Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, CA

We went for a drive around Salton Sea in California, a lake with an interesting history: apparently created by accident from overflow of an irrigation canal, and has been slowly shrinking as modern farming uses water more efficiently.

Here’s a map of our route, going south first:

Map route

We stopped for lunch at a Mexican diner attached to a casino, then filled up the truck gas at a station that was mostly populated by ATVs:

ATVs

The drive was just flat empty desert for most of the way south:

Desert

But with some farmland around the south side of the lake:

Farmland

We stopped at Bombay Beach, which used to be a booming tourist destination in the 1950s. Nowadays, it’s a “living ghost town”.

On the beach, there are a number of art installations:

Beach art

Food: Big Rock Pub in Indio, CA

After our day in Joshua Tree National Park, we went to the Big Rock Pub in Indio, California for dinner. As their website says:

It’s like a Hard Rock Café, only better.

The entrance:

Big Rock Pub

Some decorations within the entrance:

Decoration

The pub is actually part of a public golf course, which can be viewed from the balcony seating, where we ate:

Golf course

Me:

David

I had a glass of wine, and Jenn got a fancy cocktail:

Beverage

Jenn:

Jenn

Jenn had a pub burger and fries:

Burger and fries

I had a margherita pizza:

Pizza

I got my hat and long-sleeve shirt (and a shirt for Jenn) as it cooled down a bit. In theory I’m smiling in this picture, but it looks more grumpy than smiley:

David

Then they turned on the big fire pit next to us, and we were suddenly toasty warm:

Fire

Houses next to the golf course, with lit up trees:

Houses

Another decoration by the entrance, on the way out: a piano under the floor:

Piano

Joshua Tree National Park

Our next national park was the Joshua Tree National Park, conveniently north of our campground in Indio, California: about an hour to the west entrance (where we went in), and half an hour from the south entrance (where we came out).

While exploring the park, we tried something new: we listened to a narrated self-driving tour of the park, using an app called Action Tour Guide that worked offline (good thing, since there was no cell service in much of the park), using the phone’s GPS to track our location on a map, and play narration clips when we reached certain points. That was a nice addition to our tour, pointing out interesting places to stop, and telling stories about the history of the area, so we’ll probably do that for other places too.

Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center sign:

Joshua Tree National Park sign

Joshua Tree info in the visitor center:

Joshua Tree info

Joshua Tree National Park sign, with people posing in front of it, and a long line of cars to get in:

Joshua Tree National Park sign

It was nice that when we got near the entrance station, they were waving people with National Park passes into a bypass lane.

But a tip for anyone visiting: there would have been no line at the south entrance; much fewer people over that side of the park, but also less to see for quite a while.

Joshua trees alongside the road:

Joshua trees

We stopped at the Quail Springs picnic area for lunch. Here’s our truck by a big rock:

Rock and truck

Rock:

Rock

Joshua trees:

Joshua trees

Rock and the bench where we had a picnic lunch; if you look closely you’ll see someone rappelling down the left side:

Rock and picnic bench

More interesting rock formations:

Rock

Jenn on a rock:

Jenn on a rock

Rocks:

Rocks

Desert plants:

Joshua trees

A view of Coachella Valley from Keys View; our coach was in Indio, which is near the center of this picture, in the valley:

Valley

Selfie (or “usie”):

Jenn and David

Info sign:

Info sign

Coachella Valley:

Valley

Road through the desert:

Road

Joshua tree:

Joshua tree

Cap Rock:

Cap Rock

More interesting rocks near the road:

Rocks

We took a detour onto a dirt road (Desert Queen Mine Road):

Dirt road

Probably my favorite picture of Joshua trees:

Joshua trees

Rocks:

Rocks

We walked along a trail for a short distance, to see more interesting things:

Path

A couple of pictures of me, taken by Jenn:

David

Me taking a picture of Jenn taking a selfie (a “youie”?):

Jenn

Spiky:

Spiky

More desert plants:

Desert plants

Skull Rock:

Skull Rock

Rocks:

Rocks

Road:

Road

Desert:

Desert

Desert plants:

Desert plants

Hills:

Hills

Leaving the park via the south road:

Leaving park

Bonus; after leaving the park, we saw some hot air balloons in the sky:

Hot air balloon

Hot air balloons

Hot air balloon

Food: Mario’s Italian Cafe in Indio, CA

For a lunch (just after I got my COVID booster shot), we went to Mario’s Italian Cafe.

