Quartzsite and Yuma

1/27/2020 – 2/10/2020 – The weather turned a little cooler and very windy on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday (1/29) was still windy so we took a drive north up through Parker to the Parker Dam then back down the California side of the Colorado River. A very nice drive. We stopped at a couple of RV parks to check them out. On the way back we stopped at the Bluewaters Casino in Parker for spaghetti dinner.

On Thursday (1/30) Dennis decided we needed to take another road trip. Pat and Donna, our friends and lake neighbors, had us bring something down for them so we headed to Apache Junction to deliver it to them. It was about a 2.5 hour drive. We visited with them, then drove to Surprise to visit with John and Donna. We went to Tom Yum, a Thai restaurant, for supper. I had some really excellent curry.

We packed up on Saturday (2/1) morning and headed south to Yuma. We had a slight mishap as I must have not latched the RV steps properly and they came down and were dragging on the road. Luckily we decided to stop in Quartzsite to dump our tanks so they were not dragging all the way to Yuma! There was some slight damage but they were still serviceable. We should be able to fix or replace the damaged parts. We arrived at Fortuna De Oro without further incident. We will be here for two months.

Monday (2/10) we were going to go hiking with a group from the park. However rain was predicted so it was canceled. Dennis suggested taking a road trip over to Borrego Springs to see the metal sculptures. So we jumped in the truck and headed west. It was a two hour drive. The scenery along the way was not spectacular but it was a pleasant drive with some rain. We stopped at the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area Visitor Center. This is a 85,000 acre recreation area open to off-highway exploration and recreation. The ranger was very helpful and explained about this recreation area and gave us information on where to see the metal sculptures at Borrego Springs.

The Borrego Springs sculptures are on land of the late Dennis Avery. He envisioned the idea of adding 'free standing art' to his property with original steel welded sculptures created by 'Perris Jurassic Park' owner/artist/welder Ricardo Breceda based in Perris, California. There are over 130 metal sculptures located in Borrego Springs ranging from prehistoric mammals to historical characters, fanciful dinosaurs, and a 350-foot-long fanciful serpent. Most can be seen from the road but a few require driving off-road.

We stopped for lunch at Carlee's in Borrego Springs then checked out the Borrego Palm Canyon Campground just west of town. Apparently there was a stand of palms that could be reached by a 1.5 mile hike. However just recently someone had set fire to the palms and they were all destroyed. We took a different route back (south on S3 to 78 to S2) which took us through a good portion of the nearby Anza Borrego Desert State Park. On the way back we stopped at the Costco in El Centro CA to pick up a few items.

Where we are parked: Quartzsite AZ – Boon-docking on BLM land off of Plamosa Road (33.767682,-114.170637).

Where we are parked: Fortuna De Oro RV Park – Site 954 – 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 $48, Weekly $280, Monthly $750 plus utilities. There are other rates for extended and fall only stays.