This and That in Yuma

A very fast and efficient method for harvesting dates!
An upscale neighbourhood.
No need for irrigation.
Don't touch this!
Sunset in the wetlands.

More of the Painted Desert

Did somebody spill some paint here?
Blood red and not a bit of colour saturation in Photoshop!
This area is a rock hound's paradise, except for one thing. Nobody is allowed to break any rocks or carry anything out of the park. We climbed way off the beaten track and found a little gully where nobody had broken that rule, yet. We gathered together a few of the colourful stones and did not take anything with us but this photo. More moonscape. This was one of the more interesting landscapes we have ever explored and it gave me a yen to learn more about geology. The Ranger told us later that a Big Horn sheep had been spotted earlier in the day, and of course, we saw the huge Jack Rabbit here. I have no idea what they live on, especially in the heat of summer when the temperatures soar to 114 F.

Hiking in the Painted Desert

Lonely Saguaro Cactus
How do they survive?
This moonscape almost looks like the aftermath of a massive excavation. It is volcanic ash placed randomly in the maelstrom of earthly upheavals in the beginnings of time.
In the midst of the barren dryness, a green plant defies the odds.
Hot rocks, when cooled, will crack.

Yuma State Prison

The most visited historical site in Arizona is the Yuma State Prison. Some of it has been restored and other parts are original.
Heavy strap iron gates guard a cell block.
The quarters were very cramped, bunks three high, and in the summer the heat was unbearable.
Enforcement was the gun, punishement was the ball and chain, and solitary confinement.
No air conditioning, summer or winter. The prison also housed many women, in a separate cell block. Common crimes for women were murder, theft, and accomplice in robberies. One fellow was in for 'seduction and breach of promise to marry'. Sentence: 10 years.

Yuma Scenes

Downtown 'Old Yuma'. This fountain was in the center of a turn about.
Yuma Post Office.
One of the 47 churches in Yuma, complete with education wing, administrative offices, and a 2 person worship center.
Historic Yuma Crossing where old meets new.
( Colorado River)

Into the Desert

Highway 8 from San Diego to Yuma follows the US/Mexican border and as we head east, the terrain changes. I had 'Google Earthed' this section of road before we left on our trip and I knew what to expect, but still found it very interesting. The highway is divided here by a quarter mile or so.
As we came out of the rocky area, we descended to the desert and were presented with breath taking views. It must be brutal here in summer.
It continues to be very bleak and lifeless until we get to the Imperial Valley where the irrigation from the Colorado River brings the landscape back to life. It is flat here with mountains in the far distance to the north.
We were amazed at the number of RV's pulling trailers here, all heading back west to San Diego and LA. We realised later that they had all been at the Sand Dunes with their dune buggies. 'Thousands' would not be an exaggeration at all.

More California

Mr. Carter built this beauty right across the street from the Ingomar house for his daughter.
Even in winter, California is colourful. I was taken by all the Oak trees and the pale moss that hangs from every limb.
We cruised through LA on deserted freeways. Were they all afraid of me? No. It was New Year's Day in the morning when we were the only people in southern California not home nursing a hangover.
Here we have 8 lanes going one direction and only 4 vehicles! And yet it was here that we missed getting creamed by inches when someone decided to make an extreme lane change to make a missed exit. Doesn't life come at you when you least expect it?

Remember to view the blog entries from the bottom up and I recommend that you click on the pictures to see them larger. To get back, just click the back button on your browser or mouse.

Many MIles to go

Trying to escape the fog and yet be a law abiding citizen.
A diamond day with not a wisp of fog. Who knew a fierce storm would sweep through here the next day?
An exquisite heritage home now used as a B & B in Eureka, California. This grand old city was built for the red wood lumber industry which has all but died now. The undulating land was filled with redwood sawdust to create the townsite and today one can dig down a few meters and still up-earth the shavings as if they were fresh from the sawmill.
Does one ever tire of such beautiful landscapes?
The pride and joy of Eureka, the Ingomar Club. It was built by a Mr. Carter, a lumber baron, as his private residence, and many years later turned into a private men's club. We had breakfast with a present day club member who told us all about Eureka and all about the club. It has since become gender all inclusive, and our acquaintence reluctantly admitted that it had been a good move. He told us that the interior is incredibly ornate and architects from around the world come to visit. No pictures allowed inside for security reasons. Almost all the fixtures and furniture are priceless works of art and do not even have an assessed value as they are one of a kind.

Northern California Coast

One of many operational lighthouses along the rugged coastline.
Black sand beach.
The road, the cliffs, the beach, the surf, the sun, who couldn't love it?
Sand dunes and cliffs. Looks photoshopped but it isn't. 'Twas other worldly for sure.
A crow having a picnic.

Pictures, Finally

Pointing south, heading for the sun, and there it is, straight ahead. Time to get out the shades!
Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. The surf is pounding and the air is salty and fresh!
This must be the gateway to the Pacific.
Cows by the sea. Not exactly a salt free diet.
Pampas Grass everywhere, and here catching some back light.

Impressions and Reviews

I enjoy road trips, always have, but it requires that one find a bed for night and a place to find nourishment. These tasks for me are necessary, but not enjoyable.
Finding a room for under $100 in the USA is quite easy, but do you want to? Here is a tip. As soon as you cross the border, stop at a rest stop and pick up a traveller's guide which has coupons for hotels in it, among other things. We used these and found that the desk clerks at the hotels were surprised to see them and commented that they were good deals. I take it that not many people know about this. Our best night at the La Quinta was $30.00 off and made it very affordable. We would not otherwise have chosen to stay there because of price. Having a CAA card will also get you a discount from $10 to $17. Whining will not get you anything.
Our first night was one of the cheapest and also one of the best. It was a Comfort Inn in Lincoln City with a view to the ocean and was under exterior reno's that were not at all disruptive.
No need to reserve in winter if you stop by 6 or 7 pm. Even then, we never stayed at a place that was fully booked for the night. All our places were clean, but some were worn.
Impressions:
The cost of the room is in direct proportion to the thickness of the towels.
HBO, cable TV, and in-room movies are just a way of giving you more that is not worth watching.
American TV is a tad worse than Canadian, plus ..... no hockey games.
Quality of beds vary immensely, as do quality of complimentary breakfasts.
Choose your end of town carefully. This is another reason to stop during daylight. Neon lights are pretty but they hide things.
Check your Internet, toilets, drains, and shower before settling in. You may have to move to another room. A broken TV is a bonus.
Stick to chain hotels, or if you want to be adventurous and stay at a place with Cabana, or Starlite in the name, check out the room first.
Sip the tap water before guzzling. This is a must.
Stay away from the freeway or suffer the consequences. If you forget, turn on the ventilation system for 'white noise'.
By law, there are no 'self serve' gas stations in Oregon, but their gas is cheaper than either Washington or California.
As a Canadian, it can be difficult to purchase gas with a credit card from the pump. You need a zip code.
Gas prices are different everywhere, even across the street. There can be 25 cents difference next door.
'His' or 'Hers' washrooms are becoming a thing of the past. There will be one washroom for all. It will tend to be cleaner.

Restaurants:
You will not escape grease, so do not even try. There is a reason Americans are on average extremely overweight.
All Clam Chowders are not created equally. Even a 'seaside' eatery with 'award winning' chowder, will not have good chowder, although "Ketch Joanna's" in Half Moon Bay, right on the beach, had chowder to die for with gobs of real clam's swimming about. (That fireside dinner was a highlight.)
Jack in the Box: Without the police escort, we would have put Jack back in the box.
Order extra napkins to soak up the excess fat, no matter what you order.
Marie Callendar's meat loaf is right out of a can.
Country Cousins in Centralia, a delightfully country home style, very happening place, has the worst food on the planet, bar none. How can that many patrons be so undiscriminating in their taste? (Open since 1973? How can you serve slop and be in business that long?)
Even the worst 'soup of the day' can be salvaged with enough crackers.
Drink your restaurant water with a straw as the chlorine taste is somewhat mitigated if it does not travel the full length of the tongue.
Be aware that 'they' will put gravy on everything if you let them.
Applebee's is OK if you don't go there more than twice.
American buffet restaurants can be the best or the worst. Just don't give up after the first try.
Fruit is expensive in California. Go figure!

