Yuma is Yuma is Yuma is Yuma!

Yuma tends to be shopping and eating and eating and shopping and maybe more eating. I seem to do a lot of that since I quit smoking. It’s not that food tastes so much better; it’s just that I need something that continually goes from my hand to my mouth. It can be almost anything. I started out being so-o-o good munching on celery but do you know how boring celery can get? I still can’t think of anything that has as few calories as celery and so the pants get tighter.

Anyway three weeks in Yuma was enough. We can’t complain: Sallee and John are great friends (and they tried to teach us pinochle – mission impossible); our site in the Foothills is in a great neighbourhood, but you know how we are about cities! Doing Laundry twice was enough to encourage us to leave!!

We spent our travel time going out to Holtville and the Imperial Valley in California and, of course, down to Algodones, Mexico.

We stopped at the BLM near Holtville called the Oasis Desert Hot Springs to meet with George and Gaylene, folk we met a couple of years ago. There is a core of Canadian Snowbird residents mainly from Alberta and BC but some like George and Gaylene make an annual trek from Ontario. Like any gathering of people they have formed various groups and you see rings of RVs around big fire pits where they meet for nightly get-togethers.

The main attraction here is a mineral hot springs. The Springs are accessible to all. The temperature is about 120 degrees F and people claim there are healing properties. All I know is that it feels great. The people from Holtville (a nearby town) and the BLM residents have worked together to build and maintain the Hot Springs area to keep it clean and free of charge for everyone.

There are showers you can stand under – no soaps allowed; there is a pond surrounded by palm trees that isn’t as hot for swimming; a hot, hot tub; and a not so hot tub.

The water was so hot people go down, fill up containers and bring them back to do dishes and laundry.

After all these years, we finally got the chance to be in Holtville for the Carrot Festival. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy but, damn we went anyway!!

Algodones seems to be getting a little more sophisticated. Some of the merchandise might be China-made most is still comes in from various parts of Mexico and Central America and no matter what – the people are charming.

Our favourite taco place has new signs and table clothes but still great food (at a great price).

We’re back in Quartzsite now for a couple of weeks.