According to Wikipedia, Desert Agave, Agave deserti, also known as Mescal and Century Plant, was used by desert dwelling Indians to make cloth, bowstrings, and rope.  It also provided author Marshal South and his family with materials for fuel, food and clothing in the 1930′s and 1940′s.

Ocotillo (below), Fouquieria splendens, had bright crimson flowers, but its stems did not have a robust display of green leaves due to the below average spring rainfall.  Marshal South also used the ocotillo for fuel.

Upon return from my hike, I enjoyed a shower and one of Larry’s delicious sandwiches with chips and beer.  I then settled in under the patio awning for an afternoon of reading while enjoying a light breeze… and then I heard the devil coming… it seemed to come out of nowhere… but I’ve felt and heard its breath before at this site.  I immediately leapt out of my chair and held onto the front awning rafter arm as a dust devil sent the nearby table setting and hanging paper lantern up and over our trailer. It was over in 10 seconds.  “Well, I better put the awning in for the day,” I thought, and then noticed that it did not go in as easily as before because the rear rafter arm bar on was now bent!  Together, we got the awning back in and secured.

According to Wikipedia, “Dust devils form when hot air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low-pressure air above it.”  Certain conditions increased the likelihood of dust devil formation on that day, including clear skies, light wind, cool atmospheric temperatures, hot near surface air, and the flat desert terrain that stretched out to the east of our trailer.  It seems our favorite site here is located in dust devil alley! (See this BBC video clip on YouTube, “Dust Devil Blows Away Campsite.”)

Upon return home, I called Awnings By Zip Dee to order a replacement for the bent arm and they asked me for the model and year of my trailer and then guided me to their Parts List on their web site and asked me to click on the PDF, “Contour Hardware Installed 1989 to Present Parts,” where I identified the needed Part #5, Satin Rafter Arm Bar.  Several days later, I noticed the Rafter Arm Tube had a bow in it, so I also ordered Part #6, Satin Rafter Arm Tube Assembly.  They also encouraged me to see one of their excellent Instructional Videos, “Straightening a Bent Arm on a Zip Dee Awning.”  The parts arrived one week later, as promised.

Before installing the new parts, I lubricated them as shown in their Instructional Video, “How To Lubricate a Zip Dee Awning.”  As it turned out, the bow in the Rafter Arm Tube disappeared when it was removed from the bent arm bar, so now I have a spare part for the next encounter with a dust devil… or Mariah.

A nearby Creosote Bush was just beginning to show some tiny yellow flowers as we nestled our Airstream Safari near cholla cacti and set up camp.

We now have a new addition for our galley, a 10″ round bamboo cutting board that fits nicely on the round aluminum platter that rests in a woven tray that sits on the white plastic cutting board/cover over our Lobster Sink.  The bamboo cutting board was bought at an Asian market in San Diego.

Our 23′ Safari has plenty of countertop space for us, especially when our 12″x18″ maple cutting board/counter extension (that we added) is raised and the Lobster Sink and stove are covered.

As I walked out into the nearby desert, I noticed a dry landscape and a meager wildflower display due to lower than usual rainfall in the San Diego area since January. And when it does rain in San Diego, much of it is blocked from reaching our desert by our local mountains.

I did see sparse crimson flower buds on the tips of the shriveled, brown ocotillo stems seen above and yellow flowers of the barrel cactus seen below.

Writer/photographer/Airstreamer Bert Gildart brought festive cheer with him when he arrived at our campsite on his bike.

Bert and his wife, Janie, have been enjoying their winter stay in the Anza-Borrego Desert since December, and we have enjoyed linking up with them on our monthly trips here this winter.  We have fond memories of sharing happy activities such as hiking, feasting, and pursuing bighorn sheep, along with photography, chatting, and sharing stories, books, information, and good times, including the pursuit of dragons!

We had one more wonderful visit and brought lunch for Bert and Janie just after they pulled up stakes from Pegleg and moved their Airstream to The Springs at Borrego RV Resort, before they departed for the 4CU St. Patrick’s Day Rally.

So we also raise our glasses high in a cheerful toast to Bert and Janie… and to hiking, bicycling, and spring!

This first edition of Glacier Icons, published February 21, 2012, by Globe Pequot Press, features 50 large, stunning photographs of Glacier National Park‘s iconic places, animals, plants, and people, along with short and succinct essays packed with information.  In the “Introduction” to his book, Bert writes, “this northwestern Montana park offers a multitude of diverse flora, fauna, and scenic geography, thanks to its dramatic geologic history… born of volcanic fire… and gouged by great continental ice sheets.”

