NM To San Diego: Part 5 (San Diego, Quechan Casino in Yuma, Faywood,NM and back home)

After our wonderful visit to the Anza-Borrego State Park area, we headed to Claremont to visit with family and help with some furniture moving. After our family visit we headed to San Diego.

Karen's parents and her Dad with one of his two instruments. His other is a bass fiddle

We initially planned to stay at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve Campground, but it turned out that our homemade camper van was not good enough for this exclusive county campground.

After we made a reservation for a campsite at Santee, we received an email receipt that stated that our RV had to have an Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) sticker on it. This sticker indicates that it was manufactured by an RV company and was an official industry made RV.

We don't have an RVIA sticker because I (Greg) made the camper myself.  I guess having an RVIA sticker is a way to discriminate against scofflaws like us!!!! It's apparently a very snooty place. I've never heard of a public campground that was so restrictive.

Anyway, we found a better spot nearby.  Through Campendium.com we discovered Lake Jennings Park Campground. This is a fantastic campground on a water district reservoir. It was beautiful and quiet with great views.

The view of Lake Jennings from our site #90.

There is a story that this campground may close because it doesn't get enough business. That would be a horrible shame as it is a really fantastic campground in a great location with 30 minute access to San Diego tourist sites.

We picked out a beautiful site (#90) on top of a hill in the campground with great views of both the lake and the town of  Lake City below. We loved this campground!  We took a hike around the campground. We couldn't go all the way around the lake as part of the trail is closed Monday - Thursday to protect wildlife, we suspect.

This is a fishing lake and you can even fish from your boat at night at certain times. There is a stocked kids fishing area where kids were catching big fish!

There are private shower rooms as well and nice bathrooms throughout the campground.

There were many hosts in the campground, maybe too many? The hosts that we met were super nice. We had a great short stay here.

The next morning we packed up, had a great breakfast at a nearby Denny's and then headed to Balboa Park in San Diego. The drive was relatively easy even during the morning commute. We parked near a carousel and headed out to explore the park.

The buildings are beautiful. We really enjoyed a reflection pond and the adjacent Botanical Building. We had planned to tour a couple of the many park museums, but it was a beautiful day and we wanted to be outdoors. We will have to go back and tour the museums at some point.

We wanted to go into the Japanese Friendship Garden, but it was $10 each for what looks like a relatively small garden, so we skipped it. (A friend just told us that there is a day pass that includes all the museums and the Japanese Garden. That would be the way to go next time.)

After our tour of Balboa Park we walked quite a ways north to a taco restaurant I had read about. The restaurant was too "fishy" for Karen, so we went down the street to a Chipotle Mexican Restaurant and had a nice lunch.

We hiked back to our van and headed for Cabrillo National Monument where there are great views of San Diego Bay and Coronado Island.

After our Cabrillo point view, we headed out of San Diego, trying to beat the rush hour traffic. The drive over the mountains was pleasant.

We stopped for a break at the Holtville Hot Springs and LTVA area. We didn't soak. We just wanted to check them out for a future visit.  An LTVA is a Long Term Visitor Area. These are popular with Canadian snowbirds. You can stay in a fully contained RV all winter for $180 bucks or 14 days for $40. It's a good deal and this one includes free soaks at the hot springs. The soak pools looked nice. We will definitely return to try them in the future.

We then passed the dunes area on Interstate 8 and made it to Yuma. There was a big sign for In-and-Out Burger and we just could not resist. I brought my gluten free bread in and ordered a protein burger that is wrapped in lettuce and put that on my bread. It worked well and I had no damage to my overly sensitive intestines!!!!  After dinner, it was dark and we headed to the Quechan Casino, where they allow dry camping in their southern most dirt lot.

Quechan is a nice Casino. They have a weekend breakfast buffet that looked nice. If you stay in the hotel there is a nice pool with a lazy river. We did gamble a bit and came out slight winners. We are not big gamblers, but it's fun for a short time and with just a little bit of money to burn. Karen is fairly lucky and usually comes out far ahead. I usually lose, so it all works out for the best.

Many RVers, in their large Class A rigs, or smaller rigs, like to stay at Quechan and enjoy the facilities and then during the day head to Algodones, Mexico. Algodones is just down the road and then a walk across the border for cheap dental work, good food and low cost prescription drugs. We know a lot of boondockers that do this multiple times a year. Quechan owns a big parking lot next to the boarder and they charge a low fee to park for the day while you are in Algodones.

We had a quiet night at Quechan, got up in the morning, made our oatmeal and packed up to head back to New Mexico. We had a woman run up to our van and she seemed disappointed when she discovered it was us (strangers) and not her friend who has a similar van. We had a nice chat. It is always fun to hear more about others journeys. She was a solo van full-timer. It's amazing how many solo women are out there, typically divorced and living on a small amount of money.

We drove a long day through Arizona and ended up back at Faywood Hot Springs again and soaked our tired bones before getting a great night's sleep.  During a hike around the property we ran into the Geeks On Tour.  Jim and Chris Guld travel in a Class A and teach technology classes to RVers at RV oriented festivals and events. We love to meet blogging RVers on our travels. We call it "Boondocker Bingo" when we meet them.

The next day we headed home to freezing Los Alamos.

This was another really fun trip. Until next time - happy adventures!

Beautiful Lake Jennings Campground provided by the Helix Water District.

You can go about halfway around the lake on Monday-Thursday.

Driving to Balboa Park.

Orchids in the Botanical Building.

A plaza at Balboa Park.

One of the many beautiful buildings at Balboa Park.

A beautiful fountain at Balboa Park.

The Reflection Pond and fantastic Botanical Building at Balboa Park.

Orchids at Balboa Park.

Orchids at Balboa Park.

The Old Globe Theater at Balboa Park. We would love to see a play here. 

Beautiful Buildings at Balboa Park.

The over priced Japanese Gardens at Balboa Park.

The view of San Diego Bay from Cabrillo National Monument.

The view of Coronado Island from Cabrillo National Monument.

Pond and Palms at Holtville Hot Springs.

Holtville Hot Springs soak pools and shower gizmo.

Dry Camping at the Quechan Casino south dirt lot.

The Thing!!!!!   Never did see it. Just a zillion signs for it. One day I will force Karen to see it.

Back at Faywood Hot Springs, checking out the night sky chair up on a nearby hilltop.
The dark sky at Faywood makes for amazing stargazing. 

We ran into Geeks on Tour at Faywood Hot Springs. BINGO!!!

We are watching you.

NM To San Diego: Part 3 (Lake Havasu Boondocking and Fireworks)

After leaving El Dorado Hot Springs, we headed for Vicksburg and up highway 72 and 95 to Parker, AZ. It was raining and we did worry about getting caught in a flash flood.  I drove a little faster than I normally would. We enjoyed the desert terrain along the drive. Our goal was to get to the Arizona State Trust land across from the SARA park at Lake Havasu.

We were going to boondock on State trust land and watch the 28th Annual Western Winter Blast Pyrotechnics Show that occurs on President's Day weekend.

We were hungry before finding our boondocking spot and went into Lake Havasu City and found a Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurant for a nice lunch. Havasu City is a pain-in-the-ass to navigate as the downtown core roads are poorly laid out.

We also took a drive across the London Bridge to check out the island and view the little lighthouses along the shore.

The annual fireworks show is put on each year by the Western Pyrotechnic Association. The idea is that the association can show off this year's cool fireworks to potential buyers and Lake Havasu City get's an awesome show for their tourists.

During this weekend, the state land across from the Lake Havasu City SARA park is filled with boondockers there to view the great fireworks show.  It's just slightly tricky to get off the highway and on to the trust land. There is a big bump to get over, but not too bad and a lot of huge fifth- wheels are able to do it without much trouble, if they entered slowly.

We found a nice spot up on a hill.  We had to use leveling blocks to get level. We got out our chairs and portable fire pit, pulled out some snacks and waited for the show to start. The fireworks started late as there was a fuel spill at the SARA Park. All the firefighters there to monitor the fireworks show had to deal with the spill instead, so the show was delayed by an hour. All the boondockers were getting anxious, wondering what was going on.

We got a nice hike in all around the area before the show and dinner. Finally, the firework show began.  It was a great show. There are always some new fireworks that haven't been seen before. The best one this year were a group of super high flying fireworks that exploded in the clouds (it was drizzly and cloudy that night). These explosions and colors looked so cool up among the clouds.

A surprising part of Lake Havasu

Crossing the London Bridge at Lake Havasu 

Boondockers across from the SARA Park

The coolest super high flying fireworks!!!!

Our spot on the State Trust land.

Enjoying our portable propane fire pit and some snacks before the fireworks.

Waiting for the fireworks

A few ATVs were scooting around with cools LED lights on their vehicles. It's kinda of a burningman-esk party.

Fireworks!!

Some of our favorites.

To stay on the state trust land, there is a $20 permit that must be purchased and displayed in your vehicle. (On this weekend, I doubt many people had a permit. The permit is good for a year of state trust land visits, so it's a good deal if you use Arizona state trust land a lot.)

This was the second year I got to see this fireworks show. It was great both years.

Next up: Headed to Anza-Borrego.

http://www.golakehavasu.com/events/details/1584/28th-annual-western-winter-blast-pyrotechnics-show/

NM To San Diego: Part 2 (El Dorado Hot Springs, West of Phoenix)

After leaving Faywood Springs, Google Maps suggested a short cut to Lordsburg NM that would save us about 20 minutes.  I told Karen we should trust Google Maps to give us a good route. Karen was very leery.

