It’s the final day, bringing a mix of anticipation and anti-climax. We are wondering what aircraft will be best suited to the journey, and yes, you guessed, it’s something of an amphibious theme:
The mighty Colorado dies (most of the year) before reaching the waters of the Golfo de California, the final dregs after Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California have argued about how much each is entitled to are sucked away west for Mexican agriculture or evaporated by the encroaching Desierto De Altar.
The only airport listed south of San Luis Rio Colorado is a not very reassuring El Doctor (MMOG)(a 3360’ strip of asphalt), so an amphibian would allow us to land near the Isla Montague, the island that could be considered the final gasp of the Colorado.
The final choice is none of the above, we decide something that blends history and modernity would be ideal:
Something about the 40’s lines mated to the turboprops gives the craft a purposeful yet friendly look. Time to load up our junk, plenty of room for it in this flying boat.
Back to following our river downstream:
Passing Laguna AAF (KLGF) in the Yuma Proving Ground. We make sure we don’t stray into it’s restricted air space.
Two more dams slip by: Imperial Dam then Laguna Dam (neither show in FS9) as we pass through the Chocolate Mountains and Yuma city comes into view with it’s joint use airport Yuma MCAS/Yuma Intl.:
We decide to stop in Yuma to pick up some provisions and complete all the paperwork for popping into Mexico, and more importantly our return into the USA. We would rather not have our aircraft taken apart in a search for contraband.
We decide to land on the river, we can, so why not?
But these bridges are not the right type for a highly illegal fly under:
Heading down the now much diminished Colorado towards San Luis (USA side) and San Luis Rio Colorado (Mexican side). For the next few miles the river is the border; east is USA west Mexico.
Now in Mexico and our destination is in sight but the river has all but disappeared:
At our destination: The Riserva De La Biosfera Alto Golfo in the Colorado delta:
Time to spend a few days exploring the unique habitat at the end of our adventure.