J2Rolling

Desert Hot Springs, CA

October 24, 2020 – March 20, 2021

Catalina Spa & RV Resort
18800 Corkill Road
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92241

This place felt like paradise when we got there. Two aquifer-fed pools. Nice views. Lots of trails for walking. Close to Palm Springs. Best donuts in Desert Hot Springs. Lots of fresh produce (Farmer in the Dale). Downside? The Santa Ana Winds! Not sure we want to stay there again. Certainly not for 5 months.

Being Adventurous?

11/03/2020 by JJ

Being nomads demands some spirit of being adventurous. Right? I think so.

Because one ventures into a new place often. But what does it really mean to be adventurous? The image of going through ordeals, and then triumph come to my mind. What else? I am not here to answer that, but what I did not think about is how to deal with daily, mundane challenges.

This past Saturday, we arrived in Desert Hot Springs, CA. We were a little too “greedy” in trying to maximize our space on one side of the trailer – where the doors are. In doing so, we did not have sufficient space to extend our rear pullout. The water faucet was an inch too close. And we only realized it after everything else was hooked up and set up. Yikes! It was dark by now. What do we do?

Joerg wanted to hook up the trailer again and re-position it. I was tired and grumpy, just wanting to delay it to the next morning.

Being in a bad mood because of some small stuff can waste quite a lot of energy, I recognized in reflection. Does being adventurous demand flexibility in handling unexpected or mundane challenges? I try it on… I do feel better with flexibility in mind, as I think what would I like to do in this kind of situation.

To me, adjusting *mindset* like this minimizes unnecessary energy drain, and increases enjoyment along the journey. A nuanced realization.

Living in a Desert

12/11/2020 by JJ

What stood out for us so far living in a desert?
  • Roadrunners
    A roadrunner visits us daily. We don’t know if it’s always the same. Perhaps not. They are the least skiddish birds I have ever seen.
  • It’s another Sunny Day! ☀️
    Haha. And if we do have a few clouds, the sunset is always special. (I don’t get up early enough to see any sunrise.)
  • Wind! 😳
    You don’t know what Santa Ana winds are until you have experienced them. Wind gusts of >50mph are not uncommon. The first commercial wind turbine farm is only 20 minutes away. We took a tour, which was informative and funny.
  • It’s Dry!
    Humidity is usually 15 – 20% and can even go below 10%. We are charged and zap each other often. It hurts! We changed our comforter to one with a cotton cover, bought new cotton clothes, and a humidifier for the bedroom.
  • Danger! ☠️
    Everything in the desert tries to kill you, catch you, or at least hurt you. Thorns are everywhere. And they cling to you and make you uncomfortable when you hike. The snakes and scorpions are staying away from us so far. Don’t want to jinx it, though.
  • Hummingbirds
    We see them every day right outside our window, feeding on the flowers. But as soon as we pick up a camera, they fly away. One of them even hovered right in front of Joerg’s face looking at him when he was sitting outside. Joerg froze and I think he was even a little scared. Should we wear safety goggles?
  • The Pool
    It does not get any better than that. Living right on the San Andreas fault has its advantages. 2 pools fed by hot spring water. No chlorine. No odor. Pure water. Pure Luxury!
  • Dates
    I did not know dates have such different flavors! We took a tour at Sam Cobb’s Farm just around the corner. We learned so much! Date palms take 15 years to bear fruit, 20 years to be fully mature, and they can produce for over 100 years. The owner, Sam Cobb, is passionate and knowledgeable about date farming. He built a successful farm with a vision and well thought-out long term plan. His Black Gold dates are unique and very flavorful. My favorites! They are available online.

The last weeks of 2020

12/30/2020 by Joerg

It is hard to believe that we checked in to Catalina Spa and RV Resort on October 24, 2020. We have spent over 2 months here and it feels shorter. Much shorter. But we have also explored and experienced the area a lot.

