Sam And Saundra's Second Time Around - Part 16

Sam And Saundra’s Second Time Around – Part 16

Arizona

11/1/10-3/1/11 Yuma Mini-Adventures - Quartzsite

To get to Yuma from Portland, we drove through Quartzsite – the town.  We had heard rumors about this area for years and planned to meet up with my brother Cecil at this location – until his own health issues started biting his heels.  We stopped to scope out the situation – trying to observe what draws thousands of RVers to this area every year.  We were disappointed to see very few ‘rigs’ parked anywhere.  We pulled our trailer up to the local McDonalds and opted to eat lunch prior to hitting the road again. As Sam made the menu selections, I scanned the other patrons and the businesses across the street.  I immediately got excited – across the way was a sign posted on what appeared to be an old, dusty, fair booth.  It read “Beading Classes Available”.  I could not wait to tell Sam as he has proclaimed that making jewelry is one of his retirement activities. 

I then turned my scrutiny on the many other patrons of this McDonald’s.  The hair on the back of my neck not only stood up on end – they lengthened and waved. It took many moments for me to realize the thing that was totally, totally wrong about this place was – no kids. Zip. Nada. I was beginning to panic, eyes seeing a gray haze. I was ready to make a dash for Brutus, when Sam arrived at the table with our food. I blathered the story out and he … calmly looked over the situation, commenting “Boy, different then when we are home with Jaron and Owen”… I decide to drop the subject – while keeping an eye on all those Mickey-D regulars.

Desert

As we ate, I tried to point out the beading classes that were offered across the street.  Sam could not see the sign.  I finally stood up and said “ It is right there!  It says … Oh never mind. It says Reading Glasses Available.”  I think they changed it while I was watching other things of interest.  We left, but planned to return later to see if more ‘rigs’ showed up to boon-dock along the roadside desert and to see if kids actually exist in this town.

Down the road we see various signs indicating sites to explore.  Places named Imperial Dam (fishing?), Palm Canyon, Crystal Mountain, Castle Dome Mountain/Ghost town, Yuma Lake, and Fortuna Pond. All of these were interspersed with areas we had explored last time we were here with the fold-a-boat (Mittry Lake and Martinez Lake).  We decided to make this area our focus for mini-adventures while in Yuma.