The Land Of Dates

  Dateland is a town that has moved slightly north since Interstate 8 supplanted U.S. Highway 80.
  With one exception, everything along Old Highway 80 is either abandoned or demolished. The first time I was ever in Dateland, in the early 1990s, there was an abandoned
gas station/store/cafe/ gift shop/post office combination at the intersection of Old Highway 80 and Avenue 64E (crazy road numbering system in Yuma County, but it indicates that it is 64 miles from Main Street in Yuma and it is east of Main Street). The Postal Service decal was still affixed to the window of the old post office the first time I saw this complex. This complex was demolished in 1997. There is still a post office in Dateland, but at another location.
  Next to the site of the old business complex is a big, rectangular concrete slab that is lined on 3 sides with date palm trees that were planted as part of a landscaping project. It looks like a motel used to be located here, but I'm not sure. The buildings could have been located along the outer edge of the slab and the parking area was concrete instead of asphalt. It could have been something else, but a motel is the most likely explanation. Just to the west of the concrete slab lined with palm trees is an RV park that I believe is only occupied during the winter months when
"Snowbirds," or retirees from colder climates descend on this area and increase the population significantly for about five months of the year. Beyond the RV park, it looks like little, if anything, was ever located here and, in fact, Old Highway 80 dead-ends about one mile west of Dateland when it runs into the embankment of Interstate 8. In that area, the interstate was built directly on top of the old highway.
  East of the old business complex, across the county road, is just vacant land, but there is some surface debris that indicates buildings used to be located there.  
  About 1/4 mile north of the old business complex is the heart of modern Dateland. There are 2 convenience stores at the interchange of Interstate 8 and County Road 64E. One is on the southeast corner and one on the southwest corner. They are both pretty big but the one on the SE corner is actually a truck stop. It is called the Dateland Travel Center and they sell date shakes. Shakes made from dates from the palm trees in the area. The shakes are pretty good, too. They also serve things like date pies, date bread, etc. There is a very good restaurant in this truck stop, also.
  The bulk of the town spreads out north of the interstate for 2 1/2 miles and includes an airport that was once the Dateland Army Airfield. There is an elementary school with about 250 students  a short distance north if the interstate. Middle school and high school students are bussed 30 miles west to Antelope High School and Antelope Middle School halfway between Tacna and Wellton.