We awoke this morning to unusual sounds.  Looking out the window across the RV lot we saw this hot-air balloon being inflated in the casino parking lot.  That was a nice view to start the day.

Balloon Rise at Sunrise

After breakfast we left Yuma and headed west on I-8, entering into the Pacific Time Zone.  The Official Center of the World is only a few miles beyond the Arizona/California border.  We stopped here last year and had to stop to see what had changed.

Museum of History in Granite

Two-inch thick granite walls have inscribed everything that Jacques-Andre Istel thinks is worth telling future generations.  This is a work in progress.  For $3 you can watch the video that explains the whole thing and then walk freely about the grounds.

A Work in Progress

Museum of History in Granite
Literacy for Millennia

History carved in granite

For $300 you can have your own name engraved here too! or anyone else’s.

I thought this was a fascinating project.  It will take several years to complete it, but when it’s done it will be there for future generations.  The walls are engineered to last 4,000 years and become “the one book that survives.”  They hope that in the future thousands of walls will be built by our successors.

More information is at www.HistoryinGranite.org

For an additional $2 you can go inside this pyramid and see the actual spot of the center of the world and get a certificate to prove it.

There it is, right there, the official center of the world and we were there.

This is a section of an old spiral staircase from the Eiffel Tower. It’s here for no particular reason.

We’re in El Centro, California, now, spending the night in a Walmart parking lot.  There are six other RVs here with us at the moment.

• Fuel expense:  none
• Camping expense:  none