My Drive Across America: LA to Yuma, Arizona

On Wednesday, May 22, I left Los Angeles (Santa Monica to be specific) to start a 2000 plus mile journey to Drive Across America and perform my one man show – Mi Casa Su Casa – at the Atlanta Fringe Festival. This would be my 7th driving trip across the country. It was the first one I had taken in 25 years.

Postcard for Mi Casa Su Casa – Atlanta Fringe Festival 2019

The reasons for the trip were numerous. Some were professional and some were very personal. The end result was that I was leaving my home of 19 years to see if life in another city was something to consider. I was moving to Atlanta for 2 months to see if this was the next phase of the adventure.

I had left the South 40 years before for various political and personal reasons. It was the tail end of the Civil Rights era. However, the rampant racism still existed in the places where I lived. The desire to pursue a professional life in the entertainment business made the move to New York and eventually Los Angeles the correct decision for me at that time.

Yet, I often returned to visit family and friends. I even worked there at times. The South and the style of living there were never far from my mind. However, I was convinced that I could not live there again. Life marches on unrelenting. The film business came to Georgia in a huge way. Now there is more film production work in Atlanta than in Los Angeles.

I had/have an extremely good life in LA. Including owning a large home that has become a very popular Airbnb destination. I have the ability to direct theatre and film projects that are only limited by my desire to create them. I have many wonderful friends and a strong support system that I can call on when I need too.

Yet I felt stuck. Stuck in my own life. No one is to blame for this but me. But stuck is not a great place to be for anyone. I was bored with myself and felt I was repeating the same things over and over again. And at my age, there was not alot of time to lose by repeating myself.

So I decided to shake things up by moving to Atlanta to pursue an idea. I would use the invitation to perform at the Atlanta Fringe Festival as the opening gambit in this journey of self rediscovery.

I said farewell to my partner and headed south to San Diego using I-405 to I-5 and into San Diego. From there I traveled along the southern border to Yuma, Arizona. I grew to like Yuma a lot. For the first stop on my cross country journey that is where I decided to land.

Taking I-8 out of San Diego, I was finally heading straight East. This short interstate highway runs through some amazing country. About 40 miles out of San Diego, you have climbed to over 4000 feet while passing Native American Nations one after another. You pass through countryside that seems like you are riding through the old West expecting an outlaw to jump out from behind the nearest boulder and rob you. Then you drop down to pure desert. Slowly as you drive toward the Colorado River, the land begins to take on the color of green, and you enter one of the biggest agriculture sections of the US. All the while you are driving within just a few miles of the Mexico/USA border.

I stopped at a little town called Jacumba Hot Springs where the main attraction is a small hotel/resort called The Jacumba Spa. But literally less than a football field away is the border fence. I drove down to the fence where you could see the new fence and the old fence side by side. On our side is a dirt road to patrol the fence. On the Mexican side, a rancher uses the fence to tie up his horses while they graze. Plus more than two miles down the new fence line, it stops completely. Anyone at any time of day can just walk around the fence into another country. There is no camera, no fence, no sign saying stop, no nothing.

The wall ends two miles from this point.

I drove on to Yuma and spent the night. Taking the opportunity to visit a few places that night and the next day before I pushed on. I visited night spots that I had found the first time I was there and some historically interesting places that have factored in the history of the West and the USA. Yuma is historically interesting because of its place in settling the West. With one of the few safe crossings on the wild Colorado River of the late 1700’s, the Spanish used Yuma to settle San Francisco and Los Angeles. They built the missions along the California coast.

It at one time was an important railhead for cattle. The Arizona Territorial Prison (referred to in the film, 3:10 to Yuma) was famous for the criminals jailed there and the treatment of its prisoners. Finally, while Yuma is now slower and more off the beaten track, it is still a very popular destination for senior folk looking for a quiet, mild winter. It is also home to some of the largest agri-businesses in the US.

There is a lovely historic downtown area with a couple of excellent art museums. There is great access to the Colorado River for swimming, boating, and fishing.