A friend called today. He had very, very sad news. His wife had passed away. They have been RVers for many years. This year they had arrived in Yuma in November. In December she suddenly felt ill and was quickly diagnosed with a mass on her pancreas.
They returned home to Prince Edward Island. Today she died of pancreatic cancer. We are devastated also for our friend, for whom this is the second time that his wife died.
R.I.P. KAREN
Bob and Karen at Squaw Lake
With 32C (90F) in the making, we decided to escape to some cooler surroundings. A daytrip to the Apple Pie Town of Julian, CA filled today's agenda.
We left camp early and before there was a major heat.
Now, Julian is a very small town in the San Diego Mountains, about 12km west of Anza Borrego Statepark.
At an elevation of over 4100ft the area had only 22C (71F) and was the perfect place for a get-away.
The drive led us via the city of Brawley over to the west side of the Salton Sea. The US Border Patrol has maintained a check point along that road for years, and right behind that check point, Hwy 78 turns west towards Borrego Springs.
It's a desolate area we drove through and it is used by the crazy off-road people. Ocotillo Wells is their headquarters. All along that road until it crosses into the State Park, one can see trailers and shacks lining the road. Not a pleasant view, if you ask me.
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| Mystery: How did this boat get into the desert and what's the purpose of it? |
Now, we continued on Hwy 78 which brings the traveler along a winding road to ever rising elevation until the town of Julian comes up.
Julian got known because it's plentiful apples and their resulting super delicious Apple Pies. Also, it has a certain ambiente with its special wellkept architecture.
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| Steep grades on the road to Julian |
Finding a parking spot can be a challenge, though it wasn't a big problem today, but if you end up her during a weekend - good luck!
After moseying along Main St. (it's really very short) we decided to go for the Pie. The Julian Pie Company is just down the Main St. and Bea bought 2 super delicious yummy tasty apple pies. One was for us, the other for our camp neighbours.
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| A look into one of Julian's Boutiques |
We then sat in the van to devour our sandwiches we bought along.
Now, it still was only noon and way too early to return home as the heat always reaches its peak around 3pm.
So we found Lake Cuyamaca Recreation Area not far away from Julian. A lake seemed to be a great place to hang out on. We paid 5$ access fee and went down to the lake trail where we set up our chairs and enjoyed the scenery and the birds. Among lots of Canada Geese, some white pelicans were on the water as well. Bea took Dixiefor a walk along the lake shore and after a while I followed her.
Bea had discovered a huge tree where the bark had thousands of little holes and where every hole was filled with an ekorn. We had to marvel at this grand work performed by a woodpecker. The tree was covered all around and to a respectable height with these ekorns.
Returning to camp we drove south towards the I-8. There are several California State Parks along this route. The winding road through forests of Live Oak and Conifers would be an adventure to drive with any bigger RV, but it was fun with our Van.
Stopping at Desert View Point we enjoyed an amazing overlook towards the east.
After reaching the I-8 the forest retreats from the road, giving room to large mountains vistas.
The mountain slopes are about the strangest I have ever seen. Huge round boulders are reaching the top, some balancing precariously on others.
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| Strange looking structure along I-8 |
Wednesday afternoon I spoke to a mobile RV Tech by the name of "Miguel". We had agreed he would come out Thursday morning (today) at 9am to fix our brake controller issue.
So then this morning we were watching out for him at 9am and lo and behold, he came right on time.
What the other company had estimated to be a big problem was nothing to Miguel. Focused on wiring at the rear and the front of the coach he quickly identified existing wiring and installed the brake controller under the dash. Within the next 70 minutes he got it all done. This guy was absolutely amazing, and while he had quoted us around 500-650 Bucks he gave a bill of $440. THANK YOU MANUEL! We'll recommend you any time.
4 years ago I had a brake controller installed in our van by an RV dealership in Houston, TX. They charged me $800, and had me waiting for 6hours!!!!
Miguel at work at our very dirty bus
If possible, NEVER go to an RV dealership for repairs or upgrades, unless there is no other possibility. Try mobile RV-techs! You might not even have to move your rig.
We left Pilot Knob only minutes after his completed job. At 55mph I moseyed behind a semi over to Holtville, where we connected the rig to our autohauler to test the brakes. And it worked like a charme!
Tonight, we are both Happy Campers again.
So we woke up to another beautiful day here in the desert.
Nothing special going on, except that we awaited a phone call from our mobile RV Tech "Miguel".
Until then we piled into the van and went shopping in Yuma.
There is a Walmart along Ave B with 24St. It has the benefit of offering shaded parking spaces, which is what we appreciate for the sake of Dixie waiting in the van until our return.
Initially I hadn't much on my shopping agenda, but as there also is Bea, our shopping got somewhat more than initially planned. So passing the till we forked over just short of $150. Now, that included a new frying pan, eyedrops for Bea, a few extension rods to put behind the door of our fridge to prevent things from falling out after opening the door, 2 small gas containers for outside cooking stove, and some items for Bea's painting hobby. Afterwards we still had to get a 35lbs. bag of dog food from a TSC store.
Lunch in the rig was next and an hour later we got the call from Miguel. We agreed that it would be best if he came out here tomorrow morning to do the job.
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| Evening is settling in |
So that suggests a return to Holtville early afternoon.
Bea has been spending countless hours doing her paintings and I am really impressed by the results. It is a wonderful thing to do and she is using both Acrylic and water color. Next we need to get some frames and find places on the wall for them.
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| The artist at work |
And you might be wondering alltogether what is "Pilot Knob" and what's the history around here. So below you can read about it.