Unfortunately, one of the most photographed glaciers in the park, Grinnell Glacier (named for George Bird Grinnell, influential in establishing Glacier National Park in 1910), is a disappearing icon.  “According to Dr. Dan Fagre, Glacier’s climatologist, Grinnell Glacier could be the poster child for global warming… conditions are changing and that can best be appreciated by hiking to the Grinnell Overlook… from there, the panorama dramatizes the now-accelerated rate of global warming,” writes Bert on page 20.  Listen to Dan Fagre as he talks about his mountain ecosystems research in Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park, with its thrilling Going-to-the-Sun Road, is included in Bert’s “Our Favorite National Parks” Airstream Life article, Spring 2011 issue.  “I worked here in the late ’60s and ’70s as a seasonal ranger – and have returned almost every summer since then to hike,” wrote Bert in his article, “Glacier National Park – An Exploration of Glaciers, Bears, Sheep, and Tiny Pikas,” in the Spring 2006 issue of Airstream Life.  The article covers Bert and Janie’s visit to Glacier National Park with their 28-foot Safari in the summer of 2005, where they joined a group hike on Grinnell Glacier Trail led by Dr. Dan Fagre, who pointed out the recession of Grinnell Glacier.

Bert’s stories and articles have appeared in most Airstream Life issues since the first one in 2004, including the current Spring 2012 issue that features his article, “Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Winter – Explored by Airstream.”  This article covers Bert and Janie’s adventure into Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico in a brutally cold November, 2009, where they completely ran out of trailer power and generator gas as outside temperatures dipped to -11° F after midnight.

According to Editor and Publisher Rich Luhr, starting with the Winter 2011 issue, Airstream Life has improved its readability by its choice of fonts, a “cleaner” article template, and more dramatic layouts with larger pictures.  Airstream Life has a new feature, the “Buyer’s Guide”, which reviews specific Airstream models, and continues to feature quality articles such as those by Bert Gildart, with rich, poetic and majestic images.

As mentioned in Glacier Icons‘ “About The Author” section, “Bert Gildart is the author of more than four hundred magazine and newspaper feature stories.”

“He is the author of fifteen books, seven of which he coauthored with his wife, Janie.”  (He is also a daring and creative photographer.)

When Bert and Janie are not busy hiking and photographing, or writing, you might find them around a crackling campfire, chatting with friends, or listening to performers, such as their friend Tony Feathers, who has a knack of mesmerizing kangaroo rats with his music such as “Old Black Crow.”

Our festive campsite was in stark contrast to the dark and closed section of the southern non-hook-up section of Borrego Palm Canyon campground on the other side of the Palo Verde tree, due to state budget constraints.  We noticed that there were fewer park rangers and more camp hosts than ever before.

With the help of volunteers, the park’s Visitor Center remains open and is a delight to visit.  Dogs are permitted on the 0.6-mile “trail”, which is actually a cement sidewalk that traverses the desert from the campground to the Visitor Center.  Our dogs love this walk and often wildlife is spotted along the way, such as this Black-tailed jackrabbit (a previous image of mine, showing jackrabbits in their natural habitat, will be seen in an exhibit in the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona, later this year).

The only bighorn sheep seen on this trip were in the form of brass handles on either side of the Visitor Center’s massive wooden doors.

Honey bees were busy collecting pollen from Jojoba flowers nearby the Visitor Center.  Jojoba foliage is eaten by bighorn sheep and its nuts are eaten by rabbits.  Lower than expected rainfall in the area since January 1st could threaten the display of spring wildflowers expected next month.

The sun dipped below the nearby mountain ridge as we lit our teacandle lanterns and enjoyed dinner under the stars as we celebrated the upcoming Valentine’s Day and our 41st Anniversary.

Al Green got it right when he sang, “Let’s Stay Together.”

Borrego Palm Canyon is a watershed for the San Ysidro Mountains and has a year-round flowing stream.

A thunderstorm can turn this creek into a raging river that can bring down trees, move boulders, and flood Borrego Springs, as it did in 2004.  Fires can also threaten this area, such as the Eagle fire of last July, which burned more than 10,000 acres as it spread east into the western slopes of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  Fortunately, Bighorn Sheep can easily get out of range of flames in the terrain of Borrego Palm Canyon.  Historically, according to Wikipedia, they have been threatened more by hunting, competition from domestic sheep, diseases, and development but are now making a comeback.

