Tag Archives: Mittry Lake

Off to Yuma

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Thanks

I would like to thank everyone for the thoughtful comments concerning my Mom.  I am so lucky to have so many friends like yourselves.

Finally off to Yuma

I was finally able to pick up my rig at the Ford dealer where they fixed my steering box, upgraded my A/C and did my front brakes.  Then I went back to Doheny State Beach for 2 days to get organized and purchase food.  My sister Bev took me to Costco and Trader Joe’s where I really stocked up.  I packed up on Friday morning to make the drive to Yuma.  Glad to get out of all the traffic in So CA.

Cool driving

I am sure glad that the Ford dealer was able to fix the A/C.  Since my rig is an older model they could not just add freon, but had to upgrade to the latest freon they now use in all the new vehicles.  It was getting hot crossing the desert and both Chica and myself were nice and cool.

Mittry Lake

I headed straight to Mittry Lake where I met up with friends who were already there.  Jim and Gayle, Debbie, Chris, Jeanne, Barbara, Suzanne and Kim were already there and Chica and I moved right in.  Martin and Charlie arrived later and it was good seeing them.  It sure was fun meeting up with old friends as well as some new ones as well.

Chica also met here friends Sophie and Elvis as well as Rupert and Eliot, Katie and Riley.  She was really glad to see them.

 Visited Stan

The next day I drove over to the Paradise Casino to visit Stan who was a fellow camp host last summer at Baker Lake.  He had called and mentioned that he would only be there another day or two so decided to stop in and pay him a visit.  He is going back east to Mississippi.  It was good seeing him before he left.

I also need groceries so headed over to Fry’s to restock my new refrigerator.

Off on a hike

A few of us left on a hike about 9:00am to avoid the heat.  It was a hike I have done many times before so knew where we were going.  This is a pic of our rigs looking back from our hike.

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I will take more pics of the area and Chica once I get my camera charged up.

I am glad to be back on the road and meeting up with friends.

Batten down the hatches

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Rain on it’s way

The rain that hit Southern California is headed this way.  That means making sure I have everything I need for a few days as I don’t want to be traveling down muddy roads.  Going to Yuma requires driving on a dirt road for about a mile and then it turns into pavement.  Hopefully we will not be hit too hard.

Dumped tanks and got estimate

Yesterday I dumped tanks and filled up with water.  After that I drove into RVDecor in Yuma to get an estimate on replacing my carpeting with wood flooring.  My carpeting is really hard to keep clean especially when you are camping in inclement weather such as rain and snow.  Besides that I just want a new and improved look.  The owner came out and checked my rig and told me they could put in wood flooring and new carpeting in the cab.  Great, but how much.  $1800.  YUK!!!

Since I don’t have that kind of money floating around I told him thanks for the estimate and drove back to Mittry Lake.  It is something I will definitely have to save for.  I have replaced my window blinds and when I am at my sister’s home in a month or so I will change the curtains over the kitchen window and the door.  Then I only have one more blind in the back to replace.  While I am in Yuma, I am going to Lowe’s and pick up a kitchen faucet.

Vet Appointment

While they were here Debbie and Gayle and Jim took their animals into the Foothills Animal Hospital for shots and checkups.  They were very happy with them and so I called yesterday and was able to get an appointment for Chica at 2:15.  She is going to have her annual shows, nails trimmed and teeth cleaned.  The vet is not her favorite place to be, but hope all goes well and we are in and out in a short time.  I will let you know how things go.

This was a piic of her at her first vet visit last year in Mesa, AZ.

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I will try to get a couple of pics this time as well.

Yuma River Days

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All aboard

We all piled into Debbie’s car and headed off to see the Yuma River Days.  Jim decided to stay back.  It is a small street celebration with arts and crafts, clothes, food and music.  Immediately after parking the car up strolls Chris.  We keep running into him in different places/countries.  How ironic!  We all walked thru the exhibits together and then shortly afterward Chris had to leave.  It was a cloudy day which helped to keep temps down a bit, but it was still very hot.

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The festival takes place in the old downtown section of Yuma.  Here is a pic of the historic Yuma Theatre built in the early 1900’s.

