Labor Day 2015 in Salton City was very hot averaging about 108.  Days were mostly clear and nights with many stars clearly visible.  It was too hot to do anything around the house and I decided to turn my attention towards the Salton Sea which if the reader of this post does not know forms the eastern boundary of Salton City.

Its been a while since I visited the Salton sea and boy, was I surprised by what I saw.  All of my favorite shoreline areas could no longer be considered shoreline for the sea has receded drastically.  At one place, the former yacht club in Salton city the sea used to lap around the rocks as seen in the middle of  the above photograph.  Now in the next photograph, the view is from the top of those rocks to where the current shoreline exists probably at least an eighth of a mile.

Apparently the State of California is deciding to neglect their obligation of restoring the Salton sea which probably is currently beyond their control with the ongoing drought limiting their options.  I am beginning to understand what many scientists are saying about the lethal dust issue from exposed sea bed.  The water level is dropping incredibly fast and its expected to get even faster after 2017 when the full impact of the Quantitive Settlement Agreement (QSA) takes full effect.

The QSA is a water deal among five states that use Colorado river water and Imperial county here in California which from what I read has water rights to about Three quarters of California's river water allotment. With populations increasing in the other four states, they're crying fowl with California taking far more of its allotment of water, hence the QSA which Imperial county would sell more of its water to urban areas in California, and in exchange for the deal, California would restore the Salton sea.  The QSA was signed back in 2003 and left California about fourteen years to come up with a plan and restore the Salton sea.  Everything was fine until it was realized that California had no intention of restoring the sea as promised.

Another area hit hard by the lower elevation of the Salton Sea is the area known as the Riviera Keys.  They'll probably have to rename the area the "Riviera Trenches" since nearly all the water in the canals is now gone as seen in these lower photo.  As you can see the sea portion of water no longer connects to the canal portion and once those canals run dry, they'll become trenches.  If I lived here I'd be fuming mad at the State for permitting this.  This however will be to no avail, since money and resources are lacking.

However some promising news is coming out of the California Governor's office which may have a slight chance to reverse the dying trends at the Salton sea.  It appointed an individual to investigate the best possible way to restore wetlands for migrating birds.  This news is still fairly new and I'll have to update readers of this blog in my next posting.

I went to Salton City for just one night  on Saturday July 18th and arrived there about 12:30 pm.  On the drive between Borrego Springs and Salton City we ran into a heavy downpour and the thought of flash floods crossed my mind and I reduced my speed and proceeded with caution.  It only lasted about 5 minutes and the rest of the drive was uneventful.  Arriving at the house to strong winds and  occasional rain.  It remained cool but humid for the remainder of the day. I even considered taking out the off road vehicles since the day was fairly cool.  At least one other had the same idea since I saw them on the State owned land behind my home.   It was so nice to see them enjoying the desert this late in the season.  Salton City is definitely in hibernation mode with many residents off to cooler digs.

Sunday morning July 19th, I got up early as usual to watch the breathtaking sunrise as usual.  The sky was mostly clear and I decided to go out to see if the new traffic signal was in operation.  As the photo below shows, it is now fully online and functioning.  However if you look at the photo closely you will see that the highway name sign is dangling, a result of Saturday's windstorm.

If you look at the lower right there appears to be a cross as if some fatality occurred at this intersection.  I know many accidents with fatalities had in the past, and I will have to go back and see if I can pick up some sort of history on this particular one.  It was one of the major arguments as to why this intersection needed a traffic signal. The local hardware store is now history.  But the neighborly togetherness remains strong.

I spent much of Sunday morning performing routine maintenance on the off road vehicles and was astonished as to how fast the clouds were building up over the local mountain ranges.  You can easily distinguish where the updrafts were occurring.  When we left around 2pm to return to National City, we could easily see a dark wall of clouds to the West.  

This cloud formation dropped heavy rain West of Borrego Springs to right before the city of Ramona.  about a 45 minute drive.  I later discovered that Ramona received about 4 inches of rain and many roads were flooded. Salton City itself on Sunday received no rain as far as I know.

Salton city over the Memorial Day weekend was surprising in the form that it was not too hot and some off roaders were enjoying the desert this late in the season.  They were riding on the state land behind my home as well in the off road parks to the West of the city.  Most days were in the high 80's and with a breeze blowing it wasn't hot.  The sky was pretty much clear and the evenings were refreshingly cool.  

On a sad note, I was surprised to hear that the owner of the Hardware business is closing his store to dedicate more time at home.  Now there will be no local business for home repair necessities and it would be necessary to go to Home depot in Indio for home dedicated repair items. Indio is about a half hour drive from the Salton City residence. For me its not too bad since I'm there only part time I can plan a project ahead of time and bring with me the items needed and hope no surprises develop.

