Even the non-caffeinated among us will recognize this logo.  It's a popular beverage for over worked college students as well as others needing a bit more zip in their step; Monster Energy Drinks.  I reference it as a toxic waste dump with my kids, but they just laugh, as they love em.


Monster Energy is a major sponsor for the AMA Supercross, a nationwide sporting event televised on FOX Sports, involving off road motorcycles racing on an artificially made dirt track with jumps, tight turns, and whoops.




Typically my family votes for riding the bikes over watching them being ridden, but Petco Park is a downtown icon. What better way of experiencing it than with truck loads of dirt filling the infield?

Ah, but not so fast.  First there's the Pit Party.  Your ticket in? ...an empty Monster can of course.  Kid's have plenty of those, so in we go.

In addition to receiving a can of 
your favorite Monster Energy Drink, including ones not yet released, there are cool bikes to see, Monster merchandise for sale, and a chance to view the bikes being worked on.

We finish up here and join the other 42,441 possible spectators entering the park.  
Festivities begin with hand-held and truck mounted cannons shooting Monster T-shirts into the crowd.





This is a lively, fun loving audience.  The mc is working his magic, getting the audience all revved up.  He then pops the clutch for my first stadium "wave".

The crowd is pumped, the riders are introduced and the race begins.  Actually there are a series of races in two different classes; 250cc bikes and 450cc bikes. 

These guys are fun to watch for sure, but I can't take my eyes off the video cam set up that they have in the arena.  Suspended high above the track, 4 different cables each on their own pulley system attach to a video camera that flies effortlessly across the field.  There's got to be a Starfleet Captain, nimbly controlling this cylindrical time capsule with a joystick from his bridge.  It has me completely transfixed.  Beam me up Scotty!

Both my kids have graduated from San Diego; one with an EE, and the other with a ME.  Each has decided to stay on, making this Shangri-la their home.  While several of their non-engineering counterparts have struggled with employment, Engineering majors seem to have a better time of it here, landing positions in their field.  

Having spent a number of years going to school, they are now the tour guides and my youngest (who begins full time employment later this month) suggests a morning hike to the top of Cowles Mountain.  


This is a popular hiking destination, as it is the highest point (1,593') in San Diego, offering 360 degree panoramic views of the city and beyond. 

The hike to the top is only 1.5 miles, but it's the 950' elevation gain that will get your four chambered metronome a tickin'. 

For many years Cowles Mountain was locally known as "S" Mountain. In 1931, 500 students from San Diego State University (SDSU) painted a 400-foot-tall (120 m) letter "S" on the side of the mountain, after which it took on its popular name.^[3] In April 1942, during World War II, the local military ordered the S covered up for the sake of national security. After the war the painting tradition was resurrected. In the 1970s, the annual repainting tradition was discarded due to complaints from environmentalists but enjoyed a brief resurgence in the late 1980s. The mountain is now a protected area, and the "S" has not been repainted for nearly two decades.

Views from the top are spectacular, spanning all the way to the ocean.  Feeling like you are at a much higher elevation than 1,600', Cowles proffers healing from the bypass of daily city living.






A walk on the beach never gets old and it's a quintessential California thing to do.

All seem to enjoy it, including
this doggie with a hipster assist.

We stop off at Which Wich, a sandwich shop (chain) that let's you customize your sammich to your heart's content.  

 










This is a first for me.  Lettuce offered as a "roll".  It wraps like a burrito but without the carbs of a tortilla.  Now that's near and dear to my heart.

There is so much to see and do in San Diego that you could live a lifetime here and never see it all.  Both my boys graduated from this city and every time I come here, I try to explore something yet unseen. I plan to lite here a few days and add to my list.

 I've been waiting oh so patiently for the first SD supercharger to open.  There has been much speculation in the past with regards to its secret whereabouts, but as the following thread from the Tesla Motors Club suggests, it's location has pretty much been confirmed.  Now it's just a matter of wait time. I'd like to see just how far along they are, so off I go to do a little supercharger geocaching for myself.  http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/39447-San-Diego-%28Pacific-Heights%29-Supercharger?p=840783

The supercharger is said to be off Barnes Canyon Road in the QualComm parking lot.  I find it easy enough and ask a construction worker to authenticate its location, which he does.  Yea for that!  He estimates a April opening, but I won't be counting my spring chickens any time soon.

12 conduits still sticking out
of the ground.

For now it's slow charging on a 30 Amp J1772  (~17 mi/hr) which Marriott has installed since the last time I was here.  Although there is no charge to charge ;D downtown parking, especially by the marina is none too cheap.



Ya can't complain too much though, as all you have to do is walk outside for a million dollar view.

This is a naval town with the defense industry comprising 26% of the local employment.  The Navy's presence is obvious and the $30.5 Billion it pours into the local economy is staggering. 

Although mite's presence is substantial, art has made it's way into the ballasts.

Artwork by Salvador Torres

Elusive yet inviting, muscular but gentle, San Diego's long reaching tentacles capture all that swim by.  

Our state flower, the California Poppy

With dates in tow, I cross over my final state line, back home into California.  Kitt and I have traveled to 30 states over these past 5 months.  I know it sounds like a long time, but honestly it feels like we just got started.

