On the road again…..Ah, those are lovely words to us. As much as we enjoy our projects, there is still the wanderlust in our veins. New roads, new places, new friends……
Here’s Gary pulling out the drive (we need a nice level spot to hook-up, so we were driving separately until after we got diesel.)

Our last drive down Dillon Road -

Our last time down the hill toward Palm Springs -

And then on to takin’ care of business -
Propane

Diesel

(Did you know that many fuel pumps will only let you pump $75.00 at a time. Trust me, that wasn’t nearly enough!)

And then comes the “hook-up”. While Gary is busy attaching the truck to the tow bar on the rig,

my job is to do the “inside work”. That means putting on the auxiliary brake (every time Gary hits the brakes on Lizzie, this brake also pushes on the brake in the truck. That way we don’t have a 5000lb. truck pushing us down the mountains.)

After I get the brake in place, then I have to do all the transmission “stuff”.

You can bet I stand outside while Gary pulls Lizzie forward, making sure that the wheels are turning and the steering wheel isn’t locked.

That would be bad. Really bad.
So, here’s the driver, all ready to hit the road.

Here we are, driving through the fields of windmills for the last time.

(And loving that we got to follow an In-N-Out truck for part of the way. We LOVE In-N-Out!)
We weren’t going all that far – only about 175 miles, but it did involve going up those mountains -

and then coming back down-

(when we really appreciated that auxiliary brake!)
We were headed to Palmdale, CA, which is located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, in the “high desert”.

Those were pretty impressive high-tension wires – we think they probably came from the Hoover Dam.
We made it to our resting place, a Walmart parking lot in Palmdale.
And that is the nuts and bolts of our day!

Propane – $78.98
Diesel Fuel – $218.01 (but then again, we hadn’t filled up since November!)
Garlic Bread from Walmart (ah, small pleasures) – 1.74

Being on the road again (even if it wasn’t very far) – Priceless!

I hit the “publish” button for my last post – “The Promise of Spring“, took a quick nap and then joined the other Sower’s over at “their place” for one last game of cards. And wouldn’t you know it, over there, on their patch of desert, was this beautiful sight -

Now that is some beautiful Promise of Spring!

Now, I know that lots of you are still under a significant (and possibly annoying) blanket of snow, but here in the desert, things are beginning to feel like spring. I was hoping that we would still be here when the desert really blooms, but it looks like we’ll miss the Really Big Show. However, as I took a last little walk around the grounds today, and then checked back through some other shots I’ve taken this month, I definitel feel like the Big Bloom is just around the corner.
(Please don’t ask me to identify these flowers! Generally speaking, if they don’t come with an identifying spike, I’m clueless!)

Here are some of the pink ones -


And a selection of the yellow ones (I know, I’m getting pretty technical here….)

Some odds and ends (the one on the bottom right is from a tree, and the one with the truck in the background is a fairly good sized bush)

Ok, this one I know – the Ocotillo. This looks like a cactus, but is not. When it’s dry, it drops all of its leaves to conserve water. Once it rains, little green leaves pop out all along the stem. And then they produce those beautiful red “flag” flowers on the very tips. Not very many of the ones we saw at Joshua Tree were in bloom, but we did find a couple. Pretty cool, doncha think?

And then there are the cacti.
Can you see the buds hiding in the thorns on the top picture?

I bet they are going to be beautiful.
And these -

or this one -

Even the Cholla were getting ready to bud -

The flowers on the cholla will be magenta. Man, I hope we find some of those at our next stop!
Since the locals have all been commenting on just how green everything is becoming, I thought I’d compare a couple of pictures I took today with ones taken back in early February. The pictures on the left are from Feb 4, the ones on the right, Mar. 1.

Ok, I guess I can see a little bit more green. But I confess, it’s hard for this Pennsylvania/New England girl to really get caught up in how green everything is here. (But then again, PA nots so very green right now either!).
Ah, the Promise of Spring!

---

Tomorrow we will be leaving the Coachella Valley behind. We are heading to our March project, Crosswind Community Church , up in the “high desert” north of Los Angeles. I think there might be hope for Spring in the Desert yet!

