Monthly Archive: December 2013

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Jeep jiggling

            “Look, we’re travelling on water, reason for another blog,” proclaimed the Captain from the rear of Joe’s yellow jeep.             We had made a return trip into the Anza-Borrego Desert and were on the first of two days exploration of the region with Joe of California Overland Desert Tours.             It was Tuesday 10th December. In the desert, travelling on water?  Well, this was a drive up...

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Night life in Borrego Springs

            It takes about two hours to drive from San Marcos, through Escondido, inland, uphill, up about four thousand feet, to crest the mountains and then descend down, down, down to a small, flat settlement.            Borrego Springs isn’t “at the end of the world but it is AT the end of the road”.  So writes the President of the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce.  This tiny town (regular population 3,000) is down on the flat desert plain (in deep...

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Out and about in San Diego County

            Preferred option for travel for Boatwif and the Captain is by boat (and that is the sole reference to boating in this post). Getting around here is done mainly by car or by train.             Travellers from the UK intending to drive face certain challenges. Rental (hire) cars are inevitably automatics rather than having manual gearboxes. Driving is done from the left hand side of the car but on the right hand side of the road. Local roads are...

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Afloat amid routines

           A trip to Southern California to stay with the Cal Clan involves routines:  there are the domestic routines of family life, seasonal routines and the routines that the Californian Three remember and anticipate.           At this point of the trip (a Monday morning) domestic routines dominate. It’s a ‘back to school’ day after the Thanksgiving break. Bodies out of beds at 0700; don’t dawdle over breakfast; get dressed, clean teeth, find shoes… just as in millions of school age...