February 3-7, 2010 – The Slabs

After saying our goodbyes to Carolyn, Pete, Dave and Kathy, we headed on down the road to the Slabs.

Leaving Quartzsite and traveling over the mountain:

Down the other side:

Crossing the Colorado:

Into California (and, of course, the Inspection Station):

 

We went thru farmlands:

to areas that looked like the moon:

Wavy Roads – that was fun in the motorhome – LOL:

The Dunes:

Crossing the Dunes:

And down the other side:

Into Farmland (and cute sheep with their babies – :-)):

We made a stop at Brawley to pick up our mail – thank you Tina.

The Chocolate Mountains – notice the smoke – bombs, yes.  This area of the Chocolate Mountains is known as the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range and it is used by the Navy and Marines for aerial bombing and live fire aerial gunnery practice:

Almost there:

Salvation Mountain:

 

We are Here – :-)):

Our site:

When we pulled in, Ken, Bob, Perry, and Erin came to greet us.  Ken and Bob we met last year so it was good to talk with them.  We stopped by to see Mary and Rich who we also met last year.  And our first evening here ended with a great chatting at the campfire.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 139 miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: SR-95; I-10

California: I-10; SR-78; SR-111; Main Street; Beal Street (Staying on RayHound Road)

To see where we are located, click on this link:
http://map.datastormusers.com/user3.cfm?user=10932

Our number is 10932.

 

 

We were here last February (2/4-5/09 and 2/9-16/09) – check out the blogs from then – lots of pictures and info. I really like being back here.  Peaceful! 

So we have been taking it easy, taking walks, building a fire pit, enjoying campfires, shopping, even taking Dusty for walks – LOL:

I don’t know if I was walking him or he was walking me – LOL!

This weekend is the Tomato Festival in Niland (~ 4 miles from Slab City).  At one point in time, Niland was the “Tomato Capital of the World”.  Sad to say it is not the case now but they still have the festival.  Saturday morning was the parade and we went to town to watch.

Our group:

The parade begins:

 

Mr. Tomato, the mascot:

This gentlemen decided to hitch a ride (with the sheriff, no less) – :-))):

Two cool motorhomes:

Leonard, the creator of Salvation Mountain:

The train:

After the parade, Andy and I went to the local Swap meet – always fun to go thru “Stuff”.  We came back early because I have not been feeling well so the rest of the day was spent napping.

We were supposed to all go to breakfast today but I am still not feeling up to par so Andy and I did not go – :-(.  I think I am just fighting some type of cold.  I do feel better than yesterday though –Yea!

By noon, I just needed to get out for a while so we took a walk to visit Cookie and Earl, who we also met last year.  It was good to see them.

Hope you all enjoyed the Super Bowl – love those commercials!

January 28- February 2, 2010 – More Quartzsite

We have been having a great time just hanging out.  The weather has been wonderful!!

Take a look at this sunset – the sky looks like it is on fire:

 

  

And we have been watching the moon rise over the mountains:

 

Isn’t that incredible.  I wish I could get a good picture of all the stars to show you – oh my!

On Thursday, Pennie and I had a girls day out and we had a great time.  We spent some time at the crystal lady in town and came out with a few purchases.   This shop is only open one week out of the year and carries Swarovski Crystals.  When we walked into the shop – oh my – crystals shining all over….  Her prices are great but she sells in bulk so Pennie and I split of few of the colors.   From there we walked over to the Big Tent area for the Craft Show.  Very disappointing – very few crafts and a lot of commercial items.  So we sat in the sun and just chatted.   Thank you, Pennie.

On Saturday there was a Car Show in the Big Tent and it was fascinating to see the cars:   Here is a sampling:

There was even some vintage trailers:

 

The Car Show and Craft Show ended on Sunday and Quartzsite and the surrounding desert is starting to empty out.  Over half the vendors from Tyson Wells and the  Main Event are gone.  We were told that in another month, the rest will be gone until next season.  And there are a LOT LESS RV’s around.

I took this picture by the Big Tent Parking area.  These are water tanks and some creative person decorated them like elephants.

Dad:

Mom:

Baby:

Aren’t they the cutest – LOL!

Since the big rain storms we had, the desert is really starting to green.  We are even starting to see some grass – WOW:

 

 

Carolyn and I on the trail:

Andy was leading the way:

Did you notice how green it is?  We think there must be some springs close to the surface near the above two pictures.  Lots of plants and birds there.  We could see the dampness of the ground but could not find the spring.

Carolyn and Pete are camped with us and their friends Dave and Kathy (who are also from New Jersey) joined us a few days ago.  So some afternoons we have been having happy hours and having some great campfires at night:

 

Isn’t this nice…

Dave, Kathy, and I listening to Carolyn – she tells great stories:

Kathy, Dave, Dave, Pete, Carolyn, Andy and Pennie:

We have had a great time with these folks and hope to see them again down the road.

We also spent some time figuring out what we will be doing over the next few months.  The last few months we have been sitting more and not doing as much sightseeing and I really miss it.  So hopefully we will be doing that before we head back to Congress for Bead Week in late March.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Slabs so stay tuned.