We've arrived in the Yuma desert....

We arrived in Yuma, AZ on Wednesday afternoon, January 2, 2008 after traveling 10 days across the country!

We crossed the last pass of mountains into the Yuma valley Wednesday afternoon. What a beautiful desert valley....brilliant blue sky and bright sunshine and warmth! We were glad to be at our first destination!

Our friends, Jim and JoEllen Gass had very graciously invited us to stay with them on their lot in the Foothills section of Yuma. They welcomed us to their lot and helped us get set up.
This is a unique area, such as we have not seen before. It is a lovely combination of residential Southwest type homes and RV lots mixed together. Many of the "snowbirds" from Northern California, Washington, Idaho, Oregon (and many other) states have lots or homes and spend the winters here. Most of them are, of course, retirees, some younger and some much older.
It is very interesting to see how active these "retirees" are. One of their most popular pastimes is "four wheeling" in the desert area here. It's not unusual to see a group of 8 or 10 riding the streets, picking up their group and heading out for a 40 to 60 mile desert ride! These guys know how to have fun!

There are lots of great restaurants here...so we went to a great little "Fish-n-Chips" place for dinner, Mr. Fish. It was good and since we are seafood lovers, we were quite happy to have fish in the desert!

It was great to see Jim and Jo again and just spend time with them. They are two of the nicest folks you'll ever meet.....very gracious and genuine and we are enjoying our time with them. They are members of the L.E.O. Club (Let's Eat Out) and we've been having alot of meetings!

Thursday evening, the four of us met up with Ron & Linda, Pam & Smokey Ridgley and John and Doni (all fellow RVer's) at Del Coyote for the Thursday evening Mexican special and had a fun little dinner.

Jim showed us what he refers to as the "Widow's Lot"....two HUGE parking lots here where people take all of their unused "toys" to sell, when they no longer have a use for them. If you were in the market for ANY motorized or pullable toy, it's on the lot! There must be hundreds of campers, motorhomes, toy haulers, four wheelers, motorcycles, golf carts....we've never seen such a variety of big-boy toys! Anything you could possibly want to buy is on the lots. Must be an awful lot of "widows" here! (Needless to say, I managed to keep Bob off the lots!)

So we are eating well and enjoying the company and the climate...We have managed to hang on to Minkie, and have not lost her anymore, thusfar. She has made friends with Jo's dog, Taco, and has established her domain in the MH. So all is good!

Love and hugs to everyone!