On a happier note the installation of the new traffic signal is nearing completion and will be online soon.  I hear from locals that this has the desired side effect of attracting new businesses. Below is a photo of the intersection looking to the southwest:

One issue currently developing in Salton City is the outrageous cost the Salton communities services district is trying to impose on the homeowners within its district.  It will be challenged by some in the community but all bets show it will be to no avail.  We may have to resort to Proposition 218 as was used recently by citizens in the city of San Juan Capistrano.  Proposition 218 states that an agency or utility cannot charge more for a service then the cost to actually provide the service.  And if they raise fees a significant amount it needs to go before a vote of the residents and businesses effected.  In other words, they cannot raise costs on customers simply to correct budgets that didn't need correcting in the first place.  

However, even with this friction developing I still think the area has great potential and could develop into a recreational hot spot if plans and ideas are well thought out.  It can benefit both, existing and future residents and businesses.  Locals I talked to don't mind growth and all welcome it.  

Till next post, have a good day!

Salton city updates which are known to me and checked out when I visited the area for the weekend of April 17 to 19 reveal the start of the widening of highway 86 at Borrego Salton seaway (S-22) has begun.  According to the California state internet site on such projects, the widening is to accommodate future truck traffic at the signal.

On Friday night, while driving East of Borrego Springs on my drive to Salton City, two helicopters were circling with their searchlights on and we had the impression that they were searching for someone or something in the vast openness of the desert.  As of this writing I do not know if they found what they were looking for.

The weather was slightly on the warm side averaging in the high 80's to the early 90's.  For me it was warm enough to use air conditioning at the house.  Although it was sunny all days with no clouds at all, it was strangely hazy.  However this haze was a slight tan in color which gave me the impression that it was dust in the air.  If it was dust, I don't know how it was lifted since it wasn't really windy. Update:  There was a brush fire near Beaumont and this was the cause of the dust according to a news program I saw later.

I hauled out a new atv to the house to be used after summer when the weather is cooler.  As stated in a previous post, Salton city pace slows dramatically in the summer months as many snowbirds leave to avoid the heat.  I visit the area during the summer months and the heat can get pretty intense that it has the capability to keep you indoors.  Even at night the temperature can be in the high 80's making nights warm enough to disturb sleep if you don't have air conditioning.

Another interesting thing happening in Salton city is that both, home sales as well as home prices seem to be on the upswing.  No longer can you find a house like mine at the price I paid for it.  Potentially good news for homeowners but for those young families for whom I sympathize with, it could be a struggle.  I feel that housing in the area is still very affordable. It can be even more affordable if you have handyman skills and buy a fixer upper.


My family shows up in the summer where we use the pool located at the Salton city park which you will find photos of in a previous post. Another thing about the coming Summer warm season are the Arizona monsoon rains which occasionally drift westward towards Salton City.  The Monsoon season starts around the middle of June to about the middle of September.  Several times I have been fortunate to be at the desert house when these spectacular lightning displays arrive.  I enjoy them more then a 4th of July fireworks show and so does the family.  I have an outdoor thermometer at the house and I saw an approaching thunderstorm and looked at the thermometer before it arrived and it was reading close to 110 degrees.  When the thunderstorm was directly over us I looked at it again and the temperature dropped to 89 degrees.  In about the span of about 40 minutes the temperature dropped 21 degrees however when the thunderstorm passed it was still overcast but the rain had stopped and the temperature on the thermometer returned to 109 degrees.  This is the type of weather I enjoy observing as well as study.

Another surprising find is that Burtec, the trash company in Salton City has improved the road and their facilities greatly.  It used to be a rough ride from highway 86 to the dump sight.  You used to have to drive slowly for the 2 miles from the highway to the dump.  Now it has been repaved and is smooth.  Locals tell me that the dump is expanding to receive more truck traffic.

I went to Salton city for the weekend of March 13, 14 and 15.  As usual I always find it difficult when the weekend is over and it's time to go home.  The neighborhood where my house sits is pretty much filled with new residents.  Only one house, recently rehabbed is on the market and listed for sale.  Almost all of my Son's friends have moved away but that doesn't discourage him from coming to the desert.  He can still use his dune buggy and he tells me there is little time to be bored.

