The Navigator

Feb 25-26
Our destination was Dana Point just south of Laguna Beach. I, as navigator always try to choose routes we haven’t traversed before. Hence, I zeroed in on highway 78 connecting to highway 76 west across southern California. They are two lane highways, which we usually prefer to freeways but we weren’t prepared for what was to come.

As we left the four-lane highway on the west side of the Salton Sea, we immediately started to climb at a gentle grade on a fairly straight road. The desert changed every mile or so at the different altitudes. No cacti at the bottom but sequentially – first a few Joshua Trees, then some blooming Ocatillos and yuccas, and what looked like huge aloe plants with about eight-foot stalks protruding topped with bright yellow blossoms. They were lovely.

Before we entered the Anza-Borrega Desert State Park, we passed through Ocatillo Wells vehicular recreation area. What a beehive of activity – RV’s of all kinds parked here and there all over – most of them those ‘toy-carriers’ that are so popular with young men. They are 5th-wheels with a small living area in front and large vehicle storage in the rear, carrying their ATV’s, dune buggies, moto-cross bikes and every conceivable ‘sand-manoeuvrable’ vehicle. They roared over and through the dunes, along the water-gouged gullies, kicking up dust storms and they raced, revving their vehicles loudly on the sandy flats. It was Sunday and they were getting ready to leave for home so they would swerve dangerously onto the highway in front of us, their youthful testosterone at its highest level after a weekend of fun and beer. They drove their huge 5th wheels as fast as if they were still in their ATV’s and I’m sure thought that we (ol’ grandpa and granny) were a real nuisance, so we pulled over periodically to let them roar by. Some would lean out their windows and yell “thanks Pops”, others would honk their approval and some would just speed on by.

It got more difficult to pull over as we got to the mountains and entered the Anza-Borrega Desert Park. The road narrowed and curved with no shoulders and we travelled with steep cliffs down to deep valleys on one side with sheer rock face right to the edge of the road on the other, allowing no room for driving error. The road wound precariously mile after mile and I’m sure Fernie cursed the navigator but he handled it with great skill while I white-knuckled it through. In spite of the terror, I did enjoy the absolutely beautiful scenery. Around about the summit, the desert was filled with a virtual forest of red-blooming ocotillos, a glorious sight. As we came across the mountains, we left desert behind and trees started to appear, getting thicker as we descended. We suddenly emerged into the tiny hamlet of Julian but it was twisty and turny and we couldn’t find a place to pull over our 40+ feet of motorhome and tow-car. Such a shame because it looked to be an artsy community full of coffee houses, quaint shops and restaurants.

The highway continued to snake until we reached the Pala Casino about five miles east of freeway #15. We had travelled almost one hundred miles through those narrow, twisting roads and the driver was exhausted. However not too tired to go and play a little poker in the casino ----- or so he thought. It’s a massive and upscale resort casino attracting such stars in concert as Toni Braxton, Johnny Mathis and Michael Macdonald and the table limits reflected this. There was no Texas Hold-Em poker room and the Pai-gow tables lowest limit was $25. There were 75 varied tables and it would have been almost impossible to snare a seat. The patrons were mostly Chinese and they were obviously not turned off by the high limits. Oh well, we had a nice Asian dinner and toddled back to Maggie and Caesar and spent the night playing cards.