KICKING BACK IN YUCAIPA, CALIFORNIA

What a change of scenery!

The winds came up Saturday night, our last in Borrego Springs, and beat on us all night long. It sure made it easy to hook up and get going! We like the deserts of the southwest, but once the springtime winds get blowing, I'm glad to get out of there.

For big rigs, there aren't a lot of access routes in and out of Borrego Springs. We drove east to the Salton Sea, then turned north, swung west past Palm Springs, and checked into our reserved site at Yucaipa Regional Park (click here for our review and more photos) 3 pm. It was calm, cool, and slightly overcast - what a difference 150 miles makes!

We didn't get much exercise yesterday, so we took a morning hike up the trail to Mt. Zanja, one of the high hills nearby. Lots of flowers blooming here, including a beautiful blue shrub (which I think is Ceanothus, the California lilac).

Now, 24 hours after our arrival, we're relaxing in the sunshine and working through our list of chores - mainly, dust and grime removal, from the interior and exterior of both Scoopy and Jules, and our clothes. The washer and dryer are going; Odel is outside shining up Scoopy's wheels and keeping an eye on Luna, who LOVES this new site.

This park is very near to Loma Linda - in fact, we discovered it while we are staying there for Odel's cancer treatment, when we came out here for a hike. We had admired the campground and liked the location - now we have more time to explore it. With the fishing lakes, swimming beach, and water slides, I'm sure the park is jammed during the summer - but now it is just us campers and a few fisherfolk, lots of green grass and springtime flowers.

We'll be here until Thursday morning. Odel wants to revisit the 18-hole golf course that is practically next door, and I want to drop by the outlet stores for another pair of jeans before we continue our northward travels. Next stop: somewhere along the ocean.