Thanksgiving in Lemon Grove

When we left Joshua Tree, we headed south down the east side of the Salton Sea, then turned west on I-8 to Jacumba. It's a steep climb, pullouts and barrels of radiator water testify how hot it can get on this grade in the summer. The truck did run hotter than normal, but the engine coolant never rose above 204 degrees Fahrenheit, so we didn't pull out and check to see if those barrels really had water in them! We stayed a few nights in a nice little RV campground, they had a good hot pool to soak in. On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we drove the rest of the way into Lemon Grove, just outside San Diego.



We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my sister Melinda, her husband Michael and their sons, Sammy and Ryan. We really enjoyed our visit with them and felt blessed to share the holiday with them.

The boys have some pretty cool pets. That is Hunter the hamster, Beautiful Shell the turtle and Tangie the bird.

Both Melinda and Michael work at Sea World. Melinda, Ryan, Joan and I spent a day there. Melinda gave us a view of some of the behind the scenes action. Their signature Killer Whale act did not disappoint us! I figure this guy must get quite a rush surfing on top of his whale.

Both trainers rode these whales onto the edge of the pool, then dismounted. It's impressive. Some of the best action was, of course, impossible to capture in pictures. When we left Lemon Grove the Monday following Thanksgiving, we headed into the Anza Borrego Desert towards Agua Caliente Springs.

Lemon Grove Extras

When Aunt Joan visits San Diego, you better not mess with her. She's got all the muscle any woman would ever need, courtesy of Ryan, Rashad and Ahmad.

Take care, if you mess with them, they might put you on ice ... Here, Aunt Joan and Ryan demonstrate what the inside of a polar bear den might look like. Keep this in mind.

Good Beer

As noted earlier, I sampled local beers along about 400 miles of Oregon and Northern California coast. The beer tour began with Rogue in Newport Oregon, then continued with the California breweries Mad River (Humboldt County), North Coast (Fort Bragg), finishing with Mendocino Brewing (Ukiah). Each brewery had some good beer. North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg blew all the others out of the water. I like dark beers. The Imperial Stout, Old Stock Ale, Old #38 Stout and Brother Thelonious are superb. The Blue Star Wheat and the California Pale Ale are much lighter and quite tasty, too. Check these beers out. As noted on their Brother Thelonious Belgian Ale, Carpe Diem Vita Brevis!

http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/
http://www.rogue.com/beers/beers.php
http://www.madriverbrewing.com/
http://www.mendobrew.com/

Joshua Tree National Park

We made several hikes in Joshua Tree. The most unique, to me, was hiking into this fan palm oasis. We travelled through some hot dry country, up and over a ridge, then dropped down into the valley containing the oasis. Temperature's dropped. There was water on the surface. Shade. Almost enough to make a guy never want to leave! We met a fellow who was hiking in when we were heading out. He had his easel with him, planning to draw at the oasis. He wondered if they had chairs and tables there. At first I told him sure, and there's a little black haired guy in a white suit taking drink orders, too, but he's run out of rum. After seeing the look on his face I told him, really, there are no tables and chairs. I'm not sure he knew just what to think ...

Wildlife was scarce. We heard some coyotes, but didn't see any. Birds and lizards were common.

This small buzz worm crossed the trail in front of us at mid-day, then took a defensive posture. We didn't get a positive ID on this snake. I think it's either a juvenile Mohave rattler or, perhaps, a pygmy rattlesnake. We talked with a National Park Service Ranger at Cottonwood Springs on the way out of the park on the south end, have his email address and will send him a full resolution image, perhaps they can ID the snake. This LEO Ranger was wearing a bullet proof vest and side arm, accompanied by an assault rifle and a shotgun in his vehicle. Don't want to be outgunned when help is a long ways off! I feel good seeing him out here.

Earlier in the day, at the oasis, when we crossed some downed palm fronds, I teased Joanie that she should look out for tarantulas. We hadn't seen any yet. But, sure enough, on the hike out, this one crossed the trail not 100 yards from where we saw the rattlesnake shown above. For some reason neither one wanted their picture taken. Overall, Joshua Tree is one of the most photogenic parks we've seen.

Joshua Tree National Park

Sunrise in our camp at Joshua Tree was beautiful. The sun rose just a bit after 6 am and it'd set before 4:30 pm. With so much good looking desert around us to wander in, our days started early. Temperatures were perfect, with daytime highs in the 70s and nightly lows in the 30s. The peachwood we purchased a while back burned well. Three pieces of the trunk combined with 6 limbs produced a hot, long lasting fire.






The Jumbo Rock campground is the best National Park campground that we've stayed in this trip. For only $10 per night, the price is right and the location, tucked into the round Monzo granite formations as it is, just can't be beat. No water, though. And sites for a fifth wheel like ours are tough to find. We pulled in on a Monday and got a good spot.



Odd little rocks like these grace the campground.




Vegetation in the park is diverse, containing both Colorado and Mohave desert species. Cholla cactus favor particular spots like these.

Joshua trees look like yucca on a trunk. They grow asymmetrically. Combine that with shallow roots and strong winds will blow 'em down.

