Winter Trip- March 2011

To break winter's spell we took a two week break to sun and warmth.  It was about 2100 miles round trip.  We started from Eagle on Monday, Feb 28 and drove to Springville, UT.  Cindy and I had a nice one night stay with the Horne's.  On the way through Salt Lake we stopped to see Meg at her work place. 

On Tuesday we drove to Lake Mead NRA and camped at Las Vegas Bay Campground.  It was a nice place, though the water has retreated far from the camp.  It was cold at night, maybe 40 or so.  I should have dressed a bit warmer but Cindy was fine.  We had an excellent tinfoil dinner and a small fire. 

On Wednesday we started the day with a stop at Hoover Dam.  There is a new highway bridge, named after Pat Tillman and a former governor of Nevada, that has and excellent walkway to overlook Hoover Dam and the runout area. 

After Hoover dam we drove south to near Parker, AZ, where we found a nice campsite in River Island State Park, right on the Colorado River.  Here we had electrical and water hook ups, I could plug in a small elctric heater in the tent for cool mornings.  The showers were nice too, and we made friends with some of our neighbors.  The camping/ RV lifestyle of a snowbird is very different from our usual routines.

We had a short but fun hike from our campground, overlooking the river on some rock cliffs was a high light.

We also took a short drive to Buckskin Mountain and hiked a two mile loop there to see the desert and some rudimentary mines.  The cacti were in early bloom, but not the saguaro's yet.

 

Near River Island overlooking the California side of the river.

The Buckskin Mountain hiking pictures are here:

After four warm and relaxing days we drove on to Indio, CA, near Palm Springs, Indian Wells, etc.  We stayed in the Fantasy Springs Casino Resort.  We walked through the casino only once, but we did some pool time and the room was nice.  My brother and sister in law, Jim and Becky were staying in a nearby RV park with their Triple E Commander.  We had a good visit, their pool was warmer then ours.  Buddy the cat and Tux the black lab pup were with them too.

We had a quiet Sunday breakfast with them and their friends, Marty and Maureen and Ken and Wendy, at a local polo club.  We were able to watch a women's match while we talked and ate, very fun.

On another day we took a short drive to the Salton Sea, very interesting.  The Sea was formed when the northern end of the Sea of Cortez was cutoff from the ocean, the Colorado River used to empty into it, a large flood in 1905 filled it to a high level and it became a mecca for fishing and water sports into the 1960's.  Now the Sea is drying up and becoming very salty, there are often fish die offs when algae blooms.  Nevertheless it is picturesque.  We visited Nilan, CA and two nearby oddities, Salvation Mountain and Slab City.  Salvation Mountain is a painted hillside, a folk art site work done by one gentleman with paint, plaster and whatever is at hand.  

Slab City is an old military site, now various ragamuffins and RVers use it to camp.  There are no fees, and no services, like sewer, water or power.  Overall fairly bleak on a sunny but windy day.