URBAN SETTING TO DESERT

Mar 27/10

We had a good two weeks in Yuma and met lots of people from different parts of North America.  We golfed at the Foothills Golf course with a couple from Visalia, California which is between Fresno and Bakersfield.  They have a motorhome and park it on a small lot that they own in the Foothills community.  It is very common to see houses next to lots with one or two RV’s next to park models or modular homes.  Many people purchase a lot to park their RV for the winter and they even rent out half of the site to another RV.  Seems okay at first but they don’t have any facilities like pools, laundry and sports activities, like you have at a regular RV park.

One day we had people with a Bighorn trailer similar to ours pull in next door and they were having problems with the mechanics of the front landing legs.  The legs wouldn’t lower so Stuart used a small hydraulic jack that we brought with us and jacked the trailer up off the hitch in the truck so they could move the truck away.  The fellow is getting the mechanism replaced with two motors, one for each leg at a cost of about $1,000.  Ouch.  Oh well, when you live in an RV full time, you can expect to have maintenance issues over the years.  These people spend their summers in Sundre, Alberta and the winters in various places in the southern US, mainly in Texas.  They had a cold winter, though, and were appreciating the warm weather in Yuma.

We enjoyed all the facilities at our RV Park in Yuma, although it was like living in a small subdivision.  Here are some photos of the “streets” in the park and the facilities.

Our two weeks in Yuma was up on Friday and we headed east on I-8 towards Phoenix.  About 50 miles down the road is a small town called Dateland and apparently, they are world famous for their date products and especially their date shakes.  We just had to stop and try one.  It was good but very rich and filling. 

Our destination was Florence, Arizona which is southeast of Phoenix and out in a rural area.  We took some secondary roads through fields and farms and finally arrived at the Desert Gardens RV Park.  It is a beautiful desert park with great facilities and it is certainly out in the quiet desert.  We have views of saguaro cacti from our windows and have already seen rabbits and all type of birds.  What a change from the urban setting in Yuma.

 We are going to check out the golf courses in the area and the distances to services and shopping.  We like the peacefulness here but don’t want to have to drive a long way every time we need something.  Not sure how long we’ll stay—maybe a week.  Again, we get to make it up as the spirit moves us.

SAND DRAG RACES

Mar 22/10

We golfed at the Las Barrancas course in the Foothills and it was a lovely course with blooming ocotillos and cactus between the fairways.  It was crazy windy when we started and it blew so hard, that some putts actually rolled off the greens.  And we thought Kamloops was windy!!  It died down after 7 holes and it was very pleasant for the rest of the round.

OCOTILLO IN BLOOM 

PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS IN BLOOM

Yesterday, we went about 15 miles east of here on I-8 to the Dome Valley Raceway which is out in the middle of produce fields.  They were hosting professional sand drag races for 3 days and we just had to see what it was like.  They race on a sand track for a distance of 300 feet and there were quite a few different classes of vehicles:  ATV style, Jeep Wrangler style and the regular long-nosed dragsters.  They all have the big scoop treads on their tires and kick up a tremendous amount of sand when they take off.

The most spectacular ones were the 8000 horsepower top fuel dragsters that did the 300 ft distance in less than 3 seconds, reaching speeds of 140 mph (225 km/h).  These are the fastest accelerating cars on the planet.  On the ¼ mile paved tracks they reach speeds of 530 km/h in 4.5 seconds.  What a blast!!  When they roared past, you didn’t just hear them, but you could feel the vibrations through the air.

It was well worth the trip and we’d like to see regular drags if we get the chance on this trip.

HAVING FUN IN YUMA

Mar 19/10

It’s nice to be settled here and we have decided to stay for a second week.  We’re finding plenty of things to do and sometimes it seems like our days are too full.

We went out on our bicycles the other day and rode along the canals that are used to irrigate the lemon groves that grow beside our RV Park.  Here is what they look like:

We see mostly lemon and tangelo groves around here and there are date palms and a peanut farm not too far away.  Apparently, date shakes are very popular so we’ll have to try them one of these days.  Yesterday, we drove past a field where they were picking celery and it sure smelled good.  We’ve never seen celery growing in a multi-acre field before.

