AROUND THE SALTON SEA

Tuesday, February 2 – Headed to the Salton Sea this morning.  The Salton Sea, located in the southeastern corner of California, is actually a lake which occupies a desert basin known as the Salton Sink. This body of water covers a surface area of 376 square miles, making it larger than Lake Tahoe and Mono Lake.  In fact, the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California.  The Sea’s current elevation is about 227 feet below mean sea level.

The Salton Sea was formed between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River burst through poorly built irrigation controls south of Yuma, Arizona. Water rushed downhill into the empty sea, and was flowing for 16 months before men could stop it. A new lake 45 miles long and 20 miles wide had been formed! Almost the entire flow of the river filled the Salton Basin for more than a year, inundating communities, farms and the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The very things that make this lake so unique and such a rich source of abundant life are placing the Sea’s existence at risk. The nutrients that provide such an abundant source of food for fish are at levels that alter the available oxygen in the water. Its salt content, which causes water vessels to be more buoyant, and thus the fastest lake in the nation to boat upon, is compromising the reproductive ability of fish and, thus, their survival. Without fish, the hundreds of species of birds that rely on fish for food, and the economic status of the Sea as a productive fishery, would be threatened. 

We walked down to the shoreline and were surprised that what we thought to be beach sand was actually tiny shells. When walked upon, you really sank down 4-6 inches. Very unusual.

We actually put a finger in the Sea and WOW was it salty. After reading the information at the visitor’s center, we found out that the Salton Sea is 25% saltier than the ocean and getting saltier every day. What makes this body of water so salty, you ask? The salinity is a result of the high evaporation rates in the hot desert climate. Water flowing into the Sea adds the equivalent of a train of salt each day: several million tons a year. There are an estimated 500 million tons of salt in the Salton Sea.

More pictures here.

After visiting the Salton Sea we tried to find the Painted Canyon but were turned back due to road closings. Evidently the storm that hit Quartzsite last Thursday, January 24, did extensive road damage in the mountains in this area.

But before we get to our next stop, we needed to drive on some rough roads. We drove back a gravel and desert sand road about 5 miles into the desert. Then after about a mile hike we entered the Oasis.

 

We then went to Dos Palmas Preserve. The main oasis is at the base of the Orocopia Mountains. This was really interesting. It is a real oasis out in the desert.

This is what the land looked like around the Preserve.

 

Now here is the Dos Palmas Preserve.

 

 

Very cool and refreshing. It was obvious why these retreats were so sought after by people traveling in the desert.

Dos Palmas pictures here.

We then headed about 20 miles East on I-10 to the General Patton Memorial Museum. This museum was stuffed with artifacts from WWII.

In January 1942, just a month after the United States entered the war, German troops under the command of Field Marshall Rommel started pushing toward Egypt, threatening the Suez Canal. It was evident that U.S. troops would have to engage in a desert campaign. There was no background for such an engagement in the history of U.S. warfare.

General Patton arrived, and the Desert Training Center became operational, in early April 1942. Four days later, he and the troops took their first desert march. Within 15 days, all units at the center had been on a desert march. Within 23 days, he had conducted 13 tactical exercises, including some with two nights in the desert. The first troops to arrive at the Desert Training Center described it as "the place God forgot." It was eventually to become the training ground for more than a million troops in seven armored divisions and thirteen infantry divisions. Patton commanded the Seventh Army during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and in conjunction with the British Eighth Army restored Sicily to its citizens.

This Museum had everything from uniforms

guns

shortwave radios, tanks…M-60 Medium, 48 tons, diesel, air cooled, automatic transmissions

Sherman M4 HVSS Medium, 36  tons, Wright 9 cyl, radial air cooled, manual transmission

and troop carriers. They definitely need a larger building. There was also a duplicate of the Vietnam Memorial and a wall covered with bricks in remembered of all veterans.

One of the most interesting things Marsha saw was called Trench Art. It is the sculpting of shell casings. Soldiers who spent long hours waiting in trenches passed the time between artillery barrages by creating art works out of the available materials. They did beautiful work.

The Museum has many maps.The Big Map weighs close to 5 tons and is designed to come apart like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Twelve expert draftsmen created more than 250,000 pieces of fiberboard to depict the 50,000 square miles of land surrounding the aqueduct’s route.

Just when we thought we saw everything, we noticed that they even had a picture of Marsha when she was in the service. She was the leader of a tank gang.
 

More pictures from the Gen. Patton Museum.

After dinner we headed into the Casino to claim our $50 in “casino money” and try our look on the slots. Once you put $20 of your own money into a machine, the casino kicks in $50 additional dollars to keep you playing. Unfortunately, you can't cash out the $50 and leave. You have to play out the $50. Paul ended up winning $14 and “Hot Shot” Marsha won $39....Yeah!

