2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 125

Day 125, Friday , February 20, 2026 - Quail Run RV Park, Quartzsite, AZ, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,006.4 Miles for the Trip.

46°F overnight, 61°F for my morning walk, 66°F by noon, and the high for the day was 66°F.

A little windy this morning but nothing like Borrego Springs. I am doing a few repairs. My outside thermometer decided to stop working overnight. I cleaned up the battery contacts and is seems to be back to life. I have a cell phone hanger attached to the window frame next to my bed. I don't use the phone for much besides as a source for my radio when listening to internet radio stations. The plastic mount broke around the screws holding it in place. I predrilled a couple of new mounting holes that will do until I get home and put in a replacement. Yes, it is a bit boring here so this is as exciting as it gets!

The Repair

I spent the rest of the day reading. I finished Dana Stabenow's Killing Grounds and started #9 in the Kate Shugak series, Hunter's Moon. 

Dinner was a Farewell for the Season gathering at the clubhouse. Pulled chicken (or pork) sandwich, excellent potato salad, and, for the first time for me, apple baked beans which I loved. Apple pie for dessert. One of the better dinners of the trip.

After dinner I headed for the showers, 3 stalls plus a disabled one. The unusual thing - they were pay showers, $.25 per 2 minutes. At $62.20 per night I expected free showers, That said, they were large, had adjustable temperature (although it needed to be all the way on hot) a shower head that had 4 different types of spray and a mostly dry drying area separated by a 1/2" lip and a shower curtain, with a chair for a bench & 4 hooks. I would have made it with three quarters, but it took an extra quarter to rinse because the water is soft. All in all $1.00 for the shower. Overall, I'd have to say a B- that would have been a B+ if they were free. 

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 124

Day 124, Thursday, February 19, 2026 - Quail Run RV Park, Quartzsite, AZ - 179.7 Miles, 4,006.4 Miles for the Trip.

46°F overnight, 63°F by noon (on the road), and the high for the day was 68°F.

Just a normal amount of wind overnight. I dumped the tanks, but was not able to wash out the hose as much as I would have liked - the park water was shut down due to a leak. 

A mix of 2 & 4 lane roads with about 30 miles on I 10. I was going to stay at Dome Rock, but decided that I wanted to do laundry, shower, etc so I headed to town & a Quartzsite RV park. They sure are not cheap. $62.20 per night for full hookups on a large gravel corner site with a concrete pad. Level side to side & I had to drop the tongue 2".  No picnic table or fire ring.

Site 56

After setting up I did laundry at the park - $2.50 for both wash & dry with carts, a folding table, and comfortable chairs. 

By the time I was finished, it was dinner time. I decided to go to the Mountain Quail Cafe, had a shrimp dinner & iced tea for $21.89 plus tip.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 123

Day 123, Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - Borrego Springs Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 3,826.7 Miles for the Trip.

48°F overnight, too windy for my morning walk, 69°F by noon and for my late walk, and the high for the day was 69°F.

I only thought it was windy yesterday. This morning the trailer was rocking the worse I've felt since I started trailer camping. A Winnebago next to me had its roof stripped, a bunch of palm trees lost their dead palms (one into my trailer, and one that covered a truck further down the row) and it took 5 helpers to close up an A frame trailer that partially collapsed. 

My weather app said a peak of 75MPH for gusts, and it felt like it. Lost power around 9:30AM, and the wind started calming down around 10:30AM although there are still gusts that rock the trailer. Once it died down I checked the outsides of the trailer. I lost one wheel chock, but later found it. We are suppose to get high gusts until around 4:00 but right now the sun is out and it is dead calm. I can hear chain saws in the distance and the power is still out. Some folks are running their generators. The folks across from me were planning to do a test run of powering their trailer by solar alone with no hookups. They got their chance!

A ranger stopped by and mentioned that power was out for the entire park as well as most of Borrego Springs. That was reassuring since while the power was out in my trailer (well, at 19V AC), the lights were still on in the bathrooms. I discovered that they are solar powered. Lots of wind damage around town including buckling of the ranger's garage door at home. I'm running on solar & the inverter. I went for my morning walk at 12:30 and took a few photos of the stripped palm fonds.

Last night I finished reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series #7 Breakup, and started #8, Killing Grounds. Some of her books are available at my Kindle Unlimited for $0.00, and others at the NYPL, but a few are only available as Kindle editions for $15.00 each. I'll skip those. The paperback versions from Amazon are running from around $20.00 to as much as $95.00.

