Yuma

On Jan 1, 2016 we left Casa Grande, AZ and traveled down the road about 160 or so miles and established another "Home is where we park it". Our main reason for going to Yuma was its proximity to Algodones, Mexico and some planned dental work. What a pleasant surprise Yuma turned out to be. Before getting to Yuma, we had to pull off I 8 and visit Dateland(as directed by a number of our friends).

The parking lot at Dateland

After lunch and the mandatory Date Shake, we were off to our new home for the month of Jan at Blue Sky RV Park......

Our site was waaaaay too small.

Talk about a narrow spot

Well, there are just reasons why you tolerate things like this, among them:

We do like 54 much better than 7 or 1. Any day.

Park life was ok, nothing outstanding. We did make friends with neighbors next door, but unfortunately they had to leave after less than a week. Hopefully we'll keep in touch and meet up with them next year when we come back to the area.

Our friends: Joe & Carol from CA

While there, we took advantage of an ad I found on Craigs List for a trike for Mary. Picking it up introduced us to The Foothills area of Yuma. The new bike provides a neat way for M to get around the fairly level parks that we stay in.......

Other sights from the park......

The Sign says it all

Park group getting ready for a trip 4 wheeling in the desert

Front corner of our park = 5 bars on our cell phones!

Park behind our park. One of 5 in the immediate area

A common site on Yuma Streets

When the ATV's aren't on the streets........

It really didn't take us long to discover that we really liked the area, not only for the warmer temps, but for all the things to see and do. Most especially the fresh fruits and vegetables. Yuma and the neighboring Imperial Valley is fruit and vegetable farming on steroids.

Cabbages being picked and bagged.....

And then boxed

from the field to the transportation centers for shipment. Everything picked, wrapped, boxed and on pallets right on the field. Amazing.

We were in the center lane. Two rigs with boxes of lettuce on either side of us.

Where ever you travel in this area, there is a farming presence. It absolutely amazes me at the logistics involved with making all of this work: from the plowing, planting, irrigating, cultivating, picking, packing, and moving sealed product from field to trucks, trains, planes......wow.  Not to mention the hundreds of buses we see in the area moving migrant farm workers  from one field/plot to the next. And organizing the labor force to get the work done. It truly is amazing.

And then there were some of the things that we did in the area:

To Quartzsite for the Escapees Happy  Hour....

Picnic lunch at the truck

Our trip to the Yuma Territorial Prison.....

View up the Colorado River from the Prison

The "Gathering of the Gunfighters" at Yuma Territorial Prison.....

The Master of Ceremonies, who also came out later dressed as the Fairy Gunfighter.

A view from above in the Guard Tower

Lunch at Das Bratwurst Haus....and a visit to German Fest on Madison a week later.......

Had a nice lunch here.....

And we attended the German Fest on Madison a few days later.....

Bier!

The Boss(we called him Uncle Jr) - counting the money!

Bier line on the left. Food line on the right. Although if you were me, you did both.

Where have I see this before?????Hello Keith???

Some sights of the day

Back to Quartzsite a week later for the Boomers Happy Hour......

Boomerville Happy Hour

Mary and friends David & Kathleen

View back towards Quartzite from Boomerville

To Yuma Proving Grounds, Lake Martinez, Imperial Dam National Wildlife Refuge.....

Lake Martinez at Fishers Landing

Lunch stop at Rio Loco Bar & Grill

We saw this rather unique car(Polaris) back in Yuma on the way up.

Then we were off to Meers Point.....

I think that I am going to like this place.....will definitely be coming back.

And then to the Wildlife Refuge.....

Touring Historic Yuma.......

Part of Historic Yuma......

Soup for lunch along with a sampler.......Deviant Dale's DIPA won. Although the Habanero Sculpin IPA was just a little bit different.

The main purpose of our Trip to Yuma......Algodones

Quechan Indian Parking lot at Algodones

The entry point....

On our way in.....

Most days this parking lot is FULL. The deal is to park here and then walk in to Mexico.

