IMPERIAL SAND DUNES

We’ve done some travelling this past week, heading west on Interstate 8 into California.  We drove to the nearest large city which is El Centro, about 130 miles east of San Diego and 65 miles west of here.  It is similar to Yuma in that it is primarily an agricultural area and we just wanted to see some new country and go shopping at Costco.  We don’t have one here, just a Sam’s Club which requires a membership that we don’t have.  The Costco was similar to all the other ones that we’ve been in and we did pick up a few things that we needed.  It was also a good reason to go out for lunch to a Mexican restaurant.  We are certainly enjoying the variety of Mexican food down here.

Part way between Yuma and El Centro is the Imperial Sand Dunes recreation area and we had a quick look on our way back from El Centro.  Today however, we went back for a second look and did some driving around the area.  It reminded us of Bruneau Dunes in southern Idaho where we camped and hiked a few years ago.  These dunes cover a much larger area and can easily be seen on satellite images. It is the largest sand dune area in California.

 THIS ONE IS A BIT GRAINY (LOL)

We also took a hike through an abandoned gold mining town called Tumco.  It is located in one of the earliest gold mining areas in California with a history going back 300 years. The town was established in the late 1800’s and went through various evolutions until it was finally abandoned in 1949.  During the boom time of the 1890’s, it supported a population of at least 500 people and produced $1,000 per day in gold. Ultimately over 200,000 ounces of gold were taken from the mines in that area. At today’s price that is $267,160,000 worth of gold. There isn’t much left at the site anymore other than an old well, part of the foundation of the hospital, scattered tin cans and cyanide tanks that were used for separating the gold particles from the ore.

DRY GULCH

This past Saturday we worked at the Burger Bash and this time Stuart grilled about 900 burgers, half the amount that was sold to both resort residents and non-residents.  We worked from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and were quite tired by the end of that shift.  It was just like having a job again—pretty sure I don’t want a job in the food service industry!!

We’re still playing pickleball a few days a week and are making new friends there as well as here at the resort.  We’ve met so many people that it’s getting hard to keep track of who is from where.  It’s nice to walk down the streets of the RV resort, though, and have people say “hello” to you by name.