3:10 To Yuma

This morning started with motorcycles starting up and getting on the road for what I guess a week end road trip. Actually looks like an interesting way to travel. Least ways down in this area.

Decided to visit the Yuma Territorial Jail. Most of it was rebuilt....guess back then when it closed down, no one thought it was worth saving. However, the 'spirit' of the jail and what must have been a horrible place in the summer was still there. I did notice that quite a few convicts were released early.

Here is a YouTube video made by Arizona State. Very well done and gives a good verbal history of the prison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pS7BloOA1U&feature=related

We also went to the Quartermaster Depot. The visit there is included in in the Yuma video.

Yuma Quartermaster Depot, was used by the US Army to store and distribute supplies for all the military posts in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. A six month supply of clothing, food, ammunition, and other goods was kept at the depot at all times. The supplies were brought from California by ocean vessels traveling around the Baja Peninsula to Port Isabel near the mouth of the Colorado River. There, cargos were transferred to river steamers and brought upstream to Yuma.

We were going to go see the camel farm but it was getting late and I was getting tired. Decided to go see it Sunday. Just read where the place is closed on Sunday.

Saihati Camel Farm has one of the largest camel herds in North America. The animals are sold at auction for work in films after they entertain guests at the farm. This farm is also home to Sand Cats, Fennec Fox, Arabian Wild Cats, Ostrich, Emu, Miniature Donkeys, Four-Horned Sheep, and other unusual animals.

Ate at a Chineese Buffet this afternoon. The food was excellant and the cost was $7.00 all you can eat. We didn't eat all we could, but we4 did try a little of everything. We'll probably go back tomorrow. Maybe a video or two about it tomorrow.

Decided to go to a flea market Sunday just a few miles down the road. Then Monday we're planning a trip into Mexico.

That sounds like fun and hopefully will have a lot of video and stories to go with it Monday night.

70 degrees and it does feel good. Oh, wore my shorts today. Didn't care if I looked like a tourist.

Hot, HOt, HOT !



Drove to Yuma today and staying at the Ramada Inn. There's some friends from Whale Pass vacationing here and we'll try to get with them for dinner some evening.


The drive here was uneventful, but we had the windows down enjoying the warm breeze flowing thru the truck. Been a long time since I did that. We did stop at a RV park/big flea market. Saw a lot of good deals, but don't want to pack it around. Still, we had fun looking and talking to people. Getting close to Yuma we saw lots of fields where vegetables were being grown and migrant workers out tending the crops. Interesting, least ways to us since it was the first time we've seen that. Did get into one traffic jam. Not due to so much traffic as to very poor planning on the DOT laying the road and traffic light out. It's impossible to explain.

No video to upload tonight, but we hope to have some tomorrow. Have a few sites to go to and will try to get a visit into Los Algodones, Mexico. Looks like a fun place to visit. There's some video on YouTube by other people if you care to look at it. We'll have our own video on it in a couple of days.

Pam and I are waiting for a pizza to be delivered and we'll take a walk afterwards. I'll try out my walking shorts.

That's all tonight from Yuma......Pizza just arrived and smells good.

Let's make a deal

Havasu City is defiantly a nice place! 73 today and a nice warm breeze. Looked around town and then decided to drive South towards Yuma. Stopped along the way and checked out RV parks. There are some nice ones. So far they seem to run between $375-400/month for rent. Most have swimming pools and such.

Also stopped and looked at 5th wheels. The salesman was definitely willing to deal. Still, we didn't buy but we were thinking about it with all he was throwing in and dropping the price.

Our hotel rooms have been averaging $50.00/night. Sometimes the price is $41 and other times $61. The 61 has been Best Western and no I can't charm them down in price. It's like the ladies behind the desk are trained in anti priceline.com technique. Those ladies are certainly a hard nut to crack.

Well not much else to write about tonight.

55* here this evening.

Sun glasses, sun tan oil, and salt tablets

Woke up this morning and went to a Dollar store to buy some water. The very same water I paid $3.00/2 gal. Well, at the Dollar store, just about everything is a $1.00 or less. So we picked up 3 gal. of water for $1.00/gal. That beat the 2/$3.00 from a few days ago. I always love it when I find a deal.
We decide to drive to Havasu City this morning. Passed up fuel stops w/ diesel $3.41/gal. in California.

