Tag Archives: California

Snowbirding 2021: Life at the Backwaters Camp

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We settle into a routine that includes activity, work, and rest.

I set up my own camp at our campsite with my camper on one side of the boat ramp and my utility trailer on the other. I was expecting my friend Janet to join me and I thought it was a good idea to leave room for her in the “living” side of the campsite by putting my utility trailer on the “working” side of the campsite.

About the Campsite

One of the nice things about the campsite — other than the fact it has easy access to a mile-long strip of backwaters channel — is that it’s mostly level. That makes it easy to park RVs without having to deal with a lot of leveling blocks. My truck camper, of course, has its four motorized legs that can be used to fine-tune leveling. But I need a relatively level place to begin with so I can safely raise the camper off my truck and drive the truck away.

The campsite is off the main road and surrounded by a lot of desert vegetation — mostly salt cedar, mesquite, and a type of shrub I’d always known as arrow wood (but Google doesn’t agree). This vegetation, although not very attractive, does give the campsite some privacy and filter away the dust that can come off the road when the four-wheelers are out in force. None of the trees are tall enough to cause an issue for a well-placed solar panel — especially if it’s on a camper’s roof (as mine are). I suspect that the site would be miserably hot in the summer months, but in the winter, all that sun is usually quite welcome.

The site is actually split into two logical halves with the boat ramp between them. One side is larger and could easily fit four good-sized campers without any of them parking in the deeper sand beyond. The other side is considerably smaller but features a few clearings in the vegetation where tents could be set up with a degree of privacy.

The ground (other than the gravel boat ramp) is mostly a sandy dusty dirt mixed with decades of campfire ash. It is not the kind of place you leave things on the ground if you expect them to stay clean. But dust is a part of life when camping out in the desert and I knew exactly what to expect when I chose the site.

I parked at the edge of the larger camping area, right beside where the land sloped down sharply to the boat ramp. I backed in (of course) so my back and main side window faced east, out over the backwaters. From my dining table window, I can watch the sun rise every morning and see glimpses of water birds like egrets and herons. I like a campsite with a view and this suits me just fine.

Setting up camp wasn’t difficult and I had it mostly done by the end of the day when I arrived. Other than removing my camper from my truck, I did a few extra things that I usually do if I’m going to be in a spot for more than a few days:

  • I set up a pair of portable sawhorses, each good for 1600 pounds of weight, under the body of my camper. This takes some of the weight off the legs and gives it a more solid feeling. It’s a little step that isn’t required, but will help keep the camper in good condition as it continues to age. (It’s a 2007 model and in great shape; I plan to keep it that way.)
  • I attached a vinyl “skirt” around the front end of the camper. This creates a little sheltered storage room where I can secure things I want to protect from the weather or keep out of sight. My bicycle, for example, is under there. So is my 2KW Honda generator, which is locked to one of the camper legs. I had the skirt custom made a few years ago and although I don’t use it often, it comes in very handy when I do use it.
  • I set up a table with my BBQ grill. I use a little propane fueled portable grill. I like to grill meats (and sometimes vegetables) and having the grill set up and ready to go right by my door makes it convenient.
  • I deployed my rear awning. My camper actually has two awnings, but I rarely use the one on the side. Instead, I put out the back one, mostly because it was so darn hot when I arrived in mid November. The sun would come up and shine into the back of my camper, making it unpleasantly hot within minutes. The awning kept it cooler. Even when temperatures dropped, however, I left the awning out with its various wind toys attached. With a mat nailed down to the ground beneath it, it gave me the illusion of an outdoor room, tripling the size of my living space. I staked it down securely so that even though it flopped around a bit when it got windy, it stayed secure.

  • Meade 8
    Here’s my telescope, set up in camp. I have a cover to protect it during the day and have been able to keep it dust-free. I haven’t used it nearly as much as I wanted to, mostly because I was having trouble getting it to align before I swapped out the batteries.

    I set up my 8″ Meade LX200GPS telescope. I bought the telescope last year and used it at a few campsites late in the season. The area where I was camped had amazing dark skies and with a big conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn coming up in December, I was eager to use it. The telescope, which lives in a Pelican-style hard-sided rolling case, is no fun to haul around, but once it was set up, I could cover it with a reflective cover to protect it from dust, sun, and wind.

  • I unpacked and inflated my Hobie kayak. I’d bought this two — or is it three? — years before in Lake Havasu City on my way south as a Christmas present to myself. Although it can be paddled like any sit-atop kayak, it has a pedal drive that makes it a real pleasure to pilot around the backwater channels — as long as the water is at least a foot deep.

    Paddling
    Here I am with my pups on a recent pedal/paddle/float down the Colorado River.

Camper Setup
Here’s my truck camper, set up for a long stay at camp. I put up my wind toys, deployed my rear awning, and even put on the custom skirt to create a sheltered “garage” under the front end of the camper. While the camper’s legs hold the bulk of its 3200 pounds, I also set up portable sawhorses underneath to take some of the weight off the legs and make the rig more solid on the ground.

My friend Janet arrived four days later. She came with her truck, “Blue,” pulling her 20-foot travel trailer, “Joey.” (For the record, although my truck doesn’t have a name, my camper and utility trailer do: T2 and Daisy (formerly Lily; long story) respectively.) She backed Joey into a spot against a tree with its door facing my camper and the fire pit. Later, her significant other, Steve, arrived with her studio/workshop trailer, “the Vega,” and parked it nearby so she could share her generator between the two of them.

The Routine

Our lives at camp quickly settled into a routine.

We start the day in our own campers with coffee (me) or tea (Janet) and maybe a small breakfast. I wake up at all times, from as early as 4 AM to as late as 7 AM. I let my pups out (supervised) for their early morning numbers (1 and 2) and give them breakfast. I drink my coffee, catch up on Twitter, update my Etsy site, or wade through incoming email. I use my iPad, which seems to get the best connection here when it’s placed on my pillow on my bed, as a wifi hotspot.

Maria and Dogs
One of my Twitter friends wanted a picture of the dogs at camp. The only way I could get a shot of them all was to grab mine while Janet’s stood nearby. This is one morning after our walk.

When the sun comes up, we’d go for a brisk walk in the desert. When we got here, we’d go as early as 7:30, but as it gets colder and colder and the sun rises later and later, we now go as late as 9 AM. We have four different walks. Three of them are about 2 1/2 miles long while the fourth is about 3 1/2 miles long. I admit that I shy away from that long walk early in the morning because a good portion of it is in the shade of a hillside and it’s really cold. And the walk that’s a loop around our backwater channel is especially tiresome because a good portion of it is in sand.

