January 9, 2009
Miguel found a few things to do on the motor home, apparently our new rebuilt motor was not all it was supposed to be…. So, the person in Ontario who rebuilt it is sending a remanufactured distributor and a remanufactured carburetor to Miguel while we are in Mexico, and we will get them installed upon our return. (we sent him the old ones) Miguel has fixed us up in the meantime so that we are safe to go to Mexico.
Speaking of Mexico, we have decided to go to the Fountain of Youth, hot springs at the base of the Chocolate Mountains at the Salton Sea. According to friends Debi and Ian; if you have your birthday there you actually turn a year younger instead of older. Sounds good to me. We will only be there for the night and then we will carry on to Quartzsite where there are two GMC motor home rallies, one this weekend and one next. We will stay there for this weekend and then head on to Tecate and into Baja.
We left Miguels and went to Temecula to stay at the nice Pechanga Casino RV Park and then on across some very high, windy, and windy two lane State roads 79 to 391 and then down very steep switchbacks on 74 in the darkness and into Palm Dessert and Indio. The series of switchbacks on 74 were reminiscent of lookout tower roads, only with many people driving swiftly up and down. Of course there was no one in front of us (except when we found a spot to pull over to let vehicles by) and we weren’t driving swiftly …. I don’t think the coach would have made it up those switchbacks they were so steep. Note to self: do NOT take that road west under any circumstances, east was bad enough!
We are at -276 below sea level at the Salton Sea according to the altimeter on our streets and maps program. The Fountain of Youth was ok, the park has room for about 1000 rigs and there is a huge Canadian snowbird contingent there. Many people have permanent places and have built on to their units to make some very large homes. There is a woman there who just celebrated her 101st birthday and she is still quite active, so there must be some truth to the healing powers of the mineral springs. There were so may organized and unorganized activities for the retired set that one would not be bored for awhile. The pools and the water however was nothing like what we experienced at Thermopolis which was so abundant it just flowed through massive pools and off to the river with a complete water exchange every 24 hours. The pools at the FOY were hot tubs similar to what you would find at a hotel pool, of which there were several, and there was only one that had the pure mineral water (plus some chlorine). Your other option was to fill up one of two bathtubs with pure fresh mineral water for your own public bath. There were also 2 very nice steam rooms and excellent showers.
January 10
We are now driving across the high desert to Quartzsite. Don’t know what it is about us, we have another 50 miles to go and it is almost dark. Sure is a lot of country with nobody in it. However, there are lots of people driving through it. This desert doesn’t have much going for it except for the beauty of the mountains in the distance. The vegetation is very scrubby and unattractive.
It was a spectacular sunset on the Chocolate Mountains and as the sunset faded and the mountains turned from pink back to chocolate, the full moon rose up and over the mountains, balancing on a peak for moments before lifting into the sky. It was truly spectacular. How I wish I had a really good camera to have captured those moments better. I did get some nice panoramas; we shall see how they turn out.
It gets chilly on the desert at night. After an 85 degree day we have now had to put on the heater.
Quartzsite
We rolled in well after dark and although we looked, we didn’t find any other GMCs so we found a piece of desert and settled in. The desert all around this area is BLM lands (Bureau of Land Management) so for a very nominal fee you can dry camp (boondock) for the whole season. In the morning we went into Quartzite to check out all the venders – wow – I have never seen so many rocks and beads. There were people from all over the world selling rocks from all over the world. They were cutting and polishing them and teaching you how to make jewellery. I want to learn how to do the wire work, however the teacher couldn’t fit me in before we left. We will have to come back in April – she recommends coming back for the whole month of January as it is very exciting then. Perhaps we will. It was very difficult to avoid becoming very inspired about making jewellery!
We found our GMC group (The 49ers) and joined up with them for dinner. They are all such nice people and it was very easy to join in the fun. Faye and Bert were the main organizers of this event, plus Faye was the cook extraordinaire! She made amazing breakfasts and dinners right out of her coach – with very minimal help. They both race Lotus’s and being too young to retire they rebuild the frame and suspension of racing Lotus’s. They also manufacture fibreglass components for GMCs. There were 5 GMCs: Faye and Burt, Doug and Irene, Jack and Mary, Betty and…. his name escapes me for now. Another couple towing their toy box behind their GMC carrying their two Harley’s, his brother and his wife came along in their SOB) some other brand). An older couple were there for one night in a huge SOB complete with slide outs, I think it was as big as our house! So it was a small group which made it very fun. We had a nice sing a long round the campfire the first night. With a few scout leaders in the group (and help from my Rise Up Singing book) we came up with lots of good old campfire songs. Everyone comes from quite different backgrounds and the commonality is the GMC so we all became instant friends. Cool.
January 13
We are on our way today to Potrero State Park and hopefully to get our visas stamped at Tecate. Over the border tomorrow and into Mexico at last.
After paying Costco and Vons a final visit for supplies at El Centro we were off for dinner and the final leg. There is a very steep climb coming out of El Centro with radiator water signs every 1000 feet and lots of telephones by the side of the road. It was a very good road though and since we were traveling after dark it was cool enough and we didn’t need any extra water for our radiator. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see this terrain, I think it was probably very pretty. Pulled into Potrero by 9 pm, glad to stop driving. Price has gone up since last year, now $24, no wi-fi, and only partial hookups. Their shower is rustic and freezing, so it will be a motor home shower.
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