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This used to be an old Casino, but has been changed into a diner.  Very Cool!!  I got this pic of Gayle behind bars.  HA!!

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Chica’s Relative?

While walking thru the exhibits I saw this lady carrying a Chihuahua that looked very similar to Chica.  Too bad I didn’t bring Chica to see if they knew each other. DUH!! I am sure.

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At the end of the exhibits they had a couple playing music.  They were just getting warmed up.

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This ice cream cone sure looked tempting.  I didn’t get one here but did manage to sneak one in later in the day.

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Arizona Marketplace

Chris had mentioned that there was a flea market much like we experienced in Quartzsite.  So off we went.  We found a spot where it was a mall atmosphere with many small booths set up inside a big building.  Not what we were looking for.  Debbie found out what we were looking for and at 4th and 32nd streets you will find the Arizona Marketplace.  Lots of RV accessories, food, hardware, etc.  The same stuff we saw in Quartzsite although all the vendors were entirely under a shaded roof.  Much cooler.  It is only open from Thursday thru Sunday and the admission is only $.50 so we plan to go back some other time.

Have you ever heard of toilet tattoos?  I never had, but they had all kinds.

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We finally got tired of wandering through all the stuff and headed home.

Dumped/Added water

This was the first day I absolutely had to dump my tanks and take on water.  It had been 14 days and felt I really conserved.  I had to drive 8 1/2 miles to the Laguna RV Park where I had to pay $10 to dump and $5 for water.  That is really cheap considering I haven’t paid anything for camping.

Another beautiful sunset

We all sat around talking and enjoying our beverage of choice and got to experience another beautiful sunset.  The sunsets here have really been fabulous.

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A lazy President’s Day

Today I don’t plan on going anywhere except maybe a short walk around the campsite with Chica.  No plans means a nice relaxing day.

Toothless in Yuma on Valentines Day

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Me and my valentine sleep in…

I awoke this morning late.  Chicka was still asleep but jumped up and demanded I let her out immediately to do her duties.  Good girl!!

Toothless in Yuma

My non tooth is doing well and healing properly.  Haven’t had to take only one pain pill the first day, but none since then.  Whenever I think of pulling teeth, it reminds me of when I had Chica neutered.  The vet mentioned that she still had some of her baby teeth and wondered if I wanted to have those extracted as well.  I agreed and when I picked her up the vet/dentist gave me a baggy with 6 extremely tiny teeth.  She was not a very happy girl and she would not let me come within 10 feet of her for almost a week.  Very hard to do in a 26 1/2 foot RV.  I wonder now if they gave her Novocain for dogs.

Back to some hiking

Jim and Gayle were going on a short hike and asked if I wanted to go as well.  I was ready to go after sitting out a couple of days.  We hiked past the lake and up to where we should have found the trail to cross the canal on our previous hike.

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We walked on the road next to the lake.

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We got to the canal which had been our nemesis on our last hike.

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As hot as it is there are still many plants and trees blooming.

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Hiking Great Egret

We even spotted this Great Egret just hanging out by the side of the road.  It did not seem to concerned by us walking so close.

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Record Temperatures

The news last night mentioned that Arizona was experiencing record temps throughout the state.  It is in the low 90’s here in the Yuma area.  Hot but not unbearable.  In the afternoon Chica likes to lay on a pillow which is a bit cooler.

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Mittry Lake Hike

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Short hikes

I took a couple of short hikes with Gayle and Jim just after I arrived at my new home overlooking Mittry Lake.  We found a trail that led up to some cairns and other interesting things.  On the way we crossed over a spillway on the canal.  This is a vital key to a hike we took later in the week.  I will get to that later.

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We followed a trail that led up into the hills.  There were several rocky points where we crossed a wash, but no big deal.

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Then we got to a spot with lots of cairns and even some Cristmas bulbs hanging from a cactus.

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We could even see Imperial Dam LTVA from here.

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This was the stopping point for both hikes as we then turned around and followed the trail back.  On the way I was able to get a pic of some of the beautiful foliage.

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Where did the trail go?

