Edge of disaster!

Just when everything seems to be falling into place ……….

We have had a longstanding appointment at Findlay RV to get some deferred maintenance done on Colectiva. However, with Robin’s wrist fracture and the orthopedic surgeon convention in Vegas, we could not get a follow-up appointment set with her surgeon until the following Monday. But then it all pulled together and we were able to get an early Monday appointment, and still be back in Vegas on Tuesday for Colectiva’s appointment.

So it seemed …………

We set out from Borrego in time to reach Palm Desert by maybe 6. The only realistic way to go is via the Salton Sea, which is an interesting story in itself. In 1905, engineers of the California Development Company attempted to increase the water flow to into the area for farming by building channels from the Colorado River. The water surge overwhelmed the canals and ended up flowing into the Salton basin for over two years, creating the Salton Sea which can measure 15 miles by 35 miles.

In the post-depression era, development was hot. The Salton Sea was going to be the interior mecca due to its very temperate winters and the huge body of water. But it soon became apparent that with there being no outlet from the sea and continuous evaporation that the salinity would continue to increase. Soon massive fish populations were dying, and the entire area adopted the stagnant smell of dead and rotting fish. As a result, people who had built there abandoned the properties that they couldn’t sell, and all the developer infrastructure was left to waste away.

Today when you drive through Salton City, you see block after block of developed residential roadways – however you see very few homes, and even fewer of those that have not been abandoned and boarded up. You can see the canal systems where residents would have had their boat docks, but such never came to fruition. It is all a vast wasteland, with no real prospect for change. It is either sad to see so many dreams crushed – or pathetic to see what devastation can be caused by wanton and vicious speculation – can’t decide which I feel – maybe both.

Oops, off track a bit – anyway, the first 4 or 5 miles heading West out of Salton City on the Borrego Salton Seaway Higway (San Diego County 22) is the worst road I have ever been on – you would swear you must be driving in Eastern Canada. The first two miles are just like the frost heaves we experienced in Alaska, except that they are continuous – poor Colectiva was porpoising like mad. Then the next couple of miles are the most rough I have ever been on – like driving on really bad cobblestone. On our way to Borrego, our friend Ron at about 4 miles in was just about to turn around and find another way to get into the Park when the road smoothed out a bit and wasn’t too bad the rest of the way.

Well, on the way back, we hit that bad area and I slowed down to 45 just to try to keep the fillings in my teeth. Then “BLAM!!!!!!” – a complete blowout of what I later learned was the front passenger tire. Despite the surprise and all the horrors I have read about catastrophic tire failure in a motorhome, I really didn’t have too much trouble with Colectiva – shut off the cruise control, slowed down gradually and pulled off the road onto the just barely sufficient shoulder – thank goodness though, because many of the highways we drive have no shoulders whatsoever.

We called our Good Sam Emergency Roadside Service – even though we were only 3.9 miles west of a city in California and on a California highway, she couldn’t locate us – kept saying the coordinates I was giving her were showing Pasadena, which we were hundreds of miles from. After desperately trying to get help from Good Sam and getting nowhere – at one time they said they may have found someone 60 miles away that could come out and help, but they never called back – I just drove into Salton City to see what I could find.

There, in back of the AM PM, was a mobile repair truck out of Coachella replacing a flat on a motorhome. I had the Woman call the phone number on the truck, and I talked to the gentleman when he was finished. He went back to Coachella and got a tire to fit Colectiva, came back, and got us on our way. It wasn’t until 2:30 AM that we rolled into the Emerald Desert RV Resort in Palm Desert, but at least we were there, more or less in one piece.

Talk to you soon!