On January 3, 2011, we left Pio Pico Thousand Trails Preserve and headed east. We didn't get very far. (What else is new?) We stopped at Michael's to return some yarn and at a Wal-Mart to get some prescriptions filled. The druggist told us they would not get the stuff we needed until tomorrow, so we are spending the afternoon and night here in good ol' Wal-Mart's parking lot. We traveled maybe 20 miles today! Tomorrow, we get our drugs at 3:00 PM and we are then off, headed east, towards Florida! But, it is nice actually to spend the afternoon and evening kicked back. We are a little tuckered out! But at least the view out our living room window is this beautiful mountain. Out the kitchen window....parking lot.
January 4, after waiting until 1:00 PM for drugs, Wayne got frustrated and decided to challenge the druggist to a duel. Then, remembering he wanted to work on being more positive and a nicer person, he repented and just went in to see if the prescriptions were ready yet. All but one was ready, so we had that one transferred further east to El Centro, CA, and with that, we headed out onto I-8 East. After stopping for fuel out in the desert at a Casino, we decided to get off the freeway and headed out on Old Historic Route 80, a two lane road winding through the desert, desert hills and Indian Reservation. We came upon what from a distance looked like an aqueduct paralleling the road.
As we drove on, the road and the structure slowly got closer to each other. We then saw that it was a fence stretching on for miles and miles. We stopped and got out our map and saw we were really close to the Mexican border and then it dawned on us that it was the fence dividing Mexico from USA. Closer still and we saw more and more border patrol vehicles. As we stopped to take dozens of pictures, we became aware that we were being watched by a patrol truck. We moved on.
This fence is massive both in length and height. By all our observations it is well guarded. Later we visited with a couple camping out in the desert. They told us they had been coming there for about 15 years and the Mexicans coming across the boarder near their rig used to be dozens a day. But the last several years it has dwindled to a couple a month. So, the system must be working, but is not perfect yet.
We stopped in a school parking lot in the village of Jacumba to take a picture of this one of many ruins of old rock cabins from yesteryear. A fascinating historical area, with a very depressed economy.
We finally pulled into El Centro, CA after dark, parked in a Home Depot parking lot and ate dinner at Taco Bell. Then we found the wal-Mart where our drugs were and set up for the night. Canasta has been our evening activity the last couple nights and after rereading the rule book, found that we have been playing 2-handed Canasta by the wrong rules. We tried the 2-handed rules and, wow Megan, Kate and Linda, it made a big difference. No longer is the first discard pile pick up a shoe in for winning. It is much more competitive.
Anyway, this is a picture of where we were the night of January 4. We got up on the 5th, got our prescription and moved on. But we could not get out of town without stopping for fuel and dropping some clothes off at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
We hauled through some beautiful country and stopped for a planned 2 nights in Pilot Knob RV Park, a Coast to Coast Resort, near Winterhaven, CA on I-8.
In space 207 we set up and spent the evening basking in the warmth and making friends with our neighbors. They are non denominational Christians that have spent the last 17 years of retirement traveling from one humanitarian project to another. They are headed to Mt. Palomar where there is a Christian summer camp that needs some work done. They will join a bunch of other volunteers there for a month and do some repairs, then move on to the next project. Later in the evening they loaned us two WWII old movies to watch. Fun times!
Looking off to the south west we are right up against lots old sand dunes. Lots of dune buggies are seen around here!
To the southeast of us is BLM land where lots of dry docking RV'ers spend their winters. We stopped and gathered info from the ranger there as that is something we have considered doing sometime.
South east of us also is the mountain they call Pilot Knob, that the old time pilots used as a land marker flying from San Diego to Phoenix. You can also see some of the dry dockers.
Thursday, Ann paid bills.
Wayne read, walked around, visited many people, relearned how to play cribbage, talked on the phone and worked on pictures.
We liked it here so much that we decided to stay a few more days, so we changed our booking from leaving on Friday, 1/7 to leaving on Monday, 1/10.
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