Monday, November 18, 2013

Yuma!

We are in Yuma. We traveled slow, 2723 KM, six days and $850 in fuel. Fuel prices are higher this year but you have to shop for it smartly. In Canada you can safely assume that gas prices are the same in every station. Not so in the USA where prices can vary hugely in the same city. One particular case was along one stretch of highway where it was $3.55 at one station and $4.05 at another about a mile down the road.

It was an easy drive to Yuma. We left the casino at about 9:00 after filling up at their gas station for $3.33 a gallon, a great deal. We drove along the north shore of the Salton Sea which used to be the playground of the movie stars back in the day. The sea has no way for water to flow out of it so it only loses water through evaporation and this has allowed salt levels to go too high to support life. The result is a foul smelling body of water that holds little attraction. There are a few State Parks and motels left but there are also dozens of abandoned businesses and motels. It is still a nice drive and before long we were in El Centro where we made our final grocery stop at Trader Joe's (Sorry, Trader Joe's was in Palm Springs).

We pulled into Cocopah RV park in Yuma at about 4:00 and bought a site for a week. The weather is great! It was 80 outside when we arrived, cooled down at night to allow a nice sleep and is climbing up again this morning under a clear, blue sky. We set up the StarChoice, an easy process, and contacted our friends Muff and Val who came over for a visit last night and we made arrangements for dinner tomorrow. It will be a nice relaxing week.

13 comments:

  1. We really like the Salton Sea area - spent 10 days at the State Park group area - only ones there and they only charged us $7/night - we could use the water, dump and showers too! We got used to the smell. AND we picked us wifi from one of the neighbours!

    Ahhh - a trip to TJ's - well done - I didn't know they had one in El Centro - missed it when we stayed at Holtville. Did you see how many RVs were parked at the Holtville Hotsprings BLM Croft? We haven't been there in a few years - wonder if it is still busy.

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    1. Correction - TJ's was in Palm Springs. Sorry. No, I did not notice boondockers, maybe a few here and there but that is all.

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  2. There is no 80 degree heat in northern Nevada. But it did go up to a high of 64 today. Heading further south tomorrow though.

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    1. It is actually hot here today. 3:00 and it is 75 outside and 85 inside with full sun on the side of the motorhome.

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  3. Good drive down I was thinking maybe you might have been in Texas and we could have met I am in San Antonio till Thursday,,,,I hear the deer are over running the waterfront homes on the island!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers les

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  4. Good for your but 4 nights at Cocopah was 4 nites too many for us. We don't like Yuma. Hope you have a great time.

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    1. I hate the wind but there is none right now. We have made some good friends here over the years so it is always nice.

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  5. There's a website called www.gasbuddy.com that you can use to find the cheapest gas price. I used it a couple of years ago for a project, but I see it's still up and running.

    Saludos,

    Kim G
    Boston, MA
    Where we drive VERY little these days.

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    1. I have the Gas Buddy app on my ithing. I guess I better haul it out.

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  6. We enjoy the weather in that area, and usually stay at Pilot Knob Resort an Holtville, Hot Springs. We paid $2.67 a gallon for gas on Oklahoma last week.

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  7. We arrived in Yuma yesterday as well and are parked as usual in the Arizona Sands. We had our axles aligned yesterday morning on our way into town before we got set up and hopefully that will help with tire wear. Eric did a lot of work on them at home this summer and the tire wear was improved on the trip south. We will now get all our paperwork, etc. done before we head into Mexico. We will be around till the end of the week and maybe we'll catch up with each other. Yuma is not our favorite place but it's a good stop to get things done.

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  8. Glad to see you made it safely to Yuma and will be enjoying a week's stopover.

    The sun is shining here on the Island this morning but it's no where near 80F!!

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