March 25th - April 3rd, 2024 - Our time in Yuma

WOW!  Time really goes fast when you are having fun - LOL!

So what have we been up to for the last 10 days?

We did organize the shed - at least in part.  We will do more when we our here next season.  We also got an estimate for some improvements we want to make on the lot.  Hopefully we can get that done in November or December.

We had our cat, Gray, to the vets for bloodwork and a check-up.  He is gaining weight but eating less food so I was concerned.  The good news is that all his tests are wonderful and he is a healthy cat.  The bad news for me is that I now have to really monitor his food by counting his calories.  Next, I will be doing that for me. LOL!

Isn't he the cutest!

In February at our park's annual membership meeting, there was an issue that concerned me so I volunteered to be on the Ad-Hoc Committee to address the issue.  The first meeting I attended by phone, the next meeting was my birthday and the last one I attended was this past week.  There is a great group of people on the committee and I am learning a lot about how parks work and some of the "legalities" of park operations.  I will miss the last meeting but will be there in the fall.

After the meeting on my birthday (3/26), members of the park went to EATS (Chinese Restaurant) to celebrate all the other March Birthdays and Anniversaries.  It was fun.

The next day (3/27), we went back to Los Algodones to my favorite restaurant to eat.

Happy Birthday to me 😁:

Yes, the Margaritas and Garlic Shrimp were still wonderful!

Our favorite bartender was there, Leo, (on the right) and gave me a big hug for my birthday and a big hug when we left.  He introduced us to his little brother (on the left).  At first I didn't believe it was his brother and he convinced me it was.  I could not pronounce his name so hopefully next year I will.

As many of you know I just LOVE yard art and this little guy came back over the border with us.  Can't wait to put him in my yard in PA!

They had an awesome camel and an awesome giraffe but getting that home would be a problem..

Our friend, Judy, came into the park that day and we spent some time getting caught up and then out to dinner.  Sadly, I did not take a picture.

The weather has been crazy here!  Cold some days; warm to hot other days; and we had lots of wind and rain.  

Pictures of one of the dust storms coming thru - Looking west:

Looking south:

Looking east:

And that dust just covers everything!!  We usually close up everything and put the air conditioning on cause it is that fine, I can taste it.  

Besides the normal shopping, laundry, etc., I spent a considerable amount of time planning the next few months of our journey.  I only do reservations about 2 weeks in advance and also have backups if it doesn't work out.  Depending on the weather, we hope to spend a little time in Nevada before heading north.

I also spent time on the phone preparing for our trip thru Canada:  What credit cards can we use and not incur any charges? How about cell phone and internet coverage?  Insurance? Medical?  Do we have enough of our medications? What can I bring into Canada - food, alcohol, etc.?  What paperwork do my cats need?  ETC...  I also found out that I could get Canadian money from Wells Fargo with no fee so we made that happen here since there is no Wells Fargo in Canada.   Finally, since my cats eat special food, I ordered enough for the next few months until we get to Anchorage.  I think we are covered!!

One interesting thing I did over the past week was take part in an Alzheimer Study.  As many of you know, my mom had Alzheimer's and a few years ago I inquired about participating in those studies.  I have been in one study now for almost 5 years.  I do it online every three months.  They contacted me to see if I was interested in doing a short term one - every day for 5 days and then repeating in 6 months.  Since I knew we were going to be stationary and the internet was good, I went for it.  I will tell you that this one was hard.  Plus at the end, they asked for an evaluation of the test.  Yes, I will do it again.  I have also participated in other short term ones but most of them I did not qualify.     If anyone is interested in participating in studies like this, you just need to Google the specific disease and make sure the study is done by a university or hospital.  Once you are in one of them, others will contact you.  Also, if you need testing, many doctor and hospital groups participate.  One of the studies I was in two years ago, the pretest was bloodwork and they referred me to a doctor in Pottsville. (I had to give 11 vials of blood and they actually paid me. That was a nice surprise.  But, I did not have the specific proteins that they needed so I could not participate.)  If I were home more, I would look into some of the cancer studies because of the prevalence of cancer in my family.  

Tomorrow we start our trek north so stay tuned and enjoy today.

February 29th - March 2, 2024 Friends, Dinner, Casino, and More Friends

February 29th was a hang out / get caught up / cleaning / fixing / planning kind of day and that is what we did.

March 1st - WOW!  Hard to believe it is March already.  We have been on the road for almost 150 days.  Another WOW!

Our friends, Wendy and Vince are here in the park and we decided to go to dinner at the Bluewater Casino in Parker.  What a nice time eating, laughing and sharing stories.  Sadly, I forgot to get a picture.  Bummer.

We signed up for player's cards and with that you get $10.00 in free play.  So after dinner, we played the slots until we lost our money.  Wendy was smarter than us and walked away with most of her free money.

What a great time and hopefully we will see them again in our travels.

March 2nd - Our plans were to stay here until March 6th but we found out that our friend, Sue, was camping at Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground so off we went to spend a few days with her.

Pictures along the way:

Love the desert - notice how green it is getting:

Across the All American Canal:

And Old Equipment:

Old Cars:

Abandoned homes and businesses:

And many, many feed lots:

Glorious!:

Looks like the desert may need a lawnmower 😀:

The back roads led to I-10:

What looks like dust at the bottom of the mountain is actually the sun shining on all the greenery - Cool:

Wildflowers in the desert:

Heading to the campground:

Lots of dips - LOL!:

Look again at the above picture and follow the white lines.  Then you will truly see the dips!.  Imagine that in a motorhome towing a truck.  Yes, we did have to rearrange a number of things.

