Day 12 April 12, 2006
We are at 'an oasis' in the desert, Rancho Ventana RV Resort, tonight in Blythe, CA just across the Colorado River from Arizona on I-10. The CA desert seems to have gotten all the irrigation water from the river. The AZ side is dry as a bone while this side is lush with flat-as-a-pancake farms which seem to be growing alfalfa this time of year. However, I haven't seen any cattle ( I later learned that here they grow specialty grasses for export, like alfalfa and timothy and other forage crops. They sell the high quality product in Japan for five times the price they get for it locally).
We are on the way to visit friends Eric and Rose in L.A. having been with friends Rick and Pat in Phoenix for two days, where I had the RV serviced. Dave and Cheri (Pat's sister) from Vermont arrived yesterday and will travel in the area. As God would have it, They will be in Las Vegas the same day we were there, so we'll have dinner together. It was good to see the Fletchers since they moved here from Vermont in November.
Phoenix is a boom town! They're building building houses everywhere and adding 300 new residents from other places each day. Traffic is atrocious on the 10 lanes of I-10 during rush hour. The infrastructure is strained, but there seems no shortage of land. Some say at the present rate of growth, Tucson and Phoenix will soon merge.
I think the limiting factor will be water, not only here, but in other desert cities as well. That said, the housing in the neighborhood where Rick and Pat live is beautiful. This is a 20 year old planned community in Phoenix near Chandler that is in excellent condition and the vegetation is mature and beautiful with graceful palms and cactus fo many types. The Bouganvilla is in full bloom everywhere and was gorgeous.
Tomorrow we'll visit Joshua Tree National Park for half a day, then be in L.A. for the night.
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