January 1 thru 13, 2016 Fun Time in Yuma

Happy New Year to all.  We have been having a blast since I last blogged.

On the 4th and 5th, I took two classes in the park.  The first one was Making Embroidered Cards taught by Dan – I liked it and may try my hand at making more.  Of course I did a cat with beaded eyes – cute.  The second class was Zentangle taught by Barb – Fun but may need more lessons.  Talk about a small world, we met Barb and Dan many years ago in Alabama and then in Tennessee – great folks and it was good to get caught up with them.

On the 5th, Della and Bob invited Andy and me to the Yuma Gem and Mineral Club meeting.  What a great bunch of folks and the program was very interesting – about the Cocopah Indian Lands and their artifacts in this area.  As a result of learning new things and meeting such nice folks, we joined the club (Thank you Della and Bob).  So on Thursday, Andy and I took a Geology 101 course at the University.  The course was taught by Mo who is also the geologist for the club. So much stuff to learn about Minerals, Rocks, and Gems.  I am sure we will learn as we go along.

That same day we also got our permit for the Barry Goldwater Range so that on Saturday, 9th, we could go on the Rock Club Field Trip to the Fortuna Mine.

Here we are starting:

Before starting out we all had to call the Marine Corp Air Station and give them our permit numbers and where we were going.  After everyone was settled – off we went:

Beautiful areas of the desert:

The mine and townsite is about 10 miles from the Yuma Foothills.  We arrived and began looking for different types of rocks:

Lots of Trackers on the trip:

Those white veins are what we came for originally and sorry but I forgot to write down the correct name. 

There was a lot of quartz and we did get some nice pretty rocks.

In our travels over the past 9 years, we have collected different rocks from many different areas.  This past summer I started a little area in the yard to display them.  We may need to find out what some of these stones are when we get back.

There is a trail and many kiosks around the area and I would love to come back again to just do the history tour.

Did you read the above – 1100’ – that’s a LONG WAY DOWN.

We had lunch and then slowly made our way back to civilization:

It was a GREAT day – thank you Della and Bob, who were our mentors on the trip.  We look forward to many more trips.

I have also been beading with some of the ladies from Bead Week and from the Yuma beaders group – everyone is so talented that I hope it rubs off.

On Friday, there was a Boomers Ladies Luncheon.  It was so good to see some of the folks and hopefully our paths will cross again.  (I think I have been hibernating a little too long!)

We have also been touching base with the many folks coming thru the area on their way to Quartzsite – always good to see old friends.

Tomorrow we are heading to Blythe for the bluegrass festival so stay tuned and enjoy today.

December 7, 2015 to December 31, 2015 Our Time in Yuma

We left our lot in Casa Grande on December 7th and headed west on I-8:

Trains – Long Trains:

Yuma in the distance:

We arrived at our lot in the KOFA SKP Park and started cleaning the shed and the lot – this is an older picture:

The palm tree is a beautiful tree, however, we lose a lot of space.  So we had the tree removed:

That has given about 8 extra feet on the side.  Plus we were able to position the RV differently so that we have a huge area in the back:

We are still not sure exactly what we want to do yet.  Some ideas we are kicking around is a new shed with extensions – sort of like an extra patio/Arizona room.  We are also looking at different types of pavers versus concrete.   And, of course, finding out all the permits we will need – yikees!   We do not expect to do any of the work this season, just have all our plans in place to do it early next season.

In the past few weeks, we have been reconnecting with folks we have not seen since last season and getting caught up with each other.  We are so blessed to have such good people in our lives.  Also Andy has been doing coffee with the boys in the morning and I have been with the beaders both here and in Yuma.  It has been wonderful!

One evening we did do a Yuma Ghost Tour sponsored by the Yuma Historical Society.  It was very interesting – lots of spirits reside here (nope, did not see any – ).  The thing that I liked the most was stops at some of the more historic places.

Here we are near the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge:

Some information from the internet:

http://www.yumaheritage.com/

“The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge was the first and only vehicular traffic bridge over the lower Colorado River for 1,200 miles. It became the earliest and longest truss in Arizona and was one of the most important early spans in the Southwest.