Our spot in the Fantasy Springs Casino parking lot for RVs.

 

Driveway to the Casino. Flowers are blooming everywhere…Marsha is in Heaven.

What a full day. How lucky we are to able to see all of this. Hope you stop back again.

THEY CALL IT HOME

Monday, February 1 – Traveled 156 miles today to Indio, CA. It was about a three hour trip. We are parked in the Fantasy Springs Casino. We plan on being here about 3 days.

Crossing into California we were stopped at the state line for an agriculture inspection. They asked where we were coming from, and if we had any citrus aboard. Negatory….on we went.

Soon we drove through the Imperial Sand Dunes. Huge amounts of sand and dunes on both sides of the road.

Not far down the road, we were again stopped by the Border Patrol. They had dogs sniffing all the cars, trucks, and RV's. We were asked what part of Texas we were from and then simply waved through the road block.

Gas prices in California are as high as people say......$3.05 per gallon for unleaded......Yowse!

There was snow in the higher elevations of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Thank goodness we didn't have to drive through there. We could sure see it up there!

After setting up camp, we drove down to Niland by the Sulton Sea to tour Slab City.

One of the most famous parts of the “Slabs” is Salvation Mountain.

Salvation Mountain is located in the lower desert of Southern California in Imperial County just east of the Salton Sea and about a hour and a half from Palm Springs. Salvation Mountain must be seen to be fully appreciated as those who have made the journey will attest. Its 50 foot height and 150 foot breadth is made totally of local adobe clay and donated paint and is truly unique in the United States and probably the world. From its Sea of Galilee at the bottom, to the big red heart in the middle, to the cross at the very top, the reoccurring theme of "Love" is everywhere at Salvation Mountain.

Marsha saw him on 20-20 or Dateline a few years back and thought it would be such a cool place to visit. Well, scratch another item off our “bucket” list.

 

Salvation Mountain is Leonard Knight’s tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love."  Leonard estimates over 100,000 gallons of paint were used to create the gospel message on the mountain, trucks, trees and whatever else surrounds the acre of land. Leonard's passion has lovingly created this brilliant "outsider art " masterpiece resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord's Prayer, John 3:16, and the Sinner's Prayer, but also including flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects.

 

 

It was so wonderful to meet Lenard. He took us on a personal tour of his home. After we were done looking around and taking pictures, he gave us 25 postcards of Salvation Mt. and gave Marsha a jigsaw puzzle of the mountain. She is holding it in her hand in the picture below.

Leonard's "house" of 24 years, is built on the back of an old 1939 White fire truck decorated as ornately as his mountain. He has no electricity, gas, running water, phone, heating, air conditioning, or any of the other things that so many of us take for granted. He is also one the happiest men I know. He built Salvation Mountain using hay bales and adobe. It is so big however, that he has had to construct "trees" to help hold it up. Leonard continues to add more supports and more hay bales all covered with adobe all the while painting and repainting with bright colors that his visitors bring. It will be yet another, amazing, one-of-a-kind creation when completed.

He used tires to build the truck of the tree.

This is the “yellow brick road” that leads up to the top where he has constructed a huge cross.

This is just part of the mountain.

Can you find Marsha in the picture below? She looks like one of the flowers. Right Hon?

This is what it is all about!

While we were talking to Lenard, he asked us where we were originally from. We said Ohio. He said I have a brother that lives in Ohio, maybe you have heard of Akron? Just more proof that this is a small world. We told him it was just up the road from us. We laughed. He said his brother wants him to go there for a visit next summer. He has so much work to finish and with 400+ cameras visiting him each day, he isn’t sure if he will be able to get away. What a great opportunity we had!

Enjoy so many more pictures of this amazing place here.

Just past Salvation Mountain is the entrance to Slab City, “The Last Free Place.” Slab City is a free RV oasis located in the desert southwest near Niland, California. It takes its name from the concrete slabs and pylons that remain from the abandoned World War II base Marine Barracks Camp Dunlap there. A group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since, although the number of residents has declined since the mid 1980s.

You may not be able to read it, but just below the words SLAB CITY, it says…..The Last Free Place.

The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The camp has no electricity, no running water or other services. There are many slabs and campsite areas within Slab City. There is even a church and an 18-hole golf course (in the desert, no grass). One woman started the Lizard Library, where you can borrow, donate or trade books and magazines.

Another Slabber set up a nightclub called The Range. It is a stage between two old buses.

The people who live there year-round are living on their social security benefits or other limited means. There are about 150 year-round residents. They may have been forced there due to poverty or maybe they chose to live there to fulfill their need to be free from the American government or social strictures.

You can find just about anything on one of these slabs. Yes, someone does live here.

More pics here.