Roads:
Eight lanes in one direction can be intimidating. The secret to survival is to NOT change lanes unless absolutely necessary, unless the traffic is light. But, it rarely is.
Overall quality of roads is excellent and signage is superb. Canada could really learn something.
America is totally geared for the automobile. It is evident everywhere. It is difficult to go for a walk anywhere, and you rarely see people walking.
Prius is the vehicle of choice in California. There are thousands of them there and most have a bumper sticker stating that God is a liberal. There is a connection there.
Apart from the Prius, SUV's rule supreme. It is either/or.
Radio stations are predominantly Christian, Country, or Conservative Talk.
Overall, drivers are much better than here.
If you do not like driving sandwiched between semis for miles on end, don't go. It is a fact of freeway driving. You have to get over your fear of death and put your imagination to rest when you see something 'wobbling'.

We are glad to be home, and we think we can survive the sprint to summer now that it is mid January. We do however, think that the next vacation will be tropical because of the chances of more sun.

Stamina

Having retired early, we arose at 6:20am and after a quick breakfast, headed north on the 101. We caught a final glimpse of the Pacific in the early morning light, the spindrift mingling with the sky and fog to create layers of almost indistinguishable shades of grey and blue. We traded the smell of salt sea air for the sweet aroma of California redwood as we wound our way through groves of stately trees, hugging the road so closely that there were scrapes on the trunks from errant truck drivers. Banks of fog and low cloud were winding their way through the strands of trees and reflecting the early sunlight, almost too brilliant to look at after emerging from the dark tunnel of giant Redwoods. The drive up the 199 to connect with the I5 in Grant's Pass was peaceful and inspiring. Evidence of the snow accumulations of the past week were everywhere and we were fortunate to slip through between storms.
Making excellent time, we made a snap decision to make the last leg in one leap. Tired of hotels and restaurants motivated us and we put our shoulder to the wheel, pedal to the metal, and covered 3 states in the next 14 hours. I amazed myself because on the first day of our trip back in December, I was bagged and my hip was seized after 7 hours on the road. Since then, I have become tough, road hardened like a seasoned trucker. But I must give credit to my travelling companion who is an excellent navigator and is great company who keeps me motivated and alert. A five minute wait at the border and a hassle free crossing topped off the trip nicely and we were soon tucked into our own beds for the first time in 15 days. Saturday will be spent answering phone messages, opening and dealing with mail, unpacking, doing laundry, and generally getting ready to do routine on Monday.
Coming soon ..... overall impressions of our adventure, restaurant and hotel reviews, and of course, lots of pictures.

No Internet

Another day in Sunny (?) California. Our night at the Sacramento La Quinta Inn was a pure joy after the fiasco of the night before. It was luxurious, plush, and the bed was the best we ever slept in. What a shame to had to leave this morning.
We doubled back just a few miles and then took secondary and country roads as we worked our way to the Napa Valley. We drove through thousands of acres of nut, olive, citrus, and fruit groves. The land is tilled in perfect furrows and all the trees in the orchards line up every which way you look at them. And then the terrain took on a more undulating shape, rolling hills and valleys speckled with gnarly oaks, bare of leaves but hanging with pale moss. The grape vines soon took over and on every slope, plateau, and valley, the rows upon rows of newly pruned vines predominated the landscape. 80% of all Californian wines are produced in the Napa Valley, and after seeing the evidence, I believe it. A slow cruise through the town of St. Helena and a drive down Zinfendal Lane was a feast for the eyes as every 200 meters a glimpse through the majestic oaks revealed massive and opulent estate wineries. It is very European looking and gives one the impression that there is very much wealth there. Most are closed for the winter season, but there is no doubt that the Napa Valley would be crawling with tourists in the summer. We meandered back and forth until we had our fill and then moved on to connect with the 101 highway.
A big downer today was the socked in fog and light rain until late afternoon. Not enough light for photos and getting wet every time we got out of the car was discouraging. Cruising this valley on a bicycle or a motorcycle would be perfect, but in summer, of course.
The 101 has been up-graded in a huge way in the last few years. It is a beautiful highway and in fantastic shape. Most of it is 4 lane divided from SanFrancisco to Eureka. By the time we got to Arcata, the sun finally came out, just as we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean since our trip south.
Tonight we are at a Howard Johnson’s hotel, and according to the travel book, an upscale place, and, a chain we have never tried before. We got off to a bad start when we could not connect to the WiFi. We needed a password to connect but the guy at the front desk says no. It is a secured network and my computer tells me that I cannot access it without one. He is going to call his boss.
Then, just as one of us was getting out of the shower, the power went off, apparently only in our room. Again, the guy at the front desk just offered us new light bulbs. I think he is the one who needs a new light bulb. I got him to check the breaker panels, but he didn’t have a clue, so we just moved into a different room, fortunately right next door so the move was too much trouble. Unless I can get on the internet tonight, you will not get this until tomorrow.

