Please note: This is Part 2 of the Border| Line series. Part 1 (Beaches and Bullrings) immediately precedes this post.
Although I had no real game plan, my goal was to see, touch, or cross the border as many times as possible, while averaging 300 miles per day in an easterly direction.
After our morning excursion to Tijuana, Rachel and I left San Ysidro around noon. We had a reservation for this evening in Yuma, AZ, less than 200 miles away.
Favoring back roads over highways, I drove around the Otay Open Space Preserve. The plan was to drop down and take pictures at Tecate, a border town an hour away.
If these photos touch you, it was magnified many times in person. Incredible beauty and majesty!
From here we began to wind and climb.
I’m actually standing in someone’s driveway here…
There were mountains on one side and deep valleys on the other, providing stunning views of Otay Open Space Preserve.
What struck me most was how quickly the landscape changed as we gained altitude.
Less than 10 minutes later, these huge boulders began to appear.
We had never seen anything like this. It’s like they were picked up by a giant hand and placed there.
Another 1000 feet and it became mostly all rock.
Somehow, the plan to see Tecate went south- pardon the pun. Unintentionally, I came perilously close to the Mexican border and decided to pull a U-turn. This resulted in a lengthy conversation with border patrol…
Unnerved, I went back the way I had come. If I had continued less than two miles, we might have seen this.
Feeling the need to hit the gas and make up for lost time, we made no stops for a couple of hours.
At about 3:30 we finally got on I-8, a major paved highway. Thankfully Rachel is taking some pictures. I could not get over the beauty of this place.
An hour later, we make a pit stop at these smelly outhouses in the meridian strip of I-8. We’re about 10 miles west of Felicity, our next destination.
As I get out of the car, I am surrounded by massive sand dunes. It was straight out of a scene from Lawrence of Arabia.
As I marvel at the deep blue color of the sky, I notice the cloud resembling an angel with pastels on its wing tips. Can you see it?
It wasn’t until I was doing my research that I realized these were the Imperial Sand Dunes! I was a stone’s throw from the border. Again.
FYI-In its final months (2008?), the Bush administration erected more than 600 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers on this border.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-border-transformed-021909-2009feb19-story.html
Note caption on above photo. Hundreds of miles of border was erected long before Donald Trump became president.
The border fence “floats” on the dunes, moving back and forth with the shifting sand.
We hit the road again, leaving behind the giant sand box. As the sky deepens, a small mountain range appears, seemingly out of nowhere.
We got our first glimpse of Felicity as we exited I-8 and looped west on the frontage road.
Welcome to Felicity, the self-proclaimed Center of the World. Population 2.
We pass California’s Highway Patrol area headquarters, whose architecture was made to conform to Felicity’s established standards.
The place looked deserted as we pulled into the gravel lot a few minutes before 5 PM.
Felicia Istel (Felicity’s namesake and one of its two residents), was closing up for the day.
Seeing my disappointment, she encouraged us to look around before it got dark, inviting us back for a proper tour tomorrow.
Ostensibly, the 15′ sundial’s gnomon, fashioned into Michaelangelo’s “Arm of God”, points precisely at the center of the church at noon on Christmas Day.
Mayor, museum creator, and curator, Jacques- Andre Istel’s own words graced one of the many granite end caps.
The pyramid houses a bronze plaque proclaiming this to be the Official Center of the World.
Felicity’s Museum of History in Granite is a collection of over 900 large granite outdoor panels.
Every form of history- religion, humanity, biology, military, aviation, oceanography, etc., were engraved in these massive blocks of granite.
Mindful of the encroaching twilight, I raced around to photograph as much as possible before dark.
It was a fool’s errand; I could have spent an entire day here. Hopefully, I have captured its essence.
Whereas many panels were blank, awaiting their future revelation, I saw several that were works in progress.
Overlooking the meticulously aligned “fingers” of red granite, was the church inspired by, and modeled after, a chapel in Brittany, France.
From my vantage point, I could now see the deliberate geometric design of the triangular granite panels. Rachel looks like an ant…
Meet the wonderful founders and visionaries Jacques-Andre and Felicia Istel, self-proclaimed ‘kooks in the desert’. Their fascinating story is well worth the read!
As we reluctantly headed to the car, the western sky blazed with vivid color, promising another spectacular sunset.
Adjacent to the parking lot stands section #12 of the original stairway of the Eiffel Tower.
This is an extraordinary project and I have only scratched the surface. Please go to the website for further information.
I had one more stop to make before we camped for the night. Los Algodones was a 15-minute drive from Felicity. Back on I-8, we sped east and then turned south on 186 towards Andrade and the border.
The gravel road to Andrade, on the US side, was a surprise. We passed the Quechan Casino and then several signs warned of the approaching border. I went as far as I could and pulled into a large, nearly empty parking lot.
As I hastened along the river towards the border, I compared this experience with that of Tijuana. Was that really just this morning???
The pink sky reflected on the water in the Alamo canal, which is fed by the Colorado River.
What looks like white flowers along the opposite bank are actually birds settling in for their roost.
The border wall here is constructed of sections of horizontal wooden slats. It was far less imposing than the steel bollards in Tijuana.
Beyond the chain-link fence spanning the narrow canal is Los Algodones, Mexico.
After Tijuana, this border crossing had such a sleepy feel.
I assumed these were simply tourists crossing the border, until my research indicated Los Algodones is a huge dental destination.
Los Algodones, informally known as Molar City, has approximately 350 dentists who service- at deep discounts- uninsured Canadian and American tourists .
