Day 31 - Monday, Sept 28 - Gila Bend, Tucson, Deming, NM

Starting mileage:  7611 Starting time: 7:45 am

Ending mileage: 8016  Ending time: 7:45 pm

Travel mileage:  405 Travel time: 12 hours

At breakfast we were talking to our waitress and was surprised that she had moved from San Diego to Gila Bend. Gila Bend is ridiculously and looks like it is dying with many boarded up store fronts. She said that her car broke down while driving through and had to be repaired. She became friends with the mechanic who turned into the "love of her life". She decided to stay, married him and has a 8 month year-old son!

The Sonoran Desert National Monument started just after leaving Gila Bend. The terrain is again very rocky with scrub, rolling hills and some mountains. We soon started seeing Saguaro cactus along both sides of the road which went on for miles. Then suddenly we didn't see them anymore although the terrain had not changed noticeably. Then after another 10 miles or so we started to see them again.

On the way to the Saguaro National Park we were surprised to see signs warning of flooding on the road and also signs warning of slippery when icy - it seemed incongruous with the temperature approaching 100 and the ground absolutely parched.  

Approaching the park, the number of Saguaro increase and numerous other varieties of cactus also appear, prickly pear, barrel, cholla. It is quite a change and very spectacular.

At the park visitor center there is a visual showing how the ground water level has dropped by 250' between 1900 and 1980. It stopped there and we wondered where it was now.  We also noticed in the distance what looked like a number of square lakes in the valley. When we asked one of the park staff about this, he said that those are ponds that are being used to recharge the aquifer, using water that comes from the Colorado river as part of Arizona's allocation. This has been successful, with the ground water level rising. He also added that this is still a problem because it is dependent on a scarce resource.

There is a nice short trail around the visitor center that identifies the different cactus and other desert plant species that we see. 

Just outside the park is the Desert Museum which we went in. Most of it is outside where there are trails through different types of habitat.  Many of the desert animals are there although we weren't able to see many of them - we suspect that in the mid-day heat most of them were resting in shade that they could find. There was an apiary where we could see a number of the bird species found in the desert. We would have liked to stay longer but it was unbearably hot, 101 degrees in the shade, and there wasn't much shade.  We also still had over 3 hours to get to our hotel, even with a speed limit of 75 all the way.

In New Mexico we went over the continental divide again but it was a bit of a disappointment, just a sign on a relatively flat section of I-10. When we crossed the divide in the Canadian Rockies, it was much more obvious.

The gas prices have dropped considerably since leaving California. It was $2.14 in Tucson and $2.08 in Deming, NM. In California it was a challenge to find gas for less than $3/gallon.

We are staying at a Holiday Inn Express in Deming. When we looked for a restaurant, most of them were familiar chains: Denny's, IHOP, KFC, Carl Jr, BK, etc. We finally found the Rancher's Grill which was a local restaurant.

Day 31 route

Entering Sonora National Park

Various cactus

Day 30 - Sunday, September 27 - San Diego to Gila Bend, AZ

Starting mileage:  7350 Starting time: 10:30 am

Ending mileage:  7611 Ending time: 5:00 pm

Travel mileage:  261 Travel time: 6:30 hours

We are on our way home. It was hard to say goodbye but we plan to be back at Christmas.

It was another hot temperatures - 106 in California and 108 as we passed into Arizona.

We are still amazed at all the agriculture in the desert. We passed some newly planted (we assume - just looked like desert) fields that were being irrigated. A lot of water must evaporate when it is being sprayed into the air at mid-day when it is 108 degrees. There were some large cattle feed lots and it looked like they were growing hay for feed.

We passed through an area of mountains that were covered with large round boulders. We thought of a science fiction movie where the boulders suddenly come alive as strange "stone" beasts.

It is good to see renewable energy being exploited. Near El Centro there was another huge farm of large wind turbines. A little further along there were several acres of photo-voltaic arrays owned by Duke Power that looked like they were turning to always face the sun. Unfortunately, it looked like some of the mechanisms weren't working as they weren't all pointing in the same direction. 

