The California condor spreads its wings to warm up in the sun. Practically everyone who visits San Diego takes the Tijuana trolley down to the border of Mexico and the USA and then walks across the border to Tijuana. Tijuana is the largerst tourist trap we have ever seen! It is interesting but not a place you would want to go at night.

Coming across the border to Mexico was just a matter of walking a screened in one way path but coming back was not the same. You have to identify yourself but most American looking people with a command of English could easily enter. Then it was another ride on the Tijuana Trolley back to San Diego.

From San Diego we headed East to Death Valley, which can be one of the hotest spots on earth during the summer months. Fortunately, we visit Death Valley in November, 1991 so the heat was really not that bad. We parked the camper by the road, locked it up with Sam inside and then climbed a rise about a 1/4 mile away so we could get this photograph on the right.

There are plenty of nice hiking trails in Death Valley, one of which lead to the Golden Canyon. Driving out of the Valley I noticed a large object on the road ahead and stopped to investigate. We found this HUGE Tarantula walking across the road. Jeanne was amazed at the size and I was wondering what he was eating to get this big!

Entering Arizona we stopped at Quartzsite, which is suppose to have the largest, free campground in the States. Actually it is just open desert where anyone can park. We drove south out of Quartzsite about six miles and then drove off the road into the desert where we spent the night. We did have another camper pull in for the night about a mile away. It was strange to be in the desert at night with no one around, no lights, except for the lone camper near us, and no sounds. The spider palm tree on the right was near a Catholic Church in Phoenix where we stopped to visit some friends of Jeanne.