Love the saguaros: 

The campground is on the left:

We arrived, set up, and spent the rest of the day with our friend Susan.  We had a great campfire and cooked steaks and baked potatoes - YUM!  Nothing like a fire baked potato!

We are here for a few days so stay tuned and be kind!

(A side note:  I am far behind on the blog and I am writing this on March 12th.  I do have a lot of notes and pictures so hope to get caught up soon.)

(Note 2 - My Facebook Messenger was hacked.  Apparently, it sent some "stuff" to my friends and contacts.  So I apologize for those attachments and "stuff".  The account is now closed.  It will still let you send a message to me but who knows where it goes.  If you need to get in touch with me, send an email or a text to my phone number.  SAD!)

Stats for March 2nd:

Miles Traveled: 203 Miles

Routes Traveled:

California:  Parker Dam Road; CA-62

Arizona:  US-95; US-72; Vicksburg Road; I-10; (A little side trip to WM in Buckeye); US-85; I-8; Painted Rock Dam Road

February 21 - 24, 2024 Emerald Cove and a Girls Day

February 21st, after closing down and hooking up, away we went to Earp, CA / Parker, AZ area.

Past the growing fields:

Checking out the watering systems:

A little tidbit about Yuma:

"Yuma’s reputation as a worldwide leader in agriculture is growing, and Visit Yuma wants visitors to know about what makes the farmers and farmland around Yuma so special. Abundant harvests of vegetables, citrus, and melons feed our nation—not necessarily the picture visitors might have of what it’s like in the desert around Yuma. Fertile land in the Colorado River lowland and water from the mighty river, as well as being around the Sunniest City in the World, Yuma, sets up Yuma-area farmers to raise two, and sometimes three, crop rotations on the same plot of land in a year. 

If you’re eating a salad during the winter, chances are that it was grown in Yuma. Agriculture is Yuma’s number one business; it’s a more than $4 billion industry each year. More than 91% of the leafy greens produced in the winter in North America now come from the farms around Yuma. In the winter, crops include 75 varieties of lettuce, baby greens, cauliflower, broccoli, herbs, root vegetables, and kales. Summer crops include hay, hard red wheat, Durum wheat, cotton, Medjool Dates, watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydew, alfalfa, and Bermuda grass seed. Lemons top the crops for citrus production among other citrus grown in the area.

More than just a booming industry, agriculture is an intrinsic part of the fabric of Yuma, from the early 1900s when the Colorado River was dammed and diverted to canals to water the fertile fields around Yuma. As waters etched and formed the Grand Canyon, what became the Colorado River carried silt and soils downriver. Before the river was dammed, annual floods deposited millions of tons of rich organic matter onto the floodplain area around Yuma. Learning to harness the river took innovation, resolve, and a “can-do” Western mindset that continues to this day in the spirit of Yuma’s people. The farm families that have shaped Yuma’s heritage are leaders in ag technology, conservation, and plant sciences."

It is fascinating to see the fields here.  When we stay for a few weeks, we witness planting to harvesting and then stating again.  Amazing.

The road to Quartzsite - the desert is really greening up:

Interesting roads - LOL:

This area has had a lot of rain over the past 6 weeks.  Awesome to see all the green.  Flowers should be appearing soon - can't wait!

Heading into Parker - Check out those clouds:

Much of the land here belongs to the Colorado River Indian Tribes.  A few years ago, we explored the areas - the land and farms are beautiful:

The Railroad Bridge crossing the Colorado River:

Into California:

We traveled Parker Dam Road where the rock formations are amazing:

Fun with stones:

The alien head - LOL!:

Colorado River Wetlands:

Lots of ATV Trails:

WOW!  What beauty:

We arrived at Emerald Cove and will be here for around 2 weeks.  This is one of our membership parks  - Colorado River Adventures.  A few years ago we upgraded and now, if we stay less than 60 days a year, we do not pay membership dues nor do we pay to stay here for full hook ups..  Good deal.

Our friends, Wendy and Vince, are here and when we finished setting up, we went to see them.  We have not seen them since 2016 so it was great to get caught up.  We all decided to go the the Tiki-Bar for supper.  What a great time and hopefully we will spend more time together over the next week or so.

On a side note.. We always liked the Tiki Bar here.  The drinks (especially during Happy Hour) were very reasonable and so was the food.  But their prices have really gone up.  We will try it again just to be sure.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  130 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: East County 17th Street; Avenue 4E; East County 14th Street; AZ-195 (Araby Road); US-95

California:  CA-62; Parker Dam Road

February 22nd was just a hang out day and that is just what we did.

February 23rd, Wendy and I headed to Quartzsite.  When I was there a few weeks ago, I did not get the chance to go to Gem World or Desert Camel Beads.  Since it was only 30 miles away, I decided to check them out and was glad Wendy joined me.

Last year, I took a few classes at Desert Bead and they have a few interesting ones next week..  Hmmm.. still thinking about it - LOL!

We had a great lunch at Silly Al's, then headed back home.  Nice girls day and nice spending time with Wendy (too many years)!

Later that day, Andy and I headed to the local Legion at Big River.  We had a nice time chatting with the locals and enjoyed their fish fry.  Back home, we decided to try out the Tiki Bar again.  The one bartender remembered us from last year and we got talking about the prices.  Yep, they increased - some were doubled.  Bummer.. not my favorite place anymore. :-(

Today, February 24th is another sort of hang out day.  Having some computer problems that I am trying to sort out and fix.  (Fingers crossed!)

Tomorrow we are doing another excursion so stay tuned and enjoy today.