News from Cuba!!!

First thing this morning we received a Facebook post from our daughter and son in law Kaitlyn and Greg who are vacationing in Cuba.  I know they are having a lot of fun down there on the white sand beach, but I had to scratch my head over the picture they posted.  See if you can figure it out???

Is this what I think it is?

No hurry today to break camp because we don't have far to go again.  64 miles or so.  We took our time having morning happy hour and enjoying the heat that has finally descended on us.  Upper 70's today!!  We are getting used to these short moves. 

We got away about 11 am on our journey north to Joshua Tree National Park. We plan to boondock outside the gate at the south entrance.  Due to the fact that a lot of my work life involved trains, I can never resist taking a picture of one.

No the engine is not on fire. 

It wasn't long and we were heading along the Salton Sea. 

There were lots of places where RV's can camp along the sea in the State Parks.  I imagine there is a small fee, but that is for another trip to find out.

We did spot the Fountain of Youth RV park up in the hills where our friends inlaws spend their winters but I didn't get a good picture so had to steal one off the internet.

Once again Lessie found some great country for us to tour.  We started out in agricultural country and wound our way through lots of grape orchards.  We wondered if these are eating grapes of wine grapes.  Generally if they are for wine, there is a winery close by, but we didn't see one anywhere.

Grapes starting to grow

Lots of date trees

Workers tending to the orchards

Lessie headed us up through Box Canyon which has been on my bucket list for a while.  This will save us a jeep trip back through here although there are a lot of jeep trails that one could follow another time.  There are so many pretty rock formations along the way.

Around every corner in this great country there is something else awesome to see.  We can't get over the beauty out there.  We arrived at our boon docking spot around 1 pm and parked up.  Now I have to tell you that in this country there are lots of opportunities to get in trouble.  Sand is one of our enemies and if you read yesterdays post you will remember about the Class C and the tow truck.  Now add to the sand equation a Blue Bird Bus style Motor Home which weighs close to 50,000 lbs doing a sweeping turn and encounters a soft sand pocket. Plus he has a tag axle which is like dragging an anvil in soft sand.  His drive wheel only had to spin about twice and he was going no where. 

Now the difference between the kids yesterday with the Class C, and the situation today was that Harold and I have spent our lives on heavy construction and farming and getting ourselves out of tricky situations is just something we do.  We don't like paying towing companies and this would have been an expensive one.  We went to work with all of the jack pads, blocking, and shovels to get this beast out of the hole.  Ed endured my constant orders without chocking me and was our pilot. Lessie kept us all on track and all of the ladies were our moral support.  I think they must have been checking for ideas on the web!!  Thanks guys!!

Our neighbour Ken donated some blocks to our effort and shoveled some sand where needed, and Pat donated her door mat.  After about 2 hours and a couple failed attempts, we were successful in freeing the beast.  What a great feeling to succeed!!  Everyone chipped in and made this a great team effort.

Thanks Ken!!

When we got everything all picked up and settled we truly circled the wagons tonight.  My blogger friend Deb had mentioned that you can't make a circle out of a straight line like we did last night, so we made sure we were in a sort of circle fashion tonight just for her!! 

Once again the sun set on another fun filled day.  We saw a lot of new things and learned a lot about sand.  Everyone retired early.

As we headed in from watching the sunset, I noticed what the view out our window was tonight.  An amazing reflection on the Alfa.

Our Location Today: Just outside Joshua Tree National Park 33.6754 -115.8057