Prepping in Plaster City

I didn't think I'd be writing until we got back from Baja, but we have been 'van-ridden' for the past day and it looks like another van day today due to major wind....so I thought I would update you with our happenings thus far. 

We left the RTR spot in Quartzsite about a week ago and camped in Ehrenberg for a couple of days...a couple of really windy days...got a few things done over there then headed down to El Centro.

Imperial Sand Dunes on the way to El Centro

We weren't sure what to expect in El Centro due to never traveling down here. We drove into the main part of town, looking for storage units and I have to say at first I didn't want to be here, I was scared! I'm usually pretty good with these feelings....as long as I'm in the van with windows up and doors locked but the neighborhoods we were driving through did not feel very safe. 

We stopped at one storage unit and left right away due to the lady obviously not wanting any business. The 2nd place we stopped, I stayed in the van while Jamie went to see about pricing. Right away I noticed a group of 3 men walking their bicycles slowly toward the van, they slowed even more when they saw me sitting in the van and then started hooting and hollering at me. I made sure the doors were locked and grabbed the bear spray! And maybe I watch too many damn movies or Datelines but it was at this point that I noticed every single person in this neighborhood was wearing dark navy blue clothing and here I am sitting in this van, that looks quite delectable with all of our stuff on it, in a bright red shirt! Great!

Jamie came back after what seemed like forever with paperwork...looks like we found our storage unit! He got in the van and said, "The good news is, we have a storage unit, the bad news is, we're going to have to carry the trailer....sideways to get it to fit in the unit!" 

My Olive Oyl arms will be put to the test today!

At this point in time, it was about 4:00 p.m. so we had to start tearing everything apart pronto, get the stuff we aren't taking into the unit and get to where we are camping for the night, hopefully before dark!

We were at the storage place a little over an hour and while the unit is packed poorly, we got most of everything we aren't taking inside. Woo hoo! Now to throw everything back in the van to get to a spot for the night.

We arrived in Plaster City, our staging area for the trip, just before dark. Plaster City is a huge OHV area near a Gypsum quarry and factory, it's very desolate out here. 

 It's a great place to play with all the fun, big, loud toys! Another cool thing about this area is there is a Bombing Range on the other side of the OHV area so there is a lot of military activity in the air, we get to see fighter jets doing air maneuvers every morning, except yesterday and today due to this crazy wind! 

My new fave pic! Helicopters and Wind Turbines with the sunset! Yes, please!!!

The next day, I tore everything out of the van sans the bed; rugs, water jugs, boards, cabinets, toilet, food, dog stuff, etc. to do a deep, deep cleaning...God knows it has needed it for quite some time! It took me most of the day wiping everything down and vacuuming every nook and cranny at least 3 times. Going to Mexico was a great 'excuse' to be able to tear everything out and take the time to clean everything as best as I could (which is pretty damn clean)!

By the time the Sun was starting to set Scott had arrived, the van had been scrubbed down, ready for repacking and we narrowed our stuff down to the necessities and a few fun things that we can't live without. 

Scott's Rig

That's it! Now it all has to go in there somewhere!

Then it was dinner time!!

Desert Dining at its finest

 

More preparation info in the next post!

PEACE

 

 

A Million Dollar Good-bye

I've been meaning to get this post out for, well ...forever now but life seems to be moving a little fast these days so it has slipped under things, put on the back burner, blah blah blah....

No more excuses.

We are on our way to California and so we have to say "good-bye" to our friends in the Enchanted Forest of Flagstaff. The past two weeks have been not only inspiring, but for me, also eye opening as well as having the opportunity to open my heart and mind to things that have been shut off for many years. I truly met a Soul Sister for life and I will never forget the time that was spent listening, laughing our butts off, and loving this life that too many people take for granted. This blog post is about the GOOD in good-bye. There are a few different links to this post due to the awesome friends we have and them being up on their "game" in the blog world. I hope you are able to view all of the links and can enjoy every minute as if you were there.

