California at Last!

Monday, January 30, 2017

The temperature was so nice overnight, I woke up earlier than usual,  Out of bed  by 6:30 drinking coffee and reading blogs by 7.  I was determined to get out of Yuma today.  Even caught the sunrise.

Thought I would try to get a lug nut on the way out of town.  Stopped at a small tire repair place just down the road from Walmart.  They didn’t have anything the size I needed.  They sent me to O’Reilly’s saying they surely would, but no luck there either. 

Then I saw another small tire repair shop and passed it because I was in the wrong lane.  Turned into a Mexican neighborhood thinking I would go around the block.  No such luck!  The narrow road dead-ended at a privacy gate.  I had to get out and with neighbor dogs barking, cats and chickens watching, I unhooked the Jeep, backed the MH up and turned around.

After hooking the Jeep back onto the MH, I said to heck with it and I just jumped on I-8 heading west figuring I could find something along the way.  I don’t think one nut is that important in the scheme of things.

Went through the Imperial Sand Dunes

and then turned north on hwy 111 at El Centro, California and then up and around Brawley till I reached hwy 86.  Just as I was going through Westmorland, I saw a NAPA store that said they had truck parts.  Pulled off the highway real quick and ran in to ask.  No luck again.  Must be a rare sized lug nut.

Followed hwy 86 and then turned west on S22 at Salton City heading through the badlands.  My destination for today was about 22 miles to the desert floor just east of Borrego Springs. 

I stopped to take a photo of the Salton Sea behind me as I was going through the Badlands.

The road cuts through a section of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 

The Clark Dry Lake bed is just ahead and the town of Borrego Springs is in the far left in that dark area on the desert floor.

I had forgotten about the time change, so got to my destination in the Clark Dry Lake on Rockhouse Trail just after 1 p.m. Pacific time.   It is located on the desert floor right center.  You can just see some RVs parked there in that white area just before the mountains.

I pulled over, unhooked the Jeep and drove around the area till I found a secluded spot. 

Got the MH situated and forgot to check for an internet signal till I had everything done.  Then I saw I had one bar of 3G and my Verizon Jetpack said I had no data available. 

So, I quickly pulled out my Trucker’s antenna that I haven’t had to use this trip so far and stuck it on my flag pole high above the MH.  Plugged it in and put my jetpack in the Wilson cradle and now I have 5 bars of 4G Lite.  That should work.  Will see when I go to publish this blog.

After that, Yuma and I took a couple of walks through the desert and then watched the sun go down.  I need to start relaxing more and exploring less.

This is the view out my front door for the next few weeks.

See you later.