Goodyear - Arabian Horse Show, Pickle Ball and Family Visit

02-19-2018 thru 02-25-2018

We were at this same park in the beginning of January and came back for another two weeks. We have been enjoying the park facilities, swimming, hot tub, boccie ball. We also started to play pickle ball and like it so much we have purchased our own paddles!

Wednesday we went to Westworld and picked up the horse show tickets from will call. We contacted Jim and Bonnie. They were in Yuma and were going to stay overnight but could not find a hotel. So they headed back to Apache Junction and stopped by us on the way home. We had a chicken started on the grill so invited them for supper. We had a real nice visit and I was able to give Bonnie her ticket to the horse show.

Friday we decided to head up north and visit Montezuma's Castle. We should have checked the weather first. We got as far as Sunset Point rest area and realized there was wind, rain and SNOW predicted for the area north of us. We decided to turn around. No sense in going to visit a place when the weather was going to be nasty. My mom called me while we were on the road. My parents and brother and sister-in-law were headed to Las Vegas and passed thru Flagstaff that morning. They ran into blizzard conditions and very hazardous roads. They made it to Las Vegas ok but I am sure there was a lot of white knuckling. Glad we did not keep going. On the way back we visited the Lake Pleasant area. 

View from Sunset Point

View from Sunset Point

Saturday finally arrived. Around noon Dennis and I went to John and Donna's house. The four of us went out for lunch then Donna and I headed to Westworld. We arrived around 3:00. Bonnie came about a half hour later and we met her at the front of the Expo center. We walked through some of the barns and admired the the gorgeous horses. Then around 5:30 we went to our seats in the coliseum to wait for the start of the evening performance. There were a variety of classes that evening. Western pleasure, jumping, driving, park horse. My favorites were the native costume and the liberty classes. I think Donna and Bonnie enjoyed the day. I know I did.

Cheryl at the horse show

Driving class

Native Costume class

Liberty class

Statue at front entrance

Cheryl, Donna and Bonnie

Sunday we spent hanging around the park. Dennis and I took some time to play pickle ball. In the afternoon Mike, Sue, Mom and Dad arrived from there visit with Sue's brother in Henderson NV. We had a great visit with them. We enjoyed burgers, broccoli and fruit salad for supper. They appreciated having some food other than from a restaurant. It was so good to see them.

Where we are parked:  Cotton Lane RV Resort – Goodyear Arizona – Site 42. We paid the Good Sam weekly rate $206.13 which included water, sewer and electric. This is a resort park with many amenities including an indoor pool and hot tub, boccie ball, shuffle board, pickle ball courts and 4 golf holes. There is laundry and exercise rooms. Our site was in an area for short term guests and was very small. (Site 42 is a little larger) The sites for the monthly guests were much more generous in size. There are also permanent single and double wide manufactured homes in this park.

Lot 42

The park mascot

Gila Bend - Rock Paintings and Rodeo

02-12-2018 thru 02-18-2018

Monday and Tuesday – Enjoyed the RV park facilities including watching a pickle ball tournament being held for the Yuma Senior games. This is the first time we have watched anyone play and it looks like fun. Not sure if I would be able to play as well as these folks but would like to try it. We played boccie ball with a couple of ladies on Tuesday then watched the band that was playing for the park Mardi Gras celebration.

Fortuna De Oro RV Park

Bocce Ball Courts

Neat Metal Statue

Mardi Gras Celebration

Wednesday – Our three free days are up so time to move. Headed east to Painted Rock Petroglyph site and campground just north west of Gila Bend. It was a 80 mile trip and we arrived in the early afternoon. It was kind cool and windy so we stayed in the camper and worked on a puzzle. It rained on and off most of the evening and night. Not great for us but I am hoping the rain will mean the desert will start blooming. I made soup and nan bread for supper then we watched the movie MASH.

Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

Thursday – Took a drive into Gila Bend. I noticed there is a rodeo there this weekend. We stopped at the visitor center to get info and visit the museum. We talked to a couple of ladies who worked there. They told us to be very careful when exploring out in the desert. Apparently this area is a major drug and illegal immigrant trafficking route. “If you run into one of these groups in the desert they will probably shoot you.” Not what you want your town to be known for.

Dennis playing the slot machine at the museum

The rodeo is part of the two day Gila Bend Butterfield Stage Days. We checked out a couple of spots to bring the RV for the weekend. After talking to a couple at the gas station who were headed for the Gila Bend Elks Lodge we headed over there and discovered we could park there for the weekend for a $5 a day donation. And its right next to the rodeo grounds. Sweet!

Friday – Packed up and moved to Gila Bend early in the morning. We were parked and set up by 10:00 so decided to head down to Organ Pipe National Monument for the day. It is only about an hour south of Gila Bend. Most of the drive was through flat desert with the exception of a short section thru a pass with some unique rock formations. Once at the park we stopped at the visitor center. We learned this is the northern most range of the organ pipe cactus as it is very susceptible to frost. From there we drove the 21 mile gravel Ajo Canyon Trail. A pretty drive through areas with lots of Saguaro, Organ pipe, Ocotillo and Cholla cactus as well as many other Desert plants. It is passable with a regular vehicle but was very bumpy in spots.

Organ Pipe National Monument

Saturday – Rodeo! Competition started at 10:00. We watched about an hour of it then headed to the Gila Bend Museum to take a tour of the Gatlin Archaeological Park. This is an ancient Hohokam community discovered in 1959. It is not open to the public but we were lucky enough to be here to take a tour led by a local archaeologist who studies this culture. After that we when back to the camper and watched the remainder of the rodeo. It was so neat to be right there and see all the action. I was awed watching the little tykes, some as young as four years old, doing the same stuff as the big kids and adults. Some of them were roping as good as the older kids.