Fading Fast in the Fog

Before I fill you in on our day's travel, let me tell you about our night's sleep, or rather the lack thereof. Just before turning in, I went to the car to grab something and right beside me was two teenagers in a older Toyota talking quietly and listening to some music on the radio, subdued enough that I did not even give it much notice. We tucked ourselves in at 10:30 and almost right away the continual talking and walking past our door began. It was only mildly annoying as it was still early and there were a lot of guests at the hotel. The suite above us had a TV going just a bit too loud and the shower kept running. By midnight I was getting a little annoyed as nothing was changing. It was not rowdy, just continual noise, loud enough to keep a light sleeper like me awake.
Then, there was an authoritative voice right outside our window (ground floor) and that prompted me to peek through the window. There were 3 cop cars right there and six cops. Lis was now awake and we heard the entire conversation. It went on for 1 1/2 hours so in a nutshell here it is. A forty something mom was there with her 15 year old son and a girl who I gathered was not with her own family and was homeless or something. The cops were there to inform the mom that the kids were high on crystal meth and were dealing the stuff out of the car. They had told the mother that they did not have a radio in their room so they wanted to sit in the car and listen to their tunes. She was shocked! She was on the verge of getting arrested herself for various offences regarding her responsibilities to the kids and not knowing anything about the girl.
That business finally died down by 4:30am but the TV and the shower every 20 minutes upstairs did not let up. Use your imagination. I certainly did as I lay there fuming in the dark. The management was very apologetic in the morning, but it was not reason enough for a refund, and I agree. They could not have very well chased the cops away. Maybe in Canada, but not here. :-)
The drive through the Mojave Desert was excellent with bright sunny skies and very clean crisp air. The drive from Mojave through Tehachapi and on to Bakersfield is stunning and was a highlight of our trip.
But, then the situation changed and from Bakersfield to Sacramento, where we are now, was gloomy, foggy, dirty, brown, grey, drab, and quite awful. We were on the 99 instead of the I5, almost as fast, but I think more dangerous. The traffic was very heavy all day we hit big delays just outside of Sacramento. A lack of sleep and freeway stress resulted in the title of this blog post.
After being in the car all day except for a brisk 1/2 hour walk in Madera, we asked the desk clerk for a dinner recommendation within walking distance. She pointed us to a new place called the Boston Market. Mmmm. Excellent rotisserie chicken and terrific value.
I had a wonderful visit with a recently widowed retiree at a rest stop this afternoon. We chatted for 20 minutes and I heard his story. Again, fascinating, and we exchanged names. Why is it that everyone we meet is lonely and needs friends so badly? Perhaps God is placing these people in our paths just so we can encourage them. It is happening in such strange ways that it has to be the explanation.
Tomorrow we will head to the Napa valley and then continue north from there.

