October 23 through November 8, 2005

Sunday October 23:

Today we go to the hot spring at Holtville CA.  On the way out of the Slabs, we determined that the Slab shower is at N33.24222, W115.48094 degrees, and the hot pool is at N33.24576, W115.47675 degrees. We showered, dumped and filled water at a rest stop 12 miles south of the Slabs on SR 111 at N33.08245 W115.52177, elevation -184'.  The friendly host at the LTVA across the road from the hot spring told us how we could get to a free camping area either north or south of the LTVA, but recommended the north one, as the road to the south one is still too muddy.  He said it was essential we go EXACTLY 1 mile beyond the "No Camping Beyond This Point" signs that mark the north end of the LTVA, to be legal yet avoid the private property 1000 feet beyond.  We found the area where others had camped, at N32.79252, W115.27687 degrees, Elevation 18 feet, and pulled into a level spot all by ourselves.

You can see that the dry sand supports the RV very well...only if it got loosened up by someone getting stuck and spinning wheels would we have problems.  We really do enjoy our view out over the desert as the sun sets.... beautiful, with a huge sense of quiet solitude.

Monday October 24:

This morning we drove to the hot spring (N32.76593 W115.26964) early, plowing through a muddy spot on the road, noticing it is softer than it was the first time through, and parked inside the hot spring day use parking area, putting our awning out for shade.  The only other man parked there in his pickup truck asked if we were going to camp there.  I said no, as I did not think it were allowed.  He said we should have parked along the road with the large truck...I mentioned the no parking sign I'd seen there.  He replied that the sign said "No Overnight Camping".  I asked if he expected the lot to fill...he said "Maybe not, on a Monday...hard to say".  We decided that we'd move out on the road at noon when the sun came around to shine in the unprotected side of the RV, as a truck had pulled in on the road while I had been chatting with the man.  I suit up and walk to the pretty palm tree bordered pond...

I step in, but the first contact with it is quite cool...  huh?  I look at the two smaller concrete tubs with a sprinkling shower running, feel them....HOT.  So THESE are the hot spring, the pond is cool.  I sit in one, shallow, about 2 feet deep

The other is over 5 feet deep, and warmer still.

 I report to Claire that there is a cool swimming pond as well as hot tubs, and return to my soak.  After lunch a few more folks have parked in the lot, and we move out along the road with the awning out over the fence to keep the RV as cool as possible.  We soak and swim until the day is short, then move back along the LTVA road to the free area.  I chose to use the lesser traveled other edge of the road to cross the muddy area...MISTAKE.  The water filled hole on that side was much deeper than expected, and the RV bottomed with a heavy thump as our rear wheels traversed the hole...we had enough speed to avoid getting stuck, but I stopped immediately on the other side to inspect for damage.  The step had been folded up and was not operational.  The sewer line was OK though...  :-)))) and we could not see any other damage.  The driving seemed normal.  We proceeded to our parking area and prepared dinner.  The unique looking facility in the distance had been identified for us as a thermal electric generating  plant....

It gets its operating energy from the heat in the same underground hot water that warms the hot spring. The turbines for the generators use a special fluid designed to vaporize at the temperatures of the thermal water. The eight large cooling towers help get rid of waste heat at the lowest possible temperature, to extract the maximum amount of energy from the hot water. A number of these power stations are situated around this area.  They are viable economically, but do not generate as much electricity as their size would make one think they do.  The TV was not working when Claire wanted to use it....  ??  I had been asleep, and was not alert enough to try to fix it, just confirmed there was not anything obvious to me wrong , then I returned to bed.

Tuesday October 25:

Awoke late, it is QUIET here a mile from everything. Only the distant whine of the thermal power generation plant keeps our ears active. We decided to walk to investigate the north route out of this place by hiking, hoping to find a way to avoid further encounters with the muddy road back to the LTVA. We passed a number of beehives placed in the desert to forage on blooms just 0.3 miles north of our campsite, explaining the large number of bees that investigated the RV window screens.

 The hike took us to paved Nelson Pit road, with a good bridge across the canal in less than a mile of dirt road, much of it along the Highline canal.

