Just some of the beautiful sunsets we have witnessed. We never see any sunrises.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Greetings again from California. We are still located at Twin Lakes RV Park, a campground in the rural area of Newberry Springs. It is about an hour east of Barstow and located in the Mojave Desert.
The temperatures here this time of year are usually mid to upper 70's in the daytime and 40's at night. We had a few sprinkles on evening. The wind blows here much of the time. When it is blowing hard, there are dust storms and sometimes the mountains in the distance are not clearly seen. It has interrupted our daily walks on several occasions.
Many of the homesteads here are not pleasant to look at. They don’t seem to throw anything away so there property is strewn with old cars, trailers, appliances and junk.
But occasionally we will see one that is very nicely landscaped. For some reason there are many people here who have tried to have a pond on their property. Most of them have dried up but some are quite nice. Most of them appear to be used for swimming and fishing.
We have seen no farm animals being raised here but we do see some crops that are cut and bailed (not sure what it is) and pistachio tree groves. Anything they are growing for crops has to be irrigated.
The small towns around here are quite unusual. They seem to cover many square miles but are mostly just desert areas between houses. Very seldom do we see more than a few houses that are built together. These little towns have very few businesses. Most have a post office, and possibly beer joint and sometimes a restaurant or small grocery store. Most have lots of old business buildings that have closed, usually long ago.
Gene and I wonder why anyone would want to live in this area. There seems to be nothing that would draw anyone here to live. However it is unusual and I have enjoyed seeing and realizing the differences in the many areas we have seen.
We will be leaving here on Tuesday 4/19 headed to Bakersfield to spend the night in Walmart parking lot (one of our favorite spots to camp LOL) and then on over to San Luis Obispo where we will catch the coastal highway that we want to take on up the Pacific Coast. Campgrounds and gasoline here in California are verrrrry high. We want to stay in State Parks along the way but even they are very costly. But we will enjoy the beauty along the way.
The temperatures here this time of year are usually mid to upper 70's in the daytime and 40's at night. We had a few sprinkles on evening. The wind blows here much of the time. When it is blowing hard, there are dust storms and sometimes the mountains in the distance are not clearly seen. It has interrupted our daily walks on several occasions.
Many of the homesteads here are not pleasant to look at. They don’t seem to throw anything away so there property is strewn with old cars, trailers, appliances and junk.
But occasionally we will see one that is very nicely landscaped. For some reason there are many people here who have tried to have a pond on their property. Most of them have dried up but some are quite nice. Most of them appear to be used for swimming and fishing.
We have seen no farm animals being raised here but we do see some crops that are cut and bailed (not sure what it is) and pistachio tree groves. Anything they are growing for crops has to be irrigated.
The small towns around here are quite unusual. They seem to cover many square miles but are mostly just desert areas between houses. Very seldom do we see more than a few houses that are built together. These little towns have very few businesses. Most have a post office, and possibly beer joint and sometimes a restaurant or small grocery store. Most have lots of old business buildings that have closed, usually long ago.
Gene and I wonder why anyone would want to live in this area. There seems to be nothing that would draw anyone here to live. However it is unusual and I have enjoyed seeing and realizing the differences in the many areas we have seen.
We will be leaving here on Tuesday 4/19 headed to Bakersfield to spend the night in Walmart parking lot (one of our favorite spots to camp LOL) and then on over to San Luis Obispo where we will catch the coastal highway that we want to take on up the Pacific Coast. Campgrounds and gasoline here in California are verrrrry high. We want to stay in State Parks along the way but even they are very costly. But we will enjoy the beauty along the way.
Desert Scene and description. The green bushes are numerous this year because of the extra moisture received in California. The larger bushes are Creosote and have a yellow flower in the spring. We are not sure what the smaller bushes are but might be similar to a tumble weed. The reddish brown is a very short grass. Right now you cannot see much of the sandy soil but as summer and the heat approach many of the flowers and grasses will die for this year.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
We are staying in Pahrump, NV. It is a town with several casinos just about an hour west of Las Vegas. We are staying at Terrible's Casino and RV Park. It is a beautiful park with green grass, a small lake and snow capped mountains in the background. We are trying very hard not to spend much money on gambling. Part of the perks in the coupon book was buy one roll of nickles and get one free. So far that is all we have spent and I have doubled my money on $1.00 playing penny poker. I figure I can play a lot longer at 1 to 5 cents than a quarter. On Thursday we went to Death Valley. It was beautiful. Not just the flowers but the mountain tops, some with snow, and the valleys. The moutains had lots of color in them. It was just a great day and holds many memories for us. The pictures are from Death Valley. Friday we went to Hoover Dam where we were able to tour the dam. It was not as interesting as we had hoped but was ok. Saturday we spent resting up and doing some work around here. I did the laundry and Gene washed the outside of the motorhome. Everyday we walk some in the morning and some in the evening. We like to walk about 3 to 4 miles a day but don't always get it in. Today is Sunday and we went to an "Oasis in the desert", the China Date Farm. It is in a low valley and the date trees were planted at the turn of the century. It was a nice drive and quite a site to see these trees in this location. They have a little gift shop there and sell dates as well as date bread, date cookies and date shakes. We each had a date shake which was very good. Tomorrow we plan to go to Las Vegas just to see the sites. It is definitely a wonderland there. Fun to see but I would not want to live there. We will also stop by to see Red Rock Canyon again. On Tuesday morning we plan to leave for Barstow California and may stay there for a week or so.
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