The End of the Journey!

Wednesday, July 24, Day 93 - LAST DAY

There is an area just west of Yuma called Felicity and we have been by it many times.  It always looks like this lone chapal on an artifical hill in the middle of nowhere.

However, in looking it up, it turns out there is this huge granite museum on the flat behind it.   Not a museum to granite, but the history of the world carved in granite! You can see the chapel at the top of the picture.  

There is a large 15 foot sundial, and a chapel with a Michalgelo painting from the Sistine Chapel in it.

The guy who is making this is a Korean War Vet and bought thousands of acres out here to create what he terms an "entertaining" concept.   Guess we'll have to stop next time! 

Here we are rushing past Dateland, the place where we spent our first night on the road when we started this trip!

And the Chocolate Mountains are now ahead of us.

Here's an RV park like the one we stayed in the night before.  Charming!

When we passed through Yuma, we caught a glimpse of what's left of the Colorado River, once it gets this far South.  Don't get me started on that topic. :)

And there it is, the California border!

We pass the Imperial Dunes, a vista complete with one of our canals carrying Colorado River water to
the Imperial Valley.

You kind of expect to see camels coming over the rise. Instead, it will more likly be an ATV.  Or
a Border Patrol Wagon.

And out through the Imperial Valley and El Centro - with a temperature of 105 degrees. Imperial Valley has about 164,000 population, and they grow alfalfa, lettuce, sugar beets and carrots out here , to name a few crops.

I've always wondered what is being mined out here.  As John says, I'll have to Google it!

It's just such barren ugly land out here!  I'm sure there are those who beg to differ…

And what's left of the town of Ocotillo Wells.  The entire town is in the picture, flanked by massive wind turbines behind. Those who live here have greatly protested these wind turbines, and they are pretty ugly, but our energy has to come from somewhere, and these desert canyon areas, where the wind blows constantly, is a logical place to generate lots of electricity.

And as we come up over the Tecate Divide, we began to see the rock formations unique to San Diego, caused by boulders being dropped by the most southern of the glaciers during the ice age.

Off on the hill is the Desert View Tower, which is a San Diego institution, but where we have never stopped.  We are always just leaving San Diego, or are anxious to get home.  Actually, it looks pretty interesting. It was built in the 1920's by a land developer for nearby Jacumba.  In the 1930's another guy made numerous rock sculptures of animals, folk art style.  We'll keep this on our list of things to see!

We are now officially on the Kumeyaay Highway, named for one of the prominent Indian tribes in the area.  San Diego County actually has more Indian tribes than any other county in the US.  Some have built casinos nearby, and shopping outlets, and names of tribes I've never heard of before now have signs designating their reservations along the highway into San Diego. 

We also pass more familiar signs for  towns like Jucumba, Descanso, Pine Valley, Alpine, El Cajon….

And then -

After 93 days and 13,094 miles, WE ARE HOME!  It has been quite an adventure.

Thanks for traveling along with us!