We hope you can join us next time!

Randy the poets blog post= http://mobilecodgers.blogspot.com/2013/07/discovering-good-in-goodbye.html

A video Laurie made including a song she wrote and some great photos = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMJUYcBRw38&feature=youtu.be

A video J' took of our "Million Dollar Good-bye"=

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11vd6g_a-million-dollar-good-bye_tech#.Ue6nd3eAfXo

We will never say good-bye, only see ya later...I mean, could you say good-bye to a friendship like that!? I don't think so. We are forever tethered and we are so grateful to have met such a great group of people and be able to call them, not only friends, but family.

We love you and can't wait until we meet up again some time very very soon!

PEACE

Not so sure how this is gonna go down...

Lo and behold, we have been in Victorville for two days now...well a night, a full day then today...so we'll call it two full days! Now that me and myself have had our conversation...back on topic

When we drove into Victorville, I have to be honest, my heart wasn't in it. Some parts of me really wanted to be back out on public land but some parts of me were yearning to turn around and go back to the beach. The parts of me that wanted public land were yelling in my ear: You can spread out, get some guitar practice in, do your meditations, Savannah can be outside again, it will be great. There were other parts of me whispering...but hey, I'm the beach! haha To go along with my indecisiveness when we woke up yesterday morning it was 52 degrees outside...good thing we prepared and got our comforter back down! I was not a very happy camper yesterday. In my mind I was thinking, we left the beach for this?? J' was kind enough to get my chair down for me but due to the chill, little bits of rain and massive winds yesterday, my chair would sit outside empty for another day...boooo. I think Savannah was even a little depressed yesterday. Upon waking this morning, things "cooled" off in my mind and I figured I would embrace Victorville in all of its glory! ha Savannah and I went on a nice long walk, I handled some business I needed to tend to, charged my battery (did I tell you I got a new computer battery, hallelujah!), made Nana a place to hang out with me, got out my guitar, and placed my happy butt outside in my chair. I practiced some on Claramae, it's been a while, so practice was short due to my sore little fingers but getting 'her' out again is huge! After messing around on ole Claramae, I revisited my mediation course. It was so hard getting any meditation time at the beach because we were always driving or simply enjoying our day out and about, it definitely was pushed to the back burner, but I was living life so I don't feel so bad!

We found a spot right before sunset the night before last. It seemed to be a pretty good spot with a really cool Joshua Tree right in the middle. We made it our camp and haven't moved...that was the whole point right!? haha

[caption id="attachment_4400" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Camp[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4401" align="alignleft" width="150"] Find Joon[/caption]

We are the only ones here. There are houses a few miles from us but other than that it's just us and the desert

...the wide open desert.

I have been able to sit outside, but there is a time limit!

The mornings are a bit chilly here and the early afternoons, about 3:00 p.m., the wind picks up and can really be a pain having my computer outside. Even just trying to play the guitar, leaving all electronics inside is a mess...I have sand flying in my face and eyes and in my guitar, my hair feels incredibly dirty and I just washed it yesterday. But I am delighted that I get the time I do and I use that time wisely!

Savannah has been hanging out with me. I put her blanket in the shady areas of the branches of the Joshua Tree. Some branches have fallen off of it but it makes for a nice place for us to hang out.

[caption id="attachment_4407" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Outside again[/caption]

It sure is nice to be outside again. How I love the fresh air, the sunshine dancing on my skin and feeling a little more at peace with not having to move every 5 minutes.

Oh, but the wind....the ever-blowing, massive wind, it's enough to drive ya mad!

I guess we'll have to play it day by day here.

PEACE

So...we drove

First things first this morning...we had to take Joon to get one of her tires patched...man, what's up with our tires!? Ends up we had sprung a leak in one of the rear tires. *Thanks to Mr. Bicycle Man who rode by and yelled, "flat tire" to us yesterday. I'm sure J' would have seen it sooner rather than later but it's always nice to have people looking out for ya, even if you are strangers. To a Wal-mart we went, we had shopping to do anyway and it's nice to know that Savannah is in a cool, shady spot and she's not alone.