Gatlin Archaeological Park

Sunday – Today the rodeo started at 8:00 and was over by 2:30. Another awesome day watching lots of roping and riding.

Where we are parked: Fortuna De Oro RV Park – Site 899 – This is a very large RV resort with all the amenities: Golf, boccie ball, shuffle board, pickle ball and tennis courts, two swimming pools, a restaurant and bar. Also lots of activities in one of several clubhouses. We are staying free for 3 nights. RV site rates: Daily $42, Weekly $275, Monthly $675 plus utilities. There are other rates for extended and fall only stays.

Where we are parked: Painted Rock Petroglyph site and campground near Gila Bend – site 10 – total of 60 sites. Sites have picnic table and fire ring. No other facilities.

Where we are parked: Gila Bend Elks Lodge #2089 – Large gravel parking lot for dry camping – After checking with the bartender we were told we did not have to be a member and could park for a $5 donation. No facilities available but close to town and the rodeo grounds. Quit a bit of road and train noise. 

Palm Canyon, Yuma Rodeo and Salton Sea

02-05-2018 thru 02-11-2018

Monday – Today we packed up and headed a few miles south of Quartzsite to Palm Canyon Road. The first part of the road is surrounded by BLM land where you can camp free. Further in you enter onto the KOFA Wilderness Area. Here there are a few marked camping spots which are free as well. I was given the chance to drive today. It was uneventful until we reached Palm Canyon Road. This road is gravel and very bumpy. After having our teeth rattled for a mile I turned off the road to a likely spot on the right. Initially I drove into a rather sandy spot and I had to put the truck into four wheel drive to get us out. Whew! Need to be more careful next time. We found a nice place to park and set up the camper. In the afternoon we drove up to the parking lot and trail head to see the Palms. It was not quite what I expected as the palms were way up the side of the canyon. It was a nice hike non the less and we got a bit of exercise.

PALM CANYON

Near where we are camped there is a Kokopelli Spiral that someone made. A search on the internet told me that it was recently made by some unknown person. Dennis and I walked the spiral both ways and left a polished rock in the center. Maybe it will bring us good luck!

Tuesday – We went back into Quartzsite in the afternoon. Dennis made a couple of cabachons out of a slab I purchased last week. While he was doing that I went shopping at Desert Gardens for more slabs. So many pretty rocks, so little time! I purchased 3 slabs.

Future projects

Wednesday – Moving day again. Dennis has more dental work he wants done so we wanted to be closer to Yuma. We headed for the Imperial Dam Recreation Area which is a Long Term Visitor Area. It was very crowded and dusty. Neither one of us was excited about staying there. There was a dump station and water so we utilized those then left. We went back to the Quechan Casino near Algodones.

Thursday – We went to Algodones to Dennis' 10:30 doctors appointment for his crown. Afterwards we purchased a couple more bottles of booze and I purchase another blanket. The line to go back across the border was much longer than last time we were here. We were in line about 20 minutes. Later we went to a road side market and purchased some vegetables. We bought 3 yellow peppers, jicama, a melon, broccoli, 2 romaine lettuce, three large onions, 1 spaghetti squash, brussel sprouts and some roasted peanuts for $18.00. Made chicken fajitas for supper. Yum!

Algodones

Fajitas!

Friday – In the morning we went back to Algodones to the dentist to finish the crown. Later we visited the Arizona Marketplace. This is a large covered flea market type shopping. There were vendors selling cloths, RV supplies, food, produce and everything in between. We have a coupon for 3 free days at Fortuna De Oro RV Park so we drove there to check it out. Looks pretty nice so we will go there sometime in the next week. After that we attended the Silver Spur Rodeo at the Yuma Fairgrounds.

Saturday – In the morning we went downtown Yuma to watch the Rodeo Parade. I thought there would be more horse units than there was but still a nice parade. We stopped back at the camper then headed west on I-8. We visited Slab City near Niland California. This is an old Marine Corp base that was shut down and is now managed under the BLM. There are only roads and concrete slabs remaining. The area is occupied by people living in campers, tents and homemade shacks. There were areas where people had dumped there garbage. Not a real pleasant place to be. The one bright spot was Salvation Mountain. This interesting piece of folk art was constructed by Leonard Knight. He labored for 30 plus years to create a message for the world to hopefully see: “God is Love”.

The dark side of slab city

 We spent the rest of the day driving around the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea was created by accident when back in 1905 when a levee broke flooding a giant desert playa. The sea used to be a mecca for all kinds of water sports however the lake level is dropping. Water is being diverted from from land around the Salton Sea reducing runoff into the sea in order to prevent Lake Mead from shrinking to disastrously low levels. There are a couple of state parks along the north east side of the lake that we checked out. Very nice parks but because of the lower water level in the sea, people are not coming to them as much anymore.

Salton Sea

Sunday – We decided to move today to take advantage of our 3 free night at Fortuna De Oro RV Park. It was a short 22 mile drive and we go there before 11:00. Did some shopping in the afternoon then went out for supper to Foothills Eatery.

Where we are parked: Quechan Casino RV parking lot – Gravel boon docking area adjacent to the casino. No facilities except for a few dumpsters. The Casino security patrols the area which is nice.

Where we are parked: Fortuna De Oro RV Park – Site 899 – This is a very large RV resort with all the amenities: Golf, boccie ball, shuffle board, pickle ball and tennis courts, two swimming pools, a restaurant and bar. Also lots of activities in one of several clubhouses. We are staying free for 3 nights. RV site rates: Daily $42, Weekly $275, Monthly $675 plus utilities. There are other rates for extended and fall only stays.

Our site at Fortuna

Boccie Ball Courts

Neat metal statue at the RV park