Nov28
Borrego Springs, California
I celebrated Thanksgiving this year is a very different way – I joined almost 100 single RV’ers of varying ages in Anza-Borrego State Park in the middle of the desert. It appears that this group has met at the same area for ten years to celebrate Thanksgiving. The park is very stark and barren – I’m sure that the beauty happens in the spring when the various cacti bloom. Borrego Springs itself is a “don’t blink” town. There is one “OK” grocery, a couple of liquor stores, a couple of gas stations ($2.89/gallon), etc…
The area where we gathered is called Peg Leg Smith Monument. It seems Peg Leg never found his gold, and it was too hot (even in November) for me to do any serious searching. The big draw for this area is dirt bike/dune buggy riding. The dust is stirred up so much that it hovers like a cloud over the campgrounds in late afternoon.
A nice side trip was to Julian where there are several bakeries featuring fresh apple pies. There were the assorted shops to pass the time, and the weather was somewhat cooler being at a higher elevation. I had lunch and got a piece of apple crumb pie “to go.”
The day after Thanksgiving I was feeling antsy, so I drove to Indio for the day. No, I didn’t hit the sales at the department stores. Instead, I visited three thrift stores and my “big buy” was a pair of brand new custom made bowling shoes. They were blue and red with designs drawn on them with a “leopard skinlike” collar. I don’t really go bowling, but for the price they were too funky to pass up!
All in all, it was a nice way to spend Thanksgiving but a long drive for me.
When I think of Indio I think of dates. I don’t care for them much myself, but I know how popular they are there.
The bowling shoes made me laugh- the sound really fun and funky!
what kind of pie were the baker ladies making? looks like the trip went well…our trip north was good…glad to be back home…thanks for the crocs tip…miss you and cali…