After the walk, we do our own thing most days. I usually do my dishes and/or shower. I like to run my water pump in the morning so the onboard batteries have the whole day to recover power from the 200 watts of solar on the roof. I really don’t like running my generator; I hate the noise. Although I’ll run my pump at any time of the day or night, dishes and showers run it long enough to take a toll on the batteries and mine are starting to show their age. (I actually had them replaced yesterday after writing the first draft of this post.)

I might also have a real breakfast of something cooked. I usually make the same thing I make at home: veggies cooked with some sort of breakfast meat and topped with an egg. I’m still trying to use up the potatoes and onions from my garden that I brought with me.

Then I go to work in my utility trailer. (More on that in a moment.) I generally work most of the day, with breaks whenever Rosie, the more vocal of my two pups, decides there’s something she needs to bark at. I leave the girls loose during the day, but with predators like coyotes around (mostly early and late in the day, as well as overnight), I try hard to keep tabs on them. Rosie likes to bark at imagined threats so I get lots of stand time during the day. (Apple Watch owners should know what I’m talking about.)

By around 4 PM, Janet and I are both finishing up for the day. One of us will set up paper trash and kindling in the fire pit. One or both of us will cook all or part of a shared dinner. We’ll light the fire and feed it wood we’ve gathered or brought along. My pups will go into the camper — they don’t seem to like being outside after dusk and that’s fine with me.

We’ll eat dinner by the fire. We’ll chat.

Thanksgiving Dinner
We eat well here. This was Thanksgiving dinner on my plate. Janet made almost everything you see; I made the stuffing, which I really love to make (and eat). We’ve had grilled NY strip steak, salmon (that I caught over the summer), and bacon-wrapped scallops, as well as chicken enchiladas, chicken and vegetable masala, tacos, and all kinds of homemade food. Janet even made a loaf of challah bread from scratch yesterday, which was a bit of a challenge to bake in her tiny oven.

Jupiter with Moons
I took this photo of Jupiter and its four largest moons by holding my iPhone’s lens against the eyepiece of my telescope one night.

We’ll watch the stars come out, marvel on how close Saturn is getting to Jupiter, and count satellites that pass overhead. A few times, I fired up the telescope for a closer look at Jupiter, Saturn, the moon, mars, and a few other points of interest in the sky. The Milky Way’s glow was nearly always bright above us.

Then, when the fire turns to a bed of coals, we’ll call it a night. Janet will retreat into her camper with her big dog Dually. I’ll bring my pups out for a pee and then go back inside for the night.

Depending on what time it is, I’ll do some work on my laptop or read or just straighten up my rig. Eventually, I’ll climb up into bed to read, watch videos on my iPad, or do a crossword puzzle. Then I’ll sleep.

The next day is pretty much the same.

Occasionally, we’ll break routine for a morning of chores or goofing off or weather that makes us want to stay indoors. But those days are few and far between.

Chores

Of course, we eventually have to do chores like laundry, grocery shopping, fetching water or propane, or visiting the post office. Because the road to get to camp is so long and bumpy, I try not to leave camp more than once or twice a week.

We do grocery shopping once a week in Blythe, CA where there’s a Smart and Final and an Albertsons. Although last year we favored Smart and Final, which tends to be cheaper, it soon became apparent that they often lacked the things we needed, requiring us to hit Albertsons as well. So this year we’re mostly just going to Albertsons.

We do laundry every other week, also in Blythe, and coordinate it with a trip to the Ace hardware store and Albertsons. It works like this: go to the laundromat and put our laundry into washers. That gives us 24 minutes to drive to Ace, shop, and get back. Move all the laundry into dryers and feed the dryers enough coins to dry to 40 to 50 minutes. Then go to Albertsons and shop. Go back to the laundromat, arriving just in time for the dryers to be done. Fold laundry, put it into the truck and head back to camp. We did this two days ago again and it worked like a charm.

Sometimes, on those trips to Blythe, we’ll bring an empty propane tank or two. My rig takes 5 gallon tanks and has two of them. I’m going through about one tank a week to run my refrigerator, heat water, fuel my stove, and run my heater, which I definitely need for at least part of the night.

We get water at the “Resort Store” in Ehrenberg, which is near the end of the gravel road between pavement and camp. For $2 we can fill as many water jugs as we have. I have four; Janet has at least four. We both have battery powered transfer pumps to lift the water from the 6 1/2-gallon jugs to our campers’ water tank fill ports. 26 gallons of water can last me about a week if I try hard to conserve. I don’t drink that water; it’s solely for washing. I buy bottled spring water by the gallon when shop for groceries and use that for drinking and cooking.

The Resort Store is also where we take our trash. There’s a big dumpster there. We weed out the aluminum cans and plastic bottles that can get cash refunds in California, which is only a mile away, and leave them in a box or bag beside the dumpster so folks who scavenge for cans don’t need to dumpster dive for ours. There is no recycle bin, but we burn most of our paper and cardboard waste when we start our evening campfire.

The Resort Store isn’t far from the post office where I rent a box every year. This enables me to get USPS, UPS, and FedEx packages. Whenever we get water, we visit the post office, too.

Occasionally, we’ll go into Quartzsite, AZ, which is about 30 miles east. I’ve written extensively about Quartzsite in this blog so I won’t go into detail here. It’s pretty dead in November and early December; it should start getting busy around Christmas time. If we go to Q (as we call it), we’ll get propane there; it’s a lot cheaper than in California. I also got a new battery and inverter setup for my utility trailer in Q; I’ll blog about that elsewhere.

Quartzsite is also where we dump our blackwater tanks, which is a chore I did just yesterday. Through various means of conservation, I can go a whole month between blackwater dumps — and no, it doesn’t smell.

Struck Truck
That back wheel was so dug in that the truck was sitting on the sand on its rear transfer case. I could turn the wheel by hand! Jacking up the truck and putting leveling blocks under that wheel was instrumental in getting it out.

We also occasionally go out into the desert to collect firewood. There are a lot of dead salt cedar and mesquite trees and Janet has a little battery-powered chainsaw that can cut through medium sized branches to make little logs. One day we used my truck to haul the wood out and I managed to get it stuck deep in the sand. After being told by a tow company that they needed a Jeep with a winch to get me out — at a cost of $500 — Steve and I managed to get it out with some jacking, digging, and a tug with a tow strap. Locking the hubs on the truck’s 4WD in 4-Low helped, too. (Duh.) Less than a week later, I used my truck to pull a Sprinter van out of another sandy spot nearby.

Getting Work Done

Janet is an artist who paints on feathers. (Her work is amazing; check out her Etsy shop and her website.) I’m a part-time jewelry artist. (My work is pretty good, too. Check it out in my Etsy shop and on my website.) Both of us planned to get work done while at camp. That’s why I’d set up my utility trailer with a jewelry shop and she brought along her studio trailer.

Our studios contain at least 90% of the materials and equipment we need to create. It’s just a matter of “unstowing” everything and setting up to work. Her studio is a converted travel trailer and has quite a bit of space. My utility trailer is small and relatively cramped, so part of my setup include erecting my show tent and setting up a table inside it do do soldering work. (I have a 6-minute video tour of my setup, but with the dismal connectivity I have out here in the desert, it would likely take all day to upload it.)

Janet and I mostly sell our work at art shows, although I also have relationships with a few galleries and we also both sell on Etsy. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has pretty much shut down the show circuit. The last show we did together was at White Tanks Regional Park in the Phoenix area at the end of last February; we were all set to do the Borrego Springs show in mid-March when they canceled it the day before setup. (We had already made the long drive there and weren’t happy about the last minute cancellation. I was especially unhappy because I was ready to go home at the end of February and that last show was the only thing keeping me in the area.) I did a few shows in Leavenworth, WA in July, September, and October. Janet did one in Fountain Hills, AZ in November, just before joining me in camp. Because her summer had been filled with other work (and play), she was low on some inventory. And because I’d shipped out a bunch of jewelry pieces to galleries in November, I was very low on inventory. We both needed to work.

And we do. I’d say we spend at least four hours a day at least five days a week in our shops getting new items made and ready to sell. I’ve started posting each week’s production on my jewelry website, with links back to my Etsy shop.

We also process incoming orders from Etsy. We each have printers to print labels and packing materials to package up and ship our products. I actually fill orders more quickly from here than I do from home. Go figure.

Playing

We also make time to play.

Because we have easy access to the backwater channel, we often go for a pedal/paddle (me) or row (Janet) in our boats. Janet, who likes to fish, will sometimes throw in a line. The other day, we took our boats and cameras up to the channel we camped on last year and pedaled/paddled/rowed there. I got some nice shots of egrets, herons, ospreys, and vultures. We even watched an osprey dive down into the water and take off with a fish.

Egret
I had my Nikon and 300mm lens with me on my most recent pedal/paddle and got a few nice shots of birds, like this egret.

One day when neither of us felt like working, we took a drive down the gravel road that goes past our camp all the way down to the Cibola Wildlife Refuge, which I’d visited a few years before. It’s where sandhill cranes spend the winter and there were certainly enough of them there. We also explored other possible camping areas, like a BLM campground on the California side that might be nice for a day or two.

We also goof off in Q. We took the bicycles in one day and rode around the town after picking up a few odds and ends from vendors that were set up early. Around Christmas time, Janet will be moving to Q for about a month to do a show there; I’m skipping it this year but may move out to the desert nearby for a few days during the height of the season there.

Side Trips

I did make time to visit some friends and go flying in the Mesa area near Phoenix earlier this month.

My friends own a flight school and offered me a reasonable deal on renting their R44. I was eager to get some video footage for the FlyingMAir YouTube channel. I did two flights over two days and spent two nights in my friends’ very comfortable guest room.

I’ll go back again later in the season, when I’m done camping in this area and begin a more nomadic phase of my winter travels. It’s a long drive from here to Mesa — nearly 3 hours. I did (finally) visit a Trader Joe’s on my way back. I also picked up a few things I needed to better secure items in my utility trailer when I’m in transit.

A Month Already!

That basically sums up the first month of my snowbirding activities for the 2020/2021 season.

Although Janet will likely leave in about a week, I’ll remain here for a while longer. I’ll probably walk less and work more, with fewer campfires and more writing. Maybe I’ll even get around to editing some of the video I captured on my two flights earlier this month.

I’m hoping that someone we met earlier this month will return from his holiday travels and share the camp with me for a few days. We need to talk boats. ‘Nuff said.

I’ll try to upload “Postcards” as I did last year. No promises. I’m keeping pretty busy — maybe too busy to blog? — and like it!

Snowbirding 2021: The Drive South

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A longer than usual drive made tolerable by recorded books.

As usual, I went south for the winter this year. And as of this week, I’ve already been away from home for a full month. I thought I’d write a few blog posts to catch you up on this year’s trip, starting with the drive south.

My Departure: Early on the Calendar, Late on the Clock

I left earlier than usual this year: Sunday, November 15. Earlier in the month, I’d made the decision to go — I’d been on the fence about it for months — and as the days got ever shorter I found myself eager to go. We’d already had some snow at home and I dreaded the thought of dealing with more on my trip. I was driving with my truck, truck camper, and 12-foot cargo trailer outfitted as a jewelry studio and had no desire to deal with slippery road conditions along the way.

The goal was to get deep into Oregon on that first day, but I had too much last-minute packing to do. By the time my rigs were packed, the camper was on the truck, and the trailer was hooked up, it was after 2 PM. Since I prefer not to drive in the dark these days, I knew I wouldn’t get far. I considered waiting until the next morning to depart, but my house-sitter was already installed and did not relish sleeping on the sofa while he slept in my bed. So I loaded up my pups, turned on the heated seat, and headed out.

Truck at Home
I snapped this photo before leaving on Sunday afternoon. My house sitter was watching from the deck, which is hidden from view in this shot.

I needed 4WD to get out of my driveway. There was just enough ice at the top of the little hill there to almost send me sliding backwards.

Although I’d skipped lunch and was really hungry, I didn’t stop until we reached my first overnight spot: Marysville State Park on the Columbia River at Route 97. Regular readers of my blog know that this is one of my preferred stops for winter driving with the camper. It’s cheap, there are pull-through spots, and the power is turned on (although not the water) at campsites. It was full dark when I arrived after 6 PM and I nearly missed the turn. I pulled in and slipped into a nice spot along the river. After a quick dinner of reheated leftovers, I took the girls for a walk through the fallen leaves to get a registration envelope. I’d pay on the way out.

You might be wondering why I was taking a route that would bring me through central Oregon rather that the much fast route through Idaho and down through Nevada. Two things. First, I had hopes of visiting a friend in the Sacramento area who is moving to Texas in the spring. Second, I wanted to visit a business where I was considering trying to get a job — remote, of course — in south central California. Route 97, which I’d taken many time when I worked in Central California in the spring, was not only a good direct route to both places, but it avoided the high elevation areas where it would be super cold and possibly snowy. I’ve had to stop for fuel in Jackpot, NV when it was -19°F and it wasn’t fun. Neither is dealing with frozen pipes in a camper.