Farewell to Yuma

Our final complimentary breakfast at the Ramada Inn was no sooner done than we bid a fond farewell to Yuma. The sky was bright and sunny as we took one last picture, of an orange tree not far from our hotel, and headed for the freeway. It was quite cool and would not warm up until Friday so we thought we would check out Palm Springs.
It was a nice change driving with the sun at our backs. The Imperial Sand Dunes looked fantastic in the early morning light. A few of the Star Wars movies were shot here, and I can see why. It is Sahara Desert-like for many miles. We headed north-west to the Salton sea, a very large body of salt water that is 230 ft. below sea level. It is very barren there and we decided to drive on the east side of the lake to have better access to the 'beaches'. There is a very large bird refuge there and we saw many huge Pelicans, much larger and whiter than the ones we so love on Banderas Bay in Mexico.
Heading further west, we were again impressed with all the agriculture. We saw cauliflower fields as big as all of Sumas Prairie! There were snowy white Egrets in the fields, everywhere, foraging for whatever it is that Egrets eat.
We had to stop in Thermal. There are date groves everywhere. We toured a date facility and saw and learned a lot about the different varieties of dates. And of course we bought a package of Mahjools (sp?) and a whack of pistachio nuts.
Our plan was to meet our friends from back home, at their time share in Palm Springs. We had phone numbers and an address, but search as we might, we could not connect. They simply were not at the condos they told us they would be staying at. We were disappointed so instead of staying in Palm Springs for night, we drove on, as it was only 2pm. It was warm there and we made a mistake not staying. It was so wonderful driving through the Coachella Valley again, such a good reminder of 2 years ago. We love Palm Springs.
So, it was up through the San Bernardino Mountains, where we had snow at the side of the road, and now we are at Victorville for night where it is 32F. Brrrrr!
We went to Marie Calendar's for dinner and met a wonderful couple who live locally. Visited with them for almost an hour and became good friends! What a fascinating story they had. They even invited us to stay the night at their home (if we didn't mind the dog sleeping on our faces) but we turned them down because we had already checked into a hotel. Get this. He is the senior guy at one of the largest power transfer stations in California and he and his wife are bucking technology by not having a home PC. Lis and her are going to communicate the old fashioned way. (How was that again .... oh yeah, pen, paper, envelopes and stamps.)
We hope to report from somewhere around the Napa Valley tomorrow as we make our way back to the coast.

A Small Problem

I sought out the Mazda dealer today, the only repair shop in town that could diagnose my problem. I find this difficult to believe with todays technology, but it was only 5 blocks from our 'home' so I went there. The 'check engine light' came on yesterday and because it is hooked to a myriad of sensors under the hood, it is best to err on the side of caution. The only thing I am capable of checking myself is the tightness of the fuel filler cap.

As it turned out, $93 later, it is a sticking purge valve, some useless piece of pollution control equipment that is not really necessary to the smooth operation of my engine. We will drive home without it functioning properly, but then again, it may never stick again. The part was only able to arrive in 10 days so the decision was made. But, as you can guess, it pretty well killed the whole day. We had no appointment and there is only one qualified Mazda tecnician in town so we were at their mercy.

We walked a lot today and read by the pool in a sheltered spot. It was high thin overcast and a cool breeze. More of the same for the next few days so we are heading north tomorrow. We are concerned about the storms in Northern California too. We have to drive through there and there may be a window between storms in the next day or three.

We checked out the Golden Corral tonight and found it not too bad for price and quality. They have a bakery and Chocoholic Station when you are done loading up on steak, fried chicken, etc. and I did not feint at the challenge. Hey, I only had fruit and a peanut butter cookie for lunch!This place is a very popular buffet and grill but they put you through like a cattle feed lot. Too much flourescent lighting to sit and talk after the meal. It looks like a license to print money.

There was an amazing sunset tonight, in its height of glory as we were driving home. No camera with me this time so you will have to take my word for it that it had unique southwest colours that I have never seen in a sunset before. The deep oranges were contrasted in distinct lines against an aqua blue that looked more like water than sky. There is aproblem here from a photographers point of view and that is that there is no place to take a desert sunset picture with any kind of desert in the foreground. Buildings and powerlines block every view in spite of being in the middle of the desert.
I will try to post on the way home but of course will be limited by availability of WiFi.

