New Year in the Desert

I am still working at Fleet Brake for one more month so after such an uneventful Christmas I decided to treat myself to something totally different and on Dec 29/2011 flew to Palm Springs. I was nervous, worried my bags would be too heavy etc..the usual trepidation but no problems at all and after a 3 hour flight I was met at the airport by my good friend Ken Maki. We collected my baggage and headed out to his and Karens home. The next morning, under a beautiful, warm, sunny sky (They must get so bored) We drove Karen to work and then took Ken's van in for some repair and he drove me to Palm Desert to the Marriot Resort to pick up the motorcycle I would be renting for the next 3 days.

This is Karen's shop in Palm Springs
After picking up the motorcycle I got on I 10 and at the top of the pass determined that I had missed my exit as I was headed for Blythe,,not the Salton Sea. So I managed to get turned around several miles away and then exited heading south and proceeded down the east side of the Salton Sea. I do not know too much about this area. There were several State Parks you could camp in but not too many towns or facilities until you reached the southernmost end. I stopped for fuel in Calpatricand headed west. I passed the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge and turned south after stopping at the Border Patrol station...What I failed to see is why the Border Patrol is so far away from the border? Anyway I was headed toward Julian, California and saw the sign for Agua Caliente Regional Park. At this point I was thinking that any of those people who think the desert is flat are sadly mistaken. One has to go over several mountain Ranges and many twists and turns in this area. Extremely beautiful.

These pictures were taken at our lovely campsite in the park. There were about 50 BMW Airhead enthusiasts
camped in this lovely location. We had a gorgeous Hot Springs to soak in and a couple of the San Diego clubs are chefs and we had the most beautiful meals served in this rugged campsite. I was surprised that the cost was so reasonable at 40.00/person we had 5 meals and camping and beer and wine. I came to find out that at a store called Trader Joe's one can pick up a very nice bottle of wine for 2.99. WOW!
What a diverse group were gathered here and I can hardly wait to go again. Although I had to use the hot rock in my sleeping bag trick to keep me warm...No one else would volunteer, I had a warm and cozy welcome to this desert campout.

The following day I had an unexpected side trip to some mudcaves about 10 miles down the road. We went in a Jeep as it was truly an off road experience. These particular mountains are of a very porous, clay material and when it does rain it erodes channel in them and one can explore in many of them. The following pictures give an idea of what one can see.

Then we went over to another area of the park and hiked to see the "dinosaur bones" Unlike Drumheller these were not truly fossilized bones but there was a very interesting array of T Rex and early man and woman. Their "parts" were truly amazing.

Guess which part I wanted to take back to camp? I will publish this post and continue with the New Year  in the following post. Hope you enjoy.