Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
We were up at 7:05AM to another beautiful Arizona morning. The birds around this park are something else. It makes one wonder what they have to say to each other. It all sounds the same and goes on and on forever.
The truck and trailer at site 293 Bonita Mesa RV Park, Yuma, Arizona
I went out and put the stabilizer jacks down on the trailer. It helped stiffen her up a bit and took the wieght off the electric hydraulic horse trailer jack.
Joan and I went to the office and paid for another night and then went in and had coffee and doughnuts with those gathered there. When we came back to the trailer two guys came over and we showed them around. Everyone seems to think she is quite the rig. When we went into the office they were talking about the horse trailer and I just said be careful what you say about our pride and joy.
While typing this up I heard someone else talking to Joan at the back of the trailer. It was a guy from Brandon, Manitoba. We sat and talked to him for quite awhile. His father was from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and was in the Signal Corps of the Army. He drowned with three others while fishing at Churchill, Manitoba about 1959. He wanted us to stop and spend a night at his place on the way home. He has over an acre of land and had retired a fire fighter at the Shilo Army base in Manitoba.
Don and Bernie drove up at 12:30PM while we were talking. They came in and looked over the trailer, Joan's quilts and so on. We left between 1PM and 1:30PM and went to the Arizona State Penitenuary. It is now a museum but had been the main jail for Arizona from the 1870's until around 1910. Arizona became a state in 1912. Most interesting and I took a lot of photographs.
The tower where the guards could look over the area and the prison
This is the luxury suite
Most were incarcerated six to a cell as above with the chamber pot.
They were fed bread and water.
This was known as the hell hole and one inmate did 140 days in that.
One of the many exhibits
Some of the cells from outside.
Many of the cells were more or less inside.
There were 29 women incarcerated during the prions history.
You will probably have to take my word for it, but there are two dune buggies stopped side by side up on those sand dunesover on the left.
The Mexico California border crossing just west of Yuma, Arizona
Sheryl showing Joan her pet Geico.
The Geico that we always felt was just a gimmick created by an insurance company.
Sheryl and Don had several old saddles around the place for decoration. They were rather neat.
Sheryl and Don had several of these around to play with in the sand hills across from their home.
From Don junior's place we went back to Don and Bernies and had the rest of the steaks and potatoe salad. That was an excellent supper and we visited until Don brought us home at 10:45PM. They wanted us to stay another day but we had better get going.
We had a number of heavy military helicopters fly over the trailer while I was typing this up. The last were at 11:25PM. On the other side of a mountain east of Yuma they build an imitation Afghan village. They send four Apache gun ships over to blow it up. Then they take troops over to go through the damage, etc.
There are four military helicopters flying over this motorhome on their way to this exercise.
That is Don juniors motorhome. Don senior has the same just a different colour.
It is a military exercise for the real thing in Afghanistan. It is rather eerie when you think that it is more or less the real thing for those so young in those helicopters about to go over.
Another very interesting and enjoyable day.