Saturday, January 19, 2013 (Ocotillo Wells SVRA, Borrego Springs, CA)

Well, if you want a nice peaceful place to camp on the desert...this is not the place.  But we are here at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area for the quading...as is everyone else!  The fact that it is a long weekend has also increased the numbers out here.  What I think is unfortunate, though, is the lack of adherence to the rules posted here in the camping area...speed limit 15 mph...ha!   We don't expect it not to be dusty but people rat-racing and doing donuts near the campers isn't particularly respectful of their fellow campers.  And "no fireworks"...well, we have had quite a display both nights.

We had a very relaxing day today...getting lots done but in a nice relaxing way.  Steve offloaded the quads and then installed our permits and the new GPS mounts.  He can now view his GPS much better than with his old mount and I have a nice home for my GPS on my quad.  Later on, we checked the oil and pumped up the air in the tires...so we are all ready for our ride tomorrow!

While he was doing that, I cleaned up inside and then got started on a long overdue project...our 2013 budget.  I had spent hours last month getting the spreadsheet set up but then lost it when my laptop crashed (yes...after I dropped it...).  So I had to re-create it all...something I did a couple of weeks ago...today I needed to record all of the receipts of all the spending we have done so far this year (amazing the stack I have and it's only just past mid-January).

We sat outside the rest of the afternoon watching the "going's on" around here.  Blow Sand Hill is a favourite ride for all of the trail bikes, ATVs and other 4-wheelers and we have a good view of it from our camp.  We heard sirens in the distance and were surprised when the emergency vehicles turned in here...(look how hazy it is in the background...pretty darned dusty!!)...

...they ended up going to the base of Blow Sand Hill.  An ambulance came in from the other direction. Unfortunately, it looks like someone has had an accident.  The good thing is that they didn't leave in a hurry or with sirens blaring so we assume the accident wasn't life-threatening.

Again, we sat outside until the sun went down behind the mountain and then retreated inside.  It had been a beautiful day with temps around 72F/21C.