We are now officially on our way back east. And back east we mean all of the way back to the east coast, well the gulf coast of Florida anyway.
We are leaving Chula Vista CA and heading on Interstate 8 to our first stop in Yuma Arizona. This is our first time on this part of I 8. Interstate 8 travels along the US Mexican border and at times is less than half a mile from the border. In this area you can see the border wall that was built years ago. From the highway, it sort of looks like a rusty line in the sand.
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| Driving through a hilly curvy rock pile desert |
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| Then it turns to mostly sand for awhile |
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| California has these very nice oasis-type rest parks in the desert |
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| More sand |
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| We get very close to the Mexican border here. That is the border wall in the background |
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| More wall in the sand |
We made the 170 mile trip in a little over 3 hours. We were going to stay at the Escapee Park but decided to stay closer to the west side, closer to the border of Mexico. Yuma has loads of RV parks but a lot of them close after the winter season.
We found one called the Roadrunner RV Park. It was OK but way overpriced for what it was. We were having a hard time finding a place open on the west side of town so we pulled in to the Roadrunner RV Park and didn't see an office or any people so we just parked there looking another place to go. While doing our research a guy pulls up in a car and introduces himself as the manager of the Roadrunner. He said he had a spot big enough for us so I guess we are staying here now. The place looked like a $20 a night sort of place, maybe a little more if they had wifi. We moved into a tight back in site right on top of the owners motorhome and found out it was $35 a night; and it did have wifi, albeit sporadic at best, still way too much!
On our one full day here we wanted to visit Los Algodones Mexico again. We were here our first year as full-timers in 2012. This was also the first place we had ever walked across the Mexican Border. Since it was our first walking border crossing we always felt like this was the best place. Now after crossing many places we can see if we still feel this way.
Before we went to the border crossing we had to make a Walmart run. The closest Walmart was one of those that didn’t have any vegetables so we stopped at a little grocery store very close to the RV Park. As we were leaving the little grocery, I backed out and was getting ready to pull forward and then boom, another car backed into us! I couldn’t even see his little car so it scared the crap out us.
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| After I wash this there won't be much left |
The car hit our bumper on the corner and didn’t even take off any paint. The little car hit us with his hatchback door completely pushing it into the car interior. It was a mess! The guy was Mexican and didn’t speak English but I could tell he was very nervous. I was in his blind spot so he didn’t see me when he backed up. There wasn’t any damage to our truck worth noting so I shook his hand and left. This time it was great to be in a BAT (big ass truck)!
Ok, now off to the border crossing in California about 8 miles away. Yuma AZ is on the California and Mexican Border with the walking crossing on the California side. There is a large parking lot run by a local Indian reservation. The cost was $6 which was the most we have paid anywhere to park at a border crossing. It is just $2 at our favorite place in Texas. The lot is huge and well organized and since it is after season, plenty of places to park.
It looks to us like they have changed the crossing some since we here 6 years ago. Now we have to walk a little farther and the Mexicans are setting up to check us as we come in. We experienced this in Tijuana a couple of days ago. It does make some sense as we are crossing into the same Mexican state of Baja California. The funny thing is that the Mexican border guard was laying back in a chair at the x-ray machine sleeping! We just walked on past him! Just past the border entrance there is a public restroom. The men’s and woman’s entrances are side by side with a guy in the middle who hands out toilet paper. This guy was asleep too!! The woman ahead of me just took some off of his lap.
It was lunch time so we went back to the same place we had lunch 6 years ago. It took us about an hour to find it though! Of course, I thought I knew where it was so we walked around for about an hour before Patty asked someone giving them a description of the place. Wouldn’t you know it; it was just a block from the border where we came in! This place had changed some too but it was so long ago it was hard to say how.
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| Through the turnstyle and you are in Mexico |
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| Nice lunch place in Los Aldogones |
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| Even live music! |
After some lunch and a couple of beers we walked around and did a little shopping. Los Algodones has a lot more varied stuff to buy than at the place in Texas we go to in the winter, Nuevo Progresso. The prices here are much higher here though. We ended up buying some clothes and shoes and some drugs in the 4 or so hours we spent there.
All in all I think I would still say that Los Algodones is the best border crossing we have been too, but not by a lot. The thing I like the most is that it is fairly clean and spread out with nice places to sit outside and have a drink and or some food. The border here is also open until 10 pm too so you could have dinner.
That is it for the Yuma - Los Algodones area.
Next stop Phoenix Arizona.
Stay Tuned!
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