Borrego Days - The Good, Bad and Ugly

It was a bit of a quick decision to head over to Borrego Springs for the 56 Annual Borrego Days.

The Orionids Meteor Shower was peaking, on a moonless night and the Borrego Days Festival.  A reasonable fun trifecta.

The BAD

Pegleg Smith now requires a fee.  That’s right it is no longer a free boondocking opportunity.

There is no Iron Ranger, but a sign with a QR Code.  To use the QR Code the Yodel App is required.

I do not have the Yodel App for my iphone and really do not wish to add another option as a payment device on my old phone.  If you have the Yodel App I’d like to know your experiences with it.  If you can read the following QR code I’d like to know what it needs.

I did ask a ranger what’s up?  And he had no specific information, just saying that Sacramento is demanding the park bring in more revenue.  He did mention that more areas in the park will have a fee.  “Blair Valley?” “I can’t say.”

Day use should be $10, that's the same for other state parks, but what of over night parking? and does that include the ‘Toad’?  ARG! the ranger was no help.

It was warm enough that we chose to stay in town at an old favorite Borrego Holiday Home.

Looks like in the future we will boondock at the American Legion.

Original Gen. Patton Scout Car

The Orion Meteor Shower was a bust.  No fault of the heavens, but SDG&E!  Our site at Borrego Holiday Home had an excellent view of the eastern sky, but 

sunrise

the SDG&E solar array, which is maintained nightly under massive flood lights.  My view of the sky… washed out by SDG&E

after sunset

But I did see a couple :)

The GOOD:

THURSDAY:

The drive out to Dudley’s in Santa Ysabel was on Thursday with little traffic.

Yikes Dudley’s has applied for a liquor license!  I hope they plan an creating rum cakes and not drunk drivers!

We shared the Baja Chicken.

And since my birthday was coming up, a Julian Apple Mountain Berry pie and some cinnamon piecrust cookies.

Not sure if the pie will last until my actual birthday.

FRIDAY:
I’ve been told that there are 134 sculptures on the Goleta Meadows property.  We always stop to see a few favorites.

All of the popular sites along the roads are now no longer ADA accessible.  Parking must be alongside the road and walk to the sculpture.

The Scorpion at sunrise from the viewpoint of his ant nemesis

The tortoise family.

All the sculptures have/had identification numbers.  The weather has removed some.

The dragon is a crowd favorite,

But I’ve always liked the Borrego Sheep.

Perhaps another visit and with sufficient time I’ll see how many I can actually find.

A first stop for many is to visit the Welcome Center.  We’ve been coming here long before the building!  This is our first time at the WC.

There is a nice tribute to Dennis Avery out front.  The heir to the Avery Label fortune and responsible for bringing the sculptures Ricardo Breceda to Borrego valley.  “Blessings are meant to be shared” ~D.Avery

Juan de Anza on his horse marks the front of the building but the main entrance and parking are at the rear, where a couple of T-Rex dinosaurs stand guard.

Both have skeletons in there lantern cages, for Halloween of course!

Rain has finally come to the valley.  The brown ocotillo from our last visit our now sprouting lush green leaves.

ocotillo leafing out

SATURDAY: Borrego Days

What’s not to like about the celebration of the desert coming to life?

It's Post Covid the celebration has been smaller.  There are fewer volunteers to make it happen and few participants to bring in the visitors.

The festivities began with a short parade and then a flyover.

A few more food options than last year.  I opted for a gyro, which was not so good.

Fran opted for a veggie bowl.  A better choice.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed the Birria (stewed) beef options better.

Pumpkin painting looked fun.

but it was for the kids.

A new, and undesired exhibit, was a water cleanup truck when a restroom flooded.

There is a Spinosaurus looking for a home!

I think it will be welcomed into the community garden/art park and not become another addition to the Goleta collection.

The wind picked up Saturday evening as the hypnotist took the stage.

We took shelter in the beer garden, behind the chain-link fence.  Alas we may not have been all that safe as the gal next to us fell under the spell.

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We watched the Padres give up a 4-0 lead as they fell to the Philly’s at Carlee’s.

SUNDAY:
One of our favorite Borrego Days event is the Folkloria dancers.

We did not stay for the adult dance nor the music/singers.  The next ‘UGLY’ section will explain.

The UGLY
We chose to ride the bikes to watch Friday’s Padre game at the Big Horn Bar and Grill.  Although a short ride I lost control turning onto the sandy driveway and went down hard.

We were quickly back to the RV, and with some gauze and stretch tape, we were off to the Borrego Medical Clinic.  We arrived at 4:45, but the only doctor in Borrego Springs had already left to watch the game!

So be aware the only clinic in Borrego Springs is open for patients Monday – Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (unless the Padre game interferes) and is closed on the weekends.  Interesting that a restroom can be pumped on a weekend, but the nearest medical services are 30 miles away in Brawley.

We left Sunday just as the kid’s dance routines were starting.  Once home Fran had to unpack the RV as I drove myself to Urgent Care.