24 miles later and we're in Havasu City. Fueled up $2.61/gal. diesel. On the way into town we spotted a WalMart. A big WalMart so we pulled in. Spent several hours looking in the store. Such deals.
Remember when Sarah Palin was running for vice president and she would stop to shop.....well only someone from Alaska could relate to her doing that.
Bought some lunch meat and cheese in WM and had a picnic in the truck in WM's parking lot. The sun was out, a warm breeze blowing thru the truck and the temp. was 61*. What's not to like.

We then decided to walk around since there was a gigantic 'mall' complex. I guess that's what one would call it. It was larger than Ketchikans dwntwn area. Saw a movie theater so decided to go see Blindside. Excellent movie. I'd highly recommend it. Since it was a matinee, we only paid $5.00 a piece to get in. No senior discount.
The temp was 66* when we walked out of the movie.

Walked over to J.C. Penny's. Bought a few new lighter in weight clothes. I was sweating in my jeans and canvas shirt. Also bought a pair of shorts. I'll need to test drive those shorts soon. I can't remember when the last time I wore shorts.

Checked into a Motel 6 this evening. $41.00.....nice room. Pam also saw an advertisement for a week in condo time share for $200.00. We emailed and waiting to see if we get a response. If we do, then we'll spend a week here. Havasu City looks like a nice place and would enjoy spending more time here.

We walked down to the London Bridge this evening and what a site. All lit up for Christmas and lots of lights around the stores below the bridge. We forgot the video camera, but will try tomorrow night. Only saw about 20 people there.

and now on to my 'What did I learn today' footnotes

Even when you buy water for a $1.00/gal.....Wal Mart sells it for 78cents.

Sunshine and warm breezes

Woke up to a warm breeze Tuesday morning in Pahrump. Drove around town and visited the winery there. Looked at some homes close by then took a drive out of town. Turned out we were several miles from town so we kept on heading toward Vegas. 30 minutes later we saw a sign for Bonnie Springs. Looked interesting so we drove to it and had lunch. After drove thru Red Rock Canyon. Quite breath taking.

As we were leaving, we decided to drive to Yuma, Az. So off we go via Vegas. Now before I go into more detail, I need to correct something I mentioned about Oil Can Henry. Remember I was complaining about getting lubed for $175.00. Well, when I filled up with diesel the next day, I averaged 23 miles/gal. That’s pretty good for a 3500 diesel Dodge. I guess the extra money for the best oil did help. Of course we averaged 55 mph Driving down hwy 35 around Mt. Hood due to the snow and ice on the windy roads. The next tank full, I averaged 20/gal. That was due to keeping my speed just under 65. So now that my apologies are made, on with the story.

We drove thru Vegas or should say around Vegas and stopped in Neddles, California. Not sure how we got in California, but I listened to my gps lady on the dash board. Perhaps she needs her software updated.

OK, now what did I learn today ??

Buy only one color of t-shirts…. Too many colors and it’s hard to decide what to wear.

When driving on the freeway around Vegas at rush hour. Forget about the great fuel economy you were getting and just floor it and keep from getting run over.

No matter which motel you stop at, there was a cheaper one advertised on a big blinking red lit billboard saying cheapest rooms anywhere 20 miles back.

When you dicker with the manager of a motel who wants to charge you for Internet…..don’t blink (remember what I said about negotiating yesterday). It worked, cheaper rate…I mean reasonable rate …still slightly higher than what we passed up. What I didn’t figure in the negotiation equation was he shuts the Internet off at 10PM. He must have to pay for the bandwidth. So, this won’t get published for another day. Oh, btw, I uploaded 4 videos of our trip. They’re short clips. Think that all that uploading was eating up his allotted bandwidth.

Heard it was snowing and generally miserable weather in Ketchikan today.

