Sun, Sand and Water

We had planned to leave Wellton on the 23rd but the weather up into Utah and Idaho was still bad so we decided to wait a week. We called up the lady in charge of scheduling us at the Coulee City campground to let her know. She told us it would work out well since the lift station for the septic system wasn't working and they would be about a week behind getting the campground open.

I had these pictures left of the area. A very nice sunrise over the Betty Mountains. A not so great picture of the Imperial Sand Dunes in California -- taken from the rest area along the freeway. Last but not least a picture of the Colorado River at the border between Arizona and California in Yuma.

We are heading out this Wednesday the 30th --- no matter what. We might have to hang out around Salt Lake City, UT waiting for a clear window but thats ok. It has been very nice enjoying another week of warmth down here. I guess we just have to face the music and head north -- goodbye 80 degrees and hello 50's.

Fields & flowers

It is very pretty around here with flowers blooming. The fields around Wellton and Yuma are always green with some sort of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, alfalfa and even wheat growing. All this green is thanks to the irrigation canals flowing with water diverted from the Colorado River.

I took a picture of the ditch that was filled with beautiful yellow and orange flowers blooming. They have been blooming for over two months. I also took a picture of the yellow flowers on this Brittlebush.

We are leaving this week and will travel about 250 miles a day -- slowly working our way to Washington. We will miss the weather here in Yuma. We will also miss the very nice internet connection we have at this park. We will be be back to using WiFi systems at the parks we stay at along the way. I'm not sure what kind of internet access we will have in Washington. The park we will be at doesn't have WiFi. I will keep up our blog but may have to start using a library for internet so I would be updating the blog during the week instead of Sundays.

Pioneer Rv Park

Our stay at Pioneer RV Park is coming to an end. It's a very nice park with an outdoor swimming pool and hottub that I have been able to enjoy most of the winter. There have been lots of activities -- food, music, card games, crafts, etc. etc. Most people that come here come back every winter and we can see why. The weather is great, the people friendly and its nice to be in a small town with a big town close by for shopping.

I took pictures around the park to kind of show the mountains around us. It is a fairly big park with over 350 spaces but there are parks in Yuma that are three times bigger --no thanks. Our rig is up against the back wall and on the other side of the wall is the freeway - kind of noisy. The picture from the main gate with the pretty green alfalfa field shows a train at the back of the field. Train noise -- kind of noisy. Even with all the noise and occasional "cow" smell from the feedlot a few miles away it's still been a nice place to stay.

We will be leaving here around March 23rd. We are heading to Coulee City, Washington for the summer. We promised to be at the town campground by April 1st. We will be camphosting there with one other couple from April through part of October. We can't wait to get out walleye fishing again. We will be fishing Banks Lake -- formed by the Grand Coulee Dam -- part of the Columbia River system. It should be good!

Bakers Tank & Picnics

Our hiking club had a picnic to celebrate our last hike. We went out to Baker's Tank. Tanks out here in the desert are just places where water can collect from rain, runoff and maybe small springs -- usually in washes that have a deep spot in them. Baker's Tank area is on the military range and has a picinic shelter where you can have a fire if you want. We all brought food, tables, chairs and sat out in the desert and had a good time.

Our rock club had a picnic as our last hurrah -- two days after our hiking club picnic. It was out in the desert on the California side. Again everyone brought food, tables, chairs, etc and ate and had a good time. This time we didn't have a picinic shelter -- just set up down in a wash out of the wind and proceeded to grill burgers and eat. Jim went out looking for rocks towards the base of some mountains while we were out there. He came across a white lizard about a foot long and his first encounter with a rattle snake. We have now have heard of several other encounters with snakes so we are glad to be done hiking and rockhounding in the desert.

We also saw this weird circle of rock and pile of white quartz out in the middle of nowhere -- no signs to explain what it was.

It's been very warm here the last several days -- in the 80's and we've had to breakdown and turn the air conditioning on - -- as I write this it's dark out -- 7:30 at night and still 75 degrees outside WOW. I don't think we have had it as warm and sunny during the past few summers as we've enjoyed this past winter in Yuma.