Wednesday - Anza Borrego

We've been warned, twice, about the coyote's here.    Dave and Sasha are out for their evening walk in the dark, dark desert night.  When we pulled into Anza Borrego State Park this afternoon, the gate lady told us the coyote's move into the campground around 4:30 or 5:00.    Then the camp host stopped by (to ask where in NY we were from....turns out he grew up in Groveland!) and advised us to be careful with our dogs after dark... Hmmmm




We left Desert Hot Springs after lunch and had a fairly uneventful drive south, past the Salton Sea, date groves, farm land and then west on SR 22 through the  Ocotillo State Vehicular Recreational Area, otherwise known as the Borrego Badlands.

our little Palm Springs christmas tree was strapped in, and quietly  wondering where we were going....

 We had hints from other bloggers that SR 22 was bumpy, but bumpy was a huge understatement.  Beluga couldn't move any faster than 30 mph for miles and miles.  She bucked and bumped and jerked on this awful road, what made it so full of ridges and lumps?  

After a while (maybe 15 miles or so) the road calmed down a bit and we were able to get almost up to speed.  The scenery was dramatic and we passed a boondocking site with a few vehicles scattered around a large area of desert.  We recognized Paul and Nina's rig and another blogger further out, RV Sue and her canine crew.  So funny to recognize people we barely know, or have never met, from their writings.  What a world this is.

We arrived at Anza Borrego State Park about 3:30 this afternoon and quickly found out site. As we were jockeying into position, Dave discovered our front air suspension gauge was pegged at zero.....drat.  Not good.  After doing a bit of research, we're hoping that the rough road caused a  connection wire to break in the engine computer module.  No dire symptoms, just the dead gauge.  Mechanic Dave to the rescue again me thinks.

 This is a beautiful, pristine park in the desert at the feet of tall mountains.  We just got here, so I don't know which mountains they are just yet - I'll get acclimated in the morning.

view from behind Beluga

I'll post more pictures of our site tomorrow in the daylight.   It gets dark so early here, I'll never get used to it!