Apr. 3
Finally left the BLM after attending church Sunday morning at “The Christian Service Center.” Bordering the BLM land is a piece of private property that is owned by a pastor who built a church there, and has been having services for the folks camping in the BLM for the last 40 years. The pastor is elderly now, and has turned over the preaching to someone else, a guy they called “Preacherman Carl”. There were just a handful of people there, as most everyone has left for the summer. The “preacherman” gave a good sermon, filled with cowboy colloquialisms, and the people were real nice and encouraged us to return next winter when the church is full. They said that from Oct. to March, they have a group of about 60 people who attend each week.
After church we went back “on the grid” to Yuma to get some another shot of that incredible machaca. Our travels then took us to another BLM in Holtville, California. We had been told that this place had hot springs, and it didn’t disappoint. Camping overnight there, we couldn’t understand why we were getting a bunch of mosquitoes in the coach, until I discovered that I had left the passenger side window open. There is a curtain that we pull over the windshield, so I couldn’t see that it was left open. I put the keys in the ignition to roll up the window, which ended the mosquito problem, but caused another one. Since I left them in the ignition, and not in the fully “off” position, we woke the next morning to find that the car battery was dead. Luckily for me, there was a “camp host” at the site who had one of those portable battery chargers that he loaned me. I was able to walk it over to where we were parked (about a half a mile away) and connect the terminals to my battery to get us started. I was really fortunate because I don’t think Triple A would have come out into the desert to rescue us without considerable money changing hands.

Apr. 4
We headed north today from El Centro, where we spent last night at a very nice Wal-Mart lot – well lit, other RV’s nearby, far enough from the street that there wasn’t much traffic noise. It occurs to me that when you read that, it may conjure squalid visions of camping in a tent in the parking lot, with laundry hanging on the tent poles. Actually, when we close the shades and curtains, it feels very self-contained, and we become almost unaware of the outside surroundings. We cook dinner, and afterwards, relax with a DVD movie that we have rented from the “Redbox” kiosk, and drift off into dreamland. I know, I know, it’s not for everyone, but Lorraine and I are just fine with it.
Our destination today was “The Salton Sea”, a place that we had seen a TV documentary about when we were back home. It seems that it was envisioned as a resort community back in the 50’s, but never really got off the ground for a number of reasons. We have stopped at an RV park with hookups, which is good since it was about 95 today, so this allows us to use our air conditioner all night to keep comfortable. The Sea itself is pretty much as we had expected based on our research. It is heavily over-salinated, and thoroughly un-appetizing. The gunk along the shoreline prevents any thought of going in, and we are careful not to let Logan anywhere near it. It is a pretty sundown however, with the mountains in the distance on the other side of the “sea”. Driving in, we saw a sign proclaiming the “Sonny Bono Salton Sea N.W. B.” Not sure what NWB stand for, probably National Wildlife something or other; but yes, it is that Sonny Bono. Remember that the second act of his life was as a Congressman from California.
Incredible coincidence department: when we pulled into this RV park, the woman who runs it noticed our Jersey plates and asked us where we were from, as she had lived in Jersey. I said “up north, in Bergen County.” She said she knew Bergen well, as she had lived for many years in… (wait for it) … Park Ridge! (our town) So a conversation of “Do you know…?” ensued for a while, and then we were given the run of the place. There is a pool here, but she apologized and said she hadn’t cleaned it for a little while. I think she may do so in the morning, since we had expressed interest in it. If she doesn’t, I don’t think we will use it, as it looks a little too much like the Salton Sea right now; but the price to camp here is only $16 for the night, and I expect that we will use at least that much in electricity.

Apr. 6
Well the pool never got cleaned, and we pulled out the next morning. So much for showing the love to the homies from the old hood. Just a little further down the road there was a “dry” state campsite right on the edge of the Salton Sea, for $8 (senior rate). We stopped to look and take a few pictures, but it was too early in the day to stay the night there, no matter how good the price was. As I walked to the shoreline, I realized that what I thought was the sand I was walking on was really crushed fishbones! Believe me, that is just as unappetizing as it sounds. They crunch underfoot as you walk! Some of the skeletons have de-composed to the point of almost powder, but others haven’t yet. So you see fish skeletons in various states of decomposition all around you as you walk. Logan kept wanting to pick up fish heads, so I eventually had to take him back to the car. Anyway, the long and short of it is: avoid the Salton Sea.
The next destination however was an entirely different story. The Joshua Tree National Park is an incredible revelation, not to be missed. It is huge, with great hiking through all types of desert terrain. We arrived yesterday afternoon in time to go on a walkabout up into some beautiful mountains with great views of the valley below. Since it is a national park, my old man discount cuts the $15 camping fee in half. There is no electricity at any of the sites, but water and dumpsites are available. We planned to stay for a while, but overnight, the temperature went down to 37 degrees with very high winds. We woke this morning to sweatshirt and jacket weather (after being in shorts and tee shirts yesterday.) It was still sunny however, so we traveled through the park (about 70 miles) stopping to see some of the sights, and getting out for an extended hike at one place that took us through a lot of spectacular stands of Joshua Trees and other desert flora. Dogs are not allowed on the park trails, which is a shame since today’s hike was mostly flat and would not have tired Logan out too much. One of the campsites was that we drove through today was called “White Tanks”; and we would have loved to have stayed there, but it was full up. At the ranger station yesterday, we were told that Easter weekend is one of the busiest of the year. The campsites at this place all backed up against these huge light-colored (not really white) boulders. It felt like being in a rock village, very different from most of the campsites we have been in. (Think: Bedrock.) If we ever get back here, this would be the campsite to stay in.

Apr. 7
After we exited the Joshua Tree National Park, we proceeded to a BLM that the park rangers told us about. They gave us a map to it, without which we would never have found it. It is really out in the middle of nowhere. There are others out here spending the night (or perhaps, their lives), but no one is anywhere near us, since it is a vast open space in the desert. There is no artificial light for miles around, so the stars are spectacular. It reminds me of that line from the Eagles song: “And I want to sleep with you in the desert tonight, with a million stars all around.” (To which Lorraine replied: “Go to sleep.”)