November 2 to November 8, 2002

Saturday November 2:

Battery is 75% this morning, AFTER two hours of TV and 20 minutes of Pilates tapes.  The cell connection is good, and we transact normal business.  The website is not ready to upload, and we decide to put that off for this weekend; there are other things to do. We drive to the racetrack and find many interesting things to see at the Highland Games; daggers, knives and swords are on sale, with signs that those under 18 may not touch....  :-)  The quality looks more decorative than functional.  Kilted bagpipe bands are plentiful.  

The brawny competing athletes in the caber toss do manage to lift the pole and get it to land on it's head and tumble over to a qualifying position occasionally.

No, it does not appear to be made of balsa wood; it lands with a heavy thud no matter which way it falls.  I'm not even TEMPTED to make any humorous remarks about kilts in this crowd....  :-)  There is dance competition and these light footed young ladies seem to move as one to the spirited tunes.

I do wonder what school they attend to learn to levitate like that?  :-)  Claire stood in line and bought us haggis for lunch....it looked like a sausage and tasted a bit like polish blood sausage kishka, but the spicing was different.  I understand it is liver and grains steamed traditionally in a stomach;  I guess the sausage skins are a modern improvement.  :-)  It is not terrible, but nothing I would travel miles for either.....  The folks manning the clan booths are eager to chat; one gentleman showed me a book that supported his view that Celts visited the new world in the 1300's, and had rough maps of the US east coast before Columbus sailed from Spain.  The display of military tactics by the Gordon Highlanders, and their old cannon and Gatling gun were fun; ahhh, the sweet smell of burning powder...  :-)

 The Gatling gun jammed first try, but recovered in time to "flash" us.  :-)

The wind was most cooperative, drifting the smoke far enough away so we could photograph it's source.  The infantry demonstrated their skills with bullet and bayonet also. Here they fire a full volley with their single shot breech loaders, bayonets ready for follow up action.....

I am glad I do not have to work that hard in the warm mid-day Tucson sun.  I continue to suppress any kilt jokes that might float through my mind.... :-)  We tired, rested in the RV, then returned for another look.  This lady was performing a weaving demonstration.

The show was over before we headed out.  This tot in tartan preceded us out the gate.

 She was keeping a close but tired eye on dad. :-)  We drove back to the Walmart on Valencia Rd, where we had stayed two nights ago as the sun set.  We parked and started dinner of  left over spaghetti, only to be greeted by Walmart's security saying we could not park overnight here.  I did not ask why we could two nights ago; instead I requested a place where we COULD stay.  The lady pleasantly directed us to a casino where we would be welcome.  After finishing dinner, we drove what seemed like a long way on the darkened I-19, well onto the Indian Reservation, before seeing the bright "Casino" sign.  We pulled into the lighted parking lot, and stopped on a level spot relatively close to the casino, near another RV.  The lot held many cars, but had MUCH open space.  There were RV's and tractor trailers scattered about the lot.  It looked friendly, and was quiet compared to Flying J and Walmart. I finished off the dishes and went to bed, as Claire did her Pilates exercises and settled in to watch TV.  

Sunday November 3:

Battery is 72% charged after TV of last night.  I can LIVE this way!!  :-)   We found the parking lot deserted except for the RVs and trucks this morning, but that's OK!  :-)  Few people makes for easy sleeping.  I drink all the coffee and am anxious for generator time to make more.....I hesitate to start too early, lest we annoy our hosts who were probably up quite late last night.  :-)  We hear the sound of a generator nearby before 8AM, so make our coffee.  Plan today is Saguaro Park East again, this time to enjoy the park, and bike the 8 mile loop, NOT do work on the RV. :-)   We arrive there well before noon, and park in the only available space that will hold us, a pulloff just inside the park gate.  We are told a stalled car on the narrow one way loop will prevent our passage around until a tow truck arrives.  We enjoyed lunch in the RV before walking to the visitor's center; it's nice, and we watch the well done slide show.  The volunteers staffing the center are quite hospitable.  When we emerge after noon, the road is clear and we drive to the same parking place we occupied for the work session on Friday; it is large enough to hold us with plenty of room left over for others.  We hike the short trail before starting to bike.  The road has many ups and downs, and a hazard I had not considered until passing a group of girls stopped to fix a bike flat; a cactus thorn had penetrated the tube.  We have a hand pump and flat kit, but in the RV...not the best place for that today.  :-(  We try to avoid the edges of the road, where we can see pieces of cactus laying on the ground.  This cute "Teddy Bear" Cactus almost begs us to pet it's white "fur".