Day 2: Oregon into California

We left just after dawn on Monday morning. I made one stop on the way out to pay the overnight fee and to use the central “winter water” spigot to top off my fresh water tanks.

Brand New Truckstop
This gas station looked brand new but wasn’t very busy at 7:30 AM.

Across the river, in Biggs Junction, I fueled up at what I think was a brand new fuel station. Fuel was much cheaper there than in Washington. I grabbed a McDonald’s breakfast at that truck stop town and got back on Route 97 south.

It rained.

There was fog.

The road was mostly empty, as it usually is, getting busy only by big towns like Redmond and Bend. I made a stop in a shopping center parking lot with some grassy islands and took my pups for a quick walk. Then back on the road.

The drive would have been boring if I wasn’t listening to an audiobook. I was working my way though Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, which I had been getting as audio books from the library. There’s nothing that makes a drive go faster than having something good to listen to. These books took a turn for the weird — even by King’s standards — in volume 5 or 6 but I did listen to them all by the time I got into Arizona.

I stopped for fuel just north of Klamath Falls. My pups walked a bit on a leash but didn’t do any business. I got back on the road. I figured I’d stop at a rest area I knew farther up where I could let them run off-leash. But when I asked about it at the agricultural inspection stop at the California border, they told me that rest area was closed. (And, fortunately, they didn’t take the 40-pounds of Honeycrisp apples I’d bought in Wenatchee to eat and give as gifts to friends.)

I passed a closed Forest Service Ranger Station with a big empty parking lot bordering on empty land and made a U-turn to go back to it. I let the girls have a run and do their business. I cut up one of those apples for a snack. We got back into the truck and continued on our way.

We eventually drove through Weed, CA and got onto the I-5 freeway. We’d been getting great views of Mt. Shasta for miles and miles and remembered a view area along the way. I found one — probably not the one I was thinking of, though — and pulled off, despite the NO RVS sign. It was empty. I parked where I could easily turn around and got out with the girls. On the way to the interpretive sign, I found traces of party gear: hypodermic needles, empty beer cans, and broken liquor bottles. We didn’t stay long.

Mt Shasta
My girls had plenty to sniff when we stopped at the lookout area for Mt. Shasta.

It was around 4 PM in the Redding, CA area that I decided I’d better find a place to stay. I’d covered more miles than I expected to, but not nearly as many as I needed to reach the possible overnight destination near Woodland I’d been thinking of. I saw a sign for a casino and got off the freeway. Casinos often allow free overnight RV parking and they have the added bonus of good security.

This casino had overnight parking, but it wasn’t free. Part of their lot had been set up with drive-through RV spaces, each equipped with water, power, and sewer hookups. The fee was $30 — not much more than I’d paid the night before for power only. There was an exercise trail, a golf cart shuttle to the casino (which had a restaurant), and good security I decided to stay.

I had to go into the casino to register and pay. That was an odd experience. Inside the door, I had to stop and stand at a sort of test station. An automatic system took my temperature while I pulled off my mask and got my picture taken. Inside, the place was packed and rules said you didn’t have to wear a mask if you were sitting down. All the slots were filled with unmasked people, half of whom were smoking. I made a bee-line to the registration desk and paid up, eager to be out of there. Even my idea of getting a meal to go from the restaurant evaporated. I wanted out.

That evening, after walking the dogs, I heard some guy walking around the parking area loudly calling out a woman’s name. When it didn’t stop after 20 minutes, I called the casino front desk and told them what was going on and that I was a little freaked out. (Honestly, I wasn’t frightened but it was annoying.) In less than 5 minutes, security arrived and the shouting guy was gone.

I took advantage of the hookups to use my microwave, wash all accumulated dishes, take a shower, and then dump both tanks before departing in the morning. My pups and I also took advantage of a nice trail that wound through the woods around the property, including down by a stream that feeds the Sacramento River.

Then it was back on the road.

Day 3: California All Day

By this time, my Sacramento friend had cancelled. She was feeling under the weather and at high risk for COVID. Although I’d suggested we get food to go somewhere and eat outdoors, she just wasn’t feeling up to it. That was fine. I had a lot of miles to cover anyway.

I’d originally considered stopping at an Apple store to buy a new iPad — mine has definitely seen better days — and a Trader Joe’s to stock up on some staples I wanted over the winter, but I decided against both things. I was planning to go to the Phoenix area over the weekend and could do both then. Instead, I just got on I-5 and headed south.

I tried to stop for fuel and a bite to eat in Woodland but couldn’t seem to find an easy-access fuel station that sold diesel. So I continued through the Sacramento area as my truck’s computer ticked down the miles until empty. I think I was on 12 when I finally found a truck stop in Lodi, CA. I fueled up, parked away from the pumps, and went inside to use the bathroom and get something to eat. I was on line at a Subway inside the truck stop when I realized that the food prep person wasn’t wearing a mask. I wound up getting lunch at another fast food place across the road.

I need to make it clear here that I really don’t like fast food and normally don’t eat it. But when you’re on the road, eager to put miles behind you, you take whatever you can get that’s quick and easy. So I ate a lot of crap on my trip south.

I continued down I-5 through California’s Central Valley. The freeway was in rough condition in some places — it’s such a shame we can’t take care of our infrastructure — and there was mostly farmland on both sides. Boring. I don’t like freeway driving, but it is usually the fastest way to travel. And by that time, I just wanted to be there.

But I did have one more stop: that business I mentioned earlier. I don’t want to go into details here. I’ll just say that I needed to visit the factory for a company I thought was up-and-coming based on information I’d gotten from an insider. I was hoping for a job doing communications work, including making videos of their products in production and use. I was thinking that a salaried job that paid me for getting work done (instead of punching a clock) and included benefits like a healthcare plan would be a good thing to transition into over time.

All that changed when I arrived at the factory. It wasn’t at all what I expected. And as the manager gave me a tour of the place and I realized how far behind they were in production, any thoughts I had of joining the team vanished. There was no place for me there. I wondered about my insider friend and how he could possibly believe the overly optimistic things he’d told me.

Cropduster at Night
Crop-dusters in southern California fly after dark. This plane had FOUR headlights.

Anyway, I got permission to camp in the parking lot overnight, so I did. It was in a weird industrial place near an airport. I got to watch a crop-duster come and go until long after sunset. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet. I slept well and as soon as the manager opened the gate and came into work, I pulled out of the lot and continued my drive.

Day 4: Arizona, Finally!