Well, away from my personal situation and on with the beauty of Salton city.  Some pleasant changes were in store for me.  It seems that powered paragliding and ultra light aircraft owners find Salton city a desirable location to practice as well as promote their sport.  I didn't have my camera with me when I spotted them so therefore wasn't able to photograph them.  I hope to be better prepared next time I visit.  I realize that a good reporter should be prepared 24/7 and from now on I'll try to always be prepared.  I hope to interview some of these pilots and why they enjoy their sport in a future blog.  Who knows, maybe when I retire here I can buy an ultralight and join them!

Another surprise was that the new Jack in the box restaurant is now open and serving food.  Here is a night shot of it:

I am surprised at the speed it was built.  Next in coming to Salton city according to locals I've talked to is going to be the traffic signal.  I get the feeling that Salton city is actually growing.  Personally I hope the trend continues.  

It was warm this weekend due mainly to Santa Ana wind conditions.  However, it wasn't warm enough to halt off roading activities.  I was surprised to see quite a few RV's with their off road toys West of the city.  If you're not aware yet, the three and a half months of summer heat from around the first of June to around the middle of September all off road activity stops and Salton city pretty much shuts down except for those using the community pool.  Summer also brings thunderstorms to the area when they occasionally drift over from Arizona's monsoon season.  I hope to visit the area this Summer and if I'm lucky I'll be able to either video or photograph some of these for future posts on this blog.

The one thing I like to see in Salton city are the spectacular sunrises.  It's like an obsession with me because I wake up early just to see it every time I'm there.  See for yourself in the next photo.  I know I've photographed these before so I hope it doesn't bore you.

Also I decided to check out a newer constructed home that was apparently abandoned and never finished by the builder.  It would have been a nice house and it's sad that it'll never be lived in.

As you can see, Salton city is not perfect, but what place truly is.  I love the place and so do many others.  It has wide open spaces and the pace is small town slow compared to a city like National City. In National City for example, no one seems to have the time to be friendly probably because of the high expense of living there.  Everyone is more interested in trying to stay ahead by earning the almighty dollar that it consumes the majority of their free time. Salton city on the other hand gives people the chance to truly breath, live calmer and trust one another, at least in my immediate neighborhood anyway.  Its difficult to describe the atmosphere here in writing.  All I can say is that I'm finding it very difficult to find someone who does not care for the area, including visitors like me.  The neighborhood is very safe and people friendly are the reasons given most often as to why the area is well loved.

Thanks for reading and next post will come soon.

Salton City over both Thanksgiving and New Years was definitely the place to be.  The weather was perfect.  Plenty of visiting off roaders and residents as well as businesses were happy.  The new Jack in the box restaurant is being constructed at a fast pace.  Neighbors telling me of seeing lots being cleaned up and grazed for possible construction of something.  It's nice to see even though the sea is sick that people are still feeling confident about investing in the area.

New Years weekend was a cold one.  Nights dropped into the lower 30's and days rarely got over 65.  The visiting off roading crowd certainly enjoyed that.  It seems there were more of them this year.  Possible hint that the economy is definitely growing.

As mentioned above, The new Jack in the box is taking shape and will probably be ready to serve food in a month or so.  Here is a construction photo of it's progress:

I feel that the Family Dollar store has a big influence on commercial development in Salton City.  From their point of economic views, its one of their best performing stores and I think others began to realize the economic powerhouse local consumers provide.  No other chain store was willing to invest, especially when the local housing crash occurred.  I suspect that Family Dollar executives saw what I saw.  People like me were able to buy homes in the area at heavily discounted prices.  Many permanent locals were able to do the same.  Lower housing costs give consumers more disposable income to spend and the result is more sales and income for local business.  Some of my recent neighbors confirm this.  One neighbor stated that up in Indio (about 30 miles to the north)  they rented an older three bedroom home for 1100 a month.  The nine year old three bedroom house they rent in Salton City costs 650 a month and includes water.  A 450 a month savings.

Salton city has another major benefit you probably won't find in any other city in California and that is free access to the local dump for trash disposal.  In National City it costs like 35 dollars a trip.  You need to do two things to access the dump free.  One is to show ID that your a resident of the area or if that's not available a bill like a property tax bill that shows a local address.  Many of my neighbors use the local pick up service for trash disposal.  In my case since I show up there one or two weekends  a month makes more economic sense to haul it myself.  You don't need to earn a lot of money to live the middle class life in Salton City.

Based on current news articles I've been reading, the Salton Sea has the potential to produce sufficient world-class quantities of lithium for batteries.  As more electronic devices as well as automobiles use lithium rechargeable batteries, this has the potential to provide an employment base for local residents.  None of my neighbors object to a factory coming to Imperial county where the bulk of the Salton Sea lies.  I hope that those in the field of rechargeable batteries around the world read this and consider this area for investment to make such batteries. Me and my neighbors welcome you!

