Dec 16
Work brings me to Los Angeles for a few days of meetings. Pictured above is Today’s sunrise as I was standing from my hotel room balcony. I was lucky enough to catch great colors – the iPhone camera simply does not do justice.
Oh, and LA is still one of my least favorite cities.
Jan 1
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
Having spent the past five weeks living full-time in the Airstream, Kelly and I used the Labor Day holiday as an excuse to hit the road and let the Airstream stretch her legs. We’ve been parked for far too long without a trip and were really excited to get away. Of course, we chose Oregon as our initial destination … southern Oregon to be specific. Odds are good we’ll land someplace near Ashland. We’ll see what happens.
For now, we’re parked in a beautiful place – Brandy Creek campground near Whiskeytown, CA. We’re traveling I-5 in order to make decent time. I also wanted to get our truck/airstream combo weighed which essentially limits us to the interstate where semi-truck mega stop are plentiful. Have yet to weigh our set-up, I was anxious to verify whether or not we are loaded with too much stuff. (UPDATE – we were not … in fact, we had lots of room to spare, but our weight distribution needs some refining).
Brandy Creek is a bit out-of-the-way – about ten miles, but the detour was worth it. There are no hooks-ups, which was fine with us because we needed/wanted to test drive our new Yamaha generator. All went well I happy to report.
There were about 30 total sites, of which about half were taken. Of course, the people next to us thought it would be cool to be loud — too loud I thought. Who decides to wait until 10:30pm to set-up tents? Is the 40 foot RV and the monster generator not enough? Good grief.
Apparently – as you can see in the pictures below – the deer were not annoyed. Food is food and the knuckleheads next to us had seemingly unlimited supplies of bread to toss on the ground. The deer seemed quite satisfied.
In addition to its namesake creek, there is a great beach and mountain lake, but I forgot to grab my camera, so no pictures.
Tomorrow we’re off to Oregon.
Wandering With Purpose 