Wandering With Purpose

Jan 2

Nearing the End

Sadly, today is our last day in the desert – tomorrow we are departing this lovely place we’ve come to like a lot. We have an appointment early Saturday morning in Los Banos, some 430 miles to the north. In order to break the drive into more manageable chunks, we’ve decided to begin the trek in the morning. My guess is we’ll drive at least half way, perhaps a bit more … there is no rush, so the day will end whenever it feels right doing so.

In an attempt to squeeze one last gasp of fun into our time here today, we wandered into the eastern portion of the park to checkout the Vista del Malpais area.

Access road

The road in from the highway follows the desert floor along a series of short washouts before approaching serious steep descents into a wash section. We drove into the modest wash sections, but decided not to push our luck with the more serious off-road sections. Unlike the recreational off-roading commonplace to the area, we need the truck to pull our home … getting stuck or risking damage is simply out of the question.

End of the drive, we hike from here.

No matter, we hiked into the canyon floor with Lilly.

Lilly loves to climb

As you make your way into the more pronounced sections of the wash floor, the sand is quite thick and the walls become more and more vertical around you. From what I could tell, it would be quite accessible hiking in the bad-land off-shoots anywhere along the way.

Washouts eroding the valley walls

Desert flora eventually succumbs to erosion as well

Desert flora eventually succumb to erosion as well

The place is very cool and I definitely would have loved to have a more capable 4×4 vehicle to use for deeper exploration. Maybe some day.

The view from above the washouts

Kelly and me enjoying the views and warm weather

Once we returned back to camp, a few departure preparations were completed before Kelly and I had dinner with Tim & Amanda one final time.

Making time for my weekly haircut

We drank some champagne (which was originally intended for New Year’s Eve but never consumed) and a potluck style array of eats. It’s been great spending some extended time with and getting to know more about the Watsons – they are both good eggs for sure. A super casual evening in the company of really nice people.

Jan 2

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Sunrise At Anza-Borrego Springs

Keen to catch at least one full sunrise during our trip, Kelly and I awoke early and emerged from the Airstream in time to watch the sun rise in the Eastern sky. Like the many sunsets we have watched these past 10 days, the sunrise was equally wonderful to observe.

I snapped a few pictures, all of them taken within a few steps of Mabel – our roaming home.

Our Airstream

Class-A in the distance

Reflection off front bedroom window

Foothills in the distance

Morning moon

Reflection off the dinette window

Large group of Class-A rigs

The Watson’s rig – love the polish in the morning light

Class-A rig catching the first shimmers of direct morning light

Our neighbors super polish rig

Jan 1

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Wandering With the Watsons

California’s largest desert park

Yesterday Kelly and I arrived to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, our destination for a few days until we continue the crawl back towards Half Moon Bay. We continue to dry camp, this time alongside fellow Airstreamers – Tim, Amanda, and Phineas … aka WatsonsWander. They arrived a few days before us and scouted out a very nice spot – spacious, with only a few other RV’s scattered across a vast landscape. The site is California’s larger desert park – exceeding 900 acres. Generous with the rules, there is no time limit to stay, and at free, the price is definitely right.

Basically, it is perfect.

Our mobile homes, just down the path

A closer look at the picture above

Tim and Amanda joined Kelly and me last night for dinner and great conversation. This afternoon, the four us (plus Lilly & Phineas) ventured to the Calcite Mine Trail, a remote area about 10 east of our campsite. The trail is pretty cool – a diverse network of slot canyons easily traveled, less some spots requiring a bit of bouldering/scrambling. There is also an abandoned access road which, as evidenced by the number of Jeeps we saw, is now a popular 4×4 off-roading destination.

Approaching the trails – Lilly and Phineas leading the way

This area is prone to flash flooding, our trail today included. Over what I can only assume to be hundreds, if not thousands of years, the rushing water flows have carved an Alice in Wonderland like maze through these slots, which are significantly taller than they are wide. I’ve never seen anything like them before.

Slots

More slots

After a while we ascended the canyon in search of the mining remnants, but never did find the site. However, the views from high above were fabulous.

The climb starts with some scrambling

Up, up, up

Cactus perched near the top

Eventually, we completed the loop satisfied with the hike, but a bit bummed we missed out on the mining remains.

On the way home, Lilly enjoyed a post-hike treat in the car.

Enjoying a post hike treat

Jan 1

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Welcoming 2013 (not) In Style

Once upon a time in a land far away (Chicago, 1996) I went to a New Year’s Eve party and had way too much to drink. Eventually I decided to go home, but rather than go to my home to sleep-off my drunken stupor, I went to Kelly’s home (we were dating at the time and she left said party hours beforehand). To be honest, the details of that night remain a bit foggy to this day, but what I do know for sure is that at some point shortly after my arrival I puked in Kelly’s bed.

Yes, puked.

It goes without saying that she had every right to dump my sorry ass out to the street and never again speak a word to me. To her credit, and to my benefit, the story has played out differently. Many years later we are still together.

Clearly, that evening was not one of my shining moments and every once in a while, I am reminded of my amateur-like performance.

While my days of ‘celebrating’ the passing of one year to the next have long ago been curtailed, last night I once again found myself facing conflict deep in the bowels of my inner body. While there was no alcoholic bender to blame this time, something from the events of last night did not sit well with my stomach and GI track. My otherwise stomach of steel raising the while flag of mercy as it attempted to digest the evening’s input: beer, wine, tater-tots, chicken, beef, salad, green beans, chocolate brownies, and peanut butter cookies (not necessarily in that order).

Something had to give.

As so it was, at 12:34am I roused from my sleep, fearing that once again, puking was imminent. This time however I was much more chivalrous as I got myself into the bathroom and managed to place all my ‘deposits’ squarely into a garbage can.

Happy New Year.

Older and wiser, I now better appreciate the need to maintain a tidy dwelling than I had in years past. Accordingly, the entire episode, less the smell (hey, I’m not miracle worker) is contained neatly in the triple redundant grocery bag pictured below.

Contents of last night’s dinner

As a foreshadow to this newly arrived year, I’m not sure how to interpret the events of the night. On the one hand, puking is never good. Was this merely a precursor to more gut-wrenching moments to come ? Or, do I take solace in how I calmly managed the situation into one wherein Kelly got a good laugh out of the whole event by asking “Do you want me to take a picture for the blog?” while I was sitting on the toilet in misery?

Time will tell I suppose.

Wandering With Purpose

Full-timing since April 2015 … Dave, Kelly, and our dog living and traveling full-time in our Airstream trailer.

Nearing the End

Sunrise At Anza-Borrego Springs

Wandering With the Watsons

Welcoming 2013 (not) In Style

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