All Alone in the Desert

We headed away from the crowds in California and headed for our all time favourite boondocking spot. We tend to like a little space around us, and Max and Maya love to be able to be off leash at our spot, which they are not able to do if we are surrounded by other rigs in close proximity. Our nearest neigbour is probably a five or six hundred yards away and that suits us just fine. Them too I bet.

We have made a couple of trips into Parker, one for groceries and one for Brenda to get her hair cut and me to pop by the La Paz hospital to let them practice sticking needles and sampling my blood. That keeps my doc back in Canada happy and me ticking. Just a heads up though, it cost exactly 5 times as much to get my blood drawn there as it does to do it at my old regular spot Sonora Quest Labs, but on the positive side they had the results fax to the Doc within the hour. While in their our second time this train crossed in front of us, it is the Arizona and California Railroad.

Other than that we have just chilled here at our spot, with the exception of taking the UTV on a run over to the dump to get rid of our accumulated garbage.

Today I took a spin over Plomosa Road to attend a Meet-up of folks who follow Olivia and Kyle Brady and their Drivin' and Vibin' group, the Vibe Tribe they call us. As I got down Plomosa to the BLM camping area this is the site that greeted me, wall to wall RV's.

Way more neighbours than I want to have

As usual with RV'ers there was a lot of commonality in the group although the ages were widely divergent, and not a frown in the bunch. Check out their blog at this link "Drivin' and Vibin" and their Youtube channel for some great video's.

Kyle and Olivia from Drivin' and Vibin'

And of course Arizona has some great sunsets

California in our Rear View Mirror

Sunrise at Ogilby Road

Sunday morning we packed out stuff and headed west, well a little north and then west across the Imperial Dunes. We were heading to Borrego Springs a place we have never been. We pulled into the Arco station on Highway 78 just as we turned west to Borrego and dumped our tanks and filled with fresh water. They have four dump lanes here but only one was working properly so things were a little hectic on a Sunday afternoon. Folks were filling their tanks with the water at the dumpsite but I am always a little leery about those taps and went looking for some marked "potable". They were well away from the dump lanes. Our rig has a big tank so it takes a while to fill it and it is always nice not to have to entertain all the folks behind you in the line so out of the way is good.

After dumping and filling we headed west for Rockhouse Road. We have heard about this spot from other RV'ers and figured it was a good place to spend some time. Once we got there we found that a lot of other folks who had heard about Borrego Springs had also heard about Rockhouse Road, We rolled up the rolled three or four miles until we were long gone from phone coverage and deep in the valley before we found a spot almost big enough to turn our rig around. After tearing up the road surface and then having to fill the ruts we had made in the sand we trooped our way back to the area where everyone else was parked. Another look confirmed what we had figured on our first cruise through, there were way more rigs and way less space than we are used to. A command decision was called for and a conference called, it was decided that America's most populous state was way to crowded for Dogpound Anywhere so we headed into town spun around Christmas Circle and then waved adios to Borrego Springs. We found a spot on a cliff just above Ocotillo Wells to spend the night.

The view from our doorstep last night

This morning we loaded up and headed for Indio this morning, where we met up with my Uncle Brent and Aunt Helen and enjoyed a great breakfast and then headed back to their place for a visit. It was good to catch up and Brenda had a jar of Buffalo Creek Ranch Saskatoon jam that was made from berries on Uncle Brents place, but we forgot to leave it, so I guess he will just have to believe me when I say it was great.

Aunt Helen and Uncle Brent taken by Brenda

After our visit we headed back east and climbed out of the Coachella Valley and headed for an old favourite spot. Nice to be here the nearest rig is pretty near a half mile away and the view is great. Good to be back in the land of Arizona sunsets and sunrises.

Not another rig in sight

Ogilby Road Sunset

Desert Days

Lewis's left yesterday so we have just chilled for two days. The two days we spent wandering around Los Algodones took a toll on Brenda and her muscles are revolting so for the next few days we are just going to take it easy here. I have taken a spin around the neighbourhood on Blue II and the dogs have been snooping in the washes near camp, but with their new collars they seem to have recalled that when they are to far from home they get in trouble. Nice to be able to stop them from dashing off to get into mischief or run out in front of a vehicle although out here most vehicles are moving pretty slow, so as not to raise a cloud of dust near each others camps.

Skip and Jean and their Boston Bulls, Louis and Sophie, I think stopped by for a visit this morning and then the rest of the day I spent reading. Late in the afternoon a fellow, Bill Cash, stopped by to ask about our lifestyle and I told him it was a pretty free and stress free existence, probably only available for the most part in the Western parts of Canada and the USA.

Here are a few more pics of Los Algodones that we took while we were down there.

You can get your drugs and your vanilla all in the same store.

Not sure what kind of electrical system is down here but it seems kind of freestyle.

Happy New Year to one and all.