Day 1 Southern States

We tried to drive away from camp this morning while still plugged in to their electricity. Fortunately Dave noticed before we did any damage. We really need to make a checklist and start using it.

We bought propane before leaving the Circle RV Resort. We may be south but we are still running our furnace every night  The park’s computers were down so they couldn’t process our credit card  Dave had to pay cash. Next stop is the Bank of WalMart.

We don’t use ATMs anymore. WalMart lets you get $100 cash back when you shop there and that’s been enough to keep us going between shopping trips. Pretty convenient.

Going east on I-8 I can see snow on a hill ahead of us. But there’s so much solar heat coming in our windows we are both in shirt sleeves.  

Someone else likes that solar heat, too. There’s a large bank of solar collectors on the side of the hill beside the road.

Remember Dave saying we aren’t going over any mountains today? Why are my ears popping?

We stopped at a viewpoint. That’s quite a valley for us to not be on a mountain.

There’s shattered glass on the pavement. Apparently a couple of drivers argued over whose turn it was to pull out next. I wonder if either think they won?

A little while later I saw a bumper laying on the side of the highway with the license plate still attached. Do you think it will be missed? Do you think someone else will claim it? If so, will the claimant report it or keep it for some nefarious purpose? OK, I read too many mysteries.

The windsocks on the bridge say we have a tailwind. Much better than a crosswind.

Sunrise Highway is on the west side of the hill. Shouldn’t it be on the east side?

We drove through a pass at 4055 feet. Not quite to snow level. Not really a pass, either, since that would mean we are in the mountains and we aren’t going into the mountains today; we are going through a valley between mountains, remember?

So, what’s this?

 

You know how groups of things have names: herd of cows, gaggle of geese, etc.? How about a tumble of rocks? There are piles and piles of rounded boulders alongside the road. It looks like some very large kid’s toys. Some of them look like they are stacked rather precariously. I wonder how many are named Balanced Rock?

When we see signs for “brake check area” and “runaway truck ramp ahead” we know we are coming to a big downgrade. This one is 6% for 7 miles. The truck speed limit is 35 miles an hour so it must have a lot of curves, too.

As we round those curves we are driving back and forth between Imperial County and San Diego County. I’m sure glad the counties are not responsible for maintaining this road. Can you imagine what a headache that could be?

I guess we are now out of those mountains we didn’t drive through since the elevation sign here says, “Sea Level”.

In El Centro, California, we stopped at a KFC to eat lunch and talk about future plans. I have a prescription to pick up at the WalMart here but then what? Our daughter called while we were still deciding and she and I talked long enough that we decided to not go anywhere except the local campground.

So we are now at Rio Bend RV Golf Resort in El Centro, Caifornia. We will be here two nights while we decide whether to go to an RV park in Yuma or Phoenix or Quartzsite (we have friends/family in all those places right now) or go boondocking on BLM land or what. One of the realities about moving all the time is that there are always many decisions to be made.

TTYL,

Linda