Monthly Archives: January, 2014
The ever-present moon
We’ve been lucky enough to have great weather for this trip. This means that the sky is mostly clear and we have been able to track the moon’s phases. Last night when we got to Ft. Stockton TX, I thought I saw something odd in the eastern sky. It was a big full moon behind …
Cactus all around
Sometimes it’s just more convenient to stay in a KOA. They are predictible–large sites, water, sewer and 50 amps of electricity, and the staff are usually very helpful and accomodating. Their bathrooms are clean and they usually have a theme that compliments the local environment. Here in Apache Junction, the theme was dominated by cacti. …
Changing direction
We’ve been in California since May, gone up and down highway 5, and up and down highway 101…north and south, that is. I thought it was important to recognize that our direction has changed now from west to east. These pigeons were doing that swirly bird thing as the sun set. I happened to be …
A near miss on the way south
When we started this trip back east, we decided to check out as many Thousand Trails campgrounds as possible. After the holidays and visits with family, it was time to move into uncharted territory. We had heard that Palm Springs Thousand Trails was unique. So, putting it into the GPS, we carried on south. I …
Arizona Sunset
Cactus Sillouette
Santa Barbara, Redeemed.
Our first visit to Santa Barbara was disappointing. We simply didn’t find anything that interesting, plus we were hungry and had the dogs with us. So, we went back to the campground wondering if we had dreamed of a different Santa Barbara all those years ago. A few days later we needed to find a …
Chumash painted cave
So we heard about this painted cave nearby. One person said it wasn’t worth the drive. Another person showed us pictures he took with his phone. We had some time to spare so we went. It was pretty much straight uphill, and around way too many curves with sheer drops on my side of the …
Breakfast, wild west style
This was a main stopping place for people traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The sign says they were frequently robbed along the way but they always had a good hot meal here at the Cold Spring Tavern. We wouldn’t have found this place had we not heard from our neighbors how good the …
Down on the Ranch
Our first longhorn steer…in California. I got out of the car with my camera and every single one of these guys looked up and stared at me for a good minute. This one seemed to be in charge. He just stood there waiting to see if I was going to enter his territory. Then he …
More beach time!
This little boy spent 30 minutes straight running back and forth through that puddle, first with all his clothes on, then, little by little, shedding the layers until he was blissfully naked. Gives new meaning to the phrase, “No worries.”
on the road to simplicity 