12/28 - Crazy windy this morning at the winery, so after a freezing walk around we headed out. I stopped at a KOA along the way to see about a shower. I thought it was going to be a fail as there was no one in the office, but I called the number and it all worked out perfectly. She didn't charge me and I had a great shower and also filled up my water tank. I ended up calling her back to see about paying and she said not to worry and Merry Christmas! Nice!
I stopped at a couple of not worth recording stops along the way. One stop was somewhat interesting, but not really worth it. The Desert Tower and boulder caves.
This kitty was so sweet. She rolled over for a belly rub as soon as I reached down to pet. If I took my hand away, she'd curl back up, and then show her belly if I reached down again. I'm always a bit hesitant to pet unknown to me cat belly's!
I just thought this was cool. I've never seen a canvas water bag.
In addition to he Tower, there was this boulder area that had several carvings in the stone.
Windmills
I decided to go out of my way and go to Bombay Beach. I've heard it's a bit sketchy, but figured it would be interesting. It's a tiny little town on the edge of the Salton Sea, which I did a bit of research on today. It was a basin that filled with water when the Colorado River bridged an irrigation canal in 1905 and flooded the Salton Basin and continued to fill for 2 years! This attracted visitors and celebrities as a desert oasis, but the increasing salinity and agricultural runoff led to fish die-offs, decaying fish, noxious odors, and abandoned resorts, turning it into a toxic shrinking body of water.It is the largest lake in CA and about 400 sq miles - quite large for an unintended lake! I feel like it's a bad idea to even be here as the dust is contaminated and people get respiratory issues. I figured a couple of days here won't kill me, but people who live here do get sick from it. It is very windy today, but thankfully it doesn't seem dusty. I'm sure it's not good! I want to explore the art installations as well as explore the town, which has a lot of empty homes that are considered art...
I got here just in time for sunset and a walk on the beach.
The hay bales you see are placed in rows on the exposed shoreline to act as windbreaks to prevent fine, harmful particles from blowing into nearby communities and serve as anchors for planting native vegetation, which helps stabilize the soil and restore habitat. The jury is still out on whether or not it is helping.
Confident kitty-cat coming up to Zoe. Zoe was good until the cat moved away, then she wanted to chase her.
OK, so, it's Jan 7th and I'm now having to play some catch-up!! It's another rainy day in the desert, so a good day to chill out and remember my experiences.
12/29 - Zoe and I headed out to check out the art on the beach and around town:
The classic swing photo - it used to be in the water...
"Drought resistant landscape"
Outdoor living room (there are several on the beach). I've heard it's not smart to park on the beach - I wonder if they had issues after the rains
The DaVinci Fish - Collaborative work by 5 artists - the idea was for it to appear in a state of decay (like the fish in the lake) while also having a da Vinci's workshop look to it. It took about 8 months to fabricate all the parts.
One of the interesting home structures. The town has many many RVs of varying types as homes.
To give Zoe a break from the walk, I stopped at the Ski Inn (restaurant/bar) in town and enjoyed a beer on their beautiful patio. Shannon and Jessie, who were also staying by the lake, sat with me and we ended up hanging out for the afternoon/evening and meeting more travelers. After taking Zoe back to the van and returning, I ended up staying for dinner and having a great patty melt with a proper sized coleslaw side. So, seriously, what is the deal with places giving you like 3 tablespoons of coleslaw as a side??? It's not like it's expensive to make. Anyway, it was a good day - unexpectedly going to Bombay Beach, meeting new friends, and enjoying good food.
I learned that there was a New Year's event here in Bombay Beach, so I decided to stay for that. I guess it's an annual thing that lots of nomads come in for. So, my detour of maybe two days ended up being 5 days! When I arrived on the 28th, there weren't too many rigs there, but on the 30th, people really started to show up. Most people are quite a bit younger than me, but everyone is super nice. In spite of that, I definitely felt like an outsider as so many people knew others and they would park in circles (as best they could). When so many rigs were showing up, I decided to move a bit to avoid having a wall of vans in front of my view and I'm glad I did - in some ways. I ended up feeling really alone while everyone else was gathering, but I also appreciated being able to get away and do my own thing. I'd say there were about 20 or so rigs when I arrived and probably at least 100 more showed up. It was quite the party!
The Ski Inn - World Famous - Lowest Bar in the Western Hemisphere - 220 ft BELOW sea level
Dollar bills on the ceiling/walls/chairs/etc
Yes, I added a $ Bill up there for me and Zoe.
Good rule!
Nice patio area
😮
12/30 - More touring the town and beach and many many more photos of what I found. Everything is made up of junk. "The art of decay" is what Bombay Beach is known for. It's pretty cool what people come up with making art out of what would end up in a landfill.
So, Bombay Beach is really just this square in the middle of nothing else
Showing the places of note around town. Yep, that's the whole town!
Toxikon
Inside the Metro club
Bombay Beach Estates: The remnants of the once-popular, now decaying resort town. It's a stark contrast between its glamorous past and present day ruins.
Gated community with two gate houses (below)
I love this: a Sotheby's with spoof listings.
Maybe this is what properties would be worth if the lake wasn't now receding and toxic!
The TV shop - all painted TVs
The Yacht Club - I wonder if that boat is someone's home.
Cute little quails
Not only did they have the little free libraries, there were many old refrigerators with books in them like these. A good use for more landfill items! Not as cute as the little handmade ones though. 😆
The Polaroid Museum - it was locked and I couldn't see any polaroids through the windows. I guess it's just another relic now.
The Drive-In with all the old cars waiting for the movie to start
I believe this is the Opera House. The walls and ceiling are lined with flip flops.
