Yuma’s Riverside Parks

(Jan) Yuma has done a marvelous job of creating several parks and wetlands areas downtown along the Colorado River. We took the opportunity to ride our bikes along the bike trail from the Eastern Wetlands area, through Gateway, Yuma Crossings and the West Wetlands over to Joe Henry Memorial Park. This is a very nice, paved walking/bike trail though some beautiful riverside areas. Day one took us out along the canal to the Joe Henry Memorial Park where we remembered having a Moore family picnic some 10 years earlier with Gale & Joanne and Jackie & Butch. We road back through the West Wetlands area where the Colorado River Crossing hot air Balloon launch is held each November. This extensive park included an exhibit on the Army of the West, a Hummingbird Garden, a Solar Garden, Frisbee Golf area and a huge Castle Playground for children.

Chuck at the bridge leading into the Army of the West display. The Army unit, known as the Mormon Battalion, crossed the Colorado River near here.	The Army of the West paved the way for future generations when they blazed a 2,000 mile trail in 1847 from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California. The march to secure the western border during the Mexican American War is the longest sustained march in US military history.
We stopped at a small lake to watch people fishing and sailing an remote controlled sail boat.	Above is the Solar Garden and the Hummingbird Garden is at the right.

Day two found us exploring the Gateway area near the Ocean-to Ocean highway and railroad bridges, the sleek construction of Interstate 8 and on to the Yuma Crossing State Historic Park. Built in 1915, the Ocean to Ocean bridge, pictured below, was the first and only vehicular bridge over the Colorado River for 1200 miles for decades.

	Interstate 8 looking west at left and east at right. The Ocean to Ocean Hwy and Rail bridges above with Saint Thomas Indian Mission in the background.
A $700,000 Cotton Picker, above and a Historic Steam engine, right	The area near the Hilton Hotel downtown with storyboards of Yuma’s early history.

Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, site of the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, was used by the US Army to store and distribute supplies for all the military posts in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. A six month supply of clothing, food, ammunition, and other goods was kept at the depot at all times. The supplies were brought from California by ocean vessels traveling around the Baja Peninsula to Port Isabel near the mouth of the Colorado River. There, cargos were transferred to river steamers and brought upstream to Yuma. Today at the park you can visit the Officer’s Quarters & Kitchen, Storehouse, Corral House and the Office of the Depot Quartermaster.

We had just missed the city’s annual Lettuce Festival so some of the remaining Ag Equipment Displays were still on the grounds including a huge new Case IH Cotton Picker. We’ll get that event on our calendar for next year!

Powered Parachute Ride

(Jan) Wow! Incredible! Breath Taking! Fun! Our friend Tom is out here at Ogilby boondocking near us and he offered to give Chuck and me rides in his Powered Parachute! Saturday’s and Sunday’s weather were too windy but Monday morning dawned bright and clear with virtually no wind. Time to fly!

Jan strapped in ready to go. Pilot Tom is straightening the chute.	Take-off and …….	Headed toward the mountains.
Chuck’s turn! Tom & Chuck ready for take off.	Flying high.	Coming in to land.

Flying at 30-40 MPH, ground speed, and having very little structure around you is an amazing thing! You can feel the wind streaming past and as you go higher there is a feeling of ‘stillness.’  We also hit an temperature inversion as went higher. The air was warmer, around 70 degrees and dropped back down to around 63 as we got closer to the desert floor. The sights were incredible!  We have walked and hiked in the desert and the mountains many times but this was an entirely different perspective. You can see so far!

Flying over Chuck, our MH and Jeep.	Tom and Chuck at sunrise.	A hill that’s been mined.
Tom’s friend Max flying ahead of us toward the Dunes.	Tom and Jan in his rearview mirror.	Flying towards the Cargo Muchacho mountains.

A foot note; Several days ago Tom had told us about some desert art that he had spotted from the air and gave us the co-ordinates. Dean & Judy and Chuck & I hiked over to that area to see it and explore the elaborate design. When I was up in the powered parachute with Tom, he flew over the design. Wow! The intricacies of the design were incredible and much easier to see. It was wonderful to see both perspectives.

Thanks so much, Tom!  We loved flying!

Slab City

(Chuck)The Slabs are located near Nyland, CA which is on the east side of the Salton Sea. It is the concrete remains of a WWII Marine base which was called Camp Dunlap (1942-1961). It is a boondock area for some 150 full time residents and many more transients who pass through in the winter. It has been glamorized and quite possibly over glamorized for several decades. As we were planning our departure from Anza Borrego, Judy indicated that she wanted to stay at Slab City for one night. Underground Weather indicated that we were in for a windy day and it seemed like a good idea to spend it at The Slabs. This community is notorious for some characters who may be antisocial, uncooperative and very possessive of their space. I did not want to wander in and park where someone deemed that I should not be at that particular time so I e-mailed our friend Marty who inhabits there occasionally and asked for advice. Marty said ”Go find the LOWS” and gave us directions. The LOWS are of course Loners ON Wheels which is a singles RV group. They have maintained a presence at The Slabs for decades. We stayed on a small corner of their area and felt secure for the two days of our stay.

Marty asked me for our impression of The Slabs and it is mixed with more frowns than smiles. I have read blogs of folks who have shared conversation with some of the more famous of the permanent residents and many seem to glorify and honor the free spirit and encourage the admiration of the down and out. I did not seek these people out. I spoke with only one neighbor who was a Canadian spending the winter in a warm climate. When we drove around in the area we saw large areas of trash of all descriptions. Dean and Judy took a walk and found a church group from Borrego Springs distributing clothing, furniture and personal grooming articles to a group of young, barefoot and very disadvantaged people.

We looked over Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain while we were there and he has indeed found a way to express his love of Jesus. The mountain is his canvas and donated paint is his medium.

Salvation Mt. is at the entrance to Slab City. Our friends Dean & Judy are to the left above.

The photo above is inside the ‘building’ at right in the photo to the left.

Nearly anybody who has RV’ed in the West has heard of Slab City . If you have never been there it is probably worth the experience. The winds were calm by the second day and as we left the Slabs we could not help but notice the words on the blockhouse by the road “Caution Reality Ahead”.

(Jan) The Moores and Sheeleys moved over to Ogilby Road on Tuesday. It has been so much fun being with these dear friends hiking and playing Pegs & Jokers, talking and sharing evening meals. Dean & Judy spent their summer in the Maritimes so they shared some wonderful cod from New Foundland with us and also, some moose from Nova Scotia. And thanks to friends Richard & Peggy, we had a meal of crab from the Oregon Coast! Dean & Judy headed back north on Saturday. We’ll miss them but we are planning to cruise through the Panama Canal with Poutneys, Richmonds and them in April.