Yuma

 2/3- Imperial Dam BLM site, Yuma AZ/CA

   After partaking in enough luxury we pried ourselves away from the Fountain of Youth. The area around here is devoid of life. I mean even the plants that do manage to scrub out an existence seem to have given up. The salt from the where the lake had been has made this area a true desert. It is just flat and brown. 

   As we passed the town of Niland we decided to try to look up a place called Slab City. Slab City is quasi village set on top of some old concrete slabs left over from a military base. It is a kind of counter culture community. People who are not interested in societal norms are the main inhabitants. Unfortunately we couldn’t seem to find it. Siri directed us to an empty lot on some back road. So after chasing this down for a while we gave up and headed on our way. 

   The landscape changed here from nothing living to vibrant farm land. We drove by miles of hay fields of all things. We saw one dairy farm with cows as far as you could see. Then the fields became broccoli and cabbage and bok choy. Lettuce filled some of these fields also. 

    We had heard about this BLM site from a bunch of people so we decided to check it out. The main area is on top of this plateau and it is huge. A lot of these rvers come here for the winter. There are designated campsites sort of. If you can make it work you can stay. There are hundreds of people here now. We are down in a hollow right next to this big lake. The Imperial dam is just down the road and it is the Colorado River that provides the water. 

   We are right on the border of Arizona and California and Mexico is only about 50 miles away. The interesting thing is that this border marks the time zone between Pacific and Mountain time. The phone has been going nuts trying to figure out what time it is. Depending on which tower it goes to that’s the time it uses. So asking what time it is here is a loaded question. 

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