Bob's Desert Cafe

We have been spending the past few days in Holtville, CA at the BLM campsite.  It's a very hot, dry desert, with the wonderful addition of hot springs.  The hot springs area consists of a natural hot shower (wonderful!) and two large concrete tubs, one that's about 4.5 feet deep and very hot, and a smaller one that's a bit more comfortable.  There is also a pond which is cool, but also quite thick and green looking, so we stayed out of it.

Naturally, these hot springs are a great place to meet all kinds of people.  On our first morning, we met two guys from CA who were touring hot springs all the way down into Mexico.  They had a lot of great suggestions, and very generously lent us a guide book to hot springs of the west.  Yesterday evening, after a sweltering day, we went back for a shower and a soak, and we met  a very friendly couple from Massachusetts.  They also had a lot of good information about the area.  As we got talking, we realized that we knew some of the same people--Peter and Bea from Campobello Island, and PEI Bob!  (The RV'ing world is a small community!)  We had stayed with all of these wonderful folks when we were travelling through Canada. They told us that PEI Bob was still in the campground, so after we finished our soak, we headed off to find him.  After just a few minutes of searching, we located him! :)  He was very surprised and happy to see us, and we made a plan to have a cup of coffee with him in the morning for a more substantial visit.

Bob is an exceptionally warm-hearted gentleman, and is famous for having people over for coffee most mornings.  In fact, as we pulled up this morning, two other people were already there, getting the party started!  We weren't surprised, as we had heard stories of "Bob's Cafe."  ("The first cup is free, the second one is the same price!")  We had a great time catching up over muffins, popscicles (this is the desert, people--popscicles are ALWAYS appropriate, no matter what time it is!), and, of course, really good coffee.  After a lot of stories and many hugs, it was time to go.

Dale and I were talking about what makes Bob and a few other people we have met along the way seem so happy and content, and we think it comes down to being filled with gratitude.  Not just for the big things, but also for the smaller things, like having a cuppa joe with long-lost friends in the desert.