Some offer free hotel accomodations with their dental plan.
https://www.dayodental.com/los-algodones-dentist-molar-city-mexico/
Hungry and tired, Rachel and I head for Yuma, anticipating a hot meal and a room for the night.
The night sky was simply ablaze with the most amazing colors.
I was driving, so Rachel gets full credit for these stunning photos. It was not the first time today that I was nearly reduced to tears at what I was seeing.
Day 3: After a good night’s sleep, we hit the road again. It’s gray and raining as we leave Yuma and head for Tucson. What happened to “red at night-sailors delight”??
It was actually a blessing that it rained most of the day, because it kept me in the car. I have a habit of pulling over for photo opportunities and it slows me down. I needed to log some serious mileage today.
Coupled with the fact that we were on the interstate, there wasn’t a lot to write home about. Until we got to our first (of many) non-border inspection checkpoint…
The dog smelled our tires and we were free to go. Other times I was instructed to roll down all the windows. Although we were questioned about our citizenship or the reason for our travel, we never had to produce papers or get out of the car.
It was an extremely uneventful day, boring and exhausting. We made it to Tucson and decided to drive the one hour south to scout out Nogales, tomorrow’s border opportunity.
The best part of this day was pulling into the beautiful 3 Palms Resort. It was clean and comfortable, providing everything we needed to recharge our batteries.
This was a great value. I think it was about $80 for this suite. I would definitely recommend it.
Day 4: Thursday morning dawned bright and beautiful- low 50s and lots of sunshine. The free breakfast made it a trifecta of happiness.
The saguaro (pronounced sa-wa’-ro) cactus is my favorite! I was so excited to see these beauties here.
From what I could see, Tucson is gorgeous. The only downside with a trip like this, is the strict deadline that precludes wandering.
Today’s drive to Nogales was altogether different with sunshine and blue skies, and I was excited to explore this border town.
The giant ‘A’ on Sentinel Peak is a symbol of school pride and rivalry. The “mountain monagram” is common in Arizona, with at least 58 appearing throughout the state.
Here’s the view from the top. The 70′ X160′ A is formed with basalt stones and whitewashed.
Once we got out of the morning traffic in Tucson, it was a straight shot to Nogales via route 19.
The non-border checkpoints would become commonplace. Although a bit unsettling, there was rarely a long wait, and we were always waved through.
I was surprised at the cross-border commerce. I saw many large warehouses and trucking companies just off the highway.
Shrouded in morning fog, Mexico rises behind the border wall.
I pulled right into yesterday’s parking spot. For $2 an hour, I couldn’t feed the meter fast enough. This was a great deal!
Not only was it a stone’s throw to downtown Nogales, the rest room at that McDonald’s was a major convenience.
If you look closely in the top left quadrant, you can see the white-domed Santa Cruz County courthouse.
Notice the rounded border wall at the top left? That’s where I am headed. Walk along with me through the diminutive downtown.
Town Hall and museum on Nogales’ main street shadowed by densely-populated residential Mexico.
There were several apparel stores in a tight cluster. Such a simpler place and time.
While the clothing was fairly inexpensive, it was very monochromatic. At least in the discount shops…
The Town Hall’s clock tower is framed by the crooked tree in Karam Park. The Seth Thomas clock works were recently revitalized. If you like old clocks, here’s a great story:
Having no natural artistic ability, I am always blown away at stuff like this…On a concrete building, no less!
No, the hounds of hell are not on my heels. I had only put enough money in the meter for one hour, so I was jogging in the direction of the wall.
Rachel caught the lunatic behind the lens (me) attempting to scale this wall for a better shot of “the” wall. This is why I travel alone- no witnesses.
One more street over and Voila! There is the border wall in all her shining, barbed wire glory.
This rock face was massive! I’m standing at the base, to the right of the arrow.
Literally, bending over backwards to get the shot.
Is it just me, or does this feel like overkill? You’ve seen the squalor for yourself. There’s nothing on this side worth fighting that hard for.
Except freedom, I guess…
This would have been an easy crossing. I wish I had scheduled more time.
Look at the depth! This is a flat surface. It felt like you could walk right into the painting. Such incredible talent.
What a thoughtful reminder- and so convenient. A table to open your bag on and a place to throw your gun away.
Love me some cowboys… Do they ever become cow-men?
An hour later and a quick pit at Mickey D’s, and we’re ready to hit the road. The car is right where I left it, praise God.
This concludes the one-hour walking tour of Nogales. Feel free to ride around and look at the town with me, before I head to El Paso.
Now, these are some impressive hills.
Many of these I took from the car. But for the next one, I wanted to capture the grade, so I jumped out. Rachel stayed put (and engaged the parking brake).
When we got ready to go, I had a problem dis-engaging it. It became a funny moment only after we located the owner’s manual and figured it out…
While I was maneuvering up and down these steep roads, I wondered if it ever got cold enough for ice or snow.
Apparently, occasionally it does…
https://www.kold.com/2019/01/03/nogales-residents-deal-with-unusual-sight-snow/
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt of Border| Line. Join us next time, as we continue the journey east through New Mexico and into Texas.
God’s blessings. MH
Wow Marie, very interesting trip. This is something I wouldn’t do but loved seeing it through your eyes. Thank you. : )
Thanks, Bev. Glad you’re enjoying the travels. I appreciate your frequent input. It’s very encouraging to know people are reading the blog and enjoying it. Love you!
Hi Marie. Amazing documentation of your travels! Thanks again for your portrayal of this, your trip to “the wall”, etc. Love, blessings and shalom!