Exploring A Bit

Over the years we have been staying here at the Holtville Hot Springs LTVA, the area has mostly stayed the same. A few new houses came up early, and except for one they got finished. The Hot Spring itself has seen some recent upgrades with a new fence and last year's cattle trough used as a third option for taking a soak.

But beyond the northern end of the BLM Camp area a large solar farm is under construction this year. It has brought a lot of truck traffic along Evan Hewes Hwy. The project has been built on the grounds of a former farm. Once operational, Vikings Energy will produce 137 megawatts (MW) of solar energy, coupled with 150 MW and 600 MW-hour of battery energy storage and be able to power 90,000 households in the San Diego area.

Today we took a little side trip from the main BLM road and started a hike north eventually following an ATV trail through the desert.

We got on top of a rise and were offered a great view in all directions. To the east we could see the Imperial Sand Dunes rising above the desert flats, north of us we made out the solar farm and the power poles they had installed, and finally, way over to the west, capping our line of view, the mountains of the coastal range bathed in early sunshine, the highest tops covered in snow.

Coastal Mountains approx 50 miles away

In between the entire southern part of the Imperial Valley with hundreds of green agricultural fields.

Morning Clouds

BLM Camp Road

 

After recent rains the desert floor is showing green spots. Soon flowers will show up as well.

Panorama View west

When Night comes

Wow, A Truly Gorgious Day On The Lake

When you travel to the same spot year after year you get to know special places which you love, and others you avoid.

Mittry Lake, not far from Yuma is a spot people tend to like and revisit time after time.

And because we have been at Mittry Lake several times we chose it as our destination for this beautiful day when temps reached 26C (78.8F). 

We had called friends who would meet us there around noon. 

But we try to combine pleasure with useful things, so we had loaded up 2 empty propane cylinders and 2 empty jerry cans. Both propane and gasoline are significantly cheaper in Arizona than in California.

So first stop was at the propane place where the owner lady had just finished with another customer when we pulled in. Of course, after many previous visits she knows us and our van. This time she even asked where we were from. I think she was surprised by the distance we had traveled from home.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop at Walmart to get 6 of their great donuts. Last point on the list was gasoline. Here I want to say that we enjoy 25cts off the pump price at Circle K, as we have registered our cell phone #. This rebate runs for 5 visits, but as we have 2 cell phones we are having 10 fills (Gal. unlimited) with that rebate. Today that rebate came to $7.50.

16Street in Yuma runs straight east out of town and eventually becomes AZ-Hwy95 north to Quartzsite.

We made our turnoff to Mittry Lake which runs along agricultural fields planted with cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower. Many of the fields had already been harvested, while others had just started when the recent big rain turned the fields into muddy pits, where machines couldn't go anymore. Those areas are now representing sizable losses for the farmers.

Soon after the paved road turns into a gravel road, the lake comes into view. It is a beautiful natural habitat for birds, administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management.

Unfortunately, the traffic of off-road vehicles has grown out of proportions and is seriously disturbing the otherwise peaceful surroundings. Motorized outdoor recreation has become a major problem in the area. Obviously it is also allowed to use very fast going speedboats on the lake, and one doesn't need to wonder about the dire consequences for the many species of water fowl living on the lake. 

Way back in 2008 we had camped a couple of nights along the lake. There was less traffic back then. 

It is still nice to spend a couple of hours at the lake, but camping would be out of the question for us.

We stopped at one of the jetties sticking out into the lake. After our friends arrived we sat on the outer end of the jetty just enjoying the beautiful view across the lake. We had brought sandwiches, coffee and --- the donuts!!

Dixie also had a great time, after sleeping a round on the jetty, she started to walk around always looking over the edge into the water. It seemed she was listening to something, and eventually we figured out that most likely it was the sound of the small waves lapping against the jetty which had caught her curiosity.

Bob is always having a good time with Dixie

It was good catching up with our friends Bob and Karen som are from PEI and have an even longer travel route than us, though they don't bring down their RV as that is parked year-round in a local RV-Park.

We said Good Bye to them for now, but plan to meet again next month.

California Rain

We knew it would be raining today, Monday, but what we got was close to a flood. It was still dry and only cloudy when I looked out the window at 6:15am, but the first rain came shortly before 10am. We had rolled up our awning yesterday evening, just in case. Now we were happy about it.

Tomorrow we've got to enjoy
sunshine again

The drumming on top of our roof drowns out the rumble from our generator outside. It is quite dark and gloomy outside too,

And since there was nothing else to do, and because we are out of cake, I grabbed a cake mix from the shelf and proceeded with it in the kitchen department.

We have been doing some outside cooking
with our oldColeman gasoline stove

Meanwhile, Bea relaxed in the bedroom as she was still feeling a little weak after almost a week of battling a nasty cold. But this morning she appeared much happier as her stuffed-up nose had cleared and she could breathe again freely.

She had done a Covid test and it turned out negative. Strangely, whatever virus she had picked up, it never attacked me, which is remarkable in such confined enclosure as a trailer.

The other day Robert, a fellow camper, came by. He is always accompanied by Tina, a tiny Jack Russel.

Tina is a bundle of high energy and whenever she eyes Dixie, she starts that Indian dance performance, which obviously annoys Dixie to no end. Yet, being the gentle giant Dixie is, she never bites or even growls at Tina. She must be wondering what's wrong with this jumpin' squirrel.

Sooo, we just have to wait until this rain is over. Afterwards we won't be able to walk along the canal for quite a few days as the trail there is mostly soapy clay, which will stick to our shoes.

OUR OASIS

Hold On To Your Hat!

The weather forecast was wrong for today. Well - partially wrong, as it did predict the wind, but not the clouds, and certainly not the rain.

As usual, we got out for our morning walk with Dixie - down the campground then up again along the irrigation canal.

A little sun once in a while, then clouds again. As we got over to the canal we were hit by massive wind gusts whipping up big waves showing white caps. I have never seen white caps on the canal before. 

The most powerful wind gusts started picking up sand particles and we got peppered with it. Soon, I had sand between my teeth. Twice I also had to recover my hat which had flown off into the bushes.

Even a rainbow showed up...

Getting back to our camp, we saw clouds of sand racing down the camp road.

We had barely made it inside when heavy raindrops started hitting the roof. Dixie had moved into her bush-cave, but I decided to get her inside. 

Sand on a wet dog is not what we desire to get into the trailer.

If we can believe the weather forecast for the rest of the day, we hope that the wind will slowly die down again during the afternoon.