Thursday, April 24, 2008
Vacation Inn, El Centro, CA: Mar 28-Apr 1
This "RV park" looks like an old parking lot converted into about two dozen very tightly-situated spaces set in a horseshoe shape next to a motel. Our "pull-through" actually had a curb at one end that we had to bounce our way up and over.Temperatures in the 90s the day we arrived prompted Doug to dub this town "Hell Centro". El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, a 5000-sq-mile expanse of some of the flattest terrain you'll ever see, punctuated at random intervals with very shallow gulleys that carry the infrequent thunderstorm runoff (less than 3 inches of rainfall per year) towards the below-sea-level depression that holds the Salton Sea. The soil is actually some of the richest in the world, formed by repeated floods of the Colorado River over thousands of years. Irrigation has transformed this area into an indispensable source of fruits & vegetables.
We took a day-trip up the east side of the Salton Sea, turning around at North Shore, an all-but-defunct community of failed businesses & abandoned houses, and ate a picnic lunch at Salton Sea State Park. We also did some bird-watching and picked up a brochure that addresses many of the myths surrounding the Salton Sea.
Much of our time was spent watching the NCAA Basketball Tourneys (Women's & Men's). We chose this place since it seemed to be the only RV park within a 100-mile radius with cable for both tournaments. Unfortunately, most of the regional games were pretty uninteresting on both sides.It was here that Willie took a great fall -- walking back from getting ice, she tripped over a speed bump and her momentum took her faster & faster as she tried to stay upright until she dove forward in a spectacular "chest slide" just like a basketball player, only they land on polished wood, not rough asphalt. She in all likelihood cracked a rib as well as bruising her entire right side from her hip to her chest. She is slowly recovering, but it still hurts when she coughs or laughs.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 12:11 AM 
