January 19, 2021 Tacna, Arizona

RAIN! Haven't seen rain in ages and there is such a drought here It was nice  to hear it on the roof.

Yuma is surrounded by miles and miles of huge farms.  Many of the green vegetables we get in the winter come from here. they are harvesting lettuce and broccoli now. We followed this massive semi load of iceberg lettuce. 

We went to Mittry lake today. There is free BLM dispersed camping on one end. the lake itself is a wildlife refuge, lots of birds. 

It was a little more crowded than we like, but there are still some nice spots. We were going to move here tomorrow but there are flash flood warnings out for the area from the rain, so we will stay at the RV park another night. This gentleman is camped on of the inlets to the lake. Hope he does not drown when the rains starts.

They are tearing out these old canal structures. They were built in 1907. The bridge looks to have swastikas' on it. But it was built long before the Nazis adopted the symbol, it is a common character to the native Americans, it means among other things the 4 winds.  We visited beautiful, historic downtown Yuma today.

 Part of beautiful historic downtown Yuma. John walking along an archway in Yuma. 

 The town square with the fountain seems to have been turned into a round about in historic downtown Yuma. John loitering outside the Prison Hill Brewery. We have not been going inside eating or drinking establishments this year because of Covid. Usually John stops at all breweries along the way to taste their IPA.

Beautiful  historic downtown Yuma. Gateway park is on the Colorado River-which starts in Colorado, we have seen a lot of it on our travels. By the time the river gets here, to the border it is really small and polluted with salts in the soil, fertilizers, antibiotics and everything else that gets in our water. Only a small part of it goes to Mexico and none of it reaches the ocean, it is all used up.

 This church is built on the site of the mission  founded in 1780. It is on the Quechan Indian reservation and is not open for tours. But you can attend mass. A row of ibis's along a waterway. 

One of things Yuma is know for is its iceberg lettuce, so on New Years they drop a head of lettuce instead of a ball downtown to celebrate.  Border patrol station, they let us through. 

The Copper Mountain RV park we are staying at seems weird to me. My favorite ski area in Colorado is Copper Mountain. we should be skiing when we are at Copper Mountain.