Yuma

After the wild burros, Yuma's biggest claim to fame is that it gets 350 days of sun each year. We found out, however, that "sun" does not necessarily equal "warm." A bit breezy and a bit chilly this week.

Another very large claim to fame is the Yuma Proving Ground, which we drove through every day to get to our campground. The YPG is one of the largest military installations in the world and encompasses over 1,300 square miles. The U.S. Army conducts tests on its weapons and uses the site as a training ground. We saw lots of tanks racing through the desert, and heard an occasional very large boom.

The next interesting thing about Yuma is a 3,500 acre BLM campground called the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area. For $180, you can park there for 7 months. There is a central area for water and black/gray water dumping, but other than that you just park your RV out in the desert, maybe next to an ocotillo bush. Most of these hardy campers have multiple solar panels, wisely taking advantage of the nearly constant sunshine.

Solar panels. Our van was wired for solar panels when we bought it, and already had the controller installed. When we saw this place, we figured maybe their overhead was lower than most, and their expertise higher. So we did it - now we have a 135 watt Kyocera solar panel on the VanMan roof! Oh boy - no more trying to play backgammon by candlelight!

One final Yuma claim to fame:  Sam and Nancy. I worked with Nancy 25+ years ago in Homer, AK and have only seen her maybe once since then. Retirement agrees with Nancy - she looks great! She attributes her healthful glow to clean living, keeping busy and exercising - she teaches multiple sessions of water exercise class SIX days/week. Sam is lookin' good too - golf!