Day 4, June 28 – Corner #2 Done

We started the day at 8 AM meeting at Jimmy V‘s and rode 100 miles to the Border Field State Park. This is the true southwest corner of the US. The border fence goes into the ocean here.

When we arrived at the park, 9:30ish, there was a small crowd of 20 news and film crews. It was a cool, overcast morning. Apparently a Mexican National who served in the US military named Ernie Mariscal was walking along the border from the Pacific Ocean to Brownsville to promote the Mexican nationals who served in the US military becoming US citizens.

We asked one of the news photographer, who had three cameras, if he would kindly take a photo of our group. Mike Blake, a senior photographer for Reuters News, a Pulitzer winner, kindly took the above photo.

The photographer goes back to the the media crowd. In a couple minutes a young man in a suit comes walking towards us. He introduces himself as Tomas Olivia, Mayor Pro Tem of the city of El Centro. He said the photographer Mike Blake said we were riding around the US but our next stop was El Centro. Our research on the high temperatures indicated that Yuma was going to be 115°F so we plan to do a short day, spend the night in El Centro and start at 4AM in the morning to escape the blistering heat.

This was a fun event and we chatted for several minutes with the mayor pro tem. We packed up and headed to a gas station to get our computer printed gas receipts, did our documentation for the mileage and headed east into the high heat with a goal of Key West FL.

It was around 11 AM when we headed east. In the 2 hours of eastward riding we were in 119°F heat!

Our plan for a short day to minimize heat, rest and a 4 AM start tomorrow will keep us out of the blistering Yuma heat.