Devore - Cajon Pass

If you want to know what it's like to "Eat at Sky like at Heaven", you've got to try a Sky Burger. They're pretty darn good. The fries and onion rings, they could use a little work. We picked up lunch at this place after we left Oxnard and worked our way around LA to the north of the mountains.

We didn't want to drive the entire distance to Joshua Tree in one day from Oxnard. The Jumbo Rock campground we were headed to is first come-first served so we wanted to pull in early. We stopped at a little campground in Devore, thinking we'd stay for a day or two. Well, the Santa Ana winds caught us there and the fires began. The winds were blowing hard, 70 mph gusts and high profile vehicles (like our trailer!) were advised against travel, so we hunkered down and spent a few days in the wind tunnel they call Cajon Pass. Luckily, the people in the campground were friendly, it was warm, and they had good hot tub, steam room and heated pool. Joanie and I got a chance to brush up on our pool (eight ball) game, teaming up on the night before my birthday to break even against two fellows in the club house.


Strong winds knocked down huge cones from 50 foot tall Coulter Pines. I would not want to get hit by one of these - they measure almost 12 inches long, weigh several pounds and have very sharp tips that'd rip ya right up. We burned one at Joshua Tree later on, hoping it wouldn't explode like a grenade. It didn't. Burned quite well, too.

During a less windy time at the pool, we watched these impossibly tall and thin Junipers sway in the wind. When the wind calms down, they do stand upright. Really.









The view from our camp across the railroad tracks and the freeway towards the mountains was pleasant. I could ignore the hum of the traffic, but I never got used to the large trains heading up the pass at 3am. Cajon Pass is steep enough that they'd hook four diesel locomotives together at the front, then add two more pushers at the end. By the time we left, we were looking forward to the peace and quiet we hoped to find in Joshua Tree.

Oxnard with MaryLu and Al

After we left Pismo Beach, we headed a short way down the coast to Oxnard, where we visited with my stepmother MaryLu and her husband Al. We had a great time seeing their place, sharing some good meals and talking late into the night, at least by our standards!

The full moon was near when we visited.


MaryLu has painted the inside of the house with great colors. I'd never imagine that they'd all go together so well as they do!

They've got a really nice garden area in the back yard.

And we saw some excellent sunsets while we were there. When we left Oxnard, we skirted the major LA area to the north and stayed off of the interstate until we hit 15 at Cajon Pass above San Bernardino. En route, we saw a firewood lot and stopped off for as much as we could fit in the truck bed. We purchased peach wood. Split trunks and whole limbs. We'd have to wait until we hit Joshua Tree National Park before we'd find out how it burned. I had my doubts if we'd be able to get the split trunk pieces to burn, they were pretty darn dense.

We're back on the air!

So ...
On Flathead Lake south of Kalispell, the hard drive on my brand new Dell laptop (!@#$%^*!) failed. No warning. No impact. It just quit working. Since this drive had the only full res copies of our trip pictures this really upset Joanie. After doing the logical things I tried a few of the far out suggestions I received (put it in the freezer was the one I like best!), all to no avail. Two local shops in different towns couldn't resurrect it either. Finally, I sent it to Kroll On Track. These guys reconstructed the drive in their clean room, sent me a listing of what they could recover, then were flexible enough to negotiate a substantial discount. I ended up paying about $2 per full res picture. They sent me the recovered data on DVD. I'm now a believer in regular laptop backups. Time now to catch for all those missing blog entries! You'll find new entries starting in late August with Legend Rock.

Pismo State Beach

Travelling 101 south from Antioch we pass through many miles of fertile, highly productive farm land. This double trailer load pulled up next to us at just about the only rest stop on 101 for 200 miles. He was hauling two loads of red bell peppers. Uncovered. Just blowing down the road. Joan took one look at that and felt real good about washing her all her fruits and veggies when she comes home from shopping.

The second part of the first winter storm of the season hit us the first night we pulled into Pismo Beach. Rained all night, sometimes quite hard. This is the storm that moved east and threw early season blizzard conditions into eastern Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Deadwood received 45 inches of snow. By the time it hit there, the sky was blue and temps were in the 70s at Pismo. The water is a little chilly, but this doesn't stop Joanie from putting on her swim suit.

There's a eucalyptus grove next to our campground where monarch butterflies come to spend the winter. I'd of never believed it if I had not of seen it for myself!

This Monarch had become entangled in the spider's web. Not good for either of them - the Monarch was destroying the web and the spider was actually looking for something more tasty to eat. Joan freed the butterfly and it flew away.

Brian's in Antioch, California

Leaving Clear Lake, we travelled down one more of those narrow, steep, windy roads into Calistoga. Passed through some beautiful wine country, then stopped in the Bay Area at Antioch to Joan's brother Brian and his family. It was great to see them all. We arrived on Halloween. Angie and Haley arrived in costume. We shared some good meals and time together. Joan and I caught up on some late night TV, tuning it to catch John McCain's opening QVC shopping channel skit on Saturday Night Live. Definitely funny!

Brian has done a lot of work on the house since he purchased it and it's really looking great!

Haley has an adorable rag doll cat named Arwyn.

Nate has a terrorist hunting permit.

I give him my copy of the Looming Tower (Lawrence Wright) describing the road to 9/11. He's considering going to school in Indiana, getting a bachelor's degree to prepare him for a job in counter-terrorism.