Welcome to 2020!
I ended the year 2019 and started the new year at the B10 RV Park in Quartzsite. My friend John came to the B10 so we could hang out a few days before I headed on to Yuma. He’d planned on coming to QZ anyway. Nice to have someone to talk to.
When I left QZ, I had been monitoring the weather and it still wasn’t that great in the lower SW but I did want to stop in at Yuma for some shopping and whatever so that’s where I headed. Again, as I approached the town I stopped at what turned out to be more BLM land right next to a VFW. I’d driven past it several times over the years and always wanted to stop in and check out the campgrounds but I never had. What I couldn’t tell from the road is that it is a dry camp. I didn’t know that. It was getting hot enough in the day, and there’s no wifi, so after I drove around the place, I decided against staying because I didn’t want to be running my genset for hours per day. John had done the same thing, driven through the place, but he didn’t remember if it was a dry camp or not so I took the time to find out for myself, and pass it on to you readers just in case you might want to stay there. Looks popular based on the number of RVs there so I imagine the VFW has pretty good food and a nice bar, as otherwise there’s not much reason to stay there, except to save money. It’s a few miles north of Yuma on the 95. If you’re into dry camping, it’s right behind the VFW but you pass the entrance to the property quickly so be on the lookout. You do see a bunch of RVs first as you round the sweeping corner on the road coming down from QZ. I did drive the RV and toad around the area carefully just to explore and it was a bit crowded but there were still many places to park as there are no assigned places on the packed dirt. Rather informal. Eventually, decided against staying and headed into Yuma.
What I ended up doing when I reached Yuma was head for the hills. The Fortuna Hills to the east of Yuma. Still part of Yuma really. Like a suburb. Came here because John was talking it up and I’d already stayed in 3 other RV parks IN Yuma so this was a new adventure. Eventually settled on and in the Gila Mountain RV park. And like all RV parks in Yuma, this one’s wifi also sucked. When I stopped in I was specific about having halfway decent wifi, that was my only requirement…have banking to do and preparations to go into Mexico so need it. Well, one thing lead to another, I was there being golf carted around looking at RV sites, that took too long trying to find a decent space with wifi for my RV, it started getting late, and they gave me a free place to stay for the night with all services EXCEPT wifi. Well, I like free stuff so I stayed.
I unhooked the car and the next morning zipped around the area checking other nearby RV parks and testing their wifi with an app on my phone. If I found half way decent signal strength, I’d stop at the office and sometimes ask for the password to test speed while checking on rates. I stopped at at least 5 other nearby parks and they were all something else. Didn’t want to stay at any of them. So I came back to the Gila park. And pondered. I walked here and there around the park and found that if I could see the main office building, I could pick up a decent signal. So I then biked around the park until I found a spot where I was pretty sure I’d fit and still have the possibility of having decent wifi. It had a clear view of the office building which had the wifi modem inside…they apparently have no outside antennas…so with my high gain gear, I felt I would have a good chance at a good signal. Asked the staff and sure enough the space I’d found was open, so I drove over. Took a good 45 minutes with expert help provided by the office to get the RV backed up into the space. This after two cars in the street were moved. Really tight squeeze. Park looks like it was designed for Class C or small trailers. But actually it seemed, once parked, to be a bigger site then the 5 others they had offered me. And none of those would have gotten wifi very well if at all. After I was all snuggled in, had paid for a week, dropped my jacks and extended my slides, I find the wifi still sucks, but not as bad as those other spots. (I have signal strength apps on my phone and I drove around with the host in a golf cart checking the open sites). But happened later to go out to connect the water and there’s a neighbor right there. So I ask him about wifi and he’s paying $30/month for a cable modem that has wifi. Ask him if I can piggyback for $5 and he says sure! So then I had blazing fast wifi! Yea! Since I only stayed a week he just let me have the connection for free.
I didn’t get a picture of the drivers side of the RV that shows how close to a service tower I was. It was one of several items that made parking alone very problematic in that space. Well, anyway, I got situated, paid for a weeks stay, and immediately rode over to the carpentry shop to work on fixing the bedroom drawer that got smooshed several months before. Only took an hour and it looks and works fine now. Twice now I’ve smooshed it with the slide. I’m really trying hard to concentrate and LOOK before I open or close the slides and always have but it didn’t help those 2 times. For now and maybe forever I blue tape the drawer closed because bouncing around on the highway makes it jump out half way. Then the slide smooshes it if I’m not watching.
And did some other less fun stuff, even John made it down to Yuma eventually as it was on his planned route this year, and we hung out at a nice bar he found. Mostly I just did shopping and messing around looking at stuff. I did some Mexican destination planning too. Also, there was a really cute volunteer in the office so I’d go talk to her now and again. She’s retired, but likes to stay busy volunteering in the office at RV parks.
Well, it was fun there for a week, but time to move on and this time, I’m heading to Amado, AZ. South of Tucson. Just 20 miles from Nogales, Mexico. As I’m traveling, it’s all seemingly flat countryside until, boom, there’s this giant valley you drop into. Very sparsely populated here, but a few miles on, there’s a turn off for Phoenix and I think this is the same valley Phoenix is in.
I’ve been to Amado before and I know there’s really nothing there, but by the time I got into the area, I was down half a tank and wanted to fill up before I crossed the border. So I kept my eyes open and saw a Fry’s Fuel Center under 20 miles from the RV park. Pulled off the I-19, and boom, there’s a price war going on with the station across the street. Yeah! My luck…jeese. Saving money and what not, look at me go…
Here’s a map of the station if you want to stop there on your trip, I’d recommend it before heading into Mexico where diesel is about $4.40 per gallon: Fry’s Fuel Center
And…soon I was parked and set up at the Mt. View campground in Amado. Very fast wifi here. These RV parks are really getting good at supplying fast wifi these days. Not in Yuma, but the rest of the country they are. This is just a little podunk RV park in the middle of hardly anywhere and it’s fast and reliable wifi. But Yuma? Nope. Not unless you sign up for their cable wifi on a month to month basis. Seems like a freakin’ scam to me.