[caption id="attachment_4377" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Fixing, yet another tire[/caption]

Our plans were to disperse camp in the San Bernardino National Forest. We had done tons of research and for what we wanted...free camping still close enough to the beach...it seemed like a no-brainer. That was, until we got there! The National Forest is beautiful and there is some vast open land intertwined between the mountains, and there are roads...where the roads lead was another thing. We drove the roads, they were rocky but we've done much rougher roads so it wasn't a big deal and we could tell that these roads are used.

[caption id="attachment_4379" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Pretty drive[/caption]

At the same time, all of the roads (not many) that turned into a place to camp (or what other people would see as just open land), were 'blocked' off with "No Parking" signs and "No Trespassing" signs, even signs with fines on them due to parking in a wash. When we got to one of the numbered dispersed camping signs, that we had written down from our research, we couldn't do anything but laugh...

[caption id="attachment_4380" align="aligncenter" width="350"] No wonder it's free[/caption]

 Ummm, that's the side of a mountain!?! haha Now we were wondering if all of the "dispersed camping" areas were going to be signs, with the camp site number on them, stuck into the side of a mountain. And plan #B would be?? We drove on up the road a few more miles, only to see more of the same. We stopped to take a break, we had been driving and doing for quite some time now. We stopped to take in the scenery and some fresh air...and couldn't help ourselves but to admire our less depressed Joon!

[caption id="attachment_4381" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Admiration[/caption]

Away, we drive...back, the way we came.

Quite beautiful to drive through. No where really to park and camp.

[caption id="attachment_4383" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Cool as a cucumber[/caption]

 Driving along a few miles down the road we see a side gravel street, turn off and almost immediately start climbing the side of this mountain. The road was definitely maintained but at the same time was mostly made for one vehicle to be on at any time...no passing, period.

I was not having as 'great of a time' as I would have liked to, due to the high altitude we were gaining driving up this road. Not a huge fan of the heights! Most of my pics were just sticking my camera out of the window, still looking forward, white-knuckling the arm of my chair and holding my breath. Appealing, huh!

(I actually got a couple of good shots though...to enjoy for the first time later! haha)

[gallery ids="4384,4385,4386,4387,4388,4389"]

As beautiful as it was at the top, there is no place to camp no matter how ya slice it...so we drove back down. We thought Big Bear Lake may prove to have a solution for us, so we drove. Another totally rad scenic drive, lush and green mountains...a very cool change.

[caption id="attachment_4392" align="aligncenter" width="350"] We're not in Kansas anymore![/caption]

We are quite the funny pair now aren't we?

When we drove into Big Bear, J' started laughing, pointing out my window...I turned to look, there are people dressed in Winter clothes, sledding down a snowy hill! There are inches of snow on the sides of the road and down by the lake in the parking lot (now kicking ourselves for not sticking some in the cooler while we drive). We got out to throw some trash away and we have come to the conclusion that it was probably about 40 degrees outside. I don't think we left the coast to camp in snow...so, you guessed...

we drove...

actually we are driving. 

[caption id="attachment_4394" align="aligncenter" width="350"] ♥[/caption]

I think Victorville will be our resting place for the night. In the morning , we'll either choose to stay or choose to mush on.

PEACE

 

 

Pretty Comfy on the Coast

We have now been on the California coast for four full days now. While it has been fun, it has definitely been an interesting learning experience. I have grown rather fond of the little routine we've gotten ourselves into. Here is a little run-down...

A usual day:

Wake up at 5:45 a.m., J' gets up and drives to our "day spot" aka the side of the road that sits on the ocean that we park at all day for FREE.

We park and lay in bed together, either falling back asleep or watching the sets roll in in the dark, misty morning water sometimes even catching a glimpse of a tribe of dolphins...