PS – there are a couple more flower shots, along with the ones I used in the collages HERE, if you’d like to check them out.

Want to come along to the County Fair/Date Festival? Here we go!




We started early in the morning because we wanted to catch the Ostrich and Camel Races. I mean really, who would want to miss that!
The arena-

The contenders -

Who you looking at….

And they’re off!

Oops -

No ostriches or jockeys were hurt in the filming of this race!
Before they started the camel race, there were some audience participation activities -
Little girls chasing emus -

and more small girls herding chickens -

OK – back to the “big event”

(and here’s the rest of the picture!)

All the races were very fun to watch , and here are a couple of video’s from the ostrich races. (I must have been too engrossed in the camel race to hit the “record” button!)
The Ostrich Chariot Race:

And ridin’ em bareback -

We skipped the alligator wrestling and pig races, but enjoyed lots of other fair sights and sounds -

It was a fun morning, but before we succumbed to the expensive (and fried) fair food, we left to run our Saturday errands. But, since there was some interesting entertainment scheduled for the evening, I joined friends Laura and Ed for a return later in the day!


There was a wonderful “pageant” that was presented on this stage -

which looked a little more magical once it got dark.

The performance was great – a mythical story, complete with princes and princesses, fairies and genies, and a musical score that went from Gilligan’s Island to show tunes to today’s pop hits. It was lots of fun!
The other thing we had returned for was the “Headliner” – tonight’s main attraction was Country Music Artist, Rodney Atkins. We really enjoyed his concert -

but I must confess that the opening act that night – Lucas Nelson (son of Willie Nelson) was a little, um, hard on these old ears! The younguns’ in the front of the arena certainly seem to be enjoying him!

It was a great fair! We didn’t get to see everything (I totally missed the building with all the date displays and cooking shows. Duh.), but what we did get to see and do we certainly enjoyed.
But one thing I didn’t miss was THIS ride-

And I didn’t start the camera until the second bounce.

Back in November we made our first foray into Joshua Tree National Park. It was a great day, and we knew we wanted to return. Today we finally made it back to check out a couple more sections of this fascinating park.
The Keys Ranch – or Desert Queen Ranch – Tour
The ranger-guided tour of the ranch includes the colorful story of the 60 years Bill and Frances spent working together to make a life and raise their five children in this remote location. The ranch house, school house, store, and workshop still stand; the orchard has been replanted; and the grounds are full of the cars, trucks, mining equipment, and spare parts that are a part of the Desert Queen Ranch story.Ok – that’s the official summary. Here’s the reality –

We didn’t have a long walk to get to the ranch from our parking spot, but to say the ranch was “remote” was quite the understatement.

Thanks to the recent rain (this area got over 4 inches – quite a deluge for them), there was actually water flowing in the stream. Our ranger/guide said it was the first time he didn’t have to say “imagine water running here….”

Here’s the first view of the ranch –

The actual ranch house –

Windmill and well -

Here’s that stream again –

These folks never threw anything away, and made their living any way they could think of. When the area became a national park, they opened a small store and even had a couple of cabins available for hardy travelers.


Here’s one of the cabins –



It was a very interesting tour – and it made me realize how very hardy and innovative the Keys family was. Someone lived at this ranch until 1969 and it’s a real testimony to the American Spirit.
Barker Dam Trail
From the Ranch we took a short drive over to the Barker Dam trailhead. William Keys helped with this dam in the early 1900’s with other area ranchers. I don’t know if there is always water in this reservoir, but again thanks to last week’s rain, we were treated to some lovely water views. It was a great short hike – really just perfect for our little group of 6.


(I loved the color on this one.)
And finally the reservoir –




Here we all are for the official “group shot” –

We had a really fun day – learned a little history, marveled at the ingenuity of man and the Masters’ creation around us, and finished it off with great lunch at the Crossroads Café in the town of Joshua Tree.

We still have about half of Joshua Tree National Park to explore, so I hope we’ll get a chance to do at least more excursion!