And now, a photo taken from my patio of the early morning moon set in beautiful Salton City California.

Thanks for reading, new post coming soon.

Labor Day 2014 was hot in Salton city, averaging at least 108 by late afternoon all days.  I arrived on Friday evening about 10:45 pm and the interior of the house was definitely above 99 because the thermostat was reading HI.  Not displaying any number and since it only goes to 99 I figured it was well above that.  Both days and evenings were mostly clear, with good visibility and you were hearty enough to venture out in the heat.

For my son and his two cousins it was like normal because friends of theirs came over and they played both indoor and outdoor regardless of temperature.  It was however too hot to use off roading vehicles because air cooled engines and hot weather don't go hand in hand.  I had awoken about 3am Saturday morning to let our dog do his duty and was delighted to see offroaders riding by on the State land behind my home.  I figured they must have rested by day to ride by late night.  At this hour of the morning it was still 75 degrees! Cool enough for offroading activity.  To the Contrary of what you're thinking, I enjoy it when they ride by even at that hour and the noise does not bother me or my family.  It is one of the reasons why I enjoy the Salton City area.  I believe the area has tremendous potential with or without growth.  However it is growing at a slow pace which no one I've talked to about the subject seems to worry and in fact like it.

It seems to be confirmed that a new Jack in the Box restaurant is going to be built in Salton City along with it's first fully funded traffic signal.  The traffic signal is to be installed at the intersection of South Marina (S-22) Drive and highway 86.  When I went to the Cal Trans sight to investigate when, it is currently on some 15 month review report.

From the description I'm receiving from friends and neighbors, the Jack in the Box is to be constructed between the Am Pm truck stop and the Family Dollar store.  I photographed the lot based on their description and here it is:

To the left of the lot is the AmPm and to the right after crossing the street is the Family Dollar store.  The traffic signal is to be placed at the intersection in the next picture to give you an idea.  According to California Department of transportation, this intersection may have to be widen up somewhat to accommodate stoppage of traffic which is probably why it is on a fifteen month review.  Here's the picture:

This photo was taken driving west on South Marina Drive approaching State Highway 86.  The stop sign at the top of the small hill is Hwy 86.

The cooler months are finally approaching and I look forward to spending more time outdoors in the area and having barbecue meals again with neighbors and friends.  Although not advertised the night sky in Salton city especially those where no full moon is present can be breathtaking with thousands, possibly millions of stars which cannot be seen from a city like San Diego.  It is pushing me further and further with the idea of buying a telescope.

Well that's it for this post and I'm looking forward to my next one which will probably occur after the Thanksgiving holiday.  Thanks for reading and feel free to comment or ask questions if you wish.

Salton City was extremely hot over the 4th of July weekend.  I arrived in the evening hours of July 3rd and remained until Monday morning July 7th.  Tropical depression Douglas off the coast of Baja California swept most of Mexico's humid and wet weather towards Arizona and it turned Salton City into what felt like a gigantic hot house.  As far as I know no rain fell in the Salton city area.

No fireworks show was displayed in Salton city for the 4th of July.  The only fireworks were people who bought and used from fireworks stands.  I was part of the latter.  Back in National City where I live primarily at the moment, fireworks can only be viewed at public displays unless they are brought in illegally.  This type of celebration of the 4th (America's birthday) I do not like or agree with.  I prefer celebrating with my own fireworks display around my immediate family and friends rather then put up with public and sometimes intoxicated people.

On Saturday night however, we were greeted with a lightning show which I prefer over any fireworks display.  I attempted to photograph some for this page however my camera was too slow and the photo's taken were merely black boxes not worth displaying.  I did take pictures of the Thunderheads surrounding Salton city.  Here is the first:

This Thunderhead shows a smaller forming cloud rising to meet the upper cloud and is looking towards the southwest.  It was the closest cloud to Salton city.  This one dissipated by nightfall and produced no lightning that we saw and no rain.

The second one however, produced much more lightning but was too far distant to hear the thunder.

This was the first in a line of Thunderheads over the Chocolate mountains and in a fairly southeast direction pretty much following the Chocolate Mountain range which is located along the eastern shore of the Salton sea.  When Tom Cruise in the Top Gun movie was getting his top gun training, part of it was filmed over the Chocolate mountains if you remember the movie.  Had I remembered and I feel kind of dumb for not doing it was that my camera does film video in HD and I could have filmed some of the lightning had I remembered.
Some of my neighbors came over since I was sitting in the garage with the door up to enjoy the lightning spectacle with my son and it was enough to socialize.  The lightning by around 9:30 pretty much dissipated but the socializing continued.

