Canyon Gaudaloupe

Hi Kids!

Here we go again.

Each Spring Break, for the last eight or so years, Lolli and I and my dog have left the Mendocino area with our friends Ed and Suzanne and headed for the desert for high adventure. We in our VW bus ROADCOW and Ed and Suzanne in their VW bus SAGEFOX.

Over the years, amongst all the silent beauty of back roads, we have replaced oil seals, shimmed rocker trains, fixed flats, broken bones, hauled the dog off to the vet, been stuck in sand, snow, mud, been lost, and loved it all, almost. These interesting things happen to us in places like Darwin, Tecoupa, Saline Valley, Mojave Wilderness, Last Chance Mountains, Crankshaft Crossing.

This year, for the first time, we were able to talk Ed and Suzanne into crossing the border into Baja. Lolli and I know of some hot springs down there that we just love.

We wanted to share them with our friends, and we did. Three glorious days of palm trees, soaking in the hot tub, flowering cactus, soaking in the hot tub, bird song, soaking in the hot tub, hikes in the canyon, soaking in the hot tub, and falling star/satellite watch from the hot tub at night. Perfect.

This image shows us doing some typical "heavy lifting".

But then, Ed cooked up his infamous Nook Mom sauce (the sauce that has always precipitated disaster). He boldly slathered it on the chicken on the Barbee and sure enough, in the middle of the night an unexpected wind came up and blew so hard it almost ripped the camper top off my bus. That Nook Mom has lead to disaster on every trip and yet, how can we do without it. The next night was my birthday and so I whipped up an antidote, Spam Fondue, complete with menu...

I browned up chunks of Spam with garlic and onion, the Velvetta melted nicely in the sauce pan over my Coleman stove. Dipping the chunks of Spam in the cheese by star light helped the ambiance, I think. Next morning, even the dog wouldn't eat the leftovers but the wind did die down.

From there on out we had basically trouble free motoring even though Ed took command of the return route home and insisted we follow the San Andres fault!

So there we were, following SAGEFOX, and listening to a running commentary over the CB about fault blocks, up thrusts, induction, sub-duction and;

"Off to our right is the end of the Garlock Fault". "On the left is the San Andres". "Now we are entering the Carrizo Plain".

We followed the Carrizo Plain North and ended up camping out in the midst of all this earthquake evidence, not a street light, ranch light, car light to be seen.

The next morning we stopped in Parkfield,
"Earthquake Center of the World"!
Population 37.

A wonderful little town with an restaurant, museum, and gift shop that was open!. Parkfield's motto is,
"Be Here When It Happens!"

We took a wrong turn out of Parkfield and ended up on a dead end road with a bunch of pig hunters. They laid down their knives and guns long enough to point out our error. Soon we were up over the mountain and heading for Hollister and home.

Ah yes. Another Spring Break in the bag.