Sunday, January 17, 2016

A Good Week in Yuma

Our time in Yuma, AZ was productive.  And our week here has come to an end.  We head further east today, to another pretty area - east from Phoenix - called Gold Canyon.
Taking in the the view at Squaw Lake - north from the Imperial Dam
Wednesday proved to be a really nice day.  The temperature rose above 70 degrees.  That fueled our juices to take a ride into the Yuma area countryside.  We headed north and west, through the Yuma Proving Grounds, making our way up to Squaw Lake.  It was not as busy as we would have guessed.  A bonus for us though.  We had the beach and dock area to ourselves.
The lake looked nice.
We sat near the beach area and took in the view.  One fisherman was seen fly fishing while birds of all types were busy fishing too.
The mountains on the east side of Yuma
Tight curves - such as this one - gets the attention of drivers. 
We got to travel unimpeded through so many paved back roads.  Our views not only included water ways and lakes but also the farm fields teaming with labourers.  This valley is a huge vegetable production zone.
Squaw Lake from high up.
Wild burrows on the side of the road.
Labourers weeding the vegetable rows.
These crops will soon be harvested and trucked to all points in the USA and Canada.
Other than a bit of shopping and a few trips to the local hardware stores, we stayed in our RV park on Thursday.  Jeanette was busy with some laundry and I eliminated several items on the 'To Do' list.  Typically, RV's require regular maintenance and I was happy to spend several hours completing little tasks. After that, we went on a long afternoon walk.
Twelve motorcyclists gathered at Roger's winter home for a well planned Saturday ride. 
Other than Jeanette and me (from British Columbia) and John (from Minnesota), the other motorcyclists were from the Province of Alberta.  And a truly good riding group this is!

We rode north to Quartzsite.  The highway was busy with RVers heading there for the huge RV show in the desert.  And the area around Quartzsite was dotted with thousands upon thousands of RVs. 
Another very nice day for a ride.  Although a bit cool (mid 60's temperatures), we were all well dressed for the elements, and the views were great.
After our lunch in Quartzsite, the group then headed north towards Parker.  At the junction towards the little city of Parker and the city of Lake of Havasu (to the west and north) we headed east towards Phoenix.  And about 100 miles short of Phoenix was where we turned our rides south west and back in to Quartzsite.

Our riders in Quartzsite

An RV woman who owns this early 70's trailer was keen to show us how it had been renovated inside and out.  Nice!
After fueling up in Quartzsite, we headed south on Arizona 95, back for Yuma
We attended a planned gathering for dinner at my brother and sister in law's Yuma home.  Bernie and Rita invited a cousin of mine and his wife to join in.  It was nice to see George and Marie-Anne.  Although they winter here, we missed them last winter.  We shared a lot of laughter.
Pre-dinner laughter.  Good fun!
When evening dawned - and the typical desert temperature drops down - we moved under cover for dinner.
By 9:30 pm, everyone said their bye byes.  Thanks to Rita and Bernie for hosting.

This Sunday morning, Jeanette and I are readying to button up our RV, load and secure the motorcycle and say good bye to our riding friends before heading east to the foot of Superstitious Mountain.  Gold Canyon is in our sights.

Thanks for dropping in.

8 comments:

  1. Safe travels Rene and Jeanette--glad to read your life has been without issues this week--you needed a break!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Janna. Yes, the cloud over our heads seems to have lifted. Yeah!

      Delete
  2. It was a great day for sure. I think we spotted you crew heading south on 95 we were outside all afternoon and parked about 200 yards on the west side of the highway just south of the Big tent.
    Travel safe and enjoy your new destination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George, we were certainly one of the riding groups that rolled into Quartzsite and out, southbound back to Yuma. Good day for a ride.

      If I had seen you sitting outdoors, I would have waved.

      Delete
  3. safe travels as you continue onward!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sue. We did arrive in Gold Canyon at 1:30 pm. And we are nicely set up now. the afternoon temperatures were mid-60's with a promise that everyday will bring improvement. No complaints.

      Delete