Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: On to Yuma

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Wednesday – Today we visited Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. It was established in 1964 as mitigation for the channelization and dam construction on the Colorado River. It is located south of Blythe CA on the Colorado River floodplain. The Refuge encompasses 18,500 acres located on both the Arizona and California sides of the river.

We stopped at the visitor center to get information on what to do and see at the refuge. After chatting with the visitor center volunteer we headed out on the 3-mile Goose Loop Auto Tour. It took us past a pond jam packed with waterfowl. We saw lots of Canada and Snow Geese, American Wigoen, American Coot, Mallard, Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail. We stopped and walked the Corn Field Nature Trail to an observation deck overlooking another pond. As we proceeded along the Auto Tour we saw large flocks of Sandhill Crane in the fields. Along the drive there are several man made Burrowing Owl Burrows but we did not see any owls. From the visitor center we proceeded south and drove along the river for a bit then made a loop back to the visitor center.

We wanted to check out the nearby Oxbow BLM campground which is located on the west side of the river. On the way we spotted another camping area on the east side of the river. We stopped and talked to a camper and found out this is a free camping area. This camping area is referred to as the Hippie Hole does not have services but does have a few shelters and access to the river.

Friday – Moving day. After saying goodbye to our gang in the desert we pulled out of our spot in Quartzsite around 9:30. We had reservations at Fortuna de Oro RV Resort in Yuma. We arrived in Yuma around 11:00, to soon for the noon check in so we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few groceries. Once we got set up in our site we met some of our neighbors. Reggie and Elizabeth were from Canada and had just arrived at the park as well. They were having trouble with there electric service and had not unhooked yet because they had to power to put down the jacks on their camper. Dennis offered to take them to find a new power cord. While they were gone I started wash.

Once he returned we went to find a AT&T store. For the last week and a half my phone has been saying No Service. I could not make phone calls but could get texts and data if I was connected to WI-FI. We had called AT&T support last week and they thought it might be an issue with the Sim card. Once at the store we performed a software update. It took forever but once complete there was service again. Yeah! Just to be safe we replaced the sim card as well.

Our friends Steve and Li are at this park as well. They were invited to a get together a few sites down from theirs and they told us we were invited too. We were the last to arrive and met the host and some of her family. Most of them were from Minnesota. We thought it was just a happy hour but they add snacks and then brought out food as well. The son had made these yummy smoked ground beef wrapped around different fillings such as mushroom-swiss and pepperoni. I believe they called them fat boys. They were awesome!

Saturday – We went for a walk around the park in the morning and stopped by Steve and Li then we decided to go to the Arizona Marketplace with them. After strolling through the marketplace we took them to our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Yuma, El Senor Taco De Tijuana. It was pretty windy most of the day got windier in the evening. It also rained overnight.

Super Bowl Sunday – We played a little pickle ball this morning. This park has an amazing sports complex with pickle ball and tennis courts, horseshoe pits, bocce ball and shuffle board along with a large patio area.

Where we are parked: Fortuna De Oro RV Park – Site 313 – 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. RV site rates: Daily $42, Weekly $275, Monthly $675 plus utilities. There are other rates for extended and fall only stays.

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge