San Dimas to Blythe

Oct 1^st

Another beautiful day! Up at 6:30 AM, I put on the coffee then took a shower before the kids got up. After our morning routine the kids came in an had their breakfast. I made a great sausage and eggs scramble with spicy Italian Sausage (lots of Cayenne)!

We got everything stowed and disconnected by 8:30 AM. Before leaving, Tina helped me refill the hydraulic reservoir for the jacks – took half a quart. The we pulled out, connected the tow dolly, secured the car and headed for I-10.

We pulled off I-10 for diesel about 30 miles down the road and made a second stop for lunch about 80 miles west of Blythe. Once past Indio, the traffic was light but there were a lot of trucks out there for a Saturday morning. The drive was uneventful and we pulled into the Blythe/Colorado River KOA and were set up by 2:00PM. 

On the pad at the Blythe/Colorado River KOA

It’s 100 degrees and sunny even though we’re right on the Colorado River.

Swimming Hole on the Colorado River

I changed into my swim suit, grabbed a towel, my book, camera, phone and some money and headed for the pool. Along the way I stopped down by the swimming beach and took some photos of the river then went over to the office/store and bought a pop for the pool.

The "Pool"

Lots of young people were enjoying a brief break in the pool so I took a brief dip and grabbed a lounge chair and set up in the shade to read for a while. Before long I had the pool to myself and got absorbed in my book until Tina stopped by with the dogs. By now it was 4:30 PM so I gathered up my stuff and headed back to the coach.

Mike and Tina at the races

Tina was relaxing, trying to stay cool. After feeding the dogs we had our dinner and watched the news. At 6:30 PM we left for the Lucas Oil/I-10 Speedway at the Colorado River Fairgrounds just east of Blythe (http://www.i10speedway.com/) to watch the stock car and modified cars race on a one third paved low bank oval. It was an exciting evening. We had seats in the grandstand about 8 rows up and 25 feet from the finish line. 

Signing autographs for the kids

The races started at 7:00 PM with a series of Trophy Sprints, five lap heat races for the Pro Stock, Stock and modified classes, with the winner getting a trophy and a small check plus preferred placement in the Main event. The stock cars were really impressive, managing to stay on the track at pretty high speeds with no suspension or tire modifications. 

Winner of the "Modified" Class Main Event

But it was the modified that really were fun to watch. After the heat races, the Pro Stock had a 30 lap main event. This was followed by a 75 lap main event for the modified class (about 15 cars were entered) and a 15 lap main event for the stock cars. The races, including winner presentations after each main were over by 9:00 PM and we were back at the coach 15 minutes later.

What a lot of fun!

Miles driven today, 205. Total for the trip so far, 1,616 miles.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski