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After an early breakfast of our scrambled eggs and bacon, toast and hotel coffee we packed the car up and set off heading east. It was typical US hwy; traffic jams on the other side and a constant parade of chain restaurants and stores on either side. Mountains surrounded us as the temp slowly rose the further east we went and the on-going drought became more apparent. Just out of Palm Springs there's a massive wind farm on both sides of the road and up high on the mountain ridges. Any water courses were bone dry and looked like they'd been that way for a long time. Palm Springs really is a desert town, trees are the only splashes of green for the most part. A lot of the homes are still those built back when it was an enclave for Hollywood stars which are in pretty good shape. Most opt for the desert look, cactus in pebbled gardens but there are a few lawns here and there but not many.
The thermometer got to 40C in Palm Springs at 11am and kept right on rising as we continued East.
Never ones to take the road most travelled we detoured off the highways towards the Salton Sea.
Out in what seemed to us the middle of nowhere we began to see Palm orchards, the seeds all bagged up ready to be harvested once ripe and there were a few vineyards.
We got to the Salton Sea and found the perfect lunch stop, tables, great view and an abundance of interesting birds; Eagles, pelicans & both blue and white herons. Perfect that was til we got the food out and the millions of flies moved in! Pete was on constant fly patrol while I made lunch then we headed to the car to eat. Of course while we got in the car they all followed us so we had to swat them out before we could eat, little b*****s!
This area was once massively popular with Californians, at one time there were 15 boat ramps to keep up with all those using the sea. That was back in the 50's before it became intolerably salty and now it's just a big useless body of water surrounded by desert with few people anywhere to be seen. Along the way there deserted motels, bars and diners, most have ancient looking for sale signs but there's no takers for any of them.
We passed some sort of a customs and immigration temporary post set up. There were a dozen or so marked vehicles on a stretch of road with heat signature equipment either side of their post presumably looking for illegal immigrants.
It must rain at some point out here cos all along the road there are culverts all with names like Bee Wash, Sand Wash, Butter Wash, Bug, Cat Tail & Fly Wash.
It got up to 44C around the sea but began to drop once we turned at Calipatria to head towards Arizona. The land also became less desert and there was a fair bit of agriculture going on with a massive amount of hay all bailed up beside the road. Given we aren't seeing any livestock it must be produced here and trucked to where it'll be used.
There were showers forecast for Ca today and we actually copped a very small one as we wandered the back roads. We could see rain falling over the mountains in the distance with the occasional lightening strike.
Where there were fallow fields there were a number of small willy willies. Pete was hoping we'd see a tornado, I'm not sure they get them here but I am sure I'm not all that keen to be in one!
The next change of landscape took us through the Imperial Sand Dune Rec Area. It was like I have always imagined the African desert to be, towering sand dunes which are constantly shifting spreading across the road. We went up to an over view for a spectacular view. The wind was blowing whipping the sand up onto our legs and making patterns in the sand. At 47C it felt quite African like too, the sand was super hot.
On the eastern end of the dunes there's a deserted road house with cartoon depictions Glamis Saloon, jail and t shirt store. As quickly as the dunes appeared they were replaced once more with desert scrub and the temp dropped quickly to 44C.
We passed a few signs suggesting there are working gold mines along the way, still trying to get some of the famous California gold out of the ground. One looked like a huge operation, surrounded by razor wire with massive man made mountains we took for tailings.
We came across another boarder protection zone, this time there were signs saying do not pass so, we stopped. A BP guard came to the car, Pete rolled down the window, said gidday and got told "Hello, thank you, have a nice day". We clearly didn't look illegal lol
With a storm approaching us on both sides we were happy to hit out destination for the day, Blythe Ca. We checked in for the night and kicked back.
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