Post # 2 from the world of the newest rookie at blogging and RVing. This past weekend, March 7-10, we drove our 26 foot travel trailer out to Borrego Springs which is 86 miles south of Palm Springs. This is a desert town and is surrounded by Anza-Borrego State Park which is home to tons of off-roading and dry camping. In fact, when you drive out there you will notice a lot of campers just camping out in the wild desert with no buildings or paved roads. Anza-Borrego is also home to desert wildflowers which bloom every year but some a lot more than others. This year, 2019, happens to be a super bloom according to experts in those sort of things.
We camped at Leapin’ Lizard RV Ranch Thursday night in Ocotillo Wells before moving onto Borrego Springs. We got there at 10 pm after 4 hours of nasty L.A. traffic. We didn’t even unhitch the trailer as we just parked, slept, used their showers and then left at 9 in the morning. Leapin’ Lizard was definitely affordable at $40 a night. You definitely feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere as there’s no stores anywhere nearby. The dog park is the same desert your trailer sits in except there’s a fence. The sites are decent size and separated by thin, desert trees. The bathrooms were very clean. I would not recommend this place unless you need a one day spot like we did or you love desolation.
The rest of the weekend we camped at the Springs at Borrego RV Resort which is 19 miles north of Leapin’ Lizard in the town of Borrego Springs. The big plus is that you’re in some semblance of a town with a handful of stores and a few restaurants. Apparently two years ago, 2017, there was a super bloom of wildflowers and the town was completely unprepared for the amount of people that showed up. I was told by a fellow RVer that the town ran out of toilet paper and some restaurants ran out of food. Crazy to think that this would happen in 2017, but fear not, the town was more than ready this go around in 2019.
The campground is one mile from the small downtown. It has a 9 hole golf course running around it. It also has a big pool with a jacuzzi as well as two dog parks (with grass and poop bags), and a tennis court. It’s a pretty fancy RV place and you pay for it as it is $90 a night in March. I will say compared with Leapin’ Lizard, it definitely is a “you get what you pay for” kind of thing. Although I still think $90 is way too much. $65 a night should be what they charge you. Some sites are pull through and some are back in but either way, there is plenty of room to maneuver whatever size RV you have.
The one negative is the night gate. For some unexplainable reason, they have a wood arm that prevents you from entering the campground after 7 pm. You’re already in the middle of nowhere, so it seems pointless. The problem is that the code to punch in doesn’t always work, so you’re sitting out there re-punching in the number a million times hoping one of those punches is the one that will work. We weren’t the only one with a problem with it, so it’s not just me.
Other than that, I have nothing but great things to say about the place. It is kept in pristine condition. The campground hosts are always tidying up the unused spots and picking up any loose trash. The bathrooms were spotless much like Leapin’ Lizard, however the difference being that the bathrooms at the Springs were individual rooms and there’s plenty of them. One bummer is that you can’t have campfires there unless you rent a small, propane firepit from them for $15. However, with this place being a “dark sky” area, no need for fire as the stargazing is truly awesome.
Friday afternoon we spent driving around the entire Salton Sea. It was something on my California bucket list. Not the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hollywood sign, but still one of those random things I felt compelled to do at least once in my life. On this 130 mile journey around the Salton Sea, we stopped at a few weird, eclectic sights. One was the International Banana Museum. A tiny store connected to a liquor store in the middle of nowhere on the east side of the sea. This place has only been in existence for 7 years. The owner, who we met there, his family has owned the liquor store for 50 years, and one day he decided to start this banana idea to help get more visitors. It’s a 5 minute visit at best, but I will say, there was quite a lot of random banana stuff to check out. We thought it was worth a picture outside the front of the store and to buy a chocolate-banana shake which was fantastic, but if you miss it, I wouldn’t worry about it.
The next thing we did was visit Salvation Mountain.
Salvation Mountain was begun in the mid-80’s by Leonard Knight who wanted to share his message that God is Love. It’s just outside the tiny town of Niland, again on the east side of the sea. It was well worth the drive around the sea. Salvation Mountain is a small hill maybe as high as 50 feet with various religious sayings painted with latex paint. Surprisingly, we also saw Japanese tourists taking photos as if they were visiting the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hollywood sign. It was pretty cool that this man’s personal mission had reached tourists outside of L.A. people like myself wanting to see a sort of local artwork.
After that, we went and checked out the mud volcanoes of Niland which were closer to the sea. A big pass on this. Waste of time as we saw what looked to be 7 foot high ant hills. We also checked out the Sonny Bono Wildlife Preserve which was 5 minutes away from the famous mud volcanoes. This also was a waste of time. A small building with info and then a deck to look out towards the west and the Salton Sea, however, you can’t see anything. A big pass on this as well.
Friday night we decided to blow off cooking and ate at Carlee’s which is in the main part of town. It was packed. The place has an old early 80’s small town feel to it and that night they had an acoustic guitar singer who played any classic song you could think of. Great atmosphere and good food to boot.
Saturday we spent driving around the outskirts of town to check out the wildflowers. We started off at the north end of DiGiorgio Road which was the same street our campground was on. There were a lot of yellow flowers with a sprinkle of purple.
From there we went out to state road 22 between mile markers 32 and 35. On the north side of the highway were gorgeous purples, sprinkled with some yellows and an occasion white flower. Obviously my flower knowledge is extensive. At one point, we drove off the road and up a small hill where we took some photos and simply just sat there for half an hour looking out across the desert valley floor. I looked at my wife and said “this is one of those moments I’ll never forget” and it was.
We spent our happy hour Saturday afternoon grabbing a few bottles of wine and pulling our camping chairs out in the campground street next to our camper to watch the sunset go down over the San Ysidro Mountains west of Borrego Springs. It was magnificent. No TV, no internet, no cell phone, just some good red wine, some pistachios, and staring at the mountains, the clouds and the sun setting. A fantastic Saturday night to us.
Overall, we would come out to this part of the desert in Borrego Springs again, and we’d stay at the Springs at Borrego. At this campground, we saw several get togethers among several RVers as if they were meeting from various places to hang out at Borrego Springs. I admit, I admire them. My wife and I just turned 50, and as much as we love RVing, we don’t have any friends that RV, so we’ve been going by ourselves. Hopefully, someday, we’ll have a good group of people to join up at various RV campgrounds. Anybody looking for the same thing, hit us up especially if you’re from L.A..
Travel Tails 