Yuma to Ehrenberg

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Yesterday we just hung around the Pilot Knob RV Park and got some laundry done and we washed the motorhome windows inside and out.  They were pretty dirty after our drive down from the rainy and snowy north.  We also got things ready for moving day which was today.

NOTE:  if any of you are planning a trip to the Yuma area, I suggest you visit the Yuma Territorial Prison which is now a state park.  We toured it in 2007 and didn't need to go back, but it is worth a look.  See Chamber of Commerce link.

We got up early so we could get over to Sewmasters in Yuma where we had an appointment for the new window screens and tire covers.  We got there before 8:00 am and parked the MH in front of the building.

While the installer did his work, we took off to McDonald's for a quick breakfast of English muffins and coffee.  Annie waited in the car as she can't drink coffee.  Within an hour they had the work done.  We drove back, paid the bill, hooked up the toad and were on our way out of Yuma. 

We took Hwy. 95 North toward Quartsite.  The drive was easy and we passed some interesting scenery.  The highway wasn't bad, either.  Not a lot of traffic today.

We began to see a few of the wonderful Saguaro cactus along the highway.

About 25 miles south of Quartsite, we got stopped at a Border Patrol check point.  They had drug sniffing dogs walking past all vehicles.  The agent asked where we were headed and we told him Ehrenberg and he just waved us on our way.  Bruce looks pretty suspicious to me, but I guess not to the agent.  :)

We got to our ROD park, Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, AZ and got set up quickly.  Bruce went to work putting up the new window screens.   We got the windshield cover back in 2007 when we bought the Tour and really like it, so we wanted the other windows covered also.  Works great in sunny and warm places to keep the MH cooler.

Later today, I'll take some photos of this nice RV park and post them tomorrow.  So far this park looks like a winner to us.

Until next time.....so long for now!

"Official Center of the World" - roadside oddity

Friday I posted about finding a church for today.  We had located the Trinity United Methodist in Yuma.  I posted a photo with the pastor's name of Tweedy Sombrero and wondered if that was real (the name is amusing to me).  Well folks.....it's real all right.  Pastor Sombrero is a woman of Hispanic origins and she is a gifted speaker.  We enjoyed her sermon this morning, although I am hoping that God will bless me with forgiveness as my mind was wandering a bit thinking about my post for today.

Since getting settled here at Pilot Knob RV, we'd seen a small church up on a hill right across I-8 from the park.  (edit note:  Sidewinder Road exit, 7 miles west of Yuma)  So, yesterday we got in the car to drive over and check it out.  The church is on the grounds of the History In Granite Museum.  The museum is located in the town of Felicity, California.  There are no residents at the moment the guide told us.  I think she said that the "town" consisted of the 3,000 acres this museum sits on.

There is a pyramid at the museum, a gift shop, and a small restaurant that wasn't open and it didn't look like it was going to be open either.  Beyond the pyramid are all of the granite walls that comprise the main focus of the museum.  Inside the pyramid is the plaque marking the "Official Center of the World."  To actually see the plaque, I had to pay $3.00 and this also entitled me to a certificate verifying that I'd been there.  Bruce passed up the opportunity to stand on the Center of the World plaque.

We saw a short 8 minute video explaining how the museum came into being and then the guide, Felicia Lee, took me and 2 other suckers....I mean tourists....to see the plaque with the "dot" marking the spot.  After being told to stand on the plaque with the dot and make a wish, Felicia Lee handed me my certificate and I was now released to explore the granite walls and the church.

The founding trustee of this museum is Jacques-Andre' Istel.  He is quoted as saying this museum is "to engrave in granite highlights of the collective memory of humanity."  He originally named this the Hall of Fame of Parachuting  (this is true, folks, I couldn't make this stuff up!!) but it was renamed in 2002 to it's current name.  As we walked back toward the church we could look at the granite panels, 417 in all.  Only about 1/4 of them are finished so far but work was still progressing.  They deal with all sorts of interesting and varied subjects related to humanity.  There seemed to be a lot of panels dealing with Chinese, French and U.S. events. 

This panel dealt with conflict in Indochina in 1954.  Many panels have both English and French languages engraved.  There were several panels dedicated as the Marine Corps Korean War Memorial, listing the names of all Marines and Navy Corpsmen who died in the conflict.

This panel was about the birth of French aviation.

This panel was about the settling of Arizona.

The church is called the "Church on the Hill."  It is a man made hill called the "Hill of Prayer" and it was built to keep the church as the highest building in the town.  It was dedicated in 2008 and is used for weddings or other ceremonies.

Inside there was a beautiful wooden ceiling and 3 large windows above the alter. 

Looking from the top of the 49 steps to the church, you can see the granite walls laid out below.  Beyond the walls in the center is the pyramid.

This isn't really the center of the world, but it has officially and legally been deemed that by some proclamation in California.  I don't remember exactly what the guide said about that.   The title all came about because somebody read the children's book, "The Good Dragon at the Center of the World" and decided to make this the spot of that center.

It was time to leave, and on our way out to the car I stopped to take this photo of the
Arm of God Sundial, named after a statue by Michelangelo.

Out by the parking lot is this portion of Staircase #12 from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.   The stairs of the tower had been redone and made safer, and the founder of this museum attained ownership of this portion of the original staircase and brought it here.....where else?  The middle of nowhere in the California desert. 

