Week Twelve February 23

Week Twelve - February 15

Sunday February 15^th, road trip day leaving Florence, AZ, heading to Yuma, AZ, actually Pilot Knob RV Park in Winterhaven, CA., right next door to Yuma. Uneventful trip until our lunch stop when we noticed a “bulge” in one of the 5^th wheel tires the size of a “softball”. Wow, glad it didn’t blow. Pulled to a vacant lot to change, a first on this rig in five years, so a learning curve. An hour later back on the road. Arrived at Pilot Knob around 4:30pm., late arrival so not getting the best spot desired.

Monday / Tuesday, did some local sight seeing. Checked out a brand new casino just opening. Had open WI-FI internet, so got caught up on e-mails. Did some hiking along the Colorado downtown Yuma. Back on the road looking for a place to kayak. Got directions from the Yuma park & rec. Directed us to Mittry Lake about 10 miles from here. Lots of waters converging in this area off the Colorado River. Paved road turned to a dirt road as approaching the lake. Lots of RV’s camping along the lake and rivers, mostly free or minimum fees. Need to be self contained in most cases, so lots of solar power or generator usage. Found a nice spot to drop kayaks and met some RV’ers staying there, so visited with them and gathered some info. Decided we would come back on Thurs. when a little warmer.

Continued up the lake dirt road to “Senators Wash” and Imperial Dam. More RV’ers parked all along the beautiful waterways. Stopped and talked to a lady out with her dog. Greeted to strike a conversation on how they survived out here, ie; water, electric, dumping, etc. She was delightful! Probably 80 yrs old. Been doing this for 15 yrs. Stays all winter, 5 mo’s. Good social gatherings, campfires, cook outs, etc. Goes to town for laundry, pulls to dumpsite for dumps and water. Pays a whopping $125 for the whole 5 months on a beautiful water / mountain view site. Was quite educational.

Continued on towards home driving through the US Army Proving / Testing Grounds. Stopped at a historical memorial site documenting use in the 1940’s under Gen’l Patton.

Displays of tanks, rocket launchers, etc. Site still used for testing and training.

Wednesday the 18^th, shopping day. Stopped at a couple of RV dealers for a look see.

Then a very nice lunch stop at MiMis. Sears / Wal-Mart, then back to RV. Thursday Bob did a six mile walk in the desert towards the sand dunes. Lots of dry campers along the way. Beautiful day. Friday the 20^th we took the kayaks to Mittry Lake. Launched and paddled for about an hour. Pretty windy, but lots of protection in the “reeds”, full of wild life. Some fishermen, but didn’t seem to be having any luck. On the way home, found diesel at $1.81/gal actually $.10 under gas, WOW that’s a first in five years.

Saturday / Sunday, preparing our departure from Pilot Knob. Underway Sunday to Indio, CA, Indian Waters RV Resort, our home park. Saturday did a flea market in Yuma, Az,. Huge, picked up a few things. Leaving Pilot Knob west on Hwy 8, observed the awesome sand dunes. Weekend RV’ers doing their thing. Arrived at Indian Waters around 12:30pm, got assigned a very nice RV site. Settled in meeting neighbors. Beautiful surrounding mountains covered with a fair amount of snow.

Monday 2/23 caught up with our mail, a months worth. Spent the day doing bills, etc. Relief that this is behind us.

End of week Twelve