We are alive and well in Phoenix again. Our January loop took us from (too close to) Los Angeles, CA, recovering from our solar tragedy through the wonderful hospitality of Marie, John's niece, who lives in Corona with her family.
We left Corona and braved the wind tunnel of the desert of Palm Springs again, this time with the wind at our backs. Surviving the LA freeways, without getting killed, we arrived at Sultan Sea just in time for a wonderful sunset.
After dinner we decided a walk on the sea shore was a nice way to end a day of driving. The crunch of the crusty sand began to feel just too crunchy. It was just weird. Getting very close to the sand to investigate in the dark we saw it was thousands of dried fish! We quickly found a nice walk around the paved roads of the campground to be much more enjoyable. The Sultan Sea is drying up, hence all the dead fish. And the stench the next morning in the heat was awful. Although we met some really nice people there, we couldn't stand the smell so off we went.
We arrived at Highline Hot Springs east of El Centro, CA the next evening to a nice hot soak and cheap camping at a primitive BLM area. The spring's facilities were volunteer created and maintain primarily by British Columbian snow birds. They have done an immense amount of work, pouring cement pools, trimming and cleaning with no help from the government. Thanks to all the volunteers.
The downside is the spring is 30 yards from I-8, within 1/4 mile of a geothermal generating plant and next to the air force training grounds. So, the noise kept the area from being truly ideal.
From there we wandered east to Yuma, AZ. With the recommendation from some folks at the springs found the good deals for fuel, food and free camping for one night.
We made it to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument the next night. What a beautiful part of the Sonoran Desert! A wide variety of cactus and thanks to the rain in early January, a lot of wild flowers were blooming! And everything was so green. We stayed an extra few days touring and biking throughout the area. And we finally found a hood ornament for the bus!