I was bringing up the rear of our hiking party halfway into our hike up the canyon when I turned and looked back at the southwestern ridge and spotted a female Bighorn Sheep (ewe) looking down at me.  I whispered to Janie, who passed the word to the others ahead.  I took a few steps back into the shade and began taking photos with my Nikon telephoto lens set to 200mm. I had photographed Peninsular Bighorn Sheep before at Agua Caliente, but I had never seen them in person here before.  As I was photographing the ewe, to my surprise, a much younger ewe poked her head up over the ridge.

It is likely that the larger ewe is pregnant and hungry.  The breeding season, or rut, is in the fall and there is a six-month gestation period.

Bighorn Sheep eat a variety of plants such as mesquite, agave and cacti.

The ewe remained vigilant as she stood on a ledge of the canyon wall covered with desert varnish, while we continued on our hike to the First Palm Oasis.

This oasis consists of a grove of California Fan Palms, Washingtonia filifera, near a running stream.  Oases such as these were habitat sites for the Cahuilla tribe of Native Americans, who ate the palm fruit and seed, and used the palm fronds to make rope, sandals, and baskets.  According to Diana Lindsay, a clan of Cahuilla lived in Borrego Palm Canyon, but abandoned their village due to small pox epidemics and territorial struggles with cattlemen (Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things, Diana Lindsay, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, 2001, page 80).

After working up an appetite, we returned to camp and joined Larry and Theresa’s husband Bob for a feast of pork and shrimp spring rolls, pork pot stickers, and Yusheng salad provided by Larry, while savoring our memories of our hike into Borrego Palm Canyon and reflecting on those who once lived there.  (See Bert’s photos and story of our hike here.)

It looked like elephants and camels were here.  Bert started taking photos a safe distance from these creatures, but one seemed to become wary and turned abruptly toward him.

As the space diminished between us, it became obvious that these creatures were actually large metal sculptures, Sky Art, created by sculptor/designer Ricardo Breceda for Dennis Avery’s Galleta Meadows Estate, depicting Gomphotheres, Camelops, and other creatures that roamed here during the Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Miocene eras, millions of years ago.  Larry and I had visited this Sky Art two years ago as seen in my “Springtime in Galleta Meadows” post.

We retreated back to our trucks and resumed our pursuit of fabled quarry, the dragon.  Further down the road, we caught sight of its humps and pulled over to visually take in all 350 feet of The Serpent with a Chinese dragon’s head and rattlesnake tail undulating in and out of the desert sand.  We then respectfully approached for a planned photo shoot.

Janie held the strobe while Bert used his Nikon D7000 camera to photograph Larry wearing traditional Chinese clothing of the late 1800s.  (See Bert’s photos in his posting “Year of the Dragon“.)

Larry wore traditional clothing in the Manchu style of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) such as this long blue gown (changshan), black skull cap with a jade ornament, and hair in the queue style.  (Historical note: “To frighten the Chinese, in 1873 San Francisco adopted the Queue Ordinance, which allowed prison wardens to shave the heads or cut off the long braids of Chinese prisoners,” writes Jean Pfaelzer in Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans, Random House, New York, 2007, page 75.)

Larry used a long bamboo pole to levitate a white Chinese lantern symbolizing the pearl of wisdom and knowledge, which the benevolent Chinese Dragon is fond of pursuing. The pearl also symbolizes truth, enlightenment, wealth, good luck, and prosperity.

The idea for this sculpture began with Dennis Avery.  “Dennis also is keenly attuned to Chinese culture through his wife, Sally Tsui Wong-Avery, who is founder of the Chinese Service Center in San Diego and the principal of San Diego’s Chinese Language School,” writes Diana Lindsay in her new book, Ricardo Breceda: Accidental Artist, Sunbelt Publications, Inc., 2012, page 205.

The arrival of this Chinese dragon is timely and auspicious as we enter the Year of the Dragon, which begins on January 23, 2012.  It’s a time to say “Gung Hay Fat Choy,” and watch the Dragon Dance!

Oh, there is one more thing… the second day of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration is considered the birthday of all dogs!

Bert was so thrilled by the morning hike he asked to go out again after lunch for another chance encounter with the sheep and this time, take with him his tripod and strobes for a close-up photo shoot of blooming California Fuchsia.  I’ve accompanied Bert before on photography hikes, such as up Ghost Mountain on a previous New Year’s Day, and it is always a treat to see this professional photographer do his artistic work.  He brought along his bag of tricks, including lenses and strobes, and his heavy-duty tripod.

