Lake Asaal

I went to Lake Asaal a few weeks ago. It was quite amazing. If you ever get a chance to swing by Djibouti, there's not much to do anyways, so you should go out there. We got there by taking a nice long drive past the Djibouti Grand Canyon, a few tree goats, and finally through this small town off of a really terrible road.

So, as you may or may not know, Lake Asaal is the saltiest lake on the planet. It's incredibly salty. Words cannot describe the saltiness, so, I've ran some numbers so you can make your own batch of Lake Asaal water. Keep in mind that the salts are a mix in the lake, but it's pretty much the same.

Lake Asaal water - 1 gallon of water + 2.5 lbs of salt. Dissolve the salt and do not drink! 2.5 lbs per gallon, that's a lot!

When you get into the water, you'll need some form of sandals. The bottom of the lake is big sharp salt crystals. You'll also want to take plenty of water to rinse with. I had to go out where it was deep enough to attempt to swim down. Not only is it impossible, everyone is correct when they say it will burn your eyes. And, no, I did not open them. It felt like someone dropped flaming drops of acid into my eyes.

You can literally lounge in any position that you would like in the lake. I attempted to sit as if I were in a chair, kick back and lounge, stand up, it didn't matter what position I always floated. It was quite amazing. You can also purchase some salt from the locals as well as some other crystals and rocks. I also didn't see any signs that said not to gather the salt ;)

Another interesting area at Asaal was the nearby hot springs that flow into the lake. It was very hot and full of the brightest green algae. Someone was cooking eggs near one of the hot vents.

CH-53 ride

So, last weekend I got the opportunity to take a ride on a CH-53. I had no idea that we were going to a crash site to pay respect to 11 lost service members from two separate CH-53 crashes in 2003 and 2006. It was quite an experience and I am glad I got to go along for the ride.

I must give credit where credit is due...I took all of the photos here except the one above. Mine were taken with my Samsung Galaxy S phone which is great for taking photos in Djibouti and paying $3/min in cell service...which means it's good for taking pictures. Anyways, the photo above was taken by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Lael Huss. I think they would be fine with sharing it and I'll take it down if you want. But, I had to have it on here because I'm one of the three people in the background to the left scrambling to get out of the sand blasting area.

See photos with captions here...

http://www.hoa.africom.mil/getArticleFresh.asp?art=7553

Here is a humbling view of part of Djibouti City as we were returning. It irritates me when I hear/read people complaining about us and the French being here and not improving the area. I think those people could spend a little time here and see the difference that is being made. Anyways, that's a debate for later.

1/6 of the trailer hood moves to Djibouti

Well, I'm out of really old material so I'll start on some couple-week old material. Right now, we've moved the trailer cousin Eddy style and I've been shipped off to Djibouti. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's the smallest country that I've been told is a doorway to hell. Or, maybe they said it was hell.

I would have to somewhat disagree with that because I've spent quite a bit of time on a submarine. But, then again, it's winter here and it's 80 degrees at 10pm. As far as the submarine comparison, the only thing that was better on a submarine was the food. Sorry for the folks cooking at the Bob Hope Galley, but it's not as good as the good ol folks on the USS Rhode Island Gold.

So, my goals when I came to Djibouti were simple. Don't get malaria. Don't have a heat stroke. Run a half-marathon. Swim in the saltiest lake on earth.

So, I've been here for 6 weeks now and I've accomplished all of those things plus a helicopter ride. Now I'm scratching my head trying to come up with new goals. I'll try to start posting more regularly, maybe that can be a goal.

At any rate, life in Djibouti is pretty much like life anywhere else I've been except there's an AYCE buffet with mediocre food. However, unlike on a submarine, there's always HARDPACK! (that's real ice cream for those who didn't know) They also have frozen snickers bars and nutter butters. Maybe another goal should be to not get fat!

Living conditions are not too bad either. We live in CLUs (containerized living units). I'll clarify that for you...it's a shipping container with beds, a window A/C (not sure why it's a heat pump?), a locker and you guessed it....internet and sunshine! Take that submarines.

