Monday, January 13th
2014
We left Phoenix at 7:02 am. The sun was starting to come
up and there was an accident on the freeway I-17 going down to the
city. Slightly annoying way to leave the city but with the help of
commuter lane it was not that bad. Over three hours of driving to get
to Yuma, Arizona. Yuma territorial prison state park. It was on the
edge of the town and next to Colorado river. We caught the tour that
started just few minutes before we got there. It was a retired school
teacher who was the guide – pretty funny and interesting guide. The
prison closed around 1909, there was some other uses but later it was
just abandoned. It was obviously cleaned up and somewhat restored but
it was still relatively small and without the guided tour pretty
boring. Downtown Yuma – or its shopping district – actually
looked pretty nice (summer is probably different as Yuma is one of
the hottest towns in the US). We walked around, looked in the used
bookstore (nice but strange one). Many stores closed (Monday). Nice
stop. Drove back to the interstate. We were in California. For a long
time the drive was horribly boring as there was nothing around the
road. Nothing. It was real desert. We saw for a moment the US –
Mexican fence. The sand dunes were interesting and pretty but there
was no real access and they were mainly open for ATV recreation
(strange concept to me). About 44 miles from San Diego we drove into
the mall near the interstate to stop by the California welcome
center. The mall was next to Indian casino. Everything was green and
blooming. Some stuff and maps for San Diego and back on the road. San
Diego – green and nice – from the interstate. We went to the
motel first (2.54 pm). J. is following some leads to secure our next
(and last) assignment so she had to do me of that. We were also quite
tired and reluctant to do anything big. She also ended up redoing
whole application online and that took her over an hour. The sun was
almost setting down when we left the motel and walked around the Old
town that is almost across the street from the motel. It was not
really busy – Monday night – but there were people wandering
around, getting dinner, or shopping. It was a tourist trap but it was
pretty nice and lively. The landscaping was gorgeous and it was so
nice to see so many green and blooming plants. We were glad to call
it for the day.
