Moving Along After 2 Weeks of Boondocking

My past two weeks of boondocking went quite well, although I did have to charge my battery every day with my little Honda generator. I am researching solar panels and hope to get a smallish one on a frame that I can take out and aim at the sun when boondocking. I may get a small inverter, but don't expect to get one large enough to run the microwave or television. I have learned to live quite well without either, although I use them when I'm in a place with hookups. I never had either of them on the boat and I survived for years without them.

One Rver who has been coming down to this area for the past 10 years or so showed me his system – with lithium batteries and two solar controllers and large inverter, he has 1000 watts of solar panels on the roof of his Class A. He obviously has power for everything he has in there – probably all at once for hours on end.  It's a very expensive system, way out of my budget - and needs.  This is a very reasonable place to stay for the season, but I wouldn't want to stay any longer than I did. I need a change of scenery.  The desert areas in Arizona and New Mexico are much more interesting than here in southern California - there's no cacti here!

My first stop today was an RV fixit place since one of my 5^th wheel hubs got quite warm coming over to my boondocking campsite. I had them greased a few months ago, but I wanted to have that one wheel checked out to see what the problem was. They checked both bearings and found them good, it was still full of clean looking grease.  The only thing he found was the washer that had the tabs that go in the castle nut didn't have the tabs in it.  Of course, that got me wondering if it was just a fluke - the guy who put it on he got interrupted or he just didn't know it worked that way.  So, I had them pull the other wheel on that side.  The tab was inserted into the castle nut, but it was a bit loose, so he tightened it up and put the tab back in.  For a full hour with three of them consulting each other, he charged me $40.  He forgot to charge me for the new seal in the one hub until I reminded him - and then he gave me a cash discount for it.  It's great doing business in these small towns.  After driving for an hour and a half, the hub wasn't warm when I finally got here. 

The photo above is the pond in the middle of the park I'm in - with full hookups.  I arrived in enough time today to do two loads of laundry, get into the spa and take a hot shower with unlimited water!  There are orange trees all over the park and we are allowed to pick all we want - I already picked a few and got a glass of really good tasting juice.  

 

There is some good hiking around here, so I'll be doing that in the next few days, although it's supposed to rain this weekend.

California Oasis

 

There are a few things that California does right. When I towed my 5^th wheel into the state on Route 8, the speed limit was 70, which has been typical of most states.   I have never towed that fast and I don't want to.   Imagine my reaction when the next sign stated that anyone towing anything has a maximum speed limit of 55!   Great!!   I like that!   I usually don't tow over 60, but I'm happy doing 55.   It was so nice not having the huge tractor trailers zooming past.

Across the street from the BLM land where I'm staying are the hot springs that this area is named for.  I walked over there yesterday and I was a bit disappointed after seeing hot springs in New Mexico – but of course, some of those were in really nice areas.   These hot springs are 2 concrete lined square pools, one about the size of a bathtub and the other about 5 times larger.   There was also a long pipe spraying multiple jets of water out over a concrete area so that one could stand there with hot water pummeling their body.   I was told that the larger pool is the hotter one, and the smaller one is about 118 degrees, which sounded quite hot to me.

I walked out of the gate and took a path around a shaded area with tall palms.   As I walked down this path, I came to an opening and saw a small pond nestled in the palms.  Wow, that was a surprise!   The signs stated that no swimming was allowed, but there was a couple swimming.  They claimed that it was just for liability reasons and that everyone swam in the pond.   I checked and it was chilly, certainly not the same hot spring water supply!   Amazing to have two totally different water sources so close together, especially in the desert where it's surprising to have any kind of water at all.

 

 



The pond was pretty with all those lush palms, they were not the typical palms that were in my area in Florida.   The water, however, looked like something you'd see in Florida rivers, meaning mostly dark water, and I expected to see an alligator silently raise his head out of the water. With that in mind, I know I won't be taking a dip in that pond.

The sunset my first day at this campsite was pretty, typical of desert sunsets.