Yuma to Quartzsite

Yuma is a place crawling with senior citizens this time of year (probably a bad word choice). It is a winter home for snowbirds from the northwest (up to British Columbia) and the north central USA. When Janice and I were taking a walk around the park at sunset, the temperature was 50 degrees and dropping, with a light breeze. We were wearing coats and gloves. We met a couple of gents sitting in folding chairs enjoying a glass of wine and wearing shorts and T-shirts. They indicated that they were from Michigan and that they found the 50 degrees quite balmy. Go figure.

Visited the historical Yuma Territorial Prison, formerly known as the “hell hole”, as prisoners served their sentences in 110 degree weather with no air conditioning. After the prison closed in 1908, it served for awhile as the town high school. Athletic teams were named “The Criminals” or “Crims”, which is still the mascot name. Just a matter of time before the Prisoner’s Union brings a lawsuit to stop this disparagement in the name of PC.


Enjoyed a nice afternoon with Jim and Karen Werner, amigos from last year’s Copper Canyon adventure. They snowbird in Yuma. After a nice lunch at the nearby Yuma Proving Grounds (Army), we watched the army’s crack parachuting team (The Golden Knights) practice their jumps. Spectacular. Click here for video.

On the way back to ‘camp’ we stopped by the Elks Club where other amigos (Kaye and Dee Kimberlin) were stopping on the way back from Quartzsite.

We departed Yuma on Thursday, headed for Quartzsite ourselves. On highway 95 there was a steady stream of RVs headed south out of Quartzite, since the big RV Show had ended earlier in the week. We opted not to dry camp in the desert, since daughter Julie was driving down from Las Vegas (3 ½ hours) to visit Carly. Instead we stopped at the semi-seedy “88 Shades RV Park”. There’s probably an interesting story behind that name…somewhere.

Quartzsite still has a good population of RVers left. Julie arrived in the afternoon and is probably the youngest person in Quartzsite. Geezerville.