Short and Easy

We made one of our shortest drives yet to our new destination in California.  100 miles give or take a few to the city of El Centro to go to Lowes. 

Before we left Arizona, we grabbed a few parting shots of character from Quartzite.

This guy has got it all!  Van, Aerodynamic Camper and Truck.

 
Side view.

We discovered this on our way out of town.  Will have to visit next time.

A few other parting shots that you’ll have to use your imagination for since we did not grab photos would be 1) A small jeep that had been reshaped to look like a mini-Hummer.  On the back in shiny silver letters it said ‘BUMMER’  2) Paul the naked bookseller.  Yup, you heard right.  And we saw alright.  Picture your typical used bookstore.  Now picture the owner, a seventy something man, wearing nothing but a crochet sack around his ‘personal items’.  The day we visited was a particularly cold morning so he was also wearing a jacket.  In regard to that he commented, ‘This is not one of those days on which people envy me.’  Paul was a neat guy to talk with and we enjoyed meeting this Quartzite icon.

Heading out of town on our way to Cali-forn-i-a we spotted a bunch more free camping zones right at the base of the mountains for the next time we are in the area.  We headed south upon entering the state and drove right through Imperial Dunes Recreation Area.  This place was cool!  Dunes as far as you could see and every sort of vehicle you can imagine flying all over them.  We stopped to eat lunch and watch everyone play.

The ‘s’ curve road on the left is the one we were on.  This photo is deceiving. 
What you can’t see is that the ‘lump’ of sand nearest to you in this photo drops about 70’ on the other side.

 
A couple hot rods.

The four wheeler in the back is showing off his wheelie skills.

One day we’ll have to come back here and hitch a ride with these guys!

In typical style it took us about five hours to go 100 miles.  You cannot say that we don’t stop to smell the roses!  Now that we are in El Centro we’ll settle in for a few nights in local store parking lots and a few days in the Lowe’s parking lot framing up our sink area, fixing our 30 gallon water tank and getting our clothing storage unit / bench seat built.  After that we’ll head off into the California desert to chill for a few weeks.

And now… In the category of things that make you go, hmmm?

 
???  If only.