Yuma and Fortuna Pond

 You can't help getting older but you don't have to get old.

 It’s November.  I’m not so sure why I should have been surprised to see all the Christmas trees and decorations at the Big K Mart on our trip into Blythe last week.  There were lots of trees, lots of decorations and lots of other things suggesting that this holiday was just around the corner.  Sometimes time gets away from all of us.

 

We’ve bought a few little Christmas gifts for our family but not many yet.  All the decorations are letting us know that it won’t be long and we’ll be on our way north to spend it with them … we hope.  Winter weather dictates it all.  Right now we’re trying to figure out where we’ll be leaving the motorhome and “Jag” while we’re gone.  We can’t leave Duchess behind which means, of course, our plans don’t include flying.

 

We went to the little library in Quartzsite.  Did you know as a non-resident you can get a library card at their library?  We didn’t know that.  It’s probably because most of the folks around the little town are non-residents who donate lots of books to them.  That’s probably good planning on their part.  It’s actually a very nice library.  There were lots of books on their shelves I hadn’t read plus many more I can download via the internet and their library website.  Local artwork was on display directing us to the doorway.  Some of the paintings were absolutely gorgeous.

 

Things are happening around here.  We had an early cold front blow through the area which meant no Jag riding for a while as it was way too windy and cold.  We’ve become pretty spoiled with the nice warm weather.  Denise pulled out and headed south.  Barbara moved her rig down to a much nicer spot but she’s still in our sites.  Toni and Doug had has over for dinner.  It was fantastic.  She fixed English-style shepherd’s pie and lemon meringue pie!!  It was so good!!  Matter of fact, it was even better than that.  It was fantastic!  We ate so much we had to roll home.

 

We made a trip to Yuma.  We were thinking we’d make a day trip to Phoenix but it was a little farther so we went to Yuma.  One of the things we intended to do was find Fortuna Pond and stop by the swap meet there. 

On the way down we came across an accident.  Evidently the marines were doing maneuvers and the maneuvers didn’t go as planned.  One marine was flight lifted to a hospital.  We always hate to come across accidents and especially one as serious as this.

 

We did find Fortuna Pond.  There were a few folks fishing, a few ATVs, a few campers but it certainly wasn’t packed.  I’m not sure we will go there but it was fun to check it out.  We looked for Denise but thought she might have seen us and was hiding in the brush!!

Check out the pond!  Wouldn’t this be a great place to learn to kayak? Problem is ... we don't have a kayak ... yet.

 

 

We had to take a little detour before we headed towards the Swap Meet.  The detour was to In-N-Out.  We hadn’t visited this year and neither had the Lairds.  I love that place!  I love the lemonade lite, I love the sauce and just love the hamburgers.  That’s where we had lunch and then a much needed car wash before we headed towards the swap meet.

 

Yuma Swap Meet

We really didn’t expect many of the vendors to be open but quite a few were.  I had thought it was a little too early.  I was wrong.  It was fun.  We walked through most of it picking up a few cheap essentials here and there but not too much.

  

We did a little shopping as you can tell

Toni and I tried on furry hoodies        Photo by Doug

Terry bought some more tools.

We weren’t there long and before you know it, we were on our way back to Quartzsite.

 

Today we bugged Toni to take the new header picture and tomorrow we'll take another long ride.  The weather should be back close to 80 so we're hoping it'll be warm enough to get out there again.

It was a nice day.  ‘Tis life on the road.

On the road -- Quartzsite and Lake Havasu

Finance is the art of passing money from one hand to another hand until it disappears.

Our first day of travel heading just a little north didn’t get us too far.  We traveled the approximate 100 miles to Quartzsite from the BLM at Pilot Knob which is just west of Yuma.  We didn't stay at the fee BLM but the one three miles west on the very bumpy frontage road just off Sidewinder.  We were loaded fairly early and we were ready to go ….  slowly down that road.  In addition to passing quite a few walkers, we also passed a dark blue truck pulled over on the side with the driver in the back having a cigarette.  It didn't take him long to get back in his truck and fly right past us.   We discovered his hurry when we got in line at the Shell dump station.  He wanted to beat us there!!  

