Thursday 4 April 2013

“The 3.10 to Yuma”!


27/29th  March   

Not quite the ‘3.10 train to Yuma’ but the I-8 instead!  (Any fans of the Glen Ford film or the Russell Crowe remake?).  As we drive the I-8 we see a number of green fields of crops.  By the time we get to our camp site we are surrounded by lemon orchards and alfalfa fields.  This is turning into a surprising agricultural area – all fed by the waters from the Colorado River.

Paul discovers one of the inside rear tyres on the RV is at ‘zero’ pressure so he inflates it with the compressor.  Next day it is down again.  We suspect a slow puncture and call out the Good Sam Breakdown Assistance.  It turns out to be just a leaking value and soon rectified.  It took a lot of effort for the mechanic lifting the two tyres, which were nearly as big as he was, off and and back onto the RV in 30C temperature!

30/31st March – Yuma Prison

We had a visit to the Yuma Territorial Prison Museum – the one referred to in the film.   It is right beside the Colorado River and there is a substantial portion of it still standing.  Some  of it has been hewn out of the local "Kalichi" which is were the soil has become so hard it is like concrete and they have carved out cave-like structures.  The living conditions during its use, 1876–1909, must have been pretty horrendous.  Six people in a cell 6’ x 12’ in temperatures of 40Cs must have been awful. 

During the Depression Years impoverished travellers used it to camp in as it was next to, what was then, one of the few road crossings over the Colorado River into California.  At that time road blocks were set up checking people coming across the state-line as they were looking for jobs that didn’t exist and many were turned away as California didn’t want ‘vagrants’. You had to prove that you had money to support yourself and your family.

1st April - Sand Dunes and YPG

We drove over into California to see the Imperial Sand Dunes.  The yellow sands stretch north from Mexico for approximately 40 miles.  They were used for filming movies such as ‘Star Wars – Return of the Jedi’.

We then drove along the California side of the Colorado River through the Quechan Indian reservation lands.  We drove past several Date Farms with hundreds of Palm Trees lining the road.  We crossed back into Arizona at the Imperial Dam and then past the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG).  We stopped at a site were a number of Tanks, Howitzers and nuclear missiles were on display at the side of the road, including a Sherman Tank.  Everything there had been tested at the Proving Grounds during the past 80 years.

2nd April – Los Algodones, Mexico

Our main reason for coming to Yuma was to go over to Mexico for Alison to seek out some dental work.  We have had many recommendations of the high standard of dentists in the border town of Los Algodones and we were not disappointed.

The drive to the border took about 30 mins.  We parked up and walked through barriers into Mexico.  There was no-one there to check who was crossing; no-one wanted to see our passports!

As we walked around the town we were continually bombarded with people trying to sell us something or persuade us to come for a dental or optician appointment.  We found the dentist we wanted and he treated Alison for the first part of a tooth implant, there and then.(no waiting time here) 

Afterwards we walked around looking at the souvenir shops.  We also checked out the prices in the pharmacies for Paul’s migraine tablets which were a 10th of the price here compared to USA prices.  Everything was in US dollars not Mexican pesos, so we didn’t need any foreign exchange. The place was busy with fellow visitors from USA and Canada; all here for cheap medication, glasses (£20) or dental work.

Coming back into USA we queued for around 15 mins to go through normal immigration passport checks - easy.  We will have to return in 6 months, or more, for the final stage of Alison’s dental work.

Everyone at the camp site is really friendly and we were invited to join in a number of activities during our stay – all of which involved eating and drinking! 

So we’ll be back here again one day ……!

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