The view as we topped the mountain and looked down into the valley was spectacular. Much of the floor of the valley is the Salton Sea and seeing that large body of water out here sort of threw me for a minute. With the recent rain, there are quite a few wildflowers. The locals say it isn’t a great year for them I think that the splashes of color in what we are used to see as drab browns and grey look wonderful. Kent has pried his hands off the steering wheel and we have relaxed and had diner. We heard the coyotes yipping again tonight as well as the silly sounding calls of a covey of quail as they do their keystone cops sort of booping about between brush and cacti. We will spend some time hiking and enjoying the high 70s and maybe even 80 under clear blue skies.