Quartzsite - Leaving

The past few days have been pretty busy. Sunday afternoon we drove up to Lake Havasu again to do some shopping and then down to Parker and the Bluewater Casino and Hotel. We had planned to spend my birthday and Valentines day there, but we both had colds so we postponed it till now. We had a nice dinner at their best restaurant and played in their indoor pool. They even have an indoor waterslide. All the rooms had balconies that faced the river. It was a nice place.

Monday morning we drove back down to Quartzsite and filled up with fuel at Arizona prices since California is really proud of their diesel. While filling I got a call from the RV parts shop in Yuma that they had received the part I had been waiting for. So, we drove the truck back to our campsite and jumped on the scooter for a round trip to Yuma.

Tuesday I installed the new grey water waste valve. It was a tough job that had to be done while laying on my back under the trailer. There was not enough room to work and it was not a fun fix. To make it worse the weather turned on us. The biggest problem was wind and blowing sand. Laing on your back under a trailer in the middle of the desert in a sand storm is not the place you want to be. After installing the part I got the trailer ready to travel. That included lowering the solar panels and putting other things away.

The wind continued to blow hard all night and it turned colder as well. This morning, still in the wind, we hooked up and headed out with the trailer in tow. The winds continued to blow and sand drifted across the highway. We went south through Yuma and had planned to stop at another LTVA near Holtville. There is a natural hot springs there we wanted to check out. As we neared the area we decided we did not want to spend another night in these winds so we continued on, over the mountains and down into San Diego, then north to San Onofre.

We had called last week to confirm that they were expecting us the first of March, but I think someone got their signals crossed. The other camp hosts are still here in our favorite spot and will be until the end of March. Fortunately there are two host sites so we are in place, but not sure if we are supposed to be here. We will get together with the rangers tomorrow to see if they have something for us to do this month, or if they want us to go away and come back next month. I suspect they will find something for us to do, but if not we will go find a place to hang out.

It's nice to be back in familiar surroundings and nice to not have sand blowing everywhere, although it will take a few days to get used to the noise again. Since the park is only open for day use during the winter it is much more quiet in the park than when we were here before, but the highway, train and Marines are just as noisy as ever. And, of course, there is no one in the park at night except for the camp hosts and the occasional patrolling ranger. Best of all, the view out our living room window is really something special.