Salton Sea

 2/1- Niland CA

   We didn’t have very far to go today so we took our time rolling up camp. It was cool waking up in the middle of the desert with these huge mountains surrounding you. 

   We stopped in town and did some grocery shopping and then headed down the highway. That is no lie. We went down to around 240 feet below sea level and stopped for lunch on the shore of the Salton Sea. This is a huge lake, the largest in CA , but it is so salty that nothing lives there. It is twice as salty as the ocean. Because it is so far below sea level water does not drain out and when it evaporates it leaves salts and minerals behind. It now relies almost entirely on agricultural runoff to keep water in it. It keeps shrinking and more and more shore is exposed all the time. 

    We also drove by plantations of palm trees. Most of these are dates and this is where almost all the dates in the country are grown. The other palm trees we saw are California palms. These look like cousin Itt as they never trim the dead branches off. This provides lots of shelter for all kinds of critters. 

    We finally pull in to camp ground for the night, the Fountain of Youth rv park. This is a huge rv park with almost a thousand sites. There are loads of geezers and geezerettes hanging around here. I’m not sure if there is an actual town here or not.  It is located on a thermal mineral hot spring and there are 5 or 6 spa baths all over the campground. I’ve already checked it out and we may indulge ourselves in some luxury here before moving on. 

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