Our drive up from Thermal CA to Buckskin Mountain State Park in Arizona was very pleasant. We make it a habit to stop at every Rest Stop to get out an exercise our legs.
At one rest stop we noticed some interesting plaques that described land forms, animals, and plants that grow in the area. One described the major land forms in this part of the States. Three distinct areas – The Yellow color represented the Great Basin (the strip of California land between northern and central CA). It continues into part of Oregon, Utah and Idaho. The elevation in much of the Great Basin is 4,000 feet. It’s usually cold in the winter so the growing season is shorter than in the other areas. The Great Basin is also known as the “Cold Desert” or “High Desert.”
The orange colored area represents land that is about 2,000 feet in elevation. As it receives a little more rain that the Great Basin and has warmer weather, the growing season is longer. This area is called the “Low Desert.”
The red color represents the Mojave Desert – which is actually an extension of the Sonoran desert of Mexico and Arizona. Most of the land is below or at sea level and is also known as the “Low Desert.” It is one of the hottest and driest places in North America, receiving less than 4” of rain a year with temps. climbing as high as 120 degrees in the summer. That’s where we spent our winter, and find it to be the best of all worlds for us (hot days not withstanding!).
So many of the rest stops along the highway offer one or more interesting facts, as well as providing a good area where we can get a little exercise!
Our full day in Buckskin began with the realization that we had no milk for our coffee. So right away (7:30 am – practically the middle of the night for K) we took off for Parker and a little grocery (and milk) shopping. Then we came back to the rig where my prince charming made my morning coffee. Starbucks, eat your heart out! Paul’s coffee is the best tasting of any we have ever tried at many other coffee shops.
The Colorado River today is as blue as we have ever seen it. Being a Monday, many of the boaters have gone, so the place is that same, serene, lovely place we have come to know and love. We hoped to be able to take a hike up into the hills close by. Instead, Kathleen cleaned 3 sides of the outside of the Foretravel and we visited with our new young friends.
Just another word about our wonderful neighbors, Jeff and Dee. First of all, what they did to help us really saved us a LOT of money and time. Jeff was able to get the rig up and running and so far we don’t see any serious malfunctions. (Our “test drive” will be the trip up to Pahrump to see Jess and Ginger.) We hope it will prove that the damage is more cosmetic than anything else. Jeff refused to take any money for his services, and when we took them out to dinner, they ordered low priced items on the menu. We hoped they would splurge, but we weren’t successful in talking them into anything else. Dee is still recovering from breast cancer. What a trooper she is, and so positive and determined! How looks are deceiving. She looks like a little model, and it would be easy to look at her and think, “Oh to have a body like that!” – then find out all she has been through physically. Quite a woman in her own right. Several of our relatives are participating in a Walk for Life (raising funds for cancer research) and we feel very close to folks whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. Who of us doesn’t know someone (family or friends) whose lives have been touched, or lost because of this disease. Again, how lucky we are.
Paul is busy trying ever so hard to get our original web site and his other sites with a new provider. Paul uses something called “cold fusion” with his web sites; and not all service providers are knowledgeable in cold fusion. The one company we thought we could go to can’t handle all the programs/systems Paul uses. So he is busy today trying to find another company that can handle our needs. We will be ever so grateful to find a company that can give good and dependable service! At one time, early in our web days, Paul was a service provider for himself and our sites. He also hosted other clients. When we began traveling, that had to change, and we’ve been searching for a good service provider ever since (that’s nearly four years!) Paul is such a patient and persevering person. I hope his patience pays off SOON!
As it is, I am glad we found the free word press blog site (even though they have “upgraded” and uploading photos to the blog isn’t working). Kathleen went on the word press forum and found out that she was not alone in her inability to get pictures put into the blog. Oh well, Flickr is doing a creditable job on storing the pictures for the web, so all is not lost. And what an opportunity to learn and grow! (Yuck!)