Someone was showing a movie, so I went to check it out - more to see it in action. Once the movie started I quickly decided it wasn't for me. "The Dark Crystal" - several people told me how great it was, but definitely not my thing!
Reminded me of Mystery Science Theater 3000!!
The DaVinci Fish lit up for the holidays
Pretty bus!
People have arrived!
There's Big Bertha sitting off to right right all alone. (Others did end up parking near me, but I still have a prime spot.)
12/31 - It rained a lot during the day, so I just hung out in the van. Fortunately the rain stopped by about 10, so we still had the evening events. I LOVE fireworks and rarely get to see them. Thankfully Zoe has never bothered by storms or fireworks, but in the van there are now other reasons that I don't go (having to park the van in the dark). My last three dogs were terrified of fireworks, so I didn't like to leave them alone at Blue Mountain Lake, because someone was always setting them off at the lake. And here, the van was parked far from where the event was going to be. Some individual fireworks were set off near my van when I was in it with Zoe and she didn't respond at all. She is also losing her hearing...
I went to the NYE fire and fireworks down on the beach with Mark, Sandra Dee (yes, that's really her name), and Jim. It was quite the event. I almost left after the main fireworks, which were good. They seemed quite low and over the cars instead of out towards the water, so that was a bit nerve-wracking. There were a lot of people on all kinds of drugs and I can only assume the people doing the fireworks are included in that!
You have to watch this first video! It's crazy! Someone asked me what the laughing was all about and I said "the insanity of it!"
Lighting the fire with flame throwers. Thankfully that wasn't a real rocket in the fire! 😂😆 Laser lights - super cool with the smoke from the fire
Jan 1, 2026 - I had planned to leave today, but after the rain, I decided everything needed a day to dry out, so we had another chill day.
OK, so it's hard to tell how dirty the floor is, but it was really dirty. It's REALLY hard to keep the floor clean after rain in the desert, especially with a dog!!
LOVELY!!!
I decided to go back to the SKI INN and grab another Patty Melt and coleslaw. See what I mean about the coleslaw portion size? 😀 Met locals Sophie (basically the town ambassador) and Cathy and got their take on the history of the town and how to save the lake (pump water in from Carlsbad????).
A woman with a fancy camera asked if she could take pictures of Zoe. These next three are hers.
1/2 - After drying out my mat and such, it is finally time to depart Bombay Beach. Zoe and I wandered around and visited with many of the people I had met before heading out. We went to Slab City, which is another "derelict" town in the area. Slab City's history began as a WWII Marine Corps training base. It was abandoned in the 1950s, leaving behind concrete slabs that gave the community its name. Squatters and off-grid dwellers began moving in around 1952, creating a unique, self-governing community on public land with no rent, services, or official laws, attracting artists, retirees, and those seeking freedom from mainstream society. I do have to wonder what they do about sewage. There was no smell, so that's something!
I had heard that it was a very sketchy and unsafe place to go and definitely don't stay overnight. They put nails and screws in the road so that visitors would get a flat tire and when they went off to get help they'd rob them. I very much doubt this is true based on who I met. It seems like a place where people look out for their neighbors, though I suppose there are bad apples like anywhere else. I would stay there if I felt inclined. It's not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it might be interesting to visit and get to know people and learn their stories.
First stop on the way is Salvation Mountain, which was started by Leonard Knight, who is actually from the Burlington, VT area. He had a spiritual awakening and wanted to spread the word. His vehicle broke down here and he started creating Salvation Mountain to share his message. It has grown considerable from there.
Moving onto Slab City
This guy had a lot of negative signs, but this unfortunately hits me as basically true.
East Jesus - more art just made out of garbage
A human slide grater?
Very cool chair!
House of Dots - I was told that I absolutely had to visit here. It's right next to East Jesus and I met Dot, who is super nice and welcoming, but I didn't this location too interesting. Most appeared to be less art and more junk, but still worth a few photos.
Dragonfly
Left Slab City for Yuma. I enjoyed the moonrise over there pink clouds on the way.
This was a first! I stayed here, but didn't end up partaking as one supposed to do. I've never had their food and thought I'd try a breakfast, but it was Saturday morning (I rarely know what day it is!) and super crowded, so I'm sure they didn't miss my business.
The Cracker Barrel parking lot was fine, but close to the highway, so it was pretty loud. Thank goodness Sid, who I met at Skoolipalooza last year in Quartzsite, had given me a few Quies wax earplugs that she swears by. These really are great. They're a little waxy (no surprise there), but they work great and don't hurt my ears if I use them properly.
1/3 - We walked around old town Yuma, which didn't impress me, and then took a walk at Gateway park. I considered getting lunch in town, but my waistline was telling me that was a bad idea...
Today was another first for me - I've never been to a Planet Fitness before. Many people on the road have a Black Card, which gets them entry at any Planet Fitness, but it's $25/month. For couples, this makes more sense because you can bring a guest, so basically it's $25 for 2 people. This is the first time I've every really wanted to get a shower where there seemed to be no other options. I had previously driven over to the aquatic center in town only to find it closed for maintenance, so this seemed to be my best option. I used my one free pass to get this shower, which was worth it because I had also declared it as laundry day!
The trusty dog as sentinel while his person sleeps. I really wanted to drop her some money, but didn't want to wake her/disturb the pup. I recently read something where this person would make sure he had a wallet full of 10s so that if anyone asked or appeared to need money, he could give them a 10. I really like this idea, so now have a wallet full of 5s and 10s, so I wanted to start with her. Sigh.
By the time laundry was done, I decided to go back to the Cracker Barrel area. There was a spot across the street where other vans were parked, so that's where I slept.