On Sunday afternoon, Salton city experienced a power outage which started around 4:20 pm and lasted nearly two hours.  The house was quickly getting warmer since the air conditioning unit was not functioning.  I was going to wait till 7pm that night and if the power did not return by then, I was going to head back to National City since I suspect it would have been too hot to sleep that evening for the next days scheduled drive home.  Thank goodness that wasn't the case.  These power outages do occur from time to time and I'm not sure what is the cause.  Imperial Irrigation will probably have to be contacted to find the cause.  My guess is that since it was hot and their territory lies mostly in desert areas, every house and business were probably using air conditioning that there was not enough electricity to go around.  When the outage occurred, I called them and they had teams out to fix the outage and that it also affected Indio and La Quinta.


Well I hope you enjoyed this post for I as usual enjoyed the weekend to be able to write about it.  My next scheduled post will follow the Labor day weekend which is the 30th, 31st of August and the 1st of September 2014.  Till then and have a good day!

On Saturday May 10th 2014 during the evening hours, Salton city was sandblasted by strong winds which caused the closure of highway 86 for at least a couple of hours.  These strong windstorms pass through the area from time to time especially when a Santa Ana condition develops north east of the area.  A Santa Ana condition can be described as wind blowing from inland to the coast and is caused by a High pressure zone with clockwise rotation. 

When law enforcement closed the Highway in Salton city, most of the traffic pulled into the local AM PM gas station/truck stop providing the business with more business.  A couple with two children were somewhat anxious and asked if I knew of any alternate routes.  The only one I knew of was highway 111 which makes its way north-south on the other (east) side of the Salton sea.  The sea I told them is possible to form a buffer from the blowing sand since the winds seemed to be headed in an easterly direction.  They would need to drive north about 23 miles to Ave 66 go about 3/4 mile to highway 111 and turn right (south).  I also warned them that I did not know the condition of that road and they may be wasting their time.  They told me if they could not get an update on the condition of 111 they would wait it out.

I left my home in Salton city around 8pm with my son and a friend and even that short drive was treacherous.  A description is as follows:

You would drive down the street and there is blowing sand flying across the road at ground level making the road resemble the surrounding desert.  In other words you could not see the pavement of the road and you couldn't tell where the road was.  Its similar to a road and its surroundings covered in snow. 

Although the wind howled throughout the night, we did not lose power which I found surprising.  There was no trouble, people got along with each other and understood the situation and I heard rumors of people even helping each other out. 

Again its the main reason I like Salton city.  The people there are marvelous, even its visitors!  I apologize with my computer having trouble I was not able to provide photos on this post.  I'll try to change that on my next post which hopefully will be on the long 4th of July weekend.

I apologize for no recent posts, my computer at home bombed out and died and I should be obtaining a replacement in May. Then it'll be back to normal.  Right now I'm using my work computer to write this, however I cannot use my employers computer to download pictures.  I attempted to use my samsung tablet, but this proved difficult.

I love the area so much and as they used to say in the movie business, "the show shall not die".  I won't give up on the sight, even if it must be pictureless!!

My trip to Salton city for the weekend of February 1st and 2nd 2014 was different simply because I brought along my older son with his wife and Grandma.  They all enjoyed the perfect weather and beautiful sunshine.  The kids played with the neighbor's kids and everything went well.  I have a couple of photos I'd like to share with you, then more troubling news coming from my National city house which may hasten my move to live out here in the desert quicker then expected.

The first photo was taken inside the local Am Pm convenience store.  This place is open 24 hours and seven days a week.

And the second photo of the local watering hole which you may have seen in previous posts.  It's called Capt'n  Jims.  It was listed as for sale for $225,000 but whether someone bought it or not is not known.



I patronized this place only once and It's a lively place on Saturday nights.  It has a patio area, big screen tv, darts, a full bar and karaoke entertainment which I found entertaining.  The reason I went only once is that I don't drink alcoholic beverages due to medications.