We resist as these "hairs" have sharp tips.  This Barrel Cactus has "friendly" turned in spines.

They are still quite adequate to protect the developing fruit from hungry desert dwellers....  This shy grasshopper tried unsuccessfully to elude our camera's prying lens.

I'm not sure WHICH of its hungry enemies the camera resembles, but this time buggy escaped unharmed.  The desert is filled with interesting plants; here is how one once mighty saguaro met it's end....

Pictures are plentiful, along our 8 mile loop, and on one of our many stops near the top of a long hill a pair of joggers who have been trailing us finally catch up and pass with a victory wave. As they moved on up the road one remarked that they had not stopped to take any pictures.  :-) We felt quite tired after completing the 8 miles, but both bikes needed work; my handlebars were loose (due to the abuse they had suffered from being caught on something as we pulled away from a curb in Prescott) and Claire's shift cable had broken on this trip.  I fixed the bikes, then we relaxed until close to park closing time.  This is a quiet, pleasant place.  Purry had a walk; he is more comfortable here than he was the first visit, when he insisted on returning inside immediately.  He is obviously wary; it appears there is something in this area that scares him.  We drove to Camping World, where we intend to buy a few things including a spare water pump, and hopefully spend the night.  The store is closed, but a prominent sign says "No overnight parking".  We debate whether to drive the long distance back to the casino, or the long distance back to Kmart.  Tucson is definitely not seeming too friendly to us RVers at this point.  We decide to try another night at Kmart, then see the Desert Museum early, followed by the 150 mile drive to Organ Pipe National Monument, half way to Yuma, where they have campsites for $5 a night, water, and a dump station.  Kmart's lot was again inviting with plenty of room, and it was pleasant to shop in a different store.  I notice that NONE of the Walmart's in California are super; perhaps we can find a list of super Kmarts.  :-)  Dinner of pork and cabbage is welcome and delicious, but when we finish the time is late, and we still have calls to make back east; it is near bedtime there.  After completing the calls, I check again for e-mail, then find that my pillow beckons....

Monday November 4:

Our battery is 75% today.  We went into K-mart looking for a few things, and asked for a list of area K-marts; we were told they had no such list.  We decided to get out of Tucson fast, rather than stop at the desert museum; we have been here long enough!  The drive on Arizona Rt 86 is good.

  This is LONELY two lane road and we have 122 miles of it. This RV preceded us for quite a while, taking the speed decision out of our concern.  We both drive the limit (55) but are passed often. Frequently along the road we see crosses with decorations, sometimes a bowl of water and another bowl; food?  We assume the crosses mark graves.   We pull off at a convenient unofficial, unpaved pulloff for lunch.  When we stop here, we pull the curtains instantly to block the intense sun.  The air feels temperate but the sun is REALLY hot!  We notice gas prices rose as soon as we left Tucson, and the further west we drive the higher they are.  We had really wanted to fuel in Tucson, but had not passed a reasonably priced station.  We have enough to reach Yuma if necessary, but would rather not use the last 1/4 tank as the generator will not run with fuel that low.  The few towns we pass through are hardly more than a gas station and general store and a few residences.  Nearing the town of Why, where we turn south for Organ Pipe, I thought we were coming to a BIG town, but miles too early.  It appeared large in the distance, with a water tower.  It turned out to be a large school for the reservation we were passing through, not a town at all.  In Why there were THREE gas stations at the crossroads of Rt 86 and Rt 85.  

The prices were still outlandish.  I am left with no answer to the town's questioning name......  We turn south on Rt 85; it is the road from the Mexican border port of entry, Lukeville, and passes through Organpipe National Monument.  We proceed the last 25 miles of the trip, seeing little traffic.  This is not a busy port of entry!  The park visitors center finally appears, and we pay our $5 camping fee for one night. I notice the 12-4 PM generator hours posted on the bulletin board, the most restrictive yet.  :-((   This is DESERT for sure.  We start at the dump station, then fill water, and drive around the campground loop several times trying to find a site where the afternoon sun does not blast in through the open screen door, but the pull through sites all force that to happen.  We decide we MUST use the awning.  With it, and the open windows, the desert breeze makes it very comfortable inside.  This climate is amazing; I now understand the desert travellers desire to hole up out of the sun in the day, and travel at night.  Despite this understanding, we decide to hike the 4 mile round trip trail to Victoria Mine.  The awning comes down before we leave, as there is a breeze that might threaten it if left up unattended. We also make two pots of coffee to hold us until noon the next day; we will not be able to run the generator when we return.  The Victoria Mine trail leads out of sight of civilization very quickly;  we are glad we used the trail sign out register.  

