April 4 and 5, 2013

April 4 and 5, 2013

Yesterday was the big day. We gave the Dixons their big hugs Monday night already; I spent Tuesday and Wednesday taking care of loose ends and packing up, while Opa Henk worked and recovered from the awful cold he had. Thursday we were on our way early, at 6:45 AM, because we had a service appointment with Mike Thompson RV in Colton, CA, to fix up a few minor items in the new and improved RV and put in the electric brake connection for the tow dolly. For some strange reason they quoted only about half as much as the Mike Thompson where we got the RV so we were happy enough. 

We hurried up good and got there 8:45, nicely on time, and then spent the next 7 hours waiting… we didn’t mind so much, first we sat for hours in the morning sun on the little terrace at Starbucks (two vente Americanos, scones, free WiFi), then in the shade of a palm tree outside McDonalds (salads, free WiFi), and after that on the veranda at the costumer service building of Mike Thompson (shade, breeze, bathroom, although no WiFi). Finally they were done, and we were off to our first stop-over: the Salton Sea, less than two hours away. There is a state park there with a campground at the edge of the water. Thursday's routes: 5, 210, 57, 10, 86, 111, all in California.

 

The Salton Sea, 227' below sea level, is an accidental inland sea. It was a dry land sink over a hundred years ago, but then the Colorado flooded, broke through something somewhere, and filled up the bottom of the low area. It took the Corps of Engineers a few years to stop the gap. The water gets saltier every year because there is no outlet, and it’s now saltier than the Pacific Ocean.  But the birds and tourists don’t mind, so they made most of it into a wildlife and recreation area. It’s on a major bird migration route, so Opa Henk and I entertained ourselves at dawn and dusk with bird watching. We saw 30 bird species in 24 hours without even trying… and at least half of them we had never seen before. We spent the middle of the day differently - with meetings (Opa), taxes (Opa), serving refreshments (me), studying the bird book with feet up (me), and planning our route (Opa and me). Life is good. Especially for me ;)

Funny that this area doesn’t look at all like we imagine California should look like. Oh, those prejudices! It looks more like what we think Mexico should look like – and, hey, that’s only a little further south! We especially didn’t expect, on April 5^th, that it would be 90+ degrees in the afternoon and 60+ at night. We had the windows open but still I didn’t sleep that well... too hot, and then every hour or so a train rumbles by.

Tomorrow we’ll drive to Tucson. This is only 5 or 6 hours, so we won’t need to hurry in the morning. We will skirt by the Mexican border the first two hours. Report anything suspicious, the signs say… don’t pick up hitchhikers…