I'm currently on a list and in some time I'll eventually upgrade from a dry CLU to a wet CLU. That means I'll get to have my own room and share a shower and toilet with someone on the other side of the CLU. Right now, I share a room with one guy and have to walk outside and share about 6 toilets, showers, and sinks with about 50 other dudes, much like on a submarine. Amazingly enough, these 50 guys are as talented in the bathroom as they were on the boat. Not to be terribly feminine, but I can't stand seeing piss all over the toilet and the floor. It's not that hard to lift the seat and you don't even have to use your hand. And writing on the bathroom stalls? Seriously?

I'm not going to complain too much though. There are a bunch of guys here that are stuck living in tents. That sucks! If you think it's terrible where you are or have been, imagine living in a tent with 12-24 other people in the desert. Count yourself lucky and keep those guys in mind when you're feeling sorry for yourself.

Showers are just as bad. I guess mom can be proud because I seemed to learn that the shower curtain goes INSIDE the shower, not outside. It makes me happy getting to walk through a flooded floor because a bunch of people don't know how to use a shower.

On the bright side, there are some CLUville residents that happen to enjoy gardening. The limitless individualism and personalization that I've seen everywhere I've been always makes me smile. It's also refreshing to see vegetation especially since this place makes west Texas look like a rain forest! I hope that this person doesn't mind that I captured her flower for the world to see. Note the drip irrigation from the window unit. All they need is a bicycle rack and they can sign this place up for LEED Platinum!

So...what else is interesting about Djibouti? It's going to get hot soon, and as soon as I move to a wet CLU I'll set up a weather station for everyone to see. As mentioned before, the saltiest lake on earth is here. There are hot springs that people boil eggs in, a sort of active volcano, black tip sharks, whale sharks, baboons and tree goats. I'll talk about all of these later. I don't want to go through all my material in one post!

Anyways, I'm going to have to wrap this up so I can sleep which is a little easier now that my first roommate moved out and I swapped mattresses. So, until next time, good night (or good morning to the states).

Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

Jan ??, 2011 - Warning, this may be a distorted memory of the past, but I think it's fairly accurate.

Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

On the way to California, the day prior to Alamo Lake State park, AZ, we pulled off the highway between Tucson and Phoenix. Right off the highway is Picacho Peak State Park. It was in the right area and we made it in time to find a spot.

They had water and electric, the sites were big and there were a lot of rocks. It actually was similar to Djibouti, but I think there was quite a bit more vegetation in AZ. The park was nice and we took the kids on a hike. Literally, as in carried most of the way. The next morning I went on a hike, hoping to make it to the top and apparently took the wrong trail that takes forever instead of the short cut.

In the end, it's a great place to pull off the highway in AZ if you're ever there. Enjoy the pics.

Holy crap, 2 in one day - Joshua Tree National Park - it sucks.

Lucky readers, you get yet another back-dated entry. I'll probably start putting up more recent, but my living space is less RV and more container these days. That means you'll get to see about Djibouti!

Anyways...Jan ??+1day, 2011

Our next planned stop was cottonwood campground in Joshua Tree National Park in California. The park was a good stopping point, and according to the park ranger had plenty of pull-thru sites that were 56’ and 58’ which would fit our rig, no hook-ups, but we could generate until quite hours started at 8pm. There was also a review from a resident Californian claiming that words couldn’t describe how amazing this park is and that it inspired bono to make an entire album. So, after being cut off by 2 drivers with California plates at the border inspection station, we headed off the interstate away from cell phone coverage to another desert adventure.

After climbing a good elevation we checked in and headed to the campground. The wind was blowing about 50 mph of cold, dry, dusty air. The ‘pull-thru’ sites were more like pull-over sites. We would have had no problem fitting had the geniuses that manage this park not placed giant boulders on the edge of the pavement. I managed to squeeze in, though we would only be able to use our door side slide. I can manage dealing with that and was looking forward to a hike in the baron wasteland. The other inhabitant of loop A, the camp host, was nice enough to come over and hand us the map saying, ‘here, maybe this will help, it has the size of the sites’. I thanked him and he went back to his trailer.

