Slabs Special Edition October 20 through 23, 2005
This is a special edition for those interested in the Slabs free camping area near Niland CA
I know we are WAAAY behind in or webpage updates, but also know there are folks contemplating trips to the Slabs who might find this info useful as well as interesting. I'm doing this way ahead of our normal chronological schedule to get the info out in time to help folks make their decisions .....
Thursday October 20:
We left Cathedral City in the morning after filling water and dumping at Flying J, Ramon Rd in Cathedral City CA. This Flying J has no separate RV parking, and although the Flying J clerk said the truckers would not mind us parking with them, we opted for the street rather than take the very last truck spot available. This place is N O I S Y! Trucks came in all night with their Jake breaks on just inches from our window...NEVER again here! :-( We drove toward Niland, avoiding the superhighway Rt 86 to be sure not to miss the Oasis Date Garden, where we had delicious date shakes last year. In addition to the stomach stuffing large date shakes, we bought some soft sweet Barhi dates to take home. These are favorites we were sorry we did not buy last time through here. We arrived at the Slabs, hot in the afternoon sun, and did not really find heavy shade in area 2 where we decided to stay. It was H O T today, in the 90's. I walked to the canal and took some pictures of the areas I passed through...construction is on going, the old canal has been paralleled on the slabs side with a new one, not yet filled with water.
Area 22 at the slabs is no longer the waterfront it used to be... It is not clear how much impact the construction work will have on Area 22....but heavy equipment is evident in the area.
Folks are still camping close to the construction activity. Looking from the top of the new canal berm south along area 22, there appears to be enough undisturbed land to support more camping....
Indeed some folks are already using it....they are just not as close to the water. Linda came on CB channel 23 at 6PM with announcements, and an invitation to grab info and a slabs map from the table at her trailer. The sheriff and an ambulance were out after dark.....lights flashing, evidently looking for someone they did not find.
Friday October 21
It cooled delightfully overnight, but as soon as the sun came up it was apparent the rear of the RV must take the sun to keep it off most of the windows! It was warming unbearably! Things were much better after realigning the RV, but in too short a time we had to do it again as the sun moved. This time we put the awning out, hoping for more shade on the sunny side to prolong the time between moves. If we were to be here longer, we'd put SHADE high on our list of priorities for a site until it cooled off a lot! I took my bike out to check out the area, found the hot pool and the "shower". The hot pool was marked with stenciled signs "No Trespassing", and "Keep Out" at the road entrance. However the pool itself had a red "Welcome" mat placed down with boards and ladders for easy access. I'm not sure I understand the mixed messages...is this pool on private property or part of the Slabs?
The water bubbled in the center of the pool, and was somewhat murky.
It felt quite hot! A 10 minute foot soak confirmed that I would not want to immerse anything more than my legs in it....
It reddens skin almost like the 130 degree Hot Springs AR foot soaking pool. The shower was hard to find.....
The major landmark is the old east most Camp Dunlap guard bunker on the south side of Beal road next to the small canal. Only after asking a lady parked there did I find the shower entrance marked by old tires, only 20 feet away from my position (visible at "Tires" label on picture above). Getting closer, it became apparent.
It looked like an open concrete culvert box along side the road, but there was a path leading over the road edge to a ladder leading down into it.
The water flowing into the top of the box felt warm, even after traveling quite a distance from the hot pool in an open ditch. On the way back to the RV, I grabbed a new slabs map from Linda's table.
It shows the drop 7, 8, 9 & 10 areas along the Coachella canal, as well as the other areas at the slabs. Claire and I went out in the afternoon, biking along the canal and through the LOW area (Loners on Wheels, who welcome any single RVers) and past the Oasis Club, that looked freshly painted with a sign "All are welcome", but nobody to be seen outside in the mid afternoon sun. Dinner is Chinese chicken, very well done by Claire as usual! Before bedtime it cooled enough to close most windows. By morning all side windows were closed, and I awoke with a sinus headache....pollen? Campfire smoke? We'll never know for sure!
Saturday October 22 Today is 'net day on the cell, but despite the strong 5 bar digital signal Verizon QNC was unreliable, kicking me off shortly after connecting. I managed to get email after several tries, but the tower seemed to change often, and each change would kick me off. I finally removed the external antenna and that seemed to stabilize it a bit. I was finally able to get the banking done. We rode bikes again, this time taking the Digital Voltmeter's temperature probe along to check the temperature of the hot pool and the "shower". The hot pool checked out at 110 F, but the shower, which felt warm, measured only 90 degrees. The probe is said to have an accuracy of better than 5 degrees F up to 200 degrees; perhaps it reads low? I boiled water on the stove to check the probe, it measured 212 at boiling.... My feet sure looked redder than I'd expect 110 to make them after soaking them in that pool, but perhaps the daytime heat does that? We came back to a dinner of boiled potatoes with pork and red cabbage...it is DELICIOUS! Tonight is music night at the range, and we hurry our chores, but hear it start at sundown, before we're ready to go... This is a fun evening, with varying entertainment taking the stage for a share of the tips.
Here self styled "insane" Wayne and Solar Mike duet on guitar and harmonica while Mike's grand daughter is getting ready for her stage debut on drums. :-) Folks are friendly; Tony invites us to join the Oasis Club for $60 a couple for the season, which covers use of the club with a kitchen and games, TV, VCR, water..... If we were going to be here for a period of time, it would seem like a good thing to do, but now we must move on toward Yuma and preparation for departure. The crowd builds through the evening.
Here Solar Mike and his daughter (who is a FINE folk singer) play while grand daughter plays with Halloween kitty. I'm surprised at the number of folks already here, given the heat. I chat with Solar Mike (who owns Sunworks, the solar dealer here at the Slabs who gave us a good deal on our batteries last January); he and his wife spent the summer here, but used solar powered air conditioning. He kept adding panels and batteries until he could run the small air conditioners needed to keep the interior of his busses at 80 through the nights, which seldom cooled below 90. Days were 105 to 118.... I could not think how anyone could stand it without A/C....but most folks who summer over here do! Builder Bill came on for a set, ending with a great rendition of "16 Tons".
We geezers pooped out by 10PM and came home, just as the younger performers were warming up. :-). There was good music still to be heard as we drifted off to sleep, but sleep we must!
Sunday October 23 Today we leave the Slabs for Holtville CA and the hot springs there. I will finish this and try to get it uploaded before leaving, if Verizon cooperates. The cool of a predawn Sunday morning is much more conducive to this work than the heat of the day..... ;-)
PLANS: We are headed to Holtville, CA to the BLM hot spring area there for as long as seems desirable, then going to Yuma AZ for a water pump warranty exchange, completion of the motorhome wax job started back in MA, clean up and food disposal, and a couple days in a campground with electricity to fully charge the batteries and pack, before we fly out for home the evening of Nov 8, arriving home in MA early on Nov 9 for the holidays. The trip will then be on hold until we rejoin the RV in mid January.