Although I've lived here most of my life, I've never been to the southeast corner. Whoa, what a difference!  I'm not surprised at the amount of sand...just that it's not on a beach.

Algodones Dunes

About an hour in, we make a pit stop at #7 on our countdown, El Centro, CA.

7

El Centro, CA

The terrain begins to change, giving way to solid terra ferma and more familiar topography.










It will be fairly easy going from here, except for San Diego which has yet to get it's supercharger.  I know one is under construction and as I have family in the area, I'm anxious to check on it's progress.  Until then, it's slow charging on paid networks such as Blink, or Chargepoint which can be muy caro.  Ugh...I think I'll have a date.

The first Medjool palms came to the United States in 1927 when Walter Swingle, an American botanist brought 11 shoots from Morocco to Nevada.  Many of the palms in Morocco had contracted Bayoud, an ephiphytic fungal disease that has no cure and has caused epidemic proportions of loss. In just one century, more than 12 million palms in Morocco and 3 million in Algeria have been lost to this disease. The spread continues to advance, relentlessly to the east.  


Walter nursed these 11 shoots and it is from these that all of the Medjool palms in the US have been engendered.  You may have noticed my lack of reference to Palm "Trees", as technically they are not.  They are monocots.

Nels Rodgers began growing dates in Yuma, AZ in 1990.  Today the family grows 8,000 palms on 130 acres.  Nels oldest son Jason is our tour guide today.  He left his chiropractor business in New York in 2008 after his father developed throat cancer.  He stayed on after his father's recovery and now handles food safety, marketing and leads visitors on farm tours.  

I buckle up my brain and try to hold on tight, as my field learning is about to begin.

Three things are needed to grow dates;  a hot, dry climate and lots of water.  Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?

I'm not surprised to hear that every aspect of the production cycle is controlled, including pollination.  I am surprised however, that they visit each palm a dozen or more times throughout the cycle.  That's 96,000+ monocot visits! 

A male sheath from which pollen is collected

A palm is either male or female.  In late February sheaths on the male palms begin to open.  The pollen is collected, "bottled" and used to hand pollinate the flowers of the female palm.

Pollen is "dusted" onto female
flowers from a water bottle

Each female palm is pollinated at least 3 times as the flower are open for only 5 days and at different times. 

Around April or May, fruit begins to bud on the strands and the palms are visited again for thinning.  Each bunch of strands are opened up and the middle cut out, leaving only the outside strands.  Each strand is thinned further, removing every other bud allowing for large fruit to grow.  Talk about labor intensive!

Late July, early August, the palms are visited again and covered with a cotton bag to protect the dates from birds and insects as well as catch any fruit that's ripen prior to date harvest.

Harvest occurs multiple times throughout the hottest months of August and September where temperatures can reach 120 degrees.  It is then, that each palm requires 180 gal of water per day, supplied via wells and pumps.   

Young palms produce off-shoots which are tied, dug up and transplanted into large containers for farm expansion or sale.
















The palms are visited one last time as thorns need to be removed  to provide safe access for next year's production.








Although high in sugar content, dates are low on the glycemic index.  According to the "Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, ” dates contain beta-D-glucan, a special kind of soluble fiber that’s particularly efficient at reducing high cholesterol levels. This type of fiber also helps control blood sugar levels by slowing the rate at which your small intestine absorbs glucose. 

Honest to goodness, I will never look at my date the same way again!  Not only good looking, he's got a lot more content than I ever gave him credit for.

Err...good thing, as I purchased 12 pounds of them.  Did I mention, they can be frozen?

On my way over to the date farm, I pass acre upon acre of what is clearly premium, fertile agricultural land.  I learn later, just how fertile this land really is.  A whopping 90% of our nation's leafy vegetables are grown here between the months of November and March.  Because this area has long standing water rights and 350+ days of sunshine each year, Yuma County is the third largest vegetable producer in the United States.

Veggies aren't the only crop they're known for.  Conditions are perfect for Medjool dates, and nowhere else in the world produces more.

As I drive on up, I notice an open air shuttle bus, advertising farm tours.  I step inside the country store and learn they have room for 20 passengers with 19 seats already filled by migrating Canadians.  Wahoo! I'm their "sold out".  

With 20 minutes to kill, I visit the cafe and hear someone ordering a date shake.  I make like a hound dog and follow that order around to the gal in the back who holds the scoop.   With puppy dog eyes, I ask if she wouldn't mind making just a wee bit more for a sample. A minute later I'm raising a spoonful of the date infused goodness to my snout.  Rich and creamy, one spoonful satisfies a wagging tail.


I wander around the store and begin to realize just how much there is to learn about dates.  According to Martha:

Dates have 7 different levels of grading.  Unlike maple syrup, grading is based upon quality as well as size.

Dates have anti-oxidant levels that are higher than those found in blueberries and pomegranates.

There is more potassium in 5 dates (100 grams) than there is in one large banana.

Jumbos are the Great Dane
in the date world

With my in-class learning just about complete, it's time for field training which is scheduled to last  1.5 hours.  Really?  There's that much to learn about dates?  Yep, and I'll give you the cliff notes version next.