A little over 8 years ago, during our very first year of RV life, we were searching for a place to winter in southern California so we could visit my sister, Kathy, and her husband, Leo, in the Rancho Mirage area near Palm Springs. We quickly figured out that renting a space in the area for a couple of months was much more expensive than we wished to pay for a parking spot. So we broadened our horizons and headed a bit further south to what the internet ad promised was a desert Utopia at the base of the Chocolate Mountains overlooking the scenic Salton Sea. The Fountain of Youth Spa and RV Resort! Just the name, the name was calling us, the Fountain of Youth. So we took a turn south from Interstate 10 out past the farms and fields, citrus and date orchards, vineyards and small communities.
Then a few miles down the road reality hit! The road seemed to develop dips and bumps as we drove, the 5th wheel was pitching back and forth, side to side, and we could visualize all the damage inside our rig as doors and drawers were thrown open and all of our belongings scattered. I slowed way down as we entered a stretch of absolutely nothing but mud, rocks, railroad tracks, and a really bad smell coming off the beaches to our right. The sky was so smoggy and hazy that we could barely see the mountains that we thought were close by. I knew by the odometer that we were getting close to our destination when we caught the first sight of the little community known as Bombay Beach.
When we got close it was an Oh-My-God moment as we were able to get a good look at this apocalyptic wreck of a town that could easily be a set for a Mad Max movie. I was having very serious thoughts about turning the rig around right then and there. But it was getting late, and if nothing else, morbid curiosity got the better of us and we continued on to the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV park. The roads didn’t get any better, in fact they got worse, but we made it and with what is now eight years of reflection (and repeat visits) – so very glad we did.
The History of the Fountain of Youth dates back to 1938 when construction workers, who were working on the American Canal (which runs right behind the park), needed a water source for the concrete required to build the canal. When they drilled the wells, the water they found was full of minerals and way too hot to use. So they built settlement and cooling ponds for the water which they left behind once they were finished. After World War II, work was started on improving a nearby highway system and the left over cooling ponds were rediscovered and used by the highway construction workers for a good “soak” after a hard days work. The word about this therapeutic soak spread quickly and by the late 1950’s people from all over the country were coming to camp by the pools.
So as with any attraction in this country, a couple of folks saw an opportunity to make some money and the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV Resort was born.
This little fountain represents the whole meaning of the Fountain of Youth – it’s in the central plaza of this little winter haven and is actually the third well drilled here. It produces hot artesian mineral water at 131 degrees Fahrenheit (or 55 degrees Celsius) flowing at 600 gallons (or 2,271 liters) per minute. It is the main source for the most wonderful mineral spa nicknamed the “Lobster Pot” (which I use as often as I can). This same water is also used to heat the pools, showers and laundry rooms after running it through titanium heat exchangers. For those of you that really want to know what’s in the water they do have a complete analysis posted nearby.
Today, the Fountain of Youth has 835 full hookup RV sites (or in Canadian - 835 full hookup sites) mixed with semi-permanent dwellings (some which you can rent). Two pools, with one being a salt water pool, four spas, with my favorite being “the Lobster Pot”. Two steam rooms, a couple of rec halls, their own post office, cafe, beauty shop, convenience store, etc., etc., etc.
Then there are the activities that range from cruises out of San Diego (transportation provided) to anything or hobby you wish to do (haven’t seen a tiddley winks painting club though). My main interests lay with the biking/mountain biking bunch appropriately named the “FoyKers” (which stands for Fountain of Youth Bikers, if you want the clean version) and the other group called the “Old Spokes” are the mountain trail bikers. Over the years a couple of the guys have made about 15 miles worth of technical mountain bike single track trails out in the nearby desert and hills.
Linda is involved with the biking also but has additional interests of the various hobbies, line dancing, stretch and strength classes, pool exercise, geocaching, and just plain socializing. I have also started a craft beer tasting session on a regular basis with the FoyKers which requires that each member host a late afternoon event every once in a while with a single unique craft brew. So far that has gained quite the support, bikers, no matter from which country, do like their beer!
The park does have nice facilities with amenities galore but the real reason we return here are the people. We have made many friends – many good friends - that keep drawing us back. There are many nicer parks, many closer to civilization, many that are much more scenic, but this one is unique. If you want to be 40 miles or more from anything civilized, surrounded by survivalist rundown towns and abandoned home sites, tucked up next to a Naval bombing and shooting range (we feel the blasts and hear the shooting!), on or really near the San Andreas Fault (we get “shaken not stirred”), and the Border Patrol outnumber the actual residents, and similar to other businesses, the rates increase every year! - not to mention the Salton Sea which is shrinking at an incredible rate and has massive fish kills each year (The beaches are not sand, they are made up of dead fish bones and dried up barnacles) - then this is the place for you! We personally love it – we are a hardy bunch.
