Quartzsite, AZ

Yesterday morning we drove from Yuma to Quartzsite, AZ to meet up with other members of the Graduating Class of '05 and to do some shopping at the Big Tent RV Show.

The drive to Quartzsite was, well, in a few words, long and boring. It's about 80 miles of almost straight road through the Arizona desert, a lot of which was actually the Yuma Proving Grounds. The traffic was really the highlight of the drive - going south was a continuous line of RV's of all sizes and shapes. The hills and mountains were interesting and this one, Castle Dome was one of the more unusual.



We found the Class of '05 and visited with everyone, seeing old friends and making new ones. What a great bunch of people. They had their rigs all facing in toward the fire ring, kinda like spokes on a wheel. There were probably 20+ rigs in this circle, some of whom were not members of the '05 class, but family and friends. Looked like a lot of fun, BUT, I still have no desire to boondock. Call me sissy, but I like my amenities. We had one of the family members take a picture of the group. Do you recognize anyone?



Dean attempted to take a couple of pictures of the Quartzsite area that would show a sampling of just how many RV's are there. Unfortunately, the pictures just didn't do it justice. I'm putting the best one here - looking from the west to the east. Just about anything you see that is white is rv's. It is said that there are close to or over 100,000 at the peak time during the RV show. Be sure and click on the picture to enlarge it.



In the afternoon we went to the Big Tent. We didn't purchase anything, but did pick up some great information (free) on British Columbia and Alaska that will be a help in planning our trip this summer. We met up with our friends, Jake and Nancy, for a few minutes - they were busy looking at motorhomes. I think the next time we see them, they will not be in a Mobile Suite 5th wheel anymore, but an Allegro Pheaton!

After walking through the tent and some of the other vendor area, we drove over to LaMesa RV dealership to look at the Allegro's ourselves - NO - we didn't buy. Just wanted to see what kind of prices they had. Since we haven't looked anywhere else, the prices seemed to be very good, but will have to hold judgment until we price the same units someplace else. Ever since we've seen Terry & Dale's Pheaton, I've fallen in love with them. Now, another set of friends will have one, oh me, it's getting harder to resist!! I even went on line and checked the NADA on our Mobile Suite and truck this morning. Gotta stop this insanity - don't want the RV bug.

Dean drove back to Yuma so I got to watch the scenery - hah! We stopped at Da Boyz for some pasta and arrived home around six very tired. It was a long, but happy, fun filled day.

See ya next time.......

A Busy Day Exploring

This morning we went in search of the infamous Yuma Territorial Prison. This prison was built in 1876 and was used until 1909. During that time there were a total of 3,069 prisoners including 39 women. Their crimes ranged from murder to polygamy, with grand larceny being the most common. The prison cells were actually steel cages with bars 10 inches wide that were then covered with adobe. Each cell had six beds, two sets of three bunks which were very narrow. If an inmate tried to escape he was chained to an anchor in the center of the cell, along with the other five inmates - doubt that very many of them tried twice. If the leg chain didn't convince them not to, the other five inmates would! There was one other form of punishment - the dark cell. This was for inmates who broke prison regulations. This was a five foot cell in a very dark cave like room. They said at one time it actually held 14 prisoners at one time. How awful - no potty and only one meal a day of bread and water. But in spite of this, the prison was humanely administered and a model institution for its time. The funniest fact is that the prison actually had telephone service and electricity before the town of Yuma did. You know the residents thought that the prisoners were really livin high - does it sound familiar - I've heard the same about prisoners today.

A few pictures from the prison....

The "paddy wagon" & the ole cell block



Entrance to the dark cell & one set of bunks in a cell



Several movies were made here such as....






From the prison we went to Paradise Casino, got our $15.00 free money and played the slots for a little while. I was not impressed with this casino - it was rather small and crowded. The neat thing about it is that there are actually two buildings right beside each other. One is in Arizona and the other is in California - yep - the state line runs right between them. Dean came home with $9.00 of the original $15 - I came home with none, but didn't lose any of my money.

For lunch we stopped at the Magic Greek Chef - Dean and I split a great club sandwich and had a cup of white bean soup that was soooo good. This is the 3rd time that we've ate there, the food is so good. I'm sure we will be back again before we leave the area.

After lunch we drove over to California to the Imperial Dunes. This was so freaky - out of no where - sand dunes. Big ones at that! We didn't see any four wheelers running the dunes, but did see some kids climb to the top of one and then run down - if only I was a lot younger - sure looked like fun. I thought about my granddaughter, Morgan, when I saw them. She would love it!

As we approached the dunes......

Up close........

Well folks, that's all for now. Tomorrow we are driving over to Quartzsite to visit with some of the '05 Graduating Class members and other friends. Check back to see what we find on our way.