[caption id="attachment_4279" align="alignright" width="150"] Cozy?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4280" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dolphins![/caption]

the wash of the traffic rocking the van ever so slightly for that romantic feel...and feeling very thankful that we get to lay here in our fort, in bed while they all rush off to the rest of their day.

When the sun has risen in the sky a little more, to shine some light and warmth down upon us, we do our morning rituals and enjoy a nice stroll along the beach with Savannah, she totally digs this. She just loves all the smells of the beach and the city...and lots of other things I can't smell!

We've been doing some long walks, definitely a couple of miles. We like to know what's around us and if there might be better spots we could be parked, so we walk...plus we all like the exercise!

Once back from our walk, our daily 'grind' will begin... gazing at the sets rolling in, watching the surfers do their thing, books being read, work being done, life being lived, more walks being walked, all the while the salty fresh breezy air playing against our skin and dancing with our hair.

Yep, I love Mother Ocean, she's incredible!

When we're not "sitting still" we are usually driving to see more of what surrounds us; cities, parks, beaches, etc. In the last couple of days we have been to Redondo Beach and have discovered quite a bit in Malibu but what seems to be quite fitting for us, is Santa Monica. Here, in Santa Monica, we can park within a few miles of both our night spot to our day spot...so for now, we don't really feel the need to change it. Of course, we are the *ADD Tribe (*Always Dreaming & Driving) so I'm sure that will change at any moment! haha

The day passes, we sit through rush hour traffic again...with the same people as the morning I'm sure and as night falls, we set up the bed in our day spot...with lights and laughter!

[caption id="attachment_4286" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Now that's a sunset![/caption]

Once 8:30-9:00 p.m. rolls around, the bed is down and we are rollin' rubber to our snooze spot. We find ourselves a nice level, quiet space to fill for the night and with just a few things to put up in the windows, just like that we are laying in the fort dozing off to usual neighborhood sounds.

Easy.

Next day...the fun starts all over again!

[caption id="attachment_4285" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Stealth Machines[/caption]

It's definitely been a change from the last 10 months of desert and mountains and private space and we are definitely tossing the idea around of staying here for a while. Everything in our lives is ever-changing...which we crave... so we always like to seek out other options. You just never know what's around the next corner if you never drive around it!

PEACE

 

 

Boppin' Along the Coast like a Couple of Beach Bunnies!

A little something new for us today...we started our day off driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California! How's that for different!? We drove into Long Beach at about 9 p.m. last night. It's a little harder to get your bearings in a place you've never been before, in the dark, when we're both tired...but after making sure that we were in a safe enough neighborhood, we stopped for the night. Now getting ready for bed in Long Beach was a horse of a different color...stealth parking in a city, a beach city, is a whole other animal in and of itself! First, you have to be discreet, this means: no regular talking only whispering, no tele, no lights, be as still and quiet as possible, making sure Savannah also abides by the rules...not the easiest task when we have to put the bed down along with the boards and everything else that has to be shuffled around...plus, it's Savannah's favorite part of the day! Oy vey! Second, finding a spot takes time. You have to make sure where you park, you're allowed to be there the hours that you need to be parked there. For instance, you can be on the East side of this street except between the hours of 5 a.m.-9 a.m. on Wednesdays for street sweeping and on the West side of the street you cannot park from 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Every single road has about 3 different parking signs with different days and hours for different things: school zone, street sweeping, bus stop, loading zones, etc. All we did was try to find a decently level place near an apartment building...not someone's house, too intimate for us...or some other kind of building or wall or landscaping that we could just blend in with our surroundings and so far so good!

We parked, did our duties in the dark, went to bed, laying there about 9:30 fiddling with all of the thoughts in our minds and this morning we were up and Joon was moving by 7:00 a.m., right along with the morning traffic. It's the perfect 'crime' haha!