The travel north on Highway 95 was slow.  There were lots of vehicles and RVs heading north and also heading south.  The biggest delay was the construction.  For about 12 miles of this road there was only one lane of traffic.  Actually, it wasn’t too bad and we did get to enjoy the new spring flowers along the way.  The flowers weren’t out yet when we were heading south just a few weeks before.

We had left Quartzsite less than a month ago.  At that time it was flooded with vendors, people and RVs.  On Wednesday it looked bare compared to then but it really wasn’t.  There was still lots of activity but nothing close to what it had been.   The BLM had been packed with the RVs at that time.  There were still lots of RVs but definitely not as many.

Wednesday’s journey landed us at the Hi Jolly area just north of Quartzsite at mile marker 112.  We figured we’d spend the night, visit the town and eat at Palo Verde’s.  That we did.  Duchess was also thrilled that we weren’t moving into an RV park where she had very little room.

Checking the weather report we discovered that the area around Lake Havasu was expecting some pretty strong winds the following afternoon or at least that's what the weatherman was saying.   Our plan was to leave early with only 67 miles to go .  It was an uneventful drive.  When we left we weren’t even sure where we were going to stay.  First we checked out the Elks but ended up at Lake Havasu State Park.  

Sites are huge but we didn't get a pull-thru so had to unhook the trailer to back in.

Check out the waterfront view ..... it only lasted until two other RVs moved into their sites.

It was still dry camping but we certainly had a gorgeous site and along with it came a temporary lake view.  It was pretty darn nice …. at least for a couple days.  The park has quite a few sites right at the edge of the lake.  It's a perfect spot for launching canoes or small boats right from your own RV site.

 

We also took a little drive in the afternoon.  First we went across the LONDON BRIDGE.



Then, we took a drive around the island.



By the time we got back to our site, the wind was starting to blow a little but the temperature was still close to 80.  We didn’t do much else other than enjoy the sunshine, the view and the ribs on the barbecue.

Friday more wind was expected but that’s okay.  We had no plans to go any place.  Laundry needed to be done.  Whatever happened to the idea of disposable clothes? 

‘Tis life on the road.

Starting the Move North and Last Supper

I have climbed the ladder of success ... one wrong at a time.

We seem to have had several “Last Supper” events during the year.  Tuesday night we had another one.  Our Last Supper was with Freddy and Delcie.  We had been parking next to them at the Pilot Knob BLM for almost two weeks.  We have had an absolutey great time getting together with them every evening.  It was only fitting that we would have a Last Supper event.  The best part of it for Terry and I was they invited us for dinner, provided all the food and did all the work!

Cooking the steaks

Check out all the food!!  Those steaks were some of the best we had ever had.  They were scrumptious!  Everything was so perfect.   Thank you so much!!

There's enough food to feed an army!

The steaks were not only fabulous.  They were huge.  Terry and Freddy even split one.  I thought Delcie had a whole but I guess I was the only one that did.  I had to have my very own and I ate the WHOLE THING! Of course by the time we finished with our first helping, we were pretty much stuffed!!

This was my plate --

Here it is past the middle of February already.  The weather has been nice in the Yuma area but not what we would consider hot yet.  The wind seems to blow a cool breeze most all the time.  We don’t like it hot but we don’t like it cold either.  We’re getting ready to pull up those levels and get the wheels off the BLM and on the road north.  The problem with this is that the places we’re thinking about going really don’t warm up enough to visit until May.  However, in May we hope to be all the way back north.  After all, that’s when family time starts.

Wednesday is going to roll around and we’re going to head someplace.  By the time this gets published we will be someplace else.  The California coast was the original plan.  Then, Utah came into the plans.  Then, it was back to California and then, it was a toss up again.   However, looking at some of the locations in Utah we were thinking of going to I discovered that the nights are still in the 20’s during the month of April!!!!!  That temperature is not in the range we want to be in.  With the 20’s come ice and snow and all kinds of weather we prefer to avoid.  Thus, we have a dilemma. Maybe Utah should be a fall venture and not an early spring one.  We don’t know.  So, where will we head when we pull out of the Yuma area?  Will it be farther west or north in California or farther north in Arizona?