The desertscape is quite interesting, and we see the now familiar saguaro cactus in large numbers.  We also see up close for the first time this slimmer but multi-trunked Organpipe Cactus that gives the park it's name.

These can also be petted, but carefully and with due respect...  This Octillo flower shines a beautiful deep pink in the sunlight.

The Octillo is a plant we have seen before, from Big Bend Park in Texas last spring, throughout the dryer west.  It has always reminded us of a GIANT crown of thorns plant, having only occasional flowers and many serious thorns to decorate it's long brushy branches.  On the trip in here, we saw what appeared to be these plants, but with bright green leaves.  on this trail we indeed confirm that some of these plants have leafed out, while others right next door remain bare. 

We see little wildlife on the trail; most of that seems to concentrate in the campground.  There is some water from dripping faucets, and food from campers, despite the regulation that animals not be fed.  The birds in the campground are tame and expectant; there are very few outside it.  The old gold/silver/copper mine is interesting.

There is an abandoned adobe miners cabin, concrete heavy machinery bases, and well covered deserted mine shafts with danger signs in at least two languages.  The mine operated into the 1940's, and boasts over $120,000 in metals recovered.  This sure seems like a HARD way to make $120,000 over 60 years, considering the expenses you must incur.....and the isolated conditions under which you must live.

 This is a view through the now missing cabin window into the ruins of the interior.  Canned food was evidently used a lot.  I guess there is a lure to "Strike it rich" in mining, but if this is a successful mine it does not seem terribly rich to me.  Of course it is now 60 years after the mine closed;  the $120K would have looked like a lot more 60 years ago.   A series of  minerals were displayed on one of the machinery bases;  although quite pretty, I had no clue to what valuable resource each might contain.  Might I assume this greenish sample would contain copper?

I guess that I would best not try make my fortune prospecting.   :-)  We had used the GPS to mark the campground as we left, and to conserve batteries then turned it off.  A check of at the mine revealed the campground was indeed 2 miles northeast as expected.  :-)  It would not be nice to miss the trail going back, but in this open, gently rolling terrain a straight  line return would be possible.  We are back right on schedule, 55 minutes after starting, with the sun still above the mountains.  Dinner is left over pork and cabbage with rice, warmed on the stove rather than nuked, as we cannot run the generator. It is good, and afterwards the cats both get a walk in the desert, and feel the sting of cactus barbs; they will learn not to poke close too close to desert vegetation!  Bedtime comes early again...

Tuesday November 5:

The morning sun shining in the windshield encouraged me to pull the curtain and welcome the warming rays inside.  It is cooler inside than out now, and that must be fixed!!  We took advantage of the ample water and dump and showered in the morning, then drove to Lukeville and asked permission to park and walk across the border.  We had been warned by the park rangers to ASK, but it was not clear where to ask.  Finally we asked at the tiny Post Office where to ask; they directed us to the unmarked office four doors down.  The manager was quite hospitable, and suggested we use the gravel lot.  We parked near a line of trees at the edge, counting on the shade to help cool us as the afternoon came on.  We had been told cabs would be waiting just over the border, and would offer to take us the 3 miles to town for $2; we saw none, and received no encouragement from the few folks we saw to ask.  We started walking after adding the customs checkpoint as a mark in the GPS.  :-)  The road this side of the border was wider, but lined with many abandoned or unmaintained buildings.

  The expressions of the people we passed showed they did not like us one bit....  This is a far cry from what we had experienced in Mexico before.  We walked along the road, and finally reached the town.  Here folks seemed to appreciate us more.  We had seen a bus running to the border and asked in a store where it stopped.  The lady running the store spoke excellent English, and took the time to ask others working there where it stopped.  We looked in the store, but as we have learned to expect, there are no bargains, as we have experienced in most border towns.  We went to the bus stop and a policeman tried to tell us when the bus ran;  he said we would have to wait 35 minutes for the next one, so we decided to walk back.  We observed this well tended grave or monument to a loved one along the highway.

