February1-15,2024. California and Arizona

On the last day of January we stayed at the Salton Sea campground. Greg posted a video on his YouTube channel the next day so I will leave the link to that here, incase you missed it.

The Park Ranger came around in the morning to tell everyone about the rain coming and the possibility of not being able to drive out of the campground because of flooding and mud. So we were planning on leaving anyway because of this and packed up and headed out. We had a pretty short drive and arrived at 11:00 am to the Glamis Hot Springs RV Resort which is a part of Harvest Host which we have a membership for and really love. The overnight parking here was free because of the membership. Greg paid for a Day Pass to get into the Hot Tubs. There were 14 tubs and 4 pools of varying temperatures. I have no desire to go into Hot Springs or swimming pools unless it’s super hot and I need to cool off. That wasn’t the case here because it rained all day and was pretty much freezing. I even had to put pants on. lol. I stayed in the van all day and read a Stephen King Novel. Greg went back and forth to the Hot Springs all day and night. Definitely got his money worth. Next day the sun came out and the skies were blue. I took a shower and a nice walk. This place is huge. 

Today we head back south because we are chasing 72° and in this area and north of us the temps are going to be in the mid 60’s. So we are going to head back down to the Yuma Area and wait for Lake Havasu and Vegas and Death Valley to warm up a little.

I’m so glad we stopped at Slab City on the way south. We’ve heard all kinds of opinions of the place and really just wanted to check it out ourselves. The first stop was Salvation Mountain. One guy sculpted and painted this and also lived here in that white truck. He died a few years again and the people that live in Slab City upkeep the mountain. 

From there we headed further in past all the encampments. People have been living here for years. There’s all kinds of people here and there are no rules, no permits needed. No trash pick up, no taxes. It’s a pretty unusual place. We went to check out the art installation called East Jesus. I have no idea why it is named that as I saw no signs of Jesus in that area. Just some really unusual art sculptures. We enjoyed walking around and exploring all the artwork.

The photos do not do it justice. But I think you get the jist of how unusual and creative these sculptures are. 

We continued further south, did some food shopping and were planning on overnighting in the Walmart Parking Lot. We were a little too early for hanging out there all day so we looked up the nearest BLM land and it was only half an hour away so we continued on. We stopped first at the Holtville Hot Spring which is a Long Term Camping Area. They charge $40 to dry camp here for two weeks and then $180 for 6 months. We have no plans to stay long term, plus the hot tub was packed with people so we headed across the highway to the regular free short term Public Land. Found a nice spot, watched a movie and went to sleep. In the morning, we woke up early and headed back to the hot spring thinking it would be not so many people but we were wrong. The parking lot was still packed and there were tons of people again. We stayed put, had breakfast, put out an extra solar panel and soaked in the sun. In the picture below, you can see all those palm trees, right in the middle of that’s the natural thermal hot springs that everyone is soaking in. 

We stayed here for a bit and by lunchtime, the springs started emptying out so Greg was able to soak for a bit. We are pretty close to the Q Casino in Yuma. That’s the one that has the Crab leg buffet that we did on New Year’s Eve. They only have that buffet open on the weekends and as luck would have it, today is Saturday so we will head over there for some fun and a delicious casino buffet.

The Crab legs were amazing but they didn’t bring me any luck. We both lost this time around but had a nice peaceful sleep there with the other RV’s and campers. Next morning, we headed into Yuma for Mass. This church was totally packed, standing room only. I love when I see this. 

After mass we did some food shopping then headed to Mittry Lake for a couple of nights. We found a spot sort of secluded from the mob scene of Skoolies just up the road. I cooked a nice meal and then we settled in for movie night.

We decided the next day to move to a better spot because we were on the main road in and it was pretty dusty. We moved up higher and off the main road to a great spot right on the water. That night we packed everything up into the van incase we needed to make a quick get away because rain was heading our way and we were getting some flash flood warnings on our phones. The rains were not supposed to come till later the next day but we wanted to be prepared just incase.

The next morning, Greg heard rain and woke me up. We had some coffee and then hit the road and we are so glad we did because it just kept raining all day. That road in to where we were would have turned into a road of creamy peanut butter and we sure would’ve been trapped in there. Instead we spent the day wandering around various stores, saw the movie Argyle, wandered around more stores and then found a spot to park at the Cracker Barrel. 

We were about to turn on some YouTube Videos when the Propane alarm started going off. We have three alarms in the van.  We have a smoke alarm, a CO2 alarm and a propane gas alarm. So we open the doors right away and the alarm stops beeping. We close the doors and the alarm goes on again. So we see that there’s this big hose behind the van that maybe we thought was gas or sewage that was setting off the alarm so we move the van away from that to a different spot in the parking lot. That seemed to solve the problem until a few minutes later, it goes off again. We are really brainstorming this situation because it just wasn’t making any sense. It would beep and beep and then stop beeping again. We thought maybe it was a malfunctioning device but still didn’t want to chance it. So we  moved the van again to a different spot and that’s when we realized that we had both been letting them rip. We were both super gassy and our farts were setting off the alarm!! Hahahah. I googled it and that actually happens with RV gas detectors, usually from dogs sitting too close to the alarm but in our case it was me that was sitting too close to the alarm. Mystery solved. Aaaah, the life of Van living. 

Next day we headed a little further north towards Quartzsite and settled into a spot off Palm Canyon Rd, which is right off 95. The scenery here is gorgeous and with the recent rains, it’s a lot greener than normal. We even had our very own cactus. I bought a Sketch Pad and a Sketching kit and decided to do a little sketching. I spend my mornings in the passenger seat that swivels sideways and faces the drivers side window. The views are spectacular so I decided to do a little sketching each morning.

Our plan was for us to set up the outdoor shower and get clean but the wind had other ideas. We  stayed two nights here and the wind never let up. So we headed into Quartzsite to take showers at that Laundromat and to do some laundry. We went next door to the coffee shop and had the most amazing cinnamon bun and peanut butter brownie. I wish I would have taken a photo. These two items were beyond delicious. 

From there we headed back to Plomosa Rd for a peaceful night. Plomosa Road area is so empty compared to what it looked like when the Big Tent was up. We stayed a few days here as the weather was still not cooperating. It looks beautiful but that wind is not fun.

On Sunday, after Mass, we headed to Silly Al’s for the Super Bowl. Ordered wings and pizza and enjoyed the festivities. The wings and pizza were pretty dreadful but the atmosphere was fun. We stayed till the third Quarter than headed back to the desert in the dark. It got down to 35° last night. So thankful for this Webosto heater and our winter sleeping bags. 

Today we are heading to Lake Havasu. One of my favorite places. We’ve been here before. The London Bridge is here which of course we had to visit. We had an awesome lunch at the Javelina Cantina overlooking the bridge. Then settled into a spot at the craggy wash BLM land. 

We went into town on Wednesday to do a few things. Took showers at the Aquatic Center for $5.25 each. Did some food shopping, got ashes for Ash Wednesday and then headed back to Craggy Wash. We went further in than where we had been staying. We got a nice private spot nestled between the mountains. Going to stay here one more night and then head to Death Valley in California. Hope all my friends and family on Long Island survived “Winter Storm Lorraine.”