Repairs..Rally...& Ruins

We are back at Lazydays  (Tucson)  after spending 2 weeks in Yuma. Our main purpose in Yuma was to attend our first Gypsy Journal Rally, but since we had never visited we thought we would go in a week early and do some sightseeing. We stayed at the Cocopah RV Resort on the outskirts of town. A nice park, catering to the 6 month snowbird residents. It has everything you could want including an 18 hole golf course.

We found the visitors center and asked my 3 main questions: After leaving Yuma and telling people we were just there and they ask did you visit____________?; did you eat at _______________? did you shop at_________?

Her responses were: Mexico & the Yuma Territorial Prison National Park;   Lutes Casino & order their special ; Yuma Palms Mall.

Well, since I can't get Ron within miles of the border of Mexico, we took an afternoon and visited the territorial prison. We had visited Alcatraz and although the Yuma prison is smaller it still holds quite a bit of history for this area. It sits on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River and was home to 3,069 prisoners from 1876 to 1909. It is now a historic state park housing a nice museum and offering guided tours through the ruins.

Cell area.

Prisoner #1396 profile.

The museum had several pictures and profiles of some of
the more infamous prisoners.

The stone outlines are ruins of some of the original
prison buildings.

The "Dark Cell" (solitary confinement).   They slept on the floor,
on this iron grid,  sometimes 6 to this tiny area.  
Would make me a law abiding citizen!!

We never did get to Lutes Casino in downtown old Yuma, originally built as a general store with a hotel located on the second floor and gambling in the basement. Their special is a hamburger with a hot dog on top??? Guess it's perfect for the person who can't decide if they want a hamburger or hot dog.

We put it on our list for the next time we visit Yuma. There's more to see in that area but we were just getting over our "Arizona clung" and needed to rest up for the rally. By the time the rally started I was about 95% well and Ron 80%.

The rally organizers (Nick & Terry Russell) have been full timing for over 13 years and we first met them when they were instructors at the Life on Wheels Conference we attended in 2008. They put on a great rally with over 140 rigs in attendance. The rally consists of seminars with topics from water filters and batteries, to RV travelogues about Newfoundland & Alaska, to how to Geocache, buy insurance, clean with microfiber and much more. They also threw in fun entertainment like door prizes, a pizza party and a concert by David Bradley...nationally acclaimed yodeler who has performed with the Sons of the Pioneers and at the Country Tonite Theatre in Branson.

 One evening they presented their annual Cactus Queen Beauty Contest.

Yes..those are men, believe it or not. And very good sports. And NO I couldn't get Ron to volunteer.
What a party poop.



 But the best part of the rally was seeing RV friends Ray & Cathy and Bob and Sandra. We were able to spend several evenings between our coaches sharing appetizers, going out to dinner and getting updated since our last visits. We are now hooked and are already trying to plan our schedule to attend the next rally in September.

We are not sure how long we will be here.  The parts for the jack & slide have come in and been installed.  But when we arrived we couldn't get any electric to the coach, only to find out our transfer switch has a fried relay and a new box has to be located and  hopefully sent over night.   We don't have to be anywhere until the 27th for a rally in Casa Grande, AZ.    We are also waiting for our front panel light switches, but if they don't come in soon, we will probably cancel the order...we can do without for now.

Hope all is well!