We left Jeff & Julie and San Diego behind this morning and drove east along the California Mexico border through rocky mountains. We stopped at El Centro for lunch and continued on to our destination for the night at Yuma, just over the Arizona border. After checking into our motel - the cheapest yet at just over $40 for the night - we headed downtown to the historic district to find that everything is closed on a Monday. Never mind - we'll come back tomorrow morning. We found a Walmart and stocked up on supplies but managed to lose our direction on the way back - maybe it was the dust storm! Anyway, after a few directions we found our base again and all was good! Yuma got to 117F today - a record high since 1919!
Tuesday morning saw us head back to the Quartermaster's Depot and look in the old buildings and early model Ford cars and trucks, at the offices and the Quartermaster's home. Given how hot it was (at 9am) we appreciated the doors open on both sides of the building to catch any breeze.
We got onto the freeway and headed for Tucson. On the way we passed changing scenery - more saguaro cacti entering the landscape and more mountains coming into view. We arrived in Tucson mid afternoon and took advantage of the pool at our hotel ($55 per night). We went a few blocks away for dinner to a local Mexican restaurant - we were going to walk but the monsoons are here and rain was starting as we walked out of the hotel - so a car trip it was!