We golfed at the Cocopah Golf Course and RV resort yesterday and it was quite the experience.  We were paired up with a couple from Princeton, BC (lots of Canadians down here).  The fairways were narrow with RV’s and park models on each side and a few balls went astray bouncing off roofs.  No damage was done but it was scary to stand on the tee box and wonder what you might hit.

We had supper at a Mexican restaurant on the way home.  There are 25 Mexican restaurants listed in our GPS for Yuma--a better choice than Chinese food.

We’re taking a rest today (have to spend some time at the swimming pool) and will be golfing again tomorrow at a new course out in the Foothills. 

LEMONS ON THE TREE

ARIZONA TIME

Mar 15/10

Hey, for those of you who don’t like Daylight Savings Time, you should move to Arizona.  They don’t change time at all so they are the same as the Pacific Zone in the summer and the Mountain Zone in the winter.  If you click on a universal time zone site, you’ll see Arizona time as one of your options.  Now, this isn’t the same as “Mexico time” but it could be if you stay here long enough.

We had a quiet Sunday yesterday and went to a local church with a black pastor named Tyrone P. Jones.  It was an excellent time and he is a really good speaker.  We spent the afternoon getting the bikes out, reading for a while and had a game of pool after supper.  Everyone here is very friendly and always inviting us to join the local activities.

We drove east of Yuma today to a suburb called The Foothills and played 9 holes of golf at an inexpensive course.  That was a good choice as the ball isn’t going where it should be yet.  We have plans to play again later this week at different courses in the area.

We went back to the roadside produce stand for more fruit and veggies.  Here are a couple of photos:

We’re thinking about staying for another week to enjoy the warm weather (80 F today with 13% humidity) and to get to know the area.  It feels like a winter tropical vacation without the ocean.

WE ARE IN SNOWBIRD COUNTRY

Mar 13/10

On March 9, we drove to Quartzsite as planned and stayed there for 3 nights.  It is a very small town in the middle of the desert except for the hundreds of RV’s camped in RV parks in the town and out in the desert with no services.  The thing to do there is run ATV’s everywhere, go rock hounding in the mountains and spend time at the flea market that sells everything from hand tools to kitchen gadgets to T-shirts to RV supplies to jewellery.  We checked it out one afternoon and determined that it is just one big garage sale.

We drove 80 miles to Yuma one day to check out the RV parks there and found one called Del Pueblo Resort that is very nice.  We made a reservation for March 12 and headed out on Friday morning.  We’d spent Thursday cleaning up the rig and had it all spiffy for the trek down the road.  

GOOD JOB - WELL DONE

The skies were clear, the sun was shining and it was warm when we arrived—78 F (26 C).  This is the weather that we’ve been looking forward to since we started this journey.

We have a nice pull-through site that is 30 ft. wide and 55 ft. long so there is plenty of room.  The place is still full of snowbirds from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and many of the US states.  Some of them are heading out soon and we sure saw a lot more heading north on US 95 when we were out and about.

Yuma is an agricultural area and we bought fresh lemons, grapefruit, dates and pecans plus the usual garden vegetables at a roadside vendor.  The fruit was cheap—6 citrus fruits of any size for $2 and avocadoes were 6 for $1.  At Albertsons we purchased fresh boneless and skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 per pound and we are paying $0.76 CAN per litre for diesel (cost includes the exchange rate).  What’s not to like about that?

We’ve paid for a week here and have internet access in the trailer again so we’ll be able to post to the blog more often.  This is the RV dream life.  

OUR SITE AT DEL PUEBLO RV PARK

I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT

Mar 8/10

We had a relaxing Sunday and took a short trip to Camping World after church.  We scoped out new lounge chairs for those sunny days in the desert but only bought a few essential items this time.

It started raining in the afternoon and proceeded to rain hard for hours well into the night.  The satellite image showed a big rain cell from Lake Havasu City to Las Vegas but not so much outside of that area.  We were planning to move on Monday morning but decided that we didn’t want to pack up wet things so we paid for another night.

We had time to get caught up with laundry, grocery shopping and chores in the morning and headed out to the Hoover Dam for a sightseeing trip in the afternoon.  We were there 22 years ago and were amazed at the changes in the area with a new visitor centre.

They are building a new highway and a bypass bridge beside the dam and it was even more impressive than the dam.

It was really busy at the dam and the traffic was very slow.  Glad that we don’t plan to tow the trailer on that section of highway.  We are heading out to Quartzsite, Arizona tomorrow and will take US 95 that dips into California and then back into Arizona.  It is supposed to be warmer there.

