While we were camped at Salton Sea a rip roaring storm blew through. I am guessing less than an inch of rain fell (on us, more in the mountains near by), but, the weather story was the W-I-N-D!! In hindsight, we should have put the slides in, but, well, we did not. No worry, no damage, cept to my nerves, just a little frayed from the jumping and snapping of the slide toppers (awning type thingys for the non-RVing readers.) The W-I-N-D was hitting just perfect to tip the top of the living room/dining table slide in, no small feat believe me. When it tipped in the top, in blew dust as fine as silt. The dust went all over the Baby HP (Man has since checked out the Baby HP, all is well there too). A few hours later, the last of the W-I-N-D came blasting through and snapped the slide topper which happens to be over my bed. It sounded as if a cannon went off by my ear. Snap, bam, boom! And, then the W-I-N-D stopped.
The next AM there was a lot of snow on the mountain range to the west of us, and some nice pretty white puffy clouds. If the clouds were just a tiny bit higher in the sky - - - oh, well, this still is not a bad view and a great last memory of our stay at the Salton Sea. (The next 2 photos will be best viewed by clicking to open in a larger format, click your back button to return here to Reflections. Note, the Sony did not capture the true beauty, some things are just best viewed with the human eye, this was one.)
Our route leaving the Salton Sea takes us south on 111 past Brawley California, south a little further to I 8 and head east to Winterhaven California. Total drive, is about 125 miles.
In Brawley we start to see a lot, and I mean a LOT, of toy haulers, which are RVs with the where with all to haul around extra toys, such as big motorcylces, 4 wheelers, dune buggies. We were in the sand dunes of Imperial County California, and did not realize it. The Imperial Sand Dunes are said to be the largest sand dunes open to off-road vehicle useage in the USA. The area is a magnet for toy haulers and the toys hauled. See:
The last photo was taken from a rest area on I 8, looking south. That fifth wheel is parked right beside I 8, looks like less than 10 feet from the roadway. He is unhooked, which means he is most likely there for the weekend, and, mmmm, he is sleeping right beside an expressway (and all the traffic). Can we say, we hope he sleeps with ear plugs in?? Can we say, we hope no one runs off the road, cause he does not have a chance in *$#*?? Can we say, WOW??
Well, it was an interesting ride from Salton Sea to Winterhaven. We saw something we did not expect to see, boondocking and dune riding. Are they playing hard or what??
Man and I would spend the next 10 nights in the area, basically Yuma Arizona. We had the opportunity to visit with MOC friends Bev and Jim, it was great seeing them. Nita and Al (from the 'Tombstone Arizona' and 'parking in a MOC circle' fame) were also in the area so we managed to get together with them as well, they drug us (JUST KIDDING) to the Arizona Market Place. We visited a couple of historical state parks, came unexpectedly across a museum that was, well, a hoot! We enjoyed the mountains surrounding the area, even took a few photos of those.
So, stay tuned for the reports on THE Trip, in and around Yuma Arizona.
* You can Google the Imperial Sand Dunes and will come up with a LOT of web pages, interesting reading.
**Yuma is a HUGE area for wintering RVers. They are everywhere, some in formal (as in, you gotta pay) full hookup campgrounds, some in deeded lots with 2 rigs each, and a LOT of boondockers. Everywhere you look there are RVs tucked in here and there. It's quite the experience.
1 comment:
The west has indeed had heavy weather this past month --- and we now have another wind storm up north which will work its way south and east. Batten up.
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