I tried to set the time on my laptop. Both my iPhones, one on AT&T & the other on Verizon have no problem believing I'm in California & the Pacific time zone, but my laptop insists I'm in Phoenix, AZ (Mountain Time). The only way I can get it to switch to the Pacific Time Zone is to shut off automatic & manually enter the correct hour. I'll have to do that again tomorrow when I'm back in Mountain Time. I will have to do the same with both of my temperature monitors. While they do show the correct time to the second (they shut off the display at 2:00AM and "talk" to a time server) they don't know where I am, so they need to be told the time zone. The laptop is suppose to know where I am but evidently, doesn't. I give up. I switched it to the correct time on manual settings, and 10 minutes it changed from Phoenix to Cupertino, CA, but decided it was 12:20 instead of the actual time of 1:20. This is while the time setting was on manual.

The electricity came back at 3:20.

Dinner was a Boston Market Chicken Pot Pie.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 122

Day 122, Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - Borrego Springs Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 3,826.7 Miles for the Trip.

47°F overnight, 55°F for my morning walk, 61°F by noon and the high for the day was 66°F.

The wind died down although more is predicted for this afternoon. There was still a bit of off & on rain overnight. Partly clouded skies for my morning walk and most of the rest of the morning.

While I checked out the showers, I didn't use them. Unheated & a $1.00 token for each 2 minutes. I still have a token from the last time I was here in my shaving bag, but I guess it will stay there. 

While a few folks left this morning, the park is still fairly full. Everything from 40' motorhomes to half shells, including an Escape 5.0TA. 

I made a trip to check out some new (at least to me) metal sculptures along Borrego Springs Road and on the way back stopped at the Central Market. I picked up a strawberry shortcake that looked better than it tasted, but on the other hand, I found a box of Tabatchnick Creamed Spinach, my favorite and one that disappeared from the Oswego shelves.

I also added a couple more photos of me that Paula took while watching the fireworks & lighting the evening fire.

Back at the trailer I'm doing more reading. I'm currently listening to James Lee Burke's The Hadacol Boogie, taking a break from The President is Missing because Burke's audio book was one I've been waiting a few weeks for. I'll restart The President is Missing once I'm done with The Hadacol Boogie. I'm currently reading another of Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series Breakup.

Dinner was a Blake's Country Fried Chicken plate.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 121

Day 121, Monday, February 16, 2026 - Borrego Springs Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA - 250.3 Miles, 3,826.7 Miles for the Trip.

56°F overnight, 57°F by noon and the high for the day was 59°F.

Last night's fireworks were somewhat lame compared to Friday & Saturday, but I took some photos:

More at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I skipped my morning walk since I had a long drive today. On the other hand, arriving at Borrego Springs Desert State Park before the 2:00 check in time (even a minute before) doesn't work. They won't let you in. Most of the drive after the first 80 was on 4 lane roads, including 45 miles on I 10. I made a stop for gas at the casino ($3.84 per gallon) along CA 86 which runs on the west side of the Salton Sea. While on a "reservation", not quite the deal as Running Man in Parker where I filled up for $2.76 per gallon.

Rain off & on for the last 75 miles of the trip. I arrived at the park at 2:17 and there was a line of about 5 RVs waiting to get in. Heavy rain that was nice enough to stop while I set up, After setting up the rain started off & on. It stopped again around 4:00 and a rainbow formed in the distance. As that went away the wind picked up enough to shake the trailer even with the stabilizers down. Now, at 5:00 both the wind and the rain are back to off & on. I was planning to do my "morning" walk here, but no way!

The batteries were at 90% when I arrived and the converter was drawing 15 amps putting 34 amps into them after I hooked up. I'm in site 34, a full hookup pull through on asphalt with a picnic table & fire ring for $45.75 per night for 3 nights. Other than the asphalt strip, all else is on sand. 

Site 34

I checked both Verizon & AT&T - Verizon was 53.23Mbps down & 30.08Mbps up, while AT&T showed 65.18Mbps down & 15.45Mbps up. While there are a few palm trees so the north is clear enough for the Starlink Mini, I suspect that if I put it out the tripod would blow over.

Dinner was an Amy's Enchilada with Rice & Beans bowl.

Until Next Time -