Canadian-Traveler

A cool Thanksgiving Day
The early morning showed a thin band of dark clouds above the eastern horizon, and only an hour later these clouds had spread almost over the entire sky, only way out, toward the west, was still a blue sky.  This weather lasted the whole day and turned this day into a rather cool Thanksgiving event. But anyway, we had our Turkey Thanksgiving supper within our fellowship of friends at the Host Station. And it was good sitting together and having a chit-chat about this and that. 


Earl and Carol came finally down by car from Saskatchewan yesterday but couldn't get their motor home out of the storage as the starting battery was flat. So they slept in the Motor home inside the storage and today we drove to El Centro, where Walmart was the only store being open, and purchased a new battery. After it was mounted. the coach sprang to life and all there is left to do now, is getting all the stuff they brought stowed into closets and cupboards.


More and more RV-owners leave their rigs in the south, in order to save on fuel costs. However, it is a real calculation  how much one can save, as going by car would require overnight stays in a motel and eating in restaurants, plus the fee for the storage.


Now the last part of our west coast drive in 2005:

November 04 We say farewell to Refugio State Beach and its wonderful  campground and head farther south towards Los Angeles.  Highway 101 follows the beaches for miles until we have to  take off towards San Bernadino. The freeways around L.A  are 4 to 5 lanes in every direction and lots of big trucks are  coming up from behind all the time. Finally after several hours  on L.A. Highways we reach Victorville at Interstate 15.  We  have ordered a solar panel here which we plan to install while  being on a campground. Victorville, a town in the desert is all  spread out and the traffic here is terrible. Our campground,  the KOA lies directly besides the Interstate and accordingly  the noise is deafening. Definitely not a place to spend your  vacations on. However we have desert temperatures and  during the day it gets up to 30 C. November 05 The morning starts out busy as we have to get downtown to  purchase some groceries and accessories for mounting the  solar panels. The shopping takes more than a couple of hours,  because we can't find a food mart. First after lunch I can start  on my work with the solar panels. Unfortunately some parts are  missing and I have to improvise to get it all done.  Now I need  another day to finish up the installation. November 06 Another day working at Victorville. While I am buzzing about  Bea washes the outside of our rig.   November 07 Aah, what a relief to leave this noisy place behind.

		Interstate Traffic
		In the desert

We travel through the High Desert landscape. Lots of Yuccas on both sides of the Highway 247 as it leads through Yucca Valley. As Highway 247 climbs down and enters Riverside County we cross a huge area filled up with wind mills.
Bell Mountain at Hwy 247
Windpark at Palm Springs

Palm Springs lies just a bit off to the south of Interstate 10, which we  leave at Coachello. Highway 86 gets us farther south and for the first  time we see Palm Tree Nurseries along the road. Our destination for the day is Mecca Beach at the Salton Sea. From  the village of Mecca Highway 111 runs on the east side while Highway  86 runs south on the west side of the lake. Mecca Beach lies on the  east side and is just one of 5 local campgrounds belonging to the  California State Recreation Area. The first campground we see is  the local Headquarters. A very friendly lady Ranger offers us a job  as camp hosts for as long as the season goes. We receive an  application but decide to look around before we accept her offer. After settling in for the night at the headquarters campground we  drive down Hwy 111 until we reach the little village of Niland. Of  the 5 State Recreational Campgrounds only Mecca Beach and  the Headquarters can be recommended for a longer stay. These  sites are very well maintained and offer a few hook-ups , a day-use  area and shaded tables. They are spacious enough to accommodate  big rigs too. Headquarters campground has a very nice little marina and a  service building surrounded by beautiful palm trees. The Salton Sea is only 100 years old as it was created when the  Colorado River went on a rampage in 1905. having created a dam of  sediments against the California Gulf the mighty river found an outlet  to the north, filling a low basin between two mountain ranges. It  created the Salton Sea. However the basin is so low that there was  no further outlet for the water. When reaching the height of the  sediment barrier towards the Gulf the Colorado again found back  into its previous bed and washed out into the Gulf again leaving the Salton Sea to its own. Evaporation was leading to an increase of  salinity and while no water outlet was possible an increasing amount  of salt remained in the lake. The water is of a reddish color and does  not appear to attract many visitors these days, and that should not  surprise as the lake is heavily polluted, and produces a profound  ugly smell.