San Jacinto State Park and points east

I slept soundly last night. Camped at just around 6000 feet, the night was warm and no condensation had settled on the windows. I got up, had a can of coffee and washed my hair. Looking over my state wilderness permit I learned that NO DOGS are allowed in the San Jacinto state wilderness, and a $5 permit is required for any hike in the state wilderness. These permits must be pre-dated and are for specific trails only. This was just too much for me. Ranger Roger, with whom I spoke at the Idyllwood Ranger station, said that hiking in the National Forest around San Jacinto Peak was allowed.

"The hiking is free there but you must pay $5 to park."

This was too much for me so I drove off the mountain, stopping briefly in the town of Idyllwood with its usual coffeeshops, bars, diners and giftshops before hitting the hot valley again on CA243, a scenic and curvy road through the wilderness that meanders back to Palm Desert via CA74.

I stopped briefly to walk the Cedar Springs trail in the Kenworthy wilderness, but smoke from the nearby Eagle Fire, a 4000-acre wildfire burning 7 miles east of Warner Springs in San Diego County, began to filter into the the Coachella Valley. The smoke slowly gave me a headache, and we resumed our drive around the mountain on CA74, stopping at vista points to gaze over the dry hills and read plaques describing the ancient peoples of these peaks. We were clarly back in the hot desert. These mountains and vallies were home to the Cahuilla Indians, and a small Santa Rosa Indian reservation bisected the landscape.

At 10am, driving down the dry hills, I learned that the sultry British blues singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her north-London home. She was notorious for cocaine use and other drugs. She had a powerful voice. What a loss. The media had reported about her drug and alcohol use for years, yet noone stepped forward to help her.

CA72 curved around the dry mountain range and ended up in Palm Desert, where I stopped for two hours to download pics at the Coffee Bean Cafe where I got on the internet. The Coffee Bean Cafe is a nice corner cafe whose clientele were well-dressed people. A group of three elderly Polish men sat across from me the entire visit chatting in Polish. A morbidly obese but very friendly local

woman who struggled with walking and who waited at the front door for her friend to drive up and pick me up, recommended I go to Palm Springs and check out the Cheesecake Factory. She apparently has spent many trips there. "The shopping is great, too!" she added before stepping out into the hot sun.

I was now tired of the roadtrip. It was time to head back home, and Sadie was getting near the boiling point waiting for me. I continued my drive on CA86 which straddles the Salton Sea on its eastern shores, past date palm orchards and green strips.

Salton Sea, I discovered, is a "dead" see whose shores are littered with the remains of dead fish, tiny shells and abandoned cabins. If there was life here it was back in the 1950s, when there was no care about agricultural pesticides. The place was so bad it was a photographer's delight, and three men ahead of me from Los Angeles told me the same thing. One of the young men, bareback and glistening in sweat, said they drove in earlier from LA just to see this forsaken place.

The heat radiating from the sand was making me hot. I kept Sadie in the shade of the truck, but for her sake didn't stay long. All around me were abandoned cabines, discarded furniture, beer bottles and dead things. Hard to believe that there is a recreational area of the lake on its western shores. I wouldn't want my dog drinking from this water! One abandoned pink trailer with "California: Live Free or Die" must have died in its attempt to liberate itself. The carcasses of old busses and cars also littered the abandoned homes around here.

Oddly enough, there must be enough food here to keep the pelicans, plovers and gulls full as there were plenty of birds along the shore. The entire region seemed desolate and neglected, yet this was still home to many Mexican and native American farm workers whose tiny shacks were shaded by towering palms. People with money would not come to this place

I wanted out of this hellhole and took CA86 south through the just-as miserable towns of Coachella, Salton City and Brawley, brifefly drove into Calixico along the border and resumed the drive as close to the border as possible. The town on the Mexican side, Mexicali, seemed much larger, and many USBP vans patroled the fenceline. I didn't see anything suspicious but didn't want to stay long enough to find out. The many agents here were indicative of much activity.

The sun continued to blaze down on us. Sadie looked miserable. It was over 101F and the air conditioner barely kept us cool. We were now on the homestretch, with Yuma Arizona now on highway directional signs.

The Imperial Sand dunes popped up 30 miles west of Yuma. In the heat there were still ATVers riding across the naked sand, leaving trails of sand dust behind them. But other than the dunes there was not much else here. The fake town of Felicity, with its church on a hill proclaiming to be "The center of the world" stood out from a small and barren apartment complex. There was no sign of life and the landscape looked just as barren.

Things began to change as I entered Arizona at 6pm. I called Kevin to give him the news, but then called again two hours later when a sandstorm rolling in from the south brought in a short obstacle but a beautiful orange sky and later more dramatic storm clouds as the rain came. High winds followed. This is where I pulled into the McDonald's in Gila Bend (which also featured free WiFi which I used) and resumed my drive at 10pm, just as the news announced another multiple shooting in Flagstaff and the latest home pool drowning of a small boy.

I made it home at 3am to a light falling of rain. Sadie came back to life as we entered the home. Sara and Sammy did their usual somersaults. Life was back to normal but I was so caffeinated I couldn't get to sleep until 4:30am, when Kevin got up for the day. I was glad to be home again.