 We have seen these roadside markers many places along both sides of the border as we travel, and often wonder if they are actual graves, or memorial markers.  On the way we stopped for a coke in a small store, and after selecting the "No return" 20 oz bottle containing familiar black coke in preference to the stained  one liter bottle of coke standing next to it filled with a lighter colored fluid, were asked for 0.75 by the clerk pointing to a calculator.  I asked "dollars?"; she said "Yes".  Claire handed her 3 quarters, and after a few sips in the cool of the store we were on our way.  After all our trips across the border, we have never SEEN a Mexican coin, nor do we have a clue as to the Mexican exchange rate...  :-((  We returned to the US after a few hours, telling the inquiring customs agent that we had bought nothing but a coke in Mexico, and it was inside us;  he did not even look inside our passports when we said we were  US citizens.  We stopped at the Gringo Pass cafe and tried for the advertised $3.50 Margaritas for Claire;  they had no mix.  We settled for soft ice cream.  :-)  The RV was as we left it, and we enjoyed a bit of coffee before starting back.  I pulled a number of cactus thorns embedded deeply in the sidewall of the passenger side rear tire.  I am not sure our tires cannot be penetrated by these thorns, delicate looking though they are.  We shall be extra careful to give them margin when we see them close to the edge of the road (most parks here have them overhanging the road edge).  While leaving, we observed our hospitable manager chaining a concrete filled 55 gallon drum to a car in the parking lot.

Evidently they did not ASK if they might park there.....  :-)  Well, as the park ranger who warned us said, he DOES own the town.  I would propose that this method of enforcing parking regulations be forever known as the "Gringo Pass Boot"...  :-)))  We returned to the campground and selected an end campsite, after driving into one that had a walking stick propped against a table, perhaps marking occupancy?  We rapidly made two pots of coffee  for the next morning before moving; generator hours were nearly ended.  We actually ran the generator 15 minutes after 4 PM, but TUFF;  these hours are ridiculous. I photographed birds while Claire fixed dinner.  This Cactus Wren is quite accommodating.

Perhaps that has something to do with his status as an accomplished beggar...  :-)  These Gambels Quail and the Cardinal were not as easy to approach closely.

 We do enjoy the quail's "top hats" bobbing as they scoot about looking for their food on the ground.  As Claire called that dinner was ready, the sun was sinking toward the western horizon.  

The red rays shown on the mountains to the east, creating a beautiful mix of pink, blue, brown and green colors in the desertscape.  I finally tore myself away from that show to concentrate attention on Claire's vegetable filled omlette.  She wanted to use the eggs we had brought from home and had no room to refrigerate. Two of nine were found to be spoiled, and disposed of IMMEDIATELY in the nearby campground trash can; PHEW!  The rest made a  really EXCELLENT dinner!  :-)) We are now trying to use up the foodstuffs that will not withstand storage until mid January. The kitties had lots of walking tonight.  Purry has learned about cactus.   Pookie predictably blunders into a few and quickly retreats;  I still must tug his leash a few times to keep him from walking into dead cactus carcasses with undead spines.....  As soon as the sun falls below the hills we find the need to close windows.  We are in bed early once more; no TV here to keep us awake.

Wednesday November 6:

Battery 68% at 5:30AM.  With 55 amp charge rate, each hour of generator should replace 25% of charge.  Yesterday we ran 1/2 hour after driving 10 miles.  This did not seem to get battery fully charged, but it is OK.  We will make sure we allow more run time today.  We plan a bike ride on a 22 mile loop that we cannot drive the RV around.  We WILL take the pump and patch kit!!  It is cool in the early morning...but heating the left over coffee on the stove takes the edge off; soon the sun shines on the windshield curtain, and I open it to welcome in the heat.  I know that before long the opposite will be true, and we will close out every encroaching ray before noon.  Claire awakes, and spends a few hours outside watching birds.  They are used to being fed and approach quite close.  We spend a leisurely morning, intending to run the generator just after 12:00 when it is first allowed, then go bicycling.  The awning is soon required to shade the sunny side of the RV.  I make a couple phone calls at the campground pay phone.  We have STRONG analog cell service here, but it comes from towers in Mexico.  The service asks for a credit card for international calls; I hate to think of the charges they pile on your card if you give it to them, and there is also the risk of credit card fraud.  I turned the phone off the first day here when I discovered the Mexican service; US phones used in Mexico are sometimes illegally cloned using over the air signals, and I do not want to be paying for calls someone else makes with a cloned phone.  The amplifier did not help get a US signal either.  Claire  uses the vacuum and I compute while the generator runs for an hour, and we make two pots of coffee.  This must last until tomorrow noon.  We discuss buying a stovetop coffee maker....  Organpipe is a nice park, but the generator restrictions here are EXCESSIVE.  We could easily live with 4 hours use, indeed never use that much, but it should be distributed morning and evening.  Midday use requires that we be HERE at midday, when we might rather be off doing something else.  We are seldom back from our forays before 3PM, so we are stuck planning our days around the generator hours; what nonsense!  :-((   We decide to drive to the visitors center rather than bike the extra 3 miles to the trail head (well, dirt car road actually).  We leave the fan set for the kitties, and start out.  The road is rough, and by the time we reach the sign in place on the road, Claire knows the road is too bumpy for her; she does not want the load on her knees that riding this road would produce, and turns back after coordinating my return time.  This is a 22 mile loop, and I do not expect to make the whole thing before sundown.  I plan to ride an hour out and an hour return on the same path.  There is pretty desert country here, and NO traffic.

 The downhill runs vibrate the bike so much I must grab the handlebars strongly or risk having them vibrate out of my hands, and then the motion transfers up into my shoulders.  I do wish this machine had a vibration setting control...at the right level it would be a pleasant massage!  :-)   The road starts to climb and vibration is no longer a problem.....soon it turns to blacktop and gets steeper.  I pass a picnic area and keep climbing, but when I reach a hilltop roadside table and view the downhill ahead followed by a steeper climb, I decide I better go back even though only 45 minutes have elapsed since my departure.  My water is half gone and the sun is getting lower.  The table is a pleasant place for a break in this remote piece of the world.

There is little other hint of  human existence within sight.  I take the time for a few pictures, place a mark in the GPS so I know how far I've gotten, put a fresh set of batteries in the camera, and munch a hand full of nuts and raisins, then start back along the way I'd come, now heading directly into the setting sun....  When I return minutes before the visitor's center closed I called to Claire that I was back, then rode to check the GPS location I had reached against the map in the ranger station.  I was amazed that I had only gone about 5 miles on the road...10 miles round trip.  It had seemed like at least twice that!!  We replaced the bikes on the rack, then returned to the campsite to cook dinner of steak, butternut squash, and rice.  Though we usually broil steak in the convection oven, in the absence of generator Claire did a nice job pan frying it, and we ended up with a bit of gravy too.  It's Claire's night to walk the cats, and she reported some activity to the southeast in the form of illumination flares and aircraft lights.  This is Indian reservation land, not military, so all we could assume is that the border patrol was active pursuing illegal border crossers...this is certainly isolated land, with a border that is easily crossed on foot.  On our way out of Tucson we had seen several Arizona Highway Patrol cars with a group of disheveled worn out border crossers in custody along Rt 86.  Along Rt 85 there is a border patrol checkpoint 20 miles north of the visitors center; traffic going north was being stopped when we came south.  We do lock the door and windows after dark, even in the campground.  After finishing the dishes, I close the windows and prepare for bed; soon Claire returns with the last kitty, and it is off to dreamland.  :-))

Thursday November 7:

