Off to Visit National Parks

Santa Barbara Mission...one of my last California Coast shots before heading East

As I expected, my six days or so here at the Catalina Spa & RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California, have been pretty uneventful. Blissfully so. I didn't realize it when I reserved a site here, but the water that's in the swimming pool and hot tub is from a natural mineral hot springs. It's 130 degrees at the tap and they have to cool it off for the pools. After nearly a week of hot tubbing and swimming every day, I feel very relaxed. My sore butt from my fall in Trinidad is completely healed (I'm sure you have all been wondering about that--ha!).

I have had pretty good Internet access, although I've usually had to go up to the clubhouse to get really good reception. I've also had time to get the interior of The Guppy a little better organized, so now I can really go to town on getting eBay prep work done! I can use the big counter on one side of my RV to iron my scarves, and I've figured out how to drape the dining area on the other side to use as a photography area. This is exactly what I'd envisioned when I hired Eric to rebuild the interior of The Guppy.

I got half of the curtains sewn and hung up, and I hope to complete that project today, since I am leaving the Cat Spa tomorrow.

I still have too much stuff. Things that seemed essential before I left Eugene are now useless flotsam, or is that jetsam? I've got another big box ready to drop off at a thrift store tomorrow. I've gotten rid of six boxes of stuff in the past week or so. Most of the things that I "might" need "sometime" have to go.

There are a few exceptions. For instance, I'm hanging on to my simple old Zebco rod and reel for when I get to where I can do some crappie fishin'. I grew up in the Midwest where fishing was a pretty simple thing. You could even fish with a bamboo pole and a few worms and catch little sunfish, perch, crappies and the occasional bass. After years of living in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, where fishing is a huge deal that involves expensive gear, I long to do that simple kind of fishing from the bank of a lazy river or a dock on a lake again. And I'll be in plenty of places where I can do that this year.

So here is my plan for the next few days...today I'm getting organized so I can unhook and be out of the Cat Spa fairly early tomorrow morning. Then I'm stopping by the Desert Hot Springs Post Office one last time to pick up whatever General Delivery mail is waiting for me there, plus pick up a few groceries.

After that I'm going to head into Palm Springs and shop the thrift stores along Hwy 111. I did this the last time I was in Palm Springs and oh...my...God...!!! Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, etc., are a thrift-picker's heaven. I think the last time I was here, I found 14 thrift stores along the main highway without even having to look at websites, phone books, or anything. And I recall that I also found something like 15 Vera scarves in one day, which is incredible. Plus a weird set of Tarot cards that I was surprised to get a lot of money for and other fun little items.

After I shop 'til I drop tomorrow, I'm going to go do some boondocking...either at the Agua Caliente Casino or at the BLM lands just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. I haven't decided yet. It depends on how I feel at the end of my shopping spree. Bingo and buffet, or wilderness? We shall see.

Either way, I'm definitely heading into Joshua Tree National Park from the south on Tuesday morning, and I'll spend the day exploring the park, then head to one of the campgrounds at the northerly end of the park to spend the night.

Then Wednesday I'll leave Joshua Tree fairly early and head towards the California-Arizona border. I have reservations for an RV park in Earp, CA, that night, and I'll probably be really ready for a swimming pool, showers, and all of that luxury after a couple of nights of camping without all that stuff.

That said, I probably won't have Internet access again for a few days, and it's possible that my phone won't work in the National Park, too. I'll have a long driving day on Wednesday, so it might be Thursday before I get back online. If you're reading this a couple of days from now and you're one of the people I play Lexulous with on Facebook, now you know why I haven't played my turn!

There will be times like this over the next few weeks...I'm also going to the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns and probably some other fairly remote locations in New Mexico. It's been nice to sit still for a while...in fact, it's been downright civilized, with time to make nice meals for myself, and there were even two good-ol'-boys who came by and fixed my step for me, for free!...but the travelin' itch is really, really strong again. See ya'll on Thursday when I post another blog entry!