Yuma Lettuce Festival

There is a free paper here in Yuma called the White Sheet. It's basically advertising by individuals and commercial business. Last weeks edition featured on it's front page a ad for the 9th Annual Yuma Lettuce Days. Words like "lettuce entertain you" and "lettuce tell you more" drew our interest. There was to be cabbage bowling, farm equipment displays, arts and crafts booths, live entertainment and more. We decided that Saturday would be a great day to go.

If you enjoy crowds and lots of arts and crafts booths, well you would enjoy this festival. We saw no cabbage bowling, no farm equipments displays. What we did see was a lot of people and about 8 city blocks of arts and craft booths. There was entertainment at the Paradise stage which was very good. One man, who I guess must perform at the Paradise casino, was singing and entertaining. I had never heard a Cajun song with yodelling! That was a first. The casino had a booth set up with a wheel of fortune to spin. Dean and I both won a insulated lunch bag. We will use them in Alaska, I'm sure.

Most of the crafts were of the common variety that you see at any arts and crafts show. One that was different was a native American Indian who was playing a type of horn that was hand made. Oh, the music was so soft and so mellow, just listening to it made you relax, right there in the crowd. I did get a picture of him playing the instrument - wish I could remember the name of it...



That was the only picture that I took, there was nothing else different or unusual.

Ahhh, so much for the "Lettuce Festival". I was told that last year they had a house built of lettuce, but this year because of the freezing weather, they were not able to build it. Now that would have been interesting to see.

This would be a good place to tell a little about the agricultural in Yuma County. There are 229,935 acres of farm land harvested here. Hard to believe when you see how barren the land is, after all, it is desert. The biggest crop is head lettuce (iceburg) followed by leaf lettuce. Also grown are romaine, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupes, potatoes, spinach, watermelon, honey dews and other misc. vegetables. Amoung citrus grown is lemons, grapefruit and various type of oranges. Lemons are the major citrus crop. The irrigation for these crops comes from the Colorado River via irrigation canals.

Dean and I did have a great lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ. That ended up being the highlight of our day.

There are more sights to see here and in the area so check back soon - hopefully they will be more interesting........

Yuma - Thursday

Wow! We have been busy since arriving in Yuma.

We have visited with Jim & JoEllen Gass (topfuel), Nick & Terry Russell (Gypsy Journal) and Smokey and Pam. The visiting was not just sitting around talking, but going out to eat - what else!!! It was so nice having friends here, especially since this is our first time in Yuma and we know absolutely nothing about the area. Everyone has been so helpful. That's one of the nice things about fulltiming - you meet some of the nicest people and somewhere down the road is an old friend.

We also met back up with Jake and Nancy for dinner - had some of the best pizza that night. Dean and I will be going back there for more at Da Boyz (I think that was the spelling). Only problem with going there is that they don't have French Dressing and being that I spent a lot of my years on the MS Coast, I like French Dressing on my pizza!! Guess I'll have to take my own.

Tuesday, Dean and I drove around the foothills checking out lots to rent. We found one and on Wed. morning we packed up and moved about 4 miles - very short day - LOL.

We are now residents in the foothills of Yuma until 11 Feb when we will head for Casa Grande, AZ for the Gypsy Journal Rally. Here again we have so many friends going to the rally, it promises to be a wonderful time.

Today was laundry day and we found a laundromat nearby. What a different experience this one was. First let me tell you that it was packed with mostly very senior citizens. One of our friends calls them Q Tips. White hair w/white shoes. Never thought of them that way but the name kinda fits - LOL. Anyway, you sign in and then are directed to however many washing machines you need. Load your machines and an attendant comes by with a card that they insert into the machine and wala - it starts. Oh, I forgot to say that you pay another attendant when you sign in for however many machines your going to use - both washer and dryer. Quite a system they have. While talking to one of the attendants, I was told that they went to this system to keep from being robbed after closing and also to keep the arguments down over who gets what washer/dryer - must be a senior citizen thing. Darn if I'd fight over a washer/dryer!

The rest of the day we spent relaxing. I took some pictures around our lot showing the views. Very nice......







The sky is so clear and blue - just beautiful. Last night the stars looked so close, you felt like you could reach out and touch them. I just wish it would warm up just a little more. It is supposed to next week - we'll see. Till then - thanks for stopping by and see you next time.

Yuma we have arrived! (EDIT - Pictures added)

We reached our 1st winter destination, Yuma, AZ., yesterday early afternoon. We had decided to park at Fortuna de Oro RV Park since it came recommended by our friends Terry & Dale.

It's actually not a bad park, just very, very big and kinda expensive at $25.00 per night + tax, no discounts. The weekly rate is still $25.00 p.n. so no break there!

Terry and Dale came over yesterday afternoon for a visit. They left this morning for Quartzsite, AZ., which means boondocking! We haven't decided if we want to do that or not.

Today we drove over to Jim and JoEllen Gass's lot and had a nice visit with them. Nick and Terry Russell are parked there and dropped in also. Jim's lot is very nice and is designed to park two RV's on. Right now he has three parked there, without any problem. Still lots of room left.

