Quartzsite and Southern California

Warninng - this is a long post!  Lots of catching up to do as we enjoyed our stay in Quartzsite and are now exploring southern California.

The last post, we were in west Texas and we continued west on I-20, picking up I-10 through New Mexico and into Arizona, arriving at Quartzsite just after lunch. Quartzsite is a town about 20 miles east of the California border where over a million people spend at least a few days camping in the desert during the winter months. It is all Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Much is free, but the few miles around the small town of Quartzsite charges $40 for two weeks and entitles you to fresh water and a place to dump tanks. Our group of Winnebago Skinny-Winnies gather every year in the same location where we can walk to the huge Rock and Gem show, the flea market and an RV show.

Our BLM pass and our nametags for the Skinny Winnie Rally

Our "campsite" at Quartzsite on Tuesday before the start of the Rally

Tuesday night, the organizers had a pig roast (limited to 100 people), tending it for 24 hours in a deep pit in the sand. Met up with lots of folks from our Winnebago View/Navion facebook group and enjoyed the feast.

Wednesday was a free day, Thursday afternoon was the official Meet and Greet where more than 300 people brought finger food and Winnebago brought wine, lots of wine! Friday was our “busy” day – a 6 hole golf tournament in the desert with unique “holes” - the best being a toilet seat,but the tee boxes, fairways and greens were carefully tended. Early afternoon we enjoyed a fabulous fiddler player followed by a pot luck dinner, again socializing, eating and drinking with a great bonfire after dark.

Hole Number 1 - an ice chest.  Good hole cut, flush with green that was carefully raked.

One of my teammates ready to sink hole Number 2 (appropriately named) 

Outstanding view of the carefully tended fairway.

Commanding view of the course just south of the Skinny Winnie Rally area in the distance

Hole number 3 was tricky.

Another view of my teammates, and the Rally area stretching for 1/4 mile filled with Winnebago View/Navions behind the golfcourse

Hole 5 had limited access to the cup

Our Golf  Officials who provided our clubs and the Greenskeeper with his rake.

So many people sitting around in the desert make for good advertising fodder.

The Rally Master's RV windshield served as the Rally Bulletin Board

Lots of things to do - the nightly bonfire isn't even listed!  Between events, folks walked around and socialized.

Henry The Fiddler was wonderful entertainment.

For a look of what it was like to be at Quartzsite, check out this youtube video produced by one of the folks in our Rally group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw-1NxJrdc0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2K-Y6Xqu8QzNc_XO9cY-EwnpWKe0P9p-qFakvSDfZQq9tsbKhYXOR542A
By Saturday, we were running short on propane which is used to fuel our generator, keep the refrigerator cold, and heat our water. We could have driven a few miles to refill propane, fresh water and dump our tanks, but Jack had enough of hanging in the desert with no electricity, so we decided to head out.

We drove west on I-10 for 20 miles into southeastern California, then dropped a few miles south through the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area – monster sand dunes where dune buggies, motorcross bikes and other off road vehicles were racing around, looking like they were having a great time. 

Driving into the dunes area

Looks like great fun!

 

We stopped for the night in Salton City on the Salton Sea – Colorado River water had been diverted from farms to urban areas and so the water no longer flows into the Salton Sea. It is rapidly evaporating, becoming saltier and the tilapia are gone and with them, the millions of birds on the Pacific migration route that fed on them. Our campground used to be a marina, but the lake had retreated about ¼ mile, so the boat marina was just a massive hole in the mud. 

Next door was a runway, used by pilots for their powered parachutes. There were a couple of guys giving lessons, and it was really fun to watch them start their training by simply running with the parachute, progressing to having the motorized fan on their backs and then actually taking off over the Salton Sea.

Practicing with just the parachute.  

On Sunday, we drove west through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park – famous for desert super blooms in Spring when weather conditions are just right. The visitor center in the middle of the park had a small museum and a short nature trail, overlooking the town of Borrego Springs.

Borrega Springs

Nature Trail at the Visitor Center

 Continuing west and then north from there was a spectacluar drive through the mountains, coming down into the Palm Desert and Palm Springs area. Got a campground in Desert Hot Springs where we spent the evening with former New Jersey friends. Monday, after our friends made a fabulous breakfast, we drove northwest to Barstow and found a decent campground. 

Barstow is at the intersection of Route 15 (Salt Lake City down through Vegas and to Los Angeles) and Route 40 (central coast to coast highway) and the original Route 66 runs through downtown.

 We had a local shop check our water heater that has been giving us some problems and he diagnosed it needed a new igniter. He ordered the part and it is expected to come in on Wednesday. There are multiple things to do here, so no problem waiting on the part. 

 Lunch was at Peggy Sue's 50's Diner. When we arrived, I was disappointed to find that it was not an old fashioned aluminum Airstream-type diner, but once inside, it was wonderful. It had been expanded multiple times into four dining rooms with wall to wall 1950's movie and tv memorabilia. Food was good, too! 

 After a nap, we headed out to check out downtown Barstow murals.  Traffic was busy, and could get photos of only a few of the many high-quality murals along Main Street, Route 66.  

We stopped at Harvey House and a small museum that covers the deep space listening antenna field in Goldstone, one of three in the world. The Harvey Houses were fabulous hotels built along the major railroad stops by Fred Harvey. He also built many of the grand hotels in the National Parks. This one is still an active Amtrak stop, but the hotel has been refurbished into office space and special event venue.

Harvey House in Barstow

The official name of this Harvey House is Casa Del Desierto

The dining room of the hotel, now used for special events

Harvey Girls were recruited across America to work in Harvey Houses

Rules for Harvey Girls

Five of the WWII Navajo Code Talkers settled in Barstow after the War

A small museum inside the Harvey House documented the Goldstone array for deep space listening used for communicating with astronauts in space.  One of three in the world.

Will update the blog when we finish our stay here in Barstow in a couple of days.