2011-02-25 Dwight Yoakamm show

What a show.  Dwight Yoakam!!  He sang for 2.5 hours non stop.  He performed at the "Q"  Quechan

Casino on February 25/11.  There was a full house (about 3000 people)  What a stunning performer.

 

2011-02-15 Salton Sea (the west side)

 The Salton Sea is a fresh water body but has about a 40% salt content.  Figure that out. It is California's largest lake, 35 miles long x 15 miles wide and 227 feet below sea level.  It is really polluted with chemicals (suspected from all the fertilizer used for the crops amount other sourses.)   What we saw was totally discusting.  Dead fish (Tilipia, similiar to perch) line the shore, the birds (sea-gulls, egrets) won't eat them, the smell is so bad that it was actually hard to breath.

 You can see the salt that is lying on the shore line.  Very few trees or shrubs grow here and the ones that are here are deformed and skinny.

 This is the boat launch  for those wanting to launch their crafts into this water but look below

 This what you see.  Dead and rotting fish.

And yet there are still lots of homes here. But a lot of them are empty,boarded up with signs on them,  "for rent quick and cheap"  These pictures are all from the west side of Salton Sea.

2011-02-15 A road trip into California

This a section of the wall between Mexico and USA 

 At the border patrol station, you can't escape the law.  This appears to be a complete search.

                            A truck load of lemons.  Imagine the amount of lemonaid you could make.??

                                      This at aunloading station.  There were 14 trucks unloading carrots.

                                          So what do you think of the roads?  Just a little dippy.

 This is an  afternoon fun.  He was soaring around for over 20 minutes and then the engine started to sputter, short of gas, I would suspect.

 This is just a very strange rock formation

These are mud pots.  We saw 13 of these formations out in an area behind a gas plant under construction.  They bubble and burp hot mud that has a smell of sulphur .  When the mud runs out of the hole on top, it looks like lava.  They are about 5-6 feet high.  Really neat to see and hear.

2011-02-14 to 19 Shuffle tournament

 A shuffle tournament involved nearly everyone from the park. It lasted 5 days with a huge potluck on the 19th.

 Joan and Woody shot off.  Yup that is our favorite female in the blue dress.!!!

 Our cooks kept us well fed with smokies and saurcraut buns

 The potluck was a huge success.  More food  than you can imagine  YUM!!

And the winnners of the A event  with the organizers.  A good time was had by all.

2011-02-10 VFW with friends

A great afternoon at the VFW with friends.

2011-02-10 Sprague's Shooting Range

First the instructions,then the safty equipment,then it is into the firing range.

I am all ready.

                                                           Aim, f...i...r...e... 35 shots in 3 seconds.

                                I am prepared now.  I am bound to get my moose this year!!!!!!



February 8,2011 Road trip to Brawley and El Centro,CA

We took highway 78 to Brawley.  Seen sugar cane fields and holstein cattle farms on the way.  In Bradley the community is certainly busy. Lots of construction, shopping facilities, nice looking homes, and great places to eat. We drove onto El Centro, only 12 miles away on highway 86, had supper at "McDonald's".  First hamburger and fries and it was good.  It was getting near 4:30 PM and the traffic is really picking up.  Time to head for Yuma on highway 8.

February 8,2011 Road trip to Glamis,Brawley, and El Centro,CA

These pictures are from the Imperial Sand Dune recreation area.  The dunes cover about 1000 square miles.  The wind was blowing so hard this day that there were like "snow drifts" of sand on the highway.  Highway 78 travels through here and  is a fairly busy road. Cindy and I were not to impressed with the wind.  She headed back to the truck just as soon as she could.   Just as fast as the dunes appeared they disappeared into lush growning fields of vegetables and date palms.

February 8,2011 Road trip to Glamis,Brawley, and El Centro,CA

We have turned off highway 34 unto 78 West.  On our way to Brawley, CA. The roads are all paved and dippy  The scenery changes from hilly to small mountains to sand and lots of sand.  We saw hills of Teddy Bear Cholla cactus.  These little catcus are really prickly and stick to your socks really good.   We came accross Mesquite gold mine in operation for 20+ years.  We were informed to be on alert for snakes (rattlers & king) also Gila Monsters and Chuckwalla monsters, some tortioise.  It was an interesting day. 

February 8,2011 New Dodge trucks in Arizona

For those of you that are planning on buying a new Doge truck made in Mexico (Don) notice the propeller on the back.  This is to assist with the power in coping with the strong winds.  Dodges need all the help they can get!!

February 8,2011 Road trip to Glamis,Brawley, and El Centro,CA

We travelled north along highway 34 in Southern California to an RV park in the desert, Gold Rock Ranch. This place is a rock hounds paradise. All kinds, sizes, & shapes of rocks are displayed here. The second pic is of natural formed sandstone rocks, done by the wind and rain over the years.

 This

Catcus' are starting to come to life. This one, a long stem ocotillo, goes from brown and thorny to green leafed and flowers in a very short time.  Depends on the moisture and the amount.  Kool!!!

January 31, 2011 creatures of the desert

 These little donkeys are quite friendly.  They definately don't mind their pictures being taken and you can call them up pretty close.