Pie In The Sky

 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.

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.

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.

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.

Strange looking structure along I-8

Back at camp we invited our neighbours for a Pie-Party.

It was a great day, but we have to weather another couple of hot days before temps will be reaching back to 23-24C. 

Thank You "Miguel"

 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.

Spending A Day

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.

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.

The artist at work

After only one day here at "Pilot Knob" I am already feeling home-sick for our site at the Holtville Hot Springs.

And you might be wondering alltogether what is "Pilot Knob" and what's the history around here. So below you can read about it.

Pilot Knob (also, Avie Quah-la-Altwa, Ha-bee-co-la-la, and San Pablo) is a peak in Imperial County, California. Pilot Knob is located 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Ogilby, It rises to an elevation of 876 feet (267 m). Pilot Knob is a rocky landform, geologically a Volcanic plug, west of Yuma, Arizona–Winterhaven, California; it is connected to the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, the central portion of the mountains being about 7 miles (11 km) north. Pilot Knob was named for its prominence as a landmark for riverboat traffic in the 19th-20th centuries on the Colorado River which borders Winterhaven–Yuma. Pilot Knob is an Area of Critical Environmental Concern administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

Pilot Knob description

Separated from the center of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains by 7 mi, the volcanic landform is at the base of alluvial fans. Pilot Knob has a height of 897 feet (273 m), and the entire mountain block is about 2 x 2 mi. The mountain has a rock quarry on its north side, visible from Interstate 8.

The Bureau of Land Management administers the Pilot Knob Long Term Visitor Area campground at the base of Pilot Knob.

History

When Juan Bautista de Anza sighted the peak in 1774 he named it Cerro de San Pablo. The Saint Thomas Yuma Indian Mission was located 8 miles (13 km) to the east.[ During the California Gold Rush, Pilot Knob was the landmark on the Southern Emigrant Trail for what was called Emigrant Crossing, the center crossing of three major crossings of the Colorado River in the vicinity of what is now Yuma, Arizona. The Butterfield Overland Mail located its Pilot Knob Station, near the river and the Knob in 1858.

And here we are (almost) at the end of this posting - except I still have a little goodie for you. That is if you are NOT a Trump supporter. Enjoy!

Total Failure Or Can We Get It Done?

One of the "discoveries" we made with our motorhome was that it did not have a functioning brake controller. The selling company in Colorado had assured us that it would have this installed, but they mixed it up with a brake controller for flat-towing. Those won't work for a trailer. Once we showed up with a trailer they should have told us to get one for trailer use installed. But I have to chalk that up to ignorance, despite that the main business of that company was selling trailers.

Ignorance seems to be a problem with other companies too.

Today we had an appointment in Yuma to finally get that brake controller installed. 

For that reason we had already driven yesterday to another LTVA (Pilot Knob) near Yuma , for the time for our appointment was 9am. Of course, we were on-site at 8:30am. Yet, everything was still locked up and nobody around. That didn't change when the clock struck 9am either. 45 Minutes later a black Jaguar showed up. It was the owner of "Just-For-Towing LLC".

I gave her 10 more minutes to get organized before I stepped into her small office. Other than she was mumbling about having to pick up some tax papers, no explanation for her delay was given, and she was quite in the blank about why I was there, so I had to explain it to her. As she found a schedule paper for the day she started to show signs of remembrance. After signing off on the dotted line I left her the key for the motorhome and we took off to Mittry Lake, where we spent 3hours enjoying the scenery. 

We also met a lot of interesting passer-bys we chatted with.

Eventually we got a call from the shop. It turned out to be a huge disappointment as they "could not find out how to install the controller". Apparently a tech had spent one hour in the coach and then given up without doing anything.

We couldn't believe it! We were told that they weren't really an RV place. (But they knew we would be coming with our 40ft rig) Though when we returned to pick up the rig, they were working on 2 other motorhomes. 

Go figure!

When retrieving the key, the woman gave me a phone number to call. Obviously a guy who had knowledge enough to fix our order.

So with our mood in the basement we took off. We decided to return to Pilot Knob LTVA in case we would find another company to get the job done.

I called the number I had been given, and it turned out to be a mobile RV tech. He sounded knowledgeable, but the best part was that he might even be able to get it done tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. His price wasn't too bad so we made a deal. Maybe, if this works out our trip to Yuma wasn't all wasted anyway, besides we had also taken the opportunity to fill up our diesel tank with over 80gal. Diesel prices are easily $1.50 cheaper/gal than in California, which works out to $120 saved.

While we were parked here yesterday, we enjoyed a mighty fine desert sunset. 

And here are wide open spaces to enjoy hiking or just walking the dog. Not far from here, is the Mexican border. On a clear day one can make out the ugly border fence cutting through the desert.

Yes, folks, this is what happened today, so we just hang out here at least one more day.

A Real Treasure In Yuma

A few errands were getting us to Yuma again. And while we are rarely hanging out in the city, yesterday we made an exception.

White River Beach

It is still strange that we never discovered this during our many visits here, but there is a beautiful public park along the Colorado River. Called the West Wetlands Park, the non-pretentious sign to the park can easily be overlooked.

Bea studying information signs

Keep your eyes on the right curbside as you drive down on West 1.Street. You are crossing a low-key residential area before you'll see the entrance to the park. Then get out and wander down to the boat launch. There is a beautiful white-sand beach and the waters of the Colorado, are slowly moving along towards it's border crossing with Mexico in Algodones. Here the river is carrying a lot less water than what you might have seen in places farther to the north. Even as close to Yuma as at Picacho Recreation area, the river is much, much wider. The reason for the reduced water is, of course, the water needed for irrigation of the thousands of acres of vegetable producing fields around Yuma. The waters are then led into the American Canal, running along the Mexican border all the way into the Imperial Valley where another thousands of acres are irrigated with it.

From the boat launch a beautiful trail leads along the river. Huge old cottonwood trees and big Mesquite, some of them in full bloom make for a very delightful walk.

Canopies are providing space for a sit-down in their shade, and we were sorry we hadn't any lunch package with us. Being a Thursday, there weren't many people on the trail, but dog-walking seemed to be the thing. We heard birds singing in the trees and shrubs, but just imagine how wonderful that would be real early in the morning.

We were getting close to noon and the sun was getting hot, so we had to get back to the car where we had water for Dixie and ourselves. 

Ducks resting by the water

Next time you are in Yuma, check it out. Once on the trail, you will forget about the loud hustle of this ever-growing city.

Honey Mesquite in bloom

Yellow Elder