Jenn had Sand Dabs aliolio, and I had Medjool Date Pasta; both were delicious:

Italian food

Toilet flush switch replacement

Our coach has two toilets; an electric gravity toilet in the mid bath (that spins a ball to dump straight down into the black tank), and an electric macerating toilet in the rear bath (that uses a bunch of water to pump the waste forward to the black tank).

The mid-bath toilet has a lever on the side of the toilet: pull up to add some water (to help flush solids), and push down to flush.

However, while adding water worked fine, flushing became unreliable. Sometimes it’d work immediately, sometimes one would have to hold the lever down for several seconds.

I researched the unit, and determined that the flush switch was likely the fault. So I ordered a replacement.

Here’s the switch behind the toilet, after I pulled the insulating covers away from the pins. This switch is toggled upwards to flush by the rotation of the lever, or downwards to add water:

Toilet switch

The aforementioned lever:

Lever

I pulled the wires off the pins of the old switch, and tried connecting to the replacement switch (hanging down); it worked perfectly:

Trying replacement switch

I wore my headlamp to see behind the toilet:

David with headlamp

Having determined that the new switch worked, I worked on removing the old switch. It was mounted to the porcelain toilet with three screws under the handle:

Under handle

Getting those screws out and back in again was the hardest thing, since the toilet was so close to the wall. I tried my drill with an angle bit, but it was too close for that, too:

Drill with angle bit

I managed it by unscrewing the hard way — holding a screw bit in pliers, for leverage:

Unscrewing the hard way

(I need to get a short screwdriver!)

Another look at the switch:

Testing new switch

Replaced the handle; it works!

Replaced handle

An assortment of tools for this repair:

Tools

It was very satisfying to fix this. Things break in even the best RVs; they’re an earthquake on wheels. Over time I’m sure I’ll build up new skills in repairing and modifying things, just like I did in the homestead. Just a new set of skills.

Food: Macario’s Grill in Indio, CA

For a dinner in Indio, we went to Macario’s Grill, a Mexican restaurant.

Jenn in their outdoor patio:

Jenn in outdoor patio

Margaritas and chips:

Margaritas and chips

Wall decorations:

Wall decorations

A Fiesta Platter and Carnitas a la Michoacana; all delicious, perhaps in the top three Mexican restaurants we’ve tried:

Food

As a bonus, some live music at the table after we’d finished:

Music

Shadow Hills RV Resort

Our last stop in California before heading into Arizona for the rest of the year, Shadow Hills RV Resort in Indio, down the road from Palm Springs:

Shadow Hills RV Resort info

Resort map:

Shadow Hills RV Resort map

Our campsite, before Jenn brought the coach over; it’s a back-in site, with another coach backed in behind. A fairly common style, and not too bad, since the back of the other coach is effectively a privacy wall. Plus these sites have nice large hedges:

Campsite

Our truck and coach in the site:

Campsite

Jenn in the campsite. We also just bought a propane fire pit (just in time to head into even hotter weather), and cushions for our zero gravity chairs:

Jenn in campsite

The office:

Office

While doing my traditional walk around the resort, I spotted a hot air balloon off in the distance:

Hot air balloon

This resort has a couple of ponds, with ducks in one; it always makes me happy to see ducks:

Ducks in a pond

Hills in the background, a pond in the foreground, and a glimpse of our coach in the middle:

Hills, our coach, pond

Two ponds:

Two ponds

Pond

Seating areas:

Seating areas

More pond angles:

Pond

Stream and bridge:

Stream and bridge

Ducks and pond:

Ducks and pond

Bees! We were amused by this sign:

Bees!

Pond and Airstream trailers, available for rent:

Pond and Airstream trailers

Airstream trailers

A cabin, also available for rent:

Cabin

Pool area, that’s actually open:

Pool area

Horseshoes, and our coach beyond:

Horseshoes, our couch

We put out our awning to shade our chairs:

RV awning

Me editing a timelapse video outside on my MacBook Pro:

MacBook Pro

Video

Video: timelapse of coach driving from Bakersfield, CA to Indio, CA

A timelapse of driving the coach 225 miles from Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, California to Shadow Hills RV Resort in Indio, California. With music!

Travel from Bakersfield to Indio, CA

We departed the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, California, and headed to Indio, California (near Palm Springs).

Here’s the map route; a six hour drive in our coach. The default route was down CA-395 to I-15, but when examining the route, I saw very heavy traffic just before I-15 reached CA-138, so we decided to take a different route to bypass the worst of that:

Map route