Yesterday Jim and Gayle Life’s Little Adventures Debbie and myself were met by Boonie of Occupation of Independence and Glenn of To Simplify as well as Ted of Life With Kurumi and Chris Ford who also camped with us at Quartzsite.  Plus the dogs Coffee Girl, Rupert and Elliot.  I didn’t take Chica as many of the rocks were bigger then her.

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We started out on the same trail as we had taken before.  Once we hit the cairns and Christmas bulbs we decided to continue down the trail.

The trail was well marked and somewhat easy for quite a while.

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We found many flowers in bloom along the way.

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Where’s a bridge?

Then it got confusing.  We could see the canal from the top of the hills, but couldn’t see any place to cross it.  Boonie, Glenn and Ted had gone ahead of us and we weren’t sure which way.  Remember the first photo in this post.  That’s the canal we had to cross.  So we took what we thought was the trail to a spot where we could cross the canal.  It wasn’t much of a trail, but it seemed our way out.  I saw Boonie, Glenn and Ted walking on the other side of the road.  They spotted me and were yelling to go higher.  So that is what I was doing.  I still could see Gayle on the trail much lower and she was telling me to go lower.  HELP!

Too Risky!

I took Gayle’s advise and went back down to the trail.  Then it got very risky and we decided it would be much easier if we went back on the trail we came in on.  You must realize that I am no where near the hiking ability of Gayle and Jim.  They are very experienced hikers.  So I was getting very tired and all three of us were running very low on water.  We really hadn’t planned to hike as long as we did.  It was now about 12:30 to 1:00 and it was getting hotter.  Then all of a sudden Gayle spotted a car on a bluff not too far from us.  The guy (Steven) said he would get us back to our camp so we made our way over to him.  I didn’t get a pic, but this was the terrain.

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Thank you Steven!!!!

All three of us piled into his car and he had to drive 4 miles back to the bridge that went over the canal which was the road leading to Imperial Dam.  Then 5 miles back to our camp.  He even gave us something to drink.  What a great guy!  He was just about getting ready to start fishing in this great spot along the canal when he spotted us.  What a good Samaritan!!! 

We all got back and sat around the camp for a while exchanging stories and relaxing.  It was a great day in that I met so many new friends and Coffee Girl as well.  Next time I go hiking I will be sure to take more water and a snack bar.

Mittry Lake

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Left Quechan Casino

Monday I left the casino and headed to Mittry Lake via Walmart in Yuma.  Mittry Lake is on BLM land just about 5 miles from Imperial Dam.  At Walmart I picked up a few groceries and a set of trekking poles.  I had borrowed a pole while hiking outside of Quartzsite and found it very helpful so decided to get my own.

Then it was on to meet up with Gayle and Jim (Life’s Little Adventures) and Debbie.  They have a great spot on a bluff overlooking the lake and they saved a spot for me.

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It is a great spot and very level.  I am planning on being here for a few weeks as the price is right ($0).

Tuesday Jim and I drove over to the Christian Service Center just outside Imperial Dam to look for a lift kit for Jim’s solar panels.

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Unfortunately they didn’t have what he was looking for but they did have lots of solar panels, batteries and inverters of all sizes.  On our way back we decided to drive around and check out other camping areas and found several that had great views such as this one.

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Hiking in the area

There are a lot of great hiking trails in the area and yesterday we were looking for some nice trails.  We found one that went way up into the hills.  Someone had taken the time to decorate it with rocks and even had Christmas bulbs decorating a cactus.  I forgot to take my camera so didn’t get any pics.  I will try to remember it the next time.

Dental Appointment

I mentioned that I was going to go with Gayle and Debbie to the dentist on Tuesday.  I was wrong as their dental appointment was on Thursday.  I called the dentist to make an appointment, but the soonest I could get in would have been next week.  I then mentioned that my friends had dental appointments on Thursday so they fit me in at the same time.  How nice was that?  So tomorrow I will be getting up early (for a change) and heading to Mexico and my new dentist.

Weather has been great

This is the best weather I can remember since my first year coming to this area.  There have been a few cloudy days, but no rain and most of the days have cloudless blue skies.  Great solar!  It has been in the 70’s and next week it should be going into the 80’s.