Photos from American Girl Mine and Sidewinder Road

Jeanne and I left Mittry Lake last week and drove over to an area off I-8 that I've been wanting to visit.  There are free boon docking areas along the 8.  The first, heading west, is off Sidewinder Road, and then further down is Ogilby Road to either Sidewinder Road  or American Girl Mine Road.

First we tried American Girl Mine Road.  Jeanne has camped there before and we went down the road a ways to a place she had been before.  After spending one night there, we decided to head back to the Sidewinder Road area so I could see what that was like.  We both agreed we liked this area better.  Plus it's closer to Yuma and we had things to do in Yuma over the next couple of weeks.

I've taken it pretty easy, but have gotten in a few short walks and done many inside chores as well as a couple trips to town. 

Below are some photos I've taken of this area.   It's just regular desert, like most of the places in this southern part of the State of Arizona, with beautiful mountains in the distance (actually not so distant in this area) and gorgeous sunsets.  We've had some windy days, some beautiful days, some cloudy days.  Today we're expecting rain around 5 pm, and according to my app forecasts, it should last all  night.  That'll be a good drink of water for this desert area.

The first photos are the views out my windows near American Girl Mine Road:

In town for Yuma's Tuesday Farmer's Market last week - I love this little cactus garden outside a law office on the main street.

We walked down one of the side streets to check out the little businesses.  This one has two doors, Enter and Exit.  The various businesses were painted different colors, and it was a nice little diversion from the farmer's market vendors.  We actually headed down that street because someone had told Jeanne about a candy shop there.  I think we forgot about it, though, after window shopping on the way.  The candy shop was at the end of the street and we didn't go that far - probably a good thing.

Here's the Bold Crew - Jeanne's Lazy Daze pulling her toad.  I followed along on the way to Ogilby Road.

Here we are in our little camp off American Girl Mine Road:

Then at Sidewinder - Jeanne took this photo of The Palms and the mountains in the distance.  Notice The Palms has her socks on.  After having to buy two new tires, she will wear her socks from now on when we're camped in sunny weather.  :)   (I put only two covers on the side that has the afternoon sun beating down on it.)

Here's Jeanne's motor home in the sunset - the pink reflection was so bright, but I wasn't facing the right way to get a good photo of The Palms in the sunset.  Just a little off.  But I thought this was really pretty and caught Riley in the photo, too:

The next four photos are sunsets on four different evenings - they were all just beautiful:

We've been throwing the ball for the dogs a little - they get tired of playing long before we do.  Katie has bright yellow tennis balls, but here she is stealing Riley's red/blue ball.

That's about it for now, there's not a lot going on.  Tuesday I'm taking The Palms to Yuma to be washed and waxed, and then over to the Vet's for Katie.  I want her Seroma re-checked and I've found a little growth on her other ankle.  Hopefully she is fine, but...  better safe than sorry.  While we're in town we have a ton of other stops to make, so that will be a long, busy day.

From me and Katie, warm and snuggley in The Palms waiting for the rain, have a great Sunday, everyone!  :)

Guess who I got to meet?

Nina, of "Nina and Paul," and Wheeling It!   Unfortunately Paul wasn't able to make it - he stayed home to watch Polly, who was having a problem with one of her legs.  We were all sorry we missed you, Paul - but very happy that Nina still came by to visit us.  What a cutie pie!   After reading Wheeling It! for so long and passing them like ships in the night, we were finally in the same place at the same time, and got to chat a bit.

Jeanne, Denise and Nina:

Gayle, Jeanne, kB, Chris, Jimbo and Kim:

Katie got her own little visit with Nina:

Suzanne, Jim and Gayle:

Kim is such a dog lover, and Katie LOVES Kim!

Nina, Jeanne, Joe, kB, Denise, Tara, Debbie:

Suzanne, Jim and Nina:

Remember the photo I posted a bit ago with the bare tree against the mountains at sunset - with a hawk in it?  Well, here are a couple of photos of the hawk earlier in the evening.  Isn't he a beauty?

American Coot in Mittry Lake:

A couple of Grackles on the big rock outside The Palms:

Hummingbird at the feeder:

Katie has always liked Denise's Bennie, but she really LOVES Tara and Joe's Milo.  Whenever he was outside, Katie would get so agitated I thought she was going to go potty in the house.  I'd quickly let her out, and over she would run to visit Milo and Bennie.  She sure liked all the dog socializing here at Mittry Lake:

And a final "see you later" to Nina.  Thanks for dropping in for a visit, I so enjoyed meeting you and hope that next season we'll have a bit more time to chat.  Safe travels to you and Paul on your way to the big city!

