Tag Archives: travel

Prepping for My Next Boat Trip

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I start gearing up for my next crew member gig.

Just a quick note to let regular readers know that I’m gearing up for my next boat trip and will be blogging a lot less here and a lot more on My Great Loop Adventure blog. The posts there are not automatically copied here, although they are listed in the sidebar of this site. If you want notifications about new posts there, be sure to head over to the Home page there and use the Subscribe form to sign up.

This new trip is as a single crew member with Capt John on his 36′ Carver as we navigate north up the Intracoastal Waterway from Charleston, SC. Capt John takes things slower than Capt Paul did, so in the five weeks I’m on board, there will likely be fewer stops and less distance traveled. But I’ll gain a lot of new boating experience, as I detailed in today’s post on that blog. A quick visit to the site and you can also learn how I met Capt John and got this amazing opportunity to join him.

I hope to be blogging this upcoming trip on a day-by-day basis as I did for my summer trip along the Erie Canal and Great Lakes. But I’m also hoping to do a lot more videos; I might post links to them here, but I’ll definitely share them there.

I’m excited about this trip and the things I’ll be learning along the way. Although I’ll miss my pups, my home, and my jewelry shop — where I’ve been getting a ton of work done lately in preparation for a Mother’s Day art show right after my return — I always welcome the opportunity to do and learn new things. This trip was too good to pass up and I’m really looking forward to sharing what I learn with others.

I hope to see you in the comments there!

Snowbirding 2022: A Visit to 5 Palms Hot Spring

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Tracking down another California Hot Spring — with some difficulty.

In mid January 2022, I departed my campsite at the Holtville Hot Spring and headed toward Salton Sea where I had a campground reservation at a state park. Along the way, I tracked down and visited the 5 Palms Hot Spring. This is the video I made of my campground departure and Hot Spring Visit.

It took me a while to put this together because I originally planned to turn the whole day into one video. It was going long and I didn’t like the way it was coming out. So I cut a bunch out and reworked it for this. I’ll likely have another video from that day soon — I visited a weird place on Salton Sea and took a lot of video clips there that are definitely worth seeing if you like to see weird, abandoned stuff. How about subscribing and turning on that notification bell so you know when I release new videos?

Please don’t be afraid to share your thoughts or questions in the comments for this video.

Snowbirding 2022: My Travels To Date

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A map of where I’ve traveled so far.

I’m in Tucson now, in the Ringtail dry camping lot of Catalina State Park. I love this park, which is nestled into a little canyon where I can easily fool myself into thinking that the nearest Walmart isn’t less than 2 miles from my camper door. I’m not terribly fond of the campground, though, since the sites are tiny slots and, for some reason, my picnic table and fire ring seem to be located more conveniently for the slot next door. I will admit that it’s a lot nicer than the gravel parking lot I stayed 5 nights in in Quartzsite last week. At least there’s desert out my back yard — instead of a yahoo with a toy hauler and dogs that won’t quit barking.


Here’s where I stayed last night: at a dispersed forest service camping area southeast of Apache Junction, AZ. It was wonderfully quiet — until the shooters camped about a half mile away woke up and started shooting again.

I was trying to visualize where I’d been so far on this trip and decided to enlist the help of GoogleMaps. I took a screen shot of the map covering the area I’m in and drew in lines for the roads I’d traveled, then red dots for where I’ve stayed and blue numbers to indicate how many days at each place. The numbers don’t add up — there’s about 4 days unaccounted for — so I likely spent a few more days at certain locations than I think I did.

Anywhere, here’s the map:

Snowbirding 2022: At the BLM Holtville Hot Springs

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Another video blog entry from my trip.

I’ll let the video say it all. Here it is, followed by the script I was so obviously reading. (Sorry! I’ll work on eye contact.)

Greetings! Maria here with Lily and Rosie the dogs and Turtleback 2, my trusty truck camper, reporting in from the BLM Holtville Hot Springs near Holtville, California.

We got here nearly a week ago, looking for a warm place to spend a few days. I’ve been coming here for the past six or so years — although I didn’t come last year — so I know the place pretty well. The hot springs is at a BLM Long Term camping area. That means you can pay $40 to camp for up to two weeks or $160 to camp for up to 7 months. I paid for the two-week pass, even though I only expected to stay a few days.

The campground is inhabited by mostly retired folks in all kinds of rigs. Most of them are decked out with solar panels for power. There are also some full-time RVers who either live here a few months or pass through like I do. The campsites are nicely spread out and relatively private. The place is quiet because most folks don’t use generators and it’s not the kind of place that would appeal to rowdy folks.

The main feature here is the hot springs, which is just outside the camping area unfortunately close to Interstate 8. The soaking area consists of three tubs. The large one is very deep — I’m 5 foot 8 and it goes to my shoulders — and usually the hottest one. That one’s overflow goes into a smaller tub that’s shallow and is usually the coolest of the bunch. Those two are both concrete. The third one, which is new to me, is a standard stock tank that can comfortably seat three people; its temperature varies on how recently it was filled.

The hot water comes into the tanks from a Frankenstein’s monster of pipes, valves, and hoses. Below the surface of the largest tub is the valve with the hottest water because it’s closest to the source. From there, the water also goes up a vertical pipe to feed another valve with cooler water (because it’s going through the air before it hits the tub) and finally a rotating shower head. Along the way, there’s a valve and a hose to feed the stock tank.

