Jeeping With Friends

 

Our first two weeks have been completed. Max and I hit the ground running this year and acclimating to the elevation was so much easier than last year. So far we have mainly been staying here at the Serrano campground doing the hosting duties until the other hosts arrive. They should get here around the second week of May.

Max has split her time working in the kiosk and helping me with the grounds. We have been completely booked on the weekends so Sundays are a big day when everyone checks out. In the next couple of weeks we will be working on getting some other campgrounds opened for the season. We have to clean up the campsites and get the water turned back on and the restrooms put back together from their winterization.

We had to go to the laundry mat for the first time in the four years we have been on the road. We really miss the washer and dryer, but we will get used to it. It is just figuring out each week when is the best time to go.

This week we had Monday and Tuesday off, so we decided to do some Jeeping with some friends that came up to camp, and their friends that live up here. We met Glenn and Nancy last year and they showed us some great Jeep trails. Monday we met their friends, Keith, Jim and Manny and they led us on an easy trail down to Pioneer town to eat at Harriet and Pappy’s, unfortunately they did not open up until 5:00pm so we headed into Yucca Valley and had lunch at a Carrows.

It was a great day along the trail. Here are a few pictures.

Stopping to air down the tires

 

My first Rattlesnake.

We found this guy in an old abandoned building. He rattled like crazy but slipped away before we could get him into the open.

Through the Joshua trees.

To a desert spring with goldfish in it.

We stopped at an old Spanish smelting kiln that few people know about. It was used to smelt Cinnabar to get the mercury and the mercury was then sold to the gold miners.

Top of the smelt

Across from the smelt is the remains of the old cabin.

We then made it to Pioneer Town. The town started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time to have their homes used as part of the movie set. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean.

Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane Pioneer Bowl bowling alley.

It was a fun day, and about a 60 plus mile off road adventure. We made it home in time for some cocktails and conversation before we headed to bed.

Tuesday we made plans to go to the Onyx mine, but we were going to leave our Jeep at home and ride with Glen and Nancy. They have a Rubicon that is lifted 3 1/2 inches and this trail would be more difficult.

Here are a few pictures along the trail to Onyx Mine.

Snow on the San Gorgonio Mountains in the distance

We had to stop to move a tree that was in our way

Then it was a tight squeeze

Keith’s Jeep is not lifted and he had to be spotted in several different places.

The remains of the old mine cabin

A great place for lunch

The mine used a cable and winch system to get the Onyx down from the mine. Here is the remains of the cable poles and winch.

It was another fun day of Jeeping, and we made it back into town for Taco Tuesday at the local Mexican restaurant. Thanks Glenn and Nancy for letting us ride in your Jeep.

Wednesday it was time to go back to work. Max started out in the kiosk and then around 10:00am started on the grounds and restrooms. I had to head over to another campground and put the restrooms and stand alone hydrants back together from winterization.

Not sure what is in store for the rest of the week. We will just work it day by day and enjoy this beautiful area at every opportunity.

Enjoy Your Day!