When this museum was dedicated, the Ambassador from France was here and so were representatives of the French Foreign Legion.  Lots of officials from California and Arizona, too, according to the video we saw.  

We enjoy visiting weird, wacky roadside oddities.  This was sure one of them.

Until next time.....so long for now!

Saturday at the Flea Market

This morning we had to get up early.  We set our clocks on Arizona time even though we are staying in California.  Winterhaven is so close to Yuma, everyone here just goes by AZ time.  So even though the clock read 6:00, it was in reality 5:00 am in California.  I wanted to make the 8:00 meeting of Weight Watchers over in Yuma.

(click on any photo for a larger view)

After the "official January weigh-in", we drove over to McDonald's and had some English muffins and coffee for breakfast.  After we got a 3rd refill of coffee, we took that one with us and set out for the Flea Market, otherwise known as The Arizona Market Place.

We'd come here in 2007 and had fun browsing the stalls.   There really isn't anything that needful, it is just fun to poke around in all the vendor stalls.  We needed to buy a ticket from this young lady to get gain entry.  50 cents a piece.

There are many different vendors here, most of which we have no interest in.  We did make a few small purchases.  Bruce bought some of those bungy-ball cord things he uses to hold together the water hoses and so forth.  He's always finding some use for them.  He got a bundle of 5 for $2.00. 

Bruce caught my photo as I was browsing through a purse vendor's stall.  Didn't buy it.  I also checked out some of the housewares...didn't buy those either.  I did find a plastic indoor thermometer I wanted.  And I found a nifty net tote bag for $1.50.  I can use it for lots of things.  At one of the produce vendor stalls I did buy a Honey Dew Melon, a bunch of radishes, a jicama, and a large Butternut squash....$3.90 for all.

There were also several stalls with RV supplies, outdoor mats, patio chairs and back support thingys.  We saw a fake flower stall.  Colorful stuff but we certainly don't need any of that! 

They have a few food vendors here also.  You can buy hot dogs and hamburgers and they have tables and benches for you.  The entire area is flat and level and totally wheelchair and scooter friendly.  I even spied a Handicap Restroom.   Over the loud speaker, occasionally a person will call out the winning numbers.  These are the numbers you find on your entry ticket stub.  They have drawings for prizes donated by the vendors.   Most of the prizes were nothing we'd need but Bruce checked our 2 ticket stubs....no winning numbers for us.

We had a fun day just messing around.  We aren't in Yuma for much in the way of sightseeing.  Just killing time until we go over on Tuesday to get our window screens made.  Yuma is an OK place, but I can't really see us coming here anytime in the near future.  We'll leave it to the snowbirds that come here every season.  Enjoy!

Until next time......so long for now!

Checking Out Yuma and Errand Day

This is our second trip to Yuma.  We came the first time, with Dad, in our motorhome and that was in January of 2007.   Although my Mom and Dad had lived in Arizona for about 13 years before moving to Tumwater, Washington, they had never come down to Yuma.  Dad was interested in seeing this snowbird mecca, too. 

We came back down here this time to get some more screens custom made for the MH.  I'll post on that next week after we get the job done.  Since we'd been here once already, we sort of knew our way around.  Today we decided to get some errands done and scout out the town once again.

We want to go to church on Sunday, so we looked up a local United Methodist Church on Catalina and 4th Ave.   As luck would have it, it also happens to be the location for a Weight Watcher meeting on Saturday morning at 8:00.  I need to go to my meeting at least once in January, so it works out great.  We drove over there just to make sure we could find it on Saturday morning since I have to be there so early.  The sign on the wall of the church was interesting.  Can't wait to get there on Sunday! 

Is Tweedy Sombrero really the pastor's name?  We'll find out.

Across the street from the church is one of the hundreds of water stations you will find in southern Arizona towns.  We saw the first one in 2007 up in Casa Grande, between Phoenix and Tucson.  They have such salty (yucky) water down here most folks visit these water stations to buy drinking water in large quantities. 

We had to go over to the shopping center to find a place for haircuts.  We found a Super Cuts and got that job done in quick order.  They weren't busy.  In the same center was a PetSmart and Annie needed some dog food.  She would be getting mighty hungry in a few days if we didn't make that stop.

We took a drive over to the Yuma Lakes RV Resort, which is where we stayed last time in 2007.  It was OK, but we like Pilot Knob better.  Yuma Lakes is a Coast to Coast park but I had read something on the RVnet Forums about it also being a KOA now.  We drove out there and, sure enough, a big old KOA sign was there.  It is still a membership park but I guess with the bad economy they needed to bring in more business.

On the way to Yuma Lakes, we passed many farms.  That is one thing that surprised us in 2007, the amount of farming that goes on here.  The fertile land of this valley has prime soil and climate conditions for a thriving agriculture business.  Irrigation is supplied by the Colorado River.  They grow a lot of broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, cantaloupe and watermelon here.

Tomorrow morning after Weight Watchers, we're going to McDonald's for an English muffin and coffee breakfast (we never pass a McD's).  After eating, we're heading over to the big Flea Market for some browsing and people watching.  It should be fun.

Until next time.....so long for now!