We needed to truly get a grip on where we were and where we were going to spend the next leg of our journey, so today would be Beach Boppin' Day! We started our journey in Long Beach driving through and marking spots along the way, right 'next to' Long Beach is Huntington Beach, where they have a great dog beach!

[caption id="attachment_4226" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Driving Long Beach[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4227" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Huntington Beach Pier[/caption]

Driving South on the Pacific Coast Highway, we were looking for beach parking, street parking, FREE parking, all of the above and more! After driving a little past the dog beach we pulled into one of the many State Beach lots to get some info on this whole State Beach/State Park thing. The gal gave us a lot of good information along with a map of all of the parks/beaches and when we asked if there was any free beach parking, she even threw in some places around Newport Beach (that she said we would have to scout out)...thank you kind lady! To park at one of these State facilities it is $10.00 for the day and the day only, you have to be out of the lot by 10 p.m...not bad if you're a millionaire...or if you have a pass...gonna have to look into one of those!

We drove into Newport Beach and parked at a meter! haha We really just wanted to get out and walk on the sand before our day got too far ahead of us and it was still early enough that Savannah could come walk on the beach with us. Dogs are not allowed on the beach from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m...we were just in time!

[caption id="attachment_4232" align="aligncenter" width="350"] At the beach![/caption]

We parked and paid our $1.50 for an hour and started walking down to the sand. We walked the beach for a little bit, getting the sand in our toes and salty air up our nose, then hit the boardwalk. The beaches sure are beautiful here. We walked the boardwalk with other walkers, bikers, roller-bladers, dog walkers, strollers, etc. There are many vacation properties that are not full right now, so the beach is totally empty.

The breeze still has a chill to it, but it makes the sunshine feel that much better touching your skin. As we walked we approached an Elementary school...on the beach! Now, how rad is that!? Some of the kids were in P.E. class playing kickball...how fun! There were also basketball courts and a playground right on the sand...I couldn't get over this! The kids bicycles were outside, locked up side by side...even their cute little backpacks were hung on cute little hooks outside! These kids are pretty lucky and probably don't even know it.

[caption id="attachment_4231" align="aligncenter" width="350"] The school[/caption]

While walking we did see quite a lot of parking spots that we could use for day and/or night parking, so that was comforting to see. Savannah did pretty darn good on the walk, especially with all of the commotion of bicycles and runners passing us from front & back. I was a proud mama! After our stroll down the boardwalk, we wanted to see what else this whole *Cali-fornia Coast* had to 'offer' us, so....we drove. Driving was a good thing. We saw vastly different scenic views of cliffs, beaches, shopping, landscaping, people...all very interesting and beautiful...yes, even the people! We drove up the coast passing beach after beach: Newport Beach, Balboa Island, Corona del Mar, Crystal Cove, Emerald Bay all the way down to gorgeous and luxurious Laguna Beach.

 Once we drove in and around Laguna Beach, we decided to call it a day on the driving, we could just drive all day...but our wallet can't! On our way back to Huntington Beach, J' pulled off on a side road...just because...which put us into the most beautiful neighborhood. We drove up to the top of the hill of the road we were on, putting us in front of a neat little place called, Inspiration Point and with the view that we had, I could definitely see why it's named that!

[gallery columns="4" ids="4235,4238,4237,4236"]

 There were ladies hula-hooping, people laying in the grass, walking their dogs, meditating, hanging out, gazing at the beauty surrounding us...what a priceless little find! As much as we wanted to stay for hours, we still needed to get back to Huntington or Long Beach to find a place to lay our little snoozers tonight.

Wish us happy (and peaceful) hunting, we'll probably need it, at least for the next few days while we're still sorting everything out!

