On the way to San Diego from Arizona

Our next stop was San Diego, CA. We traveled out there via I-10 for a short way and then I-8 and saw enough cool things that it justified its own blog post.

The first thing of note that we saw was a giant cactus outside of an inn. According to Wikipedia, it only lives in Arizona and Southern California and a small part of Mexico.

Another cool thing was the trains along I-8. They were usually double stacked. This also prompted me to do some research into why trains don't have cabooses anymore. Some of the trains we saw were LONG, wouldn't it be really bad if one of the couplings broke and let loose half of the train? It turns out that they put devices called FREDs (flashing rear-end device) on the back of the train. It can monitor the position of the back car and the air brake pressure which it then relays up to the front of the train. It also flashes to show trains behind it that there is traffic up ahead.

Here is a cool shot from inside the cabin.

Dad and I thought this was a funny rest stop. Its great that you want to provide better access to the handicapped, but what exactly are they supposed to access once out of their car?

Wind turbines. For anyone who hasn't seen one up close, I recommend it. They are a lot bigger than you think they are-even if you think they are big.

After you travel a ways west, you start to reach an impressive mountain range near Cleveland National Forrest. Desert View Tower is a neat place to stop and look at the view. It is pretty remote and does not even have a house number in its address: Desert View Tower In-Ko-Pah park rd Jacumba, CA 91934

Another view. The wind turbines in the middle left are the same ones you see in the picture two above.

It would appear that people live in the tower as there was a dog outside and also a naked baby inside the tower with his mother (no picture available).

On the way out, you also get a glimpse of some sort of remnants of a UFO show mixed with mobile homes. Very interesting area.

After you get out of the mountain range, one briefly finds themselves in the middle of a sand dune landscape. You can see the mountains in the back ground in this picture.

We also saw an aqueduct which I think is either the all American Canal or the Coachella Canal.

Before going to the zoo in San Diego, we briefly stopped at a very nice beach (which also allowed dogs) called Ocean Beach.

Although becoming more prominent, once you see an electric vehicle charging station that is powered off solar you can be reasonably sure you are in California. We even got to talk to a guy who uses a new car rental company to run errands. He was driving a Smart Car Electric Drive and he didn't have to return it to the place he rented it.