Niland, CA

Odometer 55064
Trip Meter 152 miles

Fountain of Youth RV Resort
Niland, CA


Time to move on.  The clarion call that we must now heed.  I have one last indulgence, one more itch to scratch.  I really like the Fountain of Youth and I must go there.  Of course, the Fountain of Youth I am referring to is the RV Resort and hot mineral springs near Niland, California along the east side of the Salton Sea.

Travel map for today's route

The fastest route is to take I-10 to Indio and then take highway 111 on down the east side of the Salton Sea, but when have you known me to take the freeway when there are blue roads that beckon?
Instead we'll take I-10 to Mesa Verde and then we'll dive off on California Route 78.  Besides, this route will take us through Glamis, another place I'd like to see.

Sand dunes near Glamis, California

As we near Glamis, we start to see this golden glow on the horizon, and for miles it gets larger and larger, until we see that it is the sun glinting off golden sand, along the whole horizon, dunes as high as hills!  Why would this excite me so much, having been in the desert for 5 months?  Well, the desert here isn't really sand, it's really a rocky place, and this- this looks like I would picture the Sahara!

The dunes are interesting because they start abruptly, last for several miles, and end just as abruptly.

A glimpse of the Salton Sea near Bombay Beach

Highway 78 ends at Brawley, and we are prepared to turn north on California highway 111, but before we do- remember in our last blog we passed up the chance to top off our fuel tank in Arizona where diesel was $2.49 a gallon?  Well, we fueled up in Brawley at $2.74- oops! that's gonna cost us about 25 cents a gallon.  That was about a $12 mistake on this top-off.  One of the advantages of having a 90 gallon fuel tank is that we can better choose when to fuel up, one of the disadvantages is that it really hurts when you goof up.  No big deal, the West coast has high fuel prices and It will be thus, for the rest of our trip home.  

A few miles north of Brawley, we begin to get glimpses of the Salton Sea and we follow that up the coast to Bombay Beach where we turn east onto Hot Mineral Springs road.  I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

Home Sweet Home FOY

The staff here at the RV park are the best, we checked in at the office where Jane chatted with us and checked to see if we were still in the computer from our last visit several years ago (we were!).  She then helped us choose a site close to the pools and spas and would have a sunset view.

Sunset from out Lanai

And there it is... an awesome sunset on this warm evening.

Two of the 6 pools available at the Fountain of Youth RV Resort

I have posted on Fountain of Youth RV Resort before, so I won't duplicate that here.  Suffice to say there are 6 different pools and spas, some are salt water, some are not, and there are varying degrees of heat in each one.

Yours truly at the hot spa

My favorite- the HOT pool, called the Lobster Pot.

The Chocolate Mountains rise above the RV resort to the east

We also like that the Resort is nestled up against the beautiful Chocolate Mountains, jagged and colorful.

Electrical socket on front of Honda

It was dark by the time I got back from the pool (the second time) and still had not looked at the Honda to see if I could determine why the signals were not working when plugged into the motorhome.  On with the head lamp and out with the mechanics mat that we always carry for such occasions.

Electrical Socket close-up showing grit

I took the socket out of the front bumper and checked continuity from the pins to the wires behind.  All checked out fine, which is good because I siliconed the back of the plug to keep out rust and corrosion.  I did notice that the socket and pins were covered in sand.  My fault for using dielectric grease on them.  I cleaned it all up and reinstalled it in the bumper.  I also checked the wire along the route to the back of the car.  I couldn't find anywhere that the wire was chafing or pinched (or melted).  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Off tomorrow for Mojave, Ca

Your Traveling Friends,

Jeff and Joan