Well, I've got to depart from the land of heaven and go back to the doldrums of the big city.  Back in National city, (a suburb city of San Diego) San Diego gas and electric is playing their hand at shaking more money out of the customer piggy bank. Rates for electricity are already the highest in the nation and they want more.  If you're not aware, our local nuclear power plant went offline because of rapid deterioration of cooling tubes.  The customers paid to replace steam generators which were supposed to last many years but didn't.  The customers have to pay to decommission the plant, and now the customers have to pay to rewire the grid to compensate for the loss of the  nuclear energy.  It's a no win situation for us customers.  How can anyone expect to retire in San Diego with electric and water utilities running amok, complaining they need more of my money.  I need my money too. The California public utilities commission (CPUC) is a big joke here.  They are supposed to regulate utility costs here but they don't.  They supposedly vote on these increases, which I deem as unnecessary because they always vote in favor of the utilities and  customers already know "what San Diego gas and electric want, San Diego gas and electric get".  Their parent companies are generating massive profits while we, the customers get poorer.  I figure since the investor owned utilities pay big taxes to the state, these utilities have the CPUC in their pocket.  Thank goodness I planned well enough and have my home in the desert and the cost is low enough so I can retire somewhat comfortably still. 

Faced with these grim realities, here in San Diego I hear from friends that live here, that San Diego will soon become too expensive to retire comfortably.  They have pretty much succeeded in killing solar as an option to save on electricity costs by charging more to low end users.  Net metering, which was a big benefit of solar is now being attacked and will probably no longer exist by 2018 which is the reason I am considering the move to my retirement home in Salton city sooner.  I hope to be there permanently before 2018.  Then, I'll pretty much be free from those greedy utilities and the CPUC.

There is one possible benefit to this, however.  The CPUC allows San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)  to reward its shareholders an 11% return on their investment.  And with the CPUC so in love with SDG&E this probably won't change at all.  After I move to the desert, I"m thinking of putting some of my 401k money into their stock to receive that rate of return to get some of my money back I paid them over the years.  11% sounds pretty good in today's low rate environment.


Please accept my apologies for this unusual post, but although I hate to see utility companies rip us off, I do have to be pleased that it will accelerate my move to the desert.  If any of you people wish a move to California from either another state or another country, welcome.  However do your homework and investigate before you buy.  Try to stay out of investor owned utility territory in California, you'll be better off and happier too.



New Year's was perfect in the Salton city area.  The weather cooperated providing plenty of sunshine and temperatures never exceeding 78 degrees during the day.  No strong winds to worth mentioning.  Many of the local retailers and businesses I visited reported very good business.  With New Years falling on a Wednesday, many off roaders were here for well over a week.  I was there for five days myself and the time went by incredibly fast. 

I noticed that the RV and off road enthusiasts were out in force with my neighbors mentioning that if we use their big number presence as a gauge the recession here in the US can be considered over.  Their off road vehicles were in every parking lot of every business I visited and therefore business owners were happy.

Salton city has at least one, possibly more off road parks to the west of the city.  They are designated off road parks on Imperial county maps available in the area.  The off road portion seems to end when you get to the San Diego county line which lies around seven to ten miles west of Salton city.

I took some pictures of RV off road areas to show you which were west of Salton city, here's the first:

This is an early morning shot looking east which shows the Salton city sunrise over the Salton sea in the background.  In the center are a group of RV's and their off road toys and that road you see in the foreground is the Borrego Salton seaway county road S-22.

 

This picture was taken from the same location as the above but looks to the west and shows another group of RV's in the off road park.  These photos were taken just after sunrise on New Years day and I suspect the majority of them were still sleeping from the previous nights celebration for no off road activity could be seen.

 

I strolled the grounds of what used to be a public golf course and now comprises part of the off road park west of Salton city.

 

 

 

Dead palms abound at the old golf course in this photo looking to the east with the Salton sea barely visible in the distance.

 

 

The foundations of what used to be a pedestrian bridge over a wash at the old golf course are visible in the middle of this photo.

 







The top photo shows a small maintenance shack on the former golf course while the second photo shows a much larger maintenance building which appears to be visited by off road vehicles performing donuts in its interior.  The bottom photo shows a group of RV's and seen from the location of the large maintenance building.

Hope you enjoyed this post and the next one will be in about a month.

First of all, I wish to apologize for no October post since I was unable to photograph events that month.  I was in Salton city over the long Thanksgiving weekend from November 27th to December 1st.  The weather was perfect, mild sunny days with cool nights.  What many consider off road weather.  Salton City's population probably doubles and may even triple over this weekend with all of the RV's and off roaders.  The photo below shows from a distance many of the RV's in the off road park area.

The sounds of powerful engines and the people operating those vehicles were full of excitement.  I love it when an off road vehicle passes by on the state owned property behind my home. I know they are having fun and hope they spread the word around that coming to the Salton sea can be fun.  Earlier in the morning I was at the AM PM gas station when I took one picture of the sunrise:

 

and a second picture of gasoline prices over the Thanksgiving weekend:

 

 

I decided to go from here to take pictures of the local medical clinic and the senior citizen center which were nearby.