  • Visited Joshua Tree National Park 6 times.
  • Explored the area around the Salton Sea, which was an “out of this world” experience. Went to Salvation Mountain and Slab City twice. Learned about Geothermal Powerplants.
  • Visited Big Bear Lake. The roads leading there are great, but the area around the lake and the town itself are very touristy and winter-sporty.
  • Visited Idyllwild. The roads are awesome! Have to do it on the motorcycle at least once. The town itself is cute. A little on the touristy side, but worth coming back to.
  • Found our favorite produce store: “Farmer in the Dale” in Desert Hot Springs. They also operate some farm stands in the area. Strawberries!!! Did you know that strawberry season never ends?
  • Explored Pioneer Town. Cute little museum town with over-priced food.
  • Bicycling in La Quinta. What a quaint little town! Want to spend more time there and the surrounding towns of Coachella and Thermal.
  • Sandra and Adrian stayed with us for a whole week!!! Even though we all worked 4 days during the week, we also had enough time to explore, relax, and enjoy good wine and food. So many good memories!
  • The Pool! We turned into “pool people”. But it has to be odorless mineral hot springs and no chlorine. Best enjoyed at night under the stars and with no one else around (unless it’s Sandra and Adrian, of course). It pays off living directly on the San Andreas Fault.
  • Countless walks in the desert. Always finding new things. Always being surprised.
  • Wind Turbines are everywhere! They say this is the second windiest place in the country. We took a self-guided tour of the wind turbine farm when Sandra and Adrian were here. Learned a lot and had fun along the way.
  • Wind! Did I mention it can be very windy here? You don’t know what Santa Ana Winds are until you have experienced them. Best enjoyed in the desert with lots of sand around you and inside a travel trailer. It rocks!
  • Bicycling. Not too many bicycle-friendly roads accessible directly from the resort. Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and La Quinta are better for bicycling. Too often we ended up on dirt roads and loose sand where we are. Did you know that road bikes are less than optimal in loose sand?
  • Palm Springs Aerial Tramway! What a surprise to find an Alpine Forest on the other side of the mountain that is so barren facing the desert.
  • Exploring some nearby RV and mobile home parks. What a contrast. What and eye-opening experience!
  • Visited the Morton Botanical Garden in Palm Springs.
  • Hiking in Indian Canyons with Sandra and Adrian.
  • Went to Scottsdale, spending the day with Felix and Kate! Hiked Lookout Mountain in Phoenix, had great conversations, good food, and hung out at the pool in Felix’ and Kate’s favorite resort.
  • Went to Parker and Lake Havasu in search of our next RV park or boon-docking site. A little disappointing. I think we are spoiled by Catalina.
  • Date Farms! No, not what you think. I’m talking about the dates you can eat. Took a tour of Sam Cobb’s date farm just around the corner from us. Learned a lot about date palms, date farming, and started enjoying different varieties of dates.

We stayed healthy through all this. Made some new friends. Ate well. Spent time outdoors – can it ever we enough? We are very lucky.

2020 Travels in Review

12/31/2020 by Joerg

Where have we been? How did we get there? It’s easy to forget when we have so many new experiences every week.
Here is a map of our 2020 locations:

  • Marked in blue: we stayed for longer than a week and worked from there.
  • Marked in yellow: just stayed overnight and moved on the next day.

Looked for RV Park. Found Boondocking Place!

01/11/2021 by Joerg

We were looking for a place to camp near the Salton Sea for a while now. And we just found it!

We went to the Salton Sea again. This time in search for a decent campground. Oasis Palms RV Park in Thermal looked ok on “paper”, so we wanted to see it on person. The park is surrounded by greenhouses mixed with solar panel fields and palm trees. It’s close to the highway. Too close. While the first impression was ok, the more we walked through it, the less we liked it. We met the owner briefly, who was very unfriendly and pretty much pushed us off the grounds. A definite NO.

We continued driving, not on the main highway, but towards the Sea, through orchards of orange trees, fields of lettuce, date farms, and greenhouses, some of which were falling apart. Everything needs to be irrigated, and the land is sectioned off by canals in addition to being a checkerboard pattern of privately owned land and Indian Reservations. Very interesting to see where some of our food is coming from.

Back on the highway, we decided to explore Salton City next. Just drove by in the past. JJ had spotted another RV park there – West Shores RV Park. So we wanted to check that out as well. The first thing we noticed when getting off the highway was that “city” is a misnomer. Yes, there were lots of streets, as if someone had really big plans for development. But not many houses. It seemed even emptier than other communities around the Sea. The RV Park was easy to find. It had a little restaurant/cafe on the side facing the Sea. A friendly place and we could envision staying there for a couple weeks or even longer. Right next to the Park was an airfield where a group of people practiced Paramotoring.

The beach was really wide and very clean. We parked a little closer to the water for a nice picnic and watched the paramotors taking off and having fun in the air.

Before heading home, we wanted to see the dry camping area on the other side of the airfield. What a treat! This was a rather large area where people are allowed to boondock. We immediately knew we have to try this out over a weekend! We will be back!!!

Views at the Campsite

02/03/2021 by JJ

One of the advantage of being nomads is that there are potential for us to choose the views from our home.

We love to pick a campsite with a good view as one of a few major criteria in selecting the site. Fortunately we have options to do it here at the Catalina Spa RV Resort. Initially I thought it is just we love the views of mountains and the pass. As we experience it here over 3 months by now, I realize that indeed each day the views are so different. It is different how mountains show up. it is different how the pass shows up.

One other most prominent one is the Sunset of each day. The sky is so different in that 10 – 15 minutes. It changes so much within that duration, and from day to day. Some day, it is intensely brilliant, some days, it is simply breathtaking. Some days, it is calm and peaceful. There are a few days clouds cover it all. Wow, picking a site with a good view pays off hugely!

People come here for vacation, and we are grateful to live here for several months. And yet, we manage to find things to complain without much difficulty.