Getting used to life in Arizona

Life in Arizona is certainly a contrast from our life in Washington, and some of the changes take some getting used to.

For example, low-flying military jets. There's a Marine air base next to Yuma International Airport. While we haven't seen any commercial planes taking off or landing, we've seen plenty of low-flying military planes whooshing overhead at high speeds. The first time I encountered this, we were riding scooters back to the RV park. The planes went by so quickly and noisily, I almost crashed my scooter in surprise. While the RV park we're staying at doesn't seem to be in the planes' flight path, we do get a lot of low-flying helicopters, especially at night.

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Yuma gets a fair amount of winds, so much so that we rarely put the awning down on the trailer. There's a palm tree right next to our trailer, and I enjoy watching the branches blow in the breeze through the translucent vent over the bed. Song birds roost there during the morning, with their warbling providing a wonderful alarm. I do not, however, like the pigeons that hoot all around the clock. One of these days, I swear I'm gonna make us some pigeon pie!

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In Washington, we had signs warning of deer and elk on the road. In Arizona, they warn about wild cows and burros, neither of which we've seen (I don't count the “wild” burros of Oatman) on the road, though Jon did see a deer on the road the morning we took the freeway to Wellton, a town about 30 miles east of Yuma.

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I can't get used to the Border Patrol inspection stations a few miles out of Yuma: eastbound on Interstate 8 and northbound on U.S. 95. As gringos, we are automatically waved through, though one time an inspector stopped us long enough to ask if we were U.S. citizens. He quickly waved us through without asking for proof when Jon said we were. We have seen cars of Hispanics pulled over and being questioned. I wonder how many illegals they catch this way, since motorists can take back roads that bypass the inspection stations.

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Though I used to complain about having to cut the grass at our house, I really miss green grass. Here, most homes have graveled yards filled with cactus of various types and palm trees. By the way, a palm tree is no substitute for a stately Douglas fir. Give me one of our national forests any day!

Restful rest areas

Hegy rest area

When you’re traveling, rest areas are important stops on your travel routes. On our journey from Kennewick, Washington, to Yuma, Arizona, two particularly stood out for me.

The first was Hegy rest area in coastal northern California. It’s a small rest area in Highway 101 set among the forests, with a nature trail leading through the trees to overlook the Pacific Ocean.

 

A very restful, pretty place, it is named after William Z. Hegy, a Canadian who migrated to Eureka, California, where he was a highway engineer with the state. A stretch of highway between Trinidad and Patrick’s Point also is named in his honor.

Nevada rest area

The second rest area that impressed me was located on Highway 95 in Nevada, not too many miles from the border with California.

 

The architecture is just not what one has come to expect in a rest area. Also unexpected was the metal art that decorated the doors to the rest rooms.

Bard museum boasts impressive antique car collection

Old cars on display

If your interests lie in antiques – anything from vehicles to kitchen equipment, the Cloud Museum is the place to go. It’s a private museum just off Interstate 8 near Yuma, Arizona. The museum is located in Bard, California, a hamlet to small you’ll miss it if you blink. The drive from the freeway, which takes you over roads that could be smoother, is filled with views of lettuce and cabbage fields, and date palms.

Owner Johnny Cloud has filled two acres with a wide assortment of antiques, beginning with 130 cars that he said drove in under their own power and could be driven out if they contained batteries and gasoline. The vehicles include cars from the early 1900s, most of which are rusted down to the metal. These sit out in the open. A few cars have been restored and are kept in a building toward the rear.

Besides old cars, the Cloud collection includes vintage farm implements, a few old fire trucks and an early motor home.

Display of old kitchen utensils

Cloud says he began his collection 24 years ago when he sold his farm and found himself with nothing to do. He is still collecting today, and says he really has no idea of how extensive his collection is.

But it includes more than just vehicles. There’s an old post office complete with wanted posters for John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Bonnie and Clyde. He has plenty of old kitchen utensils, include corn bread pans, and an extensive collection of cast iron skillets hang on one wall.

Cloud roams the grounds in a golf cart, stopping frequently to talk with visitors and answer questions.
 

Yuma Quartermaster Depot

Officer's quarters

The Quartermaster Depot in Yuma is another facility that offers a glimpse at this Arizona city's historic past.


Now a state historic park, at one time it houses all the supplies for U.S. Army posts in Arizona Territory as well as for some posts in other Western states, including Utah, Nevada, Texas and New Mexico. Goods were brought in by boat and mule train (at one time the depot was home to 900 mules) and then dispersed to the various Army posts.

 

When rail lines reached Yuma in 1877, there was no longer any need for hauling goods this way, and the depot closed in 1883, though it still housed an Amy signal corps until 1891. It continued use after that as a weather bureau station, and later was used by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

 

Old vehicles on display

Some of the original buildings still exist., including officers' quarters with fireplaces AND dirt floors. The Bureau of Reclamation devotes one building to the “Days of the Colorado” that has banners featuring each dam on the river as well as some antique vehicles.

The Quartermaster Depot is home to what is billed as Yuma's top farmers' market on Sundays. This is the main reason we went there, and it was extremely disappointing. There were more craftsmen and processed foods vendors than farmers selling fresh produce. Only about four of the dozen vendors had produce to sell, and only one of these offered vegetables that looked fresh enough to eat.

