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.