Our Location: Joshua Tree National Park, South Entrance, CA
We packed up and headed off this morning around 7:30 AM California time and an uneventful trip we had. We like those kinds of trips. Except for a little mishap, not ours but someone else's at the rest area on I-8 West just past Ogilby Road the roads were accident free. A semi had some how managed to jack knife himself while coming out of the rest area onto the I-8 West bound lanes but was still in the rest area. It appeared that he thought he wouldn't make the turn and backed up which jack knifed him and his right rear tractor wheels were hanging in the air over the side of the road. A big tow was on route. Enough room for us to slip past him and be on our way though.
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| Just before the rest area on I-8 West. Lots of weekend warriors here. |
We made our first stop at the rest area of course, water, and garbage. From there our next stop was a little over an hour away at Brawley's Walmart on Wildcat Drive. We took our time getting a few things that we hadn't been able to find in Yuma. After that it was on the road again until we turned in at the Red Earth Casino on CA 86 N where we used their dump station. We waited for about 20 minutes until it was our turn and within a half hour we were on our way once again.
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| The border inspection station on CA 86 was backed up and stop and go for a while but suddenly they just started waving everyone through and not asking any questions. It appeared they had two cars pulled over and the K-9 unit was inspecting both. |
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| Back in Ontario, Canada we never think of a Palm Forest. |
We continued right along taking the Dillon Road Exit to merge onto I-10 EAST bound. From this point on our towing travels will take us east bound, with perhaps some southward movement as well but mostly east until we finally head north to the land we call home. We climbed onto I-10 E and continued on our way. We reached Joshua Tree National Park and set ourselves up by 2 pm California time. A quick call to Dad had me informed that it was too cold for folks to be outside there today and so he was inside doing some net surfing.
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| Along the way, hay under those tarps, tons and tons of it. A very empty I-8 West bound. Two trees have formed an arch in this field. Very cute. |
A nice lunch and then Riley and I caught up with our blogging friends and I checked the weather for tomorrow. Ho hum, I wished I'd have checked it last night instead. We wouldn't be staying here at JTNP tonight if I had. Wind warnings posted for here tonight, 25-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Starting around midnight and continuing through the night and into the afternoon tomorrow. I checked the Salton Sea area, no wind warnings of any kind. I was tempted to move but instead we stayed put. Hopefully tomorrow we can still make it into town to see Janet and have a visit.
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| Welcome to Brawley, CA. Fuel prices are a bit high I think. |
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| Can you see the snow on the mountain peaks in these pictures? |
So there you have it, our travel day which wasn't long and wasn't difficult. We enjoyed seeing the sights again and are looking forward to tomorrow and some time with Janet. We will be here only two nights and be moving on Tuesday morning.
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| We begin the long climb to the Chiriaco Summit. |
Thanks for stopping in, I hope you enjoyed your visit.
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| As we climbed we noticed this helo. He appeared to be hovering at first, then moved off and swung around to come back. We could see the long line trailing and couldn't imagine what he was doing. As we watched he approached one of the towers and stopped, hovering again. It was then I realized there are workers on this towers and he's picking them up. Now that folks is a definite high risk ride to and from work. |
Until next time... take care, be safe,
Deb