 

 

 

 

The above medical clinic provides general practice medicine and currently is open only two days a week.  The senior citizen center is a membership club for local seniors and as you can see by the sign in front, bingo is a popular happening.  I've considered joining this organization but most of their activities occur during the week when I'm not usually there.

 

Well, we spent Thanks giving dinner at a neighbors house and it was quite different and fun.  To close this blog I'm putting a picture of truck traffic heading south on the highway behind my home.  I'm shooting for my next blog to occur around New Years holiday.

 



On the weekend of September 21 and 22 I was in Salton city again and found out through neighbors and the internet that the subject house in the last blog has been sold.  It has a "sale pending" notification on it.  It took less then a month.  This weekend we discovered more children of the same age as my son are living in the vicinity and all were willing to accept my sons friendship.

The selling price of the home is currently unknown as well as who are the purchasers.  I'll report on this subject as soon as the information is known.  Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This weekend I decided to visit and check out the Salton sea on its declining level.  What I saw didn't surprise me but the current level definitely is dropping at an alarming rate.  However, Its beauty is still incredibly fascinating as you will see in the following photos.  The bird life at the sea is busy in the morning with both their movements as well as their sounds.

 

 

The above is the earliest image showing the Salton sea at sunrise around 6:15 am  The sun was still well below the chocolate mountains in the background.

 

A little later image of sunrise at the Salton sea with the sun's glow right below the horizon ready to shine on the next beautiful day in the desert.

 

 

The final two shots and the those  I enjoy the most shows the sun over the chocolate mountains. The lower photo shows bird activity in the morning.  In the foreground that water you see has dropped at least three feet.  The old water line can be seen about a third of the way up on the jetty.

Off roading season starts around the first of October, but my son and his friends were able to enjoy it earlier due to the cooling weather.  This weekend the temperature never exceeded 90 degrees.

  

The above shows my son and a friend enjoying the desert through off roading.

Another view of my son and friends driving down the street getting ready for more off roading.

Later posts will give you an idea of how popular off roading has become in the Salton city area.  There are many open public lands with all types of terrain for those who love the sport to enjoy.  Well, I'll keep writing if you will continue reading, and if you so desire feel free to post a comment.  I would like to know how I'm doing, have a good day and my next post will be in mid-October.







Labor day weekend in Salton city went too fast.  It was a fun filled weekend, especially for the kids.  My 11 year old son met a new friend who recently moved here from Arizona.  He's a nice kid with good morals.  Saturday night we had a lightning show to the south of us.  A house three away from mine is now for sale for $76,000 and has three bedrooms two baths and a two car garage and was built in 2007.

 

The above is a picture of the house.  It has around 1450 square feet and has block wall fencing.  It also has granite kitchen countertops and plantation shutters.  Once this home sells it would make all the homes in my immediate vicinity occupied. It'll be interesting to see who moves in.  If they're like the rest who filled the homes around me, we will have one incredible and safe neighborhood.

 

The weather out here in Salton city during the summer can change quickly.  For example, I woke up Sunday morning and the sky was completely blue, not a cloud in sight as pictured below:

 

 

 

The above photo was taken from my patio and shows a clear sky and now you can compare it to the next photo shot about an hour later and see the difference in cloud cover.

 

 

 

They formed quickly. and a picture on my patio wall shows the temperature at roughly the time of the above photo.

 

 

 

As you can see, the needle is right on the hundred mark.  Salton city reaches those temperatures from roughly late June to about the end of September.  The rest of the year is mild, ranging anywhere from 50 degrees to the 80's.  One thing for sure though was that I set up a waterslide  for the kids to enjoy and it brought the neighborhood kids together for some refreshing fun in the sun.

 

 

I know it's an unusual post, but I find myself enjoying more of the desert and less of the city.  I am however, having difficulty finding status on what is going on with the salton sea in detail.  The last thing I read was a short subject in the Desert Sun about California needing to rewrite water bonds to include funding to fix the salton sea.





I was again in Salton city the last weekend of July and was checking out the incomplete housing development known as the Salton Sea Estates.  It's on the northwestern section of Salton City and backs right up to the Anza Borrego desert state park.  I can see why people would want to live here with easy access to open off road trails.  There are many beautiful homes in this development, but like I said it was not finished.

 

The above photo shows a drive down the main drag known as North Marina drive west of  Highway

86.  As you can see, there are plenty of residential lots undeveloped.  It appears an attempt was made to have some sort of master planning by centralizing postal service for homes as seen in the next photo.

