What to do for Thanksgiving in southern Arizona/California

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UTTransplant

UTTransplant

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Cedar Falls, IA
We won't have any kids around this Thanksgiving, so we are planning on heading out next week for 3-4 weeks. The first week (3-13 November) will be at Death Valley, then a day or two somewhere to use someone else's electricity and wifi (Tecopa Hot Springs maybe). Then we need to find a spot to settle for the next week or so. Requirements include decent Verizon data service (need my fix ya know), temperature at night 35 or 40 and above, sites not terribly crowded, historical and scenic areas nearby to visit. Things we aren't interested in include casinos, shopping, urban areas, etc. Our trailer is less than 30' so we fit in a lot of places. We can also dry camp for 7 days before refilling and dumping. Any suggestions for the collective genius that is RV Forum?
 
We are headed to DV in December. Have you ever been to Tecopa Hot Springs? Its a run down nothing to do little town. Yes it has hot springs...but when we inquired about taking a dip the rules were men all together...NAKED and women separate...the same fashion. I'm not homophobic but the last thing I want to do it sit around a bunch of naked men I don't know. The campground was a dump..we left after 1 night. Beady Nv would be a more fun place to me. Have a good trip!
 
Have you ever been to Joshua Tree National Park? I have been to all the National Parks and it is one of my favorites. Great weather in the winter, plenty of cheap stunningly gorgeous campsites, great hiking and the park is never crowded. Located close to a great WW2 museum.
 
john owens said:
We are headed to DV in December. Have you ever been to Tecopa Hot Springs? Its a run down nothing to do little town. Yes it has hot springs...but when we inquired about taking a dip the rules were men all together...NAKED and women separate...the same fashion. I'm not homophobic but the last thing I want to do it sit around a bunch of naked men I don't know. The campground was a dump..we left after 1 night. Beady Nv would be a more fun place to me. Have a good trip!
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Which campground did you stay at? I looked at RVParkReviews and there is at least one with private baths. It didn?t have cell service, but it did have WiFi that was well reviewed. And I will look at Beady. Haven?t ever been there.

Tom, we spent five days at Joshua Tree a couple of years ago. Lovely place, but it doesn?t meet one of my requirements -data service <grin>.
 
Come down to Yuma. Lots of History, lots of RV Parks and most of the ones that we have stayed at have a nice Thanksgiving Feast in the park over the holiday.

Should be quite toasty, in the past 4 years it only went to the mid 30's one or two nights.

Costs by the month are around $300 or so.  Some places higher and some lower,  dry camping out west in to California a short way.
 
Kevin, you already know about the problems at Death Valley, but for others planning to go there see the following discussion about closed facilities.  http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,109668.msg987691.html#msg987691

ArdraF
 
Howdy,

We suggest the Mojave National Preserve. There are great scenery and hikes at both Teutonia Peak and Kelso Dunes, with free boondocking allowed at nearby "official" roadside camping areas.

If you prefer more organized campgrounds, there's the Hole-In-The-Wall area also with great scenery and hikes (Barber Peak Loop Trail and Banshee Canyon highly recommended). For history, I'd suggest the Kelso Depot  and the Goffs Schoolhouse museums.

There are tons of other interesting stuff to do around the area, just holler if you want more. We really love the Mojave NP and surrounding areas.

Edit: just noticed your requirement for Verizon data service. We suspect you won't be very happy there if you really need that, albeit we got good AT&T service in a limited spot near Kelso Dunes. But for guaranteed service, you'd really have to go back to I-15 (North border of the Preserve) or I-40 (ditto, South). Too bad you need that, otherwise it's a wondrous place.

Cheers,
--
  Vall  & Mo.
 
Beatty, NV is a small town just outside Death Valley.  There's not much more to do there than at Tecopa Hot Springs. Rhyolite ghost town is worth a visit, but it's accessible as a day trip from Death Valley.

You could come over to Pahrump, NV for a week.  Yes, it's urbanized (to an extent) but it's a good place to stock up for your next boondocking stretch.  Albertsons and Smiths supermarkets, Walmart, etc.  Lakeside Casino has a nice RV park with reasonable rates and there are several other choices in town.

Gas and diesel prices are significantly less than in CA.

