Exploring Some Local Stuff

Since we have been using a lot of gas driving to all the places that are 30 or more miles away, we decided to explore some local areas that were within a few miles of us. There are a few older, smaller campgrounds in the area and we wanted to get info on those as they are our competition, so to speak.

While driving on rt 78 toward Borrego Springs, there were many areas off the road where groups of boon dockers were setting up for the Thanksgiving weekend. This picture, and the one that follows, shows these groups that set up in wagon train style, i.e. in circles, and create a huge ring where they all can congregate in the middle for meals, campfires, etc.




It is quite a sight to see miles and miles of open desert and every once in a while see one of these groups set up to enjoy their off roading.

There are only a couple of side roads that turn off of the main road, and there are three campgrounds that are tucked back in these areas. The first one we visited was a real dump, had only permanent spaces, and the trailers were all at least 15 years old. They did have a small store which carried most of the necessities - eggs, milk, bread, etc. This place was no threat to our new park. The second one, Leaping Lizard Campground was a bit better, and was more competitive with ours. They had nice spaces, some large, and all with mature trees. They charge $25 a night for their spaces - with full hookups. They aren't brand new, but they expect to sell out all of their spaces (about 50) for the Thanksgiving weekend. They are also just now putting in a swimming pool and we thought that, for the money, they were a much better deal than our place at $45-55. We pretended to be tourists and tried to get some info and opinions on the new park down the street - the Blu In RV Park. This guy told us a bunch - including that he heard that they were in foreclosure. That's news to us. Of course, he was trying to sell his park and its features over the "new" park.

The last place we went to was a smaller park about 3 miles in on one of the side roads. This place was in between the first one and the Leaping Lizard, in terms of amenities. It wasn't real nice, but the spaces were $20 per night with just electric and water with no dump. Not such a great deal. They also had a pretty well supplied little store that gives us an option to driving into Borrego Springs for basic stuff. While driving further down this side road we came across an area that looked like a whole, small town of old trailers. This picture shows a portion of this area that was like a sea of trailers on lots that sold, according to a nearby sign, for about $20,000 each - what a ripoff.




Today begins the big push for the holiday weekend. We don't start until 2 PM today, but from now until Sunday, we will be working about 10 hours per day. It may impact my schedule for doing the blog entries but I hope not too much. We'll see...