Brian & Patty's Awesome Adventure!: Yuma, Az

We left Santa Paula, Ca on March 7th and spent one night at the Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, Ca. We used a pull through and didn't even unhook the truck. Just hooked up the electricity to make it easy. It is 185 miles from Santa Paula to Palm Desert.

On the 8th we left Palm Desert and headed to an RPI park in Yuma, Az called Yuma Lakes. We stay in RPI parks for $10.00 a night so this is a good deal for us. We are here for a week. It was 155 miles from Palm Desert to here so it was an easy ride.

We checked in and they assigned our site. It was a back-in that had a sewer manhole cover under the trailer and an electric box and wires behind us. There was nobody anywhere near our site so I called the ranger station and asked if we could move over one. She said we could, so we moved to site 108.

Site 108

Yuma Lakes is part of the CRA (Colorado River Adventures). The one thing we like about the CRA parks is that they keep the swimming pools warm. Many of the Thousand Trails pools are just too cold (an exception is Palm Springs TT in Palm Desert). The CRA parks we have stayed at in the past are K&Q in Julian, Ca and Emerald Cove in Earp, Ca on the Parker Strip.

Many of the retired people that stay here go the short distance across the border to Los Algodones, Mexico for dental care. There are more dentist per capita then any other city in the world. Many of the dentist got their degrees in the United States. The costs is a fraction of the cost of the USA. A crown that costs about a thousand dollars in the USA is between $100-150 in Los Algodones. We're not sure we would get any major work done here, but we decided to get cleanings done. In the USA it costs us about $100 with a cash discount, here it was $30.00. All the equipment is modern and sterilized with autoclave equipment. The dentist and staff speak fluent English.

Los Algodones Border

Patty did not get a chance to get her hair cut and colored in Ventura when we were home. She normally pays a little more than $100.00 do do that. Her person does a great job. Researching I read that Juanita's is the place in Los Algodones to get your hair done. She went and checked in. The charge for hair cut and color was $36.00!

I think they did a great job, but I think Patty always looks great!

Hair Cut

My back has been hurting so I figured I might as well look for a chiropractor while here. I've never been to a chiropractor. I called my insurance. They will reimburse me $20.00 per visit. They told me even in Mexico as long as I have a receipt. They told me to expect to pay about $80.00 in Ventura County. The charge in Los Algodones is $40.00 for a treatment. There were 2 chiropractors and they were both American doctors. Felt better after the treatment and got instructions on how to self treat.

By the way, what I didn't cover is the best way to get there is to park in the Quechan Indian Tribe Parking lot. They charge you $6.00 to park all day. The lot is right next to the border. As soon as you cross the border the town starts. The town is about 4 or 5 square blocks so everything is right there. You can also buy pharmaceuticals and as long as it is NOT a narcotic you do not need a prescription. An example of costs are 100 count 800mg Ibuprofen are $3.99.

We had lunch at a busy restaurant. We Had five tacos (3 and 2), 2 bottled sodas and a bottled water. All the chips we wanted (they kept refilling our bowl). They gave us four different bowls of salsa, and a big plate of garnish for the tacos. The prices were not listed so when it was time to pay I asked the owner expecting the worse. He said, how about $10.00? I figured for 5 tacos and 3 bottles that was fair! BTW the tacos were stuffed! Very big and filling.

Coming back you need to show your passport to the US Agents and declare anything you are bringing back. In the afternoon the lines are very long and can take up to an hour to get back.

One of the places we wanted to go to in Yuma was the Yuma Territorial Prison.

Yuma Territorial Prison

The prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876. For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 20 women, served sentences there for crimes ranging from murder to polygamy. The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners. In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona.

Prison Cell

Let me out!

Patty also in her cell.

She's sad.

Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914. When the school's football team played against Phoenix and unexpectedly won, the Phoenix team called the Yuma team "criminals". Yuma High adopted the nickname with pride, sometimes shortened to the "Crims". The school's symbol is the face of a hardened criminal, and the student merchandise shop is called the Cell Block.

This was the original "Criminals" mascot.

Mascot

They have softened it some and this is the current mascot. It still cracks me up that a high school calls themselves the criminals! LOL

Yuma Criminals

This tower sits upon the water tower. Water is pulled up from the Colorado River below and stored for use.

Watch and Water Tower

Here is a view from the Watch Tower.

Watch Tower View

In 1915, if you wanted to drive from San Francisco to New York, you had to drive 1,500 miles out of your way because this was the only place to cross, Thus the name Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge. The bridge would form a crucial link on the Old Spanish Trail Highway, which spans the country from the old Spanish colonial towns of St. Augustine, Fla., on the Atlantic coast to San Diego, Calif., on the Pacific.

Now it is a historical landmark and it is one direction at a time controlled by traffic lights. The best way to cross the Colorado in Yuma is via Interstate 8.

Ocean to Ocean Bridge

Here we are on the bridge.

On Bridge

On the banks of the river is the Quartermaster Depot. The depot was established by the U.S. Army in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army posts in what is now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. One purpose of the depot was to ensure that a six month supply of much needed goods such as ammunition, food and clothing was on hand at all times. The goods and supplies were brought to Yuma from California aboard ships that traveled around the Baja California peninsula and up the Gulf of California to Port Isabel, Sonora at the mouth of the Colorado River. Supplies were shipped up the Colorado on river boats to Yuma and stored at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot.

Quartermaster Depot

The Old Plank Road is a plank road in Imperial County, California that was built in 1915 as an east–west route over the Algodones Dunes. It effectively connected the extreme lower section of Southern California to Arizona and provided the last link in a commercial route between San Diego and Yuma. This is remnants of the Old Plank Road at the Quartermaster Depot.