We leave Las Vegas early Wednesday morning, 6/21/2014,
heading south on I-15 and are headed into California. No sooner then we leave Nevada and a few
miles into California, we pass closely by another solar collector.
Carmen got a close-up picture of the collector tower and you
can clearly see the suns reflection from the mirrors going into the heating
collector. They have plenty of sunshine
to run this type of power at this location.
Continuing through California we are passing the boundary of
the Mojave National Preserve. Along this
section of the highway, we pass many Joshua Trees like these.
In the distance you can see the Mojave; sand and all.
Still on I-15 we pass several places where the sand is
drifting up the side of the mountains.
Now tell me that this doesn’t look like a scene in an old
western movie. Rounding up cattle and
getting ready for the cattle drive or the hide-out for bank robbers.
Almost at our first stop which is Apple Valley, we can see
from out descent both Victorville and Hesperia in the valley floor. Having just past Dale Evans Parkway we opt
for the Bear Valley Road exit because of construction. Apple Valley is where Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans lived and where their museum was located before being moved.
At Carmen’s brother’s (Del and C C) house we check out his
flowers and trees. Here is one of the
roses from his many bushes and he also has a few nectarine trees. After lunch we headed out on our way.
From Carmen’s brother’s house we are continuing south on
I-15 and descend through the Cajon pass.
Here you can see the railroad track that also shares the pass with the
highway.
Our plan was to also stop at my brother’s house (John and
Serina) in Moreno Valley, just off I-215, but they were gone at the time and so
we missed stopping in. We continued to
Temecula for a short visit with Carmen’s niece and family before continuing. Much of the country around here looks similar
to this, but with a house or two.
Leaving Temecula we headed south to CA-52 then CA-67 where
we merged with I-8 east. Driving along,
we have been seeing many ranches, including this horse ranch. Can you see yourself staying here for a week
and riding in these hills?
As we neared the turnoff to Jacumba Hot Springs, we see
hills with boulders and rocks piled as if a giant decided to use them to make
hills.
Some of the rocks were even sitting precariously like they
were placed there by someone, yet these boulders must weigh close to a 1,000
pounds.
After coming out of the hills with the rocks and before we
reach El Centro and Calexico we pass yet another windmill farm. We have seen a number of these and will
probably see more farms.
We pass towns like Coyote Wells, places to rent ATVs and
dune buggies to ride on the sand dunes, more solar panel farms, and then we enter El Centro and see this tank. The mark on the water or oil tank is where
the sea level is located, so we are driving beneath the sea level.
Except when we are in Texas this is as close as we’ll get to
Mexico. While we are driving east on I-8
we can see the border wall between the United States and Mexico running along the dunes.
On I-8 we stop at a rest area next to the Buttercup Ranger
Station. To our north are the Algodones
Dunes Wilderness Area and south of us are the Buttercup Sand Dunes, where you can rent sand dune buggies. We were going to cross the Algodones Dunes
north of here on CA-78, but decided to not take the time this trip. Even so, the dunes look great here.
Another great view of the dunes; notice the white metal
barrier at the bottom. This is a fence
we figure to keep people out because of the dune buggies. The sign says “Pedestrians Prohibited”.
Before leaving California and entering Arizona, we pass this
little chapel. It was maybe quarter size
of a regular building. The interesting
thing, it was near the Center Of The World Chapel and the Official Center of
The World Pyramid. (We did not go and check them out, since I only found out while looking at Google Maps trying to figure out where we were when Carmen took the picture.)
Before we get to Yuma we had to stop at a US Border Patrol
Inspection Station. Then when we get to Yuma
and stop at the visitor center to get a map, we find out that this was the
Army’s Yuma Quartermaster Depot and fort.
Nearby is also where the old Yuma State prison was and it’s still here.
Here we see some of the old styled wagons that were used
during the period of the fort.
Before we cross into Mohawk Valley, we drove by a couple of
huge dairy operations. There had to be
over 5, 000 milk cows at this location.
The ridge of mountains at Mohawk is impressive. It would be interesting to climb one of these
mountains just to view the countryside from the top.
We are getting closer to Gila Bend where AZ-85 south would
take us to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which we are not going. Instead we do catch a glimpse of some of the
Saguaro Cactus with the mountains in the background.
How amazing is this?
Not only do we finally see a corn harvest in action, but Carmen gets the
picture, though my window, and not a car to block her picture. Looks like the truck need to move forward a
little.
We stop in Gila Bend for gas and something to eat and there
is this huge Saguaro Cactus on the side of the road. Not only is it very large, but it is also
nicely arranged.
While still on I-8 we enter the Sonora Desert National
Monument and we see several Saguaro cacti and a number of what we think are
some sort of Cholla cacti.
Almost at our connection to I-10 and nearing the end of the
Sonora Desert National Monument we see many Saguaro cacti and can see them
going way back to the mountains in the background.
We are now on I-10 and somewhere around the town of Picacho
when we drive by a tree farm and think the trees are some sort of nut, either
pecans or pistachio.
One of the interesting things we saw along our way back to
Florida was in or near Red Rock, AZ when we see all of these aircraft sitting
along an airfield. It is a boneyard for
aircraft and located at the Marana Army Airfield.
We are beyond Tucson near Benson and we still see mountains
and landscape like this. This is
beautiful country and in younger days I would want to hike these mountains.
Not far from Mescal we see a train however, the train is
only made of engines. There are about
150 engines lined up end-to-end. Seems
strange that they would keep this many engines just sitting around, not in use.
Another stop or stops we didn’t make was to visit Tombstone,
the Cochise Stronghold, and Fort Huachuca (where our granddaughter’s husband
was stationed). Maybe sometime we’ll
make it back to this location the next time we come by.
Before leaving Arizona we again drive by rocky hills as if a
giant placed the stones like they were making stone castles.
Another of the rock boulder hills; pull one boulder on the
bottom and they all come down.
Carmen has been trying to get a picture of one of these Agave
plants as we drive by and finally she got one so I told her I’d add it to the
blog. It’s funny, where we stop there
never is one of the plants, only when we are driving 70-80 mph.
The same is also true for these Ocotilla and when in bloom
the tip of each stem has red flowers.
While driving through Arizona we saw a few things we didn’t
expect, like several huge diaries, an aircraft park, great mountain views, and
nut tree farms like this one.
In New Mexico now, the views are no less as
spectacular.
We still have passes we drive though with a valley
beyond. As we were driving though this
particular valley, a sign warned of dust storms the next 10 miles, the length
of the valley. There were also police
cars in the center with lights on during our drive.
As the sun was setting, we are about 35 miles from Deming,
when we see this “teepee” and the Continental Divide Historic Trading
Post. So we stop to take a picture of
the sunset, hoping for a nice afterglow.
Although this trip has been fantastic, the sunset had very
little afterglow. When the sun was down,
it and any glow were gone, no clouds, no afterglow.
We reached our destination for the night in Las Cruces. The next day we'll spend driving through Texas.
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