It rained on me as I drove east along the farm roads to Route 99. I was planning on crossing the mountains at Tehachapi, not wanting to deal with the Freeway traffic of southern California. The rain stopped before I’d reach the pass. I stopped for gas and a pee at an absolutely disgusting gas station in Tehachapi before getting back on the road. GoogleMaps took me on a detour I don’t think I needed to take, then dumped me in a desert city, putting me on roads with traffic lights and suburban stop-and-go traffic. After a half hour of that, I left the traffic behind me and headed east on Pearblossom Highway. Eventually, I hit I-15 and took that to I-10. We continued through the Palm Springs area and climbed up from sea level toward Arizona.

It had been a long time since I’d driven on most of those roads and I don’t think I would have chosen them myself. But I was so disillusioned about my factory visit the day before that all I could think about was ending the drive and starting my winter vacation. I was tired of driving. I just wanted to be there already. So I let GoogleMaps pick the route and went with it. Other than the unnecessary detour, it was pretty direct.

I was down to 60 miles left on my truck’s computer when I crossed the Colorado River on I-10 and took Exit 1. I had two different campsites in mind: the one we’d occupied the year before and another one about 5 miles south. Timing was everything, I knew, and I’d take the first one I found open. That was the one we’d been in the year before. I backed the trailer in, unhooked it, and repositioned my truck for the night, relieved to be done driving.

The Campsite

I didn’t drop the camper off the truck. Why? Well, my friend Janet would be joining me for part of my stay and she didn’t want to camp in that site. There wasn’t enough sun for her; although my solar panels are on my camper’s roof, she uses a portable solar panel that she puts on the ground. That site is surrounded by tall reeds so the sun doesn’t hit her panel until after 9 AM. She had no interest in putting her panel on her camper’s roof, even though that had worked for her the previous year.

The site I was parked on was one of a pair separated from each other by a boat ramp. Friends of ours had occupied that site the previous year. The other spot was larger and a bit sunnier. But it was also occupied. I figured I could keep the camper on the truck and slip into the other spot when the folks in it left.

Campsite One
Here I am after landing at the first campsite and finally disconnecting the trailer. I was glad to be done driving.

But, at the same time, I’d just driven 1,300 miles in four days, much of it through rain, and I wasn’t interested in searching for another campsite. So I spent the night there, with my camper still atop my rig.

In the morning, I felt rested and ready to stock up on a few supplies. I didn’t mind driving with the camper on my truck — hell, I’d just spent the past four days doing it. But, at the same time, I wondered whether the other site I’d been interested was available and, if so, what kind of condition it was in. The area was heavily used during the summer and some of the sites accumulated a lot of trash. It wasn’t uncommon for us to spend a bunch of time cleaning up after others when we camped. The site I was interested in had had a car wreck in the middle of it the last time I’d visited. I could only imagine what else was there.

But I didn’t need to imagine. I got into my truck and, leaving the trailer behind to hold the campsite for me, headed south on the gravel road.

Most of the campsites along the way were occupied and looked as if they had been for some time. One site along the road was available, but I knew how dusty it could get. I drove for miles along the river. The road was in dismal condition, with washboarding and potholes. I bounced along at 20 miles per hour, wondering how much cleaning up I’d have to do in my camper when I parked. Finally, I reached the turn for the site I liked. I peeked down its road before turning in. Nothing. I turned and drove to the end.

It was empty. It was even clean. Even the wrecked car had been moved.

I called Janet and asked if that site would work for her, knowing it would. It was a lot sunnier. Like the other site, it had a boat ramp that led down to a backwater channel where we could paddle our boats and fish. This channel didn’t exit to the river — it was fed from culvert pipes that ran between it and the river and another channel — but it was about a mile long. I’d camped there in the past with her once and I think she’d camped there several times.

She gave me the green light. I chose a spot for my camper and backed in. 15 minutes later, it was parked on its legs in a level spot and my truck was free of its burden.

I drove back up the road to fetch my trailer and parked it a short distance away in the new campsite. Then, making sure everything was locked up, I drove back up the road and into Blythe for some groceries.

I got back to my new camp just after 2 PM and spent the rest of the day setting up camp. It was great to be done driving.

Sunset
The view of sunset across the Colorado River from the main road a few hundred yards from camp. Arizona has been treating us to quite a few magnificent sunrises and sunsets since we’ve been here.

Janet would join me with her rigs four days later.

Snowbirding 2020: The Drive Plan

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Another trip down an all-too-familiar route.

Posts in this series:
– The Big Plan
– The Drive Plan

On Tuesday, I plan to start by drive to — of all places — Wickenburg, AZ. It’s a drive I’ve taken many times. After all, I started spending my summers up here in Washington in 2008, the year I got my first cherry drying gig. Back in those days, I’d make two drives north in the spring — one in my helicopter and a second in a truck pulling a trailer to live in. Then, at the end of the season, I’d make two drives home to get everything back to my Wickenburg hangar.

The Preferred Route

During those years, I tried all kinds of routes north or south and I discovered the one truth about the drive: the shortest route involves route 93 between Wickenburg and Twin Falls, ID and I-84 between Twin Falls and the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Ask Google Maps — it’ll tell you. And even if you don’t believe it, I can confirm in. I’ve driven just about every other possible route.

Map of Route
Google Maps knows the fastest routes. This map even shows the route 6 shortcut.

I-84 is a freeway that goes from Portland to Salt Lake City, leaving the relatively flat land of eastern Washington to climb the Green Mountains east of Pendleton, OR (of blanket fame) before descending southeast bound into the Boise, ID area and crossing rolling prairie land. The terrain climbs and descends again and again as I head south on the two-lane route 93 from Twin Falls, which I mostly stick to, taking advantage of a shortcut on route 6 between Ely and Crystal Springs, NV.

Route 93 is one of those remote roads that frighten city people. Towns aren’t much more than a handful of homes — if that. Gas stations are few and far between. If you miss a fuel stop you could be in serious trouble, waiting hours for the AAA guy to bring you five gallons. I’ve never run out of fuel on this route, but I’ve had more than a few close calls. If diesel wasn’t so damn stinky, I’d bring along a spare 5 gallons just in case.

Once I get to I-15, I’m back on the freeway and in very familiar area just outside of Las Vegas. Then, near Boulder City, NV, I leave freeways behind again for the long drive down route 93 to Kingman, a short stint on I-40, and more route 93 all the way down to Wickenburg. It’s 1,280 miles and should take about 20 hours with fuel stops if I stick to the speed limit — which I do when I’m towing these days. I used to be able to do it all in two days, with Jackpot, NV on Idaho’s border as my preferred overnight stop. That’s where I’d sleep in my RV in the truck parking lot outside of Cactus Pete’s casino. When the trip north stretched to three days due to weather or a late start or, in one case, illness, I’d try other overnight stops including a lakeside campsite at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge just south of Alamo, NV; a casino parking lot in West Wendover, NV; a campsite at Farewell Bend State Recreation area near Huntington, OR; or a state park campground somewhere in the Green Mountains. I’m not opposed to overnighting in a Walmart parking lot, but I’d prefer not to.

