Saturday, March 22, 2008

Imperial Dam

We moved from Quartzsite to Imperial Dam today.  We are about 20 miles north of Yuma along the Colorado River.  There is another Long Term Visitor Area here where we have all the same services we had in Quartzsite, and our pass from there is good here also.

I remember when Mom and Dad spent some time here.  We visited them where they were parked along the river.  That is no longer possible unless you want to pay $15 per day.   The area we can stay in is located up on a mesa on the California side of the river.  It is very different from Quartzsite which is level  ground with a few dry creek beds running through the desert.  Here the land is mostly hilly since the river has cut down through here sometime in the distant past.  It is also 3 to 5 degrees hotter here than in Quartzsite because it is lower in elevation.   It got up to 89 today, which is hotter than we enjoy.

After arriving this afternoon we rode into Yuma to do some shopping.  The road runs along the river for a few miles and then through fields of produce.  It is actually quite pretty and the green fields are much cooler.

When we returned home I set up the satellite and TV dishes while cooking a turkey breast on the grill.  It came out very good.

While in Quartzsite we didn't do a whole lot.  We rode down to Yuma once and to Blythe once for shopping.  We also took a trip south of Quartzsite to Palm Canyon on the KOFA National Wildlife Refuge.  The only palm trees native to Arizona live there in a very narrow canyon.  Other than that we just did the normal stuff; hauling water once or twice a week, grocery runs to town and taking walks in the evening.

We plan to be here until we move to San Onofre where we will spend the summer.  That move should happen on April 1.  Until then we are just going to try to keep as cool as possible.

6 comments:

  1. Would you rather be in Wisconsin, where Joc reported that they had a foot of snow yesterday and today?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember that year when we all went to the Colorado river when the kids(Dana, Heather, Robin, Brian, and Darrin) were young. I mostly remember hearing about them opening the floodgates and seeing tons of fish flying out. I don't think I saw that but I can't remember if I did or just remembering the story.

    Richard: Have you checked out George's Bulletin Board yet?

    ReplyDelete
  3. So when you're not driving to Yuma or Blythe, or hauling water, you're just kind of vegging in the desert? Reading books? Watching movies? Needlework?

    Are you getting all the power you need from Solar?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep. We're veggies! Seriously, we take life pretty easy, getting up usually between 8 and 9. I catch up on some forums I follow, Dianna plays some games for a while. We fix a simple breakfast then putter around with whatever strikes our fancy. It seems there is always some little project around the trailer that needs attention like checking batteries or touching up the paint on the hitch.

    We usually have some "major" thing each day, like going to town or just for a ride on the scooter somewhere. Laundry usually consumes one day.

    We normally watch TV in the evening. Love my 42" Sony HD!

    Yes, our solar provides all the power we need except for laundry day. I have to run the generator because our inverter is a modified sine wave type, not pure sine wave. Most stuff runs OK on MSW but our washer will not. If it did, we would never start the generator.

    I forgot to mention in the post above that when I was setting up the satellite dish last night we had a visit from one of the wild donkeys that live in the area. He was completely unafraid and came right up to me, probably looking for a handout. He didn't get one.

    We went to the chapel at Yuma Proving Ground this mornig for Easter Sunday service. It is a nice little base here in the desert. Everything is so green and pleasant.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was wondering if you ever got to make it to church. A base chapel can be pretty nice. I'll never forget the time we went to the chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

    Are there many dune buggies out there this time of year? I would think the sands would be full of them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Donna, we are no place near the dunes so I don't know. The dunes are west of Yuma and we are north. There are lots of 4 wheelers here though.

    ReplyDelete