I drove my mom to see her mother on Friday. Gramma is fading fast. We stopped along the way to visit a viewpoint that I have meant to stop at each time I drive across the desert to see my grandparents. A very short drive off of Interstate 8, following In-Ko-Pah Park Road is the Desert View Tower. There are caves to explore there, too, but I was lucky to talk The Mom into climbing up the steps to the viewtower. If it resembles hiking or walking that requires any effort, she would rather sit in the car and read her paperback- she never leaves home without a paperback, no sir-ee!
We almost didn’t get out of the car, either- not because of desert heat, it was a beautiful 65 degrees with a light wind. We were just too engrossed with trying to send each other baby whale texts. We stink. We don’t make good teen-aged girls.
While in the viewtower shop I found an article written about the Old Plank Road that used to exist between Yuma and San Diego. My gramma told us how she had traveled on that plank road, and how it felt like it took forever with her brother annoying her along the route and their father changing a tire every ten to twenty miles of travel.
Can you imagine? She says that over the years tourists took away most the planks after better roads were built, and eventually “the hippies and hobos” used up almost all of the rest to make campfires. Only a small portion remains as a protected landmark, that you can read about here at DesertUSA.com, or if you have good enough zoom capabilities on a desktop computer, click on this photo on the right.
Gramma is very tired, and only sleeping lately. I bet she is a tired as she was while traveling across that Old Plank Road, but at the end of this journey, her father, mother and brother are waiting for her. Safe and blessed travels to you, Betty Gene!
branching out... on a limb 