January 13, 2005 - Indio CA (Death Valley)
Yesterday was the last "free" day we had here in Indio before leaving for Quartzsite (Q'site) on Monday the 17th so we invited friend John to join us on a little excursion into Joshua Tree National Park and then to Yucca Valley and home. A little 142-mile loop trip. And since John has a Jeep too, but hasn't had it long enough to do any "real" 4-wheeling with it, I drove ours as we took a "shortcut" through the park. Can hardly wait to post the pictures. We had a ball, and John was a good sport and didn't scream or cry or anything. He just got a little quiet once in a while. You'll see why.
Started today by hitching a ride with John (www.GypsyJohn.net) to the Indio fairgrounds where the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association of which we are members) is having a regional rally. Got myself (along with John) registered to take the RVAA RV Safe Driving Course which is a six-hour classroom instruction/seminar. Barb took the class in March '04 at the rally in Albuquerque NM and got a lot of good info, but we couldn't use her certificate for the insurance discount, so now I'm taking it. Once we got that taken care of, I came back home and reminded Barb she wanted to go to the seminar on holding tanks given here at the Indian Waters Western Horizon Resort where we're parked. She scurried to get ready while I settled in for a leisurely morning of e-mail reading and coffee drinking, thinking she was going by herself. Only after a "discussion," I got hauled off to attend as well. Grumpy or not. And danged if I didn't pick up a few tips and get a chuckle or two during the seminar. Like using a small amount of Sea Zyme in the "P" trap of each drain (two sinks and shower) after dumping the grey tank to help eliminate the odors. Rotating which drain we're using each time. Also we'll try using plain old Dawn dishwashing soap (which we use on the dishes anyway) to "clean" the tanks if we are so inclined.
After all that I climbed up on the roof (not my favorite place to be) and started to wax it. Don't think that's ever been done, as there was some oxidation going on. Got it half done before getting tired enough to come hammer the keyboard a bit rather than finishing the roof. There'll be other days.
So, back to Death Valley we go. After the morning Dunes picture-taking excursion, we headed toward the charcoal kilns, hoping we could get there before dark. There were some places we wanted to hike into on the way.
First on the list, Mosaic Canyon. What a fun hike that was! Too bad Bill and Diane weren't with us as we knew they'd enjoy it. Your guess is as good as ours as to the partially destroyed "stairs" and handrail. This canyon is on Tucki Mountain which has a height of 6,732 feet, and you can bet we're not going to the top!
Full of sunshine/shade, interesting patterns in the water-worn rocks, and an odd shaped river bed that we were hoping stayed dry during our visit. In some cases the walls would be too steep for us to scramble up if we heard water coming down in a flash flood. Normally flash flooding isn't a problem in the winter, as the "monsoon" storms occur mostly in the summertime, but the weather has been "unusual" this year and we were always at the ready.
So, you think we're having fun? Good for you. We were. Great fun, matter of fact. Except I was worrying a bit about the sorting, enhancing, cropping, and resizing job I was going to have with both of us clicking away with the cameras.
While maybe not a true "slot" canyon, there still were some pretty narrow places.
No, that's not water I'm walking in. Just different colors in the gravel bed. And I have no clue how the time got stamped in these pictures. It's obviously not the correct time, and since it's "her" camera, I'll only take partial responsibility. There must have been a whole lot of water for a really long time racing down this canyon to give it the shapes we're enjoying.
Yeah, Barb likes plants and I take pictures of rocks. Pretty good team, don't you think? Those little red berries were hard as a rock, too. And these green leaves were what you saw her leaning over to shoot earlier under that ledge.
She caught me peeking through the rock at her, and then I took the shot of her peeking through the rock at me. How "pedestrian" of us. How "juvenile". How much fun can a couple of "over the hill" people really have in Death Valley, eh? And how'd this quartz-laced rock get here when there are none like it anywhere near here?
I find adding pebbles to little cairns simply irresistible. Particularly when they've been built where they're really not needed. And that's it for Mosaic Canyon. A most aptly named place in our opinion.