PEACE

The 9-5...Our Way

Woke up again this morning at 6 a.m. Happened yesterday, too. Yesterday I read a chapter in a new book I'm reading and fell back asleep. Today, I figured I'd do the same and I did, however I did not fall back to sleep. Instead, I got up quietly, sat in the passenger seat and did my meditation session. I'm on day 3 of the 21-day course...still doing it. By 8 a.m. I took Savannah on a walk across the lot, hoping to walk around Petsmart, but for some reason their doors weren't open...I swore the sign said they opened at 8 and it was 8:20...? I love walking 'Nana through that store, she gets all the good smells and new sights...fun for us both. As I walked back to the van, I ran into Say and started gabbing and with the gabfest we ended up in her rig chattin' and snacking on some Muesli. J' had gone inside Wal-mart so when he came back we all decided to get ready to go into town for a little work and of course, some play.

It's 11:20 a.m.

We drove into Downtown Palm Springs to a little cafe' shop called Koffi. It's truly the neatest place...I don't know why more places aren't like this! Koffi is a cafe' like Starbucks, but outside among the other little shops around it, is the most beautiful courtyard. There are chairs & tables set-up throughout the entire place, there is lush green grass in the middle layered through flowers, plants, shady trees, palm trees, sculptures, fountains and walkways. It reminds me of my mom's backyard, I could spend a good part of the day here.

[caption id="attachment_4185" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Zen Garden?[/caption]

J' and Say went inside to work, so Savannah and I are just chillin' outside. This Palm Springs seems like a pretty easy going place. Yesterday and even today there are so many people out enjoying the day and their lives, it seems like a weekend...or everyone is on vacation...it's fantastic! Savannah is actually doing very well with how much is going on around here, there are people, other dogs...that are playing (god forbid!), loud noises, food. I'm pretty impressed with how she is handling all of it.

[caption id="attachment_4186" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Red Fox[/caption]

She's only barked at (and scared the crap out of) one lady...and even though she was probably just being nice, didn't seem to mind...said she (Savannah) was just doing her thing. Yep! I still get totally embarrassed though. Now, if only this chick would stop rolling these super loud trash cans by us...the whole scene would be Mellow Yellow baby and the Nana Bug could chill. I definitely think these people are doing exactly the right thing with their business...even though I haven't tried their pastries or cafe'...the vibe and environment is juuuuusssst right.

[caption id="attachment_4187" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Awww, yeah[/caption]

The day tried to consume us with work at Koffi but we weren't going to let that happen...we broke free of the work world and entered into the land of fun for the rest of the day. We first stopped at The Sandwich Spot, which has to be my most favorite sandwich I've ever had...no joke! I had this sandwich called The Volley & Serve: Hot turkey on Dutch Crunch bread (amazing), lettuce, tomato, Avocado, Cream Cheese, their secret sauce and this bomb sauce that's like a spicy ranch...I'm salivating just writing this, that's how Bomb! this sammie was...WOW!! Yeah, great sammie! After devouring our lunch we took a drive through town, Sayward pointing out some of her favorite spots to walk the dog and hike and places in general that she likes to hang out at. It was a great day and great to be able to spend some good time together.

With the weather being pretty nice...there's talk of a spa day tomorrow!

PEACE

 

 

 

It's Poppin' in Palm Springs

Today seemed like a good day to switch it up a bit...time to move on. Palm Springs here we come!

We drove in around 12:45-ish, maybe even 1 p.m. Palm Springs is a gorgeous area, the landscaping is done just beautifully: lush green plants & trees, among the prettiest flowers everywhere. When we mentioned to a friend, a few weeks ago that we would be in Palm Springs, she said she would be here for another couple of weeks...another reason to stop for a few days. We drove into town and stopped to find our bearings before driving all over...only finding the town is much smaller than we thought so driving around to find things was much easier.

We connected with our friend, Sayward, over the phone...she wouldn't be back in town for a couple of hours. We used that time to go frolic downtown! The downtown area of Palm Springs is pretty awesome. It's very artsy! The way it is laid out, it kind of reminds me of a mix between Lincoln Road in Miami with a blend of Denver. I love it! ♥ 

[caption id="attachment_4147" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Sonny & Me[/caption]

They have the Forever Marilyn statue: a 26 foot tall bronze & stainless steel statue of Marilyn Monroe, in her most famous pose in her white dress blowing all around her, it weighs over 34,000 lbs.! It was pretty rad. 

