Fantastic morning. We used our 2 for 1 breakfast buffet ticket at the casino's Blue Water Grill. Food was ok. After breakfast we went back to the coach and got ready to go. Driving down Rte 95 S we turn onto Rte 62 W in Parker. This will take us across the Colorado River into California where we pick up Rte 95 S again. The air is crisp and clear, and the sun is warm. We liked this area of Arizona a lot. Lots of ups and downs this morning as we roll through the dips and washes as the road winds along the Colorado River.
We experienced our first "agricultural" check point this morning soon after entering California. The border patrol officer just asked us where we were coming from and then wished us a good day. We turned onto Rte 78 W and there are a lot more green bushes, some trees and palm trees as we ride along the river. It's pretty driving through the dirt desert floor and then coming over a hill seeing the sparkling blue river appearing in front of us. There are many farms growing hay and feed for cattle. The fields are still wet and puddley (is that a word?) from the rain last weekend. The green fields seem really bright after being in the desert plains for so long. Herds of sheep and baby lambs are grazing the fields along the road as we drive southwest. The mountains frame the horizon and you really get the feel of what it was like before the settlers came and what the land was like when they crossed in wagons. A lot of these roads are old wagon trails. We noticed some smoke rising in the distance and wondered if it was a war party.... Ken said 'no, they just picked a new chief!
We stopped for a break at a pullout and took a walk down a wash a few feet from the pullout. Some of the trees are covered with a thick vine. At first we thought these were bird nests when we saw them from the distance. Gordon told us it was Mistletoe which is an invasive plant and it's killing the trees. It was really interesting to walk through the cactus and trees along the wash. We saw some small animal prints and thought they might be coyote. Ken looked for "shiney" rocks during our walk. I think he's becoming a gold hunter... We had a quick lunch, enjoyed the mountain views and then got back on the road.
Traveling through the jagged Palo Verde Mountains, some of the dips are so deep you can see where drivers went in too fast and hit the front of their vehicle before starting up out of the dip (ouch). Suddenly out of the brush to our left a coyote came running across the road. They blend in with the dirt and brush so well we didn't see him until he was in the middle of the road...Ken slowed down as much as we could and the coyote was able to run forward and to the side.... we just missed him!
Coming into the small town of Glamis, California we weren't prepared for the surprise ahead. There seemed to be large hills of what looked like sand in front of us. A few miles up the road we found ourselves entering the Algodones Sand Dunes. These are unbelievable. They are approximately 45 miles by 6 miles and extends along a northwest-southeast line that correlates to the prevailing northerly and westerly wind directions. There was a plow (yes like a snow plow...) in front of us plowing the sand off the road. We saw a beautiful light brown hawk perched on the top of a sand dune, but unfortunately they won't let you stop on the side of the road. There was no place to pull over for pictures, but we tried to take some out of the car window. During a major winter holiday there can be 150,000 people using this recreational area for camping and off roading.
We turned onto Rte 111 S and our GPS (Adora) is in charge now to get us to our campground. This route takes us through the Imperial Valley. We passed by a huge dairy farm with about 2 acres of pens holding cattle - very stinky and we were glad we weren't neighbors.
Turning onto I8 W we are definitely back in civilization. We pulled into El Centro and the Sunbeam Lake RV Park. We have a site here for 2 days and then we'll store the coach while we go to San Diego. The park is ok, but not really on a lake. It's more like a man made lagoon. Soon we have the thunder of jets over head. This is the winter practice site for the famous Blue Angels. We watched them twist and turn as they flew singley over head.
We did about 180 miles today so we chilled and went to bed.
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