Salton Sea and Seeing Dear Friends

From San Diego we headed east for the first time this trip!  We have very good friends, Gary and Katy Rovetto, Gary was Dick’s fraternity brother at the University of Idaho and we have seen them at their home in Payson, Arizona several times over the past few years.  We had been planning on visiting them again this trip but Dick had received an email from Gary a month ago letting us know that they were selling their place in Arizona and were going to move to Ecuador in South America.  We had not known the timing of our getting to their area and the potential sale of their property but had been keeping in touch.  A few days ago we found out they had sold and settled on their property and were planning on leaving Payson and visiting some relatives in California and the Pacific Northwest and Gary and Dick set up for us to meet for a day at a spa and RV Park by the Salton Sea on Thursday Oct. 2^nd.  Gary and Katy had been there once before. 

We had never been there and the drive to it from San Diego was out I-5 and into the dessert through some really dry and rugged terrain.  It took us about 5 hours to get out to the SPA and find Gary and Katy.   We got a site directly across from the site where they had their 5^th wheel RV parked.  It was great to see them and we shared a grilled hamburger dinner on the patio by their rig and talked well into the evening.  They are excited about their coming move and have high hopes about their move to a place where they have already made friends and found things there to their liking.  They spent last winter visiting Equador and really felt it was a place for them to enjoy living.  Gary is a former Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam and they once ran a flying business in the San Juan islands in Peugeot Sound Washington before he became a pilot for Continental Airlines.  He retired as a senior pilot from Continental.  

Gary and Katy by the Salton Sea

Friday we took a drive around the Salton Sea.  The Salton Sea is not really a sea but rather is a lake located  332 feet below sea level in southeastern California.   The Salton Sink as the area is called was originally part of what is now the Gulf of California.  Unlike most lakes it has no natural outlet flowing to the ocean; whatever flows in, does not flow out. The whole lake was dry and the land being developed as an agricultural empire by the California Development company.  They needed water for the agriculture and the company tapped the Colorado River for that purpose.  In 1905 after an unusually wet winter the Colorado River broke through the canal and the river’s entire volume poured into the nearest low spot – the Salton Sink.  Water inundated entire communities, the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The newly filled lake flooded nearly 350,000 acres.    By the 1950's the Salton Sea ad become a popular resort area.  Yacht clubs, large marinas and a championship golf course attracted celebrities.  However by the 1970's recurring floods ended the dreams of most folks for the desert ‘Eden”.  The lake has become a major area for migratory waterfowl and hundreds of species of birds.  The once terrific fishing has been reduced to only Tilapia fishing and we saw no boats on the waters of the lake.  There is a big question whether the lake can be saved or is destined to dry up once again.  Federal, state and local entities as well as interest groups and individuals are trying to save the Salton Sea.  However, funding is very limited and the future of the lake is in question.

Devastated home sites by the Salton Sea

In our drive around the lake we stopped at several park areas along the shore, observed white pelicans nearly everywhere along the shore.  There were also many dead fish and the smell was horrible in places.  The area other than for a couple of spas that take advantage of some heated water sources gives the appearance of desolation with abandoned building and skeletons of old RVs and trailers littering many sites.  There are a few homes that are still occupied but it is one of the most desolate and forlorn places we have ever seen.  The one bright spot is the abundant agriculture that is going on toward the northeast shore of the lake.  We saw many fields of date palms and other fruit and nut trees that appear to be thriving.

From our perspective, the two nights and intervening day we spent in the area was enough to let us know we would not return. 

On Saturday, Oct 4^th, after saying good bye to Gary and Katy we decided to continue our journey east by going up to I-10 and passing through Blythe, California to try and visit Pat’s cousin Betty Barrozo, who is the only remaining cousin at that level in her family.  On the way to reach I-10 from the Salton Sea we drove through a very isolated but beautiful area on a road called Boxed Canyon Road.  When we mentioned that road to Betty she immediately stated that it had been years since she had been there but that she used to go there on family outings using it as a halfway meeting point with Pat’s family from Brawley, CA.  One of those small world happenings to realize we had just been through a spot where Pat’s mom and her brothers and parents used to spend time visiting with relatives.    We offered to take Betty to lunch but she turned the tables on us by taking us to the Mexican restaurant that she and her family operate.  We chatted at length with Betty and met her daughter who runs the day to day operations of the restaurant.  The food was great!

Betty had Dick drive us all in her Jaguar to and back from the restaurant.  He enjoyed driving it even if he couldn't find the trunk release to open the trunk and get Betty’s wheel chair out at the restaurant!  After saying good bye to Betty we drove over the border from California into Arizona and went on to the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field FAMCAMP in Gila Bend.  We arrived late and after dark on this small out of the way air base but were able to get set up enough to get by with electric and water services.