Between all the socializing and activities, we have had an opportunity to visit the local attractions over the years and have altered our initial opinions of them from “nasty” and “bizarre” to a more moderated “eclectic” or “unique”. It is true – if you get exposed to enough weird crap you really do get used to it.
A few short miles and back trails across the desert is a little rise of wind eroded hills called the “Bat Caves”. These little caves look like some old dried up dinosaur bones stuck into the hill and then partially buried. They seem to have a certain draw for the winter residents as there are roads and trails cut through the desert from many directions to get there. Yes, they do have bats!
Not too far away from us is Joshua Tree National Park. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act, it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua Trees or Yucca Brevifolia, for those of you who prefer Latin, and it is native to the park. It is a fairly large park and covers a land area of 790,636 acres (3,199.59 km2). The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park.
There are quite a few critters that have their homes in Joshua Tree. The birds, lizards, and ground squirrels are most likely to be seen because they like their pictures taken and are largely active during the day. But, it is at night that the interesting desert animals come out to roam. Mostly nocturnal, these animals include: snakes, bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, coyotes, and the dreaded black-tailed jackrabbits. (There is nothing as scary as a P-O’d jackrabbit!)
Head north from FOY, towards Chiriaco Summit, on Interstate 10 you will run into the General Patton Memorial Museum. I was very interested to visit this place because my Dad, Douglas, served under Patton for a while during World War II.
If you get all of your information about Patton from the 1970 movie of the same name, you know this: he had pearl-handled revolvers; he cursed and swore; he was the only WWII American general feared by the Germans; he channeled past warrior lives (he believed he was a reincarnated warrior) into his battle strategies; and he had serious anger management issues.
There's much more to the real George S. Patton, but you just can't help straining it through the filter of George C. Scott's scene-chewing portrayal. So it's a shock, for instance, to find out that the real Patton had a high, rather squeaky, voice. (Dad never told me that!)
A statue of a helmeted Patton stands in front of the American Flag, at his feet is a tank tread, and his bull terrier – William, the Conqueror, aka "Willie". The museum grounds also feature Patton's Christian altar, made of stone and facing the desert and mountains. (Which is also a virtual geocache.) 
Inside are several rooms of exhibits and a half hour film on US desert warfare training (which returned to this part of California right behind the RV park at the Naval Bombing range to simulate Afghanistan and Iraq conditions – they train the Navy Seals there). The best souvenir is reported to be .50 caliber machine gun bullets fashioned into key chains. (No, we did not buy one).
We had the opportunity to meet the legend Leonard Knight in 2006 as he was busy painting and repainting his bright Biblical messages on the sides of Salvation Mountain. Down on the southeast side of the Salton Sea, near the little town of Niland, his mountain pokes up into the bright sun. We were the only visitors there at the time and he gave us a private and very enthusiastic tour of his creation. Of all the tours we have had around the world – some at incredible and historical locals – this is one that we will always remember. We went from location to location, vehicle to vehicle, through the piles of paint, mud, hay and mixing pits with Leonard enthusiastically explaining every step and the history of each along the way. At the time he was in his early 80’s and we had a hard time keeping up with him and his passion for this place he made.
Leonard was a classic lone wolf dreamer, intent with a passion for completing his vision. He was extremely friendly, welcoming all who visited. He slept in the Salvation Truck, a decorated vehicle with a house on the back. The truck, like the mountain, is lettered with Biblical quotations and a large "REPENT" warning. The sight of Salvation Mountain -- his three story tall, 100-foot wide riot of concrete, adobe and paint -- greeted him each morning.
February 10, 2014: Leonard Knight was reported to have passed away – his Salvation Mountain still stands and is being preserved and cared for by a local foundation set up to care for his eclectic and weirdly wonderful creation.
The beaches on the Salton Sea are a rather gross affair with garbage, abandoned marinas and parks, fish skeletons, dried barnacles, and birds trying to pick off what is left over of the dead things. Not to mention it is rather rank! Because of the constant evaporation, it is said that the Salton Sea is six times saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
South of the park, near the bottom of the Salton Sea, is a geothermal mixture of mud, ash and water that pleasantly burps, croaks and spits little globs of mud at you. Welcome to the Mud Pots! The Mud Pots are near the town of Calipatria and are formed in geothermal areas where there is water pushing the ash or mud up to the surface forming mini volcanoes. This is a virtually undiscovered area where one can get up close and personal as the mud pots burp, gurgle and croak without a sign to mark their presence and without a fence to protect them. When they are really active it is awesome!
This area is on the San Andreas Fault and there are groups of power generating stations in the area using geothermal techniques to generate electrical power. On cool days you can see the steam coming from the cooling towers from miles away. Pretty cool! (no pun intended!)
The FoyKers are a diverse bunch of bikers from different parts of the continent that meet each year down at the Fountain of Youth. The members change every once in a while but the objective is always the same – pleasant and casual bike rides throughout the local area. We have our favorite rides and have started annual group rides such as the Joshua Tree to Mecca ride, Stone Hedge, Shoe Tree, (and the underwear tree) Fig Farm, etc.
