There were flash flood warnings for Las Vegas on Saturday morning starting around 11:00 am, so we made breakfast and left Red Rock Canyon campground early Saturday morning.
As we were driving on Highway 215 around Las Vegas, I saw a large lighted billboard off in the distance. The colors on the billboard reminded me of the Bo Jangles logo. As we got further down the road, it turned out to be a Bo Jangles ad that said Now Open! If only I had seen the billboard on Friday, I could of have Bo Jangles for lunch or dinner for the first time in four months! The agony… But now I have a reason to visit Las Vegas if I’m ever back in the area.
Our timing to arrive at Quartzsite couldn’t have been much worse. There was a wind advisory for Quartzsite on Saturday afternoon and a chance of showers on Sunday from some tropical storm. I just wanted to get an LTVA pass and find a site to hunker down in for the rest of the day.
We arrive to the La Posa North LTVA to find the office closed. A notice in the office window said to go to La Posa South or Tyson Wash LTVA for passes. We continued down the road to La Posa South and purchased a $40.00, two week pass to test out the area. We drove into La Posa South about a mile; just past the dumpsters, dump station and water refill stations and found a spot to park. The area was surprisingly empty since it is still early in the LTVA season (September 15, 2026 – April 15, 2027).
The wind picked up some on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t bad. And to my surprise, there were some rain showers in the afternoon as well. I thought “This isn’t too bad”. The rain continued off and on throughout the night, but the wind kicked in big time. The van would shake from time to time like we were driving down the highway. I double checked the wind advisory. It called for wind 25 to 35 mph, with gusts 45 to 55 mph! Some of the gusts felt higher than that to me.
We survived the night, but rain was in the forecast for most of the day on Sunday. I was mentally prepared to spend most of the day in the van. But we got lucky. Most of the rain skirted by to the west and we only had some light showers in the morning. Because of that, I was able to take Sam on some short walks to explore the area some.
The distant mountains are pretty, even if the local plant life is kind of rough and scrubby.
There are some interesting mountains to the east. I need to drive further into the LTVA to get a better look at them.
We met our nearest neighbor, Murry, first thing Sunday morning as he was collecting things that had blown out of his campsite overnight. The people I’ve meet so far have been nice and I got a recommendation on a mail forwarding company in Quartzsite if I stay for a while.
At this point, I don’t know if I will like living in the desert and if I’ll have enough things to do to fill my days. But I have the next two weeks to see what it’s like. I’ve started working on one of my Udemy drawing courses again, so this could be a chance to focus on creative skills for a while.
Leave a Reply