Pork Taco lunch day......

Dr Urena's office. We were pleasantly surprised. Thanks Dr Eva and George!

Mary had a crown put in and I had a teeth cleaning. The prices were excellent and the work was good. We were impressed.

A trip to Niland, CA. 

Herb & Beth Howe are friends from back home in Vt. Herb is the son of our "adopted" parents, Bob & Luna and when he called and invited us to stop by and say hello, we couldn't refuse. He was pretty proud to show off his park which was located in Niland, CA about 120 miles from us. It was an interesting trip and we saw some things we'd never even imagined before......like:

Imperial Sand Dunes along I 8 west of Yuma

We got to their park, Fountain of Youth RV Park aka FOY RV Park, and got the grand tour. Quite a nice place.....

Believe it or not, but at this point we are at -19' elevation(that is minus 19).

View off in the distance Salton Sea with a controlled agriculture burn off in the distance.

Another view of the Park

Herb, Mary and Beth

Spa(104 degrees) and Salt Water pool

When we left Herb & Beth, the fun was just beginning. Back in the town of Nilands, we had some sights to see. Specifically, Salvation Mountain, Slab City, and East Jesus.......

Whatever turns you on......

Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain....although it looks like he has failed a few of the people here.....

The Sole Tree at Slab City

East Jesus

More East Jesus

The Navy used to have a facility here. Troops were housed in quonset huts that were on slabs. When they closed the facility, they removed the quonset huts but left the slabs. These slabs have been taken over by quite a collection of humanity.  Herb told me a story about being referred to a guy in Slab City who was a pretty good specialty welder. He visited him, got his work done and was impressed. He asked him where he learned how to weld and was told Prison. How long were you in for he asked....23 years for murder. At that point Herb knew why people came to Slab City. To get away and off the grid.

When we left Niland, we took shortcut back home and traveled to Holtville, CA. This is the heart of the Imperial Valley. The agriculture here is unbelievable and very hard to put in to words. It is BIG. All in all a great day.

Checking out parks and planning our stay for next year.....

We have definitely decided that this is where we want to be next winter season. We also decided that the park we are currently in does not fit in to our future plans. So with that in mind, we started looking at alternate choices. This is not an easy task when you look at the Yuma area directory and see that it claims 38 RV Parks totaling over 14,000 rv spots. After narrowing down our list we actually visited about a half dozen parks before finally settling on one:

Located in the Foothills region

8 Pickleball Courts

Quite an active Pickleball Agenda

Happy Hour locales

One of the 2 pools

We made a total of about 5 trips to this park checking things out and one of the things that sealed the deal, was on the 4th visit, we stopped in to have a look at the Crafts Room. And what would Mary discover but about 12  of her- happily sewing, chatting, visiting. One of the women took her under her wing and gave her the $2 tour: 3 days a week, all day if desired. Group projects, Special Projects, Individual Projects. You decide and then do.  Thus the deal was sealed.

Cell signals were good, sites good sized. The park was clean. $.11 per kwh for electricity.  Come April 1, we will be contacting them to make a reservation for next year.

The Arizona Marketplace
 Located about 3 miles from us was the Arizona Marketplace.

Pretty much everything you can think of.....

The parking lot fills up fast here....

Many a sight to be seen here......

Open Thurs - Sun each week, it is a huge Flea Market with acres and acres of vendors selling everything from Souvenir Hats and shirts, RV Supplies, Furniture, RV's, Paintings, Pet Supplies, fabric-sewing supplies, Art Work- you name it, and someone is probably selling it.They have a Food Court with Live Music. Cold beer if you so desire, or even a breakfast burrito. But the main reason we visit them each week are the fruit and vegetable vendors and what they brought: Grapefruit, melons, strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, broccoli, oranges, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, ......pretty much you name it they had it and at great prices.

So there you have it and now you know why we like Yuma. Fresh fruit and vegetables. ALL THE TIME. Good weather. Plenty to do and see. We leave on 2/1/2016 and already I can't wait to come back.