Mileage:  57,973 Butterfield Ranch RV Resort Julian, California

We decided to move today.  It was very windy sitting up on the hill and we were not sure what the trails might look like after all of the rain yesterday.  There are lots of other trails in the southern portion of the Anzo-Borrego State Park that we wanted to see.

We started on the highway and we could see a snowplow on the side of the road.  It looked like it had been pushing mud!

In the center of town at Christmas Circle we could see a farmer’s market!  We stopped and got fresh produce, Mediterranean food, and fresh chicken and corn tamales. 

Our next stop was the grocery store.  The area we were going to was far away from any services.  One more stop to fill with water and clean out tanks…just in case we ended up without hookups for several days.  The last stop was at the Calico Coffee Shop for delicious almond coconut coffee.  Now we were ready to go!

We headed south on S3 and then onto Route 78.  There is a warning prohibiting RVs over 40 feet from using this particular section of the road.  No problem…the RV is 35 feet long…I guess the tow vehicle doesn’t really count…

A group of cyclists were approaching the curve up ahead…judging distance and speed, it looked like we were going to get to the curve at about the same time.  Patience, as we followed until we were able to pass. 

We knew from talking with a ranger this morning that all the main roads were open.  As we drove, we could see lots of evidence of yesterday’s rain. 
There were lots of places where you could see that mud and rocks had been cleared from the roadway.

San Felipe Creek was full of running water.  It was dry the other day when we passed.

We are staying at a non-spectacular campground.  It does have hookups though, which is a good thing!  We rested and had lunch and then went for our daily off-road ride.  The highway we took was the Overland Stagecoach Trail of 1849.  Native Americans and then later, settlers and explorers traveled this route.  There is a small primitive campground along the way that has been a campsite for hundreds and hundreds of years.

We went to an area where we had views of the Carrizo Badlands.  When ancient peoples named the land “Badlands,” it was because there were no resources.  Here there was no vegetation and I am guessing not much wildlife.

The last trail took us to Palm Spring.  This is the site of an oasis that was used by the stagecoach companies as they crossed the desert.  There is a pool of water here and a few palm trees.

Our dinner tonight was a three-layer appetizer of feta, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes, garlic hummus, warm flatbread, cucumbers, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, and falafel.  I enjoyed it tremendously…Tim tolerated it!