We bid adieu to our beloved Saguaro sentinels in the southern Arizona desert and have landed in Borrego Springs right outside the amazing Anza Borrego State Park. , the largest state park in California. The winter rains have made conditions perfect for a Super Bloom this year and it is spectacular. The desert is positively lush and exploding in bright pops of color. I am over the moon in love with springtime in the desert.

We drove into one of our old spots and noticed the desert lilies blooming everywhere and when it’s hot enough and we’re walking out through the desert trails, the fragrance is sweet and so lovely. We’ve walked and biked the trails here and out to Clark Lake where we discovered a tiny rock house at the edge of the dry lake bed. The latch was held together with a rusty nail and inside were a pair of men’s work boots, an empty beer bottle and some rocks on a shelf and nothing else around for miles. That quiet, the brilliant blue sky, the purple, orange and yellow flowers blooming in and around the rocks and those big wrinkled up old mountains where the coyotes sleep in their dens… it’s like having the prettiest, biggest, most delicious birthday cake served up to you with your favorite scoop of ice cream.

There are lots of nooks and crannies in the desert. It always serves you up something unexpected and weird and beautiful. We found this…

along with $1.77 in change.

A short climb up the hills to our west we found this…

Our camp is closer to the road than I would prefer but it’s the only spot for even a crappy signal. No tv for me this week!

Then there’s the town of Borrego Springs itself. A sleepy little place mostly but now that Super Bloom is here it’s crawling with people and cameras. There’s a sweet little library that provides free wifi for all us nomads, even when it’s closed there are benches outside where you can sit with your”appliances” and peek into the outside world. There are at least 4 Mexican restaurants, it is California after all, but only one does a Taco Tuesday and it’s the best in my estimation. El Borrego right on the main drag. There’s a carpeted outside patio where the super blooms are pushing through.

On Tuesday nights it fills up quickly and the owner always has a smile and a joke. Last night we went and he came out with a bucket of lighter fluid that he threw into the fire pit. Free fire show with dinner.

We have another favorite in town, the Red Ocotillo. We love to have second breakfast there, otherwise known as elevensies. The food is really good, especially love their garlicky potatoes, but it’s always a little on the slow side.  What I’ve heard the locals call Borrego Time.

The Central Market is a trip. A warren of little rooms filled with your normal eggs, milk, bread, produce, meat market etc and the most eclectic collection of food stuffs I’ve ever seen. They have everything you need except olive oil (?). Toys, clothes, camping stuff among all kinds of gourmet food and herbal tinctures on tap! All at a premium price. It’s that place or Walmart an hour away which I hear is where the locals shop.

One of the things I’ve come to love about this lifestyle is the friends we’ve made on the road. There’s an amazing subculture of the most unique and wonderful individuals I’ve ever met. All sizes and stripes. Each and every one feels like a gift sent from the universe. We meet and camp together, spend nights under the stars talking story sharing meals, hiking and then we leave and go our separate ways and a few days or weeks later we meet somewhere else and it’s like Christmas!  Intimacy grows faster out here. There are those meetings that stay surface and friendly but more often things go deep quickly. It seems like people “out here” have less use for the masks we tend to wear in normal society. It’s refreshing and nourishing.

There are big CHANGES in the wind. I am practicing Truth, Surrender and Trust. I invite you to do the same.

Namaste.