What has happened since?
I won’t go into the political development around us although it has put a big damper
on my spirit.
On February 1st I reached a goal that I had set earlier this winter.
I wanted to walk along the irrigation canal from bridge to bridge.
 |
| view from a weir along the irrigation canal |
One side up and
back on the other side. All in all it was a stretch of 9.03 km (5.7 mi). That might not sound
much but for me it was the farthest I have been walking for decades!
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| Coyote |
The last km (mi) was the longest, I tell you. Luckily I did did not have to walk all by myself.
A fellow camper, who also likes to hike a lot, accompanied me and while we discussed
various items and watched birds and a coyote, time passed quickly.
 |
| coyote in the field |
Why not JP, you may ask. Unfortunately he has bad knees and would not have been
able to even make it halfway.
We repeated the same walk on February 16. That time I think I overdid it and as a result
limping around for a couple of days. My old bones are not as good as they used to be.
But I did it! Now back to the couch. :OL
What else did we do?
 |
| Float of the Carrot Parade in Holtville, CA |
We attended the annual Carrot Parade in Holtville on Feb 8
 |
| participants of the parade |
Had a nice morning walk along the Colorado river in Yuma (West Wetland Park)
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| entrance to the park in Yuma, AZ |
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| Chuparosa (Justicia california) |
The only place along the
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| Indian Gum Tree, Acacia (Vachellia nilotica) |
Colorado river
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| Fairy Duster (Calliandra California) |
where we found flowers
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| Desert Ruellia (Ruellia brittoniana) |
JP re-did all the window trimmings. The fabric of the old once were in many
 |
| working on the window valances boxes |
places disintegrating after 20 years of exposure to intense sunlight.
 |
| sunlight fabric damage on old valance |
We acquired a smoker oven which runs on our solar electricity. What a treat!
 |
| our new smoker oven |
This motorhome did not come with a baking oven and we really missed that. Now there
is no end as to what we can cook. The smoker oven goes up to( 260 C ( 500 F)
And we have already tried out cooking several meat pieces as well as cake and cookies.
An awesome addition.
For Feb 18 we had an appointment to get our brake controller for the trailer fixed.
In order to do that we had to go to Yuma and chose "Pilot Knob" as our base camp,
another of the long term camping areas that are covered by our permit.
 |
| polluting haze is moving in from the burning landfill nearby |
Unfortunately it turned out to be very close to a Mexican landfill and several times we
Got choked in heavy plastic smog.
While waiting for the repair shop to do the work
 |
| Dixie at Mittry Lake |
we spend a nice morning at Mittry Lake
 |
| Western Grebe |
only to learn about three hours later that the garage was unable to do it. Duh!
We had to stay another two nights until a mobil technician came out into the desert
and mounted the break controller within 2 hours.
 |
| Technician at work, J-P supervising |
That was how it should have been done in the first place.
Back at “home” we hitched the trailer on and checked - the breaks worked.
Now we can drive down mountain roads without being afraid of burning up our brakes.
What a relief!
Last night we sat together and enjoyed a nice dinner with our neighbours. It also was the
last day for my walking companion who is scheduled to leave the area today.
Soon our other friends who spend their time in Mexico will return and other friends take
down their “tents” and start on their long way towards home. We will be among them.
A new cake is in the making!
German translation
___________________________________________
Schon wieder ist ein Monat verflogen, bald haben wir schon März!
Was hat sich hier so getan?
Von der politischen Entwicklung in diesem Land will ich schweigen,
nur daß es uns sehr beunruhigt.
Am 1. Februar habe ich endlich ein Ziel erreicht. Ich hatte mir vorgenommen am Kanal entlang
von Brücke zu Brücke zu laufen. Das ist eine Strecke von 9 km und ich war mir sicher daß
es machbar sei. Ich habe es mit Gesellschaft eines Freundes auch geschafft. Wenn man
sich unterhält vergehen die Kilometer doch schneller als man denkt.
Doch ich war am Endeganz schön geschlaucht, antrainiert wie ich bin.
Trotzdem haben wir die Strecke am 16. Feb noch einmal bewältigt. Das war aber dann auch
Genug. Mit einer leichten Muskelzerrung humpelte ich ein paar Tage herum.
J-P konnte uns nicht begleiten,
seine Knie hätten noch nicht einmal die Hälfte der Strecke geschafft.
Was noch?
Wir sahen uns wieder den Umzug vom Karottenfest an und
besuchten einen schönen Park in Yuma.
J-P reparierte die Fensterdekorationen deren Stoff an vielen
Stellen von der Sonne auseinander fiel.
Weil unser Camper keinen Backofen hat haben wir uns nun einen Räuchergrill gekauft
der mitSolarstrom betreiben wird. Was für eine Verbesserung!
Nun können wir nach Herzenslust grillen und backen.
Am 18. Februar sind wir wieder nach Yuma gefahren,
diesmal um eine Bremskontrolle montiert zu bekommen.
Die erste Firma schaffte es nicht aber nach
zwei weiteren Tagen fanden wir einen mobilen Techniker der raus
zu uns in die Wüste kam und es innerhalb von zwei Stunden anbrachte.
Nun können wir mit dem Anhänger die Berge runterfahren ohne daß uns die Bremsen vom Wohnmobil durchbrennen. Toi, toi, toi.
Gestern Abend haben wir dann noch mit unseren Nachbarn zu Abend gegessen.
Mein Begleiter startet heutemorgen auf seine Rückreise nach Quebec, Kanada.
So ist das war's im Februar.
Demnächst kommen auch die wieder zurück die den Winter in Mexiko verbracht haben.
Dann verlassen immer mehr die Gegend um sich auf den langen Weg in den Norden zu machen. Wir werden dann auch dabei sein.
J-P backt wieder einen Apfelkuchen!
