I go outside at daybreak and watch the sky change.
Bridget and Spike are still asleep. No one stirs outside the campers on a nearby ridge or over at the flat area next to the hill. I pick up the camp chair blown over by a wind gust during the night. A small coyote trots by. The hummingbirds zoom around their red apple feeder. I sneak back inside for the camera. Bridget lifts her head but she’s too sleepy to get up. Good. I want to catch this sunrise before the crew wants their walk.
(The sunrise photos in this post have not been edited, other than straightened. The sky really is this spectacular, morning after morning, here above the Anza Borrego Desert.
Wednesday, December 12 . . . (12/12/12!)
We stay home all day. I continue washing and polishing the BLT. I watch Nina and Paul pack up their Class A and head toward San Diego. I’ve enjoyed almost daily conversations with Nina. I joined them both at their rig at sunset last night and we said goodbye . . . or, I should say, “until we meet again” as we most probably will.
Later two couples come over as I’m polishing.
I hear them greet Spike and Bridget by name so I know they’re readers of this blog. I’ve forgotten their names, of course. I can remember two — sometimes — but four is more than my brain can hold. They’re camping on the ridge that Nina and Paul vacated.
Returning from walking the crew in the late afternoon, Lee drives up!
She tells me she camped two nights in Blair Valley which is at 2,500 feet. The cold convinced her to go back to lower elevation. “It’s less than 800 feet here,” I remark.
“Did you make that list for me?” she asks, referring to the great boondocks and campgrounds I found this year. (Lee doesn’t go online, except for emails from her phone.)
“No, I didn’t because you left and I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.”
“How long are you staying?” she asks. I tell her probably another week.
“Well, Lee, I’ll let you get settled for the night. It’ll be dark soon.” The crew and I walk back to the BLT and shortly thereafter we go in for the night.
That evening I write three pages of my favorite campsites with directions for her.
Thursday, December 13
After watching the sunrise you see above, I go in to make coffee. Funny, Lee’s gone again. I had assumed she was going to camp here last night. She must not like it here, what with no solar power or generator. Well, the nights are long without electricity. I guess she’ll show up again to pick up the campsite information.
By the time I finish a cup of coffee while checking the blog, the crew is up. I put them in their suits and we go on a long walk.
I take photos of rigs as we go so you can imagine yourself camping here in your own home on wheels.
We pass another Casita on the way back to our camp. Look at all the space for boondocking in the Peg Leg/Clark Dry Lake area. And there’s no 14-day limit!
It begins to rain.
Almost imperceptible sprinkles, but it is rain. I can’t remember the last time it rained on the BLT. The crew is snoozing now. I love listening to Spike’s breathing. These walks really wear him out. Bridget is doing so well, considering her ligament injury a few months ago. Sometimes she has a hitch in her step. I’m thankful she doesn’t show any signs of pain or discomfort. It would be terrible if the three of us couldn’t walk the desert any more.
I fix myself a second cup of coffee and start blogging.
Now that I’ve finished this post, I think I’ll have a bowl of corn flakes, watch the clouds float across the mountaintops, and figure out what the crew and I will do today.
rvsue
rvsue and her canine crew 