Leaving Jojoba Hills

  Jerry’s post 1-12-15

I did snag some of the lemons before leaving Jojoba! Here's a pic of my stash. I didn't even begin to make a dent on the loaded trees there. 

Fortunately, we were invited to watch the Seahawks-Panthers game with two other couples at one of the couples' nice 5th wheel RV. It was a great Seahawk party and chance to get to know more Jojoba folks. The hostess brought out some limoncello she had made (involves soaking lemon rinds in vodka). It was very good, and that encouraged me to go pick some more lemons. I quickly learned that lemon trees have these sharp things that try to snag clothing and skin, but managed to survive.

Here's a last look at the southern part of Jojoba from a hill we hiked up to the top of.

Linda’s Post 1-12-15

Sunday we left Jojoba Hills after being there for a week. We debated the several options for going south from there and settled on Hwy 78 through Julian and south on Hwy 79 to I-8. I had asked some ladies in the sewing room what they thought of that route and they said they’d rather be the driver since that narrow and winding road could be a nail-biter at times. I got to see up close what they meant! It is a beautiful drive and the change in terrain was fun to see. Many campgrounds along the way. Many turns, some of which turn right back around on yourself. Seeing the signs that shows curves with a 15 mph added to it had me hanging on. No pictures of that section of road! I’m thinking we won’t be going this way again any time soon. Narrow and no margin for error, but a full two lanes and paved. Definitely a road best traveled by motorcycle. It actually turned out to be helpful that it was totally overcast and rained on us here and there. No sun stabbing us in the eyes as we negotiated all those crazy turns.

It took much longer than we expected to get through the mountains from Aguanga to I-8. We weren’t done with mountains, however, and one section of I-8 we drove the 6% downgrade at 35 mph. (As posted for trucks). By the time we got to El Centro and stopped for gas it was already dark. Our GPS was less than helpful in finding a gas station for a big rig, so I got on the internet (love having a hotspot as we go!), checked Google, looked at them from the satellite view and found a truck stop. Those are nice because you know you can get the rig in and out and not have crazy corners to try to negotiate. There were about 20 semis parked so I asked if we could park for the night and they said, “sure, no problem!” That’s all I wanted! I was so tired I didn’t care where we were. Besides fighting another cold and feeling it, I was not willing to push ourselves, get out to the desert and try to figure out where we were going in pitch black darkness! Quite the contrast from Jojoba Hills--semis all around us coming and going and running their engines. Earplugs are helpful.

This morning it was an easy hour drive to our piece of desert and I was so glad to be doing it in the daylight! Not only were the views fantastic, but scouting around to find just where we wanted to spend the next few days was better done in full daylight and in the truck. Snugged up against the mountains, it is so beautiful and peaceful here. We took so many pictures! And then the sunset put on quite a show so we had to get more of that, too. It was pleasantly warm, but not too warm today. Thermometer inside read 73 degrees mid-day, but with the windows open and a gentle breeze blowing through it was quite comfortable. I am so used to warm temps being combined with getting dark late in the summer that the 5:30 full darkness keeps taking me by surprise!

American Girl Mine Rd off of Ogilby Rd 

After all the fun and socializing at Jojoba Hills, I’m actually a bit relieved to be off by ourselves for a few days to catch up on things and rest.

The coordinates for where are currently are:  32.837858,-114.817858   If you put that into Google maps search window, it will show you where we are camped.