Free Money–for Canadians

Here we are in the Borrego Springs area, just off Rockhouse Road, and overlooking Clark Dry Lake.  We’ve been all settled in for a while now, and it feels like home again, especially with most of the usual ‘suspects’ also camped in the area.  It has not been too busy, and not too windy – both good things.  As usual, there have been hikes and drives to explore the area. 
One day, it was up to Blair Valley, and Ghost Mountain to look for the ghost of the old geezer who frequented the area. But, there was no sign of Al, from the Bayfield Bunch! Actually, it was the Marshall South homestead, but Al usually has the hike on his agenda, but missed it this year (so far) because of a temporary Jeep issue.

The Yaqui Pass trail was also explored the same day for a view over the San Felipe Wash.

Another day, it was up Coyote Canyon, and the Alcoholic Pass trail.  We did spot the critter the canyon was named after, (Wile E. Coyote) as well as his nemesis, the Roadrunner!

Beeeeeeep – beeeeeep!
Park Ranger patrol passing my truck at the trailhead.
Sorry Alberta and BC folks, but that aint snow!  Just warm sand.

Got a touch rough some times …further up towards Sheep Canyon

Speaking of coyotes …

Almost every night, just as soon as the sun dips behind aptly named Coyote Mountain, the little dogs begin to sing.
Hailey takes that as a sign that she would rather be indoors and have her supper, and I take it as a sign that it’s time to have a wee fire.  Often the coyote chorus is in ‘sound surround’ with verses coming from all different directions.
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You may have been wondering about the blog title?
Well it seems there is some monetary discrimination going on, that can be in a Canadians favour!  I was in a store in Borrego Springs the other day, and the person in front of me was paying for a purchase with a large handful of quarters – and the clerk was counting them all carefully and, what’s that – a foreign (Canadian) quarter was there with the rest, masquerading as real currency!  There was no way that clerk was going to be short a quarter so she refused it and put it aside.  (I have seem them do the same when finding a Canadian penny in the past!)  When my turn to pay – with a credit card – came, I asked her if she was going to keep that weird coin, so she just gave it to me, having no apparent value!!  Last year, I was getting my 5 pounds of quarters at the laundromat, when somehow (!) the clerk figured out I wasn’t from here eh, and wondered if I wanted to buy a few Canadian quarters that had been used in their machines in error.  So I helped out by taking them off her hands.  As I think any Canadian will attest, at home it is not uncommon to find a few US coins in your change, and no one seems to care either way – it’s all money .
Hailey reports a busy time here.  Now that there are two bird feeding stations on opposite sides of the rig, it’s a full-time job for her to prevent those little feathered pests from stealing all the feed.  But she does her best to keep them wild. (No birds were harmed in the making of this blog)
 
























No one will ever accuse me of being a regular, daily blogger, but still, the ‘last updated’ date on the sidebar of other blogs has shown my blogs ‘last update’ 4 weeks ago when in reality it was only days!  Not sure what is causing this, but it makes me look even worse than I am
Let me see …  what else?  My record for using five zeros for a zip code at the gas pump continues with a perfect record so far this year …fingers crossed! A bit of a pain however, when some pumps seem to have a $75 (1980’s) limit on credit card use at the pump.
Had me a little scare this week.  One day this grey Toyota Tundra with BC plates pulled in across the road from me, pulling a Trail Lite travel trailer.  When the driver pulled out the Honda generator, I was almost sure it was the elusive Wandering Willy making an appearance.  But no; it was a stranger.  Who would have guessed that he would have clones out here!
Finally managed to fit a couple of flights into my jam-packed, action filled schedule.
Looking toward Borrego Springs  …                                  and Coyote Mountain
Looking north towards Clark Dry Lake, Rockhouse Canyon and the  …  ‘desert flight control centre’!
See!  I have neighbours!
On Christmas day, a little scenic drive turned out to be a trip to the beach in Oceanside.  It was even warmer near the coast at 29C (86F); the surfers were out, and families were enjoying the beach.


Distance-wise, it is not that far to/from the coast from here, but the roads are extremely twisting, narrow, and surprisingly busy for a holiday.  So we ran out of daylight on the return trip and even the well traveled Hailey was complaining of being car-sick ;-( with all the twists and turns and ups and downs.  We were both glad to get back to the peace and quiet of the desert, where there is only peer pressure requiring a blog update every once in a while.
Talk to you again – when time permits!