Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tecopa Hot Springs
Run away! Run away! So I did and here I am. The place is Petersen’s Tecopa Palms RV park, resort, private baths and generally wonderful place. I’m just south of Shoshone which is just south of Death Valley--one of the truly beautiful places on the planet. I have no cell phone, no TV and no internet. Can one survive? And what does a person have to do to arrive in this paradise? In my case, it was reaching the breaking point on the stress-o-meter.
Our house went on the market 10 days ago at a ridiculously low asking price. Thanks to greed, incompetence and the general ineptitude of the plicks that run Bakersfield, we are living in the #5 city in the nation for foreclosures. 18 months ago our house would have sold for $200,000 more than we even dared ask in today’s plunging market. We priced our house $30,000 less that the nearest competitive house. After ten days of neurotic cleaning and vacating at the drop of a hat for prospective buyers, we ended up with two offers and one of them was for our full asking price. By the time I knew we had two bidders I couldn’t handle the stress and was in my trusty Jeep heading for the hills. During the two hour trip I got cell phone calls telling me that the house had been sold and that the movers would be there to pack us up in two weeks!!! Egads! We have no place to go! Mr. T has been working up in the Bay Area for several months but I’ve not been able to do any house hunting--thank you Bakersfield lung crud. Our plan is to live in the Minnie Winnie in a campground in the Bay Area and do some fast house-finding. But two weeks?? Not this girl! The choices are get the vapors and take to mah bed or head to the monastery, grab the RV and run away. I choose to run away!
Let me tell you about this area of perfect desert. The hills are purple, rugged and high. The desert is green with blooming greasewood--mesquite to the purists. The colors are magnificent and the scope of the landscape is so huge one really can’t take it all in. It was wonderful to be back in the rig and on the road. This time I have both dogs with me--a definite liability since the poodle hates to travel. But when one is getting out of town, one just grabs a toothbrush, change of underwear and the hooch. No time to book pooches into kennels.
I pulled into Petersen’s around 2:30pm and was greeted by several friendly campers and one of the owners. My neighbor is a German man who has retired in St George, Utah. He also drives a Class C RV and we chatted a bit about our preference for them over the Class As. Then he looked at my Minnie and asked if I had run into a bad bug storm? I’ll be the first to admit the rig needs a bath and that we are probably wearing a representative from every bug family known between here and Wisconsin. I looked over at his rig, sitting there in New RV right-off-the-lot splendor, complete with tire covers, and couldn’t help comparing it to my traveling entomological Exhibit A. I tried to make the excuse that they had wanted $50.00 at the truck carwash in Barstow to clean the rig. He totally agreed that was way too high and he would never pay over $30.00--but then he ruined it by saying he’d never had to wash his RV in five years!!!! But I bet Mrs. German-frau washes it every morning to keep it so pristine. Oh well--ah been sick
The dogs had a great run on the salt flats across the highway and even managed to find a muddy pool and stream to romp through. After they were totally exhausted I had my first soak in the mineral waters. These waters are one of life’s pleasures. The RV park has private pools so one doesn’t have to go publicly naked. After a certain age, one doesn’t want to even see oneself in a communal birthday suit setting! The water was at least 105o and so silky it seemed close to oily. It’s hard to sit in the pool longer than about 20 minutes before it’s too hot. I also get a bit bored. I kept a pen and notebook handy and most of my first soaking session was making lists of all the minutiae that buzz in my brain cells with so much happening.
It’s now evening and I’ve missed the sunset. By the time the dogs were fed and I’d poured a refreshing G&T I’d missed the light. That’s okay--tomorrow is another day. One last nighttime soak in the healing waters and it’s blessed sleep time.
Tecopa Hot Springs
Run away! Run away! So I did and here I am. The place is Petersen’s Tecopa Palms RV park, resort, private baths and generally wonderful place. I’m just south of Shoshone which is just south of Death Valley--one of the truly beautiful places on the planet. I have no cell phone, no TV and no internet. Can one survive? And what does a person have to do to arrive in this paradise? In my case, it was reaching the breaking point on the stress-o-meter.
Our house went on the market 10 days ago at a ridiculously low asking price. Thanks to greed, incompetence and the general ineptitude of the plicks that run Bakersfield, we are living in the #5 city in the nation for foreclosures. 18 months ago our house would have sold for $200,000 more than we even dared ask in today’s plunging market. We priced our house $30,000 less that the nearest competitive house. After ten days of neurotic cleaning and vacating at the drop of a hat for prospective buyers, we ended up with two offers and one of them was for our full asking price. By the time I knew we had two bidders I couldn’t handle the stress and was in my trusty Jeep heading for the hills. During the two hour trip I got cell phone calls telling me that the house had been sold and that the movers would be there to pack us up in two weeks!!! Egads! We have no place to go! Mr. T has been working up in the Bay Area for several months but I’ve not been able to do any house hunting--thank you Bakersfield lung crud. Our plan is to live in the Minnie Winnie in a campground in the Bay Area and do some fast house-finding. But two weeks?? Not this girl! The choices are get the vapors and take to mah bed or head to the monastery, grab the RV and run away. I choose to run away!
Let me tell you about this area of perfect desert. The hills are purple, rugged and high. The desert is green with blooming greasewood--mesquite to the purists. The colors are magnificent and the scope of the landscape is so huge one really can’t take it all in. It was wonderful to be back in the rig and on the road. This time I have both dogs with me--a definite liability since the poodle hates to travel. But when one is getting out of town, one just grabs a toothbrush, change of underwear and the hooch. No time to book pooches into kennels.
I pulled into Petersen’s around 2:30pm and was greeted by several friendly campers and one of the owners. My neighbor is a German man who has retired in St George, Utah. He also drives a Class C RV and we chatted a bit about our preference for them over the Class As. Then he looked at my Minnie and asked if I had run into a bad bug storm? I’ll be the first to admit the rig needs a bath and that we are probably wearing a representative from every bug family known between here and Wisconsin. I looked over at his rig, sitting there in New RV right-off-the-lot splendor, complete with tire covers, and couldn’t help comparing it to my traveling entomological Exhibit A. I tried to make the excuse that they had wanted $50.00 at the truck carwash in Barstow to clean the rig. He totally agreed that was way too high and he would never pay over $30.00--but then he ruined it by saying he’d never had to wash his RV in five years!!!! But I bet Mrs. German-frau washes it every morning to keep it so pristine. Oh well--ah been sick
The dogs had a great run on the salt flats across the highway and even managed to find a muddy pool and stream to romp through. After they were totally exhausted I had my first soak in the mineral waters. These waters are one of life’s pleasures. The RV park has private pools so one doesn’t have to go publicly naked. After a certain age, one doesn’t want to even see oneself in a communal birthday suit setting! The water was at least 105o and so silky it seemed close to oily. It’s hard to sit in the pool longer than about 20 minutes before it’s too hot. I also get a bit bored. I kept a pen and notebook handy and most of my first soaking session was making lists of all the minutiae that buzz in my brain cells with so much happening.It’s now evening and I’ve missed the sunset. By the time the dogs were fed and I’d poured a refreshing G&T I’d missed the light. That’s okay--tomorrow is another day. One last nighttime soak in the healing waters and it’s blessed sleep time.
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