Tuesday, December 9, 2014 (Midland LTVA, Blythe, CA)

We were up and out early this morning...heading out at 8:00 for Los Algodones, Mexico, just under 2 hours away. It was a beautiful morning and of course, I took lots of pictures along the way. We retraced the route that we took last Sunday from Yuma.

These are blocks of harvested cotton....

...and here they are making the blocks...the closest they come to "snowdrifts" down here!

We're not too sure what these mounds of dirt are all about. We know they flood the fields so we think the trenches have something to do with the flooding process or drainage when the field is leveled?

 The lush green fields are a stark contrast to the desert surroundings...

The border patrol checkpoint for those heading north...

 Imperial Sand Dunes in the distance...

 Entering the huge parking lot at the border...it's a lot busier than it was a week ago!

We parked and walked across the border into Mexico. We were early, but thought we'd stop by the dentist's office just in case he could see Steve earlier than his noon (Arizona time...11:00 our time).
No such luck, so we went and wandered around.

Just before our scheduled appointment, we arrived back at the office...and proceeded to wait...and wait. The dentist had gotten behind schedule because of a meeting with the contractor who is building his new office. Almost 2 hours after his appointment time, Steve was finally taken in. (Payback for the last two times he got in early!) Juan was very apologetic...nothing he could do about it!

It wasn't long before Steve was back out. He had been given a prescription for some dental spray. I'm assuming it is an antibiotic of some sort...but we can't read Spanish :-) If things don't improve after using this then we'll have to return for that root canal...

It was going on 2:00 by this time, and we were hungry but instead of stopping for lunch, we decided to hit the border crossing. With the increased number of people today, it was quite busy. The line-up moved fairly quickly...it only took us about 15 minutes to get through.

Steve suggested that I drive the truck on the way back. I had been considering it and accepted his suggestion...and here's proof...

So with me driving, it was Steve's turn to experience picture taking on a bumpy road, traveling at 60 mph! This train is loaded with trucks, buses, dump trucks, excavators, etc.

 There are a lot more boondockers compared to last week in the area off Ogilby Road...

 

 Looks like an ice cream cone!

Cotton field before it's been harvested...

Spewing out the cotton...

Egrets, and a crop duster in the distance...

 It took forever to finally find a spot to pass this huge piece of machinery!

 Cabbage!

Lettuce?!

 We're on our final stretch home...just north of Blythe...

Nice farm house...

View of our rig (on the right) from the highway...

We arrived home at about 3:30 and after unpacking our overnight bag (we had taken it just in case we needed to go back to the dentist tomorrow for a root canal), we had a snack and were just checking emails, etc. when Charlene invited us over...it was cocktail time!

As usual, we spent a couple of hours chatting...it's so good catching up with them! Then it was home, dinner and our evening in front of the TV!