Sunday in the Desert

How does one take a day of rest when on holidays? We have already been resting, so we just made it a special day by finding a good church. We searched the internet for just the right church among the 47 here in Yuma. No luck, except to find a few that we certainly did not want to attend. We passed one the other day that looked quite modern and was doubling as a school/daycare center. It also had a mighty large parking lot which was an indicator of a happening place.

We showed up on time and as we walked into the front door, we knew would feel at home here. The foyer was at least 10 times what we were used to and a third of it was taken up by a coffee shop/welcome center. We did not have time to check that out as the service was about to begin. The worship center was huge, holding maybe 1500 people. There were 4 services, and the statement of faith was something we could agree with, totally. We had communion, a very good worship time with lively music, and then a good sermon about discouragement in the New Year, based on Nehemiah rallying the people of Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalum. It all reminded us quite a bit of the church we attended several times in Palm Springs two years ago.

We grabbed some fruit for lunch and headed for more walking, a new neighbourhood, and then the East Wetland Park. (Yesterday was West). East and West here are determined by "Yuma Crossing", the historical Colorado River crossing in the early to mid 1800's.

The walk in our neighbourhood revealed a small condo for sale right on the golf course behind us, for only $129,000.00.

It was the warmest day so far. We sat by the pool and read and talked for 1 1/2 hours until the clouds came. It was suposed to be cloudy and windy today, but was a dandy instead.

I am getting down right tired of restaurant food. Especially here in the good old USA where dinner and deep fry are synonomous. I ordered a shrimp penne bowl tonight and found it terribly rich and way too filling. At least only the shrimp were deep fried. The orange chicken noodle bowl last night was delicious but there was enough there to feed Moby Dick. Everywhere we look we see obese people. Even the preacher at the church today was at least 300 lbs! It is so normal here that folks probably do not even realise there is a problem.

We also took a drive north of town to check out the date plantations. It is very flat country until you come to the sand dunes. There was a haze like smog in the distance, until we realised it was a dust storm on the dunes. It is always windy up there and that is the reason that there are sand dunes there.

We have noticed a great increase in the number of snowbirds here in the last day or two. The Arizona plates in the parking lots are now in the minority. It continues to amaze me how many RV's there are here. You have to see it to believe it.

Urban Sprawl

I have been having a lot of difficulty posting my posts. I cannot seem to pinpoint the problem and have almost thrown in the towel a few times, and then suddenly I am able to get the thing working. The last post got cut off and I was unable to access it to correct or edit it. So, in case you were wondering, our friends were headed to the airport. Nothing much after that. :-)
The forecasted rain came today, about five minutes of it. The smell of dry soil getting a bit of rain is incredible and so reminds me of my boyhood in the prairies. The 70F temperature makes up for the overcast skies.
Today we walked a lot. First in the neighbourhood, then in the largest of three Walmarts in Yuma, while our car was getting an oil change, then in the pm we walked the West Wetlands Trails for more than an hour. We also checked out a new subdivision behind the Walmart and toured the four show homes there. We find it interesting to compare building styles, architecture, decor, and finishing techniques. The upscale homes here are priced about where our starter homes are priced back home. However, the workmanship is little lacking.
I napped today for the first time! This is rare for me even at home so I hope I will sleep tonight. If not, I will have to bore you with an all night post.
I am reading a book "Growing up Hockey" given to me by my daughter for Christmas. Super book if any of you ever grew up playing hockey. It is dredging up all kinds of nostalgic memories for me. I mention this because I miss my hockey. As many of you know, the only TV I watch is hockey and getting the scores on the internet just doesn't quite scratch my itch.
The best way to describe Yuma is 'Urban desert sprawl'. We have driven over 200 km since we got here and are still discovering nooks and crannies of Yuma that even our maps do not show. The amount of motorhome dealerships, RV parks, and trailer courts is unbelievable! In places, as far as the eye can see, 5th wheels and motorhomes parked under the palms and citrus trees. Every RV in America and Canada must be here. It seems that the people we see are all either Mexican families, or retired couples, a few as young as us, but mostly older. If we ever return, it will be to a long term rental, but it looks like there is no such thing here. We do not do RV's so it just may be that this is our last visit here. It seems the only really attractive draw here is the weather, and perhaps cheap living. After the museums have been visited, the natural attractions have been walked and photographed, the only thing left is to bask in the fact that you are not back home freezing your buns. As much as that is worth, there has to be more. I believe that many of these snowbirds have found community in their RV park, lawn chairing it under their canopies, golfing, or shopping at the Walmart with fellow travellers. We have plenty of community back home, and we already feel it drawing us back.

