Tag: hiking

Day 2317

Tuesday February 7th 2024

Dear Journal:

We woke up to more rain falling this morning, and a forecast of rain for the next couple of days, the cloud cover was still blocking many of the mountain views but as we sat enjoying a cup of coffee watching the Phoenix area news in another time zone. Yes we when we crossed into California we moved from the Mountain time zone into the Pacific time zone which had us up very early for the day. This morning we are walking over to Mary & Julie’s where Miss Laurie has volunteered to prepare omelets for everyone, so here we are carrying two shopping bags full of equipment and supplies walking through the park. Bagels, omelets and coffee of course with a wee Irish blessing was enjoyed by all, the main topic of discussion this morning was about the sex life of a date or something similar. Miss Julie has been talking about this since we first started to plan our California excursion.

The plan is after breakfast we will walk back to the coach and prepare for an adventure to a date farm in Palm Springs, followed by an adventure to the Salton Sea, and a early dinner at another favorite spot in Palm Springs. We walked back to Thunder and changed in preparation for todays adventures, and there were even a few peaks of the sun through the cloud cover and we got the opportunity to see some of the surrounding snow covered mountains. A few moments later our ride had arrived and we were headed back into Palm Springs.

First stop on our list was “Shields Date Garden” and of course the movie of the theater “The Romance & Sex life of the Date“, the title even today make raise an eye brow or two, but imagine the talk back in 1951 when the movie first started to play. Oh the movie has had some revisions since it first started but I have to admit it was educational for someone like myself that had no idea that producing dates was such a labour intense task. And while the dates that were for sale would not fall into the inexpensive category the quality was excellent from the few that we did purchase.

The next adventure was kind of a last minute choice, but the Salton Sea is a very unique spot, located in Southern California, and has a history that just leaves your head spinning as you read it. First and foremost the Salton Sea is at an elevation of -236 feet , it is only 43 feet deep and today is slowly drying up, just as it had centuries ago. The history is both amazing and sad, a story of so many mistakes over decades the worst of which happened in the early 1900’s when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flowed into the valley unrestricted for two years, flooding everything in the valley, like a salt mine, train station and and multiple other businesses. Then since the flood in the early 1900’s, mid century the lake became a tourist destination with resorts and boating until it became toxic from farm runoff killing birds and fish. Now it is a salty toxic cesspool that is surrounded by defunct businesses and some fertile farmland. We only drove to the Northern end of Salton Sea and parked in a parking lot of a abandon boat launch which is now hundreds of yards from the sea, we walked down to the edge of the water (some of us closer than others) but found the dried lake bottom to be covered with barnacles and of course it has become a dumping ground for what ever junk was too expensive for people to have removed. So desks, mattresses. tires and the like are now part of the aura that is the Salton Sea, kind of a smelly place to visit.

After our excursion to the Salton Sea we headed back into Rancho Mirage to our dinner spot, Enzo’s Bar & Bistro for Happy Hour, authentic Italian fare prepared fresh daily, with a nice wine selection and creme Brule for desert

As we were making our way back to the resort someone suggested going to a Mexican Bakery in which was just a few miles from the resort, a good time to go to a bakery when everyone is full from dinner, but there were still a number of purchases made even with a full tummy.

We were dropped off at our coach and the plan was that we would walk over for a glass of wine after we got cleaned up. The issue of this evenings get together was that we sampled some of the items that we purchased at the Mexican bakery is that it left us wanting more.

Blog 512

Day 2316

Monday February 5th 2024

Dear Journal:

We woke this morning on BLM land just off of Plamosa Road about six miles north of Quartzsite. It was dark when we pulled in last night I knew there was a van parked just a hundred feet to our left, but no one can run a generator at night on BLM land so it was a quiet night. The occasional vehicle on Plamosa Road but we were far enough from AZ-95 that there was little or no road noise. We slept well, and as much as the forecast is for rain the sunrise this morning reminded me why I love the Arizona desert. We had just pulled in and parked, no jacks so no leveling, we closed the privacy curtain but nothing else, no slide just one easy quiet night. The news this morning showed a major weather event still moving our way, which we knew but had reservations so would just make the best of it.

