This Adventure Called Retirement

After a good night sleep in our tent, we woke up relatively early to get on the road to San Diego. There are no direct interstate highways from the Grand Canyon to San Diego so we had to take several smaller highways first across southwest Arizona between I-40 and I-10 and then again across the desert in California from I-10 to I-8. After departing the Grand Canyon we picked up I-40 in Flagstaff but then headed south on Route 89 through the Prescott National Forest. The landscape changed rapidly from the pine forest around the canyon to stark, rugged valleys and plateaus of the Arizona desert.

As we left the Prescott Forest we had to descend a 2000 foot plateau into the lower plain through a series of hairpin switchbacks. The pictures fail to capture the steepness of the road nor the exhilaration of taking those turns at 60 miles an hour.

After reaching I-40 we crossed into California and stopped for lunch at Carl’s Jr. There is no better burger than the Western Bacon Cheeseburger. We also passed through the first of what turned out to be three Immigration check points. As we crossed the California desert on Route 78 we saw what looked like a distant sandstorm on the horizon.

As we continued to approach this phenomenon, it’s mystery continued – sandstorm? brown clouds? Toxic gas?

Then all was revealed – we had happened upon the Imperial Sand Dunes. Formed by the windblown sands of ancient Lake Cahuilla, the dunes extend 40 miles in a band averaging five miles wide. Although I grew up in Southern California I never knew these existed. We crossed through them on Route 78 and it was quite a sight.

We picked up I-8 in El Centro and proceeded toward San Diego. We first encountered the land of the rock piles. These were mountains of rocks that appeared to have been collected and piled high. When then encountered the typical San Diego traffic which delayed our arrival to visit our friends, Steve and Rebecca, in Chula Vista. However, we did arrive in time to join them and their kids, Eric, Alexis, Davis, his wife Dana, for dinner. Steve grilled steak and Rebecca prepared an excellent accompaniment of asparagus and baked potatoes. It was a delicious meal with wonderful conversation.