along the trails, to protect the bighorn sheep no doubt!

At the end of the path we came upon a Black Tailed Gnatcatcher picking the seeds off the brittle brush blooms. There were actually more blooms around the campsites and campground than higher up in the canyon. The ocotillos were just starting to leaf out there, a few Northern Mockingbirds flew from the palms to them and back.

Anza Borrego is a Groot, Gamora and Rocket approved park! So much to sniff! Prickly things though and LIZARDS! OMG, happy cats indeed, no lizards were harmed, they are far too fast! It’s an odd mix of sites here.The two on the outside, 50 and 51 look out onto the desert, but I bet they are hard to book, unless you do this months in advance. We can’t really fit into any of the sites in the upper campground that we drove past.

A few spots down from us was an A class with a fake mini mailbox and a sign proclaiming God’s watchful eye is guarding you…why? Just why? Avoid at all costs these campers! Ha! I guess it’s better than the “Protected by Smith and Wesson” signs we see hanging off RV’s…Welcome to ‘merica! At the spot next to us they had two Mr. Triple heaters! I had no idea these existed, obviously I have been living in a vacuum! I have warmed myself in front of a Mr. Double Heater as we called it, in Jack’s carburetor shop many a time! I assume they are tent camping here! Temperatures were dipping into the high 40’s, warmer than Santee Lakes! Wusses here! Ha! says the camper from her nice warm 5th wheel with it’s electric fireplace;) Yes, we are spoiled!

We had a beautiful send off the next morning, another astonishing sunrise, those oranges and blues, breathtaking. A bit of early morning bathrobe photography as I caught a few more blooms and seeds in the campground. A bit of a stretch for those tired legs as well, the trip into Arizona was going to be almost three hours.

I didn’t realize it was going to be the road from hell out! It started off smooth enough through Borrego Springs, then Highway 78 East towards the Salton Sea. As we approached Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area it was bumpy and undulating in the worst way, like a freeze thaw road in the North, except there is no excuse for that here?! WTF (who the f*ck!) built this! Two cats were drooling profusely, Groot was burping and coughing, bad sign, we slowed down to less than 40 mph as we navigated the potholes that were thrown in for good measure. The inside of the trailer looked like a tornado had gone through when we stopped! Broken dishes in the cupboard (a first) pictures off the walls, box of cat toys scattered across the floor, a lamp bent! Wild bumpy ride!

When we arrived to the #86 South it was with a huge sigh of relief! It felt smooth as silk, as did the Interstate 8 as we turned East. It wasn’t the only adventure though, an eighteen wheeler in front us of lost a tire, we had some warning as the bits started to fly off, these are busy roads and sometimes hard to even move over a lane, Mike managed to and we missed it, in the next few minutes I saw a car out of the corner of my left eye from the two lanes of traffic heading West. It was going backwards very quickly across the sand divide from the opposite lanes of traffic. He’d spun out, missed an eighteen wheeler behind him, didn’t flip but was obviously going in the wrong direction now! Jeezus murphy, actually I think Mike said something far worse, I was craning to see if he made it into our lanes of traffic behind us going backwards. “ENOUGH!” Mike exclaimed! Things settled down after that!

So I missed the phalloplasty billboard, damn. All I saw was “Increase your girth!” and I was wondering what old codger in Yuma was worried about increasing his waistline…oh dear, just old codgers worried about increasing their penis girth…OMG..on a billboard? WTF? This is just the weirdest country. At least Cannabis is now legal;) ha! According to the plastic penis surgery folks:

“Penis enlargement surgery is an outpatient procedure that usually takes about two hours. We inject the penis erect, and your erection may last up to 3 to 4 hours after the procedure. Medications are provided to keep the patient comfortable and safe. The surgeon will see the patient shortly following the procedure and several times thereafter to ensure proper recovery. Voluma is a high-tech filler placed beneath the skin to increase the width of the penis. There are several advantages to the use of VolumaTM over other techniques. It is inserted through one insertion point, can be smoothed into place, and has a very high satisfaction rate. The gain in girth depends on the amount of Voluma placed in the penis. Most patients require 10 – 12 syringes to achieve an aesthetically pleasing result. *Results may vary. These results are not guaranteed.“

OMG!!!! I had to look it up. Mike was wincing as I was reading it to him! No thanks he said! Ha!

We made it to Wellton and turned off the Interstate. I was bound and determined to skip Yuma and put us a bit closer to Painted Rock Petroglyphs site, our next stop. It was pretty depressing. No living plants except for a few scraggly palms, lot’s of plastic and metal flowers and the smell of manure! You know you are a farm girl when! Ha! A nice man walked me over to a few sites and said to take whichever one we could fit in and pay in the morning when the office was open.

We both wondered who in their right mind would actually choose to spend a Winter, or any other time here. I get that it’s cheap and warmer than Idaho but!?! The lady at the front desk was pushing a seminar on how to get your RV home if your spouse dies. I suggested driving it back…”But how would you get your husband back? “she asked! “In a box, you know cremated, ashes, or I could cut him up and put him in the freezer but that might be frowned upon at the border…” she didn’t look amused…I really should sign up for that seminar but darn, can’t stay! Ha! Stay tuned for Painted Rock Petroglyphs! Saludos amigos, we’ll get Mike back alive, don’t worry!