Day 224: Boulder Oaks Campground, CA

Getting out of Brawley and through El Centro went smoothly enough, but things sort of fell apart from there on.  While Alea rode through El Centro, I made a detour to Target to get a few more last minute things for Mexico (including Pepto-Bismol and Immodium).  When I rejoined her on the outskirts of El Centro, the asphalt pavement had turned to complete crap - easily the worst paved riding surface we have ever seen, and that is after they had ground down the high spots to smooth things out!  It slowed Alea way down, but she managed to make it the 43 miles to Ocotillo, at times by riding on the smoother gravel/sand shoulder.  But all of her joints were pretty well pulverized!

The plan was that once we made it to Ocotillo we would stay at a private RV park.  But the park we had in mind now only caters to long term tenants, so we had to figure something else out.  On the way there we had passed two BLM dispersed camping locations (our Plan B options): Plaster City East and Plaster City West (there is a big gypsum wallboard plant that sits between them).  The only facility at either location was a single porta-potty at Plaster City East, but both areas were sandy enough we feared getting stuck in soft sand.  So they were out.  There were other BLM and state camping areas to the north and south, but they all recommended access by four wheel drive, so those were also out.  The two viable options were to either 1) return to a private campground in El Centro, or 2) continue west, where there were a couple of options.  Returning to El Centro did not appeal to us, as it was only slightly farther to reach the campgrounds to the west.

By this time it was getting close to 1 pm, the temperature had reached 91 degrees, and we were at the base of the In-Ko-Pah Mountains.  That meant a 2,500 foot climb over a distance of 10 miles along a stretch of I-8 to reach Old Highway 80, which would have been our preferred point for driving to a campground farther west.  That was too far to ride in the increasing heat, so instead we drove from Ocotillo, and will return there in the morning to resume our journey west.

We are camped at Boulder Oaks Campground ($14, pit toilets, water is available), which is a bit less than 30 miles from Ocotillo.  It beats camping in the sand on BLM land, but it was a long, steep climb from Ocotillo.  Those were hard miles for the van towing the camper, and we aren't looking forward to having to drive that again.  But we've come too far skip a segment of our route, especially when it is such a great climb.

The rest of the day went well enough.  We dug out our passports and kept thinking of any last minute details to get sorted out before we reach the border.  We are thinking that we may not travel all that far our first week in Mexico.  Primarily that is because on our planned third day of riding we will have a narrow road and lots of traffic to deal with.  So we will plan on tackling that stretch on Sunday, when hopefully the traffic is at its lightest.  From that point on, the conditions should be better most of the time (wider road, lighter traffic or both).

This area is reminiscent of the scenery in episodes of MASH, though I suspect it was filmed quite a bit farther north from here.