From me and Katie, have a great weekend, everyone!  :)

Fresh Artichokes: Two-for-a-Dollar

Yuma, AZ Tuesday Marketplace.  I've never seen artichokes at a Farmer's Market - artichokes are my favorite food.  They run from $2.50 to $3.00 each in the grocery stores.  Except Costco or Sam's, where the prices are better.  I couldn't believe they had two large boxes of artichokes at the Farmer's Market, and they were 2 for $1.  I've NEVER seen them that cheap.  I got four of them, and so far have only boiled one.  It was GOOD!  The second one will be cooked up today.  :)

Bunches of fresh asparagus with the tough ends cut off were only $2 a bunch.  Great deal and really fresh looking, so I got a bunch of these, too.  

I also got some nice broccoli, which I cooked up to make my New York Pie for dinner.

Other tables had citrus:

Colorful peppers:

Jewelry, other foods and many different items.  This booth had some cool clothing wraps.  The seller demonstrated the many ways this top can be worn, it was kind of amazing.  But not RVing attire.  Very cool, though.

Here's the street - lots of booths, but not too many.  It made for an easy walk to the end, seeing everything.

Below is one of the food booths, looks like Kim is enjoying a taco - she said it was really good. 

Next, on the way to Best Buy, we saw an In-N-Out Burger.  Jeanne saw it first, and proceeded to entertain Kim and me with a hysterical fit of not "using her words."  We couldn't figure out what was wrong, when she finally blurted out real words: "In-N-Out Burger!"  Jeanne has heard about their burgers and fries but never tried them and was very excited to see their sign.  Of course, we stopped for lunch.  I'm not a fries person, but I love chocolate shakes, so I treated myself to a burger and shake.  Yum. They both had burgers and fries.  All delicious, and we proceeded to our next stop...

...Best Buy!  I've debated on and off for a long time about branching out of the Android world into Apple land - and I finally bought a new iPad Air.  And screen protector.  And smart cover.  $$$$$  For once I spent some money on something fun.  For me, not for The Palms.    :)))))

We also stopped at Wal-Mart and brought the dogs in - they were in our carts on blankets Jeanne keeps in the car for Riley.  Katie and Riley REALLY enjoyed going down the aisles, looking at all the stuff, smelling all the odors, being greeted by other shoppers.  Even the staff was very friendly to them.  I guess in Yuma it's so hot outside, lots of days people can't leave the dogs in the car, so they must be used to people bringing them inside where it's cooler.  They can't do much damage while in a shopping cart, so I guess were were okay.  And the dogs just loved it!

From me and Katie, have a great Monday, everyone!  :)

Mittry Lake, AZ

Here we are at Mittry Lake.  I've never been here before, but some friends are already camped here, so Jeanne and I caravaned down to Mittry.  Right now we have Jeanne, Kim, Suzanne, Debbie, Gayle and Jim, Chris, Jimbo, Charlie and Marti and me.  And of course, our various dogs and cats.  CB was here, but left a couple of days ago.  So it's quite a group!

It's much prettier and nicer here than I thought it would be.  There are lots of good places to park right by the water.  I planned to stay for a few days, but it's so nice I'm going to stay longer.

The picture below is the view out my front windshield - can you see the Great Blue Heron on the hill - he's looking left.  From the center of the photo, he's about at 10:00.

Here he is up closer:

Below is right outside the windshield - we are really close to the water and have a great view of the water birds.

This afternoon I got more photos of the heron - right in the water ahead of us.  He ducked in a couple of times and got his outer feathers wet.

This structure is behind The Palms - the water winds around land areas, and right here it comes through the hill, I guess, to the canal alongside us.  It looks like something that was built a long time ago.

This was my view in my first site, the main lake, then I moved to the other side of the parking area, where I was closer to the water in a canal.  The lake view was nice, but I like my present site better, mostly because the water is much closer. 

This is the path to the main lake area where the dumpsters are.  When it's hot, and it's been hot every afternoon, we always take this way back to get a little shade.

This photo below is the main part of the lake - with the mountains in the distance, the palm trees and the other trees, bushes and reeds, it's just beautiful. 

Not a great photo in this light, but this Snowy Egret was perched on a rock by the lake.  I love these guys with their big yellow feet:

This beautiful Great Egret was hanging out in one of the canals along the road going toward Mittry Lake.  They are so regal looking.  There were two American Coots there with him.  

One of the hummers at Jim and Gayle's hummingbird feeder:

Hummingbird shadow at the feeder through my curtain in the afternoon:

My friends said a vulture comes and roosts every night in one of the trees near me.  Here he is our first evening as the sun was setting.

There are two birds in the water in front of The Palms every day fishing for food - a male and a female Lesser Scaup.  This is a new bird sighting for me.  Here is the male:

There is good Internet through my Verizon hotspot and good TV channels.  Jeanne has no AT&T phone service, and my Verizon phone calls haven't been great unless I put the phone in the Wilson Sleek.  Then the calls will go through and hold until I hang up.

Mittry Lake is a very pleasant surprise, and I'm sure I'll be coming back again.

From me and Katie, have a great Saturday, everyone!  :)