Salton Sea

Tuesday, 29 January

 After settling up for the electricity Sprinty used for the month, Sprinty checked out of The Scenic Road RV Park in Quartzsite fairly early.  Early enough, there were no lines at the RV Pit Stop across the street.  First planned stop was Lake Tamarisk Golf Course in Desert Center, CA, about 70 miles west of Quartzsite on I-10.  As we cruised west, we noticed far less RVs on the road than we had been seeing all month.  Either they already repositioned (fancy name Class A and 5th wheels seem to use when they relocate to a new site), or just did not get as early a start.

When we arrived at Lake Tamarisk Golf Course about 8:30 PST, we saw no one out on the golf course.  Recall we had a similar experience at the beginning of the month.  As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw lots and lots and lots of golfers starting to head for the course.  Turns out, Tuesday morning is Ladies League, and the group was big enough they filled the entire nine-hole course.  We learned we could play after 12:30.  Time for Plan B.

Plan B was complicated by the lack of golf courses along our intended route, other than those in the Palm Springs Area.  Recall, we did not play golf at all while in Indio (just east of Palm Springs) earlier in the month as they are pricier than we prefer.  Drilling down, we found the Indio municipal course, an 18-hole par three that included a few holes over 200 yards.  As we had our mind up to play golf on a beautiful day (in shorts), we headed for The Lights at Indio golf course.  So named because it is lighted for night golf.

We did our typical warm up, then got in line to tee off.  The course was very busy - lots of people there just to use the practice facilities, as well lots of people playing golf.  The three groups immediately in front of us were not hitting the ball well, some hitting as many as five shots to get to the green for the 135 yard par three.  When it was our turn, Darrell hit a beautiful shot on the green.  Kris hit her tee shot well, just off the green.  We both made par.

While waiting on the tee box on the second hole, we got to watch one of the golfers in the group in front of us make a hole-in-one from 128 yards.  Darrell and Kris had to settle for landing their tee shots on the green within 20 feet of the pin and each making birdie.  And so it went - each of us hitting well and making mostly pars.  At the turn, Darrell was two over par, and Kris trailed by only one shot.  On the back, we both played well.  Darrell had honors on the day by 3 strokes.

As we neared the golf course, we took note of the Starbucks about 2 blocks from the golf course.  After golf, Sprinty took us over for Darrell to pay up.

We then turned south and drove down the eastern shore of the Salton Sea.  The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial and Coachella valleys.  The surface of the lake is at 236 feet below sea level, and the deepest point in the lake is 5 feet above the lowest point in Death Valley.  While the Colorado River has flowed into the valley off and on for millions of years, the current lake was created due to an engineering accident in 1905.  For more info, here is the Wikipedia link:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea



Bombay Beach does claim to have the Lowest Bar in the Western Hemisphere


Our campsite for the night is at the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV Resort, located south of Bombay Beach, and about 3 miles east of the Salton Sea.  While at the rally in Indio a few weeks ago, we picked up a coupon for 50% off our first stay.  The campground literature indicated it was a nice RV park, and it had favorable reviews on AllStays.  We used the coupon for a dry camping spot located at the top of the hill.  For $12.50.  As we drove along the Salton Sea towards the campground, it looked like there was going to be an awesome sunset, and Sprinty wanted to watch it from the best vantage point.  He was more than willing to give up hookups for the night to enjoy the sunset.  And the sunset did not disappoint.





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