Cross RVing: 2015

We moved to Yuma, Arizona. Yuma is in the Guinness World Records as the sunniest place on earth, enjoying bright skies about 91 percent of daylight hours. After watching the weather for 2 winters, Yuma had the best winter weather so we wanted to check it out. The blue sky and sunshine have been great along with the awesome heated pool and hot tub in the RV Park.

We did a morning Segway/Bike ride along the Colorado River on the West side Wetlands Bike Trail. With a stop at the Mormon Battalion Statue. In 1846, the Mormon Battalion was tasked with finding a southern wagon route to California. Its record-setting, 2,000-mile march passed through Yuma because this was the best place to cross the river. The U.S. Army of the West Mormon Battalion Foundation erected a bronze statue in 2007 to commemorate the historic journey.

Yuma is known for its Date Farms. We visited Martha’s Gardens Date Farm in the foothills. They produce the Medjool Date, and they are soft and sweet. Jerry enjoyed the “Date Shake” a local favorite for the region and will be returning for another one soon as it was so good. For those that don’t know dates grow on palm trees.

Our next stop was to the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. The Yuma Territorial Prison only operated for 33 years - but was long enough to etch a fearsome reputation into the history of the Old West. The place is a legacy that lives on in movies like "3:10 to Yuma”. Authorized in 1875 with a construction budget of $25,000, the prison opened in July of 1876 when the first seven prisoners were locked into cells they'd hacked out of the granite of Prison Hill with their own hands. Over the next three decades, a total of 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, lived within the prison's walls - surrounded by waters of the Colorado and the Gila rivers with the fearsome desert beyond. Haunted? Perhaps ... no executions took place at the prison, but 111 persons died while serving time there and are buried on the grounds. Despite its reputation, the prison was a model institution for its time -- and because it boasted electricity, running water, ventilation and flush toilets some Yumans even called it "The Country Club on the Colorado”. By 1907, the prison was severely overcrowded, and there was no room for expansion on Prison Hill. The last prisoner left Yuma September 15, 1909.

We went to Los Algodonas, Mexico, the border town where all the Snow Birds go for Dentists, Eye Glasses and good Mexican food. It was the Day of the Dead Festival. There were lots of freebies and great entertainment.

Our next visit was to the Peanut Patch to learn about peanut farming. They haven’t grown peanuts in production here since 1997 due to a white fly infestation that ruined the crop but they had all the history, information and samples to learn about peanut farming.

We finished the East Wetlands bike trail on the Segway and bike. It was another beautiful day in Yuma. We stopped at Pivot Point Park, the site where the first railroad train entered Arizona in 1877. A walk around the plaza is a walk through local history, sprinkled with lots of fascinating photographs and interesting stories about the Yuma Territorial Prison, Fort Yuma, the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Bridge, the rope ferry, the Quechan Tribe, and the Southern Pacific Hotel plus more.

The 25^th Annual Colorado River Balloon Crossing was cut short by the wind. We did see 3 early balloons lift off which was still worth getting up early for.