27/12: Sand dunes, good food and lights
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
The Imperial Sand Dunes are located in the southeast corner of California. They are the largest mass of sand dunes in the state. Formed by windblown sands of ancient Lake Cahuilla, the dune system extends for more than 40 miles in a band averaging 5 miles wide. The heart of the dunes is about an hours drive from Yuma.
Picture yourself in 1912 trying to cross 6 miles of desert in your automobile. The first man to traverse this "road" used 6 horses to pull his automobile. A more reliable way to traverse the sand hills was required and the "plank road" was born. In 1915, it took two months to haul and lay down two parallel plank tracks, each 25" wide spiked to wooden cross pieces underneath. The wheel path floated across 6 1/2 miles of shifting sand. The plank road took a lot of abuse and a new plank road (similar to the one in the photo) was built in 1916. This road was used till 1926 when it was replaced by a asphaltic concrete road.
The dunes are a popular place for people to come and play.
There were hundreds of RV parked in a number of "campgrounds" in the dunes. We talked to one fellow who said he's been spending Christmas in the dunes for the past 27 years. In total, he spends about 70 days a year in the dunes. And yes, we saw a number of decorated Christmas trees by trailers.
When you have villages of people you need stores. At the entrance to one of the camping areas is a store area where you could rent ATVs, buy groceries, buy flags and just about anything else you would need. We also saw water trucks, ice cream trucks and the honey wagon driving through the campground area.
There were lots of left over possibilities for dinner but when Carol popped over to say her and John were going for Mexican food we decided to join them. We were warned that the tortilla soup is addictive but we ordered it anyway. We're pretty sure we'll be going back for soup and Margaritas (even Carol thought the Margarita was good).
When we left the restaurant we saw a lot of flashing lights, turned out it wasn't an accident but a number of "wide loads". The buildings from a Christmas display was being move.
The water tower by the mission was all lit up.
The Ocean to Ocean bridge was built in 1915. It was the final link that allow vehicular traffic to drive from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Picture yourself in 1912 trying to cross 6 miles of desert in your automobile. The first man to traverse this "road" used 6 horses to pull his automobile. A more reliable way to traverse the sand hills was required and the "plank road" was born. In 1915, it took two months to haul and lay down two parallel plank tracks, each 25" wide spiked to wooden cross pieces underneath. The wheel path floated across 6 1/2 miles of shifting sand. The plank road took a lot of abuse and a new plank road (similar to the one in the photo) was built in 1916. This road was used till 1926 when it was replaced by a asphaltic concrete road.
The dunes are a popular place for people to come and play.
There were hundreds of RV parked in a number of "campgrounds" in the dunes. We talked to one fellow who said he's been spending Christmas in the dunes for the past 27 years. In total, he spends about 70 days a year in the dunes. And yes, we saw a number of decorated Christmas trees by trailers.
When you have villages of people you need stores. At the entrance to one of the camping areas is a store area where you could rent ATVs, buy groceries, buy flags and just about anything else you would need. We also saw water trucks, ice cream trucks and the honey wagon driving through the campground area.
There were lots of left over possibilities for dinner but when Carol popped over to say her and John were going for Mexican food we decided to join them. We were warned that the tortilla soup is addictive but we ordered it anyway. We're pretty sure we'll be going back for soup and Margaritas (even Carol thought the Margarita was good).
When we left the restaurant we saw a lot of flashing lights, turned out it wasn't an accident but a number of "wide loads". The buildings from a Christmas display was being move.
The water tower by the mission was all lit up.
The Ocean to Ocean bridge was built in 1915. It was the final link that allow vehicular traffic to drive from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.