Camping In The Desert

As we got up this morning, here's Miss Travelaire camped in probably the most populated area of the West coast, but there is not a building or a noise to be seen or heard. This park is along the river that runs through Riverside, and it is mostly parkland along here.

 

Here's some of the local bird population. I don't have a bird book, so you'll have to look up the species yourself.

 

Since there were showers at this campground, Doreen decided she would give them a try, so I walked up and bought some tokens; they charge 50 cents for 3 minutes. Well, it turned out to be catastrophic! I always wait with trepidation when Doreen goes to the shower at a campground; she either comes back extremely happy, because they were so good, or she comes back mad as a hatter beause they are the worst showers she's ever used! This morning it was bad bad bad! The water was so hot she couldn't stand it, and of course there is no adjustment. I decided I'd better give them a try, and at first it was too hot, but eventually (before my 50 cents ran out!) it cooled off to the right temperature. By the time I got back to Miss Travelaire, Doreen was in a good mood again, because she had used our own tiny shower with much better success.

 

We had a pretty leisurely morning, with Doreen sitting with the warm sun on her back, and we finally got away a little before noon. It was down Interstate 215, and a few two lane roads into Borrego Springs, which is a small town in the middle of a huge State Park. The park forms a sort of doughnut around the town in the central hole. Entering Borrego Springs from the West is spectacular because the elevation goes from above 4000 feet down to a few hundred feet, all within a few miles. It's hard to see elevation differences in a picture, but this picture was taken from a turnout on the way down into the town.

 

And here we are, camped just outside of town (N33 17 54.5, W116 17 00.4), where all sorts of other campers are spread out on the desert floor. This picture shows the colourful mountains to the east as the sun was setting in the west.

 

You can tell Doreen likes the desert, from this picture where the sun has just slipped below the mountains in the background.

 

We had a campfire in the evening, in an existing fire ring left from previous campers. We're burning old wood scrapes I brought down from my workshop at home! Before the moon came up, the sky was just beautiful, with no city lights to spoil the night sky.

 

And of course the moon eventually came up over the distant mountains to spoil it.