The 2nd picture is a view of the road I was parked a few steps from showing more of the park and the big ass antennas they have here. It’s one of those remote TV relay stations for the area. Probably several decades old. The RV park leased them the land and they get a monthly rental. The 3rd picture is of the hills due east of the park. There’s a small river out in there somewhere.
Paid for a week at the RV park and got serious about my trip into Mexico (it had been sort of up in the air for weeks at this point) so got online. Researched the type of vehicle insurance I’d need (you must buy Mexican insurance if you’re going deeper than 20 Kilometers into the country), decided where I’d be going, contracted the RV parks I’d be staying at and reserved a spot at two places (free, no money given for holding a space), went into Nogales, AZ and got Kwan the Kat her rabies shot plus Mexican animal certificate ($60), bought $2000 pesos (turned out to be HALF what I should have gotten) that cost $109 US. Researched some 1st person accounts by people who had been to Maz lately for first hand knowledge, etc. Did a poor job of that I’m afraid.
With that all taken care of, it was time for some exploring. Around 6 miles south of the RV park is an old Spanish mission that’s been designated a National Monument. So headed down there for a look around. When I got there, realized I’d forgotten my Golden Pass which would get me in free, and I had forgotten my regular glasses and all I had were my sunglasses. OK, well, never mind that today, I’ll come back tomorrow. As I was driving out of the parking lot, what do I spy??
AhhhHAH! It was meant to be. So I sauntered in. I saunter sometimes. And discover it has a rich and varied history. Once in the late ’30’s, it was held up by John Dillinger. Like follows like so soon the Hollywood producers were showing up looking for ‘locations’ for movies since Dillinger liked the area, and they found them around here. Didn’t hurt that one of the richest ranching women in the country lived very near here and was friends with some movie stars. Invited them to stay or shoot movies on her property. The bar was only built in the 1930’s but it became popular with movie stars and celeb’s that hung around this area over the decades.
Anyway, as I said, sauntered in, sat at the bar and ordered a PBR as that’s the only beer they had on their menu I could stomach. Bar was virtually empty at 2:30 pm so bartender filled me in on the history while washing the bar. First he told me I was sitting at John Wayne’s favorite spot. On his favorite stool. I’m not a great fan of Wayne’s but I’m not opposed to name dropping now and again. Then some other people came in and the bar tender got busy so he couldn’t keep telling me all the movie people who had come in. But then the owner came in and he helped add to the growing list until he got busy. Still, although I was writing them down like mad, I missed a lot of names.
But here’s a short list of some of the stars that have stopped in for a beer:
John Wayne, Whoopi Goldberg, Paul McCartney, Kevin Costner, Doris Day, Maureen O’Hara, Micheal Douglas, Zeta Jones, Warren Beatty, Debra Winger, John Ford. I was told there were hundreds of others as this place and area became a hot spot for stars to hide out, and since this was the only small bar around here for years, it got a lot of the traffic.
One of the things about the bar is that there’s a small section that’s walled off from the main section by a half height wall. It has it’s own bar section that is an extension of the main one. Tables and chairs and a separate entrance. What’s that for you ask? Racism. The small area in the bar was segregated and specifically for the Mexican workers, American Indian, and other undesirables working and living all around this area. The large section of the bar, the stage, the dance area, was exclusively for whites. But at least the wall was only half height.
Pretty neat huh? Not a bad find on a screwed up trip.
And the next day, I came back with my Golden Pass, my glasses, and headed on into the mission. I’m not a fan of the brutal Spanish brand of Christianity but am a fan of history. This is one of those places that was periodically attacked by the Apache. Remember that the Apache use to attack Mexican villages for pillage, slaves, and women but after the Spanish came, and they found out how cruel the Spanish friars were along with their soldiers, so for several decades they sort of laid off the Mexicans in villages a bit and attacked the Spanish, mostly at missions. Killed hundreds of them over the years. Even attacked this mission. Well, enough of that…let’s head on into the mission why don’t we? After making my way through the main entrance, off a few yards are the ‘remains’ of the mission. In pretty bad shape. But some of it is still standing. Much of it has the look of a fortress. And that’s because they were attacked so often since they were the brutal regime of the era. There were uprisings by the Mexican and Native Americans several times. Occasionally the church would be without priest for a decade or two at a time.
Those pock marks in the above picture were holes from old arrow shots that weathered out and grew over the ages.
This is actually the granary (below). It was two stories, long ago. All the dried foods demanded by the priest from the locals were brought in here by slaves in wicker baskets and piled up for the winter season. The steps lead to the 2nd floor. 
So that’s that. They are working on restoring the orchard with help from volunteers, and the animal coral is rebuilt and that’s interesting how they used sticks and mud to make buildings. But otherwise, not much to see really. I actually prefer ancient Native American cliff dwellings to this kind of thing. But it was worth an hour to visit.
After this, I got back on the the lateral, what use to be the main highway before the freeway was built and headed up north to check out the fancy places that have grown up in this area along side this road. Homes for the rich, golf courses, fancy shopping malls, fancy restaurants. Went in and out of several of the areas and neighborhoods just looking around. There were some nice homes, but no mansions that I could see from the road. Stopped at a boutique grocery store a couple miles north of Amado and it’s way nice. Even has a wine tasting section, along with a fancy deli. The fruits and vegis were fresh and attractive. But strangely, no espresso machine anywhere. Oh, well.
Anyway, that’s all for today. Next time, we head into Mexico, I promise.