Many of the homes here were built with block wall fencing (as seen behind the mail boxes) and other nice luxuries such as fireplaces and dual air conditioning units.  As with the rest of Salton City this area suffered with foreclosures during the housing crash.  Neighbors tell me when interest in this area stalled, homebuilders took shortcuts and many of these homes are poorly constructed.  Based on my limited observations, I find that hard to believe.

 

If any of you readers have an interest in the area, plenty of buildable lots are available for purchase if you choose to build your own home.  This is an advertisement I chanced upon while driving to the Salton sea estates:

 

 

There is plenty of room for growth here and I would like to see that happen by the time I retire there sometime around 2021.  If you desire a safe low cost place to live or to start a business, this is an excellent place!

 

 

One of the homes for sale in the development consists of three bedrooms three baths enclosed in about 1700 square feet

 

The price was not noted, however as of the Summer of 2013 similar style homes are advertised from about $75000 to about $100,000 depending mainly on condition in Salton city.  Back in 2009 when I bought my place they could be had for around $50,000.  The Original prices as advertised by the builders was around $265,000.  This one appears to have nice landscaping and is perched on a small hill and probably has good views.

 

Well, That will be it for this blog and my next visit to the area will be over the Labor day weekend at the beginning of September.

 




As mentioned in the previous blog, I was going to mention and show that Salton city has an abundance of commercial properties for sale.  I have photographed some of the properties to show you,  Some of the signs appeared worn and old while others appeared to be recently placed.  To sell and develop these properties seems to be universally agreed upon by my neighbors.

 This property is located on a street called Service road which runs parallel to and is visible from Highway 86

 This is another piece along service road and is somewhat faded

This is a piece of commercial land at the intersection of service road and north marina drive.  It is located across from the housing development formally known as "the Salton sea estates".

 

Today, the Salton sea estates can be considered incomplete.  I wouldn't consider it a failed development.  On one of my future visits I will photograph some of the beautiful homes and open space of that development.  This is one development that will probably be finished with the renewed political interest in fixing the ailing Salton sea.  To see the current progress on the political interest in the sea which occurred in April 2013, go to youtube and search "Salton sea stakeholders forum" and view the 2hr 47min video.

Salton city on the long fourth of July weekend was surprisingly uneventful.  Usually a fireworks show is put on and this is the first time since buying my home in 2009 that no show was put on.  So, on the fourth we took a trip to Brawley, which is about 30 miles south on highway 86.  We went to the Walmart supercenter there where we bought some items for home we needed.  On the way home from there, we had to drive through a checkpoint at the intersection of Highway 86 and highway 78.  It is operated by the US Border patrol.

Since we did not know where there were any public fireworks shows in either Imperial county or the Coachella valley we bought fireworks from a fireworks stand and set off our own that evening.  Friday we had plans to visit the Knott's soak city in the Palm Springs area and that took the majority of the day.  That pretty much left me for Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th to take a few pictures of the area.

First of all I went to the Casino and took some outside pictures since many people tend to frown when their pictures are taken and especially published on the net.  The Casino here is not really in Salton city but is about seven miles north and close to the town of Salton sea beach.  Well anyway, here is what the Casino from the outside looks like starting with the sign.  It is called the Red Earth Casino:

 

 

In the lower photo, The Casino is to the left which is the building with the red lower section.  It is a somewhat small casino in comparison to those you may know in Las Vegas.  I have visited it a couple of times but for one reason or another gambling doesn't seem to interest me much.

 

Another location I visited was the Vista del Mar clubhouse.  It is also known as the Dome.  It consists of a circular looking building which houses the Clubhouse.  There is also a solar heated pool in the back.  However when I visited the place in the morning it appeared closed and I was unable to get in and photograph the pool.  I would like to become a member of the organization but every time I go there, no one is around to give information.

 



It does appear to be well maintained and it's also possible that staff is not there on weekends or Holidays.  I may never know.

Another place I visited that morning was the local golf course.  I'm told that it was built by volunteers who put in everything from the irrigation system to the signs at each hole which state number and distance in yards.  It uses the honor system to pay green fees.  It's a nine hole course.  There is a clubhouse and the volunteers there were nice enough to give me a golf cart tour of the place.  Here are the photos:

 This is the sign that tells you the approach to the Golf course.

 This is the clubhouse

 one of the signs put up by volunteers

 As you can see, the greens are green and the fairways are desert or earth

A close up of one of the greens with the hole

 

Sometime later this week I will post photos of Commercial land available in the Salton city area so those business organizations wishing to expand may consider this area.