The doc wanted to know how I treated the wound … hand sanitizer (ouch!), past dated Neosporin, gauze and stretch wrap.

He used 8 stitches to close the wound and MY (past dated) Neosporin as he dressed it with gauze and stretch wrap!

The takeaway here is I’m fine!  But if you need medical attention in Borrego Springs, make sure it’s a weekday between 8am-5pm.  Always carry a fresh tube of Neosporin (it does have a expiration date), sealed gauze and stretch wrap.

My birthday is soon, the pie is gone!  So for lunch Fran will take me for a fish taco on the OB pier!  It’s another bike ride and I’m looking forward to it!

Next up I'll let you know if OB still has the best fish taco IMHO.

Borrego Springs - Borrego Days

The 55th annual Borrego Days Desert Festival took place over this past weekend at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs. 

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The theme Eyes to the Skies seemed appropriate as the peak of the Orionids Meteor Shower would also be at the same time.  Alas we did not see a single meteor.

On our way we stopped for lunch in Santa Ysabel, and noticed Don’s Market had a fresh load of Julian apples on display.

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Fran selected a few for the trip

As usual we had to visit Dudley’s for lunch.

We split the Baja Chicken sandwich for lunch, but skipped the Apple Mango pie.

That just doesn't even sound good!

It’s a fun shop to wander while waiting for the deli to make up our sandwich

The Borrego Chamber of Commerce has a quiz section in their newsletter on street names  taken from local cattle brands.  There’s a nice display of some brands at Dudley’s.

My entry has been selected twice, but I only win bragging rights for a week.  Here’s the quiz from last week.

Can you name this street?  Leave your guess in a comment. 

We stopped briefly at the airport to view the brightly colored planes from Air Group One based in El Cajon.

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We set up at Pegleg Smith camping area with only one other rig there.

That first night I set up my metal fire tub over the location where a previous ground fire had been.  The tub puts out a lot of heat, so I always place it on rocks.  Ground fires are not permitted within the Anza Borrego State Park.  All fires need to be built in a metal container.

“-Illegal ground fires are prohibited.  Campfires must be kept inside a camp stove or in a metal container provided [by] the camper with a bottom and sides.”
Ref: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=638

As the winds became stronger I still managed to rekindle those coals left behind.  Fortunately I was able to extinguish both fires before the desert burned down!

Covid kept the schools closed last year.  Hence the parade lacked the local bands and groups.  In fact only CalFire was listed.  So here is the entire parade.

But what’s a Borrego Days Parade without Miss Borrego.  This photo is a quite fuzzy, I was not expecting another entry.

The wind increased overnight!  I was pleasantly surprised the slideout topper was still there in the morning!  The wind was still going strong enough to force Air Group One to remain grounded.

I took a short walk around while waiting to see if their ‘air parade’ would occur.

Carlee’s has repainted their sign.  you may recall it was dark blue and sky blue before.  I like the change.  We often order their Jerk Chicken Salad to-go.  It's more than enough to split.

The Bayfield Bunch likes to stop at Los Jilbertos for a quick bite.  This picture is for Al, who remains stuck in the Ontario cold.

The work on the  ‘shadeway’ still has not begun, but there are now shaded picnic tables at the Community Garden.  Guess that's a start of sorts.

The first band at the festival was Soul Frenzi, who played some Jimmy Buffet and ZZ Top tunes.

They did not capture us, so we went over to check out the entries at the show-n-shine.

Not very shiny, the chalkboard says:
187 lbs; goes fast; makes left turns; no brakes

Quite a few desert toys were on display

And Fran’s favorite a 1960 Ford Thunderbird.

Miss Borrego and court made an appearance at the mainstage.

After the announcements The Sound of My Voice Band took the mainstage.  They are billed as the Ultimate Linda Ronstadt Experience.  And they are really good, Micaella has that ability to sound so much like her.  She is not just singing the songs, but she captures the music.

Their website contains samples of their music.  We really enjoyed them.

Back at the airport we went up to the viewing deck of the Propeller Bar and Grill.

It was fun finally seeing these planes getting to fly.

Almost every trip to Borrego includes a visit to Font’s Point.  It’s been over a decade since I released my dad’s ashes there.

I’ve taken Fran to the Great Snake of Clark Lake a few times and she’s gone up once by herself.  She felt totally qualified to act as guide for one of her gal-pals.

They got lost!

The mature landscaping at The Springs golf course looks very inviting.

A Buddy Holly tribute band will be there in March.  Maybe we will too.

Between the Road Runner Club and the Circle this lonely mailbox has been there for years.  This is the first time we used it.  It does have a pick-up schedule on it that promises 12:45 M-F, let's see how long it takes a postcard to arrive in Ohio.

The hard cold wind was blowing again in Ranchita.  I stopped to take this picture of the heavy dark clouds that were coming from the coast.

We were able to make it home and settled before the rain came.  It did indeed rain all night – YAY!