We returned to the California Fuchsia that we had seen earlier in the day and I took a picture of it (seen below) as Bert set up his equipment.

First Bert attached a 105mm macro lens to his Nikon D7000 camera and adjusted the tripod’s legs to accommodate the steeply angled rocky trail edge and focused on the flowers.

For Bert’s magic and artistry, he set the camera’s shutter speed to 250^th of a second (which makes the flowers look motionless, even in a breeze) and set the aperture at f/32 for maximum depth of field.   Bert used two hand-held strobes, which he explained overwhelm ambient light and produce the black background.  See his stunning image of this flower in his blog posting, “Surviving In a Land Where Everything Either Sticks, Stings or Bites.”

We then returned to the ridge where we had seen Bighorn Sheep earlier in the day, but none were within sight.  As we gazed upward, we both slowly turned, smiling at each other with the same thought.  Maybe the sheep were just on the other side of the ridge.  Yes, we thought, and scrambled up the loose granite side of the ridge like young boys on a treasure hunt.  We got to the top and Bert went on to a higher ridge nearby, but did not see sheep.  I motioned for him to come over and see Hedgehog Cactus that had been eaten earlier that morning by the Bighorn Sheep.

In his book Bighorn Sheep: Mountain Monarchs, Bert writes, “Sheep can digest many forms of food, and their teeth form the foundation for this tolerance… The lower incisors and single canine are intended for nipping while the molars serve to grind… Sheep have a four-chambered stomach… the first [chamber] is unusually large, creating a super fermentation vat” (Page 53).  See Bert’s close-up photo of this same cactus here, taken from his vantage point seen below.  (The cactus is in the shade to the left of the Brittlebush.)

We could have enjoyed lingering on that ridge longer, but the sun began to set, and Janie and Larry were waiting for us back in camp.  We returned with warm memories of this glorious day, which continue to sustain us as we look forward to that next hike, adventure and photo shoot in this wonderful world as we greet the New Year and the return of the sun.

The nights were chilly but our Safari Airstream trailer was warm and cozy inside and festively decorated for the holidays.  Before we left San Diego, Larry had made a Christmas tree (in the style of ones seen in Pennsylvanian German settlements in 1747) for Bert and Janie using materials from our garden, including Juniper, Rose hips, and Bromeliad bloom spikes.

It was a glorious sunny morning when Bert and Janie arrived with good cheer, smiles, and a large bottle of California Chardonnay wine.

We happily chatted as Larry served hot cider, homemade panettone and carrot-raisin oatmeal cookies.  This is Bert and Janie’s first time here, so I had fun introducing them to the park, the Marshal South connection and its beautiful hiking trails.  They joined me on a late morning hike on Moonlight Canyon Trail, where I photographed Peninsular Bighorn sheep last January.  A third of the way into the hike, Bert pointed up and smiled.

We spent the next 30 minutes at this spot photographing 5 Bighorn sheep that were grazing on the nearby ridge.

Bert was in his element. See his photo of the above scene in his posting, “Christmas at Bill & Larry’s.”

Seeing these mountain monarchs this close is like finding gold.  Perhaps Janie helped our fortune by recently adding 10 rocks to the Pegleg Smith Monument, honoring the legend of Pegleg Smith’s lost gold.  Bert turned to me with an expression of true joy.

After a two-hour hike, we returned to camp and enjoyed Larry’s homemade Cajun pork stew while conversing over myriad subjects of interest.  At a certain point, Bert got up to stretch and whispered to me with a boyish smile, “Do you think we could go back out on that trail… I could bring my bigger lenses and strobe light equipment and photograph the California Fuchsia we saw… and maybe the Bighorn sheep might still be there!”  So Bert and I took off like a couple of school kids on vacation.  I saw and photographed more of Bert’s photographic artistry, which will be seen in an upcoming post.  We returned just as the sun went down behind our nearby mountain ridge, quickly bringing cooler temperatures.

We thanked Bert and Janie for their good cheer, insight, company, genuine warmth and understanding… especially as we approached the shortest and darkest day of the year, winter solstice… and for helping us drive the cold winter away.

Just after dinner, a beautiful moon rose over a mountain to the east of our campsite.

Our favorite campsite at Agua Caliente County Park has panoramic views.  We enjoy camping there on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.  Although the campground was nearly empty during our latest stay, we did have an adjacent neighbor with a large fifth wheel RV.

