“Look at me. I am old but I’m happy.”
~Yusuf/Cat Stevens
Sunday morning, I packed my van and headed to Indio, CA and stopped at Walmart for a few supplies. I moved on to Mecca, on the Salton Sea and worked on fixing my drain pipe under my van. I glued it together with Flex Seal, then taped it with Flex Seal tape and then sprayed the hell out of it with Flex Seal spray rubber. I let it sit overnight. Monday, I moved to Fountain of Youth Spa for my annual visit/vacation. The pipe connection seems to be holding.
Fountain of Youth has 4 hot tubs of varying heat levels, two swimming pools, a gym, 2 dog parks, a dog wash station, fresh water fill, van wash, and on and on. I spent the afternoon Monday bouncing from hot tub to hot tub, starting with the hottest and when I felt I might pass out, moved down a notch until I was in the coolest one, which was still quite hot. The wind picked up and it started to rain, but later in the evening, I went to the shower room and took a long, hot shower. I washed and conditioned my hair and beard, giving zero thought to how much time I was spending or how much water I was using. Such a rare luxury.
The days flew by. In hindsight, I maybe should have booked a couple extra days. Monday was a half day since I arrived after noon, and Thursday I left by 11:00. The two full days were nice, but I felt I barely settled in and it was time to start packing again. My friend Roy drove over from Palm Springs on Wednesday to have lunch. The café was unexpectedly closed, probably because they were having water issues (apparently, I wasn’t the only one with a broken pipe) and the showers were off most of the day as well. We improvised, and Roy suggested we go to the mini store adjacent to the café, and we found some ready-made salads, and veggie fried rice. Roy treated, and we went back to my van to heat up the fried rice. We took it to the outdoor café and sat there and ate and caught up on each other’s lives. Roy owned a gallery in Rehoboth Beach when I moved there in 1995. I stopped in and we hit it off immediately and Roy invited me to have an exhibit of my photography there. I accepted and we’ve been friends ever since, in despite him moving to Palm Springs and me moving out into the wild. It was so nice to see him and spend quality time together.
Thursday morning I had my final shower, a last soak in the hottest hot tub, and then drove up to the dog wash station (Cosmo wasn’t happy about that, but he seems to be pretty happy to be clean again), then topped off fresh water, got propane and left for Holtville Hot Springs. The drive was unpleasant due to terribly maintained roads and high winds, but we made it to the LTVA area across from the hot springs shortly after noon. The hot springs are busy this time of year, and so I always have to park much closer to others than I’d like (and probably closer than they would like). I drove around the LTVA for about half an hour, finding one spot too unlevel to work, another spot surrounded on all sides by larger rigs, but in the end happened upon the perfect spot.
In order to get level, I ended up with the driver’s side facing south. My solar suitcases happen to be on that side, so it makes pointing them toward the sun a simple task. As it happened, the side where my double doors are and where the awning and my “spare room” get set up were facing a large patch of creosote, palo verde, and various other small trees. I often leave those doors open and sit outside there, so it felt very private to have no other rigs in that direction, at least not that I could see. It was not too far to walk to the hot springs, and I settled in. Cosmo and I took a walk and then I headed over to the hot springs where I ran into Chad, a man I’d met here last year. He called me by name. I had to ask his as his face was familiar but I couldn’t remember his name. We chatted for a long time in the hot tub. I had hoped to meet Matt here. He was here last week, but drove to Yuma for supplies and found a spot there. A part of me misses him immensely; another part is happy to be on my own again and reconnecting with friends from past years.
I’ve settled in easily. I put up my pup tent in order to save my spot when I go into town for supplies, and also to put some of my “overflow items” in while I’m driving into town. I put out my solar lights so if I happen to stay at the hot springs after sunset, I can find my van in the dark. It also gives my site a very homey feeling.
Lessons From The Road: I am finally starting to feel settled again. I ran into Ronald, a man I’d met here two years ago and he said “Welcome home.” I smiled, mainly because it felt so accurate. As much as I’ve enjoyed most of my spots since leaving the Magic Circle at the end of last year, there has been something very temporary about most of them. It could have just been in my mind; I often settled in and wondered where I’d be in a week or a month. For whatever reason (maybe that I plan on being here a month or 6 weeks, or more) I already feel settled here after just 2 days. I wave at my neighbors, talk to friends, new and old when I go to the hot springs which is just a short walk across the road. I’m looking forward to my trips into the tiny town of Holtville where I can get a donut at the Mexican breakfast/donut shop, get snacks from the dollar store and pick up fresh produce at the little Mexican bodega. As I grow older, traveling and exploring become less inviting than finding places I love and spending time where life is easy. Holtville Hot Springs is such a place. I think I will re-assess how and where I’ll spend the summer months this year.