Gathering up all our stuff and putting it in its designated place preceded our departure from Stagecoach Trails in Shelter Valley and the Anza-Borrego State Park. We drove south on S-2 to Interstate 8 and then headed east. The part on S-2 is a squirrely drive over some little rock ridges and through some very scenic desert with jagged, gorgeous mountain ranges making up the horizons.
In Ocotillo, we connected up with I-8 and started the descent to below sea level through the massive Imperial Valley, home to abundant crop land, gigantic wind turbines, irrigation projects and a funny odor. We blasted through El Centro at right about the California speed limit of 55 mph for trucks towing trailers, prolonging our enjoyment of the strange smells.
After a couple hours, we arrived in Yuma, Arizona, another area of extensive agriculture and the piquant odor of animal shit. We set up at a campground called Yuma Lakes which seems to only have one small pond but lots of birds enjoying the wet spot in the middle of a scenic but hellish desert. The pioneers who originally came through this landscape must have been some tough hombres because there is no water other than the currently very skinny Colorado River, poisonous snakes, nasty bugs, vegetation that has prickly defenses against contact and rocky, broken terrain.
We took a spin into Yuma to get a new tail light bulb for the truck which only took two long stops at parts stores to acquire. We filled up the fuel tank and stopped at In-N-Out for some double-doubles before heading back to Yuma Lakes. We won’t be in this locale for long. We did note that we would probably miss an opportunity to see one Robert “Buzz” Goertzen, called “The Idaho Yodeler,” at tomorrow’s non-denominational church service at the park. Drat!