One Dam Good Time 🎸🚐
We have had a great week! Last Sunday, we left Quartzite and headed to Imperial Dam. It is a Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA); our $40 permit for camping at Quartzite was good through the 26th at all LTVA campsites in the Yuma area. We arrived at the Dam early and found a great spot to set up. We hopped on our bikes to check out the area. Just down from our site, we came upon an awesome rock garden! We stopped to walk through, and a woman came out of her camper to welcome us. Pat and Ron have been coming to the same site for 20 years. They get here in mid-Sept, before the other full-timers come, so they can snag the same spot. Along with their kids and grandkids, they have gone out into the desert and the mountains nearby and found beautiful colors of rock and created 18 different rock art formations over the last 13 years. It’s awesome. They also have a huge game court for croquet, bocce ball, Kubb, and corn hole. They share their game court with anyone who wants to come from 1-3 on Sundays! So fun!! Her area is amazing!!! We met some fun folks!
Beth Monroe O’Brian at Wheezy’s Brew House
On Thursday, we went to Yuma to do laundry and restock groceries. We had lunch with Beth Monroe O’Brian at Wheezy’s Brew House. Beth is a 1971 grad from FHS. We met at an RV repair shop in Tucson a year ago. She noticed our Ohio license plate. One of those “it’s a small world experiences”! She has been a full-timer for six years and has a lot of helpful hints and experience to offer that we appreciate! After lunch, we did laundry and went to meet Brad Lemos and his wife, Jess. They are staying at the Palms RV Resort in Yuma. Jess is a traveling nurse, and she has a gig at the hospital in Yuma. Had a nice visit and a margarita, then headed back to Imperial Dam.
On the way back, we wanted to check out another LTVA called Mittry Lake. When we got there, we decided we’d spend a couple of nights, then head back to Imperial Dam. We met a lovely couple, Steve and “Princess Diana.” Taught them to play 7’s…… Tim won this time, I am a terrible loser, so still pouting! They hadn’t been to Imperial Dam and decided to follow us the next morning. We found a nice spot where we both could camp. We were there in time to go to Pat and Ron’s Sunday afternoon game time! Steve has a guitar, and a camper nearby noticed and invited him to join a jam session at a small pavilion in the area. We tagged along and spent two wonderful hours listening to 10 musicians make wonderful music in the desert! There were five guitars, two mandolins, a fiddle, and a bass. Two years ago, one of the couples hosted a music hour at their campsite, and the number of musicians keeps growing. Last year, they started holding bluegrass sessions at the pavilion on Tuesdays & Fridat each week, starting mid-Nov through April. Most of them have been full-timers for several years.
The LTVA offers a potable water source, dump station, and trash at the entrance, so it makes it pretty easy to stay for months at a time. They have lots of people who return in November for the winter.
Tomorrow, we are headed to Cardiff by the Sea, CA. It is 3 hours away. We are going to visit Tim’s brother Chris and my “adopted” sister Debbie for a couple of days, then come back to Imperial Dam until February 1, when we head to Tucson.
I have had several people ask how I cook and what our home on wheels looks like inside. I will put something together for my next post. Until then……☘️