Tour of Duty 20th October 2013 to 21st October 2013

While I was between flights at PHL on the 18th of October I received word about trip from Calexico, CA to Ontario, CA. I asked the company to rent me a car out of ONT instead of LGB so I could drive my car to ONT after church on Sunday then get the rental car and drive down to the Imperial Valley to get a hotel room there Sunday night and be in position to turn the car in on Monday and get the truck. I did go to Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in La Mirada, CA (the church I usually attend when I'm home) and the sermon was based on Acts 16:16-18. After church I drove to ONT, parked in the economy car park and got bus to terminal then to the rental car area.

I got the rental car and headed east on Interstate 10. I stopped in Indio to take some pictures then continued south on California 86. I saw sunset a little south of Westmoreland. Almost all of the Imperial Valley is below sea level. The Salton Sea is 235 feet below sea level but the elevations of the cities in the Imperial Valley vary from one foot below sea level at Calexico (parts are sea level and above) to 184 feet below sea level in Calapatria and the unincorporated community of Desert Shores is 190 feet below sea level. I saw some buildings that had a line on it part way toward the top which indicated where sea level is. I stopped in Imperial and attended what was left of the evening church service at Faith Baptist Church and the message was on First Thessalonians 2:18, a discussion of various means of how Satan hinders us. After church I had dinner at the Golden Corral before getting room and spending the night in El Centro, CA.

Monday morning I found that the address of where I was to pick up the truck was not on the map of Calexico and I could not get a phone number for the shipper. As a result the company told me to take the rental car to Calexico and look for the shipper. I was able to take some pictures of Calexico.

I did see some evidence of earthquake damage from the major earthquake that took place on Easter Sunday 2010. The weather was clear and quite warm and it got up to 93F/34C in El Centro which is a typical fall day for the Imperial Valley. Sometimes that is the low temperature in the summer there.

I looked around and talked to a couple of local people in Calexico and got oriented in the right direction and found the shipper and loaded my gear into the truck, did safety inspection then headed back to Imperial where I dropped off the rental car. Then I hired a taxi and got back to the truck.

Trip: Calexico, CA to Ontario, CA 192 actual miles
Make: 2008 Ford F750
Model: Bucket Truck
Transmission: Automatic
Route: California 98 to California 111 to California 78 Bypass around Brawley to California 86 to Interstate 10 to Milliken Avenue to California 60
Maximum elevation: unknown but > 2,582 feet on Interstate 10 in Beaumont, CA
Lowest elevation: unknown but < 190 feet below sea level on California 86 in Desert Shores, CA
Diesel price USA: $4.159/gallon at Petro Ontario, CA
Permits required: none

I got rolling and used a bypass to avoid downtown Brawley. Past Westmorland, the road got quite rough so I slowed down. I stopped at Mecca to get a bite to eat then continued and made a quick stop at rest area in Whitewater then continued on and took on fuel at the Petro (former TA East) in Ontario, CA. Then I continued to the receiver and made an after hours delivery. Then I phoned up a taxi and was taken to ONT where I retrieved my car and drove home.