5-6 May 2013
We left our New Mexico campground on Cinco de Mayo (May
5). We’re surprised that we’re not hearing more signs of celebration
(fireworks?) since this day is a big Mexican holiday and the border is just a
stone’s throw from our campground. But it’s quiet. We said a sad farewell to our neighbors, Mr.
and Mrs. Curved-bill Thrasher, Mr. and Mrs. Cactus Wren, and Mr. and Mrs.
Finch, and their charming families. We’ve really enjoyed this little state
park. Birding has been great here, with lots more species checked off.
Unfortunately, this was probably the last chance for a painted bunting sighting
on the first leg of our journey. Perhaps on the way back we will catch a
glimpse of this elusive bird.
Speaking of the border, we have been stopped numerous
times at “border checks” in both Texas and New Mexico. The border guard seems
to be much more visible and beefed up than on previous cross-country drives.
The guards are very polite—they just ask both of us to state our country of citizenship,
ask us if there’s anybody else in the back of the van (so far they’ve taken our
word for it, but they do let their doggie sniff the van), and then they look us
over and send us on our way.
Our plan is to make it into California today, driving
through the small part of New Mexico that’s left, and then all the way across
Arizona. The scenery gets a little monotonous at times, probably because we’re
on interstate most of the way—very flat and arid, with dust blowing. However,
jagged, volcanic mountains always loom somewhere in the background, just much
farther away on this leg of the drive, and they’re hazy because of all the dust.
Phoenix was a real adventure—that city goes on forever! Talk about urban
sprawl…
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| How do mountains get this way? |
At some point in the drive through Arizona the desert
cactus changes and more and more saguaro cacti appear. This is the tall, multi-armed
cactus that is what most people think of when they think “cactus.” (I always
think of the comic strip Peanuts and
Snoopy’s uncle Spike in the desert with his saguaro cactus.) The mountains also
start to get closer again.
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| Saguaro land. |
We drive into California around 5 pm.
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| No checks this time. |
We gained an hour
when we crossed the state line, so it feels like 6 pm to us—we’re now 3 hours
behind east coast time, as we’re constantly reminded because we never remember
how to change the clock in the van. We stop at the Gen. George Patton Museum to check
it out and see whether it’s suitable for camping, but decide against it (the
surrounding area is just a truck stop and trailer park and the vibe is not that
good for overnight camping). We decide
to drive about 4 miles up the road and camp at the Joshua Tree National Park.
Good call. This is high desert scenery again, with lots of wildlife, including
birds. We easily find a nice spot to ourselves, just a short walk to the
restroom.
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| High up in Joshua Tree National Park we find a beautiful and lonely campsite. |
While we’re filling out our registration and putting our
check in the Iron Ranger (only $7.50 per night for Golden Ager pass holders!) a
car pulls up with a man and woman—both in their late 20s or early 30s I would
guess—and two small children. She asks me if the campground is empty and I say
no, it’s not full by any means, but there are several campers in tents and RVs.
She says, “Oh good, we’ve never camped before and I was scared we’d be the only
ones here!” As we talked a little more, she revealed that they didn’t have a
tent…just planned to spend the night on the ground. Hmm. The temperature is
already in the low 50s or high 40s, windy, and getting cooler by the minute. Didn’t
look like they registered or paid either, just drove on up to the campsites. We
passed them when we pulled back into our campsite a few minutes later, and the
dad already had a big fire going in the firepit (hopefully he brought some wood
with them, as it’s against the law to use any wood from this desert park). In
the morning about 6 am I heard some noise from down their way and decided to go
check on them. They were all up and running around—“Our cat just caught a baby
rabbit! But don’t worry, the bunny is still alive—we put it in the cat carrier!
Oh, look, what’s the kitty got now??” Their blankets were indeed spread out on
the ground next to the firepit. No sign of a sleeping bag. They brought their
cat camping with them and then let it out to run around the campground, where
all kinds of wildlife is on the ground, and none of it is supposed to be
harmed, touched or interfered with in any way. (Not to mention the possibility
of a coyote breakfasting on their kitty!) Guess they didn’t notice the big
signs saying pets must be contained or leashed at all times. (The cat was
having the time of its life.) I gently attempted to educate them on some of the
park rules and made sure they planned to release the terrorized baby rabbit. They
left around 8 am. Jack discovered their campfire still burning merrily away
when we were about to leave, and extinguished it. Yikes.
Speaking of wildlife on the ground, we saw a couple of
kangaroo rats hopping around, probably trying to warm up. These little native
desert rodents can hop up to 9 feet in a single jump, due to their large hind
feet, and they never have to drink water—they can get all the moisture they
need from the seeds they eat. Jack got some photos.
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| Note size of hind feet and long tail for balance. |
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| There he goes... |
Upon leaving, we turned the wrong way out of the
campground entrance and fortuitously discovered a picturesque oasis: Cottonwood
Springs, a natural spring surrounded by palm trees. It’s neat to see water
coming out of the ground in the desert, and the plants and animals love it too.
Lots of birds around this lovely spot!
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| Cottonwood Springs. This photo hardly does it justice. |
After admiring the spring, we turned the right way and drove
back down the mountain to the Patton museum and spent a pleasant hour and a
half touring it.
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| A fitting memorial to a great American general and the men he led into fierce battles against the Nazis. |
It’s a nice collection of both World War I and II memorabilia,
including a film about Patton and the Desert Training Center that he set up and
managed in 1942 on this very site. It said that over one million soldiers were
trained at the center during WWII, learning desert and other types of warfare,
with an emphasis on tanks. Lots of different tanks were on the grounds, some
left from the training center and others donated over the years.
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| Is that a tank commander? No, it's Jack standing beside a WW II Sherman tank |
Next we headed toward Borrego Springs, a desert town
about two hours east of San Diego that we spent a lot of time in when we lived
in California—one of our favorite getaways. We pass by the Salton Sea on our
way to Borrego; it looks like an inland ocean, and the water is saltier than
the ocean!
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| Passing the Salton Sea. |
It’s about 15 miles wide by 35 miles long, and has fish in it. This
salty giant lake was created in the early 1900s by an
accidental flooding of the Colorado River into a low desert basin.
(This was back in the days before the Hoover Dam was built to control the
Colorado River.) Interesting spot. It's supposedly a great birding area, for waterfowl especially.
When we lived in the San Diego area, we often camped near
Borrego Springs, in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, or stayed at La Casa
del Zorro, a nice, relaxing desert hotel near the town, that was sold a few
years ago, went bankrupt, and now has been purchased and is supposed to reopen
next month. We had lunch in town and drove around looking at some of our old
haunts. We’re glad to see that “Casa” will be hosting guests again soon—it’s
definitely been one of our favorite places.
We’re not far from the San Diego area now. As we drive up
yet another mountain to head toward the coast, it starts to rain and the road
gets a little slick, so we decide to stop and spend the night in Julian, a
cute, vintage mountain town that we’ve always liked (they’re famous for their
apple pie, so of course Jack loves it).
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| We pause to take this photo before heading up this steep mountain to Julian. The canyon is very deep and the winding road is slick from the rain. The RoadTrek takes it in stride, while a string of gentle California drivers follows. |
We’ll drive to see our friends in
Escondido and Solana Beach tomorrow. We
plan to spend tomorrow night with our friends Lynne and Marc. Lynne and I are
taking off on Wednesday for an exciting Palm Springs jaunt, one of our annual “girlfriend”
trips, but we’re letting the boys join us for a few days over the weekend. Looking
forward to it—a vacation from our vacation!
Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture,
Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal,
greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer
tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler,
northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed
grosbeak, black-chinned hummingbird,
Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser
goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western
kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed
hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned
owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker,
white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia,
hooded oriole, verdin, crow.
State count: 11 [Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
California]
Odometer count:
Surber, VA: 107,435
Julian, CA: 112,061
Accommodations avg cost: 30 nights @ $15.25/night
Where we are:
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