We awoke to the bustling of Walmart employees arriving at work for the day. Although we had parked about as far away as we could, we were parked across a few parking spaces and up against a curb. Sadly, two rude employees decided to park in front and behind just one space away from our front and rear. There were dozens of employee spaces all around, but for some reason they chose to park just so that it would make it difficult for us to get out. We managed anyway, and moved to an area where no one could block us in.

We had coffee, got dressed, and made our way into the store. We hadn’t planned on spending very much, we just wanted to pick up a few blankets, pillows, pots and pans, and the like. We were outfitting our new baby for the first time!

Well, we ended up spending just over $500 when it all came down to it. We bought some comfortable clothes to leave in the R/V, and outfitted the kitchen nicely. Bought a shower curtain, blankets, pillows, engine oil, and a host of other things we probably didn’t need. Hey, it was great fun and really exciting to be able to make our new home, ours.

We left Walmart around nine or so, and headed down Beaumont Avenue, which is actually a highway, towards the Salton Sea. We figured we’d head south and go around Hemet, then take highway 74 through the mountains to Palm Desert. From there we would take highway 111 south to the Salton Sea. We were familiar with the south side of the lake, so we decided to head back to were we had been before. We knew of a nice spot where we thought we could dry camp without being bothered.

The R/V handled well though the mountains. There are a lot of turns, uphill/downhill grades, and beautiful sites along this route, and we really had the chance to see how she would handle. She did well, although at times we were slowed to 25 miles per hour on some of the really steep grades. The old Chevy 350 chugged along without too much complaining.

By the time we made it to Salton Sea, it was well into the evening. We found our favorite spot and parked for the night. We sat out under the stars in our new lawn chairs for a bit, watched the moon rise over the sea, then decided to turn in. I downloaded a few Coast to Coast AM episodes to have something to listen to as I fell asleep, and away we went to dream land. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and looking out at the sky in time to see a meteor. That was cool. What a quiet place this is. No noise and we were backed up to the edge of the beach so that when we awoke and looked out, we would be looking at a sunrise and the sea. It would be a nice morning.