Battery 70% at 4:30, after hours of running fan yesterday.  The hour's charge did it's job!  I did a lot of computer work, but by 8:30 still had over 50% charge remaining.  Claire watched birds in the morning, then we showered before leaving Organ Pipe for Yuma.  This is a nice place, but we are both anxious to see that all is straight with our arrangements in Yuma.  We are unsure where we might stay in Yuma; Walmart there reportedly does not allow overnight parking.  We have picked up little info, other than there are supposedly federal BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands nearby where we can camp, but no details.  We take on water and dump, then ask about Yuma at the park visitors center.  The ranger at first does not know, but then finds a new (to her) map which includes BLM phone numbers.  I gratefully accept the map, though it seems close to one I have seen a while ago in  the RV.  Claire says she has been trying to get me to look at it for weeks; well, NOW it is timely...  :-)  We depart for Yuma, passing through the Border Patrol checkpoint near the park's edge easily.  We continue to a roadside table where we make coffee and have lunch.  I plot the location of the Yuma Walmart on the computer; they may not let us stay, but they have gas which we will need very badly when we get there.  I also find the directions to our RV storage lot, which is on our way into Yuma;  hopefully we will arrive there before they close, and can finalize arrangements (sign a contract and of course PAY).  We are both somewhat anxious to get everything checked out and final in Yuma; anything left to chance will NOT work out as desired.... and our flight reservations with the cats are not a bit flexible.  :-(   We pass through Aho, and understand why there are some inexpensive campgrounds here; the road is bordered on both sides with characteristically flattened mountains of mine tailings....

We had seen these terrain features for miles, before discerning their true nature, and the mining company sign was prominent as we entered the town.  The residential side of town did not look TOO unpleasant, but this would not be first choice of places to spend lots of time....  Our route takes us across the Barry Goldwater Air Force range, and the jets put on a special show for us, streaking low over the road on their practice maneuvers, then climbing rapidly and swooping around what must be their target some miles away.  Most we do not hear due to RV noise, but one casts it's shadow on us, and we briefly hear the jet's roar as the plane flashes directly overhead at 500 ft.  We do sense a few explosive thumps that we think are bombs dropping on their targets...but who really knows for sure?  Hopefully their aim is good and their targets well defined......  :-)  We reach I-8 and head west toward Yuma.  The character of the land has changed, becoming flat with little vegetation; as we approach Yuma and the availability of Colorado river water, canals bring irrigation and cotton, hay, and other crops appear.  Finally, close to Yuma orange groves are apparent, their deep green contrasting with the dominant brown of the surrounding landscape. Huge RV parks line the highway, and the number of RVs on the road almost equal the number of trucks.  

No wonder Walmart restricts overnight parking.....  their lot cannot be big enough.  :-)  We sign up for our arranged storage, and ask about overnight parking; the city of Yuma prohibits it, but Fry's grocery in the county allows it, we are told.  We proceed to Walmart for gas and find the "No overnight parking" signs we expected.  I need to put money on the gift card, so ask at customer service where we might go to park overnight.  The lady suggests that a K-mart nearby is in the county and might allow it.  We fuel, and even though we pay 14 cents a gallon more than the last fill, Walmart prices are lowest we see in the area.  During the considerable time it takes our nearly empty tank to fill Claire gets a recommendation for a Mexican restaurant from another customer, and we drive there for dinner.  We both notice how Yuma reminds us of Florida; low buildings on flat ground, wide streets, restaurants and businesses and retirees everywhere.   :-)   The food at La Charra is good, and quite inexpensive.  It is after dark when we arrive at the Super K-mart and pull in under a light.  There are no RVs in the lot, but no signs prohibiting overnight parking either; I decide to ask permission in the store.  The manager said that the parking lot is in the city, although the building is in the county; he could not give permission for us to park, though he said others do, and the most they get the first night is a warning notice on the windshield that overnight parking is prohibited by Yuma ordnance.  We are exhausted, so a notice on the windshield is of little deterrence to us; we've seen those before, and undoubtedly will again.  The tension between RVers and the communities they travel through seems to be in direct proportion to the number of RVs in the area.   We try to spend our money where we are appreciated, but sometimes we DO end up in a place like this needing LOTS of gas....and a little food too.   :-)   This is an ideal place to store, as it will not freeze and number of RVs support a secure storage facility like we are using.  We will do our business here, then leave town until it is time to fix our windshield or store and take our plane.  Perhaps we can even find out more about those elusive  BLM lands..... :-)   It really is Summer warm here.  I need no blankets to sleep and the overhead vents are fully open.  Claire watched a bit of TV, and reports on coming to bed that it appears the Republicans have won control of the Senate; radio and TV  news were not available in Organ Pipe Park without a better understanding of Spanish than we have.  :-)

Friday November 8:

