Desert Rats Hit the Beach

Just catching up on the blog. We stayed a week at the same spot we stayed earlier this winter at American Girl Mine, which is in California but the nearest town is Yuma, AZ. We had bought a bag of oranges in Yuma and still had about 6 or 7 when we crossed the border into CA. When we had to stop at the inspection area we declared our oranges and had to cut them up into quarters and the inspector then said they passed and we didn't have to trash them. There were only a few other motorhomes in the area and not that close at that. It is very peaceful here. Well, at least when the wind was not howling which is was for much of our time here. We didn't do a lot but did take a trip over to the Tumco Historical Mine Town. Tumco is an abandoned gold mining town and is also one of the earliest gold mining areas in California. It has a history spanning some 300 years, with several periods of boom and bust. During the boom time of the 1890´s, it had a population of around 500 people and the stamp mills of the mine produced $1,000 per day in gold. It is a little stretch to call it much of a tour as there is not much of anything there but a few walls. It might have been better if they weren't out of the brochures that told what was formerly at each of the numbered sites, but it was a good walk.

 

 

 

 

 

The marker below was added since we were here last. Very sad. I hope their golden had a nice long life before his last adventure where he was lost in the desert.

Another nice time in the Calif desert.

 

 

 

Before heading to the beach, we stopped for another week in one of our fav spots off Rockhouse Rd in Borrego Springs. We had more cold, windy weather and a little rain and some snow on the mountain tops, but still a nice relaxing time. There is our motorhome in the picture below.

 

 

Sunday, the 10th, after spending most of the winter in the desert areas of CA and AZ, we headed to the beach. I made a reservation several months ago but could only get 4 days as their weekends are full up here at Sunset Vista RV Park, which is just south of the Huntington Pier. Sunday was nice and sunny but the rest of the time was typical June (more like all spring) gloom with fog most of the day. Time was mostly spend with Joe going into work for a meeting and doctor and dentist appointments. We also got our taxes done and luckily didn't have to pay and are getting a few hundred back. Of course always some shopping to do, including a trip to Trader Joe's and lunch at one of our favorite spots, Native Foods. We did go out to dinner with the kids at a great little place on Main Street called the Pizza Lounge. A good selection including the pizza I had which had chicken, peaches and gorgonzola cheese on it. Yummy!! We are close enough to walk into town but drove as it was cold and Joe's foot has been bothering him. He is retaining water and his doctor changed some of his meds as he is pretty sure it was a side effect of the drug he had just started taking the last time he was at the doctor. Hopefully he will do better on his new meds. We are onto the Temecula area on Thursday for Kori and Nick's wedding on Saturday. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More Time in Calif and AZ Desert

While still in Quartzsite, we drove over to the east side of Tyson Wash where you can see Indian grinding holes and some petroglyphs. This is also the site of the original Quartzsite which had washed away in a flood and later was rebuilt on higher ground at its current location.

There were only a few petroglyphs that could be seen clearly. There is another place called Dripping Springs that is suppose to have hundreds of petroglyphs but is farther away and we'll do that another time.

 

 

 

 

Our last days were cold and we got not only rain but a little hail. A little blurred but that is hail sitting on the window ledge as well as on the ground.

 

 

Thursday we left Quartzsite and made our way up to Lake Havasu State Park. I could only make a 3 day reservation as there is a blue grass festival starting on March 1st but the whole week is booked. We were luck to get the last spot on the beach. This is a favorite place of mine and we enjoyed our 3 days already it is still cold.

 

 

There was a 300 mile long jet ski race taking place on the lake from the campground that is within sight of the state campground. I can't image riding a jet ski for that many miles.

 

 

 

 

Besides lots of water sports, there is a good hiking trail that includes a desert garden.

 

 

 

 

 

We have two weeks until we have our reservation in HB for 4 days and 5 days at Escapees Jojoba Hills that is near Temecula where Kori and Nick are getting married at Ponte Winery. With gas and diesel pricing so high we decided to not head any farther east. We thought of going to Mojave National Park but weather is only in the 50's and too cold for us. The Yuma area is suppose to be warmer and so we are going to spend some time back at one of the free boondocking spots on American Girl Mine, not far from Winterhaven, CA which is on the other side of the AZ/CA border from Yuma. Then we will spend another week in Borrego Springs at another free boondocking spot we like.

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Boondocking and a Trip to a Bar in the Desert

After crossing the border, where our motorhome went through a scanner and some checking of our bays, we headed for Yuma where we spend one night with hookups. Also did a bunch of loads of laundry. We then headed back to Quartzsite to join the RV Dreams boondocking rally. It is a two week rally where people can come and go. We got there on Friday and stayed through this last Thursday. Howard and Linda put on a number of seminars on boondocking. Joe went to a few but as we have been boondocking quite a bit, he didn't really learn much. However, it was great for the newbies to Boondocking. We mainly thought it would be fun to get together with fellow rvers. The rally was at Plomosa Rd, which is one of the BLM areas you can stay free for 14 days. It is very nice and we would stay in this part of Quartzsite again. Our first night was an appetizer night and we made meatballs with Sweet Baby Ray spicy bbque sauce and cranberry sauce as our contribution. Lots of great things to eat, enjoyable time around the fire and another great desert sunset.

 

 

 

 

, a group of us led by Howard and Linda made our way to the Desert Bar, The Nellie E Saloon. Our kids who have friends who have a vacation house in Parker and so have visited this fun bar and restaurant a number of times. We kept meaning to go there ourselves and finally we have now done so. The name Nellie E comes from the mining claim as the land the bar sits on is a former mining area. You get there by driving just north of Parker onto a dirt road,. Cienega Springs Rd that whines through the desert for about six miles. Then in the middle of the desert, there is the saloon. It is completely run on solar power and there are sitting and bar areas both in and outside. There is also a stage where Hard Rain played the day we were there. A great band with a great selection of tunes, that included original tunes, as well as a mix of cover songs of Rolling Stones, REM, Talking Heads, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash among others. A lot of fun was had by all.

 

 

 

 

 

Howard in Yellow and Linda right below in lt yellow

 

 

The open air women's bathroom has a great view of the hills.

 

Church structure below is for any religion and is often used for weddings.

 

 

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