Our neighbors enjoyed evening campfires.  Unfortunately, due to the proximity of their fire ring and the direction of the wind, smoke and sparks flew over and around our trailer, requiring the closure of all vents, windows and awnings.

We enjoyed reading, relaxing, and hiking the Moonlight Canyon Trail, while keeping on eye out for Bighorn sheep that I had photographed there last January.

Larry enjoyed reviewing and highlighting recipes in a new cookbook, The Airstreamer’s Cookbook, a collection of recipes submitted by members of the Four Corners Unit of New Mexico, of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI).  The dishes included have been prepared in members’ Airstreams for happy hours and potlucks at Four Corners Unit Rallies.  The design, illustration and layout were done by Terry Rich and Greg Schmuker/TBRich Design.  Terry says, “This cookbook was designed, printed and produced completely 100% gratis by members of the Four Corners Unit of the WBCCI.”  This cookbook can be purchased by contacting www.fourcorners.wbcci.net.

Larry enjoys discovering and trying out new recipes, with the intention of preparing interesting and tasty dishes for our trips.  On this trip Larry prepared an “International Feast” menu, consisting of precooked entrées that included Cajun Pork Stew with Yukon Gold potatoes, Kalua Pork (Hawaiian pulled pork) tacos, Koresh Fesenjan (Persian chicken pomegranate stew), adas polow (Persian lentil-basmati rice pilaf), and Tortas ahogadas con guisado de pollo y costillas de cerdo en salsa de chille colorado (drowned Mexican sandwich filled and covered with a chicken and pork sparerib chili).

Evening meals were followed by watching a model plane enthusiast fly radio controlled planes (including a Discus Launch Glider), walking our dogs, and star gazing, followed by relaxing in the trailer as I continued reading out loud another chapter of the Harry Potter saga, this time from the 5th book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by author J. K. Rowling.

During afternoons, I continued reading Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson.  I am now halfway through this compelling 630-page biography.  I see interesting parallelisms of the Steve Jobs and Harry Potter characters as early as the first chapter, “Childhood – Abandoned and Chosen.”  According to Isaacson, one of Jobs’ personal heroes was Muppeteer Jim Henson, seen in the tone poem commercial, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones – Think Different.”  On Wednesday evening (November 16), we delighted in listening to the CBC Radio program Q, as Jian Ghomeshi chatted with Kermit the Frog, Henson’s most famous character.

Steve Jobs has been described as a creative entrepreneur, perfectionist, innovator, visionary, artist, and genius… he also was a dreamer.

Here’s to the Dreamers

For us, the Airstream trailer with its iconic shape, clean lines, beauty and functionality, made us feel good, and was well worth the investment.

Our decision to buy this was based on much research, and once it had been acquired, I began researching a replacement for our 9 year old PC.  For me, having a PC had been a love-hate relationship and I wanted our next computer to be enjoyable, functional, beautiful, intuitive, and relatively trouble-free.  I noticed that several people were fulltiming in their Airstream trailers (Rich L. and Rich C.) while happily blogging away on their Mac laptops.  The Mac vs PC research led me to buy an iMac and a MacBook Pro.

Needless to say, it was another ‘OH WOW’ experience and love at first sight and use, and continues to be so… the beauty of aluminum in form and function.

As I write this, I am using the MacBook Pro made by Apple. Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was its co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer.  For three hours on October 19, Apple closed all of its retail stores worldwide for “A celebration of Steve’s life.”  Earlier this week, PBS presented “Steve Jobs: One Last Thing – An inside look at the man and the major influences that helped shape his life and career.”

On October 24, 2011, Simon & Schuster released the authorized biography, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, now the top-selling book in the country.  As I read this fascinating story, which includes his faults as well as his achievements, I found it interesting that he was influenced by some of the people that influenced me when I was in college, such as Bob Dylan (“It’s Alright Ma“), Timothy Leary (“Legend of a Mind ~ Moody Blues“, The Beatles (“Two of Us“), and Joan Baez (“Forever Young“).

Earlier this week, we celebrated Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, a day of celebrating and honoring those who have gone before us.  Larry made Pan de Muerto, a sugar-topped sweet egg bread traditionally shaped into skulls or round loaves.

On October 16, a memorial service was held for Steve Jobs at Standford University’s Memorial Church, where Steve’s biological sister, Mona Simpson, delivered a moving eulogy, and revealed his last words: ‘OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.’

Here’s To The Crazy Ones