day 5, mile 169.9, in back of long-term visitor area off I-8, CA

Wow, what a weird day. Remember those impressive numbers i gave you earlier? Well, they were shot in el centro, as we meandered about, re-supplying, eating. At our last stop, the bike shop, the guy convinced us we should take a different route into arizona - shorter, easier, better roads. So far so good, but we barely made it out of the farmlands before dark and had no idea where we were going to sleep. Just as it was getting dark, we came to this mysterious long term visitor area, where, the man said, we can't camp, but if we go 2 miles on the dirt road behind it, we can camp legal and FREE. And there is a hot spring for bathing! Upon further reflection, it's hard to really say why it was a weird day. P.S. I TYPED ALL THIS ON A PHONE! WEIRD!