The canal was both closer to our camping spot than we realized, and considerably larger than we thought too.    There were "No Trespassing" signs on the canal road on the other side, so we retraced our steps back the way we came. I decided to look into the TV which had not worked last night, with a totally black screen on all  channels.  Before removing it from the dashboard, I checked again; it worked normally.....hmmmmm, maybe some sort of strong interference from military training activity??   We have plenty of time today since the hot tubs are closed most of the day for cleaning, so we decided to attempt a repair on the circular crack in our windshield with the "Fix Windshield" kit from Walmart.  There seemed to be little risk of making it worse with the non-spreading form of this circular crack, even though it may not help much on a crack that has been there over two years, perhaps being contaminated.  I need a platform on which to work, and decide our mechanic's creeper on the arms of a folding chair might do it...and it was very stable but a bit low. Two small tool boxes stacked on top of the creeper gave enough height to carefully peek into the hole of the repair kit to check how much fluid was being inserted.  The first try on the lower side of the crack was quite an improvement, and heat applied from the inside with a butane lighter helped it spread to cover about 90 degrees of the circle.  Three more applications filled the complete circle, with a visible crack still remaining where the innermost crack met the windshield surface....well, perfection we did not expect, but this looked VERY much improved!  :-)  A plastic sheet to smooth the surface, then turn into the sun for 20 minutes for the resin to UV cure, followed by a lot of scraping with a razor blade to get the excess resin off.  It looks really good to us...we don't have exact before and after pictures in the same place, but these will give an idea....

Whether it will pass inspection is another issue.....the picture proves we CAN see the electric wires through it now, and might not have to crop the black circle out of so many pictures!  The ring was pretty much opaque before.   :-)  We then drove out to the north along the canal where we had hiked.   The road was OK, with only a few soft spots where we had to be careful to keep our speed up to avoid bogging down....and yes, we did drive well to the right of center!  :-)   We decided to find the free camping area near the American Canal that we'd heard about.  We were a bit confused at how to best cross I-8, and did not take the shortest way, but arrived where I had guessed the right place was, and found RVs parked near trash cans on the north side of SR 98, where Highline canal meets the All American canal (N32.69820,  W115.28408 degrees,  elevation 10')  We found an open place and parked.

We then asked another RVer if it was OK to camp here without asking anyone...he introduced himself as Jim, said yes, (it's good, as there is nobody else here to ask) and we are home for the night! :-)    This is an amazing spot for FREE...even trash cans!    There is another Seabreeze parked next to us (poking it's front end out behind ours in the foreground with the awning out), similar in construction and age, and paint job, but 30 feet long.  We hiked across to the All American Canal and found RVs there too, but there were "No Trespassing" signs...and also the same type trash cans that were in the area across the highway we were parked in.  It seems like a mixed message, but one chap camped along the canal said he had been there for over a month in former years and nobody had ever approached him or hinted he was not welcome.  In former years some campers had even built a porch around their RV here....  :-))  This is prime waterfront real estate, with fishing in the canal (primarily catfish) and a very pretty view.

 If we were staying longer here, we might want to go there ourselves......but it is much harder driving in and out with the steep climb onto the canal bank.  I ask about available dump and water...and am told the Holtville dump that folks used in former years had closed.  There was supposed to be one in Colexico, but the exact location was unknown to my informant.  I returned to the RV to relax ....but found the TV again did not work.  I am not sure what is going on...we are close to a microwave tower...but this should NOT black out ALL channels on TV.  I decide to pull the set and investigate while Claire cooks dinner.  There is an intermittent associated with the antenna cable...but tightening it does not permanently cure the problem.  I reluctantly decide to remove the set's housing and look deeper.  There is impact sensitivity that is associated with the cable, the connection to the tuner, the tuner itself, and the circuit board in that area.  I move the cable connecting the tuner to the back antenna connection, it seems to stabilize the situation, and I replace the set back cover...only to find it is again "broken"...  :-((  Removing the rear cover again, I pull the circuit board out so I can see the solder joints...and there are tiny but visible circular cracks on six of the eight solder joints making connection to the tuner module.  We can fix this!  The soldering gun is easy to find, but it took quite a search for the solder I KNEW I had...three years ago.  It was hiding in the only place I could not see in the tool caddy I expected it to be in....but only found after searching every other place, THEN pulling the caddy out to look.  :-(((  This added at least half an hour to this task.  Soldering up the six joints returned the TV to solid operation with no sign of tap sensitivity, and a picture better than we've had for quite a while.  The TV takes a beating in the dash from vibration on bumpy roads...and I've always marvelled at how it kept operating.  The tuner is a relatively heavy part mounted on the circuit board, so it is understandable it might fail in this manner.  I'm sure the jolt it received from the LTVA road did not help, but this failure mode had been seen very intermittently before, so that was not the sole cause, just the final straw.... :-)   I am QUITE ready for bed this night!  It seems cool, I want my flannel PJs and the light quilt too.

Wednesday October 26:

Today we drove to the hot spring fairly early, and spent the whole day.  In the evening we drove back to the All American Canal for the night, as it seems closer to Colexico where we plan to go tomorrow.  Our drive took us along fields with irrigation berms that were several feet above road level.  Claire spotted them first....and properly identified them as burrowing owls.....inhabiting burrows in the side of the berm.

The bird book describes them as long legged, and more likely to be seen in daylight than most owls.  We are excited to see them, as we've been looking for years where tourist guidebooks said they were present, and this is a first for us.  No guidebooks cover this rural area either...  :-))  We pulled into "our" parking space and enjoyed the sunset before Claire started cooking dinner...

Thursday October 27:

We drove to Colexico, right on the Mexican border, to dump, then went to the huge super Walmart there (which allows overnight parking) at  N32.69634 W115.49777 degrees.  This Walmart is catering to folks coming over from Mexico to buy. I called American Express on the Walmart pay phone to figure out how to pay our Costco bill, and finally did appear to get it done it online.  :-)  We shall check again Saturday to be sure.  We drove back toward "home".   This area is VERY heavily agricultural, capitalizing on water distributed from the American canal....

There is only one man visible on many hundreds of acres.....but with the specialized equipment he can work those acres.  We returned to hot spring to soak a couple hours, then moved north of the LTVA by way of the hard surfaced Miller road and Nelson Pit road for the night. This route is safe to drive, but MUCH longer...seven miles instead of two.  It is closer than the American Canal, but not by much.

Friday October 28:

Today we arrived at the hot spring early.  We decided to hike on the LTVA area south of I-8, and check out the free area 1 mile beyond the LTVA perimeter.  The road we chose was totally unsuitable for the RV...lots of very rough, potholed dirt roads before we got a mile beyond the LTVA boundary.  We returned and went soaking, then tried a different way of going to American Canal by way of Bonds Corner Rd…it is a little smoother but adds 3 miles to the trip.

Saturday October 29:

This is another day of soaking.  This hot spring is ideal for us, as Claire does not like a long time in hot water.  Here I have the hot, she has the cool...  :-))  We've decided to stay in this area to do the RV waxing, overnighting at the American Canal and using the canal water there to wash the RV.  All the other campers insist it's ok to pull buckets full out with a rope, and it's only a 75 foot walk.  :-)  We drive our short route to the American canal near dusk......and again see burrowing owls.

These burrows are evidently large enough to serve as multiple occupancy housing...there was a third shy owl that ducked back inside when we stopped.  :-)

Sunday October 30:

Today I started the RV waxing process, finishing washing the back and the drivers side, and waxing the white part of the back and rear half of drivers side.  We left around 2PM for the hot soak area, returning around 6:10 PM.

Monday October 31:

Today we drove to Yuma to do a number of things, most importantly to confirm our flight home, and make final arrangements with the storage place. On the way we stopped at Pilot Knob LTVA to see if the free area nearby was OK for us this year (the road had been soft in spots a couple years ago when we stopped).  The hosts were very nice, even offered us use of their book swap library, but the wind was up and the dust was BAD....we can probably find a nicer place to stay close to this area!  The bulletin board here is a storehouse of hard to find information.  This map of LTVAs in this area is useful.

