Arizona 2012 Friday (Jan 20 2012)

Friday January 20, 2012

There was not a lot going on today but this afternoon we drove up to Yuma to find our way around the area a little. We went to the Wetlands Park area which is located along the Colorado River. The park was large with lots of area for hiking and biking paths. It also had lot of Cactus and other Arizona vegetation which is probably quite scenic in the spring when everything is in bloom.

Most every place around this area is typical dessert landscape. So far, I am not as fond of Yuma as I am of the Mesa area. Mesa is a much larger area but for some reason seems much more scenic and just cleaner looking in general. The dessert feels depressing to me many times as I am so fond of the green of the Midwest. If not for the fact that I need dental work completed, I don't have much desire to return to Yuma. In years past, we have driven many trips from Mesa for our dental appointments. It is about a 3 hour plus drive from Mesa to Yuma and a horribly boring trip so will be much better being this close.

Yuma is big into vegetable growing. Everywhere you look you see field upon field of lettuce and multiple other vegetables. When looking at all the fields, it hard to know what is growing as they all look the same. There are semi loads of boxes containing vegetables, which are being trucked to other markets. Along with the agriculture comes the migrant workers. We pass big buses filled with workers and attached to the back of the bus is a trailer hauling none other than their porta potties, which are taken to the fields during their work hours. There are probably as many migrant workers as snowbirds in this town. I feel sorry for these migrants as they work so hard for so little pay.

We drove on both sides of the Colorado River and went by many RV Parks located on the river. Most of the parks were jammed so tight with RV's it's hard to believe they could even back into the sites. One of the RV Parks that caught our interest on our trips from Mesa is called 'River's Edge'. It looks so beautiful from the road with huge palms located along each street, but when we drove back to look at the park, it too, was very overcrowded.

We were lucky to find such a nice park here in Yuma. We basically choose the RV Resort from the Internet, which is how we originally found Silveridge in Mesa. Our park here in Yuma is Las Quintas Oasis and it is located in the Foothill's. We are located about 10 miles east of the city limits of Yuma. The foothill's area is a somewhat newer area and has most of the conveniences that are needed on a daily basis, such as grocery stores and restaurants. It is loaded with RV Resorts which are all filled to capacity by the snowbirds. Our park is very neat and clean and each site has a palm tree on the lot. We have very friendly neighbors and many have offered their help in several of Larry's 'fix it' jobs around the motor home.

On our drive today we drove to Winterhaven, CA which is the exit we take when going to Los Algodnes, Mexico. I assumed Winterhaven was a pretty nice town but when we drove into the town, it was so poverty ridden it was depressing. It appears to be home to mostly migrant workers and vegetable processing plants.

I talked to Taylor this morning to check on our Addison. When they came home from their Colorado ski trip, Addison was sick with diarrhea. It was so bad she had a minor accident at pre-school on Monday. Kyle also was sick on Sunday but he was feeling much better by Monday. Monday they took Addison to the doctor and she has some type of strep that the doctor gave her antibiotics to take. Taylor said by Tuesday, Addison was acting better and the diarrhea had cleared up. The doctor said the antibiotic she gave them would not help the diarrhea so hopefully that has passed on it's own. Morgan has not been sick and neither has Taylor so hopefully it has run it's coarse.

We rounded our way back toward our home on wheels but not before funding the welfare of the Walton Family! We MUST stay out of Walmart. It seems we spend an average of $80 each time we darken the doors. Seems we are always out of something which is amazing since we really haven't cooked much. We did come home and cook dinner tonight, however.