Some fresh perked coffee and yes even on a driving morning there was a wee Irish blessing in my cup this morning, again a light breakfast this morning as we catch up on the news and get to see the next few days forecast, before we carefully back Thunder out of our boondocking spot, Again we are travelling light today with no towed, I will stop and get some diesel fuel in Quartzsite this morning, we noticed some good prices last night when we turned off of the Interstate.

Refueling was a pain in the butt this morning the fuel stop was a branch of the Pilot fuel company, they were understaffed, and the staff there was poor at best, when fueling it is often necessary to prepay for fuel it means walking in to the cashier, having the pump turned on with a preset amount and walking back out to the pump to actually do the fueling. But today I did as normal but found the pump quit after a few gallons, so I walked back in, and stood in line again to have the cashier tell me to “try it again“, no explanation, no sorry just arrogance, so I walked back out to find the pump working, just a couple of words would have been so much nicer!

Refueled and California bound, Quartzsite is located less than twenty miles from the state line, and of course there is an agriculture check station immediately over the state line. I’m not sure what actually they are checking for at these agriculture stops, every vehicle has to stop. We have never been asked a question in six years of travel, so it appears to me to be a “make work project” just another government waste from our point of view.

As we roll along Interstate I-10 we start to gently gain elevation as we climb up toward the Joshua Tree National Park before driving down into the bowl that is home to Palm Springs which is below sea level. This area of California is covered with lots of springs some cold others hot, the campground we are going to has many pools of hot spring water with various temperatures. Our arrival instructions from the campground just happen to match the route that Navi had planned out and we pulled into the campground at noon. There was an issue with the gate code keypad but someone helped us out with entering a code into a lower pad, we followed an orange line as instructed to the office where we were assigned a campsite.

The journey to our site from the office while short in distance but had two very sharp turns for a forty foot long coach, and neither could be made without becoming multipoint turns, once turns are more than 90º it becomes a task of epic portion. The site was tight and not the ezeist to maneuver around a palm tree in the front corner but once backing into the site the site was level. I plugged in the power but did not bother with either the water or sewer hookups as they were not handy at all.

Now you may be wondering why have we picked an RV resort in Caliante Springs California? Well there is a reason for our choice, this is where Mary & Julie have rented a park model for their winter snowbird getaway, and because they have lived in the Palm Springs area, they have offered to tour us around the area to see some of the sites. You may notice a little blue sky in the cloud cover, I’m sorry to report it never got any closer or bigger but we made the best of the weather.

We were only parked a few moments before Mary & Julie found us, their park model is on the other side of the park, but they have a rental car and have graciously offered to not only guide us around Palm Spring but to be our Uber as well. The decision was made to take in the tourist spots in downtown Palm Spring this afternoon and then a late lunch at one of Julies favorite restaurants, I found out later it was all about the margaritas. The decor of the restaurant was amazing, and while light rain kept many people away we wandered the main street and seen a number of tourist spots. What we had not planned on was some of the low lying roads being closed because of water, like many desert cities they just can not handle big rain storms because they nornally don’t get large quantities of rain. We made it back to the coach just at dark and we arranged to go over to Mary & Julies place after we had a chance to clean up and settle in to our new site.

Mary actually drove over to pick us up from our site because it was raining, but it is a short walk between our sites, Their unit is a one bedroom in the rear, with a kitchen in the middle and a table and chairs in the front, it has a covered porch which has been closed in and made into a living room. It is a small unit for a park model and it is showing its age, but comfortable enough as a winter snowbird get away, there is a par three golf course that weaves its way through the campground, lot of amenities, and located a few miles from stores and restaurants. We enjoyed some snacks, some wine and some great company, there was discussion of tomorrows adventure, and while we eliminated some because of the rain and the cloud cover, before we headed back to our coach a plan was made the Miss Laurie would cook omelets in the morning at Mary & Julies.

We returned to the coach but we were not long out of bed it had been a busy day with lots of adventures, and as much as we hated to eliminate some outside excursions, we can’t change what mother nature offers, and we have already seen many new things. And while tomorrows adventures are coming together, I was amazed at hoe much this area had to offer, looking forward to tomorrow already.

Blog 512