A little more Quartzsite …

When I hooked up, my general plan was to head over to the Indio/Coachella valley area of California, near Palm Springs.  The reason to go at that time was to catch a certain country band that was playing there at an RV resort.  Luckily, I called prior to departure, only to learn that it was not open to the public.  Although I still planned to go that way eventually, the time frame was now not important.

At about the same time, I received information that retired blogger Wandering Willy was sneaking into the area after spending some time down at Why.  So I decided to track him down and get caught up on news, gadgets, and to check out his upgraded solar system.  I found him out on Plomosa road, where the crowds were rapidly dissipating after the end of the big RV show.

We made a few runs into town and once again, I got to watch someone else spend their money, while I didn’t!  He bought a bunch of LED replacement bulbs to reduce his electrical use, and a pair of brand new 6V batteries.

I soon had my hummingbird re-fueling station set up, attracting a few of the locals.

The photos are not nearly as good as those from Al of the Bayfield Bunch, but I was pleased with them.

Speaking of Al & Kelly; we spotted Kelly in town one day while they were over scoping out the new RV’s in Quartzsite.  We only had time for a brief chat and missed seeing Al, but now we still have a reason to stop in if our route takes us near their place at Congress!

Eventually it was time to pull of stakes and pull in the slides and make another foray into California – but not before filling the fuel tank as full as it would go.  Even the diesel prices in Arizona have been creeping up lately.  In fact, I had just finished fuelling up at Chevron, and as I was driving out, they were out raising the price.  Whew, just in time!  Sort of reminds me of the station in Nevada or Utah as I headed north last spring.  They yelled at me when I was about to start the pump.  They said if I waited 3-4 minutes, they were dropping the price by 10 cents!

I stopped for the night at the slim BLM slice of land on the south side of Joshua Tree National Park, just north of the interstate.  While the hum of the traffic was audible, it was not that bad, and the spot turned out to be quiet – with a good view across the valley.

As I was on the way to Palm Springs, I headed out again in the morning, and checked out the Casino ‘camping’.  The casino at the junction of Dillon road and the interstate is clearly rv friendly, however it is a pretty bleak parking lot – directly between two freeways.  Probably a bit noisy. Next was the Agua Caliente casino.  It has a huge gravel parking lot, that did not appear to be that noisy, and it certainly was empty.

I pulled in to check it out.

Another view of the same place.

Although there are no signs, I believe that they discourage overnight camping.  I guess they don’t want any business from the RV community?

I had assumed that overnight parking at all Palm Springs area Walmarts, etc was not permitted, but when I drove by the one on Monterrey/Dinah Shore, I saw a collection of RV’s, and a subsequent check of the iphone app showed that it was not on the ‘no camping’ list!  Good to know.

I hope to meet some friends in this area, then the plans are open, but it will likely find us back in Arizona before too long.

“Look, you left this drawer open!”

Till the next post …..