I guess the dilemma will only be solved on Wednesday when we actually hit the road and start heading someplace.  We’re just not sure where that will be.  Ever been in this situation?

Loaded up and getting ready to go -- Duchess sure isn't going to like leaving but we haven't told her  yet.

That’s it, folks.  We said our “so longs” until next year.

Are those rollers in Delcie's hair?  You still look great, Girl!!

Even the kids said their farewells.

 

Right now we need to think about getting put away and ready to hit the road.  Anyone taking bets?  We’re certainly not betting on where we might head to right now.

‘Tis life on the road.

Tumco Ghost Town – Glamis Sand Dunes

 

Statistics say one in every four people suffer from a mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If it's not one of them, it's you.

Sometimes I have a few little blogs as backups.  These usually aren’t current blogs about where we’ve gone or what we’ve seen.  They are about thoughts I’ve had or things I want to know from others.  That was the one I posted prior to this.  Eventually, I’ll respond to some of the responses about the perfect park but right now I really need to get caught up and caught current or I’ll forget where we were and what we did.  

Morning after evidence of rain

It doesn’t rain a lot in Arizona and especially in the desert portions of that state.  Most of the part of Arizona we stay in during the winter is obviously the desert.  Well, we got rain.  We really saw rain the other day.  I take that back.  We heard rain hit the top of the motorhome through a good portion of the night.  The picture shows the true evidence of that rain.  We had puddles and we had mud.  Now that we’ve had it, we’re ready for everything to dry up and the mud to go away.  The mud hasn’t totally disappeared yet.  We noticed that as we rode out in the desert on our ATVs.  Mud was slinging everywhere.  I like it.  Terry hates it.  I think that’s because he has to clean the ATVs when we’re done.

Cactus Wren

Friday rolled around and we took a drive with Freddy and Delcie.  We had some ideas of where we might go but weren’t totally sure where we would end up or what we would see.  First of all we took I-8 to Ogilby Road.  A lot of RVs were still parked on each side of the road just off the highway.  This is another BLM and these RVs were taking advantage of a place to park and spend a little sunshine time in the gorgeous deserts of California.

As we moved north on S-34 we also noticed that even though the calendar indicated it was just February spring really was here.  Several plants were already blooming and the color just added to the beauty and mystique of the desert.    Finding the perfect ones to take a picture of was a little difficult.  There were many just beginning to bloom and others with lots of yellow or red or purple flowers on them.  We did stop and take a few pictures.  After all, that’s what we like to do.

A few miles up the road we came to Gold Rock RV Park.  We had hoped to stop there and get information from the office on some of the local mines in the area.  That wasn’t to be as the manager was out of the office.  However, one of the residents directed us just across the road to the Tumco abandoned mines and ghost town.  

Freddy's treasure -- motorhome wheel cover

Delcie checking the blooms

Actually, this area is a ghost town. It’s not that we saw any ghosts.  Heck, we hardly saw any town at Tumco (previously known as Hedges).  The informational pamphlets were out but we did go under the barrier and saw a little of the remnants of that mining town.  There really weren’t many remnants left though.  What appeared to be rocks marking a few sites on a cemetery, a well and some pads that once belonged to buildings was all that was left.  This might have been a hopping town a few years ago but on this day there wasn’t much left.  Obviously, the lure of wealth by mining the area is no longer a pull.  We didn’t stay long.  There was no gold for us to keep and no ghosts for us to talk to.

Old Tumco well

Back out on the road we kept heading north towards Highway 78.  We were heading towards Glamis.  Is this town really the Sand Dune Capital of North America or is it self-proclaimed?  Who knows but it was one fantastic place.  We didn’t realize it was a holiday weekend.  What we did realize is that hundreds and of other RVs hauling trailers were going to the same place we were.  This place really comes alive on the weekends, let alone on holiday weekends.  We also followed a convoy of army vehicles.  They weren’t heading to Glamis.  They were heading to fenced off military bombing targets just around the bend from Glamis.   That’s one area you better be sure your GPS isn’t giving you false directions as you certainly wouldn’t want to be in the middle of the target.