More info can be found about them on the web or by phone if you know what they are called...this map provided the names.  The Shell station here has a dump ($8 for us) and water is $2 for 55 gallons.  We continued to Yuma, parked in Walmart's parking lot on Pacific avenue, and walked to the Yuma airport. We found nobody ready to assist us with confirming our reservations, as planes were loading.  We enjoyed sitting in the air conditioning for a while, but Claire soon decided she had better things to do back at the RV.  I waited a while longer, but finally noticed the 800 number for reservations on the signboard, called on the airport pay phone, and confirmed we're good to go. :-))   We shopped, and found that gas at Walmart (with the shopping card) had come down from $2.519 to $2.489/g as we shopped.   We found free RV WiFi in the southwest corner of Walmart's lot, from a campground next door.  We drove on to All Secure Storage and completed the paperwork for our storage, then went to Sam's for a few things.  Sam's was $2.499 for gas, so we decided to buy later.  It was near 3PM, and laundry remained, as well as Home Depot for a vermin proof food storage container, and fueling.  This was going to be a VERY long single day here, or we could spend a leisurely evening at Fortuna Pond,  7 miles east ...guess which we picked?  :-)  (Hint: It's Corona with lime time, we're parked right on the water with the awning out, and the breeze is just enough to cool us off to "comfy" in shorts....  :-)  

This place is deserted except for us.  After dark a crop sprayer was operating nearby, with some of his turns taking place right over the RV.  He is quite low...we certainly do wish him well tonight...lest he drop on our heads!    It is a quiet night after he finishes, and we sleep well.

Tuesday November 1:

We were out fairly early from Fortuna Pond, gassed on the way at Sam's at $2.469 ( it's FINALLY coming down)!  We proceeded to do laundry at 15th Street and Ave B, then went to home depot for a vermin proof food storage bin and heavy twine to tie tarps on all our roof vents.  We ended up with a more expensive steel trash can this time, as the plastic bins available had an AWFUL odor....I believe they have insecticide built in...yech!  We planned to stop at Algodones Mexico on the way back to Hot Springs, but Claire was tired out after laundry; there is more work to do soon, as we found that the screws securing the hanger holding beam in Claire's rear closet had ripped out of the roof, letting her clothes fall.  We came directly back to Holtville, and I soaked the rest of the afternoon, then we went back to the American canal around sundown for dinner....the burrowing owls are always fun to watch along the roadside berm on Miller Road at dusk.  :-)  I was in bed early, despite the heat that both Claire and I found excessive even after dark.  I briefly watched the car sitting with headlights on across SR 98; probably law enforcement. A bit later it was sitting there with parking lights on.  There is very heavy border patrol activity along the American Canal, with what appear to be searchlights that can be turned on and aimed remotely, possibly connected to motion sensors of some type.   I think the area that folks can camp on along the American canal must have a lot of nighttime activity from Border Patrol and their quarry....I much prefer being where we are!  :-)

Wednesday November 2:

 As I write this at sunup, three border patrol vehicles are in the same area along the American that had activity last night, apparently picking up some illegals and loading them for return to Mexico.  I waxed until 2PM, then we went to the hot spring until dusk.  Sheep have been moved into a grassy field overnight....

We found out that sheep farmers from Utah pay farmers to bring their animals here for pasture....I've never seen them being handled...but am curious what sort of truck(s) they travel on...there are a LOT of sheep in that field, with a portable water tank in one corner.   The hot spring soak does a LOT to ease the pain of "wax on, wax off" in my muscles....the job does seem to get a little harder each day. It's starting to seem a lot like WORK.  :-)

Thursday November 3:

Today is cloudy until after noon.  It is a GREAT waxing morning, and around noon I finish with the white part of the coach and stop BEFORE the sun appears; we need dump and water, so plan the afternoon in Colexico 12 miles west. A tractor with a "rototiller" on a long controllable boom is clearing weeds from the edge of the Highline canal.  I wonder why they are spending all that time at it, until Claire mentions that the border patrol had been walking down among the weeds looking for illegals....then light dawns.  The canal must be an easy trail north for them, and the weeds offer cover when law enforcement comes near.  I'm surprised the private canal authority is willing to spend their money clearing the weeds, but perhaps there is compensation offered by the Border Patrol?   We drive to Colexico, and must dump this time before showering, as our water is too low to shower first, then must dump afterwards too, and buy a few groceries too.    We do not find Internet, but even so the afternoon passes fast. It is too hot in the motorhome in the sun to stay parked on the street with sun streaming in the side of the coach, so we finish our business and come home around 5PM.  .  Out here it is ESSENTIAL to park with the rear of the coach facing the afternoon sun, allowing the awning to block the sun on the doorway so it can be opened for ventilation.  Parking any other way is extremely uncomfortable in the afternoon sun.  In the free desert we can pick our way to park; on streets we must park the way they run.