The Challenge of Driving When Days are Short

Driving south in late autumn is a whole different story. I can’t do it in two days mostly because I prefer not to travel in the dark. That means it’s always three days and I need two stops along the way. So not only do I have to plan my route around the weather, but I should have a damn good idea of where I’m going to stop along the way to make cold weather camping bearable.

And that’s the challenge. My truck camper is not winterized and I don’t want its pipes to freeze. I also don’t want to worry about running out of battery power at night when the heater would likely run nonstop to keep the poorly insulated camper warm enough for me to sleep. The answer is to find a campground with a power hookup that’s right on my route, close enough to reach before it gets dark.

I found such a place last year: the tiny Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, ID. Although the water is turned off in this campground and the bathrooms are closed and locked, the power is still turned on and available. I can pull into a campsite, plug in, and use my quiet electric heater to keep the camper warm all night. I get the added benefit of being able to use my microwave to heat up some dinner and my electric coffee maker to make coffee in the morning. The forecast says Tuesday night’s low will be 25°F so I really will appreciate that electric hookup.

Three Island Crossing is 491 miles from Malaga and will take about 8 hours to get to with one fuel stop along the way. That means that if I leave here at 7 AM sharp, I’ll get there by 4 PM local time. Sunset there will be around 5 PM. I arrived after dark last year and left in the morning before sunrise so I never got a chance to actually see the place. It would be nice to see it this year. I plan on hitting the road long before the 8 AM sunrise the next morning.

The Las Vegas Stop

My next stop is a no-brainer of sorts: Las Vegas, NV. If you think it’s weird camping in Las Vegas, you’re right. It is.

I stay at the KOA at Sam’s Town. In general, I dislike KOAs — they’re glorified parking lots. But this isn’t a camping trip. It’s an overnight stop before I’ll be spending weeks off the grid. I found the KOA years ago and have been staying there every trip south since. I get a full hookup site, plug in, and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, I use the clean, warm, completely underutilized shower facilities to get a good, long, hot shower. Then I top off my water tanks and dump my black and gray water. If I need propane, I buy it there and the attendant helps me load it back into the compartment where the tanks go. There’s Sam’s Town next door if I want a good dinner or breakfast that I don’t have to cook. There’s a Walmart across the street if I want to stock up on anything I might have trouble finding in the weeks to come. And if I get there early enough, I can take a free shuttle or an Uber out to the strip to see what’s changed since my last visit. I admit that the chances of that happening are minimal; the 555 mile drive will take about 9 hours with fuel stops and I’ll likely be exhausted after two full days on the road.

KOA Great Outdoors
This screenshot from an email confirmation is what prompted this blog post. I love the way KOA refers to a campground in Las Vegas as “the great outdoors.” 🙄

This particular stop — especially this year — will be my most expensive overnight stop this year, coming in at just about $55 for the night. Ouch. The reason it’s so costly: it’s not just my truck camper this year. I’ll be pulling my cargo trailer, which makes my rig a lot longer than it normally would be and really encourages me to find a pull-through spot. (Backing a trailer is hard enough when you can see it but it’s nearly impossible when a truck camper hides it from view.) Because most of the folks who stay at that KOA are driving big rigs — hence the underutilized shower facilities — all of the smaller pull-throughs are taken. The only one available was a 72-foot long spot. I shouldn’t have any trouble fitting my roughly 40-foot total length rig into it, but it’ll cost me. Big spots cost big money.

The high cost also encourages me to stay just one night when I might have stayed two. I haven’t really enjoyed a trip to Vegas in a while. I suppose I’ll have to wait for the next time HeliExpo comes to town.

The Home Stretch

The rest of the drive is very familiar. As I write this, I’m planning a stop in Wickenburg where I might be participating in a holiday art show. It’s still unclear on whether they have room for me; I applied late (as usual). If I’m in, I go to Wickenburg. If I’m not in, I might go straight down to our usual camping area on the Colorado River. That means taking route 95 south from Vegas, all the way into California at I-10 or possibly crossing the river at I-40 and heading south from Lake Havasu. I’ve gone both ways and they both work.

Either way, it’s a short travel day with less than 300 miles to cover so I’ll definitely get to my destination.

And by that time, I should be back in t-shirt weather with very few worries about keeping my camper from freezing overnight.

That’s the plan. Stay tuned to see if I stick to it.

Gyroplane Flight: Pattern Work at Watts-Woodland

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A video from the Flying M Air YouTube channel.

SIT ON THE MAST OF AN OPEN COCKPIT GYROPLANE as I take it around the traffic pattern three times in Woodland, CA.

I dug deep into my archives for this video from April 2014, which first appeared, in part, on my personal YouTube channel. In it, I’m flying a Magni M-16 gyroplane with a GoPro camera mounted on the mast. There is a bunch of vibration in this video; removing it with stabilization software reduced the video resolution without significantly improving the video quality, so I let it stay as is.

I learned to fly a gyro back in 2014 and got as far as my first solo before calling it quits. (No reason to go on since there’s no gyro in my future and it would be nearly impossible to keep current.) My flight instructor was an anesthesiologist friend who has three planes, including this one, and flies on his days off. He said I was the most difficult pilot to teach and we realized it was because was a helicopter pilot and not an airplane pilot — the idea of touching down when you’re still speeding along at 60 knots or more scared the heck out of me so I kept trying to slow down on final. You can learn more about my lessons here: https://aneclecticmind.com/2014/04/24/learning-to-fly-gyros/

About Me, the Flight Instructor, and the Gyroplane

  • I have been flying since 1998. My nearly 4,000 hours of flight time (as of 2019) is in Robinson R44, Robinson R22, and Bell 206L (Long Ranger) helicopters.
  • My flight instructor, who sat behind me in this video, is George, who makes his living as an anesthesiologist. He also owns and flies two other planes and is rated to fly helicopters. The last time I saw him was the day we flew together from Malaga to Woodland in 2016. (Long story there.)
  • The gyroplane is a Magni M-16 that belonged to George. I don’t know anything about it other than it has a flashy Angry Birds theme paint job that seemed a lot more relevant in 2014 than it does now. It was in perfect condition and well maintained by George, who was its second owner. You can see a photo of the gyroplane in the title screen of this video; that’s me after my first (and only, I think) solo flight.

