From the road #3: Concerning beverages, and clearly out of sequence.

On Interstate 8 between the petroglyph site/old state park and Yuma is a non-town called Dateland, site of an old Army Air Force training base--the runways are a little rough but still there--a grove of date palms, perhaps a dozen residences, an RV park, a couple of filling stations, and apparently its own post office, or at least its own zip code.

The billboards would have you think it's a tourist trap a la The Thing or Casa de Fruta or those wacky lopsided "mystery spot" houses one used to find off of highways, but all one finds is a gas station with a gimmick: sales of dates and "Date Shakes."

Date shakes? Much better than they sound: flavorful and no sweeter than the usual milkshake--if you also need gas, it's worth stopping in for one.