Sunday, February 8, 2004
Southern Mesa RV Park, Yuma, AZ - Feb 2-8
This is a very basic but popular RV park about 9 miles south of town. It's popularity is mainly due to it's being one of the lower priced parks in town. There are many people who have spent many winters in this park, so it is quite a friendly place. It's fairly far south of town so there is no cell phone reception. There's a flock of chickens next door, and each morning starting around 2am we are serenaded by the roosters. We will not miss this when we leave!!
This is our first time in Yuma, and it is quite an unusual place. No matter how much we have been told of the farming, we were surprised at the vast fields of healthy crops and large citrus & date orchards. The fields are all perfectly flat with nice even rows stretching as far as the eye can see. Around the perimeter are sharp mountains, looking like someone plowed the large fields flat and pushed all the dirt out of town to the mountains. They're fairly distant and completely disappear in the dust of Yuma's famous wind storms (which happen several times a week). We went to a nearby Farmer's market and got wonderful produce for reasonable prices.
One of the main reasons for spending a week in Yuma has been to check out the various possibilities for camping, since this is one of the warmest places in the southwest in the winter. We looked at many RV parks, played duplicate bridge with a local group (came in third!!), and did some general sightseeing. We visited the Foothills area, which is a neighborhood with both houses & RV lots, which often has RV spaces for rent for reasonable amounts. We did a day of birdwatching at nearby wildlife areas, which also allow boondocking: Betty's Kitchen, Mittry Lake, Imperial Dam and the All American Canal. On the way home we stopped at Imperial Date Gardens for a date shake (delicious!) and some of the famous medjool dates.
We made a brief stop at the Yuma Crossing State Historic Park. This was the supply depot for the US Army to store & distribute supplies for all the military posts in AZ and also posts in NV, UT, NM & TX. The supplies were brought up the Colorado River by steamers from Port Isabel in Baja, Mexico. They supplied the forts from 1864 until 1883, when the arrival of the Southern Pacific RR took over distribution. The quartermaster's office is still standing as well as the commanding officer's quarters & several smaller structures. In the museum is a small piece of the original moveable wooden-plank road that was used to cross the Algodones Sand Dunes, a few miles west of here in CA. This plank road across the desert was used for 11 years, until they finally were able to have a paved highway.
We have to report that we are generally unimpressed with the area. Except for the slightly warmer temps, there's not much that would bring us back. The boondocking is pretty nice but no nicer than around Quartzsite. The best boondocking is fairly far from Yuma proper. All the boondocking is not what you'd call a "wilderness experience". Your neighbors are fairly close & it takes a lot of driving to get somewhat secluded.
We visited a childhood friend of Willie's mother, Evelyn Bolton, who has lived in Yuma for 12 years. She lives next door to her daughter but is able to pretty much live her own life. She gardens, takes a creative writing course, drives wherever she wants to go -- all at 88! She makes as many plans for "next year" as we do. It's nice to see there is an alternative to the unhappy life that Willie's Mom is living. It looks like keeping your health & mental abilities are key to having good options.
This is the farthest west we've been in our travels. We will start heading slowly eastward tomorrow, with a fairly long stop in Benson to catch up with medical appointments, complete taxes and visit with friends. The cats continue to do well despite the various strange living environments. I guess things seem pretty much the same to them despite the new locations. We look forward to hearing news from each of you.
This is our first time in Yuma, and it is quite an unusual place. No matter how much we have been told of the farming, we were surprised at the vast fields of healthy crops and large citrus & date orchards. The fields are all perfectly flat with nice even rows stretching as far as the eye can see. Around the perimeter are sharp mountains, looking like someone plowed the large fields flat and pushed all the dirt out of town to the mountains. They're fairly distant and completely disappear in the dust of Yuma's famous wind storms (which happen several times a week). We went to a nearby Farmer's market and got wonderful produce for reasonable prices.
One of the main reasons for spending a week in Yuma has been to check out the various possibilities for camping, since this is one of the warmest places in the southwest in the winter. We looked at many RV parks, played duplicate bridge with a local group (came in third!!), and did some general sightseeing. We visited the Foothills area, which is a neighborhood with both houses & RV lots, which often has RV spaces for rent for reasonable amounts. We did a day of birdwatching at nearby wildlife areas, which also allow boondocking: Betty's Kitchen, Mittry Lake, Imperial Dam and the All American Canal. On the way home we stopped at Imperial Date Gardens for a date shake (delicious!) and some of the famous medjool dates.
We made a brief stop at the Yuma Crossing State Historic Park. This was the supply depot for the US Army to store & distribute supplies for all the military posts in AZ and also posts in NV, UT, NM & TX. The supplies were brought up the Colorado River by steamers from Port Isabel in Baja, Mexico. They supplied the forts from 1864 until 1883, when the arrival of the Southern Pacific RR took over distribution. The quartermaster's office is still standing as well as the commanding officer's quarters & several smaller structures. In the museum is a small piece of the original moveable wooden-plank road that was used to cross the Algodones Sand Dunes, a few miles west of here in CA. This plank road across the desert was used for 11 years, until they finally were able to have a paved highway.
We have to report that we are generally unimpressed with the area. Except for the slightly warmer temps, there's not much that would bring us back. The boondocking is pretty nice but no nicer than around Quartzsite. The best boondocking is fairly far from Yuma proper. All the boondocking is not what you'd call a "wilderness experience". Your neighbors are fairly close & it takes a lot of driving to get somewhat secluded.
We visited a childhood friend of Willie's mother, Evelyn Bolton, who has lived in Yuma for 12 years. She lives next door to her daughter but is able to pretty much live her own life. She gardens, takes a creative writing course, drives wherever she wants to go -- all at 88! She makes as many plans for "next year" as we do. It's nice to see there is an alternative to the unhappy life that Willie's Mom is living. It looks like keeping your health & mental abilities are key to having good options.
This is the farthest west we've been in our travels. We will start heading slowly eastward tomorrow, with a fairly long stop in Benson to catch up with medical appointments, complete taxes and visit with friends. The cats continue to do well despite the various strange living environments. I guess things seem pretty much the same to them despite the new locations. We look forward to hearing news from each of you.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 5:37 PM 
