Blowing in to Borrego

(Borrego Springs, CA)  Originally, the plan was that JoAnn, Jo and I were going to go hiking this morning.  However, in the middle of the night the winds began to howl.

By morning, the winds were so strong that it didn’t surprise me at all when I received word from JoAnn that our trek was cancelled.  JoAnn is no stranger to boondocking in this area and said she had never experienced winds this strong.

So, as you would expect shortly after we cancelled the hike, the winds which were suppose to get stronger during the day, began to calm and Ken and I took a short walk with the dogs in the area.

Instead we drove in to Borrego Springs with JoAnn and Doug  to meet Jo and Fred for lunch at Calico’s.  Although it is called a bakery, this place is known for very good pizza and something called an egg pocket which is a combination of hard boiled egg, ham and mozzarella inside a puff pastry.  Ken and I had both and were really happy with the food.  However, the kitchen really isn’t organized to serve pizza since after Ken and I placed our order they told JoAnn that our’s would take a half hour and they couldn’t start one for her until ours was complete. 

I don’t think Doug was too disappointed though that they didn’t get pizza.  None of us had ever seen so much bacon on a BLT!!

After the meal, all six of us and Boo Boo jumped in to Doug and JoAnn’s truck to take a ride up the mountain on the other side of Borrego Springs where the mountain goats unique to this area are often found grazing. 

While we were not lucky enough to catch any of the goats out, probably because of the return of the gusty winds, we did have some really lovely views looking down onto the valley town.  Jo and Fred are taking this route over the mountain tomorrow on the way to the SKP Jojoba Co-op.  It has a lot of switchbacks and steep grades but as you can see from picture below is tackled by RVers.

I can’t say we were particularly surprised the Doug’s truck just steered itself in to the Fudge Factory where they also serve, yes, Blue Bunny ice cream!  We all enjoyed a mid-afternoon desert and then walked over t0 the state park and museum store where they had lots of interesting items on the area.

What we found most interesting was running in to another couple of SKP Boomers in front of the store.  Marlene and Richard Dopp are actually the folks that built the earth oven that is in front of our rig in the desert where we are parked. 

You can see what the oven looked like when Marlene and Richard, along with Laurie and Odel, built it 3 years ago, by clicking here.    The Dopps had been at Quartzsite with the Boomers when we were there but we really hadn’t gotten to know them then. They have been friends with the Dubrouillets for some time though and had dropped by our rigs earlier in the day but after we’d already left.  So now we are hoping that they’ll be coming by for happy hour tomorrow.  There is no end to the interconnections within the community of wonderful RVers.  As Doug said, you begin to run in to more friends at your next RV parking site than you do in your hometown.

The Dopps also mentioned that a grove just north of town had some really luscious grapefruit in their roadside stand.  So that was our next stop.   When they heard that Ken and I had never picked a grapefruit or orange before they were happy to let us get the photo op below.

After checking out all the various samples they had at the stand, we decided to split a bag of oranges and a bag of grapefruit with the Dubrouillets.  There were 2 dozen oranges in a bag a dozen grapefruit, with a bag costing $3.  Really, really great buy for Midwesterners on fresh, fresh off-the-tree citrus.

We made a brief stop at one of the dozens of  Galleta Meadows Sculptures that dot the countryside around Borrego Springs.  This was one of the most recent which depicts field workers who toiled here picking grapes prior to the historic United Farm Workers boycott in the 1960’s.

 

After seeing this one example, Ken and I are sure we want to head out in the next few days and find the rest of the dozen or more sculptures scattered around the area.

 

 

While I like to end with a sunset, tonight that was not to be.  Instead I leave you with a view from our rig looking back toward Borrego Springs where it they were obviously experience a rare taste of rain.

Hugs, C