Nothing says “an adventure is about to begin” like your propane detector going off.  We were packed and ready to leave Prescott, pulling out of the driveway, when our ears were accosted by an obnoxious noise.  Luckily, we were already planning to stop by a local RV dealership to dump our tanks (a service that they offered for free) and fill our propane (they are one of the cheapest in town).  With great haste, and many red lights (which Andy calls “orange lights”) run, we made it to Affinity RV.

While Andy was dumping the tanks, I ran into the service center to ask for help.  We had no idea why the detector was going off (except for the obvious implication: we were leaking propane).  The wonderful people at Affinity got a mechanic to check out our rig right away, even though Saturdays are busy for them.  The mechanic found, through a series of tests, that our fridge had been leaking propane.  We just had our refrigerator replaced before we left on this journey and he said that they had not tightened the connector and tested it properly upon install, thus causing a slow leak that gradually got worse each time we switched power sources.  This was terrifying for me because all I could think about was Pica, our bird, being slowly gassed to death.  Thank goodness our detectors were fully functional and we were close to someone who could help us.  I must say, I’m feeling a little salty towards Camping World at this point.

After our two hour delay, we were back on the road towards California.  We had reservations to spend two nights at Salton Sea State Recreation Area.  We were a little apprehensive since we had heard some not so great things about the place.  Aside from the hundreds of dead fish covering the beach, campsites on the road, and constant trains going by, it was a nice place.  If you looked at the water from the distance, you didn’t see the dead fish, you only saw the hundreds of different birds using the lake as a migratory spot.  Herons, egrets, sea gulls, pelicans, and on and on it goes.

The Salton Sea is just as the name implies: very salty.  Due to several environmental changes, the salinity of the lake continues to rise, causing devastating effects on the aquatic life.  It is interesting that some fish and animals have been able to adapt to the change in salinity.  The sea is more than 200 feet below sea level which is quite the change from the 5800 feet we were previously staying at!

We only had one full day to explore so we took the Jeep out for an off-roading adventure and some hiking.  We also took a drive through Joshua Tree National Park which was pretty cool.

We had to watch out for rattlesnakes and tortoises on our hike but we were not lucky enough to see either.

We left Salton Sea this morning and are heading for the coast.  I am so excited to see the ocean again!  We will be spending the next week with some friends who are flying into L.A.  The ocean breeze, sandy beaches, fish tacos, wine tasting, and the San Diego Zoo.  What more could a girl ask for?