We arranged to meet Smokey and Pam for lunch and did so at a Mexican restaurant. Guess we ended up having a two hour lunch or longer. It was really nice seeing friends again!

At this point we are not sure how long we are going to stay in Yuma. Smokey and Pam asked us to go to Quartzsite with them next Sunday afternoon and then on to Las Vegas for a few days. With the weather the way it is - cold - we just aren't sure that we want to move! I really want to go to Las Vegas, but was hoping for weather that was a little warmer. We will decide within the next day or so. If we opt to stay here, we will probably move to a private lot where the rent is a whole lot less.

I took some pictures on the drive from Benson to Yuma, but the camera is in the truck and I don't feel like going out in the cold to get it. I'll post them here later so check back......

Here are a couple of pictures on the drive to Yuma...

Tombstone & Boothill

When Jack, Nancy, Dean and I decided to go to Tombstone, AZ we were not sure what to expect. Well, they say to expect the unexpected and that's what we got. We had planned on several other stops and ended up staying the whole day in Tombstone with a short side trip to Boothill. They say pictures are worth a 1000 words so here come the pictures with few words....

Main St. Tombstone - we actually rode the stagecoach - kinda rough!



Another shot of Main St.



Dean and Jake outside Sonora Sam's store...



This one is for you Suze - LOL!



Dean got laid and both of us in "costume"?



The four of us at Big Nose Kates Saloon...



Got him where I want him!



The real thing....



Boothill - not impressed - it was to commercial!



Two of only a few tombstones....Most all were marked with small cross's with their name and date of death. Very disappointing...

Catwalk and Rocks

We met up with friends Jack and Nancy here at Deming yesterday. We decided that today we would visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings and The Catwalk.

We started off this morning headed for the Catwalk. After driving for a couple of hours through a lot of desolate landscape with very few towns we arrived at the Catwalk. The Catwalk follows the path of the pipeline built in the 1890s to deliver water to the mining town of Graham. Workmen who had to enter the canyon by crawling atop the narrow pipeline named the route the "Catwalk." The original wooden catwalk/pipeline is now gone but the National Forest Service has reconstructed it with steel grating and rails. Dean and I did the 1/2 mile trail plus just a little. This took us back into the canyon through narrow rock walls. It is said that Geronimo and Butch Cassidy hid out in this canyon. Pictures follow.....

The Entrance



The beginning of the catwalk...



Yes, it was COLD!



Jake & Nancy



Some views along the walk.....



We left the Catwalk with all intentions of going to the Cliff Dwellings. After going through Silver City and getting on the road to the dwellings we passed a sign that said 44 miles to the dwellings - 2 hour drive. Well it was 3 pm and we knew that we wouldn't have time to get there and explore before closing so we turned around and headed toward home. On our way back we decided to go to the City of Rocks State Park which we had seen the sign for in the morning. Good decision!

Formed of volcanic ash 30 million years ago and sculpted by wind and water into rows of monolithic blocks, City of Rocks State Park takes its name from these incredible rock formations. The rock formations at the park are so unique that they are only known to exist in six other places in the world.

At the entrance....



View of Rock City from observation point....




Do you see the elephant??? Neat balancing act....



This one split....



We had a very enjoyable day and came home tired. Tomorrow is oil change day for the truck and wash day - boring - LOL! But, stuff that does occasionally need done. Wed. we are moving to Benson, AZ. Check back soon......

Texas - I-10 A LONG LONG ROAD

We spent yesterday driving from Fredericksburg, TX to Ft. Stockton, TX - 200 miles +. Today we left Ft. Stockton, TX and arrived in Deming, NM - close to 300 miles. Just a bit over our daily limit, but we were ready to get out of Texas. I took some pictures of the scenery along the 500 miles of long, mostly straight highway. We did reach an elevation of around 4500 ft, but most of the climb is so gradual that you don't really realize that your going up. Anyway, I know that a lot of you looking at this have driven I-10 and are familiar with this area, but for those who have not, here are some of the more interesting photo's I took.

In the first group you will notice how cloudy the skies were - that was Saturday, a cool drizzly day....

Miles and miles of I-10....



Mesa, lots of them out in west Texas....



One of the largest windmill farms that we have seen - went on for miles and miles....



More windmills and a drill going after that "Texas Tea"....



Today, Sunday, was a bright beautiful day although it was cool - high in the low 50's...

Good ole I-10 it just goes on and on and on and..........



One of many hills.....



Lots, and lots of wide open spaces out here......



We have arrived, but it ain't no warmer!......



These mountains were so beautiful, the colors, it looked like a painted backdrop. The picture doesn't do them justice.....



Yes, that is some of that white stuff called SNOW. We missed it by two day, thank goodness!



Tomorrow we are going to see the cliff dwellers. Until next time......