We participated in our first annual FOY Christmas parade this year. We got all of the bikes rigged with lights on the wheels and each of us donned a Santa hat and happily peddled around the route wishing all a “Merry Christmas” and throwing out a few beads and candy canes along the way.
There are no signs leading to Slab City. But as you are heading south deep into the desert, take a left at the little town of Niland, CA. Go past Salvation Mountain, which I spoke of earlier and which serves as an entry and guardian of this place called Slab City - the last free place in America. For years, a rather eclectic and diverse group of people have been drawn to the abandoned Marine base, following the tire tracks of countless RVs, trailers, vans, and campers - you pass a landscape of the vehicles that have taken root there, their tires now soft and rotting on the desert floor.
Slab City gets its name from the numerous concrete foundations that dot the land, the only reminder of Camp Dunlap, a World War II Marine artillery training base. The state is somewhat of an absentee landlord of this 600-acre patch. Population estimates are anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand people with the high point being around the year-end holidays. The state still owns the land, and the people living in Slab City are technically "squatters" but the government has left the settlement alone. There are no services, so the state is not spending any money to keep the place up.
There's no running water, no power lines, no sewage service, and no trash pickup -which can give the place a look that makes a Mad Max movie set (aka Bombay Beach) look civilized. Throughout the area rusted bicycles, bottles, cans, and box springs peek through small mountains of twisted metal and garbage. Everything you need to survive, from propane to water, you need to buy or bring with you. The snowbirds made up one of the first communities here years ago, mostly retirees that flocked here in the winter. In fact, Low Road (one of the roads in Slab City) gets its name from a club called ‘Loners on Wheels’.
As the spring moves along and the desert flowers start blooming, the temperatures will start to rise and in May can reach close to 120 degrees here - that's when the snowbirds and temporary residents will depart. And then only the rattlesnakes, scorpions and Slab City's most hardy residents will remain.
Just to the west of here on the other side of the Salton Sea and close to the town of Borrego Springs is the artwork of Ricardo Breceda. It is another of those rather “unique” things you run into around here. At last count there was roughly 130 of these metal sculptures scattered around the area and as you can see they are quite large (that is Linda standing by the serpent) - a road actually goes through it near the tail.
Ricardo seemed to like the old critters like the giant bird, Aiolornis, camels, the Columbian Mammoth, the elephant-like Gomphothere, and the Sabertooth Cat (Oreo’s ancient relatives). The fossils of all these animals have been found nearby in some of the most extensive and well-preserved paleontology sites in all of North America.
Ricardo’s work is not restricted to just those animals that roamed here in ancient times; his sculptures include the history and culture of the area, the desert environment, and some just pure fantasy. If you get a chance it’s worth a visit.
The Wisdom of “Oreo”
Oreo - our 15 year old Tom Cat, has lived and traveled with us for quite a few years. He likes being part of the Blog and will over time provide a few purr-fect bits of wisdom and cats eye view observations for all the blog readers out there as well as a few off-paw comments about the antics of his pride members and life on the road.
Tarantulas
My female pride member doesn’t like these giant, hairy spiders sneaking around and crawling by our house. So since she feeds me (I’m special) I keep an eye out for these guys for her. If I miss one and she happens to see it she goes into a frenzy that my male pride member calls the spider dance and I really have to scamper to keep from getting stepped on! This handsome (at least I think so) and mostly harmless male tarantula was out searching for a suitable mate when my male pride member encountered him on one of the bike trails in the area. From what I hear on the catnip vine most of these excursions don’t normally end well with their search ending as lunch for an owl, hawk or coyote. Even if they make it through the lunch line and find a mate – he may end up as an after sex meal for the lady Tarantula that he searched so hard for. Just can’t please those women can we guys?
These guys are the most notorious of the Spider family and are also the biggest. They have a body length of 3 to 4 inches or a little larger and are pretty aggressive looking, but that's where it ends, in looks. They can sting you but it's mild like a bee sting. Go figure – the biggest, meanest looking spider around is nothing but a wuss.
Enough about bugs! I need to go find my female pride member – I’m hungry!
Oreo
One of the more spectacular things that we absolutely love about this area is the amazing sunsets, and occasionally an outstanding sunrise, – words cannot do them justice!
As we look to the holiday season and the new year, I have a tendency to look at my lovely spouse, and occasionally my reflection in the mirror, and see the patina of life in our faces with all the adventures and misadventures, good times and bad, friends and family, and of holidays past. Each of those little lines represent very precious memories that are extremely light and easy to carry in our life of travel.
To you – our family and friends, you bring the sparkle to our eyes, the smile to our faces, and those precious memories that are so easy to carry.
This is wishing you the very best Christmas ever and a most wonderful and adventure filled New Year.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