We didn't even notice we had crossed the Colorado River when we entered Arizona. There is so little water in the river by the time it gets here, it is only about 100' wide. In the early 1900s it used to be a raging river that sometimes flooded 15 miles wide. The Hoover dam, other dams down river and diversion of water for irrigation have reduced the flow to a trickle. After Mexico takes its share of water, there is nothing left by the time it enters the Gulf of Mexico.

We stopped in Yuma for lunch at Subway and afterwards went to the Yuma Territorial State Park which was quite interesting. This was a prison from 1876 to 1909 and parts of it have been maintained as a historic site along with a museum constructed on the grounds.  The Yuma townspeople thought the prison was a luxury with bathtubs, showers, a library and a hospital. The inmates thought it was a hellhole, 6 to a tiny vermin-infested cell with temperatures often over 100. They also had to do hard work outside in the heat. There were many interesting histories of inmates, why they were there, how they tried to escape, etc.

Near Gila Bend, AZ we passed the Solana parabolic concentrating solar power system that uses over 1900 acres of collectors. The parabolic mirrors focus heat on tubes of molten salt which can be stored and later be used to produce steam to drive turbines to generate electricity. This allows the generation of electricity in the evening when the sun isn't shining.

We are staying at the "Space Age Lodg" Best Western in Gila Bend. It was created by a former NASA engineer. The rooms all have space shuttle and other NASA photos. The outside is glittery. We had a very authentic Mexican dinner in a little hole in the wall restaurant down the road.

We were also able to watch the lunar eclipse of the "super" moon. No worry about clouds here!

Day 30 route

Saying goodbye to Anna this morning

Strange boulder formations

Colorado river in Yuma (foreground)

Yuma prison state park - guard tower and water storage

Day 29 - Saturday, September 26 - In San Diego

Hanging out with Anna today.

Anna and Bella at the bank

Street Market in "Normal" San Diego neighborhood

Dinner at Sushi Ota

Day 28 - Friday, September 26 - in San Diego

We've traveled over 7000 miles at this point so I had the tires rotated in the morning at Tire Express which had good ratings on Yelp. It was a bit strange, an alley with used tires on both sides and a bunch of guys using jacks to raise up cars for tire work. The price was good and job was fine. I also took Anna's car in to have tires swapped and aired up - every time we come out, Anna's low tire pressure light is on.

We had lunch at the Blue Water fish market and restaurant which has delicious seafood. We had "ahi poke" which is like an ahi sashimi salad as an appetizer. I had wasabi sesame crusted grilled ahi salad which was delicious. The ahi was buttery soft. See photo below.

On the way back, Anna dropped me of at Floyd's barbershop as I was in need of a haircut after 4 weeks on the road. I hope Joe at Hair Design in Kingston forgives me but I couldn't wait until after we get back from Maine in another 3 weeks.

In the afternoon we went to see "The Intern" with Ann Hathaway and Robert de Niro - it was very funny and a good way to get away from the afternoon heat. The last few days have been very hot for this time of year, mid-80s.

Dinner was a bit unusual. Whole Foods has a bar by the entrance where one can get 32 different beer on tap. We got Chinese takeout food at Whole Foods and ate it at the bar. It is surprisingly dog friendly - Anna was able to bring her dog Bella into the bar while we had dinner. San Diego is very dog friendly but it was surprising that this was OK in a supermarket.

Not sure that all this is very interesting.

Wasabi sesami crusted seared Ahi salad with Ahi poke side

Day 27 - Thursday, September 24 - In San Diego

Our time in San Diego is mostly relaxing, eating and family time.

We got up late and had lunch at the Brockton Villa, a restaurant in a historic house overlooking La Jolla Cove. This was built in 1894 as a weekend retreat - at that time it took 4 hours to get from downtown San Diego. Now it takes about 20 minutes. From the veranda we could hear the sea lions in the cove barking. I had the "Coast Toast", french toast that Brocton Villa is famous for - it is thick slices of french bread that is creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, served with boysenberry jam and maple syrup.

