Escondido, I am here!

I check out of the hotel in Yuma around 11:30am on Monday, but then had a noon Zoom meeting that I did from my car. That lasted about an hour, and then I escaped Yuma and headed to my next little detour: The Bridge to Nowhere. One can't actually go up to the site, but one can see it from a distance.

** picture from Wikipedia

From Wikipedia: The McPhaul Suspension Bridge, sometimes known as Yuma, Arizona's Bridge to Nowhere is a suspension bridge that used to carry a section of U.S. Route 95 (US 95). The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge, which was named for local Yuma resident Henry Harrison McPhaul, was built over the Gila River in 1929 and replaced in 1968 when it was deemed insufficient for modern transportation needs. A dam and replacement bridge were built and the river was rerouted.[2]

The bridge is 1,184 feet (361 m) long in total. Its main span is a 798 feet (243 m) Warren-type pony truss bridge suspended by cables from rocker type towers. The span is held by two steel cables 5.75 inches (0.146 m) in diameter and 1,300.7 feet (396.5 m) long. It has two approach spans, 57 feet (17 m) and 114 feet (35 m) long, and approach roadways 140 feet (43 m) and 75 feet (23 m) long.[3]

I remember reading somewhere that at some point the replacement bridge was washed out, and some thought that because of the height of the McPhaul bridge it probably would have survived that. But I can't swear to it.

At this point, I decided to head over the border into California. Instead of going straight to San Diego, I had spoken to my family there and we decided that I would find another place to stay for the 5-day period after arriving in the state. Just to make sure I didn't develop any symptoms of illness. Karen, my sister-in-law, is particularly susceptible to illness and I don't want to take any chances!

So I booked some days at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido, in the San Diego County, northeast of the city of San Diego. I stopped for lunch on the way and arrived late afternoon on Monday, checked in and then unloaded the car.

That's a much bigger and more complicated job than one might think, when the traveler is covering a large part of the continental US in a journey that may last (at this point) anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months. It was sub-freezing when I left New Hampshire about 2 1/2 weeks ago, with snow on the ground and more coming. Today it's about mid-70s here in Escondido. I have parkas and jackets, and boots and flip-flops. I have books, and kindles, and laptops, and peripherals of various types and sizes. I have suitcases (2) and hanging bags of clothes (2), including everything from bathing suits to sweaters. I have lots and lots of art supplies for painting. I have masks, and hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies. I have cards and a cribbage board and poker chips. I have a cooler and bag of dry goods. And extra prescription drugs and vitamins (enough to last up to 3 months). Honestly, at the moment, I can't remember the other things I have.

Of course, I am not bringing everything in every time I check into a new place to stay. But because I'm here for 5 nights, I brought everything in here. To reorganize and to see if there is anything that I can consolidate or get rid of or ship home. Unfortunately, there really isn't - at least not yet. So I guess it will all go back in the car on Saturday, and then probably all come out again when I get to my final CA destination (at least I think so).

On Tuesday, I had to accomplish some of that dreaded four-letter word: work! That included some work for one of my clients, some work for another business, and some work for one of my volunteer Board positions. Of course, I'm in SoCal, so I also made some time to go out walking for a while. Yesterday, I still had some stuff to do, but spent more time outside, and actually went over to the pool for a while. The weather here is actually a little cool, so there were a total of 7 other people in the entire pool area, which made me pretty happy.

Today, more time outside. Also prep for an online class I am taking; I had several hours of reading to do and now I'm working on my 'homework', which is answering a lot of thought-provoking questions. For the first class, it took me several hours, and I anticipate that will be the same this time. But for now, I'm done with that for the day, and decided to update this blog instead. Now I have time to get back outside for about 20 minutes before starting a Zoom meeting that I host on the third Thursday of the month.

So I think we are up to date! I'll be back in a couple of days, when I can rightly say "San Diego, I am here!"