An hour later, Karen was right to be leery.  After heading a long way down a bumpy, dirt road we came upon a big, deep, dark mud puddle of water out in the middle of nowhere. There was no cell signal and no one else for miles. We decided it was best to back up for about half a mile until we could turn around and go back to Deming, NM on the regular paved route. From now on I will double check Google's suggestions better. The good news about this detour is that we were able to see a few really cool red tail hawks.

A bridge we crossed.

Backing up till we could turn around.

One of the hawks we saw in flight.

Once we got back to Deming, we were hungry and stopped at the town's Denny's for a good breakfast. We like Denny's. It's very consistent and always good. There were a lot of panhandlers out in front of Denny's. They appeared to be older, immigrant men. On the way into the restaurant we gave a few bucks to one of the guys in the area who came up to us.  On the way out, we were hit up very aggressively. We told this guy that we already gave to another guy. He was not pleased by our previous generosity.

We are always concerned that our handouts to panhandlers will be spent on drugs or alcohol. Yesterday, I read a New York Times article that has me thinking we shouldn't worry about how our charity will be spent: The Pope on Panhandling: Give Without Worry.

We jumped back on to highway 10 and headed west toward Tucson. This is a beautiful stretch of road. We are excited about exploring this area in detail once we are full-timers in a few years. There is a lot to explore in the southern corners of Arizona and New Mexico.

We continued on 10 past Tucson and then took highway 8 towards Gila Bend. Next, we headed north on highway 85 towards Tonopah. We didn't want to go near Phoenix as it was going to be close to commuter hours, so this bypass worked out great.

We got to El Dorado Hot Springs about an hour after sunset. The place was funky and rustic. As Karen signed up for a campsite in the office, the guy taking our info got up and grabbed a baseball bat and headed over to one of the pool areas. Karen and I looked at each other and asked each other if we had made a mistake picking this place to stay the night.

It turned out that two dudes had jumped into a private soak pool without paying the fee and the office manager liked to have his trusty bat when dealing with freeloaders.  We calmed down after he explained the situation. He was really helpful and friendly after he put the bat away.

We drove to our spot, set up our bed and headed to the public soaking area to soak away the strain of a long drive.

We hopped into a couple of old-timey iron legged bathtubs.  It felt great. Karen noticed something big moving on top of a nearby fence. We couldn't quite make out what it was. It looked like a big pigeon. It turned out to be a female peacock that was resting against the top of a fence.

After a good soak we headed to bed and slept really well.

Each campsite comes with 2 hours of private pool soaking each day.  We had signed up for the Sunset Pool for first thing in the morning. It was fantastic. We took our breakfast to the pool area. There was a table with chairs and some lounge chairs. The soaking was great. You have a large private area with views of the desert and a nice hot pool.

There are about five private pool areas. Each one is pretty nice. Next time, I would pick the Desert View soak pool as it had the nicest view of the desert and some nearby mountains.

There is a downside to the place that we discovered at the end of our visit.  As we were packing up to go, about thirty big house flies flew into our van.

A couple of the many peacocks at El Dorado Hot Springs

One of the soaks in the public area.

We soaked in the two bathtubs and the pool here. They were nice!

The funky office area.

Our campsite with friends.

Other occupied campsites on the property.

The corral pool.

The toilet area is open to the sky, but private with the surrounding fences. 

Breakfast at the Sunset Pool

Some of the campsites.

The Desert View Pool. We thought this was the one with the best view.

The Stargate Pool

Walking from the Sunset Pool.

A view of the area.

A huge industrial chicken raising and processing plant was built very near El Dorado Hot Springs in recent years. Apparently, the smells from the chicken plant can be overwhelming at times.

We were lucky in that we arrived on a windy / drizzly evening, so the flies and the smells were not noticeable. But, as we were about to leave the next morning, the winds died down, it got sunny and the smell and the flies arrived with a vengeance.

The flies all got into our van. We should have stopped a few miles away, opened up all the doors and windows and shooed them out. Instead, for three days we had flies, one by one, enter the front seat area of our van and bug us until we got them to go out a window.  Many times they would fly right back into our van, even after we had already shushed them out the window. They didn't want to leave the van for some reason!!!!  It is a cool van.

We would go back to El Dorado Hot Springs again as it was a really nice place to soak, but we do worry about what the flies and smells would be like on a hot and windless day. We hope to not ever find out.

Next up: Heading to Lake Havasu for some an amazing fireworks show.

El Dorado Hot Springs maintains it's funky rustic feel and prices are not high for this type of facility.
http://el-dorado.com/