 

The sand dunes that surround Glamis are nothing short of awesome.  ATVs, UTVs, dune buggies and many other kinds of 4-wheelers were on the slopes.  Now normally when you’re talking about slopes I’m thinking about snow covered slopes.  These aren't snow slopes, these are sand slopes.  It’s such an awesome sight to see.  These dunes stretch for about 40 miles and are close to six miles wide.  

Riding the dunes

The camping area was starting to fill up.  Tents were up selling all kinds of flags and equipment.  People were getting ready to ride and others were zipping everywhere as fast as they could.  I wonder how many accidents occur in places like this over the holiday weekends since the sand roadways aren’t defined and they certainly aren’t one-way roads. 

‘Tis life on the road.

Scouting Around Yuma and More BLM

 

Don't let the internet blog you down.

We haven’t been just playing.  We’ve been really busy.  Part of being busy included scouting around and checking out some of the other areas around Yuma including a few BLM spots.  First of all we took S24 and headed towards Bard.  Bard is on the California side of the Colorado River.  The road runs through fields and fields of crops.  It also winds through more date farms. 

Imperial Date Farm

As I’ve said before, this area grows just about everything. Add all the citrus, fruits and produce around here and it’s like being in the middle of a green salad and then jumping into a fruit salad for dessert.

Cauliflower Fields

We crossed over into Arizona close to Laguna Dam.   This area is a short distance from the well known boondocking spot of Imperial Dam.  We were surprised to see hundreds of RVers dry camping in the area.  It could almost compete with the RVs at Quartzsite.  In the past we had just circled through the front section.  This time we drove towards the back and circled back to Senate Wash Road.  There are many great spots and sections in this area.  It is also another BLM with several dumps, fresh water and trash containers on site. The downside of this is if you need to head to town, you have quite a little drive.

Laguna Dam

Waterfront Sites

Senate Wash

Our next stop was at Mittry Lake.  I had always wanted to check it out.  Besides this area was closer to Yuma than the Imperial Dam area.  It's still a ways out and not my cup of tea but others love it.  The area around the lake is covered with tall brush and vegetation.  I prefer to be able to see what I might be walking into. If a critter is hiding in that stuff, it could really hide.  Being in a boat would probably be fine.    There is a paved boat launch and several boats were in the lake.  

Mittry Lake

Paved Pathway and Fishing on the Lake

We haven’t been able to have many campfires since we arrived in Yuma.  It seems we’ve just had way too much wind.  It’s not that it’s been really bad most of the time.  It hasn't been.  However, the wind  does seem to pick up in the evening and about the time we would light the first log.   We've had some mighty gorgeous days but we still have had some mighty windy days too.  Matter of fact, we never leave our awning out when we take off.  We even hesitate to put it up during the day when we’re around because we know we’ll be taking it down soon.

The other night we were invited to our neighbor’s campfire.  Their campfire was dug into the sand so it was pretty protected and easy to snuff out if we needed to.

Campfire in the sand

We met two other couples from Oregon.  One was from Oregon City …. so they were our neighbors …. kind of.  They also have ATVs and had been riding them in the dunes and around the many gold mines close to where we are at.  This time they were already loaded up and getting ready to pull out.  Their next move was to the other side of Yuma and some new trails. Now we just need to locate some of those gold mines they left behind and find ourselves a little treasure.  That certainly is in our plans.

Ready to go

Terry’s been working on sanding some more walking sticks.  He was just a little too busy to go riding with me.  I love to ride.  I bet you didn't know that.  Freddy decided he wanted to give it a try and off we went.

Freddy

What a view!

There goes Freddy!

Next on the agenda was dinner at Steve and Carol’s.  It was a very delicious spaghetti feed.  Again, we were blessed with great food and great company but the pictures I took were rotten.  It was a little cool outside so we were lucky that their motorhome was large enough to seat all eight of us very comfortably.

This was just a short summary but we’ve been mighty busy people. 

'Tis a busy life on the road.