Mark and Pat Day Go on a Mission

TODAY WAS AN ADVENTURE. WE ROSE REALLY AND IT WAS COOL AND WINDY. HEADED WEST ON I-8 ABOUT 10 MILES TO FIND THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF TUMCO. IT WAS A FORMER MINING TOWN. AFTER SEVERAL PASS-BYS WE FINALLY SPOTTED IT. IT WAS QUITE A HIKE AND THERE DIDN'T APPEAR TO BE MUCH TO SEE SO WE JUST USED BINOCULARS. WE COULD SEE THE REMNANTS OF AN OLD MINE AND SOME SORT OF OLD TANKS. WE DID COME ACROSS A VERY SMALL DESERT CEMETERY WITH JUST PILES OF ROCKS AND SMALL WOODEN CROSSES. I WOUNDER WHO WOULD WANT TO BE BURIED HERE? THE LATEST ONE WAS 2001.

NEXT IT WAS ON UP THE ROAD TO SEE THE OLD PLANK HIGHWAY BUILT IN 1912. THE SAND DUNES ARE SO DENSE THAT THE EARLY CARS COULD NOT TRAVEL OVER THEM. 8 MILES OF PLANK ROAD WAS MADE FOR THE EARLY MODEL A AND MODEL T CARS TO DRIVE OVER. AS THE SAND WOULD SHIFT THEN THEY USED MULES AND WAGONS TO REPOSITION THE PLANKS,. THIS IS THE LAST REMAINING SECTION OF ROAD. IN THE DISTANCE YOU CAN SEE THE LARGE METAL FENCE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT OUR BORDER AND THE BORDER PATROL.

QUITE A FEAT TO BUIILD THIS ROAD AND THEN TO TRY TO DRIVE ON IT. THE WIND BLOWS CONSTANTLY.

THERE WERE LOTS OF MOTORHOMES PARKED ON THE DUNES AND PEOPLE RIDING THEIR ATVS ALL OVER.

BORDER PATROL

IF YOU LOOK OFF IN THE DISTANCE YOU CAN SEE THE HUGE FENCE THAT WAS PAID FOR BY YOUR TAX DOLLARS. IS IT WORKING????? I DON'T THINK SO!

OFF WE GO AGAIN. THIS TIME TO THE EAST OF YUMA NEAR THE TOWN OF WELTON. IT IS ABOUT 30 MILES EAST OF YUMA. WE ARE LOOKING FOR ANTELOPE HILL WHERE THE MORMON BATALION CAMPED ON JANUARY 4, 1847. WE DROVE "BIG HANK" OUR DODGE TRUCK AROUND THE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN IN THE SAND. THEN "OH NO" WE GOT STUCK AND STARTED SLIDING SIDEWAYS. I THOUGHT WE WERE FOING TO TIP OVER SO I GOT OUT SO THAT I WOULDN'T BE SQUISHED AND MADE MARK PUT ON HIS SEATBELT. HE PUT IT INTO 4 WHEEL DRIVE AND GUNNED IT AND SLIDE DOWN A SMALL BANK AND WE MADE IT OUT. I WAS WONDERING HOW FAR WE WOULD HAVE HAD TO HIKE IN THE DESERT TO BE RESCUED. FUNNY THING JUST OVER THE NEXT KNOLL WAS A PAVED ROAD. AFTER SEVERAL PASSES AND LOOKING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD WE FINALLY FOUND THE MARKER.

ANTELOPE HILL BIG HANK GETS STUCK

THANKS TO MARK'S DRIVING PROWESS "BIG HANK" SLID SAFELY DOWN THE SAND.

I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW DIFFICULT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THE BATTALION TO MARCH THEIR WAGONS AND MULES THROUGH THIS SAND.

AT LAST WE FOUND THE NEXT MONUMENT WHERE THEY CAMPED. IT OVERLOOKS THE REMAINS OF THE GILA RIVER, WHICH THEY FOLLOWED FOR MUCH OF THE JOURNEY. IN THAT DAY IT WAS A LARGE RIVER AND NOW THERE ISN'T A DROP OF WATER IN IT IN MOST PLACES.

THIS IS WHERE THE GILA RIVER WOULD HAVE FLOWED

THE NEXT STOP WAS ABOUT 12 MILES WEST IN THE GROVE OF AN OLD MESQUITE TREE THAT IS THOUGHT TO BE OVER 300 YEARS OLD. THIS IS WHERE THEY CAMPED ON JANUARY 5, 1847. IT TOOK US 20 MINUTES TO DRIVE THERE AND WAS ONLY 12 MILES AWAY BUT IT TOOK THEM ALL DAY TO GET THERE.

LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS TRUNK!

EVEN AMIDST ALL THE SAND AND BROWN DIRT THERE IS A BEAUTY IN THE DESERT.

WE NEXT DROVE WET TOWARD "DEVILS' POINT" THROUGH LOTS OF LOW FARMLAND. IT IS SOMEWHERE HERE THAT THEY CAMPED ON JANUARY 6TH 1847. THERE IS NO EXACT MARKER BUT WE KNOW THAT THEY LED THEIR ANIMALS ACROSS THE RIVER HERE SOMEPLACE.

TODAY IT IS A FERTILE AND PRODUCTIVE VALLEY.

I COULDN'T HELP STOPPING TO EXAMINE THE FARMING METHODS HERE. LARGE SHEETS OF BLACK PLASTIC ARE FURROWED ALONG WITH A WHITE PAPER TYPE OF MESH. NOT SURE WHY THEY DO THIS AND ONLY CERTAIN CROPS ARE PLANTED THIS WAY.

MORE LETTUCE MIX

NOW WE COME TO MCPHAUL BRIDGE. THIS IS JSUT PAST "DEVIL'S POINT" WHERE THE BATTALION MADE A ROAD. THE BRIDGE WAS MADE IN 1927 AND IT WAS BUILT BY THE SAME MAN THAT DID THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. THEY SAY IT WAS A PROTOTYPE. IT WAS USED FOR MANY YEARS BUT IS CLOSED NOW DUE TO INSTABILITY. IT CROSSES THE GILA RIVER. THE BATTALION CAMPED ON THE UPSTREAM SIDE OF THIS AREA.

WE HAD A DELICIOUS HOME MADE TACO AND QUESIDILLA AT A LITTLE STAND HERE.