We left Pasadena mid morning, saying our good byes to our hosts, and retracing the last day of our journey to Los Angeles. Starting with the 100ft driveway, this time going in forward, we pointed East on the 210 highway, traveling opposite of the morning commuter traffic that flows each morning from the San Gabriel Valley, a melting pot of asian communities, and their rich cuisines refined over thousands of years and brought here, winding all the way to the San Fernando Valley, home of Fast Times at Richmond High.
Our destination for the day is the Sunbeam RV park, chosen for its proximity to the border, price, and full facilities, allowing us to wait a couple of days for our friends who will join us the upcoming weekend, to caravan with us to Mexico.
As we made our way south, leaving Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, we also left the boundaries of the atmospheric rivers affecting the southland, the clouds parted, and the temperature began to rise gain, a difference of almost twenty degrees, lifting the temperature of our spirits by an equal amount.
On the way, we would again pass by Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, and the free campground that we stayed at less than a week ago, all now on the opposite sides of the road.
We turned South at Indio, home of the Coachella music festival that takes over the town every spring. Just like burning man, I would love to experience Coachella at least once, though the price of admission is beyond justification, and the pomp and theatre on display there, deeply conflicts with my suffocating sense of modesty.
Moving on, we took in the sunset over the Salton Sea, a drying, highly saline, polluted lake, once the playground of the rich and famous, now drying out, and a source of toxic dust to surrounding communities.
As we neared the border town of El Centro, we began seeing “Burn a Bale, go to Jail” billboards, and banners draped over barn doors. That part of the state apparently has such a severe problem with arsonists burning dry hay bales, that specific laws, new severe punishments, and a slew of public service announcements had to be thought up, to discourage such anti-social behavior.
Before getting to the RV park, we stopped in at a Tractor Supply Company to top up our propane tank. We filled this tank less than two weeks ago, and have already used over half of it for the primary purpose of keeping the cold out of the trailer. With the warmer weather ahead, I’m hoping that we can look forward to going back to using it to cook our food, instead of ourselves.
We arrived at the park gate in the dark, after the check in time. Unsure if we would get anyone, we called the number on the keypad and were immediately buzzed in. Less than a minute after getting in the gate, crawling along the street to try to locate any kind of lot or street numbers and unsure of where our site was, a masked man in a golf cart barreled out of a side street like a bat out of hell, and motioned for us to follow as he buzzed on.
We barely kept up with him, following him through one street after another, left then right, then another left, then another right, a LeMans race in a maze of RVs at maximum golf cart speed, until eventually he lead us to our pull through site at the edge of this city, motioning us to the site, and disappearing into the darkness as quickly as he appeared.
Looking around after having situated ourselves, the park appeared to be sprawling community of long time RV residents, who have chosen to go as far Southwest as they possibly can without crossing into Mexico. RVs as far as the eye can see, of all sizes, shapes and colors, all sharing the singular goal of staying as far away from the cold that blankets their residence of origin each winter.
Canadian flags outnumbered any other by at least 3:1. Our own trailer was dwarfed between two massive bus sized rigs, competing with each other for the biggest flag pole erection, each with an adequately sized and proudly mounted maple leaf, stiff from a fresh breeze.
The innuendos just kept coming, which was a very satisfying way to end the night.
After getting cleaned up we went to bed.
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