On March 3, 1915, the 336-foot span was swung into place during a carefully choreographed maneuver. On May 22 the bridge was opened to traffic with great ceremony and celebration in Yuma.

In the 1930s, the bridge became a natural choke point that was exploited by California police during the Great Depression.

“Imagine people heading west from Oklahoma and they get to Yuma and there are California state patrolmen on the north side of the bridge,” Flynn said. “Do you have a job? Do you have money? They look you over. And they turn you back. In fact there is an area to this day called ‘Okie Town,’ and that is because they were turned back and had to find a place to stay.””

 

This area of the Colorado River was used for centuries as a crossing.  Before all the dams, the River was wild, uncontrollable, and inconsistent.  The granite outcroppings here narrowed the river, making it a safer place to cross.

For centuries, the Quechan Indian Tribe helped transport people across the river, and were known as excellent swimmers. In 1849, the California Gold Rush saw 60,000 people cross at Yuma by rope ferry. Fort Yuma, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, and the Yuma Territorial Prison were built on the high grounds overlooking the river.

 

Yuma is also the end of the El Camino del Diablo – the Highway of the Devil:

“El Camino del Diablo – the Highway of the Devil – once a 250-mile link between the northwestern frontier of Mexico and the colonies of California, began at Caborca, in Mexico’s state of Sonora. It extended north-northwest across the desert to what is today the United States/Mexican border. It turned west-northwest and followed the border through a phantasmagoric landscape of organ pipe cactus, desert flats, drifting sand dunes, ancient lava flows and searing summer heat, passing through the southern edges of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. Marked by graves and headstones, it reached a merciful end at Yuma, Arizona.”

“El Camino Del Diablo (Spanish for The Devil's Highway) is an historic 250-mile (400 km) road which currently extends through some of the most remote and arid terrain of the Sonoran Desert in Pima County and Yuma County, Arizona. In use for at least 1,000 years, El Camino Del Diablo is believed to have started as a series of footpaths used by desert-dwelling Native Americans. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the road was used extensively by conquistadores, explorers, missionaries, settlers, miners, and cartographers. Use of the trail declined sharply after the railroad reached Yuma in 1870.”

There is some real interesting information here:

http://www.desertusa.com/desert-trails/diablo.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Del_Diablo

I did not get many pictures during the tour since it was at night.  A few of the places, we hope to explore more.

Coming home from town one day, I see this:

I called him the “Guardian of South 4th Avenue.”  He was only there for a few days and now he is gone – .

Christmas was spent here at the park – we had a nice dinner/potluck.  The park supplied turkey, ham, potatoes and stuffing and everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.

Yes, we did decorate too:

 

On New Year’s Eve we were with Larry, Peg, and friends in the desert – What a great time.  (Thank you – .)

I did get a really nice Christmas present from my little kitty Bella.  Those of you who have rescues will understand that sometimes you have to be patient.  With Bella, we got to the point where she would sit beside us and let us pet her but did not like being held nor did she sit on our laps.  After four years, I figured that is about as far as we will get – some cats are just not lap cats.  Well, two days before Christmas, she came up and sat on my lap and just wanted to be the center of attention.  It has happened almost every night since then whether I am sitting in the easy chair or the dinette.  She stays for about 45 minutes, then she is off.  (Because this was so unlike her, I thought she might be sick but so far so good.)  It was such a joy for me – .)!!!!

One of the evenings I just couldn’t resist taking this picture:

My Dusty who is my lap cat is not happy about this – so I make sure I have the time for him.

As we end the year I wish all of you good health and happiness in 2016.

 

I am still using Open Live Writer.  For those who get the blog by email, the last blog was on the email as well as two other blogs that were posted the month before.  I am not sure why or if there still is some bugs between OLW and FeedBurner.

There is one more thing I would like to blog about and that is the impact of people in our lives.  I do not elaborate on the times with friends but I want you all to know that you are very important to us.  We are blessed to have such good folks in our lives. 

I feel okay broadcasting where we travel (because this is a travel blog after all) but I don’t feel okay with broadcasting all we do with friends (because some folks do not like their lives broadcasted and sometimes I don’t like everything I do with friends broadcasted.)  Just my two cents –