[caption id="attachment_4143" align="aligncenter" width="225"] See the Arrow!?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4144" align="aligncenter" width="219"] Peeper![/caption]

They even have their own Walk of Stars...not with the handprints but cool nonetheless. We stopped and talked to a chick on the street, who recently just became homeless and couldn't be more happy with herself. J' was giving her ideas about selling her art at the upcoming art festival next weekend. We named her "Palm Springs Chrissy". She is the most positive, proud, happy, outspoken 'homeless' person I've ever talked to...it was a nice, upbeat conversation. We walked the entire downtown area, getting some pretty nice pictures, we found some great parking spots and then headed over to meet up with Say where she is staying. We pulled up and there she was, just as beautiful as ever! It's always nice to see radiant, shining people. We got parked behind her & leveled-up, then over to enjoy her hugs. I'm sure we sounded like chickens: squawkin', gigglin', talkin', hugging, laughing...great! After getting settled in our spot, we joined her in her rig for the remainder of the night, chattin' away getting all caught up on the last 3 months of our lives. She is really easy to spend time with, she sees life in the positive and has good insights on a lot of different topics. The night was relaxing and full of good energy...the time just flew by. 

We will spend a few days here with Say, taking time for work and time for play. She says there is sooo much to show us...woohoo, our personal tour guide!

PEACE

What a Beaut!

Today just slipped right on by me. Can you believe I don't have one single picture from today!? Me neither. After feeling like total crap-o-la yesterday, we rinsed away all the 'dirty' with hot showers and laundry today. Good thing too! With all of the rain we had, we found out that our tarp had not held up so well totally soaking through our duffle bags on-top, totally soaking every single piece of clothing in the bags, plus rolls of toilet paper (yuck)! It made me happy to find this all out at the laundromat instead of anywhere else. Needless to say, there was a lot of folding going on at that laundromat. I totally wish I had at least one picture of what I looked like today. At this laundromat in Ehrenberg, there are many different characters roaming about and it seems everyone and their brother always wants to talk to me. Usually, I do not have a problem with this, I will smile politely and carry on a conversation, knowing it's just how it is in public places...but today, today I was in no mood. I don't mind laundry day, I actually kind of look forward to it. I like to do laundry, I like sorting everything and waiting for it, then folding it in the precise way I do when it's all dry, it makes me feel good. Today though...not today! I really just wanted to take a shower and get on the road but after we found out that everything was soaked to the bone, it held us there an hour and a half more then usual and every single person wanted to have thee longest drawn out conversation. Now, the reason I wanted a picture of me was because of this guy that came in about 45 minutes into us being there. He was a "cool guy", biker dude (he made sure I knew that), probably in his mid 30's. He came in with, who I'm guessing was his mother and starts yelling and cussing at her, dropping F* bombs, about how to put his clothes in the washer. There are about 4 other people, trying not to look up at him yelling at her, minding their own business. After he ranted on her, he left for a minute, he comes back in, walks past me, turns back around to me and says, "Excuse Miss..? (he picks up my hand like he's going to kiss it) Has anyone told you how exquisitely beautiful you are today?" Uhhh..... I wanted to burst out laughing, but just said thank you. He then, of course, wanted to know everything about me. I looked toward J' (who had no idea this was going down) and changed the subject, making it politely clear I was 1- with someone and 2- didn't really want to share anything about myself. Throughout the rest of his time there he still tried making small talk with me...only making me laugh even harder on the inside. First of all, even if I wasn't with anyone, this guy totally just berated and cussed at his mother, or whoever she was, in front of a bunch of strangers...not a turn-on dude! Secondly, you should have seen what I looked like! I had on a pair of J's basketball shorts that went down past my knees, one of his shirts that's bright green and says, Pirates arrrr Cool, black socks pulled up to my knees and my blue and green muk-luks, with my fro' all over the place. If he saw beauty in that, well....good for him, but I don't think so Bub! We made it out of there in three hours, reorganized the inside and the top and drove to Ace Hardware. We had to get another tarp, stat! It was looking like rain and we could not count on that tarp to do its job...we already knew that it wouldn't. We went to Ace and got a canvas tarp to put over the other tarp (double barricade) and drove to our old campsite in Blythe. We told ourselves we wouldn't come back here, but we were so close and didn't want to make a drive back to Quartzsite tonight so we ended up staying for the night. J' put the tarp on, even in the extreme wind, which came out of nowhere...glad he did too...it's raining again! All I can say is, I'm soooooooo happy today is (pretty much) over. My attitude and emotions are raging and it is not pretty. The laundromat was just the tip of the iceberg this morning! Sometimes I wish I would just go straight into Menopause, is it that much worse than this every month? I don't know... maybe I'm wishing myself into a whole different, much worse monster than shark week is. All I know is it's a good thing I know how to cry and that bed, tele and chocolate were invented or this would be a much worse nightmare!