Friday November 4:

Today we will start waxing the lower blue part of the coach.  This part is always more oxidized than the white and requires more work...but it is much less area.  We expect to finish before we go home.  As usual, we work the morning and soak in the afternoon.  :-)

Saturday November 5:

This is the last day in the hot spring area.  I'm not quite finished waxing, but decide to finish in the Historic Gold Rock campground we're going to tomorrow, and enjoy a last soak this afternoon. :-)

Sunday November 6:

We head out early for Historic Gold Rock campground...we have lots to do there, so will arrive early.  They have no regular spots open, so we're put into the overflow area with water and 20A electricity, no sewer.  We dumped and filled water before occupying the site, then I greased the RV, washed the muddy tires and under chassis areas, then planned our packing.  The waxing is left for the morning, when the sun will not be shining on the few unwaxed places.  It is hot, so I run connections to separate 20 A receptacles; this way we can run both air conditioners.  They need the exercise, and we're paying the same rate as sites with 30A electricity.  The interior cools very fast.  :-)

Monday November 7:

I finished waxing in the morning. The day was full, but we packed all our bags and stored the food before turning in.  We noticed another crack in our drivers side windshield, up near the top.  I checked the repair kit, there was no resin left. :-(  This crack should be fixed before we store......

Tuesday November 8:

We left Gold Rock early, just at first light so we could see to dump and fill water half full.  We need to buy more windshield fix resin and repair the latest crack before we go into storage.  We found Pep Boys had a Permatex repair kit for under $9 which was just the same type chemical resin in a syringe, with one time use stick on applicator.  I transferred the resin to the Fix a Windshield kit and used it with that superior, reusable kit.  After making this repair, we still had a full bottle of resin for future use!  We went into All Secure Storage after topping fuel at Walmart, and spent the afternoon covering the roof openings with tarp material, getting bikes inside, showering, clearing all unstored food out of the RV, spraying key parts of the RV with insecticide, and finally disconnecting the batteries before locking up and going to the airport with Lisle.  We are quite early but all our bags must be manually searched, as Yuma has no mechanized baggage search equipment.  Our flight loads on time, but I find I am selected for thorough search...so I must open my backpack and computer case for complete inspection.  We are going through Phoenix and Las Vegas to get to Boston tomorrow on a redeye flight. Phoenix requires most of our hour's layover time to walk from the arrival gate to the departure gate...  :-)  I'm hoping to get some sleep waiting in Las Vegas, as we have over 2 hours layover.  I do not consider that I'm in Vegas....the waiting lounge has MANY slot machines, and folks playing them...with the associated loud dinging noises.  Little sleep here!  I'm relieved when we load onto the plane...a FULL plane.  No extra seats to spread out on here....

Wednesday November 9:

We arrive in Boston about on time, 7AM, and by the time we get our bags, the bus we want has passed, so we carry our bags outside and wait 25 minutes for the next one.    The bus comes, and seems to pass us by...I run after it, flagging it down 200 feet away, then return for the bags Claire cannot carry.  I pile too many on, and stagger toward the bus....and a young lady asks if the backpack I must leave behind is mine; when I say yes, she carries it to the bus for me.  I am quite grateful.  I envisioned the bag being stolen while I was gone.  I'm guess I'm a full fledged geezer now...I have cute young ladies carrying my bags for me!  :-))  The bus and taxi ride home were uneventful, and we found the house in fine shape.....we're HOME for the holidays.

PLANS:   This page is completed on January 3, 2006, completing the Summer/Fall 2005 trip (I did wonder if we'd ever get it done).  On January 8 we fly back to Yuma to rejoin the RV for the start of the Winter/Spring trip.  Our plans are not firm, but we hope to spend some time in Quartzsite for the ham radio gathering in late January, then Las Vegas and Death Valley.....and until those areas further north warm, up we always have the hot spring to keep us warm..  :-)    

Until next time... ENJOY!
Barrie and Claire