I’ve been enlightened. Until recently, like two days ago, I plodded down a path where I believed that the base we are currently living on is a Marine Corps Air Station. I believed that in spite of the signage displayed at the base entrance was specifically Not MCAS but is MAGTFTC/MCAGCC. Digging a little deeper revealed that this base is the largest marine corps base in the world. Although I cannot find any information that this was, at one time, a MCAS, I will probably go to my grave believing I’m right.

Now, about Marines and integrity in general … it is our belief that pretty much everyone allowed on a military base (including us) are good people. I base this claim on one simple observation. At the base exchange, there are no shopping carts littering the parking lot. When the patrons are done with them, they put them in their proper place. I made it a point to look. As for including ourselves in with these stellar humans, we always put our carts away. Sometimes, off base, I put the carts near me away, also. It’s not difficult, and it’s the right thing to do.

OK. Enough of that.

Today we drove up Adobe Ave from the main gate to visit the 29 Palms Farmer’s Market.

It wasn’t hard to find because that’s where the traffic led us. We were able to find a parking spot close to the market so we wouldn’t have to carry our purchases very far.

In addition to many vegetable and fruit stands, there were also many craft displays. This one caught my eye. They are 3-D printed dragons mostly. The vendor said it takes 6-8 hours to print each one.

It’s like going to the fair in St. Helens where everyone brings out their best stuff for the public once a year. Here they do it every Saturday. How handy is that? We got some radishes, carrots, and beets. We also ate lunch at one of the many food vendors available. Sadly, I did not take any photos of what we ate but you can trust me when I tell you it was really good. We had a teriyaki chicken rice bowl. The rice was wrapped and cooked in seaweed which I tried, but I don’t recommend it. The chicken was awesome. Max got a taste, too. It was fun and all the people were very nice. That’s a plus.

After leaving the market, we wandered around town to see some of the murals painted on the buildings. There are a bunch of them, but I’ll only share a few of them with you. If you want to see them all, you’ll just have to plan a trip to 29 Palms.

Here is the description that you can see on the far fight of this one.

I think you get the idea. The artwork is amazing and many of the murals share historical information.

On the way back to the base, we took the road to the main gate and drove eight by Twighlight Dunes RV Park.

That’s our bus on the left.

This is the Marine who deemed us worthy of entering the base.

There’s no laundry facilities in the park, but there is a laundromat in the building where we gassed up Diane’s car. We peeked in and discovered it’s a popular place for Marines stationed here. Diane figured it won’t be so during the week. It’s convenient, too, because the machines accept credit cards, instead of quarters.

I was tasked to wash the bus windows. so I got busy at one point in time and did 3 of them. That means I’ll probably be done with all of them in a couple of weeks. Oh, wait! We’ll be traveling so it will take a lot longer. I suppose I should have washed them in Tucson. I suspect It was suggested, more than once, that I do that, but the timing was never right. Besides, it was dusty down there, so why bother. They will get done eventually.

Diane went to the commissary and exchange when we got back but Max and I stayed home and didn’t do anything. We just hung out. I sat in a chair in front of the bus where the breeze wasn’t blowing so I could stay a little bit warm, and Max could watch folks who happened to be walking past. He’s a real dog watcher.

That’s it.