Weekend of Friendship and Love

Wow, what a great weekend it was. I will carry these memories with me for a long time! Got so much to write, and so many pictures to show, hope you will have the patience to read all of that! and in the end, hmmm I am not sure if I can tell…

The big fall of Al

Friday, February 12, 2010 – I started the day with another conference call with a colleague in Europe, trying to help me with some new features of a development tool I am using. It was a very productive call and that was a good start to a great day. At about noon I receive an email from The Bayfield Bunch (Al and Kelly)
 
Anyone who knows Al just a little, would know that something is wrong here. Something must have happened. He might have drank gasoline by mistake, swallowed too much Yogurt, or some Tahini got to his head, but the story was revealed shortly after that:

So now the story is clear and we have to go and make sure Al’s head is still in place :)
Patti and I thought it is a great idea! Most of those guys are not only RVers but also bloggers, and like photography, so you got already 3 common interest. That would be interesting.
The rest of the day we ran some errands, ran to Albertson’s in town and got some groceries, loaded some chairs and tables on the truck, and organized the RV a little.

RV Bloggers Desert Summit

Saturday, February 13, 2010 – Today we get to see Al and Kelly again, and meet for the first time Donna and Stu that we follow each other’s blog for some time. We just got introduced yesterday to Ellie and Jim from Justravelin (by Donna) and found that Mike and Janna has a blog too!  Tin Teepee/Log Cabin so needless to say – we were very excited to meet fellow RVers just like us.
So, got up in the morning, got some cleaning to do in the RV (vacuum the carpets, wash the floor, the regular stuff) and by the time we were done it was already time to go to the gathering.
We thought that Al and Kelly will probably not have enough snacks for everybody, as they are boondocking for few days now, and Al’s ‘accident’ just happened.  so we Loaded some fresh bagels, cream cheese and  lunch meat, some fire wood, got the Camera and together with Moe headed to the desert mountains.

So who was there?

Well – of course Al and Kelly, who organized this meeting, Ellie and Jim, Janna and Mike, Peter and Patty, Donna and Stu and Patti and I.  12 people got here in a day notice – wow - That is a Rally!

Peter Al and Mike discussing the future of the universe

Ellie and Jim just started their full timing last year, and boondocking for the first time. Since we want to start this great way of camping, we had many questions to ask, and that was very helpful. The are both into photography and love nature.

Jim Ellie Donna and me. Ellie and I enjoying a cool drink.

Dona has a developer background, and although she will tell you ‘I am retied’, she is still sharp and in the know. It was fun talking to her about consulting stuff and working on the road. Donna and Stu are bike riders and came with their nice Harleys. I think those too are pretty cool.

Donna and Stu 

Al and Kelly showed us their beautiful back yard, and Al rested on his siesta chair (The picture on the left). There is  a name for it - Kelly mentioned it to me, but I forgot. Since we met Al and Kelly twice before, we felt very comfortable around them, they are extremely nice, and I know this is going to be a true long lasting friendship.
We really had fun there, and just started to get to know each other, but the ‘summit’ ended after 2-3 hours, much sooner than we thought. We planned on having some campfire and spend more time with our new friends.
We did not have enough time to talk to everybody (it takes time to get to know each other) and sure hope to meet again sometime. Now that we have exchanged blogs it is easier to follow the whereabouts of each other so I am sure we will get together again. It is a cool little group of RVers, Photographers, Bloggers, and nature lovers, just to mention a few of the common traits. Maybe we can start a social group led by Al, (LOL)
I am very bad at taking pictures in this type of occasions, as I am more interested in getting to know the people, interact and make new friends, so my mind is off the camera, but I did take some pictures (as you can see)

Jim and Ellie (and the Cameras)

Patti, Mike, Janna, Ellie and Jim at the Bayfield’s back yard

Al and Patti sharing the secrets of the desert

Kelly Jim and Janna	Peter, and Patty, Al and Kelly and Patti
The decorated porch	The Cactus Garden
Moe and Checkers	Mountain View

There are so many more pictures and stories from all the others bloggers:

• Al from The Bayfield Bunch 
• Dona from 2 Taking a 5th
• Ellie from Justravlin
• Janna from Tin Teepee/Log Cabin

I think it is very interesting to read the story from different points of view, So take your time and enjoy them all!

The best Valentine I ever had

Sunday, February 14, 2010 – I told you it is going to be a longer blog this time, so bear with me just a little more. This was a very nice day!!!
We woke up late in the morning without any plans. It is so great when you can live like that and still be able to work. It does not always work that way, and sometime planning is required, but for the most part – we live and enjoy the moment. Just have a general idea of what we are going to do, but even that is subject to change.

The Plan

So, as we set down drinking our morning drinks – (Patti has her Mocha, and I had a cup of green tea), looking for emails, blogs and  news, I asked Patti – What are we doing for Valentine’s? I did not feel like going to a restaurant and celebrate with the rest of USA, so I said – how about taking a bottle of wine, some chocolate, and go hike somewhere, celebrate in the nature?
Sounds like a great idea, Patti said, but where? I dono, I said. We both returned to our screens searching for a place to go. At start we thought about Joshua tree or the Salton Sea and the Slabs area, but that was too far. Next we looked into some wildlife refuges and after a short research we decided on Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, about 50 miles south of us. We started to get ready to move, and just before we left Patti said -  Did you read the comment Al left on your blog last night? No, I said – why? - Coz he mentioned the Palm canyon, he said we can’t miss it!
So – Palm Canyon it is! Changed our plans in a second, got directions, took Moe with us and left for the day.

The implementation

By the time we got to the Canyon it was already 3:00pm, and the whole canyon was in the shade. The mountains are very impressive and transmits waves of powerful energy that goes through your mind and soul as you watch these huge walls flying above you, making you realize how small you are in this world. The views were outstanding! breathtaking! I just loved everything around me – the trees, the plants, the mountains, the rocks – everything combined in such a perfect harmony into perfect composition…

We parked the car in the parking lot, there were three other cars beside us. As soon as we started to walk on the trail, we met a couple coming back, so two left. The way up was not too hard and the trail was wide and comfortable. The walls of the canyon on the south side were steep and very high without any openings, while the north part had many smaller canyons and creeks that connected to the main canyon, hiding in them trees, cactus, and formed many beautiful shapes. After a short time we met another family going back and then another hiker by himself – count go to 0!. After we gained some height, we looked back to the valley, and a magnificent view was spread just below us to the west. (You can see our truck in the parking lot, by itself)

 

Finding the Palms

Not sure how long it took us to get there, but it wasn’t too long before we saw the sign that points to the palms in one of the northern narrow canyons. The creek was steep and narrow, and in order to get to the northern side we had to cross the main canyon, the one we were walking along. That task was not so easy, as the creek was deep and rocky. Jumping over and climbing rocks we crossed and got to the bottom of the palm creek. From there, we could not see the palms anymore, as the creek was extremely steep with huge rocks were on the way. That would not stop us, we agreed, and started climbing. At this point we had to use both our hands and get through very big rocks. At one point I had to lift Moe up as he could not climb over some big rocks on the way.

After all that way up, just about in the middle, we approached a huge smooth rock with a rope that goes down. We may be able to get up, but no way I can get Moe up there. I think we reached a dead end…

 

Celebrating valentine’s

The spot we reached was high enough and very peaceful and romantic. We decided to take a break and have our own little party right there in nature.

I will not disclose what we did there (I will leave that part for your own imagination) but after that, we sat down, ate some crackers with cheese and salami and opened the wine bottle (This is this sweet plum wine we got in AZ) and a package of Dove dark chocolate.

We had a couple glasses of this sweet wine with some chocolate, and just stayed there and enjoyed this special moment. We both agreed that this is one of the best, if not the best valentine’s we ever had.

The sun was starting to set, and we did not want to go down through all these rocks in the dark. We were not sure what wild animals are in this area and with Moe, we did not want to take the risk.

We started our descent, slowly and carefully all the way down to the trail. As soon as we got down the valley appeared again, but this time painted in the beautiful colors of mountain sunset. A perfect finale to the show.

So enjoy the rest of the pictures. I wish I could have a better way to share the experience, the feeling and the views, but this is the little I could do.