About the Video

  • The video and sound was recorded with a GoPro Hero 3 camera mounted with an adhesive mount to the gyroplane’s mast. This is obviously not the best setup given the vibrations you see in the video.
  • The video was edited on a Macintosh using Screenflow software. Learn more about it here: https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm
  • The intro music is by Bob Levitus, famed “Dr. Mac.” You can find him here: http://www.boblevitus.com/

I try to drop cockpit POV videos every Sunday morning and “extras” with more info about owning and operating a helicopter midweek. (Some channel members and patrons get early access to some of these videos.) I also host occasional livestreams with Q&A chats. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything new! And tell your friends. The more subscribers I have, the more motivated I am to keep producing videos like this one.

Any Amazon links on my channel are affiliate links (https://amzn.to/32PLHTD). If you click one of them and buy something, Amazon sends me a few pennies. Enough pennies make a dollar. Enough dollars buy new equipment. It doesn’t cost you anything so I hope you’ll shop with one of those links. Thanks.

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Snowbirding 2019: At the “Old Fogey Hot Springs”

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I make a short visit to a favorite hot spring and meet up with a friend.

Note: I started this post back in March and just finished it today. My blog has been having permalink issues that made it difficult to keep it up to date. I think the problems are mostly resolved; I hope to catch up a bit and share a bunch of new content.

Posts in this series:
• The Long Drive
• At the Backwaters Campsite
• In Mesa and Gilbert
• A Quick Stop in Wickenburg and Forepaugh
• Off Plomosa Road
• Camping at the Big RV Show
• A Trip to Organ Pipe with the WINs
• The Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows
• Wickenburg Gold Rush Days
• Constellation Park Interlude
• White Tank Mountain Park
• Bumming It in Phoenix and Apache Junction
• A Dose of Civilization
• Return to the Backwaters
•

One of my favorite snowbirding destinations is a hot springs right off I-8 near Holtville, CA. On BLM land and maintained by the government, it’s a pair of concrete tubs beside a palm-lined pond that are all fed from a tapped natural hot spring. Although I’ve always known this place as Holtville Hot Spring, some nasty asshole has apparently renamed it on Google Maps as “Old Fogey Hot Springs,” apparently referencing the fact that most people at the spring are retirees camped out in the long term camping area across the street.

I was supposed to meet my friend Janet, who was showing and selling her artwork at a weekend show in Casa Grande, AZ, on Monday. We’d planned to do some hiking out at Borrego Springs, CA before she attended an art show there. (Sadly, although I applied I didn’t get in; too much jewelry already.) Since Casa Grande is on I-8 and the hot spring is on the way to Borrego Springs, it made sense to meet up there. I figured I’d get there a day early to enjoy the hot spring a few times before Janet arrived.

So that’s where I headed after leaving .

The Drive

I stopped in Blythe (or Blight, as we often call it) for groceries on the way, then let Google Maps guide me along mostly back roads south and west. I drove through mile after mile of farmland before leaving that behind and entering unirrigated desert with sparse vegetation and many hills.

There was little traffic going in my direction on the way — at least for a while. There were many RVs — mostly toy haulers passing me going north. That all changed when I approached Glamis.

is the site of an enormous sand dunes area that stretches northwest to southeast from Tortuga, CA to over the U.S. border with Mexico at Los Algodones. The road I was on, state route 78, cut right across it at Glamis. That’s where all the toy haulers were coming from. Glamis is a playground for dune buggies, sand rails, and other four-wheel-drive vehicles. From that point on, I was driving with departing off-roaders, who were calling it quits early on a Sunday and taking their toys home.

After crossing the dunes, I descended down out of the desert and into the irrigated farmland of the Imperial Valley. Google directed me on a zig-zag path through the farmland to my destination: the Holtville Hot Springs just off of I-8.

“Old Fogey” My Ass

Holtville Hot Springs Map
I’d like to kick the guy who changed the name of the hot springs on Google Maps. I’ve been trying to change it back ever since.

The Holtville Hot Spring is adjacent to the (LTRA). This is a kind of special BLM camping area where you’re allowed to stay more than the usual 14 days — if you pay a fee. The previous year, I’d paid the fee with the idea of staying there for a while and then moving over to another LTRA near a lake in Arizona. But worries about electrical issues (which turned out to be non-issues) on my camper sent me to Quartzsite in search of repairs instead. So I’d only spent a few days there.

This was actually my third visit to the hot spring, which I’d learned about from another seasonal camper somewhere back in the winter of 2016/17.

The spring has two tubs — one large and deep and the other small and shallow — a weird shower head to rinse off before getting in, and a hose you can use to fill jugs with “clean” spring water. It’s cleaned once a week by the BLM (I believe) who drain the tubs, power wash them, add bromine (a spa chemical), and allow them to refill from the source. Access is free, dogs and glass containers are not allowed, and I think it closes at night but reopens very early. I’ve never seen it closed. It’s adjacent to a beautiful palm ringed pond where water birds can be seen swimming. I shared a photo of that back in 2017 in a postcards post.

The jerk who added the springs to Google Maps with the name “Old Fogey Hot Springs” was likely motivated by the simple fact that the vast majority of hot springs users are retirees who are living seasonally at the LTVA across the road. So yes, there are a lot of older folk in the tubs. But I’ve seen people of all ages there, including kids.

A Couple of Soaks

I parked alongside the road near the hots springs parking lot. It was midday and the outside temperature was in the low 60s. I put Penny on her leash and walked her down to the area to take a look. There were about a dozen people in and around the tubs — about my limit for a crowd. I went back to the camper, put on my bathing suit, grabbed my towel and went back. A while later, with Penny tied up at the other side of the fence, I was soaking in the big tub, standing with water right up to my chin.

The temperature of the water in the big tub can be pretty hot. I’m guessing at least 105°F. It’s common for people to soak for a while, then get out and sit at the edge of the tub or on one of the block stools nearby. That’s what I did. Then another hot soak. Then I decided to give the smaller tub, which is fed from the large one and is usually much cooler, a try. In that one, I sat on the bottom to get the water halfway up my chest. It’s a lot shallower.

While I was there, I chatted with the folks around me. I’ve come to realize that the best way to learn about new destinations is to talk to other travelers. While I was in the small tub, I chatted with a woman who was staying in the LTVA area with her husband in a small motorhome. They were full-timers — people who don’t have a regular home and travel all the time. They spend half the year on the road in the motorhome and half the year on their 47-foot sailboat, which is moored at San Diego. We got to talking about my upcoming cruise up the inside passage from Bellingham, WA to Ketchikan, AK and the boat I’m thinking of buying when I sell my helicopter.