I fired up the generator and went outside to shut the breakers and was again greeted by the only other inhabitant in the loop, Mr. camp host. I will not throw Californian’s under the bus based on this guy since his license plates were from Oregon. So, please don’t take offense if you’re from California or Oregon, I understand that there are good people in all states, even New York. Or, do take offense, I’m from Texas and we’re all bigger and better than you! Anyways, his greeting through his potentially stoned, hippy-hair infested lower lip this time was, “Generator hours!?!?” (think Cheech’s hippy fuel salesman character from Pixar’s Cars) I replied with “yea, until 8pm.” “Uhhhh, who told you that?!” As I looked around to see any other campers that were being disturbed and Katie was wondering how he even heard the generator through the 50mph winds, I told him that the park ranger said it was until 8pm. “Was it a man or a woman?!” I explained that I didn’t know my wife talked to them. “Well 7-9! 12-2! 5-7!, generator hours”. At this point I stopped talking and had already decided to leave the park and demand a refund. He continued, “I don’t know what to tell you man! Hours are posted everywhere man!” I looked around for these signs that he claimed to be all over that I still didn’t see even when leaving. “I mean, it’s posted everywhere man” with arms flailing about in what appeared to be confusion, perhaps he smoked a little too much of his brain away. At this point I had tried to walk away from him several times and each time he continued his expressions of how it’s posted everywhere and he didn’t know what to do or say. I’m no camp host, but I would think the appropriate thing to do or say is explain the situation and ask the violator to turn off the generator. But, I guess expressing “I don’t know what to do” following every half-sentence with “man” was his solution.

At any rate, I finally just walked away from his flailing arms and told Katie we were leaving. She didn’t seem too disappointed. As for Bono being inspired, maybe one of the other campgrounds was amazing, but I can’t see anyone being inspired to do anything other than want to go to a better place. Which, is probably the true inspiration to the album; going to a better place or better yet “state of mind”.

Needless to say, we left the park for a miserable quest to find a place to stay for the night during snow bird season. If I had to do it over, I would have stayed at Lake Havisu rather than Alamo Lake, stayed an extra night, and drove straight to our final destination.

Alamo State Park, Arizona

It's been a while since we posted anything. So, rather than post something new, I found this post from about a year ago that never made it to the web. Thank you lack of internet.

January ??, 2011

The past few weeks have been full of driving. Between house hunting in South Carolina, to finishing up work in Tn, to Christmasing in Tx we traveled over 6500 miles in less than a month.

We were searching for a park, trying to guess which one we should check out next, and with minimal access to the internet we had to just guess­­­­­­­­­­­. On the promise that Alamo State park was the “Hidden Jewel” of Arizona we pulled off the highway and onto what looked to be the road to nowhere. Although the roads are in excellent condition and are well maintained, I would be leery of diverting 75 miles off the nearest interstate in a vehicle that has potential to breakdown. We saw only a handful of cars pass by us and I would say that 98% of those cars were people who were leaving the state park. The other 2% probably worked at Del Monte.

Cell phone coverage was about what you would expect in the middle of the desert and would require about a 20 mile trek through burning sand to get a signal. There are few inhabitants out here, which is not surprising when considering the terrain and the weather they have most of the year. I would never come to this park in the summer for fear of overheating the family or the truck while driving through the desert.

So this ‘Jewel’ of a park was a bit of a letdown. We arrived to find a sign that said to lock up your stuff at night because there have been a rash of late night thefts. And if you had seen how far out in the middle of nowhere this park was, you too would be asking yourself….who would come all the way out here to steal stuff from campers?

So what can you find at Alamo State Park? You can find a lake that says it is abundant with fish; we didn’t check it out too closely. Instead of scavenging squirrels or raccoons, you will find coyotes that hang around waiting for scraps and wild burros that apparently just walk around pooping on all of the campsites. There are also these crazy little birds that look like a combination of quail and pigeons. They run all over the place and there are LOTS of them.

The facilities were ok. The sites weren’t completely level, but they weren’t terrible. There was a loop of about 20 sites that had full hook-ups which was about 60% occupied with snow bird season in full swing. Each site was paved and had picnic tables, and some even had small tree/bush things that won’t provide any shade at all. I didn’t go into the bathrooms but Steve described them as ‘cleaner than he expected’. He also suggested we shower in our own trailer.

All in all I would give the park a 5 out of 10, I can’t speak for Steve. It wasn’t the worst park in the world, but I was disappointed, and I don’t know that I would really want to come back any time soon.