Day 6 - Friday, Sept 29 - Lordsburg, NM to San Diego
Starting mileage: 2449 Starting time: 7:30 am
Ending mileage: 3030 Ending time: 5:30 pm
Travel mileage: 581 Travel time: 10:00 hours
We so enjoyed Saguaro National Park when we were traveling through two years ago, that we wanted to visit there again and fortunately it is just off the route to San Diego. Just outside of Tucson, the huge saguaro cactus start appearing, a very different kind of forest. Outside the visitor center is an informational path identifying the many different types of cactus in the area. At the visitor center is a graphic showing the huge drop in the aquifer since people moved to the area. Water is now being taken from the Colorado River to replenish the aquifer but given the limited water in the river, this doesn't seem to be a long-term solution.
Along the way we passed the Solana solar concentrator facility. There are 2000 acres of parabolic reflectors that focus the sun onto tubes to heat a solution that can be used to generate steam to drive turbines for electric power. One of the advantages is that the solution can be stored and used to generate electricity after the sun goes down.
Much of the way from New Mexico though Arizona and into the Imperial Valley in California we passed large crops that can only exist in the desert with irrigation. Given the shortage of water, it is surprising to see how inefficiently it is being used. We saw pecan groves with standing water around the trees, hay fields with water being sprayed into the air with the temperature at 100 degrees. Crossing into California there are large sand dues and it seems incongruous to see the irrigation canal passing through.
When we crossed the Colorado River at Yuma, the river wasn't any wider than the Esopus Creek that is near our house in Woodstock.
Eventually we came to San Diego and started to see more trees, mainly palm trees, eucalyptus, oleander and other greenery.
We were relieve to finally arrive at Amy and Anna's apartment at 5:30.
Ending mileage: 3030 Ending time: 5:30 pm
Travel mileage: 581 Travel time: 10:00 hours
We so enjoyed Saguaro National Park when we were traveling through two years ago, that we wanted to visit there again and fortunately it is just off the route to San Diego. Just outside of Tucson, the huge saguaro cactus start appearing, a very different kind of forest. Outside the visitor center is an informational path identifying the many different types of cactus in the area. At the visitor center is a graphic showing the huge drop in the aquifer since people moved to the area. Water is now being taken from the Colorado River to replenish the aquifer but given the limited water in the river, this doesn't seem to be a long-term solution.
Along the way we passed the Solana solar concentrator facility. There are 2000 acres of parabolic reflectors that focus the sun onto tubes to heat a solution that can be used to generate steam to drive turbines for electric power. One of the advantages is that the solution can be stored and used to generate electricity after the sun goes down.
Much of the way from New Mexico though Arizona and into the Imperial Valley in California we passed large crops that can only exist in the desert with irrigation. Given the shortage of water, it is surprising to see how inefficiently it is being used. We saw pecan groves with standing water around the trees, hay fields with water being sprayed into the air with the temperature at 100 degrees. Crossing into California there are large sand dues and it seems incongruous to see the irrigation canal passing through.
When we crossed the Colorado River at Yuma, the river wasn't any wider than the Esopus Creek that is near our house in Woodstock.
Eventually we came to San Diego and started to see more trees, mainly palm trees, eucalyptus, oleander and other greenery.
We were relieve to finally arrive at Amy and Anna's apartment at 5:30.
Drop in aquifer level in Tucson area
Saguaro cactus
Irrigation canal passing through sand dunes
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