HOME FREE

Mar 7/10

We left Twin Falls the morning of March 5 and the weather was cool but mostly sunny with a few clouds near the mountains.  We drove south on US 93 through Jackpot, Nevada and saw the first of many casinos in this state.  Even the gas stations have slot machines.  The road was good and we stopped for fuel at Wells, Nevada which is at the intersection of US 93 and Interstate 80 to Salt Lake City. We are paying about $0.76 USD per litre for diesel fuel.  We continued south on 93 and slowly climbed in elevation to about 6427 ft.  The road goes down a basin between mountain ranges (it’s called Great Basin Boulevard) and the scenery is great.  There was snow on the side of the road from a big snowstorm yesterday and still patches of old snow out in the sage brush.

We saw lots of RV’s heading north—the snowbirds are returning to the northern states and BC early this year.  When we got to Ely, Nevada which was our stop for the day, the sun was shining and had melted the snow from the night before.  All the roads were really muddy at the RV sites and there were still big snow banks.  We were there early enough to have a rest and relax after 4 days of steady travel.

The night in Ely was our last cold night and the temperature dropped to 26 F (-3 C).  It was clear that night and we saw more stars than we’ve seen for years as there were few lights and the air is thinner at the higher elevation.

The next day we headed west and south on highways 6 and 318 which were also good roads with very little traffic and I had my first experience at towing the trailer.  We didn’t crash and Stuart didn’t freak out, so I must have done all right.  It took about 4 hours to get to Las Vegas.

We fuelled up in North Las Vegas and then followed I-15 and I-515 through the city and kept going east to Boulder City.  We didn’t want to stay in Las Vegas at all.  We’ve been there before and it was too busy for our liking.

We are now at the Canyon Trail RV Park in Boulder City, Nevada and are staying for 2 nights.  They have a self-serve RV wash area here so we hosed down both the truck and the trailer and they sure look a lot better.  The temperature was 67 F (19 C) when we arrived and it only dropped to 47 F (8 C) — that’s why we call this the “home free” point.

We are ready for a rest from travelling and plan to enjoy our Sunday before heading out again tomorrow.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Mar 4/10

As planned, we moved out of the condo on March 1^st, picked up our trailer and headed out to Oliver, BC.  The first night back in the rig was exciting and we were able to get it de-winterized and our personal belongings mostly put back in place.

On March 2, we headed for the US border at Osoyoos and made the crossing without any problems.  Of course, they check your vehicle and fridge for restricted food items but we didn’t have any as we have been through that routine before and had half our freezer emptied and thrown away by the “Federales”.  The weather was dry and turned sunny along the way and it was really warm when we reached Moses Lake, Washington—22 C degrees.  We are trying to get used to Fahrenheit temperatures here but it seems like a foreign language.  Rather than converting back to Celsius, we are just going to get used to the new numbers.

SUNCREST RV RESORT, MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON

On March 3, we drove from Moses Lake through Pasco, WA and down I 84 through Pendleton, La Grande and stopped for the night at Baker City, Oregon.  The interstate between Pendleton and La Grande has some steep and windy sections and we went from an elevation of 360 ft at Pasco to 4102 ft at the top of the summit.  There were patches of snow at the top and it was raining a bit during our drive through that area.  Our Dodge Ram diesel tows the trailer extremely well and we were able to maintain a steady 63 mph even up the hills.  It’s amazing and we sure like the combination of truck and trailer.

On March 4, we drove on I 84 from Baker City through Boise, Idaho to Twin Falls, Idaho.  The weather was partly cloudy to start and we had rain on the drive through Boise.  What a busy city and they were doing all sorts of construction on the highway.  It will be nice when they’re finished but not so nice right now.  The weather improved for  a couple of hours until we arrived in Twin Falls and then it started raining again.  We could see a big black cloud over the city as we drove towards it and saw flashes of lightning.  Of course, it rained during our whole trailer setup at an RV park just west of Twin Falls on highway 93.  It is cooler here at 38 F (3.3 C) with a light breeze but we are warm and toasty inside.

AT A REST STOP WEST OF BOISE IDAHO

We’ll be checking the weather forecasts for tomorrow before we head out on the next leg of the journey.