Stealthing in Yuma
Got word from Amazon that my package is coming in today, so I packed up and left Kool Corner.
On the way out I detoured through Mittry Lake to see how that’s set up and to find the dumpster[s]. The allure of camping near water is largely lost on me, but I see why others would like it. The roads going in are even and navigable, and there are camping spots quite near the water. The campers seemed to be larger rigs parked in huddles with everyone outside in lawn chairs. A more…. social experience than I prefer.
The dumpsters did exist and were found at 32.82062, -114.47149. They were pretty full, perhaps a function of the recent 3-day weekend.
I did get a bino look at the billboardy thing; it was blank with some grafitti, and was thicker than a billboard. The supporting structure was also pretty heavy. I don’t know what it is. Given the amount of military air traffic my immediate thought was it was some kind of military RF reflector/target. {note - I paused to google it and someone else came to a similar conclusion; they have a pic on their page from when they hiked up there.}
On the way out of Mittry and into town there are several miles of agricultural fields abutting the road. Fortunately for my curiosity, there was a mobile harvest station running near the road and I could see a bit of it as I drove by:
dashcam
I was tooling along at the speed limit (50mph) in an area where farm equipment and ATV crossing is common so I didn’t get a great look. The features that stood out to me in my brief look:
- impressively parallel operation across multiple rows, many people working at once
- I was relieved that the station included blue-tarp shading for the worker bees; the sun is brutal
- the produce was being packed directly into the produce boxes you see at the endpoint – not sure why this surprised me. I must have expected an intermediary step somewhere.
- the whole contraption moved along by the tractor on our right, I guess
Speaking of worker bees, yes those were beehives alongside the fields. I got a closer look at them and they were buzzing (literally) with apian life.
package racing
For anyone who’s interested, here is the present package race between Amazon and my remailer:
Remailer:
- ordered and billed on 2/12 at 10AM.
- finally seen by USPS on 2/16, and tracking update shows it left El Paso distribution center later that night.
- no further updates
**Amazon: **
- ordered 2/14 at 2:45PM, got shipment notice later that day
- 2/17 update (today) said it would be delivered today
- delivered around noon, after I started to write this post
Both shipments were USPS . The difference is culture. I love the people of El Paso, very caring and friendly. They are not, however, exemplars of ruthless efficiency. At least they remembered to eventually ship this one without a reminder from me, which was an improvement over last time. Luckily I am retired and not trying to outrun weather or something.