Fountain of Youth, Salvation Mountain

Well, we survived a minor mechanical problem, hopefully the first and last of this trip. When we pulled into Barstow, California we realized that there was a scattering of oil all over the car – not a good thing indeed! Unfortunately this was a Saturday so first thing Monday morning we were at a diesel mechanic shop, Robin had already figured out where the likely leak was in the RV engine, the mechanic agreed,  the part was ordered and by 2:30 Tuesday we were on our way, only $420 poorer! While we waited in Barstow we did some rockhounding & touring – to the Calico Mountains, where we collected lots of chert, jaspers and maybe it’s petrified wood,  thru Rainbow Basin and out searching for white onyx. We spotted a snake, probably a Colorado sidewinder and 2 different tarantulas!

Colorado sidewinder

ugly tarantula!

Rainbow basin

a very large Joshua tree

Robin, wandering looking for shiny things

It is rather depressing to see so many poor and homeless folks, our “neighbors” in Walmart were a 60+ couple living in the back of their truck. They had to empty out lots of stuff so they could fit to sleep. More poverty than we see back home, we felt very blessed to have what we have.

We travelled south thru San Bernadino, more orchards and huge fields of vegetables and grapes and date trees. The 12 lane hiways were actually OK, we try to not hit rush hour!  We stopped at a Costco in Palm Desert to stock up on liquor for the winter and home – 5 bottles, all 1.75 L for $100 total! Crazy! Inside the store, near the entrance were a bunch of big jars of coconut oil (which is solid back home) – it was liquid, so I guess we are far enough south for the butter to melt! But still not far enough south for us!

 

miles and miles of wind turbines

date palms

We arrived at the Fountain of Youth Spa & RV Resort, very close to the Salton Sea on Oct. 26. We had heard about it from fellow RVers and there was a rep from there at the Edmonton RV show, handing out coupons for 4 free nights, so we decided to check it out. (Never turn down free stuff!) It is a lovely place, at the foot of the Chocolate Mountains, an 800 site park with mineral spa, pool, salt water pools & spa, friendly folks and more activities than you could want. We may want this “when we get old” but it’s not for us yet. But the full hook-up site is very nice – the daytime temperature has been 30-34 so the A/C is definitely warranted and we have gotten good use of the pools (and hopefully shed a few years of age!)

 

view of the pool area from our site

Fountain of Youth park

We did some touring, of course - first to Slab City. This is a former naval base that was abandoned, leaving the slab floors of many of the buildings that have been taken over by all sorts of campers. Many of these people have been here for years; many have left behind trailers that nature is retaking. At the entrance is a spectacular sight – Salvation Mountain, a lifetime project of one man, a religious monument. He created the hill and attached “cave-like” rooms and painted it all with donated paint, others have added to it and “maintain” it. I climbed to the top, on the “yellow brick road”, you can see me in one photo. Also in Slab City we found an area called East Jesus – “folk art”?? – Everything from cars covered completely in computer parts to odd sculptures to a wall of TV screens with slogans painted on them. It made for some strange photos but not a place that we would want to camp! It is in our camping book though as a boondocking site.

 

me on the top of Salvation Mountain by the G

Salvation Mountain

view from the top

the creator of Salvation Mountain

typical "campsite"

East Jesus

We also visited the Sonny Bono Salton Sea wildlife refuge, saw flocks of Sandhill cranes, 3 kinds of egrets, snow geese, Great Blue Herons and lots more.

Sandhill cranes

The Salton Sea is over 200 ft. below sea level, we can see it from our RV site, which is also well below sea level. Unfortunately the water is contaminated by agricultural run-off and the lack of any incoming fresh water so it is no longer used for recreation. The shore is littered with dead, dried up fish and shells and the water is tea colored. Surprisingly the birds still stop here and some fish still live in it. Bombay Beach is a small town on its shore that was very popular in the 50’s & 60’s, now it is full of empty trailer homes and salt eaten remains of buildings. So we still need to continue south to find the real seashore. We leave here in the morning, after one more soak in the spa, off to dry camp in the desert near Quartzite for a few days – no power, no WiFi, no A/C! Then to Yuma and on to Mexico, we can almost taste the fish tacos!

Salton Sea