Battery is 72% after TV last night!  :-)  We did drive over 4 hours yesterday, but charged the camera batteries the whole way too.  The nights do cool off here; blankets were comfortable near morning, but we did leave all the vents open.  Lots to do today; laundry, check on flight, check on insurance repair of windshield, check on availability of a can to secure foodstuffs from pests, buy locks and tape to secure luggage bags, buy proper amount of groceries for two weeks only, considering those we have which must be used or trashed.  I also want to get the web page finished for upload tomorrow;  cell service in Yuma is strong digital.  :-)  This is a work day for sure!  When Claire awoke we called the vet about mailing up to date health certificates for the cats, then shopped K-mart for some groceries, and asked about laundromats.  We drove to a nearby one and Claire proceeded to wash almost every thread we own while I tried to contact the insurance person using the pay phone a block away.  Three tries later, I found that the windshield had been shipped yesterday to a shop on the very street in Yuma that we are on;  we now know our next stop!  I try to call the BLM about their campground on the cellphone; the number published in the flyer we picked up has been disconnected...grrrr!  There is a main BLM number listed, also disconnected.    Finally a call to the nearby wildlife refuge that we KNOW does not offer camping yields a number that works.  We are told that the cost is $5/night, and only at Squaw Lake do we get a half price discount for our Golden Age Passport. The driving directions seem unclear and complex, but at least there are finally some DIRECTIONS.  :-)  The glass man is quite accommodating, recognizes us as customers, and looks over the job; he notices another little ding in the drivers windshield under the wiper.  It has not run, and has been there a while, but he suggests the insurance company might pay the $50 cost for stabilizing resin  to avoid the charge for another windshield replacement.  I ask if there is any chance the resin might cause further running; he said there was over 90% success with the resin, but there is always a chance of a ding running.....this call is up to the insurance company!  We arrange to return for replacement the following Friday, and they agree we can park in their lot overnight despite the no overnight parking signs they say are aimed at truckers.  :-)  We call and leave a message about the second ding with the ever-busy insurance lady.  We move to the Walmart lot, where I buy strapping tape to wrap around our cloth "luggage" bags, and purchase, then exchange, locks for the correct size that really will fit our bags.  I walk to the nearby airport to check our reservations.  When I finally get an America West agent to the deserted counter, she verifies after some false starts that all four of us do have reservations as we had thought, and all we must do is arrive an hour ahead of flight time.  This is a SMALL passenger terminal; two check in positions for United and two for America West....and the runways are shared with the Marine Corps Air Station.  I observe their Harrier jump jets operating; they land slow and their engines are LOUD.  On the way out I check with the parking attendant; we can indeed park the RV overnight in long term parking for $6.50 if we wish.  We have not done EVERYTHING on our list, but the day is done, darkness has fallen, and we do not have a place to stay overnight.  After some discussions in the parking lot with a friendly man about the route to the BLM campground on Squaw Lake, and still finding the way unclear, we head out to find the Fry's market in the county that Joanne at  All Secure Storage had mentioned might allow us to stay.  It is several miles but we find the Fry's, and the no overnight parking signs in one end of the parking lot; it is a mall with many businesses sharing the lot, so we move to a spot without signs directly in front of Fry's, and ask their courtesy desk if we can stay; they say they cannot give "permission", but that others stay with no hassle.  :-)  What better invitation could we want after a tiring day?  :-)  Claire finds some SUPER looking fresh vegetables, and they even accept our City Market shopping card for the discounts.  :-))  There is a car wash in the mall with blow dry fans that sound like a locomotive, but it is not used THAT often at night.  We sleep well!  

Plans:

We apologize yet again for this installment being a week late.  I could not get it finished in time to upload it last weekend.  We are uploading it this weekend from Yuma, where we must return from the BLM Squaw Lake campground we have enjoyed for 5 days this week, to get the windshield replaced.  Perhaps we will get the opportunity to upload the current week too; this is the last weekend connect opportunity we have before our departure.  If we again fail to complete it in time, expect the final installment AFTER Thanksgiving from home.  :-)  We have located a Passport America campground  20 miles from Yuma that should be ideal for washing up, charging batteries, and preparing for departure, and it is reasonably priced too.  I did not think to check the CALIFORNIA listing when Yuma came up blank... DUHHH.  We will spend a day or two there, then spend Thursday night before we depart as close as we can get to the storage facility before our noon flight Friday.  In between, this BLM campground is pleasant and will serve our needs.  Please do ENJOY;  we are!