It was hot and sunny, a perfect day to be out on the water. I rented a kayak at La Jolla shores, something I had done a few times on other trips to San Diego. The ocean was relatively calm with long rollers about 3' high. I kayaked out to the kelp beds about a mile out where one can sometimes see interesting fish and sea lions. Didn't find anything interesting but a few years ago when I went out with Amy, a sea lion went back and forth underneath our kayaks which was pretty exciting. On the way back, I went by the La Jolla caves, deeply eroded sections of steep sandstone banks. In order to go through the caves one must be with a guide so I didn't go in. One needs to be careful going near the edge as many cormorants and sea gulls are along the overhangs and one can get blessed with bird droppings.

Anna's apartment is in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego which has dozens of restaurants of all ethnicities. It would take quite a while to try them all although we are trying... We went to Salt and Cleaver on 5th avenue. I had a beer braised bratwurst which turned out to actually be Italian hot sausage - oh well.

                                                                  La Jolla Cove

David coming in from Kayaking

Day 26 - Wednesday, September 23 - Pasadena to San Diego

Starting mileage:  7181 Starting time: 9:00 am

Ending mileage: 7181 Ending time: 4:00 pm

Travel mileage: 132   Travel time: 7 hours

We had a very nice breakfast with our niece Surana at Le Pain Quotidien, an organic bakery and restaurant in Pasadena.

We had planned to visit the Huntington Library and Botanic Garden but when we got there, learned that it didn't open until noon during the week and we didn't want to wait an hour and a half. We also wanted to leave Pasadena between 1 and 2 so that we didn't get stuck in San Diego rush hour traffic.

Instead, we went to the L.A. Arboretum which was just a few miles away. This is also very pleasant and interesting. It was getting hot, 90 degrees, and after walking around for a while, decided to leave for San Diego.

It is hard to fathom the gas prices. In Pasadena, gas was around $3.39 which was higher than in some of the remote areas we were in. We bought gas on the way to San Diego for only $2.89. Coincidentally, this was where Anna's car battery died on the way back from her graduation a year ago and I had to jump-start it by letting it roll backwards and popping the clutch before it backed into something. Fortunately it started and we got a new battery at Wal-Mart.

The traffic wasn't bad and we moved along at 75, getting to the Days Hotel a little before 3pm, too early for check-in at 4pm. It is cooler in San Diego, around 80. We had lunch at a restaurant a few blocks down and were able to check when we finished. This will be our home for the next 4 days while we visit with Anna.

Day 26 route

With Surana in Pasadena

 L.A. Arboretum

Day 25 - Tuesday, September 22 - Big Bear Lake to Pasadena

Starting mileage:  7049 Starting time: 9:00 am

Ending mileage: 7181 Ending time: 4:00 pm

Travel mileage: 132   Travel time: 7 hours

Tuesday was a pretty easy day - nice to drive less and relax more.

We had wanted to visit the Discovery Center in Big Bear Lake but it is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. We drove around the lake which is very low. One person we spoke to said that it was 18' below the top of the dam and the marina had to move the boat slips out pas the breakwater.

We decided to take the scenic route down which goes up over an 8400' pass. There were signs along the road warning of flooding from a few days ago but it was very dry now. The fire danger is still "extreme".

We had hoped to visit our friends the Cadys in Yucaipa but we weren't able to plan in advance and they were away. We did have great chef's and Cobb salads at the Kopper Kettle Kafe in Yucaipa.

Since we were so close to Redlands, I called my former (and now current) Esri colleagues to see if they were available and fortunately was able to visit with Donna and Neeta at the Esri headquarters. It was nice to see them.

From there it as a short trip to the Comfort Inn (free tonight with loyalty points). Arriving early, we went in the pool and got caught up with laundry.

Day 25 route