LEAVING BIRCH BAY

Today is moving day. Our time at Birch Bay has been uneventful, restful and a time to catch up on small projects.  We walked the park, enjoyed the mature trees, and pure black squirrels. This is the only place I’ve seen black squirrels in the many places we’ve traveled.

I looked them up in wikipedia and found they have an interesting background that you can read about at this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_squirrel


A woods loving plant prolific here.  I’m bothered by  how few plants I can remember names for. There was a time when I made it a point to know the names of everything that grew within my sight. I was heavily into gardening in another life.

For what reason the park managers cut this mature fir is anybody’s guess. It shows no signs of rot or damage.  Fir trees predominate and they are beautiful at this time of year with light green tips on darker old growth.

The next three days we’ll be boondocking and I’ll miss this pretty park and a friendly bird that walks on our roof every morning.
But most of all I’ll miss my daily swim. The pool is wonderful therapy for my injured shoulder.  But, the magic of RVing is looking to what’s next? What will I see?  Who will I meet?

BACK ON SCHEDULE, SORT OF.

December 17th.
I’m learning the mottoes of the road warriors, such as All Who Wander Are Not Lost. And Go With The Flow. And IDAAT which means One-Day-At-A-Time; this same motto is the special license plate on Jim’s Bronco.
At the Slabs, Jim and I hiked each morning with his friend Leo, 77, who winters in Slab City and goes home to his lady in Oregon during summers. A loveable guy with a crusty personality and an affectionate doberman named Juno. We became instant friends. Juno found a dead body under a desert bush last year, Leo told us. Life in the desert is harsher, decidedly different than the city. Characters abound, here, a niche for wandering souls who care not for prescribed life in the fast or slow lane.
Took a Slab City Shower in the outdoors, a sort of rite of passage and very enjoyable.


On the way to Yuma, we crossed the Mighty Colorado River where it dwindles to a trickle, but explorers traveled to Yuma for this crossing because there were few places to get across the raging waterway. It was 1200 miles between crossings, then.
Nearby the Dunes Recreational Area, seven miles wide and 10 miles long, a vista of drifted sand. The modern bridge rises above the sand dunes for an easy crossing but the dunes were a difficult place to traverse in the "old days". The famous “Plank Road” was in view from the bridge, the only way to navigate the sand before the invention of dune buggies and fat wheel ATVs, other than on horse back, donkey or camel.
We arrived in Yuma, parked at the American Legion until we decide where to hook -up.
Yesterday, we crossed the border into Mexico at Algodones for my dental evaluation. It will take three weeks to get my teeth fixed. Arranged to rent a place for a month so we will move today. But, hey, if the rain, which is heavy right now, persists? We can move tomorrow. A smooth advantage associated with life on a “Magic Carpet”.
Christmas seems surreal on the road but we have a wreath on the Motor Home and another on the Bronco. A first for Jim. Several choices of where to spend Christmas and the New Year from an activities list in Yuma. In the new park we will have a mailing address, HOLY COW! Time to order some movies from Amazon.com. Don’t sweat the small stuff and life flows.
Hasta la vista.