Richard & Sylvia's RV Adventures

Day 37 & 38 - Saturday, April 7, 2007 & Sunday, April 8, 2007

 Las Vegas, NV to Yuma, AZ – 294 Miles

We’re off to Yuma Arizona, we’re back in the Dessert and Syliva is going take a chance and try driving the RV….there is really nothing to hit except huge cacti.  Wow - it does feel like a big heavy truck. 

There is not much traffic, but I get neverous about the cars behind me….Richard tells me not to worry about the cars behind me…but to keep an eye on the ones in front of me..Easy for him to say. As we get closer to Yuma I pull over and let him drive.  I think he’s a little relieved…. hah! 

We were planning on staying at the Yuma Military Campsite, but we were advised to stay closer to town as the Yuma Army Depot was way out in the middle of nowhere.  It was let me tell ya!! One of the things Arizona is famous for is all the RV’s here. 

There is actually a town call Quartzsite that is made up of RV’s.  Many RV’s come here for the winter from all over the US and Canada.   Well we saw it – sure enough – nothing but RV’s!!!! 

We joined Passport America to give us additional low cost camping options when Military Camping Facilities are not available. There are many Camping clubs out -they all have pros and cons as we’re leaning from other campers.  Once we arrived at our campground we took a dip in their pool had some interesting conversations with some of the remaining “snow birds” who were heading back home up north in a couple days. 

We took their advice and visited a local Mexican-American restaurant for dinner only to get there just in time for a “fight” / “shouting match” right there in the restaurant.  We figured this was as close as we’d get to the “fight at OK Corral”.

Easter Sunday – Yuma, Arizona and Mexico

We have some special friends who live in Yuma; Pearl Sims Bowman,  her daughter Chanoa,  and son-in-law Nando. We met up and enjoyed brunch together at I-Hop and then took a quick trip into Mexico since the border is only a few miles away. 

With it being Easter Sunday many of the shops and vendors were closed and home with their families; the place was almost a ghost town.  However, you know women on a mission, they’ll always find a place with some bargains.  Sylvia was especially looking for some medium size clay vases to complement a Mexican carpet we had purchased in Puerto Vallarta in February.  We found some nice ones and so it was time for Richard to do the barginning. 

He “hemmed and hawed” and “grunted” a little about how high the initial $95 price was for these three vases.  The shop keeper was tough on the deal wanting only to go down to $75 ….  We looked in our wallets and only could come up with $58, had to borrow a $10 from Nando.  He was the one to make the final offer explaining we had no more money and the shop keeper finally gave in and Sylvia got her 3 vases.

Now we we leaving Mexico with 3 vases and no money to even buy a Margarita before crossing back over the border!  Mama mia what we to do?  Well Pearl knew this place just before the crossing of the border and thought they would take a check from her local Yuma bank; so we checked and sure enough we were in luck and were able to have some Margaritas in Mexico. 

In fact, everyone but Richard, the designated driver, had about 4 each before we “happily” crossed back over into the US. Sylvia insisted they only had two Margaritas each.

Pearl graciously invited us to here condo for some more Margaritas and steaks and shrimp for dinner.  We happily accepted.  What a great Easter we had with our friends in Yuma!  We feel fortunate to have friends living , and we’re able to stop and catch up as we travel accorss the country. 

With tomorrow being a work day for Pearl and another travel day for us, we parted wishing we could stay another day; however, we’re off to see new places tomorrow and see some more friends as we drive into California through San Diego and up to Carlsbad to visit Sandy and Len Rogerson.   We heard President Bush was to visit Yuma on Monday; couldn’t stay to see him. 

posted by Richard @ 1:07 AM