ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING-

Its true, we're rolling, rolling, rolling. We left friendly Palm Springs, the dates, the palms, the citrus fruit growing everywhere, the morning power walks, the many fun activities,  and are headed for Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails.

We left elevation 18 and climbed up over the pass in the San Bernadino National Forest with our highest point at 4808 feet.  Its high desert and the temperature here is friendlier than the heat wave bouncing into Palm Springs. My weather wimp says, "We left just in time!"

Its pretty country, and as usual, I get to enjoy the view out the window while Jim drives.

The air got noticeably cleaner as we got above the city smog.

In fact, on the way out of town I finally got a good picture of this sign that I had seen several times. It bugged me because I could never read the bottom address to find out what on earth is going on. Enlarging the picture gave me the address. Its a good site for men's health issues. It explains what tests are necessary for men; what studies you can refer to and so on. It kind of annoys me though that the US government has paid for these huge, giant billboards with the address on the bottom so small its unreadable from the road.  So, if you are interested, now you have it.
http://www.ahrq.gov/

Anyone who has read my blog knows I'm a sign freak. When we turned onto Pearblossom Hwy I had to do it. I mean, isn't that a pretty sounding name?  Maybe there's  a female highway engineer lurking in the office who gets a chance to choose a name. Avenue T. Aargh, how unmemorable.

We kicked back, enjoyed the cool, quiet, had dinner,then "Roseanne's Husband" did the dishes and clean-up.

QUARTZITE, ARIZONA-GEMS AND FRIENDS

Quartzite, Arizona is a mecca for gem and mineral buffs as well as RVers. The gem and mineral show brings about 100,000 RVers to this port. It is then followed by a huge tent show of RV accessories. Suffice it to say, town is loaded with road warriors from all over the U.S. and Canada.

 Ever on the lookout for some oddball sign, I did a double take at an RV Proctologist sign. Hope it gives you a chuckle as well.

Arizona also has a number of nudist colonies and Quartzite attracts quite a contingent of nude RVers. This sign on BLM land warns you if you are sensitive to nudity. You may remember from a former blog the picture of Paul, the nude bookstore owner from Quartzite we met in January of 2009.

We weren't interested in the RV or Gem and Mineral show this year, but Jim wanted to catch up with long time friends, Joan and Jim Belluomini, now westerners, but originally from New York. Jim was also in the nuclear power industry. He retired at 51 years old, just before the Nuclear Power industry pretty much collapsed, and he hasn't looked back. The two Jims and Joan met in an RV caravan back in 1996. The Belluomini's now enjoy Washington State as their summer home and wherever they wander,  as their winter home, but they are considering going back on the road full time. Its an addicting lifestyle. Part of the joy of RVing is keeping in touch with old friends and you often do it on the road.

Just as we turned into one of the BLM roads to meet the Belluominis, Jim did a double take as he spotted his old rig going by. He was more excited than a kid at Christmas. He sold his Suncrest in September of 2009, and there it was zipping by. He only had Ned Bedinger's home phone number in his computer. Luckily, Ned's wife was home. We arranged to meet at the BLM camp area called Dome Mountain.

Here is Ned with the Suncrest. Ned and his wife,  Jane were Peace Corp Volunteers in the 1960's to the Phillipines. While there they explored Indonesia and Thailand, two places close to my heart. We enjoyed a beer and conversation. Ned invited us to his place in Washington later in the year.
The RV community is a friendly, engaging community.

ALL FORTY-EIGHT STATES!

On the road, a person can get into signs in a big way, which I do. I like humorous ones, particularly, but my quirks of personality lead me to various others. I lament the ones I missed because we were moving; they turn out blurry; or because its inconvenient to stop a big rig at that moment given traffic and so on. But, the couple in this video very determinedly took pictures of all welcome-to-our-state signs. Many obviously shot from a moving vehicle. You can see the results on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU40OHnynHo

Nicely done. In years past travelers bought stickers, available at every gas station convenience store, from each state they passed through. Folks would stick them to their car windows or rig. Few people expected to get to all 48 contiguous states. Then, people weren't quite as mobile as they are now. A neighbor of mine collected spoons from each state. They get cumbersome after awhile. The pictures, though, are a great keepsake like postcards of the past. Economical, harmless fun. 

  As a beer drinker, I find a sign like this on a hot day a compelling beacon to stop.

 This sign kind of twiggles the senses, its funny but to the point.

This is a road sign but I can't help but think of some kind of exotic sandwich when I look at it.

It takes a second to decide if this onion is an octopus in disguise or not.

And FAITH is hard to come by in this sign. It took some concentration to get an A out of the second letter and the T looked much like a V. One thing, these signs remind us how lucky we are for American affluence, that we have the leisure to enjoy such innocent pursuits.