Well, I'm off to get my "beauty sleep"...hahaha that guy kills me!

PEACE

BLM in Blythe is muy Bueno

Well, Parker only lasted for a whole day! We slept at the Wal-mart last night after watching the fights...Benson Henderson won against Nate Diaz. It was a great fight, so glad we found a place we could watch it at. We woke up semi-early, walked Savannah...boy was it cold out this morning!

[caption id="attachment_2929" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Chilled to the bone[/caption]

We started driving around 9 a.m., we're not in a rush to get anywhere...where are we going? We figured we would just drive over to Blythe, CA and see what our options were over there.

We drove past a ton of farm land, many many stacks of hay with no animals to feed and for the first time in my life...cotton plants!

[caption id="attachment_2918" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Do they sell this?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2919" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Miles and miles of Cotton![/caption]

We drove out of the "country" and hit a frontage road that had a Flying J on it...haven't seen one of these since June! We stopped, filled the tank up just a little bit and went inside to look around. If you've never been to a truck stop, especially a Flying J, they have so much stuff in there to look at and it's all stuff people in this lifestyle use so it's fun to see what they have. Since we hit the road this morning without putting anything in our bellies we did a 'horrible horrible' thing and bought coffee and Cinnabon! I don't think either of us had actually ever bought a Cinnabon in our lives...not something we would normally buy or eat but today felt different. Get ready for the biggest freakin' sugar high!

[caption id="attachment_2920" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sugar Fest 2012[/caption]

It actually took me half the day to finish it...going back in a few times until the whole thing was gone. My stomach can't handle that much sugar all at once...my goodness! And of course, Savannah helped a little bit!

[caption id="attachment_2921" align="aligncenter" width="300"] She had a pretty firm grasp on it![/caption]

We drove over into California and found towers almost instantly...yep, follow those towers! We headed out to what looked like the desert but found ourselves in a neighborhood type area then into an RV park called The Hidden Beaches. We didn't see any water but maybe that's where they got their name from!? We stopped and asked the Ranger/Host (Steve) if he knew of any BLM and after a very nice conversation I had the name of a couple of places we could camp. We headed back out and with the directions he gave me, within about 10 minutes, we were on BLM land looking for our next spot!

[caption id="attachment_2922" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wide Open Spaces[/caption]

There is a TON of open space out here and it doesn't seem like anyone is out here...kind of weird for this time of year. Where is everyone? We drove up the trail a few miles, we like being more off the main road than right on it and since we have a good vehicle we can go a little further back. We found a great spot and were level right away...perfect!

[caption id="attachment_2925" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Happy Huntress[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2924" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Panorama[/caption]

 Now that we're parked for the day...this girl needs a shower so I'm off to get 'so fresh and so clean'. Hope you have a fruity fresh day!

PEACE