A day trip to Algodones, Mexico

Entering Mexico

Algodones, Mexico, is a border town about eight miles from Yuma, Arizona, though it shares the border with California. It is very popular with Americans who go there for low-cost dental work and eye glasses.

I, quite frankly, have never seen as many dental offices in a two-block area before; I’m told the health district covers a four-block area. Americans stream into Algodones by the thousands every day, or so it seems. If you go, go early in the morning where you can get a parking spot. We got there about 8:30 a.m., and were able to find a spot in the row nearest the border crossing. When we left several hours later, the parking lot was jammed.  The Quechan tribe has the parking nearest the crossing, but it charges $7 to park there. Free parking is available beyond this, but, given how large the tribal lot is, I shudder to think how far you’d have to walk. Someone could probably make a mint providing shuttle service.

Re-entering the United States

I was surprised at how easy it was to enter Mexico on foot. We just walked through a gate to a small, pleasant courtyard with sparkling clean restrooms. I was a little disappointed because I’d wanted a Mexican stamp in my passport. Contrast this with leaving Mexico to re-enter the United States. A customs/border patrol official and his fierce-looking German shepherd checking for drugs, greeted us about mid-way through the line – we had to stand in one for about half an hour. Then it’s on to customs and immigration where they scan your passport and question you about purchases. Finally, you get to walk through long this chain-line corridor. Welcome to the United States!

 

Unfortunately, because I'm having difficulty walking, we never got more than a couple of blocks away, so I don't know what else Algodones has to offer. We did have a snack on one restaurant, and I was surprised at how bland the salsa was.

 

 

Preserving Yma's past: Yuma Territorial Prison

View from Yuma Territorial Prison grounds

The site of Yuma Territorial Prison would be considered prime real estate today. Remains of the famed prison sit atop a cliff at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila rivers, allowing visitors to what is now an Arizona state historic park to see for miles and miles. The deal buster, however, would probably be a railroad track that took part of the prison grounds and is busily in use today.

Not too much of the original prison, built by its tenants in the mid 1870s, remains today. The guard tower sits on one rock pile, but it only appears to be a few years old. The entrance or sally port has been restored, but the cell blocks behind the museum are eerily original. Voices of prisoners tell their story as visitors peer into some of the cells.

Yuma Territorial Prison cell block

When it opened in 1876, it quickly became known as the Country Club of the Colorado because prisoners had amenities Yuma townspeople didn’t have: a hospital with dental facilities, the largest library in the territory with 2,000 books, a primitive air conditioning system in the east cell blocks, and a school where classes included German and music (the prisoners had their own band.)

Prisoners, however, called their home a “hell hole.” Six men were crammed into a small space with only a bucket for a toilet. A good many prisoners died of consumption, now known as tuberculosis. Lice and roaches were common because of unsanitary conditions.

A prisoner made this collar

When they weren’t doing work for the prison, inmates could make extra money through crafts work. Examples of wooden boxes and jewelry were on display, but my favorite was seeing the exquisite lace knitted by some prisoners.

 

One famous time

The museum gets a lot of visitors today, many probably coming to see it  because of the movie, 3:10 to Yuma, originally made in 1957 and remade in 2007. A clock on the museum wall is permanently set at 3:10.

 

This is the second old prison we've visited in recent years. The first was the Montana Territorial Prison at Deer Lodge. Compared to Yuma, this prison is positively upscale, though that might be because it was updated several times in the more than 100 years it served as a prison.

Food stops: olives, oranges and dates

Some of our favorite travel stops deal with food: candies from Cranberry Sweets, cheeses from the Loleta Cheese Factory (a favorite stop, though not on this trip), etc. We enjoy sampling the treats at the store and then enjoying our purchases even more when we get home. Much to the detriment of our bank account, we have found the more free samples a store offers, the more we are inclined to buy.

These three food stops are among those we’ve made so far:

The Olive Pit

 

Olives

Located in Corning, California, The Olive Pit is the place to go if you like olives, say olives stuffed with garlic or blue cheese, kalamata olives or just plain jane black olives. The Olive Pit has been serving up olives for 50 years, and they’ve more than gotten the hang of it. Free samples abound, so we usually end up buying several jars of various flavors. This visit Jon sprang for a gallon can of black olives.

 

We’ve been stopping here since our honeymoon back in 2002, and it’s one of our favorite food stops.

 Citrus Extravaganza

 

As the name implies, Citrus Extravaganza, more formally known as the Murray Family Farms, specializes in citrus fruits. Located near Bakersfield, it has an old-fashioned juicer that you can use to squeeze yourself a fresh cup of orange juice. Be warned, you have to be pretty strong to even get a drop out of this squeezing machine, but the effort is worth it.

Martha’s Gardens

 

Date palms

Martha’s Gardens is an organic date farm located on a dirt road in rural Yuma. The farm grows Medjool dates, which originally came from Iraq. It has a pleasant outdoor patio where you can eat a deli sandwich while sipping a date shake. Jon doesn’t particularly like dates, yet somehow managed to consume a good portion of my date shake, which was eaten through a straw with a spoon on the end to scoop up the thick concoction. Scrumptious!