Such wonderful experiences we are having. Come back again. Safe Travels.

MEXICO AND THE MOUNTAINS

Thursday, January 28 – Off to Mexico again to pick-up Marsha's glasses and do some sightseeing and shopping. We purchased more vanilla and several more prescription medicines with no prescription and at a fraction of the U.S. cost.

Baja Dental and Optical is where where our dentist and optical center was located. Don’t let the looks scare you.

There really was some beautiful items for sale.

Typical road in the shopping area. Lots of wires overhead.

We stopped at two places for fish and shrimp tacos and had a couple Margaritas too.  Our first stop was at TACOS AND DRINKS. We ordered a shrimp taco and fish taco and a Margarita. They make tacos waaaaaay different down here. We only waited a few minutes and lunch was on the table. I didn’t take us long to eat and drink. The tacos were pretty good. Tacos were $1/ea.

Notice the wiring above the restaurant….WOW

You pile on your taco whatever you want……UMMMMM

The Margaritas was so big, Marsha had to use to hands. I didn’t hear her complain…..only $4.00.

We then stopped at a pretty outdoor restaurant called EL PARISO. It was a beautiful day so we sat outside with all the others. They also have an indoor bar. Marsha had a coupon for a free Margarita. She ordered hers and of course I couldn’t let her drink alone. These drinks were better than at the other place. They had a two piece band playing. Very nice afternoon.

While we were shopping, we saw this real long line at a shrimp and taco stand. Paul talked to a guy that told him that this was the best place to get a taco, sooooooo. We could definitely eat one more taco. We ordered to shrimp tacos, add our condiments and devoured them in two minutes. They were really good. Much lighter batter than the first ones. We talked with some people from Boise State. They told us that Boise plays Virginia Tech the third game next season. He said they are calling it a huge game for both teams. GO VT!

We crossed back into the U.S. after waiting in line for a little over an hour....customary this time of year. We've heard stories about people standing in line for over two hours. The customs agent just waved both of us through without asking any questions.

We sat outside in the sun the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather in the 70's. AWESOME!

Saturday, January 30 – Last night we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

As the sun goes down……

The moon comes up…..This is was an amazing site, to see the moon coming up over the mountains as we saw the sun set in the picture above. That other bright spot by the moon is an airplane.

We went hiking in the mountains this morning. Very interesting and what a view.

Here is the trail we hiked up.

Beauty everywhere we looked.

High in the Gila Mountains. It is one of the more remote and least developed National Forests in the southwest. Covering 3.3 million acres of publicly owned forest and range land, the Forest is the sixth largest National Forest in the continental United States.

 

We met a couple of gentlemen almost at the top who had rode their street bikes (motorcycles) up the path....no way would I do something like that. They had no problems, but did admit this was the first time they had done a trip like this and it was a bit scary.

Having fun in the mountains!

After climbing as high as the trail went we headed back down using a different trail. Look at the trail in the distance. Our trip was an enjoyable hour hike.

Bike ride then chilled rest of the evening. Here is a picture of our campsite.

Sunday, January 31 – This morning we attended Chapel de Oro worship service. The worship service was held at the North Hall here at our campground. They set a record with 257 worshippers. Pastor Paul Gunderson greeted us at our seats. He knew it was our first time there, asked us where we were from “originally”, and told us about his calling. He is a very nice man. The service began at 9:00 a.m. This was a nondenominational service. The sermon was “Finding the Right Time.” We were warmly welcomed and would worship here next time we stay at the park.

We made a quick trip to Walmart and ran across the Arizona Market Place. It is Located on 40 acres with over 1000 shaded selling spaces. You name it, the Vendors have it for you here - Antiques and collectibles, Blankets and Quilts, Candles, Dollar Stores, Embroidered Hats, Fruits & Vegetables, Greeting cards and stationery, Hardware & tools, Ice Makers, Jewelry, Keys made, Luggage, Mobile Mail, Nuts & dried fruits, Olives and spices, Pottery, Quick snacks, Rugs & Carpets, Silk plants & flowers, Toys and games, Used & new books, vitamins and supplements, Watches, Xtra large assortment of RV supplies, Yard art and flags, etc. It is located at the intersection of 32nd Street and Avenue 4E. We were very good and only bought two things…..12” pizza pan and Liquid Clean.

Tomorrow being a travel day, I did some preparations....checked tire pressure, checked oil and coolant levels, loaded the bikes on the jeep, put the grill away and dumped the black water tank and rinsed it. I also loaded some water in our fresh water holding tank because we will be blacktop camping (boondocking) in the parking lot  at the Fantasy Casino in Indio, Ca.

“If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?”….think about it.

Since we will be boondocking, we may not be posting for a few days. Thanks for stopping by. Stop by  again.