The whole setup is cleaned weekly on Tuesday mornings by a team of volunteers from the campground using a truckload of equipment. They drain all tanks and use a power washer to clean their surfaces. In the old days, they used to put spa chemicals into it, but they don’t do that anymore. Now they just refill the tanks and they’re good to go for another week. Because fresh water can always be added, the water flushes through nicely and doesn’t really get too gross.

All of the area’s overflow drains into a beautiful pond surrounded by palm trees. I used to see ducks in here, but I haven’t seen any so far this year.

I recommend this place if you don’t mind a more rugged hot springs experience. The tubs are nice but they are shared. Clothing is required — if you strip down, you will be asked to dress. You’re also expected to shower before entering any of the tubs. Common courtesy prevails.

There are a number of hot springs sources in the area. Nearby, there’s a geothermal plant that I can sometimes hear humming if I go out at night and there’s supposed to be another hot spring about 10 or so miles north of here that isn’t quite as nice as this.

My pups and I will be here a day or two longer. This has been my most pleasant stop so far, with great weather, lots of sun, two hot tub soaks a day, and plenty of biking and walking. And the Internet access on my mobile devices is wicked fast. I’m not looking forward to moving on.

Let me know what you think about this video in the comments. If you’d like to see more — including livestream video from Quartzsite, AZ during the big rock shows — please subscribe! And check out my blog for more details about my winter travels this year.

See you!

The Bum at the Hot Springs

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Nothing like a man who is proud of his livelihood. Or is there?

I’m still at the hot springs near Holtville. My second week started today. I’m working on a video about it — really! — but will likely blog a bit more about it, too.

I soak twice a day in the tubs. I usually go in the morning around 8 or 9 AM and then again after lunch. It’s been remarkably empty on this visit. Maybe everyone is stuck in their camper with Covid. I don’t know, but I’m sure enjoying it.

But a little less this morning.

When I arrived for my soak, there were only three other people there: a man in a cowboy hat with a thick southern accent who wasn’t soaking, a woman in a bathing suit in the large tub, and a man in shorts in the large tub. The shorts weren’t unusual; I’d say only two thirds of the people in the tubs are prepared with bathing suits. The others wear whatever they have to wear.

They were deep in conversation when I arrived and from the bits and pieces I heard, it didn’t sound like anything interesting. I stripped down to my bathing suit and got under the shower to rinse off. Then, since the smallest tub was vacant and full of water, I climbed in to keep my distance from the others.

I heard their conversation now and, like I said, it wasn’t terribly interesting. None of them seemed very bright. And then I caught something that got me interested. Shorts man said, “I was going to take a few hours off today, but I have to get back to work.”

“What do you do?” cowboy hat asked.

“I’m a bum,” shorts man said.

There was a moment of silence as the other two tried to figure out what he meant.

But they didn’t have to wait long because shorts man spoke up pretty quickly. “I ask for money at the side of the road.”

The other two acknowledged his words without making judgement. I was very glad I was not among them because I doubt I could have kept my mouth shut.

“Yeah, I go to a corner and I put up a sign that says ‘Hungry’ and people give me money. It’s great! My gas and my food — it’s all free.”

There was a sick sort of pride in his voice. He was bragging about his success as a panhandler.

He went on to give them details about some of the corners he’d worked recently. As he spoke, the woman edged over to the ladder and climbed out. The other guy listened politely for a while and made appropriate polite noises.

The woman came to the shower, which was near me, and I must have made a face at her. (I have a tendency to roll my eyes, sometimes at inappropriate times. Drove my wasband nuts, but hell, he shouldn’t have given me so many reasons to roll my eyes.) She nodded at me — I think in agreement — as she began rinsing off.

Shorts man, the proud bum, was still talking to cowboy hat, although I think the subject had changed. When the woman finished with the shower and went back to where her towel hung on the fence, cowboy hat joined her. The bum was still talking to them as they said goodbye and slipped out the gate.

That left me alone with the bum. I wasn’t afraid of him or anything like that. I was just worried he’d come talk to me and that I’d say something that I shouldn’t. I was royally pissed off. I hate panhandlers with a passion, especially the ones who so obviously could get work if they wanted it. This guy didn’t even look like a bum.

So I climbed out of my tub and began showering off. But by the time I’d gone for my towel, he’d left the area, probably to ask cowboy hat and the woman for lunch money or something.

Who the fuck knows.

Anyway, another couple came and since I’d already soaked for a while and had gotten my towel soaked by drying off, I decided to go back to my camp. They had the tub area to themselves.

Later in the day, when I went back for my afternoon soak at around 1:30 PM, he was back in the big tub, smoking and chatting away with someone else while two other people in the tub were clearly trying to ignore them. I guess he’d taken the rest of the day off. Again, the smaller tub was available and that’s where I went. I only stayed about 30 minutes and was gone before he left.

So the next time you see a man at an intersection with a crude cardboard sign reading “Hungry” or “Anything Helps” or “God Bless,” I want you to remember this story. How many of those people take their cars filled with gas that gullible fools — like you, maybe? — paid for on trips out to the hot springs or local bar or other hangout when they’re “off” from “work”? How many of them brag to strangers about how they’re living on someone else’s dime? How many of them really need your help?

Every time you give one of them money, you’re just perpetuating the problem.