When you spend an extended period of time visiting a place, you really get to dive deep into local traditions and culture. In Yuma, those traditions include howling at the moon and light parades of over 100 off-road recreational vehicles, or OHV’s. The snowbirds definitely take over Yuma during winter. We met people from all over the US and Canada who call Yuma home for 5 or so months a year.
We stayed at the Blue Sky RV Resort in the Fortuna Foothills area which is east of Yuma proper. The park is located really close to I-8 but after a couple of nights you just get used to the highway noise. The park is loaded with amenities and a full schedule of activities for guests. We enjoyed the pool, hot tub, billiards, and weekly BBQ’s.
We crossed the border into Algodones, Mexico. I had to get my fix of Al Pastor tacos — real Al Pastor, cut and grilled from the spit, not the fake stuff they try to pass off in the US 🙂 We visited the dentist. I even had some prescription sunglass lenses put in my Ray-Ban’s. It was a productive visit south of the border.
For outdoors activities, we did plenty of cycling, hiking, and even some kayaking. I did a few group rides with the Yuma Bike Club. A really nice cycling group with friendly people. I did my best to keep up with the lead riders, but with pacelines of 23-25 mph, I could only hold on for a few miles before I had to back it down 🙂 But we all met up after the ride at Mostly Muffins for coffee and breakfast. A really nice riding experience. Emi and I did some more casual rides along the canals — about 17 miles of paved bike paths. We did it the canal route 3 times. The last time we saw a big group of cat fish — at least 100 fish just swimming in place, all of them about 2 feet in length. We hiked Muggins Wilderness as well as a few trails at Sugarloaf Mountain. Desert hikes are either rocky or sandy. Requires extra care you don’t turn an ankle. About 5 miles is all I can take. We kayaked Squaw Lake in California along the Imperial Dam Recreation Area. A small pack of wild burros were out as well as a golden eagle. We also kayaked the Colorado River. Thank you Leto’s Kayak Rentals.
We re-connected with some friends in Yuma. Pete and Cathy were dear friends of my dad. It makes me feel good to know he had such good friends during his life and it is nice to hear stories about a side of him I did not know. We attended the Yuma Howling at the Moon Festival together. It is a Yuma tradition on full moon nights. During the afternoon, people gather in the desert for music, food, drink, and dance. People come in cars, trucks, OHV’s, sand rails, pre-runners, campers, trailers, and every other type of vehicle you can imagine. Once the sun goes down and the moon rises over the hills, everyone stops what they are doing and howls at the moon. Interesting experience 🙂 We are glad to have spent time with Pete and Cathy and to get to know them better. We are glad to have them as friends.
We also met up with old friends from Portland — Monte and Vicki. Like us, they sold their Portland home to travel in their RV. They had some great stories to share about life on the road. We traded stories back and forth. We were happy and excited to be able to see them again.
On the morning we headed out of town, I noticed one of our trailer tires was really low, pretty much flat. One of our neighbors, also from Washington, was out walking his dog, and let us borrow his air compressor. Tire filled. Ready to roll out. I think that may have been the best part of our stay in Yuma — the people. We met alot of incredibly kind and generous people. That is one of the perks of RV Life — all the great people you meet along the journey.
Well that’s it for Yuma. On the the road again — next stop Tucson, Arizona.