Back to civilization, and back online!

What a great couple days we have had coming across California, and now, as I type, sitting in our new home of Lake Havasu City, Az.  We did not get the satellite dish set up last night, as we were in the Middle of the Mojave National Preserve, and were simply too busy!

So we have a bit of ketchup to do, so here we go.    As we drove into Orange Grove RV Resort, this is the view of the manicured orange trees… neat to see!

This was our setup below, and here I am just installing our Shaw Direct Dish as my beloved Leafs played on Thursday night and I had to watch… it was not good!

This is a Class A Park, and has a great Barn, where everyone can meet and eat!

The oranges have all been picked off the trees, and harvest is over, but that did not stop the Staff from giving us a big bag of oranges as we checked in… Judy made Orange Juice!

We were on the road early on Friday, and had our sights set on the Mojave (Moe-have-eeeee  ((my pronunciation…)) National Preserve.  It is one of the biggest Parks in California, is actually quite high!  Our Camp Site was 4,100 feet high, but warm.  It is an amazing place for sure!  This is the road leading into the campground, which is 20 miles north of Hwy. 40.

This was our campsite, #1 of course!  It is wide open… we loved it!

This Preserve is very diverse, and we had this Butte in our backyard!

It was very hot when we arrived just after lunch, too hot for hiking anywhere, however we unhooked the Jeep and took off on a great Jeep Trail through the Preserve.  Found these funny looking creatures below, not quite sure what they are????

The Jeep Trail was great, and took us over a pass and down to the Visitor’s Centre.

We had to go under the rail tracks on the trail…

This is the Kelso Depot, which used to be a big train station in it’s day… the purpose was to provide extra engines to passing trains to get up the huge incline on the tracks heading east… much need iron ore was mined out of here, and put on the train to head to be processed into steel, and fuel the metal needed to win the World War II.  Automation made the Depot obsolete, so it was turned into the Visitor’s Centre, and museum.  Nice spot with a great restaurant inside. 

Did I mention diversity in this Preserve… this sand dune area is 45 Sq. Miles, and all the sand was blown her by the wind!  Go figure!  I was trying to push the dune down with my hand, but not having much luck!

The sand dunes are amazing, and lots of them!

The dunes are surrounded by a ring of mountains, and the contrast was amazing between the two.

Below we are on our way back home, cross country of course, and found all kinds of cactus growing on the hill behind the Jeep.

Access to the Jeep Trail, was through the gate, so the “gate opener” was doing her job!  (She did live on a farm, and probably did this all the time!)

There are two main campgrounds, and the other one suffered a major fire a couple years ago… it is on the way back.

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There are a bunch of deer that run the Preserve, and by the looks of the one below, they are tagged.

On the way back to our camp, we came across this neat limestone deposit, with a bunch of wind caves in them… they warn you here to check wind caves first for animals before you enter them!

Patra loved it here in the desert, and wanted to rub against a cactus all the time… go figure what goes through the cat brain!

We had great BBQ Steaks, and had our fire in the can, while enjoying the views of the Butte.

I will post some more photos from Mojave tomorrow.  David and Angela should be flying into Lake Havasu City tonight, and we will likely see them tomorrow.  It is very hot here… over 90 deg. F. this afternoon! 

Till tomorrow…