May 30 Now THAT’S what I’m TALKIN’ About!

The desert is MAGNIFCIENT! I think I could just drive around on empty desert roads forever and be a “happy camper”! In the middle of this stunning drive this afternoon, I passed a sign (but I didn’t get a picture, shucks) that announced “Pacific Time”. Jim Carey’s latest movie “Yes” features (among other things), a photography-jogging class. Hmmm. Great movie, BTW, IMHO. I also thought quite a bit about cowboys and Indians. I can still just imagine riding a horse for days through this landscape, creaking leather saddle, swigging water from a canteen, demanding whiskey in the saloon, seeing Indians appear on the ridge. I guess that makes me a cowboy. Okay, so some info about the pictures: The river is Owyhee River in Rome, OR. The next picture I took after this one was blurry, so I’m not including it here, but it was also a road sign that said “Congestion”. I wondered, where? LA? One picture shows garbage can size wire holding rocks in the fence. These were spaced along fairly frequently – I’m guessing they help hold the fence in place during snow drifts. The place I’m camping tonight is Crystal Crane Hot Springs, and there is a picture of the spring. It is really nice – I soaked for about an hour. The water temp is 103 degrees, so I kept getting out to cool off every now and then. I’m not quite sure about the “crystal” part of the name because it’s about as clear as Bream Lake; you can see your feet. Apparently the only thing that grows around here is alfalfa, and a bunch of sulfur has to be put on the land in order to do that because the water has so many minerals in it taking it the other way pH-wise. This is from a man I talked to in the springs – he’s not a stranger! :) His name is Rotten Rick and he’s a member of a Black Powder group. He lives in Baja MX, about 700 miles south of the border. I didn’t quite catch the name of the place he said, but he’s familiar with Mulege. He said that he has a sail boat in MX and has sailed all over the Sea of Cortez. (Sound familiar, Katharine and Candice?) He’s in the process of buying a summer place around here. PS I'm having a hard time getting the pictures to upload, so I will put them on later.