Eventually, she asked what I considered an odd question: “Is your husband as adventurous as you are?” It never ceases to amaze me that people assume I’m traveling with a spouse even though I don’t wear a wedding ring. “No,” I told her. “One of the reasons my husband is my ex-husband is because he isn’t adventurous at all. In fact, I’ll bet that at this very moment he’s sitting on a sofa somewhere watching television.” We both had a good laugh about that and then she started telling me about how great cruising the inside passage in a small boat is.

After a while, I’d had enough soaking. I rinsed off at the funky shower, wrapped my towel around me, and headed back to my camper with Penny. I dried off, had some lunch, and spent some time catching up on email and other tablet things. Then I took a short nap.

At about 4:30 PM, the parking lot looked pretty empty. I figured I’d go for another soak. I wrapped my damp towel around my bathing suited body and walked down with Penny, parking her outside the fence on her leash again. I’d obviously underestimated the crowd, most of whom probably walked over from the LTVA. Although there weren’t many people, a lot of those people were kids.

I soaked in the big tub. I got into a conversation with the man who was there with his wife and three kids. They were full-timers — they lived on the road in a bumper-pull trailer and home schooled their kids. Then I got into a conversation with a man who happened to be a pilot. He turned out to be the husband of the woman I’d chatted with earlier in the day. We talked about flying and why he stopped: his twin engine plane burned 25 gallons per hour of fuel. Ouch.

After about an hour, I’d had enough soaking. I showered off again, wrapped the towel around me, and headed back to the camper with Penny.

First Night Campsite

I knew the area pretty well. I knew that if I camped north of the road, I’d have to pay for a long term spot, even if I just stayed a day or two. If I camped south of the road within about a half mile of the hot spring, the story was the same. But if I went beyond that half mile, I’d be out of the LTVA and I could camp for free for up to 14 days.

I had already scouted out the area on Google Maps satellite view. I realized that if I followed a canal road south and turned at a certain place, I would probably find a decent site for the night. I wasn’t picky. All I wanted was a place to park that was easy to get in and out of and wasn’t close to anyone likely to run a generator.

Google Maps got me there. I made the turn and found the spot I’d seen in satellite view empty. It was good enough for me, despite the fact that there was a motorhome parked a few hundred yards away. I pulled in and killed the engine, then climbed back into the camper to put on some dry clothes and start thinking about dinner.

The spot turned out to be so quiet that all I could hear was the occasional bee flying by and my tinnitus.

I enjoyed a great Internet connection that evening for the first time in a while. I also slept great. I think the hot springs really sucks a lot of energy out of me.

In the morning, after breakfast, Penny and I went for a walk. That’s when I found a better campsite about a half mile farther down the road. I thought it would make a good site for that night when my friend Janet would be joining us in her camper.

Movie Matinee

After the walk, we left the camping area and headed west on I-8. My destination was a movie theater in a mall in El Centro where I planned to see Captain Marvel. Oddly, I’d been to that theater the previous year, although I can’t remember what I saw.

I left Penny locked up in the camper where she had food, water, and her bed.

The 9:40 AM matinee cost just $5 and there were only eight of us in the theater — just three days after this record-breaking movie was released. My popcorn cost more than the movie ticket.

And it was a good movie, although I can’t understand how a superhero can be that powerful.

I made a few other stops in the area: Michael’s, a craft supply store, where I picked up a texture plate for the precious metal clay work I plan to do when I get home, and Best Buy, where I picked up a 4-port 12 volt USB recharger for my truck or camper. I was tired of dealing with 1 amp rechargers; this one had four 2 amp rechargers so I could charge four devices at once.

Trailer Trouble

Getting Penny out of the trailer, I accidentally knocked the crank handle on my trailer jack. Just my luck: the handle fell off.

I picked up the handle and the screw that secured it. The nut was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t see how to fix it then and there so I just stowed it in the truck. I’d deal with it later in the day.

The trailer had other ideas. I was about 200 feet short of my parking spot back in front of the hot spring when I went over a bump and the hitch jack leg dropped and started dragging. I stopped in the middle of the road to check it out and realized immediately what was happening. Shit.

I managed to pull the hitch jack leg up enough to continue driving and secured it with a bungee cord. Then I eased into my parking spot.

The jack leg was bent and could no longer be cranked back into its sleeve, even if I was able to secure the handle. This meant two things: (1) I’d have to remove the jack since I couldn’t drive on the highway with the leg only inches from the ground and (2) I would not be able to unhitch the trailer from my truck until the jack was replaced.

Okay.

I put Penny on a leash and let her stretch out in the sun. Then I got out my toolbox. Miraculously, I had all the tools I needed to remove the hitch jack. It took about 45 minutes, mostly because one of the three bolts was tough to get out. I tossed the jack into the back of my truck.

That done, I had lunch.

Another Soak

I changed back into my bathing suit, grabbed a towel, and walked down to the tubs. I tied Penny up to the outside of the fence, as I’d done quite a few times before, and went in. After a shower under that funky shower head, I was back in the hot tub, soaking with a few other people.

More conversation, although at this point I can’t remember what it was about. (I’m finishing this blog post two months after the fact. Oops.) I do recall that the hotter tub was super hot and I’d decided to soak in the smaller tub, which was cooler but not crowded. A while later, Janet walked up in a bathing suit and towel, went through the shower ritual, and joined us in the tubs.

I think we soaked for another 30 minutes or so. By that time, it was late afternoon. Janet had spent the day packing up from her show in Casa Grande and driving in on-again, off-again rain. We were both ready to find a campsite for the night.

Another Night, Another Campsite

Janet followed me back down the canal road to the spot I’d observed that morning on my walk. After some discussion, we decided that I’d back in and she’d nose in. That accomplished, we went about setting up camp and making dinner. She put out her awning, which turned out to be a good thing because it started raining.

We called it a night early; we had a relatively long drive ahead of us the next day and were hoping to get another soak in the tubs before we left the area.

Cleaning Day

We had a nice walk along the canal in the morning. Janet really wanted to cast a line into it — she loves to fish — but she didn’t have a California fishing license.

As I suspected, the soak was not going to happen. Tuesday is cleaning day. Although we arrived back at the tubs after the BLM cleaning guy had done his thing, the big tub was only half filled. There were a few people soaking in it anyway. My first year out there, I’d been one of those people and had walked around with the stench of bromine or chlorine all day. We could smell it in the air. Neither of us were interested in soaking in chemicals.

So we left.

I led the way out of town, following Google’s directions to an RV supply shop in Brawley. I still needed a jack for my trailer. Once I had that on board, Janet took the lead. I’d follow her through empty dessert into the Anzo-Borrego State Park, where a superbloom was in progress.

More on that in another blog post. Maybe.