After waiting out 2″ of heavy rain on the west coast we took the opportunity to escape to the low desert as soon as it let up.
The trip from Ventura County into the desert involved traveling on some of the busiest interstates in the country. But we missed most of the typical stop and go traffic by traveling mid day and staying out of city centers.
Once crossing the Banning/Beaumont Pass we drifted down into the low desert and the land of wind mills. This is an amazing sight if you haven’t seen it before and one that can mesmerize the driver if not careful.
After the tense drive we decided we needed a good soak and spent the night parked outside the Desert Hot Springs Spa and Resort in the town of Desert Hot Springs. For $7 you can dry camp in the parking lot and soak in the pools all day. To say the least we were very relaxed after a long soak.
The next morning we were off to Anza Borrego State Park but not before a quick stop to meet the Technomadia folks camped in their vintage 1961 bus at the Sam’s Family Spa. Chris and Cheri are the gurus of the latest in RV media http://www.technomadia.com and we hope to meet up with these folks again somewhere in our future travels.
After skirting the Salton Sea we turned west towards Borrego Springs. The first few miles was nothing but an off road park with hundreds of ATV’s and dune buggies racing up and down every hill.
Once we entered the park the dune riders disappeared and the badlands began. Major erosion was in all directions, the badlands are a great visual story of how the earth formed during eons of wet periods.
Boondocking in the desert has been high on our list of “to do” so we turned off on a nondescript dirt road and headed for Clark Dry Lake. There were several motorhomes parked on the flat desert plain as we went further towards the dry lake.
Finally we found a large area where we could set up and the dogs could run to their hearts content. With more rain in the forecast we looked for a site we think is out of the flash flood zone (keep you posted)
Hiking onto the dry lake was fun in cloudy weather but when the clouds disappear the pups need to stay in the shade. Long haired Mt. dogs were never designed for the desert.
We want to be back in Ventura County for Christmas so for the next few days we plan on moving to other campgrounds within the park to experience all that it has to offer.
keep you posted…..
gone with the dogs 
We are owners of a Solera now. We will be using your adventure post to plan some of our future trips. Can you share where you purchased and what type of dog pen you use and where you store it on the vehicle? Are there any links to the sway bar and other improvements you made to your Solera? Thanks so much for guiding the way with your bog. I have only read a few but I will read them all.
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Congratulations on your new Solera!
We use the dog fencing that is typically used at dog shows called x-pen, in fact thats where we bought ours, it is sometimes cheaper when buy them from the vendors at dog shows.
The sway bar came from Helwig but…..I have had problems with it moving/knocking when crossing uneven curbs etc. I plan on replacing it this summer with a Roadmaster version…better mounts.
Our Solera has driven the Alaskan Hwy 3 times now with “0” problems.
Enjoy reading the rest of the posts and watching the videos we had a blast putting them together this winter.
If you have any more questions email me.
thanks, Tim
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Love your cover photo of cracked dry lakebed. It is an awesome image of the arid land.
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Thanks Teresa! See you this coming week! Have you got my present yet? 🙂
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I loved the time I spent in Anza-Borrego – magical place. Glad you got a break in the weather to escape!
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We’ve camped at that Clark Dry Lake. But I love the main little campground and the hike into Palm Canyon from there. 2 more days before Linda Lou arrives. Our first real company!
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Not so dry this am, it raining hard. Radar shows an end soon. Sounds like your going to have a great xmas with Linda. If all goes we will be visiting Ajo in Jan.
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Please bring us some of those rocks, wink wink
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It has been raining in San Diego today and maybe tomorrow. I hope you are not rained in. Take care…
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Its been raining hard here this am but radar shows and end soon. We haven’t ever seen water pooling in the desert, its great for the drought! Thanks for all your nice comments…we appreciate them!
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