Quartzsite to Palm Springs

We intended to spend time with the Escapee Boomers for Thanksgiving south of Joshua Tree National Park.   However, when we departed Bullhead City a significant rain storm was predicted for Thanksgiving.  We were concerned about the possibility of getting stuck due to the mud.  Since some desert areas become mud pits in the rain, we decided to extend our overnight boondock at Quartzsite thru the Thanksgiving weekend.

Most of the desert BLM areas around Quartzsite are well packed gravel where mud is not an issue. Where we parked near Dome Rock was pure gravel where you could probably drive cement truck without getting stuck.

It rained mostly all day on Thanksgiving with many areas experiencing flash flooding.  We were very confortable with no worries.  Although we did not have pot luck with the Boomers; we enjoyed a nice steak dinner and oyster casserole on the day before Thanksgiving.

During our stay at Dome Rock there was an event called the Boondocking Bash. There were a lot of younger nomads camped in all manner of vehicles - vans, small RVs, converted busses, some 5th wheels and a few class A coaches.

We stayed at Dome Rock departing for Palm Springs on Monday, Dec 2nd.  We topped our fuel and propane tanks in Quartzsite so as to avoid the high California taxes.  It was a short 3 hour drive to Palm Springs.  We stopped at the post office in Indio where we had several general delivery mail and Amazon packages waiting for pickup.

Thee Thousand Trails park in Palm Springs has fairly densely packed sites, is otherwise pleasant and well maintained.  We had stayed in this park during our winter of 2017 travels.

We've basically chilled out for the week long stay.  We did some thrift store shopping, and went out to eat a couple of times.

We found an interesting and weird  art museum called Robolights.  Unfortunately it was raining during our visit and the museum did not appear to be open to the public.

One of our reasons for visiting Palm Springs was the Indio Tamale Festival.  The festival encompasses a couple of city blocks in downtown Indio.  We had attended the Date Festival at the nearby county fairgrounds in 2017.

The festival had dozens of tamale vendors (many claiming awards for previous years).  We chose one who was a number one winner of the 2018 festival. We bought two tamales for each of us (chicken/cheese, chicken/jalopena and pork/beef). The pork/beef combo was the 2018 winner and was the winner with us.

There were also four stages with various live music and one stage with a juggler performing.  Besides the music and food, there was the predictable assortment of  tourist style crafts and art.

The next day we had planned to ride the Palm Springs tramway which climbs about 2000 feet to the Mt San Jacinto state park.  The day, however, was overcast and the ride would not have been very visual.  After taking Mya for her annual physical at Banfields and doing a little shopping, we broke camp and headed south toward Yuma, AZ. 

The Imperial Sand Dunes

After a 3 hour drive we stopped for lunch and refueled at the Yuma Sams Club.   About 45 minutes west on I-10 we found a BLM boondock area about 2 miles south of Wellton, AZ. 

The site was hard packed sand along an irrigation canal.  There were about six other rigs scattered about a 50 acre flat area.  It was very quiet with our the nearest neighbor  about 70yds away.  The cellular signal was very strong allowing us to stream TV over the internet and binge watch Youtube videos.

The next morning we drove about 3 hours east to Tucson.  Enroute a passing semi threw a rock shattering our passenger side window.  Fortunately, only the outer layer of the double-pane window was broken.  The single interior pane remained intact.

We checked into the RV park at Davis-Montham AFB.  We paid for a eight day stay planning to refill our prescriptions at the base pharmacy.

Bullhead City and Oatman

After spending a few days at Pahrump, we returned to the Las Vegas area intending to see the Nellis AFB air show.  We stayed one day in the Lake Mead national recreation area near Government Wash.  Although quiet and isolated, we changed our mind and made reservation for a week at the Ridgeview RPI park at Bullhead City, Arizona.  We refueled at the Costco in Las Vegas and arrived at Bullhead City on November 14th.

Boondock near Lake Mead

We stayed at Ridgeview during our 2017 snowbird trip.  The park is near the Bullhead City airport and overlooks the many casinos on the Nevada side of the Colorado River.

The historic village of Oatman is only 14 miles away on the original route 66.

We visited Oatman for one afternoon to enjoy the tourist shops and the many feral donkeys that roam the town's streets.  Although picturesque, the streets reek of donkey dung.

The town, once a gold mining center, is now devoted only to tourism. The donkeys will beg for food if they see you carrying any sort of bag.

After a week's stay we'll next head south for Thanksgiving with the Escapees Boomers group.

Death Valley 49ers Encampment - Twenty Mule Team

Photo From Wikipedia

Death Valley was the location of a number of mining operations.  The most famous mining effort was the Borax mine near Furnace Creek.  From 1883 to 1889 borax was scraped from the valley floor, and loaded into wagons.  Mules were used to pull the wagons some 80 miles out of the valley.  The Twenty Mule team wagons were made famous by the television series "Death Valley Days" sponsored by Twenty Mule Team Borax and narrated by none other than Ronald Reagan.

 Annually, during the 49ers Encampment the mule train is assembled in a parade to the borax mine.

I got good pictures of the Mule Team at the mine on the second days parade. 

This year the wagons have been rebuilt with new wood faithfully mirroring the original construction.

We finally took the obligatory picture of the entrance sign during our departure from Death Valley on November 10th.  After over 10 days of boondocking we settled into the RPI park in nearby Pahrump, NV for several days. 

Death Valley 49ers Encampment - Dantes Point and The Wagon Train

Dantes Point is a mountain peak on the East side of Death Valley with an awesome view of the southern section of the valley directly above Bad Water Basin.

Dantes Point was closed for road construction during our 2017 visit.

As a part of the 49ers Encampment there is a group who do a wagon train journey into the park camping and traveling by horsedrawn wagon and dressing in period clothing.  The Escapees Boomers and the Solo groups were invited to have a pot luck dinner at one of the wagon train camps.

The wagon train members cooked various dishes in dutch ovens.  The Escapees also brought food to the potluck.

After queing up and loading our plates from all the circled wagons.  We fed our faces on lawn chairs around a large bonfire.

When the dinner was over, a quartet of musicians entertained us around the fire with a lot of fun cowboy songs and fiddle music.