The Yuma Groove

It does not take us long to get into a pattern, a groove, a routine. Today felt like a routine day in Yuma. We seem to be rising early in spite of trying to sleep late. It is the early morning sun trying to pierce the narrow gaps in our black out cutains on our east facing windows. It would be a shame to drive all this way and then waste perfectly good sunshine by lollygagging in bed all morning. So, we had a nice breakfast and then struck out for our morning walk. We ventured a longer ways away from our 'home' today and were ready for a good rest by the time we got back.

Our friends, the ranchers, knocked on our door shortly after our return and wanted to visit with us by the pool because it was their last day here. We ended up staying out in the sun for about 3 hours. It was brighter and warmer today than has been so far. My face is red tonight, however, it is not due to embarassment.

We lay around and read for a while and then decided to explore the town some more. We found the new Wetlands Park Projects and hung around there while watching a fabulous sunset.

We then went on a search for a restaurant for a late dinner. We discovered a part of town we had not yet explored. It was very upscale and buzzing with people and traffic. Had we taken a different exit off the freeway when we first came here, we would have known about it. It is very new, modern, and wealthy looking in that part of town. There is a lot of diversity here and just when you think the town is in a depression, you find a pocket of new construction and modern architecture. It is a bustling and growing town for sure.

We are stuffed after a great dinner for very little money and will catch a bit of weather channel before getting into our reading projects again.

The friends who left at 3pm today were going to their ranch in Medford that was being blasted by a blizzard today with gusts of blowing snow up to 90 mph. They looked longingly back at us as they shook our hands,heading for

Into the Desert

We bumped into Tom the Cattleman again this morning, at breakfast. He is a 'good old boy' and has many funny and interesting stories about his resistence to technology. He was applying at the bank for $100,000.00 line of credit so he could feed the 300 calves he had just bought. The banker wanted to see a computer printout for the record keeping on the calves. Tom hauled out a stack of paper plates, some stained with ketchup, each one representing a calf, and each one containing all the pertinent information. He held up his hand to hide the fact that he has no front teeth, and grins, "I got the loan." He may not own a cell phone but he is wealthy and has a very talented and intelligent Mexican wife who runs his life for him. He did not even have a door key to his hotel room and could not even find his way to the right room after dawdling at the pool after his wife left him there alone.

Needles to say, we lingered over breakfast a long time but finally got to go on our trip of the day. We drove to the "Painted Desert", about 45 miles NE of here. We drove past 'The Yuma Army Proving Grounds' where there were many signs to keep out. I did venture a ways off the road to get a photo of a Saguero Cactus, and kept an eye out for surface to surface missiles. We managed to survive the gauntlet, due to our subtle camoflage, a grey car on a grey day, and wound up on a picturesque gravel road that led to the volcanic slag heap called the 'Painted Desert'. We spent several hours there and only saw two other people on the trail the whole time. We fought the temptation to scrounge for rocks to take home and found so many that were nothing like we had ever seen. The signs (again, those signs) forbade anyone to disturb or take any rocks so we had to content ourselves with photos.

Another first for both of us was seeing our first Jack Rabbit! It was very quiet and peaceful when we disturbed him and as he thumped off, we could hear the 'galloping' sound of his huge feet. I never would have believed they were that large and those ears! Like a small mule!

I just re-read this post and believe I have officially entered old age and really do qualify for Yuma residency. I got a thrill seeing a rabbit!