Knock 3 times

That’s what the maid should have done this morning at 8:30 when she walked in.
That was the highlight of her day. That was not the highlight of my day.
Fueled the truck up and off we drove to Rhyolite. An abandoned mining town a short distance away. The town and history was very interesting and leaves me wanting to know more about it’s history.
We drove on into Pahrump. Went to a hotel to get a room. A new twist to my priceline technique happened. While I was going thru my routine, she body slammed me with "Only one room left". Whoa, never heard that before so didn’t have a comeback. Did get a little off the room, but not a great deal. Still it is a reasonable price and a nice room. Also next door is a car wash. $1.50 for 5 minutes and the water is hot. Such a deal.

An old dog and new lessons learned

I’m learning a lot about traveling like :

The price of Alaskan Ale beer in Pahrump, Nevada sells for $12.00 a 12 pack. In Juneau, Alaska where it’s brewed the price is around $20.00/12 pack. I’m still trying to figure out shipping cost with that one.

I went in to WalMart and asked how much to rotate tires. $2.50/ tire or in their words $20.00. Hmmm, Again, I’m trying to figure that out even as I write this.

Every time I fuel up, there is always cheaper fuel down the block.

When pressure washing your truck, make sure ALL the windows are ALL the way up. I figure I only got a $1.00 worth of water on the outside of the truck.

Don’t even think about picking up another stray kitten no matter how cute. I know I’ll get a comment from Tristan who is taking care of Dude our cat.

When 2 one gallon jugs of water is advertised at 2 for $3.00…..don’t just buy one thinking it’ll cost $1.50. No matter how much you talk to the clerk, it’ll still be $2.00 plus for one. Again, how does the math on that work out?

On a web page I found about Rhyolite :
(The depot, in 1995, has been fenced off, for years, to protect it from vandals. There is a Canadian-owned cyanide gold-leaching operation, not far, over the eastern hills, which still pulls millions in gold from the their federal mining claim. These foreigners do not pay any Income Taxes on their profits.) The math doesn’t work on that one either.

In a community where older seniors spend the winter, you have to be on the look out for motorized shopping carts in department stores.

Not sure where we’ll go tomorrow wake up and decide then. Lot of options.

Oh, 54 degrees here today, 15 degrees back home……those are numbers I understand.
　

So much to see......so little time to write about it

Now where was I.....we were in Winnemucca. Well, the room was cheap. It turned out to be a win win situation. We got a cheap room and the motel owner got more than it was worth. We ascertained that the next morning in the day light.

We arrived in Reno that evening just as the snow started. Saw a Holiday Inn and after last night decided a higher class would be in order. One that Pam wouldn't be scared to shower in.
Pam wanted to get on the Internet and try price line.com and try getting the room at a reasonable rate. Translated from Alaskan to English.....'cheap'. I decided against it and told her I had my own price line.com technique.
This is not for the weak at heart or those that can't look someone in the eye and start laughing. Before I walk into the lobby, I use lots of Murine for the eyes. I walk in and ask how much for a room. They tell me a price. I look at them and give them the "I don't think so look". We both look at each other waiting for the other to blink. I don't blink. I have though had to turn around and walk out. But usually they come back with a counter offer. "Lets see what I can do". After they lower their rate $10.00, I ask, "Is that the senior rate'? Now this is where the Murine comes in. No blinking and no looking away. Eye to eye contact. It's usually worth a few dollars more. Then I have no shame and ask if there's any more discounts I can ask about. Their answer is always, "No". Still one should always ask.
That's my Priceline.com tech.

We're in Beattie this evening. Turned out to be where good friends of ours in Ketchikan grew up. In fact, his step father works where we're staying. I met Gary and we had a few good minutes talking.

Oh, on the way out of Reno, saw 2 accidents. One involved a 18 wheeler and a car. Just happened. Then a few miles more we witnessed a car roll over in the meridian. Rolled 3 times. I stopped to help. The young man seemed OK. Seat belts do save lives, so buckle up.

The temp here is 49 and finally finding warmer weather. Going to a ghost town tomorrow and look at some art. Thanks Stormie for the heads up.

Pam gambled tonight in the casino. She went over to the cashier and asked for change to play the penny slots. She handed the cashier a dollar. Funny. Didn't win anything and contrary to what we thought, you don't get 100 spins for a dollar.

Ok, that's it.

Everyone have a good week.