Local sites include Nevada's only winery (with restaurant), Spring Mtn racetrack and China Ranch date farm.  Plus of course the two legal brothels at the south end of Homestead Ave. Women and visitors welcome.  8)

Pahrump is a 30 mile detour versus heading directly south on 128 towards Baker.  Go east at Death Valley Junction (Amargosa Opera House) using the Stateline Rd / Bell Vista Ave. shortcut.
 
+1 for Pahrump as a way station. We stopped there before and after our Death Valley trip and the city had everything we needed.
 
Pajrump is definitely an option. We always head there one day during a 7-10 day DVNP trip to do laundry and a restaurant lunch (I love a Thai restaurant there). There are things we like to do during the day. Yuma we are saving for after the Quartzsite rally. Anybody recommend a campground in Pahrump? I looked online, and there are a lot to sort through. We also saw a campground that has good reviews southeast of DV just north of Topock called Golden Shores. Decisions, decisions! Keep the recommendations coming.
 
Lakeside Casino has a nice RV park
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Definitely nice!  Lovely setting with a lake and well maintained last time we were there.  A few years back it ranked #2 by Good Sam with a 10-10-10 rating.

ArdraF
 
What are you looking for? Lakeside RV park is a good, reasonably priced choice for a couple of nights, wrapped around a 10 acre man-made lake. For a true first class stay there's Nevada Treasure RV Resort on the north end of town.  Escapees has a co-op park near Lakeside.  Saddle West RV park is just an asphalt parking lot on the main drag.  Preferred RV Resort is a Coast to Coast park.

Topock is a long ways from Death Valley.  It's on the Colorado River at I-40, 240 miles from Furnace Creek and 35 miles north of Lake Havasu City.
 
Thanks folks. I think we have a tentative plan, at least in broad outlines. Death Valley then Tecopa then gradually over farther east. We need to be back in Salt Lake City by the first week of December so this isn?t a snowbird trip. Snowbird trip will begin the second week of January to California (we have reservations at Bolsa Chica on the beach) then Quartzsite then KOFA or Yuma area. Back in SLC late February or early March. And yes, I know Californians will think it is cold at the beach in January. I spent a lot of time on business in Huntington Beach, and I felt comfortable walking on the beach most of the winter there. We don?t like hot weather.
 
We just received the latest Passport America directory.  When I looked at the cover I thought it was a really pretty picture and then I realized it looked familiar.  It's that lovely little Lakeside RV park!  If you want to see what it looks like and belong to PA, check out the new directory front cover.  Those are the Spring Mountains in the background.  They're between Las Vegas and Pahrump.

ArdraF
 
We now live in Pahrump, nice town. While our house was being finished we stayed at the Lakeside RV Resort. Nice place reasonable rates.
 
Sorry UTT Its been too long since I went to Tecopa HS. The dump we stayed at was on the right side of the main road going into town. They had hot springs also and that was on the other side of the road from the campground(dirt laden field). We have stayed at the Lakeside Resort also. Nice casino and restaurant. I remember betting on St Louis when they were in the series playoff..I think they lost to the Giants that year. Bolsa Chica should be nice. Those rezs are hard to get with the crummy Reserve America setup.
 
If you're going to be exploring California in November, a great option is to find all the hot spring locations in the state. There are so many to choose from - but I found a good guide for all the hot springs in California here - https://www.thislifeoftravel.com/usa-west-coast/california-hot-springs-guide

 
noappendix said:
If you're going to be exploring California in November, a great option is to find all the hot spring locations in the state. There are so many to choose from - but I found a good guide for all the hot springs in California here - https://www.thislifeoftravel.com/usa-west-coast/california-hot-springs-guide
Click to expand...
Note that this thread is 3 years old...
 
Since this ancient history has been resurrected, we decided to spend most of Thanksgiving week that year near Topock at Golden Shores RV park. Very friendly folks and a great shared Thanksgiving meal. The facilities were definitely unimpressive with broken concrete everywhere. We wouldn?t fit with our 40? motorhome, and even the 30? trailer could only fit in a few of the sites. We enjoyed wandering up and down the Colorado River area, and, like I said, the folks were very nice and welcoming.  Before and after we spent time in the Mojave Preserve and Pahrump.
 
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