Charleston Peak RV Park & Winery, Pahrump NV

We arrived in Pahrump, NV on a Saturday afternoon. This is a small, quiet, clean delightful park and became our homebase for one week. It is the newest WH park. We met up with Kay and Ed who we know from Gunison, CO RV days together. It is a Western Horizon park also. Now we meet again and share jeeping, sightseeing, eatting and chatting for a week. What a beautiful setting to share with friends!

Jerry, Mike and Mary Jo enjoy the beauty of Mountain Falls Golf Course near our RV park.

Mike noticed the ducks, of course. Waterfalls in the background added to the interest of course.

We were richly blessed as again this year we worshiped at Choice Hills Church. God is blessing these christians with church growth and a loving spirit. The sign reads: Is anything too hard for God?

We had to check on the gym building that Mike and I volunteered to help build when we were here last year. Mike hung drywall; he loves a gym and was excited to learn this congregation chose to build this on their own for outreach. They paid for it as they went also. This year we return and find the gym done, and a new dynamic youth minister at work. Two young people were baptized the morning we worshiped with them. We pray for their continued witness and active ministry.

This small church is doing BIG things for the Lord in Nevada and the world!

Death Valley National Park is our base for the first jeep outing this week. Ed and Kay are friends who have built a home here in Pahrump, NV. They brought friends along in their jeep and we were off for the day. Pictures below are from the Death Valley area. Our first stop was Dante's Point where we could see far and wide from a high point.

On the Cholide City jeep trail we found abandoned mines. Jerry is by a grave site and Mary Jo is by a cabin. In the cabin you can see a passage straight into the mine. The fun is the adventure of exploring.

Death Valley has more abandoned mines than any other national park. Out of the 6000 to 10,000 abandoned mines, approximately 3000 need some safety mitigaton. We must be careful approaching them.

It was interesting to watch sea level as we traveled through the day. We went from over 5000 to -300 elevation on this trip.

There were a few yellow flowers along the road but this is the only red flower we found all day. There are not many wildflowers in this area compared to Borrego Springs last week where flowers were every where.

Jeep outing number two with Ed and Kay led us to Sandy Valley and on to Kingston BLM country.

We saw many changes of scenery in this awesome land.

We stopped at the China Date Ranch and Edie and Mary Jo saw a cluster of dates hanging in the tree. Can you tell that Edie and Jerry just finished a date shake? Yummy!!!

These small flowering pots were spotted in a nearby greenhouse. Aren't they beautiful?

Indio & Palm Springs Ca Area

Here we are at Indian Waters RV Park in Indio, CA.

We come each February for two weeks and find the Palm Springs, California area to be a great place to explore desert sights, enjoy warm sunshine and make new friends.

Note the beautiful pear? This is Mike's first ever watercolor art work masterpiece. I am so proud of his work and excited that he wants to learn more.

Below you can see him in class here at Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio, CA. This is one of our Western Horizon Parks that we stay in during the winter months. This park is near Palm Springs, CA and is warm and beautiful every day. Today's temp was 88.

Mike has always wanted to learn to paint and now he has the time to learn and people willing to share their talents with him.

He signed up for this class.




This is his second effort. Who knows what lies ahead?

This gentleman is a retired architect who paints out by the pool regularly. Ray is now a professional artist. He has invited Mike to watch or join him.

We went with jeepers out into the desert and watched rock crawlers: jeeps of sorts that climb up waterfalls and over rocks. The drivers were competing for places in the upcoming competitions.

Denny is in the white shirt. He is our fly fishing buddy from Montana (he and Kay park beside us for the month of August in Yellowstone Edge RV Park). We meet up with them in CA at this time of year when we share jeeping experiences.

One thousand palms is the name of this area where we hiked with a group from our RV Park. We hike through pure desert and come upon this oasis of water and palms. It is incredible what water can do in the desert. We marvel at God's creation daily as we travel and explore.

Mary Jo is in the orange shirt, Edie and Jerry behind with walking sticks. It was about a 4 mile hike. We regularly give thanks for the health and strength to explore this country!

Those are the palms in a distance in a clump.

This is our hiking group last Monday. We just sign up, meet and go to the most interesting of places. Each week is an adventure to behold. This desert area continues to amaze us Illinois folk.

Mike and I are by the water. We saw an owl fly over head.

We all headed to the COD (College of the desert) Fair that runs every Saturday and Sunday year around in nearby Palm Desert. Bob and Sheri had joined us for church on Sunday morning and we all decided to head to the fair. There was far more to see than we had time for so we'll just have to go again next year.

Our new friends Bob and Shari from Wisconsin joined us Sunday.

Mary Jo especially liked the farmer's market produce of fruits and vegetables: beautiful!
Mike and Bob got golf specials; Mike a putter and Bob rescue clubs.

A highlight of our Sunday was the testimony of a young man, Monty Christensen, who was a former drug dealer and is now a missionary evangelist. He has a powerful prison ministry. What a miracle God has done in his life and is continuing to do through he and his wife. He reminded us that Jesus loves us and performs miracles daily. He calls each of us to witness in our daily walk. What a blessing and message God brought so clearly to us today. Praise God and join us to pray for Monty's ministry in this needy world.

Check out his website: www.prisonimpact.org

This view is on our Monday hike to Puswala Canyon; a moderate 4 mile hike. Ray in the white hat is Mike's painting teacher who is sketching for further painting upon return to our park. Th wildflowers were exciting today as they began to bloom: yellow, pink, blue, white both short and tall.

His sketches were quick and he did a bunch of them. He still managed to stay up with us most of the time.

What could be on her mind? A great place to count your blessings.

The palm trees grow in the valleys with water. They seem to appear from no where in the desert.

A group of palms or this tall lone palm are examples of the scattering of native palms in this area not far out of Indio.

Snow cap mountains in the vista add to the beauty of the hike.

Yes, Mary Jo is holding onto the stick to catch her breath after climbing up the ridge with Shari and Bob.

These pictures are from our outing to Borrego Springs, CA . On the left is a picture of our jeeping outing into the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, largest state park in the country. The house in the center is the home of Dick and Lee Ann in this area. We meet up with them each winter and enjoy their hospitality so much. They are from N.D. and dear friends of our traveling mates Jerry and Edie. The picture on the right is of an ancient bird and is sculpted from metal. Several historically correct animal sculptures have been placed in the desert and are very well done. They give you a feeling of ancient times as they are correct in size and location.

This jeep trip went into and across water. Adventure is the name of the game!!!

You go first!!!

Mr. Cowboy with his wild mustang was friendly along the way.

This is our "Believe It or Not" story for the year. We parked our jeep beside Tom and Joan's (total strangers) in the Cosco parking lot in Indio and asked them if they would be interested in jeeping with us. All of Mary Jo's jeeping books say : Do not jeep alone! Mike explained that we wanted to go into Borrego Springs area and Tom replies: "We live there in the RV park!" We met the next day and had a ball. Jeepers/RVers are the greatest people on earth.

Mary Jo is in turquoise with new found friends Tom and Joan from Roseburg, OR.

Planning sessions are important, you know. At this one we had to meet each other and get acquainted a bit for the first time.

This picture is what Tom and Joan see out their windows. They are parked at the Springs RV Park on a golf course in Borrego Springs. What a beautiful park. Yes, we hope to meet up again next winter.

Map on the hood is a reference point for detailed planning. "Let's go here. No, let's go there." How many male heads are needed?

Wild flowers were in bloom and a treat along the trail. The eight of us are posed for this shot. Friends from ND, WI, OR and the IL Diamonds. What a lucky (blessed) crew to love the out of doors and share it!

Note the ends of this ocotillo tree bloom bright flaming red. There were many in the area.