Hot Weather and cute chicks!

Ogilby road turned out to be a busy spot, even though it appeared that there were fewer campers than usual in the area.

As expected, Wandering Willy and friends Frank & Alison were camped in their usual spot, and I picked a spot  a few hundred yards away after hearing them tell of a loud obnoxious generator in their area.  It was also a spot that I camped in last year.  As usual, there were occasional overflights by military helicopters, ‘Osprey’, and a few jets.  There were also a few powered paragliders that would fly on calm evenings.

Ernie & Deb located us after their earlier departure from the Quartzsite area, and a few happy hours were enjoyed with the crowd over at Wandering Willy’s.  The Bayfield Bunch departed soon after my arrival, as did John & Nicole, who only ended up getting as far as the east end of Yuma on their first try.  I escorted Ernie and Deb over to Algondones, Mexico for their first time there and we all got our teeth cleaned, and enjoyed some cerveza, food and live music there before the inevitable hour long line up to get back to the US.  They also took me to a Yuma waterfront park for my first time, where we enjoyed the sunshine and abundant bird life.  Of course we had to stop for a date shake another day on a tour through the Laguna dam area, coming back through Mittry Lake.  I took them to visit a few of my favourite stores here including the Tractor Supply store, and the C-A-L store where I found a lot of cute chicks!

We hiked a bit around the nearby ghost town of Tumco and explored some of the many abandoned pits and mine shafts, and of course ‘did’ the Arizona Market.  Another ‘first’ was an ice cream truck patrolling through the camping neighbourhood at Ogilby road.  Of course, we chased it down and enjoyed some frozen treats.

After a few days, more friends arrived.  This time it was Anders & Dianne, down from the great white north for a short time to thaw out and catch some rays.  This resulted in happy hour apparently starting closer to noon!

Soon it was time for a change of scenery and it was decided that we should all head for Borrego Springs.  Neither I nor the big GM noticed the strong headwinds on the I-8, until a fuel stop near Brawley when the winds almost knocked me over.  A Walmart stop was in the works, as was a stop at the big Arco at the corner of 78 and S22 where we dumped, filled, got propane and fuel.  Winds were howling out of the desert to the west, but everyone was quite at home with it – being very similar to a blizzard without the snow and cold temperatures!

It calmed down quite a bit by evening, so I took them all up to Font’s Point to enjoy the view at sunset.

Next, a hike through the ‘Slot’ was in order.  We spotted the elusive Bayfield Bunch on our way over there, but the jeep was gone, so they must have been out exploring.  We also spotted Doug and Yuma camped at Rockhouse road, and said hello to Yuma on our way past.

Evenings as usual found us around the campfire, enjoying the full moon, the occasional coyote howl, and the total lack of train sounds!

No visit to Borrego Springs is complete without a hike up Palm Canyon.

Lots of bats were out in the evenings, even though there were very few bugs around, and of course the coyotes serenaded us at all hours, but kept their distance.

All those on tighter schedules eventually pulled out, and left Hailey and I alone way out on Rockhouse Road, so it